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Tools and Techniques of Plant Painting and the Visionary Garden

Registration is required. The workshop is limited to 25 participants and requires no prior painting or art experience. Register to attend in person. This hands-on workshop introduces participants to the tools and techniques of botanical painting, drawing on both traditional illustration methods and contemporary artistic interpretations of flora. The session will begin with an overview of materials, composition, and approaches in graphite and watercolor. Participants will then create their own visionary garden or plant being, guided through steps of organization, drawing, and painting. Along the way, examples of visionary, medicinal, and shamanic plants will be presented for inspiration. The workshop will explore how elements such as scale, repetition, and color intensity shape artistic expression. Participants will also consider how a drawing and painting practice can deepen connections with the natural spaces we inhabit and visit. Basic materials will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their… Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Thursday, November 6, 2025, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM. Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138. For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu.

Reading Group: Transcendentalism—Mystics, Misfits, Rogues, and Dissidents

This group meets on Tuesdays, 12–2pm (9/16, 9/30, 10/14, 10/28, 11/11, 12/2) American Transcendentalism emerged in the mid-1800s from New England Unitarianism and European Romanticism. It distinguished itself by rejecting convention, challenging traditional religious doctrines of authority and election, opposing dominant philosophies, discarding genteel literary styles, and defying political complacency regarding slavery, gender inequality, and disenfranchisement. At Harvard, Transcendentalists were seen as mystics, misfits, rogues, and dissidents. Their refusals, however, sparked a social movement based on friendship and collaboration, united by a radical spirituality promising personal renewal and social transformation.  This reading group invites participants to explore both sides of that legacy. We'll focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller in the fall, and on figures including Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, Orestes Brownson, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, and Caroline Dall in… Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM. Conference Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.

A Genealogy of the Subtle Body and Subtle Energy: Simon Cox and Charles Stang in Conversation

Registration is required. Please register to attend in person.  Please register to attend on Zoom.   This conversation between Simon Cox and Charles Stang explores the evolving inquiry that connects Cox’s first book, The Subtle Body: A Genealogy (Oxford, 2022), with his emerging research on the parallel histories of “energy” in the West and qi in China.      The discussion turns to his new project, A Dual Genealogy of Energy and Qi, which follows two divergent yet resonant lineages. One from Aristotle’s energeia and its transformations in Neoplatonism and the scientific revolution. The other, to the early Chinese notions of qi, from its appearance in oracle bone inscriptions through Han and Song cosmology, and finally to its contested reformulations in late Qing evidentiary learning and the early Marxist and scientific discourses of Republican and Maoist China.      Together, Cox and Stang consider how these histories intersect, diverge, and illuminate broader questions about transmission, embodiment, and… Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Event Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM. Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA. For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu.

Poetry Series: Writing as Conversation, Conversation as Alchemy

Registration encouraged.   Register to attend in person.   Register to attend on Zoom.      Poets will discuss three new books that, in different ways, engage in intertextual communion with the living and dead, with other writers and texts, in acts of alchemical transformation. How is deep listening a form of communion? And how does listening become a mode of conversation?      LAYNIE BROWNE   Laynie Browne's recent books of poetry include: Apprentice to a Breathing Hand (Omnidawn, 2025), Everyone & Her Resemblances (Pamenar, 2024), and Intaglio Daughters (Ornithopter, 2023. She co-edited the anthology I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women (Les Figues Press, 2012) and edited the anthology A Forest on Many Stems: Essays on The Poet’s Novel (Nightboat, 2021). Honors include a Pew Fellowship, the National Poetry Series Award for her collection The Scented Fox, and the Contemporary Poetry Series Award for her collection Drawing of a Swan Before Memory. She teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.… Programming Series: Poetry. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Thursday, November 13, 2025, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM. Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA. For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu.

Poetry Workshop

Registration is requested, as seating is limited. Please register to attend. Continue the conversation from last night’s reading in a small, informal workshop led by our three guest poets. This intimate session offers space to write, reflect, and discuss the creative process in community. Open to writers of all levels—bring a notebook and an open mind. LAYNIE BROWNE   Laynie Browne's recent books of poetry include: Apprentice to a Breathing Hand (Omnidawn, 2025), Everyone & Her Resemblances (Pamenar, 2024), and Intaglio Daughters (Ornithopter, 2023. She co-edited the anthology I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women (Les Figues Press, 2012) and edited the anthology A Forest on Many Stems: Essays on The Poet’s Novel (Nightboat, 2021). Honors include a Pew Fellowship, the National Poetry Series Award for her collection The Scented Fox, and the Contemporary Poetry Series Award for her collection Drawing of a Swan Before Memory. She teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.   JULIE CARR   Julie Carr… Programming Series: Poetry. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Friday, November 14, 2025, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM. Conference Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA. For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu.

Public Research Talk: Is the World Becoming More or Less Religious? A Conversation with Pew Research Center and the World Christian Database

Registration is required. Please register to attend in person. Please register to attend on Zoom. Join us for a discussion of Pew Research Center’s new report, How the Global Religious Landscape Changed from 2010 to 2020, released June 2025. Conrad Hackett, PhD, Associate Director of Research and Senior Demographer at Pew, will engage in a dialogue with Gina Zurlo, PhD, Senior Researcher and Lecturer in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School and editor of the World Christian Database.   A key finding of Pew’s report is the significant growth of the religiously unaffiliated as a percentage of the world’s population, raising the question: Is the world becoming more or less religious? Zurlo and Hackett will address this and other questions arising from the report, such as assumptions undergirding quantitative research on religion and what makes “good data” in the sociology of religion.   CONRAD HACKETT is Associate Director of Research and Senior Demographer at Pew Research Center. His expertise is in… Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Monday, November 17, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM. Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138. For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu.

Reading Group: Esotericism and Alternative Spirituality

Registration is required. This group meets on Tuesdays, Sept. 9 & 23, Oct. 14 & 21, Nov. 4 & 18, 1–3pm Esotericism has long been associated with the ideas of mystery, secrecy, and conspiracy. This is connected to the very etymology of the word, which hints at the possibility of acquiring special, inner knowledge that is different from what ordinary people usually have access to. The elitism that goes with this assumption can take on a political dimension. Insofar as esotericism is identified with the practice of secrecy, fears of clandestine manipulation of society and history arise almost naturally, and questions about its compatibility with the principles of modern democracy are raised. However, strategies of secrecy have also been used to promote the values of progress and democracy, as has been the case during the Enlightenment with the emergence of modern Freemasonry. Despite the relevance of these aspects for the study of esotericism, scholars have been reluctant to include them in their theorizations… Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Event Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. Conference Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.

Reading Group: Psychedelics Beyond Psychedelics

Registration is required.  This group meets, Wednesdays 3-5, 9/10, 9/24, 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, and 11/19 The Psychedelics Beyond Psychedelics Reading Group invites participants to explore expansive understandings of transcendence, healing, consciousness, and connection that extend beyond the use of psychedelic substances. Through rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry engaging themes such as shamanism, ecological kinship, sound, and childbirth, we will interrogate and reimagine what constitutes the “psychedelic.” Rooted in queer, feminist, ecological, and decolonial efforts, this group offers a collaborative space for exploration and critical questioning. We aim to affirm multiple ways of knowing, deepen our ethical and relational practices, and collectively contribute to defining the evolving field of the Psychedelic Humanities. Facilitators include: LILA GLENN RIMALOVSKI is an MDiv candidate at Harvard Divinity School studying the relationship between eco-spiritual practice and movements for land justice. Her r… Programming Series: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. Transcendence and Transformation. Spirituality and Psychedelics. Psychedelics and Ethics. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Wednesday, November 19, 2025, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM. Conference Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.

Opera Preview: The Immortal Legacy of Gilgamesh

Free In-Person Event Join us for an exclusive preview of a brand-new opera inspired by the timeless Epic of Gilgamesh, in the museum’s Mesopotamian gallery. Free and open to the public. Advance registration required. Free tickets are limited. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Opera Preview: The Immortal Legacy of Gilgamesh Commissioned by the Assyrian Arts Institute, this special program offers an exclusive preview of a new opera inspired by the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh. Audiences will experience the opera’s prologue and select musical scenes from the production which is slated to premiere in 2026 in Cerritos, California. The opera explores timeless themes of friendship, courage, love, mortality, and divine destiny. The event will also feature a short talk by Eckart Frahm, John M. Musser Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Yale University. He will discuss the original Gilgamesh tablets and the excavation of King Ashurbanipal’s Royal Library at Nineveh, drawing insights from… Sponsor: Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, with support from ArtsThursdays—a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts, the Assyrian Arts Institute, the Mishael and Lillie Naby Assyrian Lecture Fund of Harvard’s Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Department, the Naby Frye Assyrian Fund for Culture, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, the Assyrian American Associati… Contact: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (6 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138) If you have any questions, please contact us at hmscprograms@hmsc.harvard.edu. Thursday, November 20, 2025, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM. Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East 6 Divinity Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 United States. For more info visit hmane.harvard.edu.

Public Research Talk: A Magic Dwells: Occulture in Contemporary Art, with Marco Pasi

Registration is required. Please register to attend in person. Please register to attend on Zoom. Fifteen years ago, I began to notice the conspicuous presence of esoteric motifs in contemporary art. At first, I was intrigued but also surprised, assuming this was only a passing trend. Over time, however, I came to realize that the phenomenon was more significant and deserving of attention than I had initially thought. The influence of esotericism on modern art—roughly up to the end of the Second World War—has been the subject of serious scholarly research since at least the 1960s. Yet it soon became clear to me that scholars of esotericism and art historians alike were paying insufficient attention to its role in contemporary art. In this lecture, I will share my findings and reflections on this phenomenon, which I believe is essential to understanding the place of esotericism in our societies today. Contemporary art holds considerable cultural and social influence, and examining its relationship with… Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR, Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Monday, December 1, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM. Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA. For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu.

Reading Group: Transcendentalism—Mystics, Misfits, Rogues, and Dissidents

Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu. Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM. Conference Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.