What emerges is a sweeping and often provocative exploration of heaven not as a fixed destination, but as a mirror of human consciousness, culture, and desire. Along the way, the discussion touches on psychedelic interpretations, near-death experiences, religious power structures, and the uncomfortable possibility that our visions of the afterlife reveal more about us than any ultimate truth.

Tobias Churton’s new book Celestial Realms
The first global history of heaven across cultures
Ancient burial practices and early afterlife beliefs
Mesopotamian pessimism vs Egyptian moral judgment
Heaven as projection: “as below, so above”
Near-death experiences and personal encounters with the divine
Psychedelics and the idea of a “backdoor to heaven”
Eastern perspectives: Hinduism, Buddhism, and liberation beyond heaven
Chinese cosmology and the bureaucratic heavens
The role of power, hierarchy, and politics in shaping heaven
Why most early cultures believed heaven was not for humans
The evolution of moral reward and spiritual aspiration
Imagination, culture, and the limits of describing the infinite
Heaven as hope, illusion, or something more

Tobias Churton – Celestial Realms

Aleister Crowley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

Plato – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato

Carl Jung – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

Jacob Boehme – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_B%C3%B6hme

Nisargadatta Maharaj – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisargadatta_Maharaj

George Harrison – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Harrison

John Lennon – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon

Gautama Buddha – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha

Vajrayana Buddhism – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana

Tantra – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra

Nirvana – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

Moksha – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha

Near-death experience – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience

DMT – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N,N-Dimethyltryptamine

Ancient Egyptian religion – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion

Mesopotamian religion – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Mesopotamian_religion

Chinese mythology – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology

Comparative religion – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_religion

Afterlife – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife

Heaven (concept) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven

Hell (concept) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell

Collective unconscious – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

Official Website
https://tobiaschurton.com

Books
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tobias-Churton/author

Beginning with Greg’s early immersion in Western magical traditions and podcasting, the discussion traces his journey through alchemy, Kabbalah, and ceremonial magic, before confronting their limitations and turning toward the disciplined, teacher-led path of Vajrayana Buddhism.

What emerges is a stark contrast between Western “talking schools” and Eastern traditions rooted in rigorous practice, direct transmission, and the transformation of the practitioner themselves. Along the way, the conversation explores tantra, the left-hand path, taboo as method, the role of the guru, and the uncomfortable reality that the greatest obstacle on the path may be the practitioner themselves.

• Greg Kaminsky’s background in Western esotericism
• The transition from occult practice to Vajrayana Buddhism
• Western “talking schools” vs disciplined spiritual traditions
• The role of the guru and transmission
• Tantra and the left-hand path re-examined
• Taboo, ritual, and transformation
• The Great Work across East and West
• The Grail quest and getting lost on the path
• Ego, identity, and the idea that “you are the problem”
• Meditation as submission rather than control
• Nothingness, reality, and the limits of experience

Greg Kaminsky – Host of Occult of Personality

Vajrayana Buddhism – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana

Tantra – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra

Left-Hand Path – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-hand_path_and_right-hand_path

Nisargadatta Maharaj / I Am That – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_That

Aleister Crowley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

Kabbalah – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah

Alchemy – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy

Gurdjieff – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff

Occult of Personality Podcast
https://occultofpersonality.net

Books and Writing
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Greg-Kaminsky/author

Ken and Ulysses sit down with Duncan Barford — ritual magician, psychodynamic counsellor, and longtime collaborator with Alan Chapman — for a deep exploration of chaos magic, mystical experience, and the strange territory where occult practice, psychology, and awakening intersect. Beginning with the early days of The Baptist’s Head and the revival of mystical aims within chaos magic, the conversation traces Barford’s journey from teenage encounters with spirit phenomena through intensive magical practice, encounters with entities, and the gradual movement from postmodern magic toward a more direct exploration of awakening and consciousness.

This week:

-Duncan Barford’s background in chaos magic and the IOT

-The Baptist’s Head project and mystical approaches within chaos magic

-Ritual experimentation and magical practice in the early 2000s

-The Holy Guardian Angel as a paradigm for non-dual experience

-Mystical awakening and Daniel Ingram’s stages of insight

-The overlap between mystical experience and psychosis

-Encounters with spirits, entities, and magical phenomena

-Abramelin magic and the psychology of ritual practice

-The occult realism of A Dark Song and ritual in film

-Angels, demons, and the nature of spiritual entities

-Chaos magic, postmodernism, and the search for truth beyond belief

🔗 People, books, and concepts mentioned:

Duncan Barford – Occult writer, magician, and psychodynamic counselor

Alan Chapman – Magician and co-creator of The Baptist’s Head

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Chapman_(magician)

The Baptist’s Head – Early chaos magic blog and body of work exploring awakening

The Abramelin Ritual – Traditional operation to attain the Holy Guardian Angel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Abramelin

Holy Guardian Angel – Central concept in Western ceremonial magic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Guardian_Angel

Peter J. Carroll – Founder of modern chaos magic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Carroll

Liber Null & Psychonaut – Foundational chaos magic texts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liber_Null

Daniel Ingram – Buddhist teacher and author of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

https://www.mctb.org

Stages of Insight – Theravada Buddhist map of meditative awakening

The Red Book – Carl Jung’s visionary exploration of the unconscious

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Book_(Jung)

A Dark Song – Occult horror film depicting an Abramelin-inspired ritual

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dark_Song

Aleister Crowley – Occultist and proponent of the Holy Guardian Angel working

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

Chaos Magic – Postmodern magical practice focused on belief as a tool

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic

The Abramelin Operation – Ritual process of devotion and invocation leading to contact with the angel

Entities and spirits in magic – Angels, demons, elementals, and spiritual relationships

🔗 Duncan Barford

Occult Experiments in the Home

https://oeith.co.uk

Duncan Barford’s main site featuring essays, podcasts, and writing exploring magic, mysticism, psychology, and spiritual experience.

Counselling / Professional Site

https://www.duncanbarford.uk

Information about Duncan’s work as a psychodynamic psychotherapeutic counsellor.

🔗 Ulysses Black

The World of Ulysses Black

https://www.ulyssesblack.com

Ulysses Black’s main site — an archive of his work as a ritual researcher, writer, artist, and performance practitioner.

The Ritualist (Substack)

https://theritualist.substack.com

Ulysses’ Substack newsletter exploring ritual practice, symbolism, mythology, and esoteric research.

Ken sits down with Shira Chess, cultural scholar and author of The Unseen Internet, for a wide-ranging exploration of magic, myth, and belief in digital culture, examining how the internet has become an esoteric system in its own right — a space where technology, occult practice, conspiracy, and spiritual anxiety collapse into one another. Framed from the perspective of chapel perilous, the conversation traces how memes, algorithms, simulation theory, AI discourse, and techno-paganism function not metaphorically, but as active forces shaping belief, agency, and reality itself.

This episode moves through the haunted edges of online life, from meme magic and technognosticism to AI demons, digital egregores, and the slow erosion of consensus reality — asking what responsibility, belief, and magic mean when nothing is true, and everything is permitted.

This week:

The internet as an esoteric and magical system, Chapel perilous as a method for studying belief online, Meme magic, chaos magic, and the Cult of Kek, The destruction of consensus reality and its consequences, Techno-paganism and the occult roots of internet culture, Simulation theory as modern Gnosticism, Algorithms, platforms, and digital spaces as egregores, AI, demons, and the mystification of technology, Belief, practice, and agency in online magical systems, and “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” as an internet condition

🔗 People, books, and concepts mentioned:

Shira Chess – Cultural scholar and author

https://shirachess.com

The Unseen Internet – Technology, magic, and belief online

https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3…

High Weirdness – Erik Davis on esotericism and modern culture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_We…

Technosis – Myth, magic, and mysticism in the age of information

https://erikdavis.com/technosis

Chaos Magic – Postmodern magical practice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_m…

Meme Magic / Cult of Kek – Internet irony and belief systems

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kek_(my…)

Grant Morrison – Hypersigils and pop-culture magic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_M…

Simulation Theory – Digital Gnosticism and modern myth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulat…

Gnosticism – Secret knowledge and false reality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism

AI and Demons – Non-corporeal entities in technological discourse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artific…

Egregores – Collective thought-forms and group entities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egregore

Dayal discusses his years documenting the scene, the complex relationship between Black Metal and spirituality, and why physical media, authenticity, and seriousness of intent remain vital in an increasingly digital and disposable age.

• The origins of Cult Never Dies and the evolution of Dayal’s landmark book
• Black Metal’s strange blend of rebellion, mysticism, and artistic purity
• How Venom, Bathory, and punk shaped the genre’s DNA
• From the 90s underground to global festivals — the scene’s surprising resilience
• Why Satanism in Black Metal is both literal and symbolic
• Ritual performance and the blurred line between theatre and devotion
• The tension between elitism, accessibility, and authenticity
• Black Metal’s apocalyptic vision and fascination with the occult
• Industrial influences, Dissection’s “grimoire,” and the rise of esoteric bands
• Why physical books and records still matter to true believers

📖 Get Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult and other titles from Cult Never Dies:
https://cultneverdies.com

🔗 People, bands, and concepts mentioned:

• Dayal Patterson – Author and founder of Cult Never Dies
  https://cultneverdies.com
• Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult – Revised 2023 edition
• Venom – The band that coined “Black Metal”
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_(band)
• Bathory – Pioneering Scandinavian Black Metal
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathory_(band)
• Dissection – Reinkaos as occult grimoire
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissection_(band)
• Watain – Ritual performance and theistic Satanism
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watain
• Gorgoroth – Theatrical and metaphysical extremes
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgoroth
• Mysticum – Industrial Black Metal innovators
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticum
• Thelema – Occult system influencing many Black Metal bands
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema

💻 Follow & Support

Follow Cult Never Dies:
https://cultneverdies.com

https://www.instagram.com/cultneverdies

https://www.facebook.com/CultNeverDies

Support Right Where You Are Sitting Now on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/sittingnow

Visit SittingNow for more episodes, articles, and extras:
https://sittingnow.co.uk

This week, Ken and Ulysses Black talk to sorcerer and author Lili (Idlu Lili Regulus) about her remarkable book She of the Night(Theion Publishing). We explore the enigmatic figure of Lilith across Mesopotamian myth, Jewish mysticism, folklore, and modern magical practice. Lili shares how Lilith first revealed Herself to her, the challenges of writing about such a fluid and multifaceted being, and how one might carefully approach Lilith in ritual and devotion.

This week:

• Lili’s first encounters with Lilith in the 1990s
• Why Lilith is not an archetype, but a distinct and demanding goddess
• Mesopotamian “seeds” of Lilith: Lamashtu, Ardat-Lili, Ninlil, and more
• Lilith’s journey through Jewish mysticism, Arabic folklore, and European charms
• The Queen of the Night plaque and its mysterious resonance
• Lilith’s symbols: owls, serpents, night winds, blood, and husks
• How to approach Lilith in ritual — offerings, timing, and necessary precautions
• Why Lilith remains a powerful presence for modern magicians and mystics

Get She of the Night from Theion Publishing:
https://theionpublishing.com/catalogue/she-of-the-night/

🔗 People, places, concepts mentioned

Lili (Idlu Lili Regulus) – Author of She of the Night
https://theionpublishing.com

Lilith – Wikipedia (overview of the mythological figure)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

Lamashtu – Wikipedia (Mesopotamian demoness, precursor figure)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamashtu

Ardat-Lili – Wikipedia (Spirit connected with Lilith traditions)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardat-lili

Ninlil – Wikipedia (Sumerian goddess linked with air, winds, and Lilith traditions)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninlil

Tiamat – Wikipedia (Mesopotamian chaos goddess, sometimes connected to Lilith)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiamat

Ereshkigal – Wikipedia (Goddess of the underworld)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ereshkigal

Queen of the Night plaque – British Museum page
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_2003-0703-1

Kabbalah – Wikipedia (context for Lilith as Queen of the Qliphothic husks)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah

Theion Publishing – Publisher of She of the Night
https://theionpublishing.com

💻 Follow & Support

Follow Lili’s work at Theion Publishing:
https://theionpublishing.com

Follow Ulysses Black’s Substack:
https://theritualist.substack.com

Support Right Where You Are Sitting Now on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/sittingnow

Visit SittingNow for more episodes, articles, and extras:
https://sittingnow.co.uk

This week, Ken talks to author and cultural provocateur Stewart Home about his explosive new book Fascist Yoga: Grifters, Occultists, White Supremacists and the New Order in Wellness (Pluto Press). They dive into the strange, hidden history of yoga in the West, its unexpected ties to fascism, and how those shadows still linger in the modern wellness industry.

This week:

• The carnival-barker roots of yoga in the West and the con artistry of Pierre Bernard

• How racial myth-making turned yoga into an “Aryan science” for early fascists

• Guido Keller, the Rijeka YOGA group, and the bizarre avant-garde politics of proto-fascism

• Major J. F. C. Fuller: from Crowleyan yogi to architect of modern warfare

• Francis Yeats-Brown, Hitler fandom, and yoga propaganda

• How fascist mysticism evolved into post-war yoga evangelism and daytime TV gurus

• Why the modern wellness industry still carries the DNA of its darker past

Get Stewart’s book at Pluto Press:
https://www.plutobooks.com

Pierre Bernard – Wikipedia (The “Great Oom,” early yoga grifter)
https://twitter.com/stewarthomesoc

Support Right Where You Are Sitting Now on Patreon:
https://sittingnow.co.uk

This week Ken talks to author and esoteric scholar Peter Mark Adams about his new book Ritual and Epiphany in the Mysteries of Mithras (Theion Publishing). They explore the deep mysteries of Mithraic initiation, why caves matter, Mithras as cosmic hero, connections to Saturn, and the relevance of true initiatory experiences today.

💡 This week: Origins and roots of Mithras in Indo-European traditions, The bull-slaying scene (Tauroctony) and its deeper meaning, Mystery cult initiations and purification by water and fire, Why Mithraism appealed to Roman soldiers and elites, Connections to Saturn, Orphism, and the non-dual AI in reconstructing ritual processes, Freemasonry, Thelema, and modern echoes of Mithras

📚 Get Peter’s book at Theion Publishing: https://theionpublishing.com/shop/pma-ritualepiphany/

• Peter Mark Adams – Official website
  https://petermarkadams.com

• Peter Mark Adams – Scarlet Imprint profile
  https://scarletimprint.com/collections/peter-mark-adams

• Theion Publishing
  https://theionpublishing.com

• David Beth – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beth

• Helena Blavatsky – Wikipedia (briefly referenced re: esoteric currents)
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Blavatsky

• Epic of Gilgamesh – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

• Tiridates I of Armenia – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiridates_I_of_Armenia

• Nero – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero

• Pleiades (star cluster) – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades

• Plato’s Phaedrus – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)

• Porphyry – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry_(philosopher)

• Orphism (religion) – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphism_(religion)

• Saturn (mythology) – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(mythology)

• Cronus – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronus

• Demiurge – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge

• Vajrayana Buddhism – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana

• Freemasonry – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry

• Thelema – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema

• Mystery cult – Wikipedia (general concept)
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_religion

• Tauroctony – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauroctony

• Pater (Mithraism priest grade) – Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_mysteries#Grades_of_initiation

***Begin transmission

Joseph Matheny, David Metcalfe, Willow Truman and Ken Eakins send you transmissions from the Mauve Zone.

How idiots became 'intellectuals', The Queen of Canada's Conspiracy scene, how to 'prove' UAPs, and ploughing them fields baby.

Music by Simon Smerdon

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Joining me in co-host duties this week is Ulysses Black

Main theme by Simon Smerdon

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

David Beth was born in Luanda, Angola, South-West Africa in May, 1974, into a family of the (West) German Diplomatic Corps. He was educated in Europe and in Los Angeles, California, USA. David began his career as a teacher of occultism by leading small classes and conducting seminars in Denmark and Germany, where he was able to initiate a new style of ‘dialogue’ with the various levels of psychic experience. In 2002, after more than a decade of occult and spiritual studies, David began the intensive study of German philosophy and psychology, as internal experience and as evolution of the person, paying attention to those areas where the age of systems (Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Lotze) had failed to communicate with their respective age and with contemporary consciousness, especially ‘youth-culture’.

At that time, David experienced an epiphany when he was led to discover the evolutionary theogony of eros, as found in the writings of Ludwig Klages, the Graf Hermann von Keyserling, and Max Scheler (philosophers highly read during the Weimar years, 1919-1933), as well as in the work of recent ‘character analysis’. By a careful exploration of his own inner-consciousness, David was able to enter upon a voyage into his own gnostic being. David realised that he had been initiated into this primal awareness by a high-priestess of an ancient Afro-Totemic tradition-history, when he was a very young man, still living in Africa. In a profound sense, she was the archetypal influence discovered by Klages in 1922, when he wrote his book Vom kosmogonischen Eros. In this work, the role of the eternal feminine in evolution was delineated as the faces of Isis, Yenus, Freya, Shakti, Tanith, Sophia-Maria. David realised that this was the answer to the needs of contemporary consciousness, particularly the disenchant­ment of the youth-awareness movement, which was found world-wide.

In his first book, Voudon Gnosis, David began to teach for publication his interpretation of the modern mind which becomes gradually suffused with the polar-mysticism of his deeply personal encounter with god-archetypes and forms. These force-fields, which awakened as powers in David’s lectures and class-talks, now came to appear in his desire to hear the new sound-energy and see the light from the north, yet coming from the voice of a youth, a youth fed-up with static traditions, fed-up with traditions that had lost their vital-roots.

***Begin transmission

David Metcalfe, Darragh Mason, Willow Truman, and Ken Eakins send you transmissions from the Mauve Zone.

Check Darragh's amazing podcast @SpiritBox

Check Willow's podcast archive @thenonsensebazaar7273

Music by Simon Smerdon

Transmission ends***

Main theme by Simon Smerdon

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Pick up Gabriel’s book:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Lulu

Gabriel Kennedy, aka Prop Anon, is an actor, musician, and writer whose work has been featured in BoingBoing.net, Realitysandwich.com, Mondo2000.com, and his own website, http://chapelperilous.us. Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson is his first book. Source: Google Books

Joseph Matheny, David Metcalfe, and Ken Eakins send you transmissions from the Mauve Zone.

It's a Drone-O-Rama in the US and UK, The Orange Man is back in power, and Ken's Mantoid encounter.

Music by Simon Smerdon

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► Web: https://sittingnow.co.uk

► Patreon: http://patreon.com/sittingnow

► Twitter: http://x.com/sittingnow

► Instagram: @sittingnow

► Tiktok @sittingnowofficial

Main theme by Simon Smerdon

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

The Horus Ma’at Lodge – Bate Cabal related

Black Moon Publishing – Louis and Co’s publishing company

Black Moon Publishing Facebook

Voodoo Spiritual Temple – Louie’s Temple

Starfire Publishing – Kenneth Grant’s books

Ma’at Magick – Amazon Links UK/US/EU

The Adena Mounds

Louis Martinié is an author, “internationally known” percussionist, practitioner of a multitude of religions among them being New Orleans style Voodoo, and co-author of the book New Orleans VooDoo Tarot (1992), with Sallie Ann Glassman. He is a priest and drummer with the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple, and a primary drummer for the rituals of Priestess Miriam Chamani He is a leader of the band of drummers known as the Krewe of Nutria, who have drummed for the ritual shows of the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. He is also the editor and a founder of Black Moon Publishing.

This week: Kenneth Grant and the dream lore of H.P. Lovecraft, the connection between Nyarlathotep and Anubis, Why occultists need to loosen up their frameworks, the ordeal of the Abyss, and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Dr. Tomas Vincente is a scholar of ancient religion, magic and esotericism. His past work explores the emergence of Christian monotheism and the resulting decline of the chthonic cults of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. He is dedicated to recovering the integrity of this archaic spirituality of blood and fire, which has been demonized by the Abrahamic religions for two millennia.

Go help fund The Magick Show at http://magickshow.net

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Richard Metzger is an American writer, journalist, and media personality best known for his work on Disinformation, a television show that aired on the Independent Film Channel in the early 2000s. The show explored unconventional topics like conspiracy theories, secret societies, and the paranormal, earning Metzger a reputation as a charismatic and thoughtful figure in alternative media.

In addition to his TV career, Metzger is an influential writer and editor, contributing to publications and anthologies that challenge mainstream narratives. He is a key figure behind the Disinformation publishing company, which released books on countercultural and conspiracy topics, including The Disinformation Guide to Conspiracies.

Metzger also runs Dangerous Minds, a website that continues to explore fringe culture, mysticism, and hidden histories. With his blend of curiosity, humor, and skepticism, Metzger has shaped the conversation around alternative thought and remains a prominent figure in the world of independent media.

(source: ChatGPT)

***Begin transmission

Joseph Matheny, Viking Brian, and Ken Eakins send you transmissions from the Mauve Zone.

Did the Internet ruin the Backrooms? The Conspirituality grift, The Christian New Age, and The Black Lodge

For the youth new to the scene, Brian was part of a podcast that inspired SittingNow called 'The Viking Youth Power Hour', so give him some love.

Check out Brian's Brewery here - https://www.ibw-chicago.com/6-6-6/

Music by Simon Smerdon

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Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

UK – https://amzn.to/4brXJFL

US – https://amzn.to/3zb3gTt

Since being named the J. F. Rowny Professor of Comparative Religion in 2011, I have returned to the focus of my PhD dissertation and first book, Myths of the Dog-Man (Chicago: 1991). While that project focused on the spread of the mytheme of a particular monstrous race across ancient and medieval Asia and Europe, my current interest concerns contacts and exchanges in matters of demonology. Unbound as they are by exclusivist doctrinal and institutional strictures,, demons have traveled more lightly than gods, and so it is that one finds the names of Buddhist demons in medieval Manichean spell texts, charms against Iranian demons in Lithuanian and Chinese sources, an amulet of an Indian demoness at an archeological site in Turkmenistan, and so on. Elsewhere, the yoginis and dakinis of South and East Asian Hinduism and Buddhism are found to be related to the striga of ancient Rome and the vampires of early modern eastern Europe; the tenth-century BCE Homeric myth of Odysseus and Circe reappears, only slightly altered, in the Mahavamsa, a fifth-century CE chronicle of the island of Ceylon; and the nightmares of European lore find their homologues in the maras of South Asia and the Chinese “devil-kings” called mo-wang. It is the “connected histories” of these beings and the humans who trafficked in them that have become my area of focus. Both the Silk Road and ancient and medieval maritime trade routes were information superhighways, and a portion of that information was demonological. It is easy to imagine soldiers, sailors, merchants, diviners, monks, and priests swapping amulets and spells at Silk Road halting points and ports. Demons and the techniques to control them were as much a commodity in the ancient and medieval world as germs, guns, and steel.

Source – https://www.religion.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/david-white/

This week: The great Lemur mystery, Blavatsky and root races, The I AM Movement and the Minutemen, The Shaver Mysteries, and much more.

https://amzn.to/3vAafEa (UK)

https://amzn.to/3VMsOzx (US)

I love a good story. And history holds an infinite number of stories just waiting to be rediscovered and brought back out into the present. History is a part of who I am. For over half my life, I have been studying and researching and writing and working with history. Working as an archivist and researcher and getting to physically interact with and study centuries old historical documents has created this very personal relationship with history for me. Discovering those stories held within, the lives of the people mentioned, the events coming to life is as exciting as anything can be. Being a part of the process of researching that history, finding those stories, and bringing them to life is what drives me as a writer and a historian. My interests are varied and my writing has matched my curiosity. Being from West Virginia and studying West Virginia history, I have written much about the state’s history from telling the story of the first person to die in the state from Spanish flu, who was an incarcerated black man, to how the first woman in the state to establish her own law practice sued the male hierarchy of her town for their sexist harassment of herself and her career. But I have also written about feuding Revolutionary War doctors, 19th century ghost hunting, and much more.

Joseph Matheny, David B Metcalfe, and Ken Eakins send you transmissions from the Mauve Zone.

Ken rages against the Hyper Reality, How the Hyper Reality is killing people, Roger Corman of the death of the 20th Century, The Catholic Church’s paranormal division, Project Blue beam, Starseed and Indigo children, Praterhuman Intelligences, and the story is everything

Check out David's course with Diana Pasulka here https://dwpasulka-courses.teachable.c...

Music by Simon Smerdon   http://patreon.com/burnthouse_lane  

Transmission ends***

Joining me in Exernsteine Chapel this week is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Buy Occult Germany (affiliate links)

https://amzn.to/3U4Tri5 (UK)

https://amzn.to/3U1MFcE (US)

Dr. Christopher McIntosh was born in England in 1943 and grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and German at London University, later returning to Oxford to take a doctorate in history with a dissertation on the Rosicrucian revival in the context of the German Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment. After working in London in journalism and publishing he spent four years in New York as an information officer with the United Nations Development Programme, then moved to Germany to work for UNESCO. In parallel he has pursued a career as a writer and researcher specialising in the esoteric traditions as well as nature-oriented belief systems. He has lectured widely and was on the faculty of the distance M.A. programme in Western Esotericism at the University of Exeter, England, now sadly discontinued. He is married to the scholar of religion Dr. Donate Pahnke-McIntosh. Their home is in Lower Saxony, North Germany. Contact via Facebook Messenger.

Source – https://ozgard.net/

Are the Royal family from Dimension B? How can we disrupt The Satanic Panic 2.0?, Did Conspiracy Theorists popularise Kenneth Grant? Jiddu Krishnamurti the coolest of gurus, Reality is What You Can Get Away With book release, Ye Olde New Age and the death of Patronage, Sherman Oaks New Age District, Accelerationism and the meal replacement cults.

Music by Simon Smerdon https://www.instagram.com/burnthouse_lane/

Peter Mark Adams is an author, poet, and essayist specialising in the ethnography and visuality of ritual, sacred landscape, esotericism, consciousness and healing. Peter has over twenty years experience with energy-based healing modalities including rebirthing breathwork, meridian therapies, and Reiki. As a professional author, Peter’s non-fiction is published by Scarlet Imprint and Inner Traditions; literary prose and poetry largely in Corbel Stone Press’ literary journal ‘Reliquiae: Journal of Nature, Landscape & Mythology’ and a range of essays examining other than human encounters in the peer-reviewed journals ‘Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal’ and ‘The Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology’. With a background in Philosophy from the University of Liverpool; Peter pursues advanced studies with the Warburg Institute’s School of Advanced Studies in London covering iconology and iconographic theory; Renaissance art and material culture.

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Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Buy the book using our affiliate links: 

UK – https://amzn.to/485EaBd 

US – https://amzn.to/3SxwVfw 

EU – https://amzn.to/3ulpeRN  

Andy Sharp is a writer and multimedia artist. Since 2003, he has worked on English Heretic, an autonomous creative research project. Pioneering the form of literary and aural aesthetics, he has released over a dozen albums and booklets. He has talked at academic conferences and counter-cultural events on a wide range of subjects drawn from his research. He has an MSc in Neuroscience from Kings College and lives in London.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Get Mark’s book in the UK at https://amzn.to/425OoAe

Get Mark’s book in the US at https://amzn.to/48ZI9zY

Get Mark’s book in the EU at https://amzn.to/490HmiC

Mark’s Traditionalists Blog

Mark J. Sedgwick is an academic and historian. Dr. Sedgwick is currently an associate professor of Arab history, culture and society in the Department of the Study of Religion, and program manager for Arab and Islamic Studies, at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He previously worked at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Mark Sedgwick is the author of the controversial book Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century, published by Oxford University Press in 2004. The book purports to be a survey of “traditionalism,” with particular emphasis on the role René Guénon played in this school of thought. A number of careful reviewers, however, have found that Against the Modern World contains serious errors and faults in both premises and facts.

Dr. Mark Sedgwick maintains an active presence on the internet, including his blog, some of which strikes various readers as rather biased and self-promotional while other readers perceive his efforts as the result of academic inquisitiveness. It is undeniable that he is a source of information about Tradition and Perennialism. However, the controversial nature of Mark Sedgwick’s work on Traditionalism and Perennialism causes many readers to ask whether his influence is disproportionate to his credentials and possibly even to his motives. Readers must judge for themselves whether Sedgwick is a dispassionate student of Traditionalism or someone with an internet connection and a “personal and undisclosed bias against Traditionalism.” In the interest of a more balanced and well-researched view of Traditionalism, we present on this website three rather detailed and, we hope, incisive reviews of Mark Sedgwick’s Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century.

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David Metcalfe is an independent researcher, writer, and multimedia artist focusing on the interstices of art, culture, and consciousness. He is a contributing editor for Reality Sandwich, The Revealer, the online journal of NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, and The Daily Grail. He writes regularly for Evolutionary Landscapes, Alarm Magazine, Modern Mythology, Disinfo.com, The Teeming Brain, and his own blog The Eyeless Owl. His writing has been featured in The Immanence of Myth (Weaponized 2011), Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color & Music (Alarm Press, 2011), and Exploring the Edge Realms of Consciousness (North Atlantic/Evolver Editions 2012). Metcalfe is an Associate with Phoenix Rising Digital Academy and is currently co-hosting The Art of Transformations study group with support from the International Alchemy Guild.

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Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Check out Nathan’s Penny Royal podcast and Liminal Lodge Patreon at the links below:

Penny Royal podcast homepage
Liminal Lodge patreon page
Penny Royal Twitter page

Nathan Paul Isaac is a writer, researcher, and producer, best known as the host and creator of the Penny Royal podcast. He has spent over two decades diving deep into the folklore, mystery, and high strangeness that envelops his native Kentucky. Nathan has been a featured speaker at paranormal conventions, including Strange Realities and Phenomenacon, appeared on a wide array of podcasts and radio shows, including Jim Perry’s Nite Drift and Coast to Coast AM, and as a guest on paranormal documentary films and television series.

In addition to producing the Penny Royal podcast (and the upcoming podcasts Hidden In the Herd and Valley of the Unreel), he has worked as an associate television producer for History Channel’s Dark Marvels. Alongside his work in the paranormal field, Nathan has worked for more than a decade in the music recording industry and as executive producer for the SomerSessions series, shooting and directing video sessions with Tyler Childers, Morgan Wade, and many other award-winning musicians and artists.

source: https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/nathan-isaac/

Music by Simon Smerdon

This week: Zosimos and the early Egyptian Alchemists, the female roots of the art, Was Jung wrong about Alchemy, and much more.

Joining me from his misty lab is Frater Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Check out our previous two interviews with Tobias Churton on Aleister Crowley here and here.

Buy Tobias’ book using our affiliate links here –> UK US EU

Tobias Churton is Britain’s leading scholar of Western Esotericism, a world authority on Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and Rosicrucianism. He is a filmmaker and the founding editor of the magazine Freemasonry Today. An Honorary Fellow of Exeter University, where he is faculty lecturer in Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, he holds a master’s degree in Theology from Brasenose College, Oxford, and created the award-winning documentary series and accompanying book The Gnostics, as well as several other films on Christian doctrine, mysticism, and magical folklore. The author of many books, including Gnostic Philosophy, The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, and Aleister Crowley: The Beast in Berlin, he lives in England.

Joining me, dead but still dreaming is Mar(c)k Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Show Notes:

Check out The Lovecraft Investigation on Apple here, and Spotify here.

Check out Julian’s Pleasant Green Universe shows via his site Fragments, Bad Memories, Fugue State, and Mythos 1, 2 and 3

Julian’s other currently active show that features some characters from The Lovecraft Investigations ‘Aldrich Kemp’ can be found via the BBC Limelight Series on Apple here, and Spotify here

Julian Simpson Bio:

I was recently emailed by someone complaining about how hard it is to find information about me and my work. I get this. It’s not deliberate, but it’s not deliberate either.

There are probably ways to create a more accessible web presence, and to bring the various things I’ve worked on or been associated with into some kind of useful order. But that seems like quite a lot of work and I’m not wildly into doing lots of extra work. I really enjoy being a bit hidden and just getting on with my work. (For reference see Themis House in the upcoming “Who Is Aldrich Kemp?”, coming to your radios on February 18th, 2022.)

That people have to do a bit of digging to find me suits me just fine. It’s like a hazing process; the people who get through seem to be more interesting.

So now you are here, this is what you might want to know:

I am a London-based writer and director working in film, TV, and audio. In the past, I have worked, either as a writer or director or both, on Spooks (MI-5 if you’re in the US), Hustle, Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, and Doctor Who.

My TV work in the UK pretty much stopped dead in about 2016. This wasn’t by design, but I wrote a TV pilot script that got a lot of attention in America and that has been where the majority of my work has been coming from since then. That work has been mostly writing and, because nothing has yet been produced (watch this space), the credits do not yet show up on my IMDb page and I am legally not allowed to talk about any of them.

My official “work” website is at juliansimpson.uk. Many people have said they find this unhelpful. Those people might be missing the point.

In or around 2019 I co-founded a storytelling/world-building company called Storypunk. That does not yet have a website but it will, soon, and in the meantime, we have made a sci-fi podcast series called TEMPORAL which is out to distributors as I type this (Feb 2022).

I have also made a number of audio dramas, including the “Lovecraft Investigations” podcast series, details of most of which are on the Radio and Podcasts page and can be investigated in-depth on the Pleasant Green Universe wiki on TV Tropes and on my Wikipedia page.

There isn’t a veil of secrecy around what I do, but there is a veil of laziness draped over the promotion of it. If you want to find me, I’m on Twitter (@CartoonGravity), on Instagram (somewhat reluctantly) as @cartoon_gravity, and on e-mail at cartoongravity@hey.com. I also have a portfolio of photographs on Format.

I’m repped in the UK by Sean Gascoine at United Agents, and in the US by Jeff Barry at Range Media Partners and Andrew Murphy at Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.

I live in London with my wife and daughter and two quite annoying cats. This site is a kind of public scrapbook of thoughts, ideas, and random nonsense.

Now you know as much about me as I do.

Source: http://cartoongravity.com

This week we discuss: Did Lovecraft encode a secret magickal lesson into each of his stories, what is ‘The Mystic Polar Tradition’, Why was the Polar tradition hidden, and much more.

Check out Mario’s site here, and his YouTube channel here

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Good luck finding this book for less than £1500, check it on Amazon here

Born in 1964, I gained access to Kabbalah and various occult doctrines related to it through my interest in the American author HP Lovecraft. My first book was published in 1992 bearing the title “Lovecraft – Treasurer of the Forbidden”. In 1994 I published the first occult exegesis and translation of the Babylonian Epic of Creation in “Primordial Light” which was substantially enlarged in its second edition “Fiat Nox” in 1994. In the 1990s I was also a patron member of the British Museum Society. Besides, I always worked as a translator and was for example responsible for the first Nicholas-Roerich-biography by Jacqueline Decter. Further translations in the 1990s included works by WB Yeats and EA Wallis Budge. In 1996 I authored “Polaria – The Gift of the White Stone” on Lovecraft and Western Occultism which was published in the US. In 2001 I founded my own publishing company with two books on esoteric Traditionalism (Guénon) and related subjects of Alchemy as well as the first German translations of some of Suhrawardi’s most eminent Sufi writings. After having positively identified Einstein’s famous equation of Special Relativity in Kabbalah, I published “NecroYoga” in 2011 containing the Kabbalistic “threshold-equation” later termed “Moshe-Formula”, and partly based on a so-called “Babylon-Workout” on Kabbalah, Special Relativity and Black Hole ‘Physics which had appeared previously in Germany. My most recent translations include Nevill Drury’s biography on the life and work of the Australian artist and occultist Rosaleen Norton and Stephen Flower’s “Lords of the Left-Hand Path”. “Antarktos: Understanding the Age of Rebellion” in which I write comprehensively on the “real” secrets of Antarctica in connection with the ongoing conflict of the Old Ones vs. the Elder Ones, E.A. Poe’s secret messages in “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym” and further revelations from Lovecraft’s occult heritage, is due for publication soon.

Joining me at the dinner table is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Get Christina’s book in the UK here – https://amzn.to/40714Wz

Get Christina’s book in the US here – https://amzn.to/490XAca

Christina Ward is an author, editor, and seeker. She is also the Vice President and Editor of Feral House, a publisher noted for their books on outré topics. She had the distinct pleasure of riding around town in the Wienermobile with Padma Lakshmi on the hottest day in July of 2019 for “Taste the Nation.” Her current book, Holy Food: Recipes and Foodways from Cults, Communes, and New Religious Movements (September 26, 2023).

Her previous book, American Advertising Cookbooks-How Corporations Taught Us To Love, Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O, earned positive notice from Florence Fabricant in the New York Times, Christopher Kimball of Milk Street Radio, and numerous other journalists and readers.

Her 2017 book, Preservation-The Art and Science of Canning, Fermentation, and Dehydration, explores the history and science of food preservation while sharing 100 fool-proof recipes that make the science real. She is a contributor to Serious Eats, Edible Milwaukee, The Wall Street Journal, The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, Remedy Quarterly, and Runcible Spoon magazines. Christina makes regular guest expert on Milwaukee television programs and public radio stations across the United States, delighting in ‘working blue’ before 8 am.

She contributed to and edited the 2021 book Bawdy Tales & Trifles of Devilries for Ladies and Gentlemen of Experience under her nom d’amour, Lady Fanny Woodcock. She has guided, edited, contributed to, and in a few (unnamed) instances, rewritten, over fifty books. She has an interest in the lives of forgotten “difficult women” and bringing their stories to readers. Christina regularly contributes to academic and educational conferences on the topic of transgressive art. In her spare time, she is the certified Master Food Preserver for Southeast Wisconsin and always picks up the phone to answer pressing questions about jelly that won’t set and soft pickles.

Christina can trace her Milwaukee and Wisconsin roots to the early 1800s. Her love of history comes from her father, who instilled the idea that we are all manifestations of our ancestors. Her interest in cooking began out of childhood necessity to feed herself and her siblings while her father worked in a factory. She prides herself on having a hungry mind interested in learning about people, the foods they eat, and the stories that arise from that convergence.

If you asked 8-year-old me what I wanted to be when I grew up—my answer was always the same—a writer.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Buy Allen’s book here

T Allen Greenfield (the “T” or “Tau” being a customary title given to an esoteric prelate in the Doinel lineage upon their consecration) is a native of Augusta, Georgia, USA. With relatively brief sojourns in Tampa, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and Key West, Florida, he has lived much of his life thus far in Atlanta. By the age of sixteen, he had become a world traveler, and has visited many countries all over the globe in the years since, from France to French Polynesia; from Canada to Venezuela; Greece to Grenada, Israel to Indiana.

He is a long-time student of esoteric spirituality and Gnosticism, a study he began in 1960. A past (elected) member of the British Society for Psychical Research, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) (from 1960), etc., he has twice been the recipient of the “UFOlogist of the Year Award” of the National UFO Conference (1972 and 1992), which has run continuously on an annual basis for 41 years. He is a Borderland Science Research Associate (BSRA).

He has personally conducted on-site UFO abduction investigations in Brooksville, FL; Pascagoula, MS; and Brown Mountain, NC. He considers the UFO phenomenon to be a “signal” from the Collective Unconscious that the neglect of a magical spirituality by society as a whole is a cause of the emotional plague and social disaster.

***Begin transmission

Joseph Matheny, David B Metcalfe, and Ken Eakins send you transmissions from the Mauve Zone. This week's data leak includes: UAP in Congress, The new Satanic Panic, Skywatch and the Colin's elite, dominionism, Kenneth Grant, Hellier, Allen Greenfield, Jack Parsons, Svenghoulie, and To the Stars Academy

Transmission ends***

Music by Simon Smerdon

Jumping into the Saturnian cohost seat this week is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Stephen Flowers’ book is the best resource on the order in English.

Buy the book in the UK here

Buy the book in the US here

Frater U∴D∴ is a writer, poet and magician. A German diplomat’s child, he grew up in Africa and Asia. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Bonn in Comparative Literature, English Literature and Portuguese Studies.

Co-founder of the Bonn Workshop for Experimental Magic. As founder of Pragmatic Magic, Cyber Magic, Ice Magic and co-founder of the Magical Pact of the Illuminati of Thanateros (IOT), he is one of Europe’s most renowned practical magicians and contemporary occult authors. He studied with yoga and tantra masters and has been involved with the practical aspects of occultism in general and magic in particular for more than half a century.

Many years of experience as a translator and interpreter, author of more than 40 books, many of which have become modern day classics, including High Magic and Practical Sigil Magic. His works have been translated into multiple languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Czech, Estonian, Japanese etc.).

He is known for his undogmatic approach to the black arts. Translated works by Peter Carroll, Ramsey Dukes and Aleister Crowley’s Book of Lies, among others.

Orbiting the rings of Saturn with me this week is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Stephen Flowers’ book is the best resource on the order in English.

Buy the book in the UK here Buy the book in the US here

Frater U∴D∴ (Belgium), founder of Pragmatic and Ice Magic, is Europe’s best known practical magician and contemporary occult author. He has written more than twenty-five books. Among his translations are the books of Peter Carroll and Ramsey Dukes, and Aleister Crowley’s Book of Lies.

This week: Nikolas’ new conspiracy research group OASIS, Why Nikolas is still the object of conspiracy, the dark side of modern conspiracy culture, and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Nikolas Schreck’s music on Bandcamp

Nikolas Schreck socials https://linktr.ee/nikolasschreck

Nikolas Schreck is an American singer/songwriter, musician, author, and filmmaker.

Acclaimed by Austria‘s Evolver magazine as “already a legend in his lifetime‘‘, singer-songwriter, author, and film-maker Nikolas Schreck’s initiatory application of music, ritual, and theater formally began in 1984 when he returned to the West from a life-changing spiritual pilgrimage in Egypt to found the shapeshifting musical ensemble Radio Werewolf, a nine-year sonic magic operation which concluded in 1993.

After pioneering early Los Angeles Gothic and deathrock with the band’s first incarnation, Radio Werewolf’s European phase was hailed by Christopher Walton of the band Endura for “simultaneously pre-empting and giving birth to the dark-ambient and ritual-industrial scene of the 1990s.”

Before embarking on his current solo career, Schreck has previously collaborated musically with Zeena, John Murphy, Kingdom of Heaven, and Sir Christopher Lee, whose first album he produced. Schreck’s books include The Manson File: Myth & Reality of an Outlaw Shaman, Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left-Hand Path Sex Magic (written with Zeena Schreck), The Satanic Screen, and Flowers from Hell. He is the director of the 1989 documentary Charles Manson Superstar and has appeared in several films, including Mortuary Academy and Usher.

Joining me from atop a grumpy bear is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Buy Occult Russia on Amazon

Christopher McIntosh is a British-born writer and historian who has lived in Germany for more than 30 years. He has a doctorate in history from Oxford University, a degree in German from London University, and a diploma in Russian from the United Nations Language School. The author of many books, including Occult Russia, he lives in Lower Saxony, North German

This week: The fire-humanoids of Sweden, the Vittangi Incident, Swedish Men in Black, and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

All of Fred’s links can be found here

The Fire Humanoids of Sweden Article

The Vittangi Incident Article

Vanishing Visitors at Vikbolandet Article

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Check Juan’s site for link here

Subscribe to Juan’s Patreon here

On my show, I talk about life, self-awareness, esoterica, and other mysteries in the world. I have had artists, authors, conspiracy theorists, and other individuals on. My goal with making my podcast is to bring some knowledge that perhaps you did not have before listening to my show. If I have someone share an experience that they have had that maybe you would never experience, you can in a way experience that as well through the person telling their story. Some topics will be more serious than others but at the end of the day, it is about what you take from it. I am enjoying the process and I am also using it to grow as a person. For me, this goes deeper than just making a podcast. It is a learning experience.

This week we discuss: Knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, New technologies in Magick and the Occult, Sorcery and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Grab a copy of Ulysses Black’s works at Midian Books

Check Ulysses online at his site

Support Ulysses on his Patreon

See the SittingNow filmed Scarlet Imprint performance here

Welcome to the wonderous & weird world of ritual artist Ulysses Black!

From my roots in western esotericism, magick and the occult, I have spent the last 30+years investigating exactly how rituals of all forms ‘work’, using my artistic and performance backgrounds as the principal vehicle for disseminating that research. I hope you’ll find something here of interest and encourage you to join me on this journey.

So… when i say ‘rituals’ do I mean occult rituals and magical spells? – Sure, sometimes, but i also have a trained background in officiating weddings, funerals, handfastings, I have worked as the ritual consultant for films, choreographed rituals for music videos, delivered lectures, given seminars, run training and workshops all on rituals – and yes, even saying ‘cheers!’ to toast a friend is a ritual that interests me.

Rituals permeate our lives, regardless of whether we ‘believe’ in them – they have a profound ability to affect our sense of purpose, to give us meaning and better understand our place within the world. Alongside hunting and seduction, rituals might be the oldest performative actions we have, we all know them, we can all be affected by them… and yet they are inherently mysterious and oblique to normal understanding… Developing an understanding of ritual and its implementation not only enriches our lives, but more specifically helps us come to an understanding of our own sense of place and purpose. Ritual – as a activity – is a means of cultivating a deeper sense of meaningfulness within our lives.

I am driven by an insatiable thirst to create work that investigates, expresses or contributes to our practical understanding of rituals. Fancy exploring the strange and marvellous world of ritual? Join me on this adventure of investigation, leave your mark, even influence the work as it evolves and find expression through diverse projects.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

ERIC WARGO has a PhD in anthropology from Emory University and works as a science writer and editor in Washington, DC. In his spare time, he writes about science fiction, consciousness, and the paranormal at his popular blog, The Nightshirt. Besides Time Loops, he is also the author of Precognitive Dreamwork and the Long Self: Interpreting Messages from Your Future.

This week: What is the Black Lodge?, What does the Shaver mystery have in connection to it?, Has Allen met any of it’s members and what the hell is his new book actually called?

Joining me from his portable White Lodge is one Ulysses Black

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

T Allen Greenfield (the “T” or “Tau” being a customary title given to an esoteric prelate in the Doinel lineage upon their consecration) is a native of Augusta, Georgia, USA. With relatively brief sojourns in Tampa, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and Key West, Florida, he has lived much of his life thus far in Atlanta. By the age of sixteen, he had become a world traveler, and has visited many countries all over the globe in the years since, from France to French Polynesia; from Canada to Venezuela; Greece to Grenada, Israel to Indiana.

He is a long-time student of esoteric spirituality and Gnosticism, a study he began in 1960. A past (elected) member of the British Society for Psychical Research, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) (from 1960), etc., he has twice been the recipient of the “UFOlogist of the Year Award” of the National UFO Conference (1972 and 1992), which has run continuously on an annual basis for 41 years. He is a Borderland Science Research Associate (BSRA).

He has personally conducted on-site UFO abduction investigations in Brooksville, FL; Pascagoula, MS; and Brown Mountain, NC. He considers the UFO phenomenon to be a “signal” from the Collective Unconscious that the neglect of a magical spirituality by society as a whole is a cause of the emotional plague and social disaster.

This week we discuss: The legend of William Cooper, why the hip-hop community loves old Bill, Mystery Babylon, Cooper’s predictions, and much more.

Joining me from his conspiracy-proof compound is Raymond Wiley

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Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Mark Jacobson is a writer and journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. He is known for his explorations of the seamy side of urban life and for his offbeat and witty take on popular culture. Mark is a contributing editor at New York magazine and a frequent contributor to The Village Voice, National Geographic, Natural History magazine, Men’s Journal, and other publications.

Joining me from his otherworldy throne is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Find the works of Kenneth Grant at http://www.starfirepublishing.co.uk/

Joining me from the dream land is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Being a historical researcher of Masonic symbols and meanings, I have a lifetime of experience with alchemy and the mystical arts. I studied Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1970s, am a journeyman communications-electronics technician, Freemason, and shaman. I’ve explored various forms of meditation, the mechanics of how it works, and how to help others understand and practice it. I blend my knowledge of these diverse subjects in a way you can connect with, understand, and use, helping you achieve a higher level of spiritual consciousness. On his podcast, Poke Runyon says: “If you’d like to learn the secrets of Alchemy tune in and meet a master of the art.” Feathered Quill says: “Stay tuned for more gems to come from this master wisdom jeweler, R.E. Kretz.”

This week we discuss: What is dream incubation, the importance of star knowledge, old woman rituals, creative inspiration from dreams and much more.

Joining me from the dream land is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Sarah Janes has been an enthusiastic lucid dreamer since childhood. She is a writer, public speaker, and sleep hypnosis workshop facilitator. She runs Explorers Egyptology, an online lecture series, and with Carla Hayden Smith operates The Seventh Ray, a virtual reality Mystery School. She is also a producer and co-host for the Anthony Peake Consciousness Hour podcast. Sarah is currently working with Rupert Sheldrake and the British Pilgrimage Trust to reinvigorate the practice of dream incubation at sacred sites. She lives in the UK.

https://themysteries.org/

Returning from the void, and crawling through the nightshade, the two-headed beast called Ken and Marck return, dead but still dreaming. This week, we take a journey to Paris, and track the interactions of the great beast himself, Aleister Crowley. Our impeccable cicerone through the streets of the city of love and light this week is author, and returning guest Mr Tobias Churton.

This week we discuss: Crowley’s relationship with McGregor Mathers, his effect on the bored and horny, the meaning of true will, and much more.

Joining me from the astral realm is one Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

You can check out episodes of ‘The Gnostics’ here on YouTube

Born in Sutton Coldfield to an ancient Cheshire family, in 1960, Tobias Churton spent two years in Australia from 1966 to 1968 and returned to attend his fifth school, Lichfield Cathedral School. Three schools later he won an exhibition to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he studied Theology. Compelled to exchange a vocation to the priesthood for the lowlier prospect of a career in television, he first came to public notice with the 1987 Channel 4 production, GNOSTICS. The 4-part, drama-documentary went out at peak time on Saturday nights. It won the New York TV Festival Gold Award for best religious series. Churton’s Channel 4/Weidenfeld & Nicolson book accompanying the series was a best seller. 

Long before Dan Brown scored a hit with The Da Vinci Code, Tobias Churton introduced a popular audience to the authentic world of esoteric mysteries. In the words of Dutch scholar, Gilles Quispel, the TV series would “change the minds of millions”. Churton presented the facts, not the fantasy. Swedish theologian Jan-Arvid Hellström hailed Churton as a “religious genius” while Amsterdam bibliophile and industrialist Joost Ritman enthusiastically greeted the appearance of a new “writing star”. 

The success of The Gnostics allowed Tobias to concentrate his energies on his first love: writing. After years of voluminous reading, mystical experience and creative endeavour, Churton had much to express. 

Having completed his twenty-fifth book commission, Tobias Churton is today internationally recognized for his insightful books on esoteric, spiritual history, Art and philosophy. Accessible and scholarly, Churton’s works address believers and doubters alike and, remarkably, have stimulated spiritual experiences in some readers. He has successfully widened the appeal of so-called “esoteric” spirituality. Churton’s warm style and depth of knowledge have entertained many thousands of readers in the process. Tobias is also a filmmaker, lecturer, poet and musician. He has recently recorded his orchestrated score for his prospective dramatic project, William Blake: Love is on Fire!, while his musical about Nancy Cunard and Henry Crowder, YOU, ME AND YESTERDAY, co-written with artist and songwriter John Myatt, was performed to great acclaim at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre in 2011. He has composed and recorded eight albums of original music.

This week we discuss: Just who was Jack Parsons and why are we still talking about him?, The OTO's influence on Parsons' life?, how do you go from rocket science to occult magician? and much more.

Joining me from his command outpost this week is Mar(c)k Satyr™

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

George Pendle Bio:

George Pendle is an author and journalist.

He writes about contemporary art, historical fiction, imaginary countries, real monsters, mad scientists, sane occultists, and the color blue.

He has written for the Economist, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Times (London), the Guardian, the Observer, frieze, Cabinet, Bidoun, Modern Painters, and Icon.

This week we discuss: Dreams as magical portals, working with the darkness, Ludwig Klages and Kenneth Grant, and much more.

Joining me, Dead but still dreaming is Mar(c)k Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Richard Gavin is a critically-acclaimed writer who works in the areas of horror and the primordial, oftentimes illuminating the nexus where these fields intersect. He has authored four books of macabre fiction, as well as poetry, criticism, and several occult essays for publications such as Starfire Journal and Clavis. The Benighted Path is his most substantial esoteric work to date.

This week we discuss: Why does the general population so easily believe in official narratives?, what do Timothy Leary and British occultism have to do with Charles Manson?, what really did happen at 10050 Cielo Drive? and much more.

Also, join Nikolas at the launch of the UK edition of his amazing book ‘The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman’ on the 22nd October, tickets available here

Joining me, and finally recovered from the deserts of time, returning co-host Sam Horn

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Nikolas Schreck is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, film-maker and Tantric Buddhist religious teacher based in Berlin, Germany.

Now a solo artist, Schreck founded the musical magical recording and performance collective Radio Werewolf, which operated from 1984-1994, releasing seven albums. Schreck was also the lead singer of the musical duo Kingdom of Heaven whose album, XXIII, was released in April 2015. He collaborated musically with his former wife, American singer and musician Zeena Schreck, as well as Australian percussionist John Murphy, NON, Death in June, and the British actor Christopher Lee, whose first album Schreck conceived and produced.

As a solo artist, his song “Lord Sutekh’s Dream” was released by German record label The Epicurean in conjunction with Schreck’s May 28, 2016 concert at the Epicurean Escapism Festival in Berlin.

Since that concert, Schreck has recorded and performed with his band consisting of Winfried Strauss (keyboards), Ohnesorg (bass), and Heathen Rae (drums and percussion.) After a performance at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, noted as one of the best concerts at the WGT by German music site der Schwarze Welt, Schreck and his band released the vinyl EP The Futura Model on The Epicurean label. A monthly radio program, The Nikolas Schreck Show, premiered on Berlin’s Radio on October 31, 2017.

Schreck’s album The Illusionist was released by US label Records Ad Nauseam at an event held at Zebulon in Los Angeles on August 10, 2019.

His books include The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman (2011); Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left Hand Path Sex Magic (2002), co-authored with Zeena; Flowers from Hell: A Satanic Reader (2001); The Satanic Screen: An Illustrated Guide to the Devil in Cinema, (2001); and the first edition of The Manson File (1988).

His film appearances include the 1989 documentary, Charles Manson Superstar, which he directed; Usher, the last film of Curtis Harrington; and Mortuary Academy. He teaches Tantric Buddhist meditation.

Source: Wikipedia

Joining me from his crypt of terror is Mar(c)k Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Singer-songwriter, recording artist, and humorist, Lon Milo DuQuette is also the author of 19 critically acclaimed books (translated in 12 languages) on Magick and the Occult. Critics have called him one of the most respected and entertaining writers and lecturers in the field of the Western Mystery Traditions.

Since 1975 DuQuette been a national and international governing officer of Ordo Templi Orientis, one of the most influential magical societies of the 20th and 21st Centuries. He is currently the Order’s United States Deputy Grand Master. He is an internationally recognized authority on tarot, ceremonial magick, and esoteric Freemasonry. Although he takes these subjects very seriously, he tries not to take himself too seriously. This rare combination of scholarship and humor has earned him in the last 30 years a unique and respected position in American spiritual and esoteric literature.

DuQuette appears occasionally on television and radio as a guest expert on subjects involving the occult. He is a contributor to the Magical Egypt DVD series’ and a host on the new series, The Great Work.

He is a faculty member of the Omega Institute in Reinbeck New York, and Robert Anton Wilson’s Maybe Logic Academy.

He lives in Costa Mesa, California with his wife of 52 years, Constance.

This week we discuss: The history of the Georgia Guidestones, The rise of dark conspiracy theory, who we think planted the bomb, QAnon and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Check out Raymond’s new podcast ‘Retrophilia’ on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you look for podcasts.

Raymond Wiley Bio:

Raymond Wiley is a historian, broadcaster, and producer based in Athens, Georgia. Arguably the foremost expert on the Georgia Guidestones, he has appeared on numerous TV, radio, and online series, including Brad Meltzer’s Decoded and CBS News Atlanta. Episodes of his audio series, Out There Radio and The Disinformation Podcasts, have been syndicated on numerous AM and FM stations and downloaded millions of times. He has been described as “a sober, Southeastern version of the radio host Art Bell, exhaustive in chronicling conspiracy theories and the occult.”

This week we discuss: The links between Shamanism and extraterrestrial contact, The mystery of the N-Beings, Andrew’s time at Skinwalker Ranch, and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Andrew Collins was born in Bedford, England. He is a science and history writer, and the author of over a dozen books that challenge the way we perceive the past. They include The Black Alchemist, The Seventh Sword, From the Ashes of Angels, Gods of Eden, Gateway to Atlantis, Tutankhuman: The Exodus Conspiracy (co-authored with Chris Ogilvie Herald), The Cygnus Mystery, Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods, The Cygnus Key: The Denisovan Legacy, Göbekli Tepe and the Birth of Egypt and Denisovan Origins: Hybrid Humans, Göbekli Tepe and the Genesis of the Giants of Ancient America, co-authored with Greg L. Little. He lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

This week we discuss: How does one acquire ‘The Power’, Plant magic, the myths and monsters of the region, just how do you pronounce ‘Appalachian’ and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

My work is a living tradition. It’s the work that Ozark healers have been doing for hundreds of years. You can see many different cultures and traditions represented in Ozark folkways. These beliefs and practices, much like the Ozark people who created them, are a mixture of many places, beliefs, and ways of life.

Specific folk traditions that have had a great influence on Ozark folkways include the European Cunning craft, Cajun/Creole folk medicine including the path of the Traiteur, Pennsylvania German Braucherei often also called Powwowing, Indigenous healing practices from the diverse nations of the Southeastern US, West African folk traditions by way of Southern Rootwork, Hoodoo, and Conjure, and even Central/South American Curanderismo.

An important aspect of my research includes looking into all the traditions that have had such a great impact upon Ozark folkways. In looking at where these traditions intersect, we can start to understand so much more about the lives and practices of our ancestors. While you can look at Ozark folkways and see the fingerprint of all these traditions, remember that these practices remain unique to this specific area and should be approached with that mindset. ​

I’m an Ozarker through and through. This is the land where I was born, the land where my parents and my grandparents were born, as well as many more of my ancestors before that. In this way, my work is my own, the spirits I honour are my own, and while my work may be seen as a part of the larger tapestry of Southern folk magic, there are many practices that are unique to me as I have learned them. I hold true to all these traditions that I’ve been taught and those that have been Spirit led.​

This week we discuss: Lone nuts vs. Conspirators, The Cleveland R.A.D. connection, British and American cases and beyond, Why the media and police constantly fail to connect the dots and much more.

Joining me from the special office of investigations is Mar(c)k™ Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Martin Canon Bio:

Writer and illustrator Martin Cannon has created or contributed to dozens of books, magazines and websites. He enjoys writing about real-life mysteries.

This week we discuss: What has kept the Occult so vibrant up until now, the psychology of the Occulture, The Occult in pop culture and much more.

Joining me from behind a veil of mystical light is Mar(c)k Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

I write fiction, and also material about the arts & entertainment, esoteric history, occulture, as well as artist portraits for the international market. I also lecture on all of the mentioned subjects at art schools, universities, events, symposia and conferences. I also work with filmmaking, in publishing, photography and music. For a quick overview, here are some links:

Joining me on the deserted desert island this week (hopefully fully clothed), is Marck Satyr.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Get Trevor’s books:

From Manhood to Godhead on Amazon

A Whisper in the Silence on Amazon

‘A Whisper in the Silence’ is Trevor’s second novel. His first, ‘From Manhood to Godhead – The Many Lives of Jean Vassar,’ took

him over fifteen years to complete and has received excellent reviews. Trevor took early retirement to concentrate on writing, having spent his entire working life in the world of Showbusiness. As a teenager, he played the drums in local pop bands and gigged briefly as a stand-up comedian. Professionally, he initially worked as an actor, after training at London’s Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, but went on to become a popular personality Disc Jockey in the 1970’s for the Rank Organisation in Brighton. After running a Voice-Over ageny in London’s West End, he moved into Theatre Management, where he worked very successfully for twenty-eight years as Operations Manager for three theatres and a cinema in Worthing. He has been happily married to former actress, Rosemary Faith, for over forty years, both sharing a love of travel and of all things esoteric. Trevor has also had a long interest in traditional circus, plus the conservation of Primates, especially the Great Apes.

This week we discuss: The tangled roots of the Witches Sabbath, The unlikely victims of the Witchcraft myth, myopic stalky nymphs, and much more.

Joining me in the Otherworld is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Hello, my name is Kelden. I am a therapist, writer, Youtuber, and Witch (among many other things). My personal practice, as well as my writing, is largely influenced by both historical and folkloric Witchcraft. This blog is intended to be an ongoing account of my Craft, in terms of my personal experiences, what I’ve learned, and what I am still learning. Topics of particular interests of mine include Scottish Witchlore, Familiar Spirits, Wortcunning, and Hedge-Crossing.

I currently live in Northern Minnesota. I hold a graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy as well as two undergraduate degrees in Human Services and Psychology. Besides writing my other hobbies include reading, painting, hiking, gardening, and playing ukulele.

You can contact me at keldenmercury@gmail.com

Instagram: keldenmercury

YouTube channel: youtube.com/KeldenMercury

This week we discuss: Just who is Adam Weishaupt, what did the actual Illuminati get up to, what were their rituals and initiations, and why have the group managed to obtain such legendary status amongst the paranoid?

Joining me in the infernal co-host chair this week is the highest of Secret Chiefs, Marck Satyr.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

 I am an artist, writer and translator currently employed as the acquisitions editor for the publisher Inner Traditions, Bear and Company. Before starting this job, I was a chef, bicycle messenger, factory worker, and bookseller. I have also worked with surrealists in France and the US as well as elsewhere in Europe.

https://www.innertraditions.com/author/jon-e-graham

Joining me in the SittingNow Ennis House of Horrors is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Tamra Lucid is a founding member of the experimental rock band Lucid Nation. She was a writer and editor for Newtopia Magazine and the principal interviewer for the original Reality Sandwich. She has produced documentary films, including Exile Nation: The Plastic People, End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock, and the award-winning Viva Cuba Libre: Rap Is War. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Ronnie Pontiac.

This week we discuss: What exactly is the Left-Hand Path, can Dungeons and Dragon really turn you into a Satanist, Aleister Crowley’s influence on the Temple of Set, and much more.

Joining me in the SittingNow king’s chamber is Marck Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Ipsissimus Don Webb joined the Temple of Set in 1989 and served as its High Priest from 1996 to 2002. He has written and lectured on Left-Hand Path topics and the occult practices of Late Antiquity since 1995. He lives in Austin, Texas.

This week we discuss The esoteric roots of Freemasonry, why conspiracy theorists have such a boner for the society, some of the groups more influential esotericists, and much more.

Joining me in SittingNow Inner-order is Mark Satyr

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Mark Stavish, the Director of Studies for the Institute for Hermetic Studies, is a life-long student of esotericism with over 25 years experience in comparative religion, philosophy, psychology, and mysticism with emphasis on Traditional Western Esotericism.  His articles have appeared in academic, specialty, and mass market publications specializing in spiritual studies, making Mark one of the leading authorities in Hermeticism today.

In addition to being a member and officer of several prominent Rosicrucian and Martinist societies, Mark served as the Director of Research for the Occult Research and Applications Project, of the Philosophers of Nature (PON). The Philosophers of Nature was founded by Jean Dubuis in France in 1979 and for twenty years was the leading resource for practical information on mineral and plant alchemy, as well as qabala.  ORA, a statistically based research wing of the American branch of PON performed detailed exploration into the validity and practicality of various traditional esoteric methods.  Original research from the ORA Project was published in the organization’s journal, The Stone.

A graduate of King’s College, in Theology (B.A.), and Communications (B.A.), and  Rhode Island College (Providence), with a Master’s degree in Counseling emphasizing psycho-spiritual modalities and Psychosynthesis, Mark brings a unique blend of tradition with modern research to the application of esoteric philosophy.

Professionally, Mark has over 15 years experience in the social service and non-profit fields, and has trained hundreds of social service workers, law enforcement personnel, and mental healthcare providers in areas related to New and Emerging Religions.

Mark’s writings have been translated into Turkish, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Portuguese; he has been a media consultant on for BBC Channel 2, and Cinnabar Productions’ documentary, ‘The Occult Reich’ for A&E/History Channel, along with numerous media interviews and editorials.

For the eagle-eyed and perhaps more ‘old-school’ enjoyers of SittingNow, you may remember we made a video with Carl back in 2014 at Scarlet Imprint’s ‘A Pleasure Dome’ event. Why not get a double-dose of Abrahamsson?

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

I write fiction, and also material about the arts & entertainment, esoteric history, occulture, as well as artist portraits for the international market. I also lecture on all of the mentioned subjects at art schools, universities, events, symposia and conferences. I also work with filmmaking, in publishing, photography and music. For a quick overview, here are some links:

TRAPART: My own publishing company with an online store, focusing on art books and editions.

TRAPART FILM: A production entity that produces documentary films and features/movies.

HIGHBROW LOWLIFE: A music label I run together with my wife, Vanessa Sinclair. Basically an archive for all the music we’ve made together, but there will be new (and old) releases too.

PATREON

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

This week we explore: Cinematic curses, Psychogeography, Folk horror, Occult-England and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Andy Sharp Biography:

Andy Sharp is a writer and multimedia artist. Since 2003, he has worked on English Heretic, an autonomous creative research project. Pioneering the form of literary and aural aesthetics, he has released over a dozen albums and booklets. He has talked at academic conferences and counter-cultural events on a wide range of subjects drawn from his research. He has an Msc in Neuroscience from Kings College and lives in London.

Back at it again in podcast land, and this week we’re invoking the Goddess Babalon with the wonderful Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech, the co-conspirators behind the excellent occult publishing house Scarlet Imprint.

This week we delve deep into the topic of Babalon with the pair, and examine: Who was Babalon, How did the Babalon working influence Pete and Alkistis’ day to day life, What are Babalon’s roots, and much much more.

Reclaiming his chair from the usurper Marck, Ulysses Black returns to co-hosting duties.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Peter Grey Biography:

Peter Grey is a writer, and the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint. He is the author of The Red Goddess (2007), which has inspired the resurgence of interest in Babalon, the goddess of Revelation. His Apocalyptic Witchcraft (2013) has been called the most important modern book on witchcraft, placing it in the mythopoetic context of the sabbat and in a landscape suffering climate and ecological collapse. His Lucifer: Princeps (2015), is a study of the origins of the figure of Lucifer; he is currently writing the second part, Lucifer: Praxis. His collected writings, from 2008–2018, are published in The Brazen Vessel (2019) with those of Alkistis Dimech. His most recent work is The Two Antichrists (2021), a return to the Babalon and Antichrist workings of Jack Parsons and his eclipsed sodality The Witchcraft.

He has spoken at private public events and conferences worldwide to both practitioners and academics. These have included Occulture, the Occult Conferences in Glastonbury and London, Treadwell’s Bookshop, the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, Flambeau Noir in Portland, the Psychology, Art and the Occult conference in London, Here to Go II in Norway, the Trans-States conference in Northampton University, the Magic and Ecology conference for CRASSH at Cambridge University and Pagan Federation events. He can be heard on podcasts including Runesoup, Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast, Right Where you are Sitting Now, Thelema Now, Spirit Box, Quarantine Sessions with Jake Kobrin, Against Everyone with Conner Habib, Grimerica, Witches and Wine, Thoth-Hermes, and Rendering Unconscious.

Peter lives with his lover Alkistis in the far south west of Cornwall on the edge of the Lizard peninsula, where he surfs in the cold Atlantic, walks the ancient land and pursues his magical practice.

Alkistis Dimech Biography:

With Peter Grey, I am the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint. I am a writer and artist – working principally with dance and the body. My practice is grounded in butô (dark dance). My work explores the occulted dimensions of the body, its subtle anatomy and sexuality as an archaeology of the flesh – drawing from the esoteric and phenomenological traditions – and seeks to unfold a process and techne of bodily spiritual transformation.

I have performed in the UK, Europe and the United States, solo and in collaboration with musicians and artists, notably Z’EV, Gast Bouschet & Nadine Hilbert, and Anji Cheung – and spoken on my practice, and given workshops, at conferences and events in the UK, Europe and the United States.

Selected works from 2008 to 2018 are documented in The Brazen Vessel and at alkistisdimech.com. I am currently creating Antimony, a work of texts and images on the angelic, alchemical transfiguration of the body.

We're back with a really interesting deep-dive into the fascinating topic of Egregores. Joining us is the wonderful Mark Stavish who's book really grabbed us, and is really the most in-depth study we have ever found on the topic.

This week we discuss: Egregores: what are they and how do you identify them, what is the connection between Egregores and Tulpas, the historic appearances of Egregores and much more.

Don't forget, we're running a competition still where you can win our previous guest Tobias Churton's amazing new book 'Aleister Crowley in England'. Follow the rules in the post here, and good luck!

Joining me in the hot-seat this week is our own great beast Marck Satyr.

Check out the free course mentioned by Mark at https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/courses

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Mark Stavish Biography:

Mark Stavish, the Director of Studies for the Institute for Hermetic Studies, is a life-long student of esotericism with over 25 years experience in comparative religion, philosophy, psychology, and mysticism with emphasis on Traditional Western Esotericism.  His articles have appeared in academic, specialty, and mass market publications specializing in spiritual studies, making Mark one of the leading authorities in Hermeticism today.

In addition to being a member and officer of several prominent Rosicrucian and Martinist societies, Mark served as the Director of Research for the Occult Research and Applications Project, of the Philosophers of Nature (PON). The Philosophers of Nature was founded by Jean Dubuis in France in 1979 and for twenty years was the leading resource for practical information on mineral and plant alchemy, as well as qabala.  ORA, a statistically based research wing of the American branch of PON performed detailed exploration into the validity and practicality of various traditional esoteric methods.  Original research from the ORA Project was published in the organization’s journal, The Stone.

A graduate of King’s College, in Theology (B.A.), and Communications (B.A.), and  Rhode Island College (Providence), with a Master’s degree in Counseling emphasizing psycho-spiritual modalities and Psychosynthesis, Mark brings a unique blend of tradition with modern research to the application of esoteric philosophy.

Professionally, Mark has over 15 years experience in the social service and non-profit fields, and has trained hundreds of social service workers, law enforcement personnel, and mental healthcare providers in areas related to New and Emerging Religions.

Mark’s writings have been translated into Turkish, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Portuguese; he has been a media consultant on for BBC Channel 2, and Cinnabar Productions’ documentary, ‘The Occult Reich’ for A&E/History Channel, along with numerous media interviews and editorials.

This week we get all Crowleytastic again with the wonderful Tobias Churton. Tobias is a writer we hold in high regard here in the SittingNow Abbey, and he delivers in spades in this episode.

We discuss: The Great Beast’s place in history, Can Crowley be canceled? Myth-busting, Crowley’s later years, his relationships, and much more.

Joining me in the hot-seat this week is our own great beast Marck Satyr.

**COMPETITION!** (This must be entered on http://sittingnow.co.uk at the episode page before the end of January 2022)

We have one copy of Tobias’ latest book ‘Aleister Crowley in England’ to give away to one lucky listener. To enter, you must follow us on Instagram, and comment in this post below the answer to the famous Thelemic challenge ‘Do What Thou Wilt Shall be the Whole of the Law‘….make sure to include your Instagram name in your answer so we can check your undying social-fealty! The winner shall be selected at random, and informed via DM on their Instagram.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Born in Sutton Coldfield to an ancient Cheshire family, in 1960, Tobias Churton spent two years in Australia from 1966 to 1968 and returned to attend his fifth school, Lichfield Cathedral School. Three schools later he won an exhibition to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he studied Theology. Compelled to exchange a vocation to the priesthood for the lowlier prospect of a career in television, he first came to public notice with the 1987 Channel 4 production, GNOSTICS. The 4-part, drama-documentary went out at peak time on Saturday nights. It won the New York TV Festival Gold Award for best religious series. Churton’s Channel 4/Weidenfeld & Nicolson book accompanying the series was a best seller. 

Long before Dan Brown scored a hit with The Da Vinci Code, Tobias Churton introduced a popular audience to the authentic world of esoteric mysteries. In the words of Dutch scholar, Gilles Quispel, the TV series would “change the minds of millions”. Churton presented the facts, not the fantasy. Swedish theologian Jan-Arvid Hellström hailed Churton as a “religious genius” while Amsterdam bibliophile and industrialist Joost Ritman enthusiastically greeted the appearance of a new “writing star”. 

The success of The Gnostics allowed Tobias to concentrate his energies on his first love: writing. After years of voluminous reading, mystical experience and creative endeavour, Churton had much to express. 

Having completed his twenty-fifth book commission, Tobias Churton is today internationally recognized for his insightful books on esoteric, spiritual history, Art and philosophy. Accessible and scholarly, Churton’s works address believers and doubters alike and, remarkably, have stimulated spiritual experiences in some readers. He has successfully widened the appeal of so-called “esoteric” spirituality. Churton’s warm style and depth of knowledge have entertained many thousands of readers in the process. Tobias is also a filmmaker, lecturer, poet and musician. He has recently recorded his orchestrated score for his prospective dramatic project, William Blake: Love is on Fire!, while his musical about Nancy Cunard and Henry Crowder, YOU, ME AND YESTERDAY, co-written with artist and songwriter John Myatt, was performed to great acclaim at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre in 2011. He has composed and recorded eight albums of original music.

Grab a copy of John’s amazing book ‘The Mystery of Spring-Heeled Jack From Victorian Legend to Steampunk Hero Here

John Matthews, once described as ‘Oxford’s answer to all things mythic’, has been a professional independent scholar since 1980. He has made a lifetime study of the legends of King Arthur, and more recently of the history of piracy. His list of publications totals over 100, including Pirates (Athenaeum) which was a number one New York Times best seller for 22 weeks and was translated into 18 languages. He has acted as an advisor on several big budget movies, including King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean and Prince of Persia. His work on the education DVD to accompany King Arthur won a BAFTA award in 2003. 
 His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/ Athenaeum),  ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year, and ‘The Wildwood Tarot’ which has sold over half a million copies worldwide and is the second best-selling tarot of all time.. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people, and the more recent ‘Arthur of Albion’ won a Gold Medal from NAPPA, a gold Moonbeams award and a BIB Golden Apple Award.
His love of Tarot and divination began when he devised the best-selling Arthurian Tarot, with Caitlin Matthews in the 1980s. It has sold in the region of 150,000 copies world-wide and had been though three editions. Since then he has worked on and devised a number of successful decks including, The Wildwood Tarot (with Mark Ryan) The Shaman’s Oracle and The Camelot Oracle, The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus, The Steampunk Tarot: Gods of the Machine  (with Caitlin Matthews and Wil Kinghan), The Sherlock Holmes Tarot and The Oracle of Dr John Dee. His latest adventuress in Tarot include The Cather Tarot (with Wil Kinghan), The Byzantine Tarot with Cilla Conway, and The Tarot of Light and Shadow with Andrea Aste.
Oxford, UK. Jan 2021

Joining me in the cohost chair this week is my good friend Mar(c)k Foster, and oh boy has it been a long time coming. Give Mr. Foster a warm SittingNow welcome!

Below is a photograph of Helena Blavatsky with the Count St Germain (far right) as discussed in the show.

Check out Jessie's Saint Germain site here, she is in the process of making a new site as we speak.

Check the Saint Germain timeline here

Get Adam's latest book 'Saucers, Spooks and Kooks: Disinformation in the age of Aqaurius' in the UK here, and in the US here

A self-described “crackpot historian,” Adam Gorightly’s articles have appeared for two decades in nearly every ‘zine, underground magazine, counter-cultural publication, and conspiratorial website imaginable. Bringing a mischievous sense of Prankster-Discordianism to the zany world of fringe culture, once Gorightly connects his dots, readers are plunged into alternative universes that forever alter their view of “reality.

http://adamgorightly.com

As promised, we return with part 2 of one of my favorite guests, the great Allen H Greenfield! Don’t forget to check out Part 1 of this interview, or you might find things a little bit confusing.

This week we discuss all sorts of crazy goings-on, including more cipher talk, Hellier, Michael Bertiaux meta-computing, and much more.

Joining me in the interviewing chair this week is Ulysses Black.

Purchase The Complete Secret Cipher of the Ufonauts in the UK here, and in the US here

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

T Allen Greenfield (the “T” or “Tau” being a customary title given to an esoteric prelate in the Doinel lineage upon their consecration) is a native of Augusta, Georgia, USA. With relatively brief sojourns in Tampa, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and Key West, Florida, he has lived much of his life thus far in Atlanta. By the age of sixteen, he had become a world traveler, and has visited many countries all over the globe in the years since, from France to French Polynesia; from Canada to Venezuela; Greece to Grenada, Israel to Indiana.

He is a long-time student of esoteric spirituality and Gnosticism, a study he began in 1960. A past (elected) member of the British Society for Psychical Research, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) (from 1960), etc., he has twice been the recipient of the “UFOlogist of the Year Award” of the National UFO Conference (1972 and 1992), which has run continuously on an annual basis for 41 years. He is a Borderland Science Research Associate (BSRA).

He has personally conducted on-site UFO abduction investigations in Brooksville, FL; Pascagoula, MS; and Brown Mountain, NC. He considers the UFO phenomenon to be a “signal” from the Collective Unconscious that the neglect of a magical spirituality by society as a whole is a cause of the emotional plague and social disaster.

...and the lord spoketh, and more episodes of SittingNow Radio were bestowed upon the people. The people were annoyed though, because they'd asked for Playstation 5's all-round, but hey, they get what they're given amirite

This week Ken and Ulysses Black sit down with the amazing Peter Grey Occultist and co-founder of the excellent Scarlet Imprint. We talk to Peter about his new book 'The Two Antichrists', Scientology, The Future of the Occult, Why Magicians should be looking to space, and not to the past, and a whole host of other weird goodness.

For more Peter Grey, check out our SittingNow TV episodes

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Peter Grey has spoken at public events and conferences in England, Scotland, Norway and the United States as well as closed gatherings. These have included Occulture, the Occult Conferences in Glastonbury and London, Treadwell’s Bookshop, the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, the Psychology, Art and the Occult conference in London, Here to Go II in Norway, the Trans-States conference in Northampton University and many Pagan Federation events. A long term supporter of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in his native Cornwall, his work on the witches’ sabbat was first given at the annual Friends of the Museum gathering.  His work has also appeared in numerous small journals and collections, such as The Fenris Wolf, as well as online. His collected writings, from 2008–2018, are published in The Brazen Vessel (2019) with those of Alkistis Dimech.

His Lucifer: Princeps (2015), is a study of the origins of the figure of Lucifer; he is currently writing the second part, Lucifer: Praxis, which addresses working with the fallen angels of the Enochic tradition and their transvection into the grimoires and modern practice.

Allen is a revolutionary occultist who famously discusses the links between magical ritual and the UFO phenomenon. He is the author of many books, including most famously 'The Secret Cipher of the Ufonauts'. He recently made a splash on the Para-occult investigation series 'Hellier', and he a whole load of fun to talk to.

The interview ran long, so we've split in two, so look out for the next part dropping next week.

Joining me in the co-host chair is the mysterious yet approachable Ulysses Black.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Allen Greenfield Bio (via tallengreenfield.com):

T Allen Greenfield (the "T" or "Tau" being a customary title given to an esoteric prelate in the Doinel lineage upon their consecration) is a native of Augusta, Georgia, USA. With relatively brief sojourns in Tampa, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and Key West, Florida, he has lived much of his life thus far in Atlanta. By the age of sixteen, he had become a world traveler, and has visited many countries all over the globe in the years since, from France to French Polynesia; from Canada to Venezuela; Greece to Grenada, Israel to Indiana.

He is a long-time student of esoteric spirituality and Gnosticism, a study he began in 1960. A past (elected) member of the British Society for Psychical Research, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) (from 1960), etc., he has twice been the recipient of the "UFOlogist of the Year Award" of the National UFO Conference (1972 and 1992), which has run continuously on an annual basis for 41 years. He is a Borderland Science Research Associate (BSRA).

He has personally conducted on site UFO abduction investigations in Brooksville, FL; Pascagoula, MS; and Brown Mountain, NC. He considers the UFO phenomenon to be a "signal" from the Collective Unconscious that the neglect of a magical spirituality by society as a whole is a cause of emotional plague and social disaster.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

My name is Sarah Janes. I’m an independent researcher with a particular interest in dream culture in the ancient world and I have written about dreams and other things for The Idler, The Bohemian, The Journal of Paranthropology and Ancient Origins.

SARAH JANES ON ACADEMIA.EDU

SARAH JANES ON MEDIUM

SARAH JANES ON LINKEDIN

PLEASE DO FEEL FREE TO DROP ME AN EMAIL: sarahjanes@hotmail.com

I also run the Explorers Club (St. Leonards Chapter), collaborate with Carl H. Smith on a VR project bringing ancient and future technologies together and organise dream retreats with fellow lucid dreamer Daniel Lee.

This week Ken and Josh sit down with the wonderful David Shoemaker to discuss all things Thelema, Magick, Crowley, and Carl Jung.

David is a well-regarded speaker on all things Thelema, and the host of the amazing 'Living Thelema' podcast (and author of the book of the same name). 

Main theme by Simon Smerdon -https://stillheatrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/burnthouse-lane

Music bed by hhtp://chriszabriskie.com

David Shoemaker Bio:

Dr. David Shoemaker is a clinical psychologist in private practice, specializing in Jungian and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. David is the Chancellor and Prolocutor of the Temple of the Silver Star. He is a senior initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis and A∴A∴, and has more than twenty-five years of experience supervising initiates in these organizations.

David was the compiler of the TOTSS publication, Jane Wolfe: The Cefalu Diaries 1920-1923, and a co-editor of the collections of the writings of Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral), The Thoth Tarot, Astrology, & Other Selected Writings, The Kabbalah, Magick, and Thelema. Selected Writings Volume II, and Collected Poems 1946-1996.   He was also the co-editor of the collection of correspondence published as Karl Germer: Selected Letters 1928-1962. His popular book Living Thelema:  A Practical Guide to Attainment in Aleister Crowley’s System of Magick, followed on the success of the podcast of the same name.  David’s latest book, co-edited with Lon Milo DuQuette, is Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Ceremonial Magick.

In addition to his work in magick and psychology, David is a composer and musician. 

This week we discuss: Conspiracy theory, ARG, that flu thing going around, and much more.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Some of the things I have achieved as an inventor, creator, product manager, CEO, CTO, writer, and artist include: Playing a role in establishing and evangelizing standards and practices such as PDF, DVD,  Podcasting, ARG and digital video. I am an inventor. I have designed apps for iPhone, iPad and other mobile platforms. I am a published author of screenplays, white papers, technology, sci-fi, marketing and gaming books.
My pioneering work in Transmedia is chronicled in the University level textbook: Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat – University Press of Mississippi (May 17, 2011) Also see here. My transmedia work, Ong’s Hat, is known throughout the gaming industry and academia as the first, proto-ARG. (Alternate Reality Game)I have also been the executive producer and originator of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Podcast the first film festival to podcast from the event and the executive producer/director of the Los Angles Film Festival podcast. I  was also the podcast editor at .
I was one of the two founders/curators of the Greylodge Podcasting Company, an Independent film review site covered on MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, Boing-Boing, Dangerous Minds and Torrentfreak as well as a founder of Piltolite/Hukilau.
I have staged and orchestrated very successful, large-scale, mass media Alternate Reality Game/Transmedia style projects since the mid-80s, utilizing print, phone, fax, email, Internet, advertising, video, film, audio, CD ROM, DVD, and on-demand media. My work has been featured on CBS Marketwatch, CNN, CNET TV, Kiplinger’s, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NHK, MTV, PBS, LA Times, Clear Channel Radio, BBC, MSNBC,  Boing-Boing, and many other weekly newspapers, trade magazines, local and regional radio, television and newspapers.
My work was profiled in Games(TM) magazine, as well as Slate and Gizmodo. If you want to know “what it is“, these are probably the best profiles to date.
The Incunabula Papers CDROM was recently included by invitation in the BNF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) digital art collection.

Discussed this week: Chaos Magick and why Josh is embarrassed to invoke Mr Spock, How can psychedelics affect magical workings, and how Julian became a psilocybin research guinea pig.

Ken's mic broke, so he'll be back next episode...so professional here.

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Julian Vayne is an occultist and the author of a number of books, essays, journals and articles in both the academic and esoteric press. He is a freelance consultant, often working in museum and heritage settings, and lives in Devon. His name is most closely associated with the approach to occultism known as chaos magick. Julian is also an initiated Wiccan, member of the Kaula Nath lineage and Master Mason,

Main theme by Simon Smerdon (Mothboy)

Music bed by chriszabriskie.com

Singer-songwriter, recording artist, and humorist, Lon Milo DuQuette is also the author of 19 critically acclaimed books (translated in 12 languages) on Magick and the Occult. Critics have called him one of the most respected and entertaining writers and lecturers in the field of the Western Mystery Traditions.

Since 1975 DuQuette been a national and international governing officer of Ordo Templi Orientis, one of the most influential magical societies of the 20th and 21st Centuries. He is currently the Order's United States Deputy Grand Master. He is an internationally recognized authority on tarot, ceremonial magick, and esoteric Freemasonry. Although he takes these subjects very seriously, he tries not to take himself too seriously. This rare combination of scholarship and humor has earned him in the last 30 years a unique and respected position in American spiritual and esoteric literature.

DuQuette appears occasionally on television and radio as a guest expert on subjects involving the occult. He is a contributor to the Magical Egypt DVD series' and a host on the new series, The Great Work.

He is a faculty member of the Omega Institute in Reinbeck New York, and Robert Anton Wilson's Maybe Logic Academy.

He lives in Costa Mesa, California with his wife of 52 years, Constance.

It’s good to be back in the SittingNow saddle, with a brand new series of our flagship podcast! We’re returning to weekly, and we can’t wait to start pumping out the shows for you! Don’t forget to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, and Spotify!

Our guest this week is the awesome Nikolas Schreck, author, musician, actor and spiritual advisor. Amongst his large repertoire of interests, one name peaked our interest, you may have heard of him…the devil. Nikolas is a former Devil-worshipper, and a true expert on the subject. This is an awesome interview, strap in and enjoy the ride!

Nikolas has a new EP out now call ‘Schreck 2020: I’m afraid of America’, which you can check out here

See you next week!

Nikolas Schreck Bio:

Nikolas Schreck is an American singer/songwriter, musician, author, and film-maker.

Acclaimed by Austria‘s Evolver magazine as “already a legend in his lifetime‘‘, singer-songwriter, author and film-maker Nikolas Schreck’s initiatory application of music, ritual and theater formally began in 1984 when he returned to the West from a life-changing spiritual pilgrimage in Egypt to found the shapeshifting musical ensemble Radio Werewolf, a nine-year sonic magic operation which concluded in 1993. After pioneering early Los Angeles Gothic and deathrock with the band’s first incarnation, Radio Werewolf’s European phase was hailed by Christopher Walton of the band Endura for “simultaneously pre-empting and giving birth to the dark-ambient and ritual-industrial scene of the 1990’s.” Before embarking on his current solo career, Schreck has previously collaborated musically with Zeena, John Murphy, Kingdom of Heaven and Sir Christopher Lee, whose first album he produced. Schreck’s books include The Manson File: Myth & Reality of an Outlaw Shaman, Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left-Hand Path Sex Magic (written with Zeena Schreck), The Satanic Screen, and Flowers from Hell. He is the director of the 1989 documentary Charles Manson Superstar, and has appeared in several films, including Mortuary Academy and Usher. His albumThe Illusionist was released in August on the Records Ad Nauseam label. His latest EP recording is SCHRECK 2020: I'm Afraid of America

This episode Kim the usurper takes the interview throne and interviews our second female guest to date, the wonderful Annie Jacobsen.

Annie has recently published a book called 'Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America', says it all really.

World War II, Secret Nazi Scientists, what more do you need? Enjoy!

Ken's (yeah...KEN'S) musical slices this week come in the shape of:

• Romdraculas - Mockobckne Okha
• Eyvind Kang - Pure Nothing
• Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses- Peacock the Heretic

Annie Jacobsen Bio:

Annie Jacobsen is an investigative journalist and author who writes about war, weapons, U.S. national security and government secrecy. Her newest book, “OPERATION PAPERCLIP: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America,” published on February 11, 2014 and became an instant New York Times bestseller.

Her 2011 non-fiction bestseller, ”AREA 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base,” has been published in five languages and is being made into an AMC scripted television series with Gale Anne Hurd (Walking Dead, Terminator), and Chris Carter (X-Files). 

Annie Jacobsen graduated from St. Paul’s School and Princeton University where she wrote with Joyce Carol Oates and Paul Auster, studied Greek, and served as Captain of the Princeton Women’s Ice Hockey Team. She was a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times Magazine from 2009 until it closed in 2013. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Kevin and their two sons.

(source: http://anniejacobsen.com)

This episode we talk to a personal hero of mine, Crispin Hellion Glover. Although probably best known for his mainstream roles in films such as Back to the Future, Charlie's Angels, and Willard, Crispin has blazed his own trail via art-house cinema, underground book publishing, and relentless touring. Join us once again as we venture into the world of Crispin Hellion Glover.

Daddytank's musical treats this episode:  

• Apostrophic - TXLS4 
• Dead Rider - Blank Screen
• Benjamin Shaw - Break The Kettles And Sink The Boats    

Crispin Glover Biography 

This week we talk to author Lucy Wyatt about how ancient archetypes could save 21st Century Civilisation.

In this weeks episode we discuss: The Ur Concept, Mountain Civilisations, Shamanism, Alchemy, Magic, Quantum Physics, Religion, and much more.

DaddyTank's Ancient SoundCloud Specimens were resurrected in the form of:

Dang Communist - Postal Dream
Dunaewsky69 - UFHCSC
Jimmy The Hideous Penguin - Keeping It Gangster

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Lucy Wyatt Bio:

Lucy Wyatt and family live on an unspoilt farm by the east coast of England. The farm was derelict but had 600 year-old oak trees, woods, hedgerows and old buildings. It was a chance to explore living in harmony with Nature. The Wyatts restored it using mostly eco-materials and now share this special place with many animals (horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats). The experiment includes the collection of rainwater for animal drinking; a 3-pond sewage system with Steiner-inspired flowforms; and a processor that uses Oil Seed Rape for high grade bio-fuel in farm machinery and a large electricity generator.

Apart from a grandfather who gave Lucy her love of horses, her family were not farmers. She grew up in the University town of Cambridge where her father was an architect (now in his 80s, he drew the illustrations in her book). Lucy, however, studied International Relations and Italian at Sussex University, aiming to work in Europe but instead ended up in London at Conran Group, and followed that with editing a magazine for a City of London stockbroker firm where she met her husband. They moved to the countryside after their first daughter was born. As well as researching the ancient past, Lucy is also interested in Earth energies and now leads local Gatekeeper Trust pilgrimages on equinoxes and solstices.

This week we talk to author Gregory Sams about consciousness, Animism, and the Sun. Greg is the author of the great new book Sun of gOd.

In this weeks episode we discuss: Chaos Theory, Whole Food, The conscious Sun, the battle between religion and science, Sun Spots, Sirius, and much more.

Daddytank returns with an all new (but at the same time exactly the same) segment titled 'SoundCloud Specimens'. This weeks offerings:

Husband - Feelings

Nonima - Swarfegy

A Made Up Sound - Rear Window

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Gregory Sams Bio:

Gregory Sams is a pioneer of food for the body and food for the mind. He co-founded, with brother Craig, Seed restaurant, the first natural and organic eatery in the UK, followed by Ceres Grain Store in the Portobello Road because people wanted to cook this food at home, and then Whole Earth foods, the all-organic brand. In 1982, he launched the first VegeBurger, a product he developed and christened. His brother Craig went on to found Green and Black's chocolate. Aged 18, Greg founded Harmony Magazine in 1968 to which John Lennon dedicated an 8-frame cartoon, and later co-published Seed: The Journal of Organic Living. He founded Strange Attractions, the world's first ever shop dedicated to chaos theory. His interest in chaos led to an interest in consciousness that led to writing this book. He is the author of Uncommon Sense: The State is Out of Date, and Sun of gOd. He lives in London.

This episode we talk serious business with Brad Carter, the head honcho over at The Phone Losers of America.

In this weeks show we discuss, Red and Beige-boxing, The legendary Mildred Monday, Cacti, credit card fraud, homelessness, Curtis the Super Hacker, and much more.

Daddytank returns with another round of musical greats from his central computer:

Aoki Takamasa - I'm A Part Of It
Senking - Skidozer 3000
Pixel - 40 42 24 12 73 59 51 18

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to use the contact form here.

Enjoy!

This week we welcome back acclaimed author Douglas Rushkoff. Doug is a well regarded commentator on all things Internet, and a well-loved guest on this show.

In this weeks episode we discuss: The ten commands for a digital age, being 'always on', cherry-picked knowledge, openness, and much more.

Daddytank's army of audio-programmers return from an episode's absense:

Stanley Bloom - Bloom's Cabana
The Bagpiper - Thanks Adevil
Al Bowlly - Midnight, The Stars and You

Douglas Rushkoff Bio:

Winner of the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff has written a dozen best-selling books on media and society, including Cyberia, Media Virus, Coercion (winner of the Marshall McLuhan Award), Get Back in the Box, and Life Inc. He has made the PBS “Frontline” documentaries Digital Nation, The Persuaders, and Merchants of Cool.

A columnist for The Daily Beast and Arthur Magazine, his articles have been regularly published in The New York Times and Discover, among many other publications. His radio commentaries air on NPR and WFMU, his opeds appear in the New York Times, and he is a familiar face on television, from ABC News to The Colbert Report.

Rushkoff has taught at New York University and the New School, played keyboards for the industrial band PsychicTV, directed for theater and film, and worked as a stage fight choreographer. He lives in New York State with his wife, Barbara, and daughter Mamie.

This week we tak to anarcho punk legend Steve Ignorant. Steve was the lead singer in the legendary punk band Crass.

We also get the lowdown on our new partners in crime from across the pond Alterati.com. and chat it up with head honcho Joseph Matheny.In this weeks episode we discuss (with Steve): Busting punk myths, Anarcho punks humble beginings, The influence of Crass and Dial House, pranking the government, and Punch and Judy!

Due to a breakdown in the normally iron-like SittngNow communication network, Daddytank was unable to mobilise in time. However, Ken is at hand with a slab of droney brilliance from the amazing Lunar Abyss Quartet with 'Buruvana'.

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Steve Ignorant Biography now available:

The day that Stephen Williams walked up the path to Dial House and found Jeremy Ratter at the end of it, sitting at a typewriter, was undoubtedly an auspicious event for both of them - not to mention for many of us.  It was 1977, and although there were fifteen years and a world of social privilege separating them, the two shared something much more important: their dissatisfaction with the life that society was offering them. Steve had recently been infected with Punk Rock at a gig by the Clash, and Jeremy had a drum kit. Together, they formed Crass.  Over the next seven years, Crass would stencil its name in indelible paint across the face of British culture. They would become the band that rattled the timbers in the Houses of Parliament, infiltrated teenage magazines, fought savage anti-establishment, pro-humanitarian battles, and challenged the music industry with a new definition of DIY.
The Rest Is Propaganda is not, however, the story of that band.  Rather, it is the story of a young boy who grew up on the streets of Dagenham, wearing Tuf shoes and holey jumpers, being railroaded to a life on the factory floor.  This is the story of a lad who learned about life on on the terraces of Upton Park, in the pubs and clubs of East London, behind the counter of Wallis's supermarket, and why he left that all behind. It is the story of how Stephen Williams became Steve Ignorant. And what he did after.

This week we talk to a private investigator, and head of Pallorium Inc, Steve Rambam. Steve is famous in the hacker community for his enlightening lectures on the death of privacy.

In this weeks episode we discuss: The death of privacy, smartphones: The little snitch in your pocket, The cavalier use of your data, how to (or not) avoid detection in the age of the Internet,  why Foursquare is a really bad idea (see, we told you) and much more.

Steve's fantastic talk, 'Privacy is Dead - Get Over It',  is available over at Google Videos - Part 1, Part 2.

Well known avant-music investigator Daddytank returns with another great lineup of musical perps:

Emre Sevindik - Willow
Meadow Blaster - Brown Sprite
Coppice Halifax - MMD007-6

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Steve Rambam Bio:

Steven Rambam is a private investigator operating out of New York and Texas. He has conducted several thousand missing-person searches over almost three decades. Steven is well known in the hacker community for his lecture 'Privacy is Dead - Get Over It'. Steven Rambam’s upcoming book, Stealing Your Own Identity, chronicles his own playful year-long hunt for friend and co-author Rick Dakan.

Timothy Wyllie. Timothy has recently authored a fantastic book about his time in The Process, 'Love, Sex, Fear, Death: The Inside Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgement'.

In this weeks episode, we discuss The Process Church, Scientology, the controversies of the Process Church, why the church continues to have an influence, Dolphins and ET's, and much more!

The charismatic leader Daddytank returns with this week's new disciples:

Pogo - Alice
Grnr - Howdyou
Zebras - Me U God

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Timothy Wyllie Biography:

Timothy Wyllie is a writer specialising in the study of "non-human intelligences" such as angels. He was born in London in 1940. He moved to America in the mid-sixties and now lives in the desert of New Mexico. He had a near death experience in 1973. Afterwards, he devoted himself to the study of "non-human intelligences" (such as angels, dolphins, and extraterrestrials) using visual art, music and writing as the three main means of communication.

In 1980 he started a series of sacred landscape graphics and this led to an examination of the way graphic art can anchor spiritual information into the third-dimensional reality most typically experienced. Much of his visual work has a healing dimension, and he uses a light trance state to create either a mandala or an icon that represents the physical healing intended. His lifelong interest in telepathy inspired him to do a series of graphics designed to explore the potentials of visual telepathy and its relationship to synchronicity and the higher dimensions.

This week I talk to one of my new favourite authors (and guests), Arthur Goldwag. Arthur is the author of the recently published 'Cults, Conspiracies, & Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, The Illuminati, Skull & Bones, Black Helicopters, The New World Order', a fantastic book that I recommend to anyone that wants to be introduced to these fascinating topics in a more logical, and non-bias fashion.

In this episode we discuss: The mindset of conspiracy theorists, why the Freemasons are blamed for everything evil in the world, how L. Ron Hubbard's rise to power baffles us, some of the weirdest cults out there, and the age old question: is Lady Gaga a puppet of the Illuminati?

It's no conspiracy that an episode of SittingNow cannot function without Daddytank evoking some of the best oddball and experimental music for your listening pleasure. This weeks puppets of the Illuminati are:

Island In The Sky - The Jekyll You Hyde
Super Adventure Club - 17th Century AOSS
Hangin' Freud- Swamp

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Arthur Goldwag Biography:

After attending Kenyon College and Brown University, Arthur Goldwag worked in book publishing for more than twenty years, including stints at Random House, The New York Review of Books, and Book-of-the-Month Club. He now freelances full time.

The author of THE BELIEFNET GUIDE TO KABBALAH (Doubleday, 2005), ISMS & OLOGIES (Vintage, 2007), and CULTS, CONSPIRACIES & SECRET SOCIETIES (Vintage, 2009), Arthur is also a contributing editor at Scholastic’s STORYWORKS magazine, where he writes stories, plays, and essays for children. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two sons.

Finally, the triad of classic beasties has been covered on SittingNow! First, we brought you Vampires, then we gave you Zombies, this week we present you with a show about Werewolves!

When it comes to discussing these iconic monsters, there is no better speaker than our old pal Dr Bob Curran. Dr Bob recently released his latest exploration of the mythological world in his fantastic book 'Werewolves: A Field Guide to Shapeshifters, Lycanthropes, and Man-Beasts'.

In this week's episode we discuss The historical origins of the Werewolf myth, the Werewolf in classical literature, The Green Man, what do these mythological beasts tell us about ourselves, American folklore, and much more.

Never one to miss out on a good monster hunt, famous musical monster hunter Daddytank returns with his infinite supply of silver bullets. This week's full mooners:

Black Saturn vs Subduxtion - Conquering Echo
Berry Weight - The Day Nothing Happened
Inkog and Mr. Gone - Seven

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

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Dr. Bob Curran is a native of Northern Ireland, born and raised in the Mourne
Mountains area of County Down, a region steeped in folklore and legend.
Throughout a varied life, he has worked in many fields—as a gravedigger,
professional musician, journalist, and civil servant. He is now a history teacher
and well known throughout Ireland and beyond as a writer and broadcaster. He
has written extensively, in English and several other languages, on various
aspects of history and folklore and acted as advisor to the Cultural Committee of
the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. He currently lives in Coleraine,
County Derry, with his wife and family.

This week we delve back into the realm of reality hacking with our guest Antero Alli. Antero has been involved in the study of the 8 circuit model of consciousness for many years now, and has authored two books on the subject. Antero is also involved in a unique consciousness experiment called 'Paratheatre', in which initiates and researchers experiment, and more importantly, experience consciousness change.

This week we discuss: The 8 circuit model of consciousness, Timothy Leary, Paratheatre, the difference between reading about a ritual and actually experiencing it, and much more.

Not one to miss out on some consciousness change, Daddytank returns with his musical implements which he calls MySpace Heroes. This week's objects of musical expression are:

Perhaps Contraption - Hard Cutlery

Heat From A Dead Star - Seahorse Seafish
Haunted Stereo - Lock The Doors

f you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Antero Alli Bio:

In this weeks episode, we discuss Jack Parsons and his magickal journey, The Night of Pan, Kenneth Anger, and how the occult can influence the film-making process.

Brian is screening his new film 'The Night of Pan', as well as performing live music with Death in Vegas' Richard Fearless in London this week, make sure you don't miss it - the event is free, and you can get more details here.

Daddytank returns with his excellent MySpace heroes (which for some reason includes a rant by Alex Jones); this week's heroes are:

Wakamiya - Pretty Pretty
Waiting Life - It's In Your Court
Wally Quid - Nebula

(more links when I get sent them)

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Brian Butler Bio:

Brian Butler is a musician, writer, and filmmaker living in Los Angeles.

He has written on occult related subjects for numerous magazines including Dazed and Confused and Tease. His writings have been published in books such as Disinformation’s Book of Lies, which features his “Wormwood Star” article on life of Jack Parson’s wife and muse Marjorie Cameron. He has appeared on television internationally as an expert on the occult. He recently worked as a consultant for Showtime Networks Development on the biopic of Jack Parsons.

He directed, wrote and produced the documentary Raising Lucifer: Story of a Cursed Film (2008), which deals with the production of Lucifer Rising, and features an exclusive interview with Manson family murderer Bobby Beausoleil from prison. Other film projects include documentary segments for the Disinformation DVD (2004) such as Satanism, Rocket Boy and Uncle Goddamn. Butler also produced and edited the Kenneth Anger film Ich Will! (2008)

He has recorded and or performed music with artists such as VON LMO, Rozz Williams (Christian Death), and Moving Units. Current music projects include the experimental Clouds Without Water and Technicolor Skull — a multimedia performance collaboration with Kenneth Anger, which premiered at Donaufestival in Austria on April 30th, 2008 and has subsequently toured Europe at such instutions as the National Museum of Art in Copenhagen and The Serravales Museum in Portugal.

Recent film projects include producing the Kenneth Anger film Brush of Baphomet (2009) and directing the short “Night of Pan” which features Vincent Gallo and Kenneth Anger and has screened all over the world including the Cannes Film Festival, the Athens Biennale , and the Festival Internazionale Del Film Di Roma.

This week we discuss The Roswell Incident, Dulce underground base, Area 51, The state of Ufology today and much more.

As if tipped off to the incident; Daddytank, and his army of musical flying saucers attack this week come in the shape of:

Hills Like White Elephants - Foundation

Vector Trio - The Road To Solola

Vaetxh - Clipper

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Dennis Balthaser Bio:

As a young man, Dennis Balthaser would look into the night sky and wonder at the secrets it held. Some years later Dennis bought a book about UFOs and his wonder turned to investigation. Today he has a library with over 90 books in reference to ufology.

Dennis served 3 years ('59-62) with the United States Army in the 815th Engineering Battalion.

After some 33 years in Civil Engineering, Dennis retired from the Texas Department of Transportation in 1996. Having been keenly interested in the Roswell Incident of 1947, Dennis decided to move to Roswell, New Mexico, to pursue his avocation: Ufology.

Initially Dennis worked as an Engineering Consultant in Roswell, volunteering his time at the International UFO Museum and Research Center on weekends. Nine months later he resigned from the engineering firm, assuming the duties of IUFOMRC Operations Manager. He served on the Board of Directors and became the UFO Investigator for the Museum as a full-time volunteer from 1996 until 1998, then began his research as an independent researcher.

Due to his love of ufology, his dedication and his exhaustive work, Dennis is regarded as a leading investigator and ufologist by his peers, communicating regularly with such well-known researchers as Stanton Friedman, Frank Warren, Scott Ramsey (scottr@ExpressWireServices.com), and others in their quests to find the truth.

Dennis is a Certified Mutual UFO Network Field Investigator, a member of Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association, and belongs to several ufology organizations.

This week, we discuss: Did the Nazis ever really go away, Who killed JFK, was Lee Harvey Oswald a Patsy or the lone gunman, and much more.

Joining Ken is SittingNow veteran Jacob 'JW' Williams, a man plagued with questions about the Kennedy assassination. One such question, "was Kennedy's door open?", is now available for your digestion:

[caption id="attachment_1792" align="aligncenter" width="446"] Jacob's eagle-eye spotted this[/caption]

As regular listeners know only too well, there is a plot hatched by ourselves each week, and our lone gunman, Daddytank, has 3 shots of music for you in the shape of:

Ubertweet - I'm Not Dreaming Of You
U-bahn - Camphor
ùƒØ!))))) - Bloody Murder

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Jim Marrs Bio:

Jim Marrs was born in Fort Worth. After graduating from University of North Texas he joined the United States Army. On his release in 1968 he joined the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He served as police reporter and general assignments reporter covering stories locally, in Europe and the Middle East. After a leave of absence to serve with a Fourth Army intelligence unit during the Vietnam War, he became military and aerospace writer for the newspaper and an investigative reporter. Marrs began to take an interest in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After interviewing several members of the Dallas Police Department he became convinced him that the Warren Commission was a cover-up. Marrs continued to investigate the case and interviewed several important witnesses as well as city and county officials.

In 1976 Marrs began teaching a course about the assassination for the University of Texas at Arlington. He left the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1980 and worked as a freelance journalist while continuing to investigate the death of Kennedy. Marrs eventually became convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald had been set up by the government and in 1989 he published Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy. Published to critical acclaim and reached the New York Times Paperback Non-Fiction Best Seller list in mid-February 1992. It also became a basis for the Oliver Stone film JFK and he served as a chief consultant for both the film's screenplay and production.

Since 1980, Mr. Marrs has been a freelance writer, author and public relations consultant. He also published a rural weekly newspaper along with a monthly tourism tabloid, a cable television show and several videos. Beginning in 1992, Mr. Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book on a top-secret government program involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing only to have it mysteriously canceled as it was going to press in the summer of 1995. Within two months, the story of military-developed remote viewing broke nationally in the Washington Post after the CIA held a press conference revealing the program but putting their own spin on psychic studies. Psi Spies is now available from JimMarrs.com.

In May, 1997, Marrs' in-depth investigation of UFOs, Alien Agenda, was published by HarperCollins. Marrs has been a featured speaker at a number of national conferences including the Annual International UFO Congress and the Annual Gulf Breeze UFO Conference. Publisher's Weekly described the book as "the most entertaining and complete overview of flying saucers and their crew in years." The paperback edition was released in mid-1998 and has since become the best-selling UFO book ever in the United States. Beginning in 2000, he began teaching a course on UFOs at the University of Texas at Arlington.

In early 2000, HarperCollins published Rule by Secrecy, which traced the hidden history that connects modern secret societies to the Ancient Mysteries. In 2003, his book The War on Freedom probed the conspiracies of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath.

Other books by Jim Marrs includes Inside Job: Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies (2004), Terror Conspiracy, The: Provocation, Deception and 9/11 (2006) and Rise of the Fourth Reich (2008)

This week we discuss: Being a 'modern magician', Sex Magick, Tantra, Initatory orders, Occult novels, secret rituals of certain orders, how a magickal order should survive the information age, and much more.

I am joined this week in the palacial SittingNow studio by new  co-hosts Cameron Leonard-Schroff, and Paul Powney.

As is tradition and lore in the ancient ways of SittingNow; Frater Daddytank and his secret order of underground musicians perfom their musical rites, this weeks noise-niks are:

The Jack Parsons Project - Corinth
Factura - Piano Exp 2
Karakoid - Too Much Space (Factoid Remix)

If you have any queries, suggestions, insults etc. Please feel free to email ken@sittingnow.co.uk.

Enjoy!

Micheal Donald Kraig Bio:

Donald Michael Kraig graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy. He has also studied public speaking and music (traditional and experimental) on the university level. After a decade of personal study and practice, he began ten years of teaching courses in the Southern California area on such topics as Kabalah, Tarot, Magic, Tantra, and Psychic Development. He has been a member of many spiritual and magical groups and is an initiated Tantric.

In this weeks episodes we discuss: Freemasons, Mesmirism, Theosophy, Astrology and the dark side of American occultism.

Daddytank and his army of flying (musical) monkeys return this week in the shape of:

Memories of Tree's - Snakes and Headaches

Diamond District - I Mean Business

Vlooper - Muzungu

Enjoy!

Mitch Horowitz Bio:

Mitch Horowitz is a writer and publisher of many years' experience with a lifelong interest in man’s search for meaning. The editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York, he is the author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Bantam, September 2009).

A frequent writer and speaker on metaphysical themes, he has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, The History Channel, The Montel Williams Show, All Things Considered, Air America Radio, and Coast to Coast AM. He has written for U.S. News and World Report, Parabola, Science of Mind, the Religion News Service, and the popular weblog BoingBoing.

At Tarcher/Penguin, Horowitz has published some of today’s leading titles in world religion, esoterica, and the metaphysical. He has also published notable works in philosophy, social thought and politics. His recent titles include Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch; 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck; The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders by Jacob Needleman; The Secret Teachings of All Ages: Reader’s Edition by Manly P. Hall; and Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber.

We finally did it, we reached episode 30! To celebrate the 'big 3 0' we decided to invite back co-hosts Raymond Wiley and Austin Gandy to get the proceedings in full swing, and booked a guest that we've been hankering after for a while now. To top this off, we also recorded the show live (something we plan to do from now on), and our audience gave us some great questions!

The guest in question, Isaac Bonewits, has had a fantastically rich career in occultism. From becoming the ArchDruid of  the RDNA, to helping reconstruct the 'Caliphate' branch of the OTO, Isaac gives us a fantastically engaging, frank and often funny, interview.

Discussed this week: Why Neo-paganism appears to be changing, How to get thrown out of the Church of Satan by Aton Lavay, being awarded the only recognised academic degree in 'Magic', the effect of 'crud' on estoterism, and uncle Aleister.

Of course, no show would be complete without a musical interlude from the amazing Daddytank and his chorus of noise! This weeks entertainers:

Each Paw Gremlin Small - IIIsey

e.r.o.d.e - R03

Early Paintings - Fundamentalist

We'll keep you posted on the site for when we're doing the next live show. You can also follow site developments on Twitter, just follow @sittingnow

enjoy!

Isaac Bonewits Bio:

Bonewits, P. E. I. (Isaac) (1949–?) One of the brightest and most colorful figures of the Neopagan movement, Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits is best known for his leadership in modern Druidism. He is a priest, magician, scholar, author, bard and activist, and has dedicated himself to reviving Druidism as a “Third Wave” religion aimed at protecting “Mother Nature and all Her children.“

Bonewits was born on October 1, 1949, in Royal Oak, Michigan — the perfect place, he likes to joke, for a future Archdruid. The fourth of five children (three girls, two boys), he spent most of his childhood in Ferndale, a suburb of Detroit. When he was nearly 12, the family moved to [Southern California, first on the actual beach of Capistrano Beach, later to] San Clemente, California.

From his mother, a devout Roman Catholic, Bonewits developed an appreciation for the importance of religion; from his father, a convert to Catholicism from Presbyterianism, he acquired skepticism. He bounced back and forth between parochial and public schools, largely due to the lack of programs for very bright students — his I.Q. was tested at 200.

His first exposure to magic came at age 13, when he met a young Creole woman from New Orleans who practiced Voodoo. She showed him some of her magic and so accurately divined the future [and so successfully performed spells] that he was greatly impressed. During his teen years, he read extensively about magic and parapsychology. He also read science fiction, which often has strong magical and psychic themes.

In ninth grade, Bonewits entered a Catholic high-school seminary. He soon realized, however, that he did not want to be a priest in the Catholic faith. He returned to public school and graduated a year early. After spending a year in junior college to get foreign language credits, he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley in 1966. At about the same time, he began practicing magic, devising his own rituals by studying the structure of rituals in books, and by observing them in various churches.

His roommate at Berkeley, Robert Larson, was a Druid, an alumnus of Carleton College, where the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) had been founded in 1963. Larson interested Bonewits in Druidism and initiated him into the RDNA. The two established a grove in Berkeley. Bonewits was ordained as a Druid priest in October 1969. The Berkeley grove was shaped as a Neopagan religion, unlike other RDNA groves, which considered the order a philosophy. The Neopagan groves became part of a branch called the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA).

During college, Bonewits spent about eight months as a member of the Church of Satan, an adventure that began as a lark. The college campus featured a Spot where evangelists of various persuasions would lecture to anyone who would listen. As a joke, Bonewits showed up one day to perform a satirical lecture as a Devil’s evangelist. He was so successful that he was approached by a woman who said she represented Anton Szandor LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan. Bonewits attended the church’s meetings and improved upon some of their rituals but dropped out after personality conflicts with LaVey. The membership, he found, consisted largely of middleclass conservatives who were more “rightwing and racist” than Satanist.

Bonewits had intended to major in psychology but through Berkeley’s individual group-study program fashioned his own course of study. In 1970 he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in magic [and thaumaturgy], the first person ever to do so at a Westem educational institution. He also was the last to do so in the United States[?]. College administrators were so embarrassed over the publicity about the degree that magic, witchcraft and sorcery were banned from the individual group-study program.

The fame of his degree led to a book contract. In 1971 Real Magic was published, offering Bonewits’ views on magic, ritual and psychic abilities. A revised and updated edition was published in 1979 and reissued in 1989.

In 1973 Bonewits met a woman named Rusty [Elliot], a folksinger in the Berkeley cafes. They moved to Minneapolis, where they were married, and where Bonewits took over the editorship of Gnostica, a Neopagan journal published by Carl Weschcke of Llewellyn Publications. He gaveGnostica a scholarly touch and turned it into the leading journal in the field. But the job lasted only 1 1/2 years, for the editorial changes resulted in the loss of many non-Pagan readers, who found the magazine too high brow.

Bonewits remained in Minneapolis for about another year. While there he established a Druid grove called the Schismatic Druids of North America, a splinter group of the RDNA. He also joined with several Jewish pagan friends and created the Hasidic Druids of North America, the only grove of which existed briefly in St. Louis, where its membership overlapped with that of the Church of All Worlds. In 1974–75, Bonewits [partially] wrote, edited and self-published The Druid Chronicles (Evolved), a compendium of the history, theology, rituals and customs of all the Reformed Druid movements, including the ones he invented himself.

[During this same time] he also founded the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL), a civil liberties and public relations organization for members of minority belief systems, such as the Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Neopagans, Witches, occultists, astrologers and others. [See The Aquarian Manifesto.] Bonewits sought to convince such persons that they had more in common with each other than they realized. By banding together, they could effectively fight, through the press and the courts, the discrimination and harassment of the Judeo-Christian conservatives.

Bonewits served as president of the AADL and devoted most of his income — from unemployment insurance — to running it. The organization scored several small victories in court, such as restoring an astrologer to her apartment, after she had been evicted because a neighbor told her landlord that her astrology classes were “black magic seances.” In 1976 Bonewits and Rusty divorced, and he decided to return to Berkeley. The AADL disintegrated shortly after his departure.

In Berkeley, Bonewits rejoined the NRDNA grove and was elected Archdruid. He established The Druid Chronicler (which later became Pentalpha Journal) as a national Druid publication in 1978. He attempted to make the Berkeley grove as Neopagan as the groves in Minneapolis and St. Louis, which caused a great deal of friction among the longtime members. After a few clashes, Bonewits left the organization. Pentalpha Journal folded.

[Also in 1978 , he researched and wrote Authentic Thaumaturgy, essentially a rewrite of Real Magic for players of fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. It was published in booklet format, shown left, in 1978 and 1979 by The Chaosium, publishers of the Runequest and Call of Cthulu games. “A.T.” became highly influential in the RPG community, even though no more than 1,000 copies were ever printed. Many years later, in 1998, he published a dramatically expanded and updated edition, shown right, for Steve Jackson Games, which released it as a large trade paperback. Excerpts from this new edition can be foundhere.]

In 1979 he married for a second time, to a woman named Selene [Kumin]. That relationship ended in 1982 [after a brief stay in Santa Cruz, California, where he worked as a typesetter]. In 1983 he was initiated into the New Reformed Order of the Golden Dawn [the San Francisco Bay Area’s best known, and stereotypically “eclectic,” Wiccan tradition]. The same year, he married again, to Sally Eaton, the actress who created the role of the hippie Witch in the Broadway musical, Hair. [During the early 1980s, Bonewits and Eaton were heavily involved in the California revival of the Ordo Templi Orientis, or “O.T.O.,” best known for its most important historical figure, Aliester Crowley.] They moved to New York City in 1983 where Bonewits met Shenain Bell, a fellow Neopagan, and discussed the idea of starting a Druidic organization.

The fellowship, Ár nDraíocht Féin (“Our Own Druidism” in Irish Gaelic), was born as a fresh Neopagan religious organization with no ties to the ancient Druids or to the RDNA, which by this time was apparently [but not exactly] defunct. Bonewits became Archdruid, and Bell became ViceArchdruid.

In 1986 Bonewits and Eaton separated, and he moved to Kansas City for several months, where he worked as a computer consultant. He then returned to Berkeley but could not find work in Silicon Valley, which was in a slump [they had a glut of unemployed technical writers at the time]. He moved back to the East Coast, to Nyack, New York, near Manhattan, in November 1987, with his intended fourth wife, Deborah Lipp, a Wiccan high priestess [and married her in 1988]. He continued work as a computer consultant and worked on the building of Ár nDraíocht Féin. He also began work on a book on the creation, preparation and performance of effective religious rituals [finally published as Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approachin 2004 and as Neopagan Rites in 2007].

[From 1988 through 1995, Bonewits and Lipp were partners (along with several others across the continent) in making ADF the largest and most successful Neopagan Druid organization in North America, with legal standing and tax exempt status in the USA. For most of this time, they were also partners in running a Gardnerian Wiccan “Pagan Way” group and then a coven in New York and New Jersey.]

[1990 saw the birth of Bonewits’ first known child, Arthur Lipp-Bonewits, at their home in Dumont, New Jersey. Arthur quickly became known among East Coast Neopagans as an intelligent, self-aware, and hyperactive child. 1990 also saw, however, a serious blow to Bonewits’ health, when he began showing symptoms of a newdisease called Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome, caused by chemically contaminated L-Tryptophan tablets manufactured in Japan and consumed by tens of thousands of Americans in 1989. This multisystemic disease caused Bonewits an increasing inability to perform his secular or Archdruidic duties, leading to his loss of employment in 1992 and his resignation as Archdruid of ADF, and assumption of the Archdruid Emeritus title, on January 1, 1996.  In 1997 and 1998, Bonewits began to show signs of recovering from the disease’s worst effects, except for relapses in the winter months, but by this time the disease had also caused severe damage to his marriage with Deborah, and in 1998 they separated.]

The “10–year gap.” Bonewits has discovered, he says, a “10–year gap” between many of his views and their acceptance among Neopagans. In 1973 he was the first Neopagan to state publicly that the alleged antiquity of Neopagan Witchcraft (Wicca) was “hogwash.” The Craft, he said, did not go back beyond Gerald B. Gardner and Doreen Valiente [Now he is willing to push it all the back to the 1920’s. See Witchcraft: A Concise Guide]. Bonewits was held in contempt by many for that, yet by 1983, Neopagans generally acknowledged that Neopagan Witchcraft was a new religion, not the continuation of an old one. The Aquarian Anti-Defamation League was also ahead of its time. In 1974–75, Neopagans were not ready to admit that they needed public relations and legal help. By a decade later, a number of such organizations were in existence.

Around 1985 Bonewits began regularly discussing the need to provide social services for domestic and personal problems and drug dependencies. Neopagans, he points out, represent a cross section of the population, and such problems cut across religious lines. Bonewits estimates that as many as 80 percent of Neopagans come from “non[‘dys-’]functional family” backgrounds. Neopagans, he observes, are brighter and more artistic than average, but also, therefore, “more neurotic.” [He now thinks much of it may be related to “Aspergers Syndrome”] The community has been quick to address these social issues with programs [such as various “Pagan 12-Step Programs”].

Bonewits also began lobbying for financial support for full-time Neopagan clergy (the priesthood is essentially a volunteer job), but the idea fell on uninterested ears. In 1988 Bonewits was pursuing a goal of buying land and establishing an academically accredited Pagan seminary. [As of 2006, there are dozens of Pagan-owned land sanctuaries, and a few Pagan seminaries earning accreditation from the national accreditation agencies. Alas, ADF is not among them, though a couple of ADF groves own their own land. A few Neopagan clergy have managed to obtain employment via the Covenent of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) as UU ministers.]

[On July 23, 2004, Isaac was handfasted to ceremonial magician, Wiccan priestess, and early member of CUUPS, Ms. Phaedra Heyman. On December 7th of 2007, Isaac and Deborah were legally divorced and Isaac and Phaedra were wed on December 31, 2007. They now reside in Rockland County, New York, and have recently written a book together: Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, and Substances to Heal, Change, and Grow (New Page, March 2007).

BEHOLD! High Weirdness by email, in which we, together with the most holy Rev. Ivan Stang, discuss cults, pagans and other weirdness.

BE TURNED ON! by possibly the first ever mating call of the Subgenius captured on a earthly recording device.

PRAISE 'BOB'! as we discuss, X-Day, The Starwood Festival,  no-good-no-Bob-niks, 9/11 truthers, Isaac Bonewits, SATAN, and of course J.R. Bob Dobbs.

The right honourable Daddytank returns from the soundmines, tools in hand, to deliver another astounding MySpace Heroes. This weeks solid-gold prospects:

Zano Bathroom - Live and Direct
Cubist Upshot - Resonants III 
Curios - The Tiling Song

See you 'next week'...and don't forget to enjoy!

PRABOB

Ivan Stang Bio:

Rev. Ivan Stang, born  August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth,Texas, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius. He is credited with founding the Church along with his pal Philo Drummond in 1979, though Stang himself denies this and claims the organization was founded in 1953 by J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. Since the publication of the first SubGenius pamphlet in 1980, Stang has embarked on a worldwide crusade (spanning at least three continents) to promote the Church. In May 2006 he finished writing, editing and designing a new SubGenius book for Thunder's Mouth Press, 'The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon'. He has appeared on several national radio and television shows, including the The Jon Stewart Show on MTV. Stang is an instructor on the faculty of the Maybe Logic Academy. Both he and J.R. "Bob" Dobbs appear as characters in John Shirley's science fiction novel Kamus of Kadizar: The Black Hole of Carcosa.