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Hello Seekers! This week on OSP, we dive headfirst into one of the most infamous occult brawls (physically AND spiritually) of the mmodern era: Aleister Crowley v/s The Heremtic Order of the Golden Dawn. This episode is all about ego, secrecy, power and what happens when everyone and their mom want to control the access to "ancient hidden knowledge." Specifically, we will be unpacking the Blythe Road incident and how Crowley may have lost the battle when he got his a$$ kicked out of their clubhouse but definitly won the war when it came to everlasting notoriety. There's gossip here, some weird history and a lot of toxic human behavior in between. If you've ever wondered why modern esoteric traditions are so obsessed with lineage, secrecy and who gets to be the ones "with the power," then this episode is for you! Enjoy & Thanks for getting weird with me! Jessica

Hello Seekers! We are still going strong with our Wiccan Wars theme this month - Today it's Gerald Gardner V/S Robert Cochrane! Gardner? He is all ceremony, degrees of intitiation and formality. Cochrane? Witchcraft is part of nature. It's wild. It's in your blood...you either have it or you don't. Both men were incredibly formative within modern day witchcraft/Wicca, both were also SUPER gate-keepy in their own particular ways and both argued different sides of the same coin (IMO). Also, as an added bonus - we have our first ever Listener Story! If you want to check out the references photos while listening along, you can find them over at our Patreon site (Patreon.com/OccultureShockPodcast ) - The referece photos are accessible to Patreon members only (however, there is an option to register for free - you do not have to be a part of the Tier membership program). Enjoy todays podcast episode and as always.... Thanks for getting weird with me! Jessica 

Hello Seekers! The week on Occulture Shock - Wizard Wars I'm digging into the fracture between Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente: the founder who went public to protect witchcraft and the woman who helped to write it.... ....only to then walk away when Gardner's mythology making started outweighing honesty and power plays were rife within the coven. This is not an episode of blind hero worship. This is a sharp (but hopefully, fair) look at how modern witchcraft was shaped by real human beings with real human egos and why questions of validity still haunt the practice today. I hope you enjoy todays episode and thanks for getting weird with me! Jessica C.

Hello Seekers! Welcome to a new year, a new podcast "season" and out new theme to start of uss: WIZARD WARS! This month I'm focusing on the hurt egos, sullied reputation and downright bitch-fests between the big names within the occult scene - both past, present & future. Consider today's episode a bit of an hors d'ouver. little teaser of sorts - A quick overview of some of the most famous fights amongst the self-proclaimed spiritually enlightened such as: Helena Blavatsky, The Fox Sisters, Aliester Crowley (naturally), and many, many more. Nothin' like a healthy reminder that - while we should glean what we can from the occult knowledge and work that these folks did - you should never take anyone at full face value. I hope you enjoy and thanks for getting weird with me! Jessica

Hello Seekers! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break and a Happy New Year's celebration and...speaking of that..... Huzzah! Here is the latest episode of the OccultureShock Podcast for 2005! And what better way to close out the year than to talk about a prophet and his accurate predictions for an upcoming disaster in the new year (that "new year" being 1666...so, no worries for us). As always, thank you for getting weird with me! -Jessica

BE WARNED - This episode is VERY true crime heavy and thus, involves a lot of dark and distrubing material - CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Seekers! We are in the "between times" right now - the Rauhnächt - where the veil is thinnest between the world and the dead & The Wild Hunt walk the Earth. Which makes this the PERFECT time to discuss some infamous true crimes that occured on, and around, Christmas Day. Let's keep the tradition of telling scary stories during Christmas alive with this week's podcast episode!  

Hello Seekers! You've heard the Christmas carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but have you ever asked yourself... Why? Why twelve days? And what was it about those days that make them such a big deal in the first place? On today's podcast episode, we look into that VERY thing (and it's both super weird and kinda' MEH (all at the same time). I break down what is:  Historicaly documented Folklore Theory Why the number twelve keeps cropping up throughout the holidays even though no one can agree on why it does. It's a fun one! Especially if you love chaotic folklore (and keeping your calander organized) ;) Thanks for getting weird with me! -Jessica 

Hello Seekers! It's a new month, so a new mini-season of topics! Since it's December and the holidays are right around the corner, I'\m going to stick with "weird holiday histories and traditions." First on our list comes straight out of the Alpine regions of Northern Europe - Krampus and Grýla. In the mountains of Austria and the lava fields of Iceland, the gifts the winter spirits came with were horns, claws and a very clear message: behave....or else!

Hello Seekers! Today we are pulling the curtain back on one of the holiday's most traditional and beloved drinks, Eggnog and its filthu cousin, the Tom & Jerry. Rife with bacteria, potentially poisoned by disgruntled family members and the cause of one of the largest (and most hilarious) riots in U.S. military history, I present to you, the final installment of our mini-series, Nightcap Noire: The Hidden Crimes Behind Holiday Cocktails. Be careful this holiday season (especially when it comes to imbibing) and thanks for getting weird with me, -Jess

Hello Seekers! This week, in our podcast mini-series, Nightcap Noire - The Dark History Behind Your Favorite Cocktails, we are taking a gander at the infamous Ward 8. A drink that somehow managed to survive longer than the political system that created it. Old-guard Bostonians liked to hole themselves up in Locke-Ober; a formal, male-only dine and drinks establishment that has a reputation for haughty exclusivity. The fact that a drink created and named after Martin Lomasney's blue-collar ward made it onto the Locke-Ober menu caused some folks suspect that something suss was happening down at the ballot boxes. Lomasney's Ward 8 district operated on favors: If he helped you, you voted for him. Thus, an amazing cocktail that has stood the test of time and proven it has a right to be served at any bar it wants was born.

Good evening Seekers, I thought I'd try out a new series theme for the rest of November (and maybe a little into Dec. if it feels right) and that is: Nightcap Noire - A series that explores famous cocktails based on gruesome true crimes and the histories behind them. Los Angeles, 1947. A body in a vacant lot. A dark legend in the making. Elizabeth Short, soon to be known as The Black Dahlia, wanted to be seen... And Hollywood promised her that would happen. This episode of the Occulture Shock Podcast follows the investigation from the Biltmore Hotel's involvement and homage cocktail: The Black Dahlia, to the surgeon's table, police files, cover-ups, and the city that, even after all of these years, can't leave it alone. Thanks for getting weird with us! -J

Seekers! Here's a true crime story that I've been sitting on for a while: The Mysterious death of Josslyn Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll and the scandalous lifestyles of the "Happy Valley Set," a group of British elites in Kenya during the early 20th century. In 1941, a car was found idiling on a desolate road just outside of Nairobi. Inside? A British aristocrat with a bullet in his brain. This week's episode dives into one of the most notorious true stories to come out of the 1940s: the murder of Lord Erroll (Josslyn Hay), his not-so-secret love affair with Diana Delves Broughton (the wife of "Jock" Broughton), Jock's sham of a court case and the inevitable unraveling of the so-called Happy Valley Set - a group of white British colonials whose idea of paradoise was cocaine, cocktails and each other's spouses. We trace how this band of British (and some American) aristocratic misfits fled post-war England for the Kenyan highlands, turned stolen land into personal playgrounds and built an illusion of civility that rotted from the inside out. By the end, we're left with a question that still lingers over the entire enterprise: When there are no consequences no matter what you do, is it any surprise that all you have left to destroy is yourself?

Hello Seekers! Well, I'm still rockin' that Shirley Jackson podcast angle this week! After last week's podcast, I ended up falling into quite a deep Shirley Jackson internet history hole and discovered that Mrs. Jackson is connected (however tenuously) to an infamous and unsolved murder case of one of the most important American heiresses within the U.S.'s Gilded Age "royalty." Jane Stanford was the wife of prominent robber baron/ railroad tycoon and founder of Stanford University, Leland Stanford. She was also the victim of a notorious case of murder by poison! This week's podcast is a twisted game of "six degrees of Kevin Bacon," but with Shirley Jackson swapping places with the ol' Footlooser, her famous great-great-grandfather inspiring The Haunting of Hill House and Mrs. Jane Stanford of San Francisco's horrific and untimely demise. Thanks for getting weird with me!  

Hello Seekers! This week, we take a look at the author who inspired modern day horror writers such as Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro by turning her ordinary suburban American life into quiet horror. Shirley Jackson lived in a house full of noise - four children, a controlling and flandering husband and a typerwrite on a kitchen table within the middle of it all. From that chaos she wrote fantastic short stories and novels revolving around the seemingly calm surface of the suburbs and the evil truth bubbling just underneath, such as is, The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. This episode unpacks her marriage, her fascination with magic and the occult and how the control she tried to manifest within her writing became her personal spell for survival. I hope you enjoy today's episode and I also hope you go and read some of her works - they're EXCELLENT psychological horror and thanks for getting weird with us!

Hello Seekers! Last week we went into the connections between the top 3 Romantic writers of their era: Mary (Godwin) Shelley, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. But that just SCRATCHES at the surface of these lunatics (and their friends). This week's episode goes more "behind-the-scenes" of what famously went down at that villa in Switzerland (hint: It wasn't all writing. There was also a fair bit of sex, drugs and rock n' roll), as well as, everyone's messy personal lives and Percy's creepy and slightly paranormal death at a very young age. I hope you enjoy today's more personal episode regarding the illustrious 3 and thanks for getting weird with us! **Thumbnail image: "The Funeral of Shelley (1889) by Louis Édouard Fournier**