Stirring the Cauldron

A haunted mirror that hangs in an English stately home, Hoar Cross Hall, a stately 19th-century country mansion in Staffordshire. England now operating as a hotel and may have inspired Lewis Carroll to write the Looking Glass tale. Was Mary Heath - the leader of a mysterious occult society in Victorian England, and said to have possessed extraordinarily supernatural gifts, even as a child, the true inspiration for the Alice stories? And is she the spirit that haunts that mirror, and makes ghostly phone calls to the reception desk from The Alice Suite just above the library where the mirror hangs? Join us as Graham Phillips takes us back to a time and place where Lewis Carroll first saw the mirror and became acquainted with the young Mary Heath.

Herman Mudgett, whose alias was H.H. Holmes, is believed to have been the first serial killer in America, potentially responsible for as many as 200 murders in the late 19th century. Around the same time, Jack the Ripper famously killed at least five people on the streets of London. On The American Ripper series, Jeff Mudgett -- Holmes' great-great-grandson -- tries to prove a controversial theory that Holmes and Jack the Ripper were the same person. Mudgett has spent 20 years researching his ancestor, and he uses that information, combined with 21st-century science and technology, to team with former CIA analyst Amaryllis Fox to launch an investigation that could solve one of history's biggest cold cases.

Where the bloodlines of the Nephilim leave off, the real story just begins. Or does it go back even further than that? The very real probability that non-human intelligences visited and even copulated with primordial humans is detailed in civilization's most ancient cultural and religious records. These historical records further reveal that these intelligences were reptilian in nature--or, at the very least, have been represented throughout human history in reptilian form. From the Serpent, Nawcash, in the Garden of Eden; Atum, the Egyptian snake-man; and Quetzalcotl, the feathered serpent god of the Mayans to the double-helix snake symbol of Enki/Ea in ancient Sumerian literature, the serpent has been the omnipresent link between humans and the gods in every culture. In The Secret History of the Reptilians, Scott Alan Roberts investigates and examines the pervasive presence of the serpent in human history, religion, culture, and politics. Are we the product of an extraterrestrial race that moves and breathes--and even breeds--beneath the surface of all of human history?

Put on your thinking cap and take an historical, anthropological, archaeological plunge into the heady waters of extraterrestrial origins.

Bloodstains is the startling tale of one man’s search for the truth after inheriting the personal diaries belonging to his great-great-grandfather who he discovers was America’s first and most notorious serial killer Herman Webster Mudgett. Better known by his alias H.H. Holmes, Mudgett was the mass murderer who struck terror into the nation by being the proprietor of the infamous Murder Castle and stalking the streets of Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair. During his incarceration awaiting execution, well over a century ago, Holmes admitted killing 27 innocent victims, but the evidence the author locates indicates hundreds more likely. From his investigation, Jeff Mudgett, the direct descendant, learns that Holmes’ reign of terror was worldwide and not limited to Chicago as has been so widely believed. Based upon never before revealed historical facts, Jeff pieces together a dynamic and extraordinary puzzle, including the strong possibility that Holmes was also Jack the Ripper.Far more than a documentary, Bloodstains is precariously balanced on the very edge between non-fiction and the paranormal, as the author’s research of his evil ancestor quickly takes on a personal aspect. Jeff soon fears his efforts may have awakened the legendary ‘Holmes Curse’ of the 1890s, the one investigated and written about by most of the nation’s major publications, including The New York Times. In fact, the deeper he digs into Holmes’ devilish past, the stronger the monster’s hold on him seems to become, testing the limits of his own sanity, as well as humanity. Racked by a mysterious and never before experienced epilepsy, Jeff suffers crippling grand mal seizures whenever he disobeys the haunting voices in his head. Finally, with nowhere else to turn, Jeff is forced to make the decisions of his genetic lifetime in a life-or-death struggle in order to win the greatest prize of all: his survival.

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life.

The materials and tools used in Appalachia witchcraft are readily available from the land. This "grounded approach" will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives.This book also provides instructions on how to create a working space and altar and make conjure oils and powders. A wide array of tried-and-true formulas are also offered for creating wealth, protecting one from gossip, spiritual cleansing, and more.

It was a magical night in many ways, and always is when Judika Illes is my guest, and magic was what we talked about. She has two new upcoming books, Daily Magic, a perpetual calendar focused on days of spiritual and magical significance that gives us the power and the tools we need to take control of our destiny and will be released in August. Pure Magic will be released at the end of the year and is a useful tool and resource for beginners and experienced devotees of the magical arts, and a basic introduction to magic and includes a psychic glossary, a primer on the four elements, colors, and magical supplies (including minerals and botanicals) and a compendium of spells for any situation you may face and much more. Casting spells was what most of the chatroom questions were about. So sit back and enjoy the show, and as always, Blessed Be.

Weaving together ancient wisdom, mystical folklore, and modern plant research, master herbalist Ellen Evert Hopman explores the many uses of flowers, trees, common weeds, and ornamental plants for food, medicine, spiritual growth, and magical rituals. She reveals the herbal lore surrounding each plant, drawing on traditional knowledge and remedies from around the world, including Native American, Celtic, and Egyptian traditions. She includes recipes throughout so you can make medicines from wild and domesticated plants easily found in yards, forests, meadows, and hedgerows, and she discusses what to plant to ensure you have leaves, berries, and flowers all year. Ellen reveals how to quickly intuit an unknown plant’s properties using the signatures of plants--universal indications and contraindications based on the form, color, and location of a plant. She includes an in-depth section on honey and Bee Medicine, allowing you to appreciate the labors of these plant-dependent insects. Exploring the magical role of herbs in ancient ritual, Hopman provides recipes for Egyptian temple incense and their sacred medicine known as “Kyphi” or “Kaphet,” used to purify the body, banish insomnia, and promote vivid dreaming. She explores shamanic Plant Spirit and Animal Spirit Medicine as well as herbal astrology. She also explains the “triangle” formula-making system of her herbal mentor William LeSassier to help you develop custom herbal remedies tailored to a person’s unique strengths and weaknesses. Showing how to easily incorporate wild plants into your life to receive their healing benefits throughout the seasons, Hopman reveals the power of the bounty that Mother Nature has provided right at our doorstep.

Spring-Heeled Jack--a tall, thin, bounding figure with bat-like wings, clawed hands, wheels of fire for eyes, and breath of blue flames--first leapt to public attention in Victorian London in 1838, springing over hedges and walls, from dark lanes and dank graveyards, to frighten and sometimes physically attack women. News of this strange and terrifying character quickly spread, but despite numerous sightings through 1904 he was never captured or identified. Exploring the vast urban legend surrounding this enigmatic figure, John Matthews explains how the Victorian fascination with strange phenomena and sinister figures paired with hysterical reports enabled Spring-Heeled Jack to be conjured into existence. Sharing original 19th-century newspaper accounts of Spring-Heeled Jack sightings and encounters, he also examines recent 20th and 21st-century reports, including a 1953 UFO-related sighting from Houston, Texas, and disturbing accounts of the Slender Man, who displays notable similarities with Jack. He traces Spring-Heeled Jack’s origins to earlier mythical beings from folklore, such as fairy creatures and land spirits, and explores the theory that Jack is an alien marooned on Earth whose leaping prowess is attributed to his home planet having far stronger gravity than ours. The author reveals how Jack the Ripper, although a different and much more violent character, chose to identify himself with the old, well-established figure of Spring-Heeled Jack. Providing an extensive look at Spring-Heeled Jack from his beginnings to the present, Matthews illustrates why the worldwide Steampunk community has so thoroughly embraced Jack.

Harold Roth is a leading authority on plant/herbal magic is nothing new., it dates back to Ancient Egyptian time and perhaps even further. On his previous visit to the show, he shared his new book The Witching Herbs, which is an in-depth exploration of 13 essential plants and herbs most closely associated with witchcraft--13 because it's the witching number and reflects the 13 months of the lunar calendar. That show left the door wide open for Harold to come back and explore Plant Magic i which is the ancient practice of using certain herbs and plants that contain magical properties medicinally and within spells and rituals. In this episode, we get to be more in depth with not only a wide variety of plants, but also their magical properties and uses, Plant Magic combines mysticism with practical instructions for growing a wide variety of plants used in magic, working with plant spirits and so much more, all based on Roth's 30 years of gardening expertise.

The Way of the Water Priestess is a practical guide to the magical power of water and its resident spirits and how to use that magic for both self-empowerment and in the service of protector of water in all its forms. Written by the founder of Triskele Rose Witchcraft, the book offers a guide to revive the ways of the water priestess—to make water sacred again. This is not a new practice; women have tended the sacred waters since antiquity. Readers of The Way of the Water Priestess will learn all the aspects of water magic: Historical and archeological information about rites and rituals, and women's role in relationship to water, the lore of water goddesses from various cultures around the world, how to form an intimate connection with water in all its forms, moon rituals, sacred bathing, and oracular and ritual arts, and how to become a sacred vessel of water and more. So much to cover in so little time, but after listening to the podcast, you'll never take water for granted again.