Upcoming Events & Programs
View the upcoming Spring 2025 Brochure here: 
Link to the 2025 Spring Program Brochure in PDF format
Wednesday, April 30, 2–6 PM Central
St. Walpurga's Night Celebration
St. Walpurga's Night, celebrated on April 30, is a magical night that bridges on the transition from winter's lingering shadows to the vibrancy of spring. 

Rooted in European folklore and traditions, it is often associated with warding off malevolent spirits and celebrating the triumph of light over darkness. Bonfires are lit across hilltops to dispel the forces of the night, symbolizing renewal and protection. 

This festival also honors Saint Walpurga, a figure tied to safeguarding against witchcraft and evil. Today, Walpurgisnacht blends historical, spiritual, and seasonal elements, embracing the renewal of life and the victory of warmth and light over the cold. 

Location: Swedenborg Library, 77 W. Washington St., 17th floor
Date/Time: Wednesday, April 30, 2–6 PM Central.
Zoom Program, Part 2 of our series on the Apostle Paul - Date TBD
Paul Through the Glass Darkly: Curating the Apostle–Self-Perception and the Optics of Conversion, with Dell Rose

Accounting for more than half of the New Testament, the letters of Paul remain some of the most influential writings ever. Yet their familiarity also masks their strangeness.
   Join us as Dell discusses Paul and his rhetorical strategies, examining their context in the first century world. As Christianity's most important articulator, we will discuss Paul's motivations and reasons for lasting success. 

(Suggested reading: Matthew Sharp, Divination and Philosophy in the Letters of St. Paul, ©2024 available on loan from the Swedenborg Library.)

Zoom Info:
Meeting Room ID 558 403 3057
Password: Swedenborg
Date/Time: TBD
In-house & Zoom: Wednesday, May 7, 6 PM Central
A New Swedenborg: Deguchi Onisaburo, Swedenborg & the Quest for a New Kingdom in Manchuria with Dell Rose. 
"Emanuel Swedenborg was the greatest theologian of all time," wrote Deguchi Saburo, the flamboyant co-founder of the Omoto faith and one of the most significant figures in modern Japanese history. Onisaburo was a promoter of a form of 'Shinto Universalism.' He sought to inform the world of the realm of the gods. When He began to read Swedenborg in the late 1890s, Onisaburo found a kindred spirit in the Swedish seer, and utilized many of Swedenborg's concepts in defining his own cosmology. 

Deguchi used Swedenborg's depictions of Tartary as the bases for an attempted theocratic coup in 20th century Manchuria. This tale is stranger that fiction! 

Location: Swedenborg Library, 77 W. Washington St. (at Clark), 17th floor
Date/Time: Wednesday, May 7, 6 PM Central
Fee: Donations accepted

Zoom Info:
Meeting room: 558 403 3057
Password: Swedenborg

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Zoom: Thursday May 15, 6 PM Central
The Language of Angels: Japanese Engagement with Swedenborg in the Quest for a Universal Language with Dr. Avery Morrow
The notion of a "language of the gods" had fascinated Japanese intellectuals for centuries, and the concept gained exceptional prominence in the nationalist culture of the Meiji-period, continuing into the Showa. 

In the search for this universal language, several major Japanese occultists found inspiration in Swedenborg's discussion of the language of angels, and sought to wed these ideas to their own nationalist and occult projects. Linguistics, after chemistry, might rightly be called the first esoteric science, and Japan gives us another testament to the attempt to discover a universal essence of communication. 

Dr. Avery Morrow is a Japanologiest and scholar of religion, with interests in Japanese esotericism, 'gush, or 'alternate history,' and its role in directing Japanese culture. He is author of "The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan: Lost Chronicle of the Age of the Gods," which introduced readers to the genre of prehistory, providing many salient comparisons with European esoteric traditions. 

Zoom Info:
Meeting room: 558 403 3057
Password: Swedenborg

Download Zoom free to join meetings at Zoom.com