Occult Confessions

How did King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and the Quest for the Holy Grail inspire Dion Fortune's nationwide campaign to protect the British from Nazi psychological, spiritual, and physical conquest during World War Two? In this episode we discuss Fortune, an important inspiration for modern-day Wicca and neo-paganism, and how Arthurian legend informed the magical process she led to repel the Nazis.

Notorious occultist Aleister Crowley engaged in a campaign of anti-British propaganda during World War One, but there is evidence that he may have been doing so in service of the British Government as an undercover agent. This case is bolstered by Crowley's relationship with James Bond author and British Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming during World War Two. In this episode, we ask whether Aleister Crowley was, in fact, a secret agent.

The White Lotus Society, Red Turbans, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and "Boxers" were all inspired by mystical visions or held a series of supernatural beliefs that drove them to rebel against the powers that be inside China. In our nod to "Game of Thrones," we analyze both successes and failures in dynastic overthrow from Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan to Cixi, the Dragon Lady.

The Lakota chiefs gathered at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and each spoke their piece about whether or not to send a delegation West to Nevada to meet the messiah. They decided a delegation would go out in late summer or fall 1889 under the leadership of Good Thunder. In 1890, the official delegation return with the opinion that the messiah had, in fact, arrived. Short Bull, who had fought with Sitting Bull in the War of 1876, and Kicking Bear were among this delegation and would go on to lead the Ghost Dance Religion among the Lakota. They both opposed the reforms visited on the Lakota by the US government after Sitting Bull's defeat.

At a trial in late seventeenth-century Livonia, Thiess of Kaltenbrun claimed to be a hound of God, a werewolf who transformed to do battle with witches in hell. In this episode we try and figure out the origins of Thiess's conception of himself as a holy werewolf. We discuss berserkers, wolf warriors, Hungarian shamans, benandanti, and European werewolf lore.

Right wing Christian conspiracy theorists have suggested that Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society is secretly controlling the United Nations through an organization called the Lucis Trust and that this is part of a conspiracy to promote Satanic principles around the world. In this episode, we figure out exactly how and why these ideas don't exactly add up and why people choose to believe them.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's theory of root races really picks up steam with the Lemurians, a spiritual race of giants. Then the continent of Atlantis rises from the ashes of Lemurian civilization followed by our current Aryan race which will eventually be replaced by a sixth race born from racial intermixing in North America. We discuss the rise and fall of these mythical races and analyze the internal logic of The Secret Doctrine.

A few years before she died, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky finished her masterwork, The Secret Doctrine. This remarkable book outlined the creation of the universe and of humanity as well as the spiritual evolution of all beings back into unity with the Absolute.

Was Helena Blavatsky the agent of a secret group of occult adepts or a pawn in a vast, international chess game? Advocating for Indian religious traditions, she did not endear herself to Christian missionaries and this seemed to serve her Masters' purposes. Until they allowed her to fall victim to a reputation-destroying scandal.

In 1879, Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott arrived in India to found the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society. In India, Blavatsky performed amazing paranormal feats which became the center of an intercontinental argument about whether or not her occult masters, hidden somewhere in the Himalayas, were genuine.