Episodes by Circa

How a Brahmin teacher in medieval Varanasi gave a blessing in the dark --- and followed it forward into history.

Harmonia steps into the quiet cell of Julian of Norwich-a medieval anchoress who lived through plague, famine, war and more

A reflection on the Yarsan tradition, its origins around Sultan Sahak, and the quiet strength of faith that survives without institutions or power.

John Wycliffe asked who gets to stand between a soul and what it reaches for. Mother Teresa lived the answer.

Ibn Khaldun's revolutionary theory of social cohesion (asabiyyah) explains civilizational cycles and offers tools for understanding how today's crises are calling forth unprecedented human unity.

An exploration of how medieval devotion to the Fourteen Holy Saints preserved humanity and hope amid relentless suffering.

Gregory Palamas defended the reality of direct encounter with the divine against those who insisted God could only be approached through intellect and doctrine.

A reflection on Marguerite Porete and the courage to remain truthful when safety requires denial.

Harmonia remembers Meister Eckhart, the 13th-14th century Dominican friar whose sermons invited ordinary people to discover God in the stillness of their own souls.

Abraham Abulafia believed every soul could touch the divine directly --- and paid dearly for saying so in 13th-century Spain.

This episode explores how Bhai Mardana’s music and companionship helped shape a spiritual movement, revealing how friendship, humility, and shared purpose can still carry transformative truth into the modern world.

Nichiren wrote hundreds of personal letters from exile --- and Harmonia uses them to explore what we lose when we lose the art of the letter.

Mechthild of Magdeburg saw divine love as an endless stream flowing to every soul---a vision that helped shape our modern understanding of inherent human dignity.

An exploration of the Beguines, medieval women who lived faith through work, service, and community—without separating devotion from everyday life.

Shams of Tabriz-the wandering dervish whose fierce honesty transformed Rumi

Haji Bektash Veli taught that the perfected human soul has no gender or tribe --- a radical claim lived quietly in 13th-century Anatolia.

Shinran's radical insight that self-powered striving blocks the grace already in motion toward every human soul.

Zen master Dōgen returned from China with nothing --- and gave the world the radical teaching that the divine is already here, closer than your heartbeat.

Michael Scot translated Aristotle and Islamic commentaries, carrying recovered knowledge from Toledo to European universities and enabling the Renaissance.

This is the story of Francis-seeker, beggar, brother to all creation-whose life redefined what it means to be rich, holy, and free

This episode explores the life of Ibn ʿArabī, a poet, mystic, and philosopher shaped by the open intellectual culture of Islamic Spain.

his episode follows the quiet clarity of Moses ben Maimon-known as Maimonides-who lived in exile, healed with science, led with compassion, and wrote as if truth could be trusted.

Ibn Rushd defended the harmony of faith and reason in twelfth-century Córdoba, preserving philosophy for Europe through his commentaries on Aristotle.

Zhu Xi synthesized competing Chinese philosophical traditions, creating a framework that shaped East Asian thought for centuries and offers insight for our fragmented modern world.

Gerard of Cremona translated eighty-seven Arabic texts into Latin, but his work was only possible because Christian rulers chose preservation over destruction.