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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

01:00:15

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

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

233 results

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