Mosaic Ark

RFB and Kilts plunge into the turbulent seas of Gaslighting with no images to guide their way. Charting a course from individual examples to the collective Gaslighting of modern history (aka "the Enlightenment"), the Mosaic Ark finds itself wondering where we are now in the Narrative of Western Identity. Could it be that our fear of hate speech and taboo breakers is a fear of looking at our own bad contracts? Time to repent and punch the OG Gaslighter in the face! —Streamed November 30, 2022

Ye is breaking the internet this week, and the border between performance art and reality is as ambiguous as time in an airport lounge. RFB and Kilts go on a journey to find the Real Presence, tracking the professor’s recent pilgrimage to Fatima. How does the world of High Fashion reflect Catholic devotion? —Streamed November 23, 2022.

The artists are making the world, but in whose image? In this special stream from the opposite shores of the Atlantic, RFB and Kilts talk poetics and the desire to create fan art for God, and each other. This episode is dedicated to Cecilia Giménez, for her love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and her desire to restore His image in art. —Streamed November 17, 2022.

Go down, Kanye? In this episode the Professor and the Pigeon unpack the now globally infamous moment Ye decided to declare DeathCon3 on Jews, and the mythological foolishness of Ye’s statements since. Invoking Ari Shaffir’s take on the saga, RFB and Kilts go on a journey to figure out what Davidic frame we are all using when we talk about “Jews”. —Streamed November 9, 2022.

History is a meme war, and we’re now debating whether it is better to declare amnesty and forgive and forget the events of the past few years. But what do we actually remember happened since 2019? RFB and Kilts trawl through the 2020 memes and talk about our very long two weeks to flatten the curve, and what it meant for the people involved in the flattening.“One COVID to Rule Them All,” a.k.a. “I told you so”: https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2020/05/one-covid-to-rule-them-all.html—Streamed November 2, 2022.

RFB confesses her pirate ancestry, which takes us on a journey to Elizabethan England and the origins of the British Empire. Kilts moans about being convict trash and then the Professor and the Pigeon unpack the entire mythology behind "Pirates of the Caribbean." Do you believe in ghost stories? You best believe in them, you’re in one! —Streamed October 26, 2022.

Pick a card! The Professor flies solo through the history of the Tarot, from fifteenth-century playing cards to mediations on the triumph of Our Lord. Why do people find card games so appealing? What does modern science have to do with fortune telling? And where is the deck is the brazen serpent lifted up?Visconti-Sforza Tarot deck at the Morgan Library: https://www.themorgan.org/collection/tarot-cards—Streamed October 19, 2022.

Do you want to trip the light fantastic? RFB and Kilts decide to induce flashbacks to their time in the hippy era, which bled into the raver era, which bled into the All Time Era of the Internet. How is the journey towards Light influencing our rituals and worship, and what are we seeking in the rave of civilization? Don’t look now, but there are angels behind that door. —Streamed October 12, 2022.

We live in a magical world. From occult symbolism, the desire to cast spells and divine the future, and the innovation and incantations of technology, it seems that mankind is fundamentally a magical creature. Like electric Magi, RFB and Kilts go on a long journey to discover the root of our desire for magical powers. Along the way, they unpack symbolism and ritual, memes, medieval magical practices, the Tarot, and rave parties like Burning Man. The Professor and the Pigeon consider some of the most powerful acts of magic in human experience, and in particular, one preceded by the most iconic event in the history of astrology. Can you guess what it is?RFB's syllabus for Angels and Demons: http://home.uchicago.edu/~rfulton/Angels%20and%20Demons.pdf—Streamed October 5, 2022.

The internet is buzzing with the fear of a Mussolini in heels, as Italy has elected a radical woman who likes family. What did family mean to ancient Romans and how does the Modern World define the tribe, clan, and nation? In this episode RFB reveals the hidden nations of the United States of America, and Kilts learns about Scottish kilts while wearing Tonto makeup. She couldn't find a dead bird.Read the books! David Hackett Fischer, Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America https://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-British-Folkways-cultural/dp/0195069056/ Colin Woodard, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029/The blog posts Kilts is talking about: https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2016/01/conservative-is-new-redneck.html https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2016/01/progressive-is-new-puritan.html https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2016/02/founding-freedoms-four-square.html https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2019/01/nation-american-style.html—Streamed September 28, 2022.

What does it mean to remember your history as a nation? In the wake of the Queen's passing this week, we discuss the pageantry and architecture of our civilization and what role the Church has in the mythology of the world. Or rather, what role does the World have in the history of the Church? —Streamed September 21, 2022.

Why is Galadriel in Armor so repulsive? RFB and Kilts talk about smashing the patriarchy with Tolkien and uncover some surprising similarities between the Feminist Heroine's Journey in "The Rings of Power" and Saint Joan of Arc. —Streamed September 14, 2022.

The Professor returns from her mother's basement with tales of the road. We ride the rivers of the US Interstates to their source in the mythhistory of the Nile and discover the wizardry on which the Empire of the English has depended. Drinks all round, if you know where to find the recipe! Don't look now, but that man behind the curtain is selling something.Recipe for Old Kola-Coca: https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/locals-say-coca-cola-originated-in-aielo-de-malferit-in-spain-a-915371.html—Streamed September 7, 2022.

The Professor decided that she needed the lived experience of being a streamer in her mom’s basement, and she and Kilts begin the journey to unpack Vending Machine People. They break the Internet when highlighting the Western obsession with obelisks and why the phenomenon of Rachel Dolezal is connected to the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt. There were tech glitches. Part Two to come. —Streamed August 31, 2022.

Why is everyone so afraid of the Rosary? Why do beads have everybody spooked? In this episode of the Mosaic Ark, Professor Brown talks about her scandalous decision to study Christianity from the “lived experience” of the medieval people and culture she spent her career researching. Why is the lived experience of Medieval Christians so terrifying to the Modern World? Join us to discover the history and practice of ancient Christian devotion, where we dare to Hail Mary with the Art of Prayer. —Streamed August 24, 2022.

Once upon a time, there was a knight who betrothed himself to a beautiful princess. Before they could be married, however, she was captured and imprisoned by a thief. Who was this knight, and how did he rescue his bride? And what happens when the bride herself puts on the armor? Spoiler alert: you won’t want to miss Kilts’s internet gender reveal! Fully illustrated. —Streamed August 19, 2022.

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? Our sound test takes us on a perilous quest through the Scriptures, looking for traces of Our Lady. We scour the cosmopolitan wilderness of the ancient world and visit Solomon with the Queen of Sheba. Who is the Woman of Apocalypse 12, and what does she have to do with the Ark of the Tabernacle? —Streamed August 16, 2022

The Pirate and the Pigeon raid the stream to test their sound and light. The first lesson is from the book of Habacuc—the Lord has beams in his hands! We may have talked about how Christians abandoned the academic frontlines when they should have been reading the Scriptures, and how not paying enough attention to the Lord of the psalms renders us unpoetical and boring. Still working on getting our sound just right. —Streamed August 12, 2022

Kilts Khalfan flies in as an electric pigeon to translate Professorspeak into the grammar of the Internet. We do a deep dive into Marshall McLuhan's arguments about the power of the media and demonstrate through poetry how liturgy keeps Christians anchored in space and time. Sing with the Angel of Silesia of the Crystal Incarnate that glows with the light of the Word! —Streamed August 10, 2022