Founded in the 1960s, Brazil’s Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) is a new religious movement whose doctrine combines elements of Theosophy, Spiritualism, various Afro-Brazilian traditions and UFO theology.
The dramatic three-season Hulu series The Path follows the lives of Eddie and Sarah Lane (Aaron Paul and Michelle Monaghan), senior members of a new religious movement known as the Meyerists. Meyerism itself is a fascinating study in invented religion, combining elements of 1960s/’70s American countercultural spirituality with Peruvian shamanism, Scientology, Christian mysticism and Utopianism … Read moreHulu’s “The Path” and the cult/religion/movement of Meyerism
The Satanic Temple is a science-positive, socially progressive religion in Halloween regalia. Penny Lane’s 2019 documentary Hail Satan? is an illuminating – “Lucifer” being the Light Bringer, after all – and well-produced documentary on a fast-growing but still widely misunderstood religious movement. Far from being the embodiment of all evil, the Satanic Temple is revealed … Read more“Hail Satan?” (documentary trailer, 2019)
An impressionistic ’70s-vintage documentary on the art of Betye Saar, whose assemblage shadow boxes, mixed-media sculptures and altars frequently evoke a kind of syncretic Black mysticism.
Originally published in England in 1926, The Gates of Horn is a mock-epistolary anthology of poems and faery stories by Bernard Sleigh (1872-1954). A talented artist in several media, Sleigh is best known today as the creator of An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth (1917); a scan of the entire Mappe … Read more“The Gates of Horn: Being Sundry Records From the Proceedings of the Society for the Investigation of Faery Fact and Fallacy”
Author and countercultural religious studies scholar Erik Davis speaks on one of his pet topics, the occult revivals of the 1970s. See Techgnosis.com for much more of his work, including the always interesting, often fascinating Expanding Mind podcast.