Category Archives: occulture

Dr. Strange, the esoteric, and the spiritual

The latest Marvel film, Doctor Strange, directed by Scott Derrickson, has generated some interesting discussion related to the spiritual aspects of the comic as original source material, and how this is portrayed in the film itself. An essay in The Huffington Post discusses some interesting historical background information on the religious aspects of the comic […]

Why did satanists endorse “The Witch”?

The new horror film The Witch is getting positive reviews, but prior to that it was the stuff of minor controversy as a Satanist group issued a public endorsement for the film, calling it a “satanic experience.” Such an endorsement would have caused a major controversy in the culture wars from Christians as happened in […]

RUE MORGUE and the Ouija Board

Each year I look forward to the Halloween issue of RUE MORGUE magazine. This year’s was a real treat given its cover story “Spirits, Demons, Superstition: 125 Years of the Ouija Board.” There are several elements included in their coverage, including an overview, “Take Me to the Other Side” by April Snellings that also includes […]

Patheos Book Review: The Paranormal Conspiracy

A volume at the Patheos Book club recently caught my attention. It is The Paranormal Conspiracy: The Truth About Ghosts, Aliens and Mysterious Beings (Chosen Books, 2015) by Timothy Dailey, Ph.D. An excerpt from the book and an interview with the author are available at Patheos. From time to time we explore the paranormal at […]

Call for Submissions – “Paranormal Pop: Religion, Pop Culture, and the Supernatural”

Call for Submissions ROTHCO Press is accepting proposals for essays for an edited volume tentatively titled Paranormal Pop: Religion, Pop Culture, and the Supernatural, to be published in Summer 2015. Academic writers and independent scholars are invited to submit proposals spanning the wide range of topics on pop culture and the paranormal, and their connection […]

Donald Tyson: The Dream World of H. P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most influential writers on contemporary horror. As such, he has been the focus of a number of biographies, including H. P. Lovecraft: A Life by S. T. Joshi (Necronomicon press, 1996), and the documentary Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, directed by Frank Woodward. More recently, a new biography has […]

The Otherkin: Fantastic Texts, Pop Culture, and Neo-Religiosity

At times the lines between fact and fiction are blurred when it comes to the fantastic in popular culture and identification with the various characters and creatures that inhabit it. At times the lines are not so much blurred as they are dissolved. Christopher Partridge speaks of “fact-fiction reversals” that exist, and that as a result […]

Peg Aloi: Cinema and the Occult Revival

This post brings together a number of areas of interest for me, including the increasing interest in fantasy with the counterculture of the 1960s, the connection between fantasy and Neo-Paganism, and the expression of elements related to Paganism and esotericism in film. We will explore issues related to these facets courtesy of an interview with […]

Jason Winslade Interview: Esotericism and Witchcraft in Entertainment and Commodification

Jason Winslade will receive his Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University this December. He currently is an adjunct professor at DePaul University, where he teaches interdisciplinary courses on occultism and culture, rites of passage, Irish myth and politics, comics, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Since 1993, he has been an active practitioner and initiate […]

“Occult-Tinged” Television Programming

At the end of May The Wild Hunt Blog included an interesting post on the large number of “occult-tinged” television programs that were the focus of an article in The New York Times. Wildhunt discusses some of these programs: Among the new supernaturally themed shows premiering is “Moonlight” a vampire-themed romantic detective series on CBS, […]

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