About Hypersigil
The hollow shell of our progressive political culture stands like an empty strip mall surrounded by acres of asphalt. As Irish poet and practicing magician William Butler Yeats once wrote, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity."
Yeats's rival in the magical arts, English occultist Aleister Crowley, defined "magick" as the "art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will." Yeats and Crowley once got into a magic battle inside their Golden Dawn cult temple in London that was considered a fight between "white" and "black" magic. Yeats and his white magic pals successfully kicked black magic Crowley down the stairs, winning the battle, but not the war.
And who is winning the mythical war between good and evil today? Reflecting on the political wreckage that surrounds us, Hypersigil podcast co-hosts Kate Albright-Hanna and Jason Wojciechowski, ask the question: Since nothing else seems to work, is it time to go Full Woo?
Are we – the good guys, the ones who believe in equality and democracy – even present on the battlefield of myth and magic? Or are we on the sidelines, fiddling with data optimization and fact checking, while the black magic dudes create reality? Do we just live in and react to the world they create?
In 2021, President Joe Biden referenced politics as the "art of the possible." That's not far off from the definition of magic being the art of using the will to create change. What if we could create a different world by writing a different story?
Gen X comic book writer and occultist Grant Morrison's name for this sort of long-form magical narrative is "hypersigil." Join Kate and Jason as they review their own political pasts, figure out how things got so dark, and open up to a new story that changes everything (in a good, happy, egalitarian, democratic, white magic kind of a way).
Kate Albright-Hanna
Co-Host
Kate is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, talk show producer, and occasional political consultant. Starting as an intern in the Clinton White House, her political and media journey has taken her through cubicles at CNN, the Obama campaign, VICE and MSNBC. She is the founder of Tarbell Industries, a production company that tells stories with high impact. She also tried running for political office once, and won’t make that mistake again.
Jason Wojciechowski
Co-Host
Jason is an international man of mystery who has spent the 21st century developing digital creative campaigns for everything from United Nations global initiatives to Nobel Peace Prize winners. His front row seat to the most celebrated social change events of our lifetimes has landed him here, with a podcast questioning whether any of it made a difference. Click play to hear Jason burn his professional bridges and wrestle with his existential demons.
David Grossman
Producer & Editor
David is a multimedia producer, editor and graphic designer who prefers to dwell in the shadows, turning vague ideas and slippery concepts into game-changing podcasts, talk shows and live stream projects. We're just gonna leave it there because he wants to remain enigmatic.
Adam Albright-Hanna
Composer
When he's not composing music for his sister's oddball projects (including at CNN and the 2008 Obama campaign), Adam runs Aha! Audience Builders, a digital strategy company. As a practitioner of the dark arts of clickbait, he claims to have invented the headline-writing technique: "At 3:52 minutes in, you'll never believe what happens." He also occasionally writes headlines for The Onion.
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