‍The Symbolic World Summit

Join Jonathan Pageau in Tarpon Springs, Florida, for the inaugural Symbolic World Summit. The theme of the in-person event will be Reclaiming the Cosmic Image, and the line-up of speakers and events will be a dream for anyone who has been following Jonathan for the past few years. 

50 VIP tickets and 500 Premiere Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 22, with a presale made available exclusively to members of the Symbolic World. 

‍

Three Days, Three Paths, One Purpose: Reclaiming the Cosmic Image

Over three days, enjoy in-person lectures, breakout sections, meals, and entertainment—all  focusing on the following three themes as paths toward reclaiming the cosmic image. The official schedule is forthcoming. 

‍

Path 1: Logos-Centric Art

Meet with other artists of all types (music, visual, written, etc.) and discuss how best to interpret the world through a logos-centric, symbolic lens. Practice intuitively incorporating that knowledge into your work and your art: philosophically, inspirationally, and practically.

‍

Path 2: Universal History

Consider the world as a medievalist would: collect and categorize world and local events of the past, not through an evolutionary or cause-and-effect philosophy, but instead through a symbolic lens. Learn to parse out what’s worth arguing about what’s better to ignore. Practice viewing history as an ongoing battle between good and evil.    

‍

Path 3: Hearth and Hospitality

Put it all into practice and raise up a generation with a clearer vision than what we have been fed in recent decades. Learn and consider practical ways of enacting a home life that reclaims the cosmic image not only for yourself but for your children, while you are raising a family, making a home, working in the world or in the church. Leaders of these breakouts will help bring the ideas we talk about so much in the digital sphere down to earth in a way that will enrich your family life in society, at the table, and around the hearth. 

The Details

‍

February 29 through March 2, 2024

Tarpon Springs, FL

‍

The Speakers

‍

Jonathan Pageau is a renowned liturgical artist, writer, and public speaker. Through his popular YouTube channel and podcast, The Symbolic World, he has become a sought-out interpreter of the deep patterns in stories. With his 2022 publication of God's'Dog: Monster, a graphic novel invented with his brother Matthieu Pageau and artist Cord Nielson, Jonathan proved himself a powerful storyteller in his own right. The project’s successful crowdfunding encouraged him to continue his efforts to reclaim the storytelling landscape by starting a publishing company called Symbolic World Press (SWP). 

‍

SWP’s maiden publication is The Tale of Snow White and the Widow Queen, the first of an eight-book series of fairy tales in which Pageau explores a new way of telling fairy tales: one which is both aware of our cultural moment and simultaneously committed to honoring the deeply celebratory of the roots these stories have planted in our common imagination.  

‍

Jonathan’s YouTube channel now has nearly 200k subscribers, and the community that has developed around the Symbolic World listenership is an active, supportive, and talented collection of artists and thinkers from around the globe. He recently launched a new Symbolic World Website, where people can sign up to access exclusive content unavailable on the regular channel, and to engage in the Symbolic World Community for timely discussions around symbolism, literature, religion, art, and culture. The site has also begun hosting paid courses, where people can sign up for an interactive deep dive into specific works, such as Beowulf, C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, and the rebirth of Christian Metaphysics.

‍

As in-person speaking engagement invitations increase, Jonathan is delighted to host a conference—the Symbolic World Summit—which will bring together 700 of his closest friends and colleagues to consider and celebrate this moment in which we are Reclaiming the Cosmic Image. Ticket presale begins September 15 and the event will happen in Tarpon Springs, Florida, on February 29–March 2. 

‍

—---------------------

‍

Dr. Martin Shaw is a writer, storyteller, and author of eighteen books on myth and fairy tales. He founded the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University and his latest book Bardskull was book of the day in The Guardian. The Irish Times describe him as "an interloper from the Medieval". He lived for four years in a black tent exploring remaining pockets of British wilderness. He has established Cista Mystica Press to publish the work and ideas of his own and a select group of authors. Its concerns range from mythopoetics, romanticism, philosophy, magic, folklore to initiatory encounters with wilderness. You can also find his substack, House of Beasts and Vines here. 

‍

—----------------------

‍

The V. Rev. Dr. Stephen De Young is Pastor of Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. He holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from Amridge University. Fr. Stephen is also the host of the Whole Counsel of God podcast from Ancient Faith and co-hosts the live call-in show and podcast Lord of Spirits with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick. He is the author of the books Religion of the Apostles, God is a Man of War, The Whole Counsel of God, and Apocrypha: An Introduction to Extrabiblical Literature.

‍

—----------------------

‍

Neil DeGraide is a music and film producer, composer, writer, author, entertainer, and visual artist. He's written and published over 300 songs for himself and various artists and his music has been featured on MTV, VH1, the TV series Psyche and The Hills, EA Games, AMC Theaters, and in ventriloquist Terry Fator's #1 Las Vegas show.

His awards include an Independent Music Award (IMA), two LA Music Awards, two Ziff Davis Awards for Design (Visual Art), and he was runner up for best musical score in this year’s Ambie Awards for the Culpable Podcast. He co-wrote the screenplay for Sweep the Leg starring the cast of the Karate Kid (predecessor to the Netflix series Cobra Kai), and he published a short fable called “The Three Golden Ropes”.

He and his wife lead the band Dirt Poor Robins. They have been crafting apocalyptic themed stories, music, and concept records for over 15 years for millions of listeners. Their most recent completed work is a film and concept record Queen of the Night, which he wrote, produced, directed, scored, and performed in. Their up-and-coming concept record Firebird is the band’s first journey into hagiography. 

‍

—---------------------

‍

Richard Rohlin is a software developer, Germanic philologist, and Orthodox Christian living in Texas with his wife and children. He speaks and publishes on Germanic poetry, the Inklings, and the Sacramental Imagination. He regularly contributes to Jonathan Pageau’s The Symbolic World YouTube channel through the Universal History series, which has recently launched a 6-week course studying the epic poem Beowulf.  

Richard co-hosts The Amon Sul Podcast, and has published several works of fiction and non-fiction. He’s currently working on a collection of essays called Finding the Golden Key: Essays Toward a Recovery of the Sacramental Imagination. His superhero pulp novel Guardians: The Eye of Horus is currently under development as a graphic novel. Richard is also a life-long tabletop gamer and wrapped up a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to produce Amboria: Roleplaying in the World Under Starlight, which is now in production and preparing to ship.

‍

—---------------------

‍

Vesper Stamper was born in Germany and raised in New York City. She writes and illustrates novels which tell, through both words and pictures, stories of history’s rhymes. Her debut illustrated YA novel, What the Night Sings, about the aftermath of the Holocaust through the eyes of a young musician, was a National Book Award Nominee, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, a Morris Award Finalist, Golden Kite Honor Book and Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner, and was named one of the Best YA Books of 2018/9 by YALSA, the Wall Street Journal and Kirkus. Vesper has a BFA in Illustration from Parsons and an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from School of Visual Arts and is the host of the podcast Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, which aims to cultivate a rehumanized worldview through artistic thinking. She lives with her husband, filmmaker Ben Stamper, and her two teenagers, in the Northeast, and teaches illustration at School of Visual Arts.

‍

—---------------------

‍

Deacon Nicholas Kotar writes epic fantasy and science fiction inspired by Slavic fairy tales. He recently published Son of the Deathless, with illustrations by Vesper Stamper and Heather Pollington. He has recently been booking more speaking events to talk about the state of storytelling and what in the world can be done about it. 

You can find his books on Waystone Press, an independent publisher, and you can hear his conversations with other thinkers, authors, and artists, as he hosts the podcast In a Certain Kingdom and talks with Jonathan Pageau about fairy tales, Tolkien and the storytelling landscape. 

On his website, Deacon Nicholas directs his readers to Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin's wonderful lecture “The Spiritual Meaning of Stories” in which he suggests that fairy tales are indispensable for those of us who have lost our ability to see and appreciate the beautiful and transcendent in life. Kotar writes for readers who love classic fantasy like The Lord of the Rings but who aren’t afraid of a little darkness and honesty about the human condition.

‍