

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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 28, 2025 • 1h
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.

Nov 14, 2025 • 1h 20min
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, 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. Anchorites alternately encouraged and rejected her. She idolized St. Bridget and met St. Julian of Norwich. And she wrote, with the aid of a priest as scribe, what is probably the very first autobiography in the English language.

Nov 7, 2025 • 0sec
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.

Oct 31, 2025 • 1h 32min
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.
Oct 24, 2025 • 1h 56min
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).

Oct 17, 2025 • 45min
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.

Oct 3, 2025 • 40min
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.

Sep 19, 2025 • 1h 10min
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 of Kabbalah.

Sep 5, 2025 • 45min
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.

Aug 22, 2025 • 0sec
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 remarkable woman to begin our series on medieval mystics. https://judasandmagnolia.com/


