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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

00:50:59

6.2: The Ghost Dance

Occult Confessions ·

2019/05/10

The Lakota chiefs gathered at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and each spoke their piece about whether or not to send a delegation West to Nevada to meet the messiah. They decided a delegation would go out in late summer or fall 1889 under the leadership of Good Thunder. In 1890, the official delegation return with the opinion that the messiah had, in fact, arrived. Short Bull, who had fought with Sitting Bull in the War of 1876, and Kicking Bear were among this delegation and would go on

en-US

00:58:27

6.1: The Livonian Werewolf

Occult Confessions ·

2019/04/26

At a trial in late seventeenth-century Livonia, Thiess of Kaltenbrun claimed to be a hound of God, a werewolf who transformed to do battle with witches in hell. In this episode we try and figure out the origins of Thiess's conception of himself as a holy werewolf. We discuss berserkers, wolf warriors, Hungarian shamans, benandanti, and European werewolf lore.

en-US

01:03:57

5.6: Satan at the United Nations

Occult Confessions ·

2019/04/12

Right wing Christian conspiracy theorists have suggested that Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society is secretly controlling the United Nations through an organization called the Lucis Trust and that this is part of a conspiracy to promote Satanic principles around the world. In this episode, we figure out exactly how and why these ideas don't exactly add up and why people choose to believe them.

en-US

00:50:04

5.5: The Secret Doctrine (Lemuria and Atlantis)

Occult Confessions ·

2019/03/29

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's theory of root races really picks up steam with the Lemurians, a spiritual race of giants. Then the continent of Atlantis rises from the ashes of Lemurian civilization followed by our current Aryan race which will eventually be replaced by a sixth race born from racial intermixing in North America. We discuss the rise and fall of these mythical races and analyze the internal logic of The Secret Doctrine.

en-US

01:08:02

5.4: The Secret Doctrine (Genesis)

Occult Confessions ·

2019/03/22

A few years before she died, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky finished her masterwork, The Secret Doctrine. This remarkable book outlined the creation of the universe and of humanity as well as the spiritual evolution of all beings back into unity with the Absolute.

en-US

00:57:13

5.3: The Mahatmas and the Russian Spy

Occult Confessions ·

2019/03/08

Was Helena Blavatsky the agent of a secret group of occult adepts or a pawn in a vast, international chess game? Advocating for Indian religious traditions, she did not endear herself to Christian missionaries and this seemed to serve her Masters' purposes. Until they allowed her to fall victim to a reputation-destroying scandal.

en-US

00:54:50

5.2: Blavatsky vs. the Society for Psychical Research

Occult Confessions ·

2019/02/22

In 1879, Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott arrived in India to found the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society. In India, Blavatsky performed amazing paranormal feats which became the center of an intercontinental argument about whether or not her occult masters, hidden somewhere in the Himalayas, were genuine.

en-US

01:37:15

5.1: The Pirate King of the Spirit Realms

Occult Confessions ·

2019/02/08

John King was one of the most powerful spirits to surface in nineteenth-century spiritualist seances. As the father of spirit Katie King, he figured in one of the biggest scandals of the 1870s involving the US Congressman Robert Dale Owen. He was also the familiar spirit of Helena Blavatsky. In this episode, we track the history of spirit materializations and ask whether John King could be the spirit of the privateer Henry Morgan.

en-US

00:51:39

4.9: Reptilian Archon Overlords

Occult Confessions ·

2019/01/25

Olivia leads our discussion about the connection between Christian Gnosticism and the Reptilian Conspiracy by way of David Icke. Why do so many people believe that our reality is a projection coming from a hollow moon orbiting the earth?

en-US

01:23:56

4.8: Satanic Murder Cults

Occult Confessions ·

2019/01/11

The Matamoros Cult was responsible for a series of grisly murders on the Mexican border. Inspired by the Afro-Caribbean tradition of Palo Mayombe, they utilized human body parts as magical talismans to protect themselves from law enforcement. Strangely, their grave sites were mapped out by the serial confessor Henry Lee Lucas, a murderer who claimed to be responsible for killing two hundred people at the order of the secret , possibly imaginary Satanic assassins' guild, the Hand of Death.

en-US

01:13:53

4.7: Satanism and the Satanic Panic

Occult Confessions ·

2018/12/28

Satanism as the source of a popular culture panic includes tales of mass child sacrifice and the cultivation of teenage breeders. The reality has more to do with teenage rebellion and legend trips. The religion comes to us by way of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan and Michael Aquino's Temple of Set, and they define what it means to follow the Left Handed Path which has little if anything to do with the legendary panic.

en-US

01:21:19

4.6: Nazi Occultism

Occult Confessions ·

2018/12/14

The swastika, Heinrich Himmler's personal magician, and Adolf Hitler's favorite occult magazine provide our window into the Nazi Party's occult inspiration. What supernatural beliefs helped to shape one of the most reviled movements in history and how does this reflect on the meaning of the occult beyond Hitler's Germany?

en-US

01:21:50

4.5: Aleister Crowley vs. the Abyss

Occult Confessions ·

2018/11/30

In 1909, Aleister Crowley wandered into the desert to complete a thirty-one-part ritual originally designed by Renaissance mage John Dee. While there, he conjured Choronzon, the Dweller of the Threshold and demon of nothingness, and may have gone mad. In this episode, we track Crowley's career from just after the writing of the Book of the Law until his death.

en-US

01:22:45

4.4: Aleister Crowley Reveals the Law

Occult Confessions ·

2018/11/16

From his first introduction to occult practice to the conjuring of the twelve kings of hell on Loch Ness to the invocation of Egyptian gods in Cairo, we track the history and meaning of Aleister Crowley's often misunderstood Law of Thelema: "do what thou wilt."

en-US

01:25:19

4.3: Gilles de Rais

Occult Confessions ·

2018/11/02

Gilles de Rais was the marshal of France, companion-at-arms to the medieval saint Joan of Arc, and responsible for staging a billion-dollar pageant in honor of the miracle at Orleans. He was also tried and convicted for murdering over one hundred children as part of an alchemical ritual to summon a demon and restore the fortune he spent away. But was Lord Marshal de Rais really a demon-conjuring killer or was he framed by the Inquisition?

en-US

00:47:45

A Very Poe Halloween

Occult Confessions ·

2018/10/26

In our first Halloween special, Rob explores Edgar Allan Poe's ideas about the unconscious and the Alchemical Actors perform two Poe classics: "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" and "M.S in a Bottle." We learn how Poe's original audience felt about mesmerism and what it meant to journey into the unfathomable ocean of the mind.

en-US

00:57:50

4.2: Human Sacrifice

Occult Confessions ·

2018/10/19

Human sacrifice has been practiced across cultures among the ancient pagans, tribal Africans, Aztecs, and in the Old Testament. What are the magical implications of human sacrifice? Why do humans sacrifice themselves and each other? And are these sacrifices evil or benign?

en-US

00:52:23

4.1: The Evil Eye or Hex Death

Occult Confessions ·

2018/10/05

We open our series on black magic by asking how curses like the evil eye can cause the medically-proven phenomenon of hex death. How can our beliefs lead to life-threatening and even fatal physical ailments?

en-US

00:51:03

3.6: Quantum Consciousness

Occult Confessions ·

2018/09/21

We use quantum physics to describe how a secret conscious observer outside of our physical brains is the best way to explain our free will. Along the way, we happen across proof that the mind may be capable of seeing the future.

en-US

00:55:49

3.5: The Subliminal Soul

Occult Confessions ·

2018/09/07

Apparitions of the living, mystical encounters with God, and genius accounting prodigies all have something in common. According to nineteenth-century psychologist F. W. H. Myers they were all signs of a subliminal soul capable of supernatural feats beyond the limits of how science has defined the brain.

en-US

236 results

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