In the twelfth century, Pope Alexander III received a letter from Prester John, a legendary Africa priest king rumored to be as powerful as the Great Khan. The letter made fantastic claims about the Prester's lands and power and may have been a hoax but then Alexander's own physician brought him news that he'd met the Prester's representative in the Holy Land. Could the Prester be the Pope's solution to his political squabbles with the Holy Roman Emperor?

Alice Kyteler was the first woman to be tried for witchcraft in Ireland and her servant, Petronilla of Meath, was the first to be burned for heresy. Kyteler's stepchildren with her three deceased husbands accused Kyteler of being a black widow my supernatural means and sought to use Pope John XXII's recent decree that sorcery was a heresy to rid themselves of their stepmother once and for all.

Renowned Renaissance Festival performers Judas and Magnolia return to discuss the sacred and spiritual components of performance. In a conversation that ranges from Plato to Georges Bataille, the theater becomes something more than just a place to see a show.

Rob and Luke sit down with Tahverlee, founder of the Moon Temple Mystery School, to discuss the archetype of the witch, healing generational trauma, and her experience with the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Miguel Conner discusses his new book on Elvis's interest and involvement with occultism. From charismatic Christianity to theosophy, Conner traces Elvis's journey and the strange symbolism of Elvis's Vegas period.

James Jesse Strang presents a parallel prophet’s career to that of Joseph Smith. In some ways, a copycat of the Mormon prophet who literally attempted to succeed him despite their having had only a brief relationship, Strang also innovated on Mormon doctrine. Like Smith, he discovered a collection of ancient plates hidden in the earth and established a community of believers on the frontier that he moved to a still better frontier. But his revelations were significantly shorter and less involved than Smith’s. If Strang was less successful in matters of the spirit he was better than Smith at politics. Whereas Smith was always an outsider and his presidential run is generally regarded as a kind of self-delusion, Strang actually won political office, serving in Michigan’s nascent state legislature. More notoriously, both men preached and wrote against polygamy but ended up practicing and even promoting it and both men were assassinated by their rivals.

After the death of Joseph Smith, the Mormons relocated to the basin beside the Great Salt Lake, led by Brigham Young. The journey of the pioneering Mormons and Young's leadership were an amazing display of spirit and grit but the shadow of polygamy dogged them in their quest to become a state. Slavery further complicated things for the Mormons and their strange doctrine of blood atonement which resulted in the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Fleeing persecution from the government of Missouri, Joseph Smith and the Mormons found themselves in Nauvoo, Illinois. There, Smith established a militia, ran for governor, discovered his doctrine of plural marriage, and purchased a mummy. Nauvoo was Smith's last Zion at the scene for the events that would lead to his assassination at the hands of an angry mob. This episode contains a brief reference to suicide.

The Book of Mormon is full of intrigue and adventure. It also repeats the phrase "and it came to pass" over 1400 times. It tells the story of a lost tribe of Israel crossing the ocean to America to establish a new civilization and how that civilization was ultimately destroyed. We take seriously Joseph Smith's claim that his book was a historical document and consider points for and against the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith's discovery of a set of buried golden plates was the beginning of the Mormons or Church of Latter Day Saints. This was also moment deeply ensconced in folk belief and magic. Treasure-digging, seer stones, and magical parchments were all part of the Smith family tradition and they each played a part in the story of Moroni's Golden Plates.