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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

01:13:42

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

01:07:08

7.4: Demonology

Occult Confessions ·

2019/08/30

From ancient Bablyon to the Occult Revival, occultists have categorized demons and created formulae for their invocation and control. We follow the long thread of this tradition through the Book of Tobit, The Book of Enoch, the Testament of Solomon, and the Lesser Key of Solomon.

en-US

01:12:02

7.3: Jesus of Nazareth, Miracle Healer

Occult Confessions ·

2019/08/16

At the time the gospels were written, enemies of the early Christians circulated anti-gospels arguing that Jesus was a black magician. In fact, Jesus fell into the category of a divine or holy man who healed through an innate ability. Jesus was one of a host of healers circulating around the Roman Empire during this time period. What made him stand out from the crowd and why did he become the founder of the world's largest mainstream religious tradition?

en-US

00:56:55

7.2: DMT, Space Mushrooms, and Machine Elves

Occult Confessions ·

2019/08/02

Terence McKenna was a pioneer of the Psychonaut community--utilizing psychedelic drugs to induce deep explorations on planes of being occupied by mysterious beings. In this episode, we discuss the science and culture of extraterrestrial mushrooms, stoned apes, and Machine Elves.

en-US

00:56:36

7.1: Shamans and the Spirit Cure

Occult Confessions ·

2019/07/19

How does belief shape the power of medicine? Tribal shamans among the Native Americans, Inuit, Hmong, and throughout the world demonstrate effective healing by applying their arts to body, mind, and spirit. We open our series on spiritual healing by considering how and why shamanic spirit healing has worked for thousands of years.

en-US

01:21:37

6.6: Cold War Psychic Spies

Occult Confessions ·

2019/07/05

During the Cold War, the CIA and US military endorsed psychic warfare by employing two physicists from the Stanford Research Institute to train a crew of paranormal spies, also known as remote viewers. In this episode, we consider the history of Project Stargate (also known as Gondola Wish, Grillflame, and Starburst) as it locates crashed planes, enters the enemy's mind, and details secret activities at Arctic military bases.

en-US

01:05:30

6.5: The Magical Battle of Britain

Occult Confessions ·

2019/06/21

How did King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and the Quest for the Holy Grail inspire Dion Fortune's nationwide campaign to protect the British from Nazi psychological, spiritual, and physical conquest during World War Two? In this episode we discuss Fortune, an important inspiration for modern-day Wicca and neo-paganism, and how Arthurian legend informed the magical process she led to repel the Nazis.

en-US

00:55:11

6.4: Aleister Crowley Goes to War

Occult Confessions ·

2019/06/07

Notorious occultist Aleister Crowley engaged in a campaign of anti-British propaganda during World War One, but there is evidence that he may have been doing so in service of the British Government as an undercover agent. This case is bolstered by Crowley's relationship with James Bond author and British Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming during World War Two. In this episode, we ask whether Aleister Crowley was, in fact, a secret agent.

en-US

01:05:19

6.3: Chinese Secret Societies

Occult Confessions ·

2019/05/24

The White Lotus Society, Red Turbans, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and "Boxers" were all inspired by mystical visions or held a series of supernatural beliefs that drove them to rebel against the powers that be inside China. In our nod to "Game of Thrones," we analyze both successes and failures in dynastic overthrow from Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan to Cixi, the Dragon Lady.

en-US

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