A Starry Afterlife: Night Sky Explorations of Death and Resurrection with Author J.M. Hamade, Begins May 15
4 Week class taught online via Zoom
Thursdays May 15 - June 5, 2025
7:30 pm- 9:00 pm ET (NYC time)
$160
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will be recorded for those who cannot attend live
Learn about the soul's afterlife journey and the starry guideposts along the way...
From Ancient Egypt to the Americas and beyond, the afterlife journey of the soul has been mapped by traversals through the night sky and the many starry images found along the way. Countless cultures watched the sky with great attention; not simply for the sake of what we call astronomy today, but as a map of the otherworld, and as a guide for their ancestors and their own soul’s future after death. Just as ancient seafaring cultures used the stars to navigate the unpredictable expanses of the waters, so were the celestial night torches necessary to move intentionally through invisible dimensions. Likewise, for those born with and practiced in the ‘second sight,’ they may learn to walk the starry road before death, and communicate with those already on the journey.
This class will follow the model of the four cardinal directions and, by extension, the solstices, equinoxes and seasons. Each direction relates to one aspect of the otherworldly passage, culminating in the East, or the place of rebirth. We will explore the relevant asterisms, celestial phenomena, and cultural narratives pertaining to this journey. We will also emphasize shared perspectives found across vast swathes of space and time, such as the nearly pan-American notion of the Milky Way as a ‘Ghost Road’ or path of the dead, the Ancient Egyptian solar barque and the realm of the Duat, Orphism, and Daoist ‘Star Stepping,’ all the way to contemporary UFO lore. Each class will also explore methods of practice pertaining to astronomy, astrology, as well as magical formulae meant to assist those on their journey through the otherworld.
J.M. Hamade (starnightdwell) (they/them) is an author, researcher, artist, and educator based in New York City. Their work bridges contemporary creative modalities with archaic forms of knowing. Through practice as well as scholarly investigations their focus has been in the fields of lunar+stellar lore, non-European archeoastrologies, Islamic esotericism, Afro-diaspora traditions, and the dæmonic imagination.
Images: Detail of Creation, William Blake; detail of Nut, Egyptian goddess of the sky in the tomb of Ramses VI
4 Week class taught online via Zoom
Thursdays May 15 - June 5, 2025
7:30 pm- 9:00 pm ET (NYC time)
$160
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will be recorded for those who cannot attend live
Learn about the soul's afterlife journey and the starry guideposts along the way...
From Ancient Egypt to the Americas and beyond, the afterlife journey of the soul has been mapped by traversals through the night sky and the many starry images found along the way. Countless cultures watched the sky with great attention; not simply for the sake of what we call astronomy today, but as a map of the otherworld, and as a guide for their ancestors and their own soul’s future after death. Just as ancient seafaring cultures used the stars to navigate the unpredictable expanses of the waters, so were the celestial night torches necessary to move intentionally through invisible dimensions. Likewise, for those born with and practiced in the ‘second sight,’ they may learn to walk the starry road before death, and communicate with those already on the journey.
This class will follow the model of the four cardinal directions and, by extension, the solstices, equinoxes and seasons. Each direction relates to one aspect of the otherworldly passage, culminating in the East, or the place of rebirth. We will explore the relevant asterisms, celestial phenomena, and cultural narratives pertaining to this journey. We will also emphasize shared perspectives found across vast swathes of space and time, such as the nearly pan-American notion of the Milky Way as a ‘Ghost Road’ or path of the dead, the Ancient Egyptian solar barque and the realm of the Duat, Orphism, and Daoist ‘Star Stepping,’ all the way to contemporary UFO lore. Each class will also explore methods of practice pertaining to astronomy, astrology, as well as magical formulae meant to assist those on their journey through the otherworld.
J.M. Hamade (starnightdwell) (they/them) is an author, researcher, artist, and educator based in New York City. Their work bridges contemporary creative modalities with archaic forms of knowing. Through practice as well as scholarly investigations their focus has been in the fields of lunar+stellar lore, non-European archeoastrologies, Islamic esotericism, Afro-diaspora traditions, and the dæmonic imagination.
Images: Detail of Creation, William Blake; detail of Nut, Egyptian goddess of the sky in the tomb of Ramses VI
4 Week class taught online via Zoom
Thursdays May 15 - June 5, 2025
7:30 pm- 9:00 pm ET (NYC time)
$160
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will be recorded for those who cannot attend live
Learn about the soul's afterlife journey and the starry guideposts along the way...
From Ancient Egypt to the Americas and beyond, the afterlife journey of the soul has been mapped by traversals through the night sky and the many starry images found along the way. Countless cultures watched the sky with great attention; not simply for the sake of what we call astronomy today, but as a map of the otherworld, and as a guide for their ancestors and their own soul’s future after death. Just as ancient seafaring cultures used the stars to navigate the unpredictable expanses of the waters, so were the celestial night torches necessary to move intentionally through invisible dimensions. Likewise, for those born with and practiced in the ‘second sight,’ they may learn to walk the starry road before death, and communicate with those already on the journey.
This class will follow the model of the four cardinal directions and, by extension, the solstices, equinoxes and seasons. Each direction relates to one aspect of the otherworldly passage, culminating in the East, or the place of rebirth. We will explore the relevant asterisms, celestial phenomena, and cultural narratives pertaining to this journey. We will also emphasize shared perspectives found across vast swathes of space and time, such as the nearly pan-American notion of the Milky Way as a ‘Ghost Road’ or path of the dead, the Ancient Egyptian solar barque and the realm of the Duat, Orphism, and Daoist ‘Star Stepping,’ all the way to contemporary UFO lore. Each class will also explore methods of practice pertaining to astronomy, astrology, as well as magical formulae meant to assist those on their journey through the otherworld.
J.M. Hamade (starnightdwell) (they/them) is an author, researcher, artist, and educator based in New York City. Their work bridges contemporary creative modalities with archaic forms of knowing. Through practice as well as scholarly investigations their focus has been in the fields of lunar+stellar lore, non-European archeoastrologies, Islamic esotericism, Afro-diaspora traditions, and the dæmonic imagination.
Images: Detail of Creation, William Blake; detail of Nut, Egyptian goddess of the sky in the tomb of Ramses VI