What happens to spirituality when belief in traditional religion falls away? Can ritual, mysticism, awe, contemplation, divination, sacred stories and experiences of transcendence still have value without requiring supernatural explanations?
Britt Hartley is a religious deconstruction educator, author, and atheist spiritual director who helps people rebuild meaning, identity, and family culture after faith. She is the author of No Nonsense Spirituality and a doctoral student whose work explores existential crisis, secular spirituality, and life beyond traditional religion.
In this livestream, we will explore Britt’s concept of secular spirituality and her attempt to navigate a fascinating middle ground between organised religion, atheistic scepticism and contemporary alternative spirituality. We will discuss religious deconstruction, nihilism, meaning-making, mysticism, ritual and the psychology of spiritual experience, as well as the question of whether practices traditionally associated with religion and the occult can remain meaningful when their supernatural interpretations are suspended.
We will also venture into some particularly interesting territory for Angela’s Symposium: astrology, Tarot, psychedelics, intuition, altered states of consciousness, the Divine Feminine, cognitive bias, the relationship between mystical experience and metaphysical claims, and Britt’s distinction between useful spiritual tools and what she describes as “woo”.
Can we take spiritual experiences seriously without assuming that our interpretation of them reveals an objective supernatural reality? What might an intellectually sceptical but experientially rich spirituality look like? And as institutional religion declines in many Western societies, what might take its place?
MY COURSES https://drangelapuca.com/courses
WEBSITE https://www.drangelapuca.com/
BOOK A TUTORING OR A LECTURE https://drangelapuca.com/services
SUBSTACK ️ https://substack.com/@drangelapuca
BECOME MY PATRON! https://www.patreon.com/angelapuca
SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ️https://ko-fi.com/drangelapuca
ONE-OFF DONATIONS https://paypal.me/angelasymposium
JOIN MEMBERSHIPS https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSbip_LX2AxbGeAQfLp-Ig/join
MY PODCAST https://open.spotify.com/show/2TKoWTGe6OKRokHN2zUIxM?si=dd9f50a734b14f86
MY MERCH https://drangelapuca.creator-spring.com/
FOLLOW ME
– YouTube (@drangelapuca)
– SUBSTACK https://substack.com/@drangelapuca
– Instagram (@drangelapuca)
– TikTok (@drangelapuca)
– Twitter (@angelapuca11)
– Facebook (Dr Angela Puca)
RECOMMENDED READINGS
REFERENCES
(Check the related slide on screen)
MY SET-UP ️
– Canon 90D camera https://amzn.to/3yQclh0
– Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 https://amzn.to/3JjU1BS
– Teleprompter ️ https://amzn.to/3linWCB
– Shure SM7B Microphone ️ https://amzn.to/3Jm5IYK
– Microphone stand https://amzn.to/3FueJOn
– Lights https://amzn.to/3Zdk8k1
– DJI Wireless microphones https://amzn.to/3NWAVVQ
️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ️
Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!
Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5768951004397568
Published on August 18, 2026
What happens to spirituality when belief in traditional religion falls away? Can ritual, mysticism, awe, contemplation, divination, sacred stories and experiences of transcendence still have value without requiring supernatural explanations?
Britt Hartley is a religious deconstruction educator, author, and atheist spiritual director who helps people rebuild meaning, identity, and family culture after faith. She is the author of No Nonsense Spirituality and a doctoral student whose work explores existential crisis, secular spirituality, and life beyond traditional religion.
In this livestream, we will explore Britt’s concept of secular spirituality and her attempt to navigate a fascinating middle ground between organised religion, atheistic scepticism and contemporary alternative spirituality. We will discuss religious deconstruction, nihilism, meaning-making, mysticism, ritual and the psychology of spiritual experience, as well as the question of whether practices traditionally associated with religion and the occult can remain meaningful when their supernatural interpretations are suspended.
We will also venture into some particularly interesting territory for Angela’s Symposium: astrology, Tarot, psychedelics, intuition, altered states of consciousness, the Divine Feminine, cognitive bias, the relationship between mystical experience and metaphysical claims, and Britt’s distinction between useful spiritual tools and what she describes as “woo”.
Can we take spiritual experiences seriously without assuming that our interpretation of them reveals an objective supernatural reality? What might an intellectually sceptical but experientially rich spirituality look like? And as institutional religion declines in many Western societies, what might take its place?
MY COURSES https://drangelapuca.com/courses
WEBSITE https://www.drangelapuca.com/
BOOK A TUTORING OR A LECTURE https://drangelapuca.com/services
SUBSTACK ️ https://substack.com/@drangelapuca
BECOME MY PATRON! https://www.patreon.com/angelapuca
SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ️https://ko-fi.com/drangelapuca
ONE-OFF DONATIONS https://paypal.me/angelasymposium
JOIN MEMBERSHIPS https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSbip_LX2AxbGeAQfLp-Ig/join
MY PODCAST https://open.spotify.com/show/2TKoWTGe6OKRokHN2zUIxM?si=dd9f50a734b14f86
MY MERCH https://drangelapuca.creator-spring.com/
FOLLOW ME
– YouTube (@drangelapuca)
– SUBSTACK https://substack.com/@drangelapuca
– Instagram (@drangelapuca)
– TikTok (@drangelapuca)
– Twitter (@angelapuca11)
– Facebook (Dr Angela Puca)
RECOMMENDED READINGS
REFERENCES
(Check the related slide on screen)
MY SET-UP ️
– Canon 90D camera https://amzn.to/3yQclh0
– Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 https://amzn.to/3JjU1BS
– Teleprompter ️ https://amzn.to/3linWCB
– Shure SM7B Microphone ️ https://amzn.to/3Jm5IYK
– Microphone stand https://amzn.to/3FueJOn
– Lights https://amzn.to/3Zdk8k1
– DJI Wireless microphones https://amzn.to/3NWAVVQ
️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ️
Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!
Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5768951004397568
Published on
