Creative Codex

At this moment, strewn across the world, there exist over 7,200 pages of Leonardo da Vinci's notes. These pages are not only echoes of a distant past–embodying the inquisitive spirit of the Renaissance–according to scholars and historians they represent the 'greatest record of curiosity ever created'. Join me for this special two part series, as we dive into the thoughts, artwork, and paradoxes of Leonardo da Vinci's mind. A mind whose brilliance is exteriorized for us on the pages of these manuscripts.  Visit the companion gallery for this episode here: https://mjdorian.com/notebooks/ --------- Research & Resources: • The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, edited by Edward MacCurdy (Definitive Edition in One Volume). • Leonardo: The Complete Drawings, published by Taschen. • The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari • Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson. --------- Support Creative Codex on my Patreon and get access to exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series and all the Episode Exclusives: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian --------- Listen to episode 2 of Creative Codex for more about Leonardo da Vinci's personal life. Available in the main podcast feed, titled: '2: Leonardo da Vinci's Secret'. --------- Thank you to my Dream Maker tier! Executive Producer: Mike Hill --------- Thank-you's & 'shout outs' to the Shadow Fam! Shadow-Fam: AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Carmella Cole, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas O’Kelly, DVM, Geo_H, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Janet Roccanova, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jennifer Wilson, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kirsten Dressler, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Maurus Fitze, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rachulan, Rachel Schultz, Rebecca, Robert, Ruben Corona, Sigitas Treciokas, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Hariharan, Stephanie Neal, Tim Sussss, Terry W, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support! --------- Connect with me on social media for all the newest updates: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian --------- All music written & produced by MJDorian. With one exception: Amadeus Mozart's Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem plays from 8:50-11:30. Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian. All rights reserved.

This is a Guided Meditation episode about one of the most perplexing aspects of creativity: Intuition. What is it and how do we engage it more effectively? This meditation is based on a technique I've been developing called: Intuition Mapping. Grab a cup of coffee / tea, and give this guided meditation a test drive to see what compulsions are pushing and pulling you. Some helpful notes: • Motivations push you. Intentions direct you. Intuitions pull you. • To find your motivations ask: what is pushing you? • To find your intentions ask: what are you pushing yourself toward? • To find your intuitions ask: what is pulling you? What is gently tugging at the fabric of your being? • Intuitions often feel like something is pulling your neural network toward a certain direction, it’s a feeling to move in a certain direction. One which you often can’t always explain with logic. --------- Become a patron of the show on my Patreon and gain access gain access to exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series, Creativity Tips, and all the Episode  Exclusives: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian --------- Connect with me on social media for all the newest updates: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian ---------- Cover Art: Hesiod & The Muse (1891) by Gustave Moreau ---------- Written & Produced by MJDorian. All rights reserved.

Leonor Fini did not limit art to the confines of the frame, for her, it spilled out into all of life itself. Every year, Fini and her two lovers, Stanislao & Kot, would host soirees at an abandoned monastery on the island of Corsica. If you were invited, it meant you were part of her inner circle. The only requirement was: come dressed in a mask and costume–the more elaborate, the better.Join me on a masquerade through Fini's imagination. Along the way we will witness a battle of wits between Dalí and Fini, we will also appreciate selected artworks from Fini’s mid-to-late career and interview Lissa Rivera, the curator for the first Leonor Fini retrospective exhibition in the USA.View the Companion Gallery for this episode: https://mjdorian.com/fini/(This is Part 2 of the Leonor Fini series, you can find Part 1 by scrolling down to Episode 30 in your podcast feed.)Learn more about Lissa Rivera (Photographer / Curator): Website: http://www.lissarivera.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lissa_rivera_/Follow Emily Simone (violinist on Codex 30 & 31):https://www.emilysimone.com/abouthttps://www.instagram.com/EMILYSIMONEMUSIC/Support Creative Codex on my Patreon and get access to exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series and all the Episode Exclusives: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian---------Resources used for research on this episode:Books• Sphinx: The Life and Art of Leonor Fini by Peter Webb• Rogomelec by Leonor Fini• Interview with the Muse by Nina Winter• Leonor Fini: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings by Richard Overstreet & Neil ZukermanPodcast• Les grandes dame de l'art, Episode 8: Leonor Fini---------Credits...---------Thank you to my Dream Maker tier!Executive Producer: Mike Hill---------Thank-you's & 'shout outs' to the Shadow Fam!Shadow-Fam: AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Carmella Cole, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas O’Kelly, DVM, Geo_H, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kirsten Dressler, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Maurus Fitze, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rachel Schultz, Rebecca, Robert, Ruben Corona, Sigitas Treciokas, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Hariharan, Stephanie Neal, Terry W, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support!---------Connect with me on social media for all the newest updates:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian---------Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.All rights reserved.

Leonor Fini was one of the most prolific and mysterious artists of the 20th century. Her career spans an impressive 67 years, she completed over 1,100 oil paintings, and her art was featured in over 350 international gallery exhibitions during her lifetime. Yet she is virtually unknown to us today. Her art and career are shrouded with the mystery of a sphinx's riddle. This is the story of Leonor Fini, one of the 20th century's great creative geniuses. Visit the companion gallery for this episode: https://mjdorian.com/fini/ --------- If you'd like to become a supporter of Creative Codex and listen to my Kurt Cobain series, head over to: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian --------- Violin performed by Emily Simone Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilysimonemusic/ --------- Big thank you to my Shadow-Fam supporters: AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas O’Kelly, DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kristina Lamour  Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rebecca, Robert, Ruben Corona, Sigitas Treciokas, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Hariharan, Stephanie Neal, Terry W, Viggs Verikas, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support! --------- Let's connect... Instagram: @mjdorian Twitter: @mjdorian --------- All music written & produced by MJDorian Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian All Rights Reserved

Why make art during times of turmoil? Why make art in times of war? Why should you even be creative when it feels like the world is burning? In this minisode, we explore the reason why we need art to help us transcend our darkest times. --------- Cover Art: Photograph by Joseph Eid, 2017. The man pictured is Mohammed Anis, a civilian in Aleppo, Syria. He sits on his bed, with a pipe in his hand, listening to a vinyl record on his gramophone–surrounded by the bombed wreckage of his home. --------- Listen to the 20th century masterpiece featured in this episode, Quartet for the End of Time by Oliver Messiaen, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2hbwINj7dE --------- If you’d like to offer any support to an organization working to provide humanitarian assistance in war-torn countries, I recommend UNICEF.  This is the United Nations Children’s Fund. They provide relief to children and families in over 190 countries and territories. With food, immunization, and safe drinking water. Places where families have been displaced or torn apart by war. Including Ukraine, Syria, Africa, and many others.  UNICEF is not a paid sponsor of this show, I’m just sharing this with you because I’ve donated to them and I support their work. They’re a non-profit organization, with an impressive 88% of donated funds going toward the charity work they do. Follow this link to donate: https://www.unicef.org/ --------- Follow my work & see updates about future episodes on my social media: Instagram: @mjdorian Twitter: @mjdorian --------- Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian All rights reserved.

On this episode, we will conclusively answer this question: why was Gnosticism so important to Dr. Carl Jung?Along the way, we will dive deep into Sermons 5 thru 7 to answer these questions: what is the relationship between spirituality and sexuality? How does Jung's libido theory differ from Freud's libido theory? What is the significance of the dove and the serpent in religious symbolism? According to the Seven Sermons to the Dead: what is the goal of life?As mentioned in the episode–here is Jung's mysterious anagram–which is found on the bottom of the final page of the Seven Sermons to the Dead:NAHTRIHECCUNDEGAHINNEVERAHTUNINZEHGESSURKLACHZUNNUS.---------Become a supporter of Creative Codex and gain access to all the exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series, on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian---------A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://mjdorian.com/transcripts/---------Cover Art: Dove & Serpent by MJDorian. Follow more of my art here: Instagram: @mjdorian---------Books used as sources for this episode:Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Dr. Carl Jung & Anielle JaffeThe Red Book by Dr. Carl JungThe Gnostic Scriptures by Bentley LaytonThe Gnostic Jung by Stephan HoellerThe Gnostic Jung by Robert A. Segaland Psychology of the Unconscious by Dr. Carl JungFor a practical application of Jungian Psychology, the author, Robert Johnson, has written numerous books. The one mentioned in the conclusion of this episode: Inner Work.---------Follow my work & see updates about future episodes on my social media:Instagram: @mjdorianTwitter: @mjdorian---------Thank you to all of my Patreon supporters. And shout-outs to the Shadow Fam:AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas Okelly, Diana, DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kristina Lamour  Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rebecca, Ruben Corona,  Simon Bonanno, Sowmya  Harigaran, Stephanie Neal, Viggs Verikas, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support!---------Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.All rights reserved.

When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, in 1933, one of their first goals was to reshape culture by force. The Nazis organized book burnings, stormed artist studios, confiscating work they disagreed with, and fired contemporary artists from teaching positions in universities. The goal was to place limits on human expression–an ominous display for what was to come.  Visit the companion gallery for this episode here: https://mjdorian.com/dangerous/  The celebrated 1800's German poet, Heinrich Heine, wrote: "where books are burned, there too, people will burn."  On this episode, we explore the Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937, otherwise known as Entartete Kunst. The intended goal of the exhibit was to insult and ridicule the featured artists and kill modern art. Making it clearly known to the German public that the Nazi Party was forbidding any form of abstraction in painting, film, sculpture, or music.   The suppression or censorship of art is a symptom that something is desperately wrong in the cultural fabric of a society. What happened to the artists featured in the exhibition? Did they continue making art? Did they flee or stay and protest? Why is art so dangerous?  ---------  Artists featured in this episode: Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, and Conrad Felixmüller. Explore their work in this special companion gallery I put together: https://mjdorian.com/dangerous/  ---------  If you'd like to become a supporter of CREATIVE CODEX, and obtain access to all the exclusive content, such as the Kurt Cobain series and all the Creativity Tip episodes, head on over to: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian  ---------  All music in this episode was produced & composed by MJDorian.  ---------  Creative Codex is written and produced by MJDorian.  More info here: https://mjdorian.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/creativecodex

In 1916, Dr. Carl Jung wrote his most mystifying work: The Seven Sermons to the Dead. In this episode, we continue our quest to understand it the way Jung understood it, exploring Sermons 3 & 4. We will attempt to answer these questions: Who is Abraxas? Why is he a god above gods? Who is Basilides? Why does Jung credit him as the writer of the Seven Sermons? And what leads Jung to have this creative breakthrough? Does it come from a point of inner turmoil or inspired grace? It’s time we find out.  ----------  Cover Artwork: Abraxas Exegesis by MJDorian. More illustrations & art here: https://mjdorian.com/art/ ----------  Listen to the new Limited Release series episode: 'Kurt Cobain • I'm Not Like Them' on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian  Hear a preview of the episode in the mid-point intermission of episode 28, Seven Sermons (Part II).  ----------  A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://mjdorian.com/transcripts/ ---------- Big Thank you to my Patreon supporters!  Shout out to the Shadow Fam: AKD, Aneudy Valerio, Anna Wolff, Barak Talker, Corey, Clark Price, Dallas Okelly, DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, John Bergmans, Jye Marchant, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rebecca, Ruben Corona,  Sowmya Harigaran, Stephanie Neal, Tess Callahan, Viggs Verikas, Yadie Cisneros, and Zuko's World. Thank you for your support!  ---------  Creative Codex YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CreativeCodex  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/  Want to buy me coffee? Head over to Venmo and search @creativecodex in businesses. This show runs on 100% Arabica beans. Thank you for your support! Also accepting crypto donations, just reach out to me on Instagram: @mjdorian Thank you!  ----------  Resources:  The Red Book: by Carl Jung Memories, Dreams, Reflections: by Carl Jung and Aniella Jaffe  The Gnostic Scriptures: by Bentley Layton  The Gnostic Jung: Stephan Hoeller  ----------  Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.  All music written by MJDorian.

This is a special Video Bonus episode of Creative Codex! Our show has been selected by Spotify to showcase the new video options for podcasters on Spotify. If you dig it, please share it with someone! (The video playback is currently only supported on Spotify.) ( This video bonus first appeared on the Creative Codex Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9xwt3hz49VBbgqN80driTQ ) --------- Info: Our story begins in the late 1800's, with one of history's most beloved artists: Vincent van Gogh. In between bouts of debilitating psychotic episodes, Vincent paints 141 masterful paintings during his yearlong stay in St. Paul's mental asylum. All of these 141 paintings are made while he is of 'sound' mind... except one.   This is a special video episode about that self portrait. Is it the most disturbing painting of all time? Let's find out. If you'd like to become a Patron of Creative Codex, and receive immediate access to all of our Creativity Tip mini-episodes as well as the Episode Exclusives, head over to my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian  Here is an article about the conclusive attribution of this painting to Vincent van Gogh: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/van...  --------- CREATIVE CODEX is written & produced by MJDorian.  Find out more about my work on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/ Or visit my site: https://mjdorian.com/

In 1916, Dr. Carl Jung experienced a strange phenomenon that possessed him with tremendous creative force. The experience inspired him to write a philosophical & psychological scripture he called: The Seven Sermons to the Dead.  This is Jung's most mystifying work. It appears in the final chapter of The Red Book, and it embodies the culmination of Jung's numinous inner explorations from 1913 - 1916. On this special episode, we will dive deep into Sermons One and Two, to attempt to understand this rare creative work the way that Jung understood it. Along the way we will delve into Gnostic scriptures which likely inspired Jung, explore key Jungian theories which are embodied in the Seven Sermons, and try to understand the larger significance of this esoteric literary work. ---------- Cover Artwork: Tree of Life by Carl Jung. ---------- A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://mjdorian.com/transcripts/ ---------- Find Episode Exclusives and Patron-Only minisodes on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian The Episode Exclusive from this episode explores the personal letters between Freud and Jung leading up to their split in 1913. In addition, Patrons have access to all of the Creativity Tip episodes as well as new full length episodes of Creative Codex; part of our Limited Release series. The first creative genius coming to the new Limited Release series this December: Kurt Cobain. Big Thank you to my Patreon supporters! Shout out to the Shadow Fam: Aneudy Valerio, Barak Talker, Corey, Dallas Okelly, Daniel V., DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jimmy D, John Bergmans, Jye Marchant, Karina Hurenkamp-Alvarenga, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Ruben Corona, Sasta Kuppan, Sowmya Harigaran, Tess Callahan, Thivai Abhor, Viggs Verikas, Yadie Cisneros, and Zuko's World. Thank you for your support! --------- Creative Codex YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CreativeCodex Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/ Want to buy me coffee? Head over to Venmo and search @creativecodex in businesses. This show runs on 100% Arabica beans. Thank you for your support! ---------- Resources:  Memories, Dreams, Reflections: by Carl Jung and Aniella Jaffe  The Red Book: by Carl Jung The Gnostic Scriptures: by Bentley Layton ---------- Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian. All music written by MJDorian.