PODCAST · history
Occult Confessions
by 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.
Episodes
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31.1. Carl Gustav Jung
C. G. Jung was a colleague of Freud's before they split over Jung's belief that there was more to the unconscious than Freud's sexual theory. Jung went on to theorize the existence of a collective unconscious, informed by his research in Arthurian legend, Alchemy, Gnosticsm, and Western…
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30.12: The Mario Mythos
In the final episode of our Japan series and Rob's mini series on video games, Rob reads the first chapter of "The Mario Mythos" setting out his theory that game heroes have become the protagonists of postmodern mythic systems.
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30.11: Nintendo Goddess
How did the early female heroes and princesses of the first decade of video games follow the paradigm of the goddess journey? In this episode, Rob talks about everyone from Ms. Pac-Man to the Dragon Quest heroes and Princess Peach.
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30.10: Rob's Video Game Mythology Research
Luke interviews Rob about his research project focusing on the mythology of the first video game heroes. The conversation ranges far and wide to encompass the nature of performance studies, Rob's early work on ghosts and psychic mediums, and the scholar's professional life and creative process.
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30.9: The Goddess Hour vs. Church Secrets
Church Secrets interrupted our friends at the Goddess Hour during a live performance at our theater. See if you can help solve the puzzles he created to keep them from performing their Moon Bath ritual. To view the full picture and play along, visit our website....
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30.8: Happy Science (Part Two)
In the second part of our discussion about Happy Science, we consider the group's doctrine and lore. How did humanity make its way from Venus to Earth and which spirits have manifested when in our midst to guide us on the spiritual path? What is Happy Science's view of the apocalypse and the...
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30.7: Happy Science (Part One)
Kofuku no Kagaku or Happy Science was one of the most popular new religious movements in Japan in 1980s and became a major rival to the deadly Aum Shinrikyo organization. Its founder, Okawa Ryuho, claimed to be an incarnation of the Buddha and published volumes of predictions channeled from…
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30.6: Sex, Snakes, and Japanese Demons
Over a thousand Japanese legends were collected into thirty-one volumes around the turn of the first millennium. Rob selects three stories to share that shed light on the folklore and values of medieval Japan.
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30.5: Anime and Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion (as it's known in the US) drew on Western religious themes including the story of Adam and Lilith, the imagery of the cross, and the concept of angels in order to tell a story based in psychological exploration and existentialist thought. Rob sits down with Mimms and try…
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30.4: The Pure Land (Part Two)
Pure Land Buddhism made its way from India to China and then Japan where it has become the country's most popular religion, specifically the Shin variant developed by the "shaved fool" Shinran.
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30.3: The Pure Land (Part One)
Pure Land Buddhism is the most popular religion in Japan and is often regarded as parallel to Christianity in many wyays. In this episode, we uncover the origins of the Pure Land Sutras in India and trace their journey to China where they grew into a set of rituals.
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30.2: Shingon or Japanese Esoteric Buddhism
The goal of estoteric Buddhism is to achieve a sudden spiritual awakening through the use of secret rituals which might include mantras, gestures, or the visualization of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other deities, in the case of Shingon using one or both of a pair of powerful and elaborate…
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30.1: Shinto or Japan's Ancient Spirits
Shinto is the name assigned to Japan's native religion before the arrival of Buddhism. In this episode, Rob explores the legends of the kami including the story of the kamikaze, the origins of sumo wrestling, and the purpose of Japan's many shrines.
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29.8: Murder for Resurrection
William Burke and William Hare murdered sixteen people in the space of about a year in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Burke was thirty-six and Hare twenty-one-years old. Many of their victims were plied with alcohol until they passed out and then Hare lay on the body as Burke closed the mouth…
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29.7: Annunaki Revelation (Interview Special)
Heather Lynn joins us to discuss the widely misunderstood ancient Sumerian gods, the Annunaki. The connections made between the Annunaki and aliens have perhaps distracted scholars from a far more plausible and surprising interpretation of their meaning and purpose.
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29.6: Blavatsky's Voice of the Silence
A year after she completed the Secret Doctrine, Helena Blavatsky published the Voice of the Silence, one of the last to be completed in her lifetime. The Voice of the Silence relates portions of her understanding of esoteric Buddhism with a focus on the path of the bodhisattva. Follow us on this...
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29.5: The Stranger Things Conformity Gate Conspiracy Theory (Strange Ride Crossover Episode)
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.
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29.4: The Pirate King of the Spirit Realms
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.
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29.3: Blavatsky Revisited
Rob and Savannah go back to the Secret Doctrine.
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29.2: From Rock Star to Occultist
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.
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29.1: Heidi Luv and the Mormon Mafia
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...
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28.12: Death on Stage (Holiday Special)
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!
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28.11: Hermit on Fire
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…
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28.10: Thai Tattoo Magic
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.
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28.9: Margery Wept
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…
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28.8: The Dark Pool Project Part 3 of 3
Rob's strange experiment in subconscious exploration and creation comes to an exciting conclusion in this final installment of our Dark Pool project.
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28.7: The Dark Pool Project Part 2 of 3
The story continues. The actors blend subconscious exploration, devised theater, and occult theory in this experimental storytelling experience.
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28.6: The Dark Pool Project Part 1 of 3
After four years, we have taken down the website for our experiment in audio storytelling created during the pandemic lockdown and so we're posting it up here on our main channel for your Halloween enjoyment (or whichever season you happen to be listening).
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28.5: The Cloud of Unknowing (Part Two)
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.
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28.4: The Cloud of Unknowing (Part One)
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.
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28.3: Kabbalah
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...
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28.2: Hildegard von Bingen (Interview Special Part Two)
Magnolia Strange returns to complete her account of the life and significance of Hildegard. Included is some of Hildegard's music performed by Magnolia.
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28.1: Hildegard von Bingen (Interview Special Part One)
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...
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27.7: The Tamil Saint in a Locked Room Mystery
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.
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27.6: Morgan and the Anti-Masons
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...
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27.5: The Devil in the Machine
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...
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27.4: The Book of Enoch (Interview Special)
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?
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27.3: John Mandeville's Wild Ride
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…
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27.2: The Priest-King of Africa
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...
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27.1: The Irish Witch Vanished
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...
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26.9: The Sacred Stage (Interview Special)
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.
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26.8: The Moon Temple Mystery School (Interview Special)
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.
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26.7: Occult Elvis (Interview Special)
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.
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26.5: The Michigan Prophet
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…
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26.4: Utah
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....
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26.3: Last Days of the Prophet
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...
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26.2: The Book of Mormon
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...
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26.1 Moroni's Golden Plates
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…
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25.10: Saving Krotona (Interview Special)
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...
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25.9: Jim Morrison and the Occult (Interview Special)
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.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
The Alchemical Actors
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Occult Confessions have?
Occult Confessions currently has 251 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Occult Confessions about?
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.
How often does Occult Confessions release new episodes?
Occult Confessions publishes regularly with 251 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Occult Confessions?
You can listen to Occult Confessions on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Occult Confessions?
Occult Confessions is created and hosted by The Alchemical Actors.
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