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Occult Confessions

The Alchemical Actors

Discover the secret history of cults, witches, magicians, conspiracies and the supernatural with occultism scholar Rob C. Thompson. His crew of Alchemical Actors explore life’s mysteries with a blend of research, ritual, and old-fashioned radio drama.

history spirituality

All Episodes

01:10:28

17.1: Constantine

Occult Confessions ·

2022/04/08

Constantine was the first Christian emperor of Rome and established Christianity as a state religion for the first time. Constantine certainly knew about Christianity and was already well on his way to a conversion for personal and political reasons before ascending to the throne. He was a fan of the Christians and saw value in aligning his reign with their God. But his concept of the Christian God may have been based, at least in part, on the Syrain worship of a rock that fell out of the sky.

en-US

01:01:30

16.8: Secret Clones

Occult Confessions ·

2022/03/25

Was Paul McCartney replaced by a doppelganger in 1968? Was Britney Spears replaced by a clone in 1998 or Eminem in 2006? Conspiracy theorists suggest the existence of underground military laboratories where governments and corporations produce clones for various uses, including, apparently, pop music. Have some celebrities been replaced by secret clones? Could you be replaced by your own clone? Find out in this episode.

en-US

00:52:10

16.7: Ukraine's Witches and Demons

Occult Confessions ·

2022/03/11

Nikolai Gogol, considered one of the greatest writers in Russian literature, was born in Ukraine and wrote his first set of stories based on Ukrainian folklore. In this episode, we explore Gogol's witches and demons and discover a treasure trove of Ukrainian folk beliefs along the way. Please donate to https://www.pah.org.pl/en/

en-US

01:07:34

16.6: Parallel Universes

Occult Confessions ·

2022/03/04

The cosmic and quantum worlds are full of mysteries. It's possible that our universe is, in fact, part of a vast multiverse stretching into unknown spaces and times. It's also possible that our universe is one of uncountable universes occupying the exact same space. In this episode, we dip our toes back into the weird overlapping worlds of the quantum and the cosmic in search of parallel universes.

en-US

01:03:33

16.5: Ghost Photographs and Auras

Occult Confessions ·

2022/02/18

Is it possible to take a photograph of the soul? While modern observers often laugh at the so-called spirit photographs taken by William Mumler or the Crewe Circle of William Hope, it is harder to scoff in the face of kerlian photographs of human auras, first discovered by Baron Karl von Reichenbach. Still more challenging are the claims made by French doctor Hippolyte Baraduc who photographed his wife’s spirit as she died.

en-US

01:23:44

16.4: Phantasms of the Living

Occult Confessions ·

2022/02/04

In 1886, Edmund Gurney, Frederic Myers, and Frank Podmore collected and edited over a thousand pages of cases of encounters with these phantoms. As a person was dying or about to get into a carriage accident, suddenly they would appear to a friend the next house over or maybe a thousand miles away. Stories of these phantasmic encounters were carefully researched and verified as far as the authors were able, and when verification was incomplete or impossible they noted it before sharing the

en-US

00:50:26

16.3: Tulpas

Occult Confessions ·

2022/01/21

The tulpa has become a staple of Western popular culture and has even taken a role in New Age occultism through the practice of tulpamancers. Tulpas play a prominent role in David Lynch's Twin Peaks series, appear in the X-Files, and bronies—adult male fans of My Little Pony—have even conjured their own little pony tulpas. The Western tulpa is a kind of imaginary friend brought to life. If it gathers enough of its creator's energy, the creature can, like a golem, take on a life of its own. Much of

en-US

00:34:08

16.2: Omicron and on (Pandemic Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2022/01/14

Rob is joined by our resident pandemic expert Dr. Matt Hatkoff to discuss recent developments surrounding CoVID and the Omicron variant.

en-US

00:47:15

16.1: The Doppelgänger

Occult Confessions ·

2022/01/07

Percy Byshe Shelley was a haunted man. He saw a man who looked just like him walking on the terrace and the man asked how much longer Shelley meant to be content. Days later, he stood screaming over Mary in the middle of the night about a vision of the sea rising into the house. He saw his doppelganger again standing beside Mary and strangling her. Interestingly, Jane Williams—who was staying with the Shelleys along with her husband, Edward—also reported seeing Shelley's double walking past her

en-US

01:04:20

15.8: Catholics Gone Rogue (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2021/12/24

Rob and Luke are joined by two Independent Catholic priests, Siobhan Houston and John Mabry. They discuss what it means to be a Catholic outside the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and how independent Catholicism has incorporated Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Eastern traditions into its rituals and practices.

en-US

01:08:10

15.7: Orgone and Orgasm

Occult Confessions ·

2021/12/10

Wilhelm Reich was a student of Sigmund Freud's who went on to develop views on human sexuality—views that questioned prohibitions against contraception and sex education and wondered over the longterm sustainability of monogamous relationships—that scandalized society. He escaped the Nazis and fled to America only to be imprisoned by the FBI, hounded by Immigration services, and ultimately persecuted by the Food and Drug Administration for his vitalist theories on the existence of an ether-like

en-US

01:14:17

15.6: Sex Worship

Occult Confessions ·

2021/11/26

Is the root of all religions the worship of penises and vaginas? Nineteenth-century writer and Rosicrucian-enthusiast Hargrave Jennings thought so. He said that the worship of the reproductive powers is prehistoric and at the secret origin of all of the world's religions. Eggs and palm fronds at Easter, the Hindu lingam, pagan and Judaic pillars, the Ark of the Covenant, and the cross itself are all signs of the cult of the yoni and phallus.

en-US

01:13:39

15.5: Casanova

Occult Confessions ·

2021/11/12

On 25 July 1755, Giacomo Casanova—arguably the most famous libertine in Western history—was arrested for possession of illicit literature. Among the books authorities confiscated from his house were the Key of Solomon, the Zohar, and the devil-conjuring Picatrix. Early in his life, Casanova had attempted to enter the priesthood and he knew enough of Kabbalah to convince a senator and three of his occult-inclined friends that he possessed a secret numerological formula. And yet, in his autobiography,

en-US

00:22:39

15.4: Mystery Magic Theatre: Return of the Crab Shell...

Occult Confessions ·

2021/10/31

The exciting conclusion of Church Secrets conflict with the Girl with the Crab Shell Tattoo featuring segments from Borderline Crime, Woah Drama, Sunrise Wellness, Get it Girl, and Church Secrets.

en-US

01:16:17

15.3: Christian Celibacy

Occult Confessions ·

2021/10/29

Some scholars who think about the history of Christendom link the notion that sex is sinful or dangerous for the soul to the fact that almost all Christian religious leaders in Europe from about the fifth century until the Reformation were celibate or at least paid lip service to practicing celibacy. If sex is good, why wouldn't priests allow themselves to marry and procreate? There must be something uniquely holy about depriving onself of sex which then implies that there must be something sinful

en-US

01:01:14

15.2: Tantra (Part 2: America)

Occult Confessions ·

2021/10/15

We pick up our discussion of tantra by following it across the ocean from India to America. American tantra came to focus specifically on sex. It inspired the founders of the Ordo Templi Orientis, which would go on to become a home for Aleister Crowley, Pierre Bernard’s various tantric yoga and healing orders and schools, and the Wiccan pioneers Gavin and Yvonne Frost. Tantra also became a direct import with Tibetan and Indian gurus fleeing oppression or prosecution to start over in America.

en-US

00:50:38

15.1: Tantra (Part 1: Asia)

Occult Confessions ·

2021/10/01

Geoffrey Samuel loosely defines tantra as the ritual practices and tradition, within both Buddhist and Hindu Saiva sources, “that present themselves as sophisticated and elevated means for the attainment of exalted spiritual goals, yet contain constant reference to practices that seem deliberately transgressive and bizarre.” These include orgies at crematoriums, cannibalism, creating instruments out of human body parts, and having sex on top of corpses. Historically, tantric practices were

en-US

01:06:30

14.11: Fringe Psychology (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2021/09/17

Rob is joined by prison psychologists Dr. David Morelos and Dr. Jessica Micono of the Psychology After Dark podcast. They talk about what psychologists consider fringe today, when a belief becomes pathological, the place of parapsychology in modern psychology, and how new approaches to consciousness might revolutionize the field.

en-US

00:02:30

Back into the Dark Pool

Occult Confessions ·

2021/09/14

Rob and the gang are back with the second season of their semi-fictional occult exploration: The Dark Pool. This season, an esoteric grimoire provides the blueprint for a journey into another dimension. Listen wherever you get Occult Confessions.

en-US

01:09:40

14.10: Satanism and Politics (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2021/09/10

In this episode, Rob is joined by Daniel Walker and Simone Lasher of San Francisco's Satanic Bay Area and the Black Mass Appeal Podcast. They talk about the meaning of satan through history and why conspiracy theorists have chosen satan as the mascot for their so-called liberal elite. Why is satan associated with liberal ideals? Is satan necessarily anti-conservative?

en-US

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