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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

28.1: Hildegard von Bingen (Interview Special Part One)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/08/22

Hildegard von Bingen was a medieval polymath—writer, philosopher, musician, physician, artist, mystic, and in the twenty-first century she’s been named a doctor of the church. We sit down with Hildegard expert Magnolia Strange and her partner Dr. Judas Lynch in the first of two parts on this remarkable woman to begin our series on medieval mystics. https://judasandmagnolia.com/

en-US

00:59:28

27.7: The Tamil Saint in a Locked Room Mystery

Occult Confessions ·

2025/08/08

Chidabaram Ramalingam was one of the most famous Tamil poets of his day. He taught a new form of religion that recognized all gods as one, established hospitals and temples, and disappeared from inside a locked room never to be seen or heard from again.

en-US

00:57:12

27.6: Morgan and the Anti-Masons

Occult Confessions ·

2025/07/25

After promising to publish a full account of the rites and practices of the Freemasons, William Morgan disappeared. A group of Masons were accused of kidnapping him and the case grew more sensational when a corpse washed up forty miles south of where he'd last been seen a year later. The Morgan Affair caused such a scandal that it launched a whole political movement.

en-US

00:37:50

27.5: The Devil in the Machine

Occult Confessions ·

2025/07/11

Dr. Rob is flying solo for this exploration of the spiritual, ethical, and educational ramifications of the rise of consumer artificial intelligence; namely large language models like ChatGPT. Rob talks about his experience as a teacher and researcher and explores the logical limits of a machine that promises to think for us.

en-US

27.4: The Book of Enoch (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/07/04

Tobias Churton, author of The Book of Enoch Revealed, talks about how the texts ascribed to Enoch, most famously the story of the Watchers, came to the West. What is the significance of Enoch's ancient tale of angels and earth women?

en-US

00:46:23

27.3: John Mandeville's Wild Ride

Occult Confessions ·

2025/06/27

John Mandeville, who may or may not be a real person, claimed to travel the lands of Prester John where he saw chameleons the size of goats and hairy men who could swim really fast. Mandeville also made the argument that Christianity wasn't essential to earning God's favor, advocating for something like a natural religion.

en-US

00:52:54

27.2: The Priest-King of Africa

Occult Confessions ·

2025/06/13

In the twelfth century, Pope Alexander III received a letter from Prester John, a legendary Africa priest king rumored to be as powerful as the Great Khan. The letter made fantastic claims about the Prester's lands and power and may have been a hoax but then Alexander's own physician brought him news that he'd met the Prester's representative in the Holy Land. Could the Prester be the Pope's solution to his political squabbles with the Holy Roman Emperor?

en-US

00:57:01

27.1: The Irish Witch Vanished

Occult Confessions ·

2025/05/30

Alice Kyteler was the first woman to be tried for witchcraft in Ireland and her servant, Petronilla of Meath, was the first to be burned for heresy. Kyteler's stepchildren with her three deceased husbands accused Kyteler of being a black widow my supernatural means and sought to use Pope John XXII's recent decree that sorcery was a heresy to rid themselves of their stepmother once and for all.

en-US

00:51:33

26.9: The Sacred Stage (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/05/16

Renowned Renaissance Festival performers Judas and Magnolia return to discuss the sacred and spiritual components of performance. In a conversation that ranges from Plato to Georges Bataille, the theater becomes something more than just a place to see a show.

en-US

00:55:20

26.8: The Moon Temple Mystery School (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/05/02

Rob and Luke sit down with Tahverlee, founder of the Moon Temple Mystery School, to discuss the archetype of the witch, healing generational trauma, and her experience with the Eleusinian Mysteries.

en-US

00:51:36

26.7: Occult Elvis (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/04/18

Miguel Conner discusses his new book on Elvis's interest and involvement with occultism. From charismatic Christianity to theosophy, Conner traces Elvis's journey and the strange symbolism of Elvis's Vegas period.

en-US

26.5: The Michigan Prophet

Occult Confessions ·

2025/04/04

James Jesse Strang presents a parallel prophet’s career to that of Joseph Smith. In some ways, a copycat of the Mormon prophet who literally attempted to succeed him despite their having had only a brief relationship, Strang also innovated on Mormon doctrine. Like Smith, he discovered a collection of ancient plates hidden in the earth and established a community of believers on the frontier that he moved to a still better frontier. But his revelations were significantly shorter and less involved

en-US

01:19:05

26.4: Utah

Occult Confessions ·

2025/03/21

After the death of Joseph Smith, the Mormons relocated to the basin beside the Great Salt Lake, led by Brigham Young. The journey of the pioneering Mormons and Young's leadership were an amazing display of spirit and grit but the shadow of polygamy dogged them in their quest to become a state. Slavery further complicated things for the Mormons and their strange doctrine of blood atonement which resulted in the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre.

en-US

00:57:31

26.3: Last Days of the Prophet

Occult Confessions ·

2025/03/07

Fleeing persecution from the government of Missouri, Joseph Smith and the Mormons found themselves in Nauvoo, Illinois. There, Smith established a militia, ran for governor, discovered his doctrine of plural marriage, and purchased a mummy. Nauvoo was Smith's last Zion at the scene for the events that would lead to his assassination at the hands of an angry mob. This episode contains a brief reference to suicide.

en-US

00:58;00

26.2: The Book of Mormon

Occult Confessions ·

2025/02/21

The Book of Mormon is full of intrigue and adventure. It also repeats the phrase "and it came to pass" over 1400 times. It tells the story of a lost tribe of Israel crossing the ocean to America to establish a new civilization and how that civilization was ultimately destroyed. We take seriously Joseph Smith's claim that his book was a historical document and consider points for and against the Book of Mormon.

en-US

01:02:40

26.1 Moroni's Golden Plates

Occult Confessions ·

2025/02/07

Joseph Smith's discovery of a set of buried golden plates was the beginning of the Mormons or Church of Latter Day Saints. This was also moment deeply ensconced in folk belief and magic. Treasure-digging, seer stones, and magical parchments were all part of the Smith family tradition and they each played a part in the story of Moroni's Golden Plates.

en-US

01:05:38

25.10: Saving Krotona (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/01/24

Hollywood makeup artist, Pati Dubroff, became a preservationist after moving into the original dome of the Theosophists' Krotona Institute. In this interview, Pati shares her experiences (positive and negative) with paranormal entities, local government, and landlords in her noble quest to save Krotona. To donate to the Los Angeles Fire Department please use this link: https://supportlafd.org/donate/ways-to-give.html.

en-US

01:03:34

25.9: Jim Morrison and the Occult (Interview Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/01/10

Paul Wyld visits to talk about his book "Jim Morrison: Secret Teacher of the Occult." Wyld discusses Morrison's reading of esoteric texts and how they influenced his lifestyle and art as a "secret teacher" of magical things.

en-US

01:13:15

25.8: Aldous Huxley on Drugs

Occult Confessions ·

2024/12/27

Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception was a book ahead of its time and related the famous British novelist and intellectual's experimental engagement with mescaline. Huxley became a proponent of mescaline and sometime user of LSD ever afterward and a major influence on the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s.

en-US

01:40:02

25.9: The Star Wars Holiday Special (Strange Ride...

Occult Confessions ·

2024/12/24

There is so much Star Wars content out in the wide world. Some of it is loved, some of it hated, but there is one piece of Star Wars media that is so hated by its creator that it was almost lost media. If it wasn’t for fans making bootleg VCR copies during its one and only broadcast it would be lost to time. I’m talking about of course the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. A variety show set in the Star Wars universe that was also meant to sort of celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas. George

en-US

244 results

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