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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

00:41:45

29.5: The Stranger Things Conformity Gate Conspiracy...

Occult Confessions ·

2026/02/28

Strange Ride is back and it's a Stranger Ride. Savannah reveals the conspiracy theory spawned by people who hated the ending to Stranger Things. Check out the Strange Ride channel for more deep dives on popular culture.

en-US

1:00:38

29.4: The Pirate King of the Spirit Realms

Occult Confessions ·

2026/02/20

Rob is podcasting alone today in his attempt to tell the twisting and winding story of John King, the pirate spirit who led the materialization seances of the 1870s.

en-US

01:06:40

29.3: Blavatsky Revisited

Occult Confessions ·

2026/02/06

Rob and Savannah go back to the Secret Doctrine.

en-US

01:04:29

29.2: From Rock Star to Occultist

Occult Confessions ·

2026/01/23

Gary Lachman, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with Blondie, discusses how he went from rock and roll to Colin Wilson's house on a journey to better understand the nature of consciousness. You can also find out more in Lachman's newest book, Touched by the Presence.

en-US

00:57:35

29.1: Heidi Luv and the Mormon Mafia

Occult Confessions ·

2026/01/09

What drew Howard Hughes to surround himself with what our guest Heidi Luv calls “Mormon Mafia,” and how did their influence shape his decision-making?To what extent was Hughes truly in control of his empire in the final years of his life and who was really pulling the strings inside the Summa Corporation? Heidi Luv takes us inside her research and theories regarding a Mormon conspiracy.

en-US

00:58:43

28.12: Death on Stage (Holiday Special)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/12/26

While the full series remains exclusive to patrons, we are pulling our episode on musical deaths on stage to the main channel for the holiday. Please and enjoy and consider supporting us on patreon!

en-US

01:10:02

28.11: Hermit on Fire

Occult Confessions ·

2025/12/12

Richard Rolle was a hermit and a mystic who was probably more widely read than Chaucer during the medieval period. Rolle sets forth the proper religious path for the contemplative introvert. He teaches a message that is not especially charitable to women but participates in one of the most notable platonic relationships between a man and woman with the anchoress Margaret Kirkby.

en-US

01:00:15

28.10: Thai Tattoo Magic

Occult Confessions ·

2025/11/28

Rob and Luke sit down with Sheer Zed to talk about his experience traveling to Thailand to receive sacred tattoos, captured in his book Thai Tattoo Magic.

en-US

01:19:36

28.9: Margery Wept

Occult Confessions ·

2025/11/14

Margery Kempe cried so much and so loudly that she became one of the most annoying women in her hometown of Lynn as well as neighboring Lincoln and Norwich not to mention Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de compostella where she made pilgrimages. She was regarded as a madwoman, a heretic, a faker, and a lollard. She was also called a deeply pious and religious woman. She was examined by priests, bishops, and archbishops and threatened with burning at the stake. Friars denounced her from the pulpit

en-US

28.8: The Dark Pool Project Part 3 of 3

Occult Confessions ·

2025/11/07

Rob's strange experiment in subconscious exploration and creation comes to an exciting conclusion in this final installment of our Dark Pool project.

en-US

01:32:00

28.7: The Dark Pool Project Part 2 of 3

Occult Confessions ·

2025/10/31

The story continues. The actors blend subconscious exploration, devised theater, and occult theory in this experimental storytelling experience.

en-US

01:56:11

28.6: The Dark Pool Project Part 1

Occult Confessions ·

2025/10/24

We have taken down the website for our pandemic audio experiment and so we're posting it up here on our main channel for your Halloween enjoyment (or whichever season you happen to be listening).

en-US

00:45:01

28.5: The Cloud of Unknowing (Part Two)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/10/17

Where did the medieval via negative come from? In large part, it was inspired by Plato and those who followed him an innovated on his way of thinking. In the second of two parts on the Cloud of Unknowing we consider Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius.

en-US

00:40:06

28.4: The Cloud of Unknowing (Part One)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/10/03

Blind love is the only way to experience God according to the anonymous medieval mystic who authored the Cloud of Unknowing. In the first of two parts, we discuss the neoplatonic path outlined by an unknown priest to mystical understanding of the highest things.

en-US

01:10:25

28.3: Kabbalah

Occult Confessions ·

2025/09/19

Kabbalah has its roots in early rabbinic Judaism and became a distinct school of thought in the medieval period with the work of Isaac the Blind, Moses de Leon, and then Isaac Luria in the Renaissances. In this episode, we attempt to delineate basic principles and practices as well as the history of Kabbalah.

en-US

00:45:07

28.2: Hildegard von Bingen (Interview Special Part Two)

Occult Confessions ·

2025/09/05

Magnolia Strange returns to complete her account of the life and significance of Hildegard. Included is some of Hildegard's music performed by Magnolia.

en-US

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

240 results

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