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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

01:21:50

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

00:47:42

3.4: Multiple Personalities

Occult Confessions ·

2018/08/24

We uncover history's earliest cases of multiple personality or dissociative identity disorder: the medieval nun Jeanne Fery, Mary Reynolds, and Louis Vivet, the real-life inspiration for Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Along the way, we consider how this phenomenon might provide evidence for the existence of a consciousness beyond our physical brains.

en-US

00:49:48

3.3: Mindless Zombies and Thinking Fruit

Occult Confessions ·

2018/08/10

We explode the materialist theory of consciousness to prove that we are not zombies and argue for minds that exist somewhere, somehow beyond our bodies and possibly in traffic lights and strawberries.

en-US

00:39:34

3.2: Evolution's Ghost

Occult Confessions ·

2018/07/27

Charles Darwin was not the only naturalist to arrive at the theory of evolution in the 1850s, Alfred Russel Wallace came to the same conclusions completely independently of Darwin except that Wallace believed that God and the soul maintained an essential role in nature.

en-US

01:12:40

3.1: The Soul, A Brief History

Occult Confessions ·

2018/07/13

Our brief history of the soul includes African ancestor worship, the Mayan creation story, Aristotle and Plato's ancient philosophical visions, Jewish mythology, the Islamic rational soul, the spiritualist Summer Land, Blavatsky's tripartite soul, and the conscious elevation of the New Age.

en-US

00:55:50

2.7: Poltergeists

Occult Confessions ·

2018/06/12

In this episode we explore five poltergeists at Enfield, Sauchie, Jaboticabal, in the Smurl Family, and at Andover. What makes poltergeist phenomena persuasive as evidence of paranormal influence? How do poltergeists fit into the larger story of teenage girl's millennia-long connection with supernatural power?

en-US

01:08:33

2.6: The Women of Wicca (and One Man)

Occult Confessions ·

2018/06/05

Wicca is based on an ancient pagan female-centric tradition. Or is it? Actually, it is. Sort of. In this episode, we track down the major female figures in the early days of Wicca's founding and the pagans hiding in the movement's distant past.

en-US

01:07:23

2.5: Victoria Woodhull's Sexual Apocalypse

Occult Confessions ·

2018/05/29

Victoria Woodhull ran for president in 1872, decades before women would even be given the right to vote. She spoke publicly under the inspiration of her spirit guides who revealed the occult secret to achieving a spiritual apocalypse through mutual sexual pleasure between men and women across the species.

en-US

46:38

2.4: Maggie Fox, The World's First Celebrity Medium

Occult Confessions ·

2018/05/15

Communicating with the dead became a worldwide phenomenon beginning with two little girls in Hydesville, New York in 1848. Maggie Fox led an eventful and tragic life. In addition to sparking the spiritualist movement, she was engaged to an Arctic explorer and attempted to snuff out the very movement she helped launch. But was she really channeling the spirits of the dead or was she perpetrating one of America's greatest hoaxes?

en-US

00:54:05

2.3: Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen

Occult Confessions ·

2018/05/08

Our team tackles the mysterious power of Marie Laveau. Along the way, we explore the history of New Orleans, the power of zombie poison, the practice of Afro-Caribbean Voodoo, and the biography of one of Voodoo's most famous practitioners.

en-US

00:55:15

2.2: Joan of Arc

Occult Confessions ·

2018/05/01

We explore the history of Joan of Arc; the various miracles ascribed to her; the Catholic, paranormal, and rationalist interpretations of her voices; and conspiracy theories related to one of the most interesting women in medieval Europe.

en-US

47:13

2.1: Pagan Orgies and Witch Cults

Occult Confessions ·

2018/04/24

We open our series on the connection between women and supernatural power by exploring ancient Greek oracles, bacchic orgies, the Roman vestal virgins, and medieval witch trials.

en-US

00:56:01

1.5: Emma Hardinge Britten

Occult Confessions ·

2018/04/10

The Chevalier's editor was a player in the British occult scene and was inspired by occult celebrities like Edward Buller-Lytton. In this episode, we follow the career of one of the most significant figures in American spiritualism and one of America's first occultists.

en-US

244 results

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