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PODCAST

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

01:17:25

9.8: Campfire Confessional Volume 2 (Backyard...

Occult Confessions ·

2020/05/08

In the second installment of our campfire series, we share stories and topics suggested by listeners as well as two occult book reviews. Join us for Icelandic werewolves, a furby sacrifice, a nightmare hag, transgender occultism, mechanical birds, and more.

en-US

00:53:20

9.7: The Plagues of Egypt (Pandemic Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2020/04/17

In the last of our special series on plagues and religion, Rob discusses the ten plagues of Egypt. What hidden meanings exist in the story of the plagues and the way the narrative is structured? Is there any scientific basis for the way the plague narrative unfolds? And why did God harden Pharaoh's heart?

en-US

00:56:32

9.6: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Occult Confessions ·

2020/04/10

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is one of the most dangerous books of the twentieth century. It inspired pogroms in Russia, Nazis in Germany, and anti-Semitism across the Western world. The Protocols fed a variety of conspiracy theories pulling together religious, occult, and illuminati themes. In this episode, we explore the influence of the Protocols from the last days of the Romanovs to George Soros.

en-US

00:54:35

9.5: Julian and the Black Death (Pandemic Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2020/04/02

Julian of Norwich lived through the black death, ensuing riots, the Western Schism, and the persecution of a variety of heretical movements by the medieval Church. During a near-death experience, Julian had a mystical vision in which she discovered that God is not wrathful but loving and that sin is both necessary and an illusion.

en-US

01:22:40

9.4: The Rosicrucians

Occult Confessions ·

2020/03/27

The Rosicrucians began in Renaissance Germany as a secret order that was so secret it didn't have any members. Despite the order's lack of membership, the French pursued alleged Rosicrucians and burned them like witches. New organizations calling themselves Rosicrucian emerged in the eighteenth century to preserve mystery and symbol within a Protestant context. And in the twentieth century, the AMORC resurrected the Rosicrucians again as an ancient monotheistic order seeking the link between all

en-US

01:18:05

9.3: Plague and Pandemic (Special Episode)

Occult Confessions ·

2020/03/19

In the face of coronavirus or CoVID-19, Rob meets up with Dr. Matt Hatkoff, microbiologist and expert on the plague. Rob and Matt talk about three major pandemics that stretch across human history and compare them to our current situation with corona. Smallpox, the Bubonic Plague, and Cholera have all made significant impacts on human history and culture. What can we learn from history's plagues that can help us approach our current situation?

en-US

01:21:05

9.2: Templars on Trial

Occult Confessions ·

2020/03/13

On 13 October, 1307 France's Knights Templar were summarily arrested in a grand coordinated effort. They were accused of defiling the cross, worshipping false idols, and performing sinful sexual acts. In this episode, we uncover the French King's plot against the Templars, the satanic conspiracy that has dogged their reputation through the centuries, and their ties to the Holy Grail. Also, the Pope gets slapped.

en-US

01:17:00

9.1: Black Magic Illuminati

Occult Confessions ·

2020/02/28

Nesta Helen Webster is one of the originators of modern Illuminati conspiracy theory. She argued that there was a continuous line of anarchist black magicians running from the Gnostics to the Bogomils to the Knights Templar, medieval witches, Rosicrucians, and Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Illuminati. Our exploration of Webster starts our ninth series in which we ask whether or not there is a long-standing occult conspiracy to control or otherwise manipulate the world's population.

en-US

01:13:42

8.9: A Digital Doomsday Cult

Occult Confessions ·

2020/02/14

Sherry Shriner ran one of the most infamous internet cults to date. She propagated theories of soul scalping using snakes, celebrity vampires, British royalty crossing animals with people, and the anti-christ. Her views inspired at least one homicide and at least one suicide with the cult leader becoming directly involved with the victims.

en-US

01:02:33

8.8: Cargo Cults

Occult Confessions ·

2020/01/31

From the nineteenth century through World War Two, white colonizers and occupiers sought to convert the people of Papua New Guinea and the islands of Vanuatu and press them into forced labor on plantations. These efforts resulted in mass death. Visions of liberation from the whites and then the Japanese Army took shape in what have come to be called Cargo Cults. Believers gave up working for the occupiers and paying taxes and awaited the imminent arrival of a ship carrying the spirits of their

en-US

01:22:11

8.7: Extraterrestrial Armageddon

Occult Confessions ·

2020/01/17

Do aliens from outer space bookend human history? Were we planted here on earth by visitors in UFOs and will they come again to bring about an apocalyptic paradigm shift? In this episode, we trace the history of the Raelian movement and the theory that extraterrestrials can account for the events in the Bible as well as ancient mythology.

en-US

01:02:51

8.6: Nikola Tesla's Death Ray

Occult Confessions ·

2020/01/03

Did Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current and one of the most important thinkers of the nineteenth-century, create plans for a death ray or particle beam peacemaker that would put an end to all warfare.

en-US

01:05:00

8.5: Campfire Confessional Volume I

Occult Confessions ·

2019/12/20

In our first Campfire Confessional, we respond to listener questions and tell stories submitted by listeners including tales of bee demons, haunted houses, werewolf corpses, sigils, and mechanical birds.

en-US

01:11:25

8.4: Sex and the Second Coming

Occult Confessions ·

2019/12/06

In Western New York's "burned over district" a series of religious movements rose up with apocalyptic visions. In this episode, we discuss two post-apocalyptic groups: the Shakers or Shaking Quakers, led by Mother Ann Lee, and the Perfectionists at the Oneida Community led by John Humphrey Noyes. Both believed that Christ's Second Coming had already happened and both argued for a complete overhaul of the way human beings had or didn't have sex.

en-US

01:20:33

8.3: Rapture and Revelation

Occult Confessions ·

2019/11/22

The concept of a rapture is a relatively recent idea although a time of evil, destruction, and tribulation is as old as John's Revelation. In this episode, we trace theories of rapture, tribulation, the anti-Christ, and the judgment from John the Revelator to the present day.

en-US

01:05:01

8.2: Kali the Demon Slayer

Occult Confessions ·

2019/11/08

Kali is one of the most notorious of the Hindu pantheon. As the unamiable consort of Siva, she needs to be calmed by her husband to keep from destroying the world. Christian missionaries accused her of encouraging human sacrifice, but her real mission was the destruction of the demons that hold humanity back from enlightenment. For this reason, Kali has become a key figure in Tantric worship. What makes Kali so fascinating and what does she have to teach us about staving off apocalypse?

en-US

01:07:48

8.1: Mayan Apocalypse 2012

Occult Confessions ·

2019/10/25

Did the Mayan calendar end on December 21, 2012? And if it did, so what? Conspiracy theorists predicted a NASA-inspired plot or grand revelation produced by crystal skulls. New Agers believed that the ancient Mayans were actually extra terrestrials with a plan for a re-harmonization of the earth. But actual Mayans weighed in with their own theories, revealing a deeper message behind the 2012 phenomenon.

en-US

00:57:35

7.7: Chinese Traditional Medicine

Occult Confessions ·

2019/10/11

How is Chinese Traditional Medicine a form of spiritual healing? We work our way through the yin and yang theory, organs, disorders, and the divine penetrating illumination as we try and make sense of how and why this ancient practice works for modern patients.

en-US

01:00:48

7.6: American Mind Cure

Occult Confessions ·

2019/09/27

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was one of the first American healers to come up with the idea that disease was a mental phenomenon that could be cured using the mind. Mary Baker Eddy incorporated scripture into the process with her own spiritualized version of this theory. And Therapeutic Touch brought these ideas back into a secular context. In this episode, we discuss the American Mind Cure and Rob gives a demonstration of Spiritualist laying-on-of-hands healing.

en-US

01:17:02

7.5: Exorcism

Occult Confessions ·

2019/09/13

If the demon is the disease then exorcism is the cure. The rite was most popular in the Roman Empire and again during the rise of Protestantism and it persists into the twenty-first century. How did exorcism change from the reign of Constantine to medieval Europe to Anna Ecklund in Iowa in 1928?

en-US

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