Filmmaker Richard Stanley joins us to unpack his incredible book "Otto Rahn: Grail Hunter" - the true story of a gay Jewish medievalist who became the SS's chief grail hunter in Nazi Germany.

We explore Stanley's own supernatural experiences on Montségur (getting trapped by lightning), the brutal genocide of the Cathars, and why this whole story feels disturbingly relevant right now.

From Lucifer's emerald diadem to disappearing treasures to Stanley's decades-long quest through the most mysterious corners of southern France.

Good times!

Show Notes

• Get the book here.
• Previous documentary trailer mentioned in the episode.

Vanese McNeill, co-producer of the Magical Egypt series, returns to the show. In this episode, we explore the hows and possible whys of spirit involvement in history, from the super-elite level down to the everyday. And also across to some of the sillier claims about AI floating in the air like so many plasma entities.

And all of this was inspired by a post Vanese wrote on the Magical Egypt substack about ontozoology back in June.

So that’s where we begin, and this is where we go after:

1. The Ontozoology Framework

• What invisible beings actually exist in the ecosystem

• Moving beyond Christian binary (demons vs. angels) to animist complexity

• The difference between malevolent, benevolent, and simply non-human agendas

2. Catherine Austin Fitts & Demonic Capital

• The exact quote about interdimensional intelligences controlling capital

• Why this is being discussed now by credible people

• The problem with oversimplifying complex entities as "Satan"

3. Conscious vs. Unconscious Elite Collaboration

• How much is deliberate ritual worship vs. unconscious possession

• The decline of magical literacy among modern elites

• Why materialist worldviews make people more vulnerable to influence

4. Historical Magic & Modern Mind Control

• Ancient Egyptian spirit relationships as information exchange

• How modern "operations" are rituals without the practitioners knowing it

• Predictive programming as contemporary magic

5. The AI & Slop Demon Problem

• Why "The Architect" and similar AIs aren't sentient but are dangerous

• How AI creates mental conditions ripe for spiritual colonisation

• The difference between AI hosting demons vs. AI making minds available for possession

6. UFOs, Aliens, and Interdimensional Beings

• The reframing of UFO phenomena as spiritual rather than extraterrestrial

• Catherine's invitation to meet "aliens in human bodies"

• Distinguishing between visiting organisms and native invisible ecology

Back on the farm, jetlagged and hustling. I’ve been sitting with this question since I decided not to renew my lease in Asunción.

So today, I want to give you my thoughts.

There's some frosty farm pics over on my Substack.

Enjoy!

Or why our horrible internet is good, actually.

Sick in an AirBnb in Paraguay, I make the case for co-creation still being the best way to exist with our ever-enhorribling media landscape.

• End The Day With Ceremony, Not Distraction.

• Two things to watch or listen to with your lunch (of brains)?

  • Gordon on THC.
  • Kelly Brogan on THC.

Dan Waites joins us to discuss the literal long view, which is to say the things we can see and the frameworks we can find when we widen our perspective out to millennia-long cycles and epochal shifts.

We explore:

• The Kali Yuga and why it may have ended THIS year.

• The Age of Aquarius and how it turns out to be both real and totally fashionable. (You heard me.)

• The long cycles of outer planets and their role in birthing new religions.

• UFO Disclosure, Mayan Apocalypses and the 'true' astrology of Atlantis.

Find Dan at:

• On Youtube.

• At World Astrology Report.

• On Substack.

Note: Before we begin, my six-week Shadow Work Intensive, The Shaman’s Devil, Is Now Live. There are only a few spaces left, so if you think you might be interested, move quickly.

If you know me, you'll know this is a pretty big deal for me.

The one and only Dr Alberto Villoldo joins the show this week. We discuss

• Why you came to earth in the first place.

• What healing is and how to achieve it.

• How the academy and culture's understanding of shamanism has changed in the five decades he has been working in the field.

Dr. Alberto Villoldo is a medical anthropologist, psychologist, and shamanic teacher who has spent decades studying the healing practices of the Amazon and Andean shamans. He founded The Four Winds Society to bring ancient energy medicine into dialogue with modern neuroscience. His work bridges worlds—science and spirit, biology and ceremony—to help people remember who they truly are.

• This is the interview with Andre Duqum I reference at the end.
• The Shaman's Devil.

I spent way too much time trying to shoehorn a Warhammer 40K reference into this episode title, and it devolved into something that would make a Chaos Marine blush. So we're keeping it professional (kinda) and diving straight into the space weather for 2025's back 9.

Watch along on YouTube here, if you like. This is what we cover.

Space Baby Update & Good Enough Goals
Austin's 30-pound toddler is harder to carry than heavy deadlifts, and "good enough" is our 2025 achievement mindset

Failed 40K References & First Half Lookback
From the eternal Mars season to the Carnival of Chaos that delivered perfect tariff confusion

Iran & Playing for All the Marbles
Why this could mark the start of World War III and how it connects to the Jupiter-Saturn square

Uranus Enters Gemini: The Pilot Episode
The seven-year transit that historically reshapes America, plus the flying wedge formation of outer planets

The Bow and Arrow Configuration
Peak craziness in August with Mars-Saturn tension creating a cosmic weapon aimed at change

The Pause That Does Not Refresh
September's retreat into swampy Pisces energy—like WWI trenches where your feet rot in gross water

Pisces-Virgo Eclipse Season
The tail of the dragon's Buddhist letting go vs. the head's overwhelming hunger for the dream

Neptune in Aries & Individual Glory
From woke-era uniformity to the pursuit of personalised excellence and looking combat-ready

Jupiter in Cancer Magic
Learning what you really need and how to ask the divine for surgical beneficence

Personal Updates & H2 Plans
Austin's book progress, Gordon's Peru trip for the Festival of the Sun, and preparing for a louder 2026

I've been revisiting Ursula K. Le Guin's brilliant essay "The Child and the Shadow". Le Guin was defending fantasy against the sterile modernism of her era—but what happens when that defence needs to evolve? We're no longer fighting a battle between "good" and "bad" fantasy. Instead, we're caught in something potentially more insidious: the tension between authentic imagination and the ersatz.

From the disaster of Rings of Power to the destruction of Star Wars, from AI-generated Jung content flooding YouTube to the Soviet-style creative orthodoxy dominating our cultural institutions—we're witnessing the systematic neutering of the imaginal. But here's the thing: they can't actually touch the real. They break upon authentic creativity like waves upon rock.

Through Le Guin's profound analysis of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Shadow" and Jung's psychology, I explore why confronting our shadow isn't just personal development—it's the key to understanding why authentic fantasy endures while corporate imitations crumble. Plus, I reveal how Bulgakov got there first in The Master and Margarita, showing us exactly what happens when the vital imaginal meets bureaucratic control.

This isn't just about books or movies. It's about the difference between surface-level engagement and the depths where real creativity lives.

Chapter Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening: The Shift from Good vs. Bad to Ersatz vs. Genuine
3:45 - Le Guin's Defence of Fantasy in the Modern Era
8:20 - The Rings of Power Problem: When Creators Think They're Fans
12:15 - AI Jung Slop and the Corruption of the Imaginal
16:30 - Bulgakov's Prophecy: The Master and Margarita's Cultural Critique
22:10 - Reading "The Child and the Shadow": Andersen's Dark Fairy Tale
28:45 - Jung's Psychology: Ego, Shadow, and the Collective Unconscious
35:20 - The Ethics of Fairy Tales: Why Gretel Can Push the Witch
42:15 - Tolkien's True Complexity: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum as Psychic Journey
48:30 - Why Fantasy is the Language of Moral Truth
52:40 - The Problem with "Realistic" Children's Literature
57:25 - Luke in the Cave: Star Wars as Genuine Imaginal Work
60:10 - Closing Thoughts and Shadow Project Tease