Black Hoodie Alchemy

For this episode of Black Hoodie Alchemy, I'm finally covering a topic I have teased here and there since the beginning of the whole show-run! At last, I am covering the sprawling, Charlie-Kelly-in-the-mailroom-style conspiracy theory that suggests that David Berkowitz did not act alone in the Son of Sam Murders of NYC.
But make no mistake, this frenzied mailroom vibe comes not from the incredulity of the research, but from the sheer state of mind that tackling all of this topic's many threads will put you into! And let's not forget the fact that Berkowitz was working in a...

Welcome back, folks! This week I'm doing an episode that I feel like I probably should've done a long time ago -- but everything comes in due time, and here it finally is! Two and a half hours hashing out outers-space through the lens of philosophy, alchemy, and metaphysics.
Diving into topics like the symbolism of outer-space from ancient to modern day; the possibilities and pros/cons of colonizing other planets; whether or not human survival for any deep length of time in space is possible; the history of Operation Paperclip and Warner Von Braun and the extremely dark...

Welcome back -- at long last! Ending another unexpected break, I bring you an unexpected episode just in time for a 4/20-Easter combo, and this should mark the beginning of regular weekly or (at least) bi-weekly episode releases. I've had a lot going in my life recently, most of which has been very trying. It's brought about a lot of change, mostly for the better in the long run, but not before manifesting as horrific chronic pain for a couple months. More updates in the episode!
But as for the central focus at hand, I take some time to...

Welcome back, folks! This time around on Black Hoodie Alchemy, after another small delay, is the investigation of the phenomenon known as Rainbow Body. I’m also joined once again by my friend and cohort, Justin Otto of⁠Dharma Junkie Podcast⁠ and⁠Gulf Coast Dharma⁠, who served as a great help not only in fleshing out the philosophies of Buddhism, but also helping me pronounce some of the terms!
Mostly found in Tibetan Buddhism, but with strong components also found in Hinduism and the lesser known traditions of Bonism and Jainism, Rainbow Body is an occurrence that is said to happen...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy, folks! When it comes to the soul and modern science, a question often overlooked is: how could something help ensure our genetic survival after death? Well, we've got some considerations for you!
It's been almost long enough since the last episode to count as another mini-hiatus unfortunately, but hey cut me some slack. With the start of January, I had a weeklong trip in Georgia to see family and ended up nearly dying in the Emergency Room from a septic colon-response that emerged from norovirus. I'm all good now! But it mostly ruined...

Welcome to the final Black Hoodie Alchemy episode of 2024 -- and we're all back in action! I'm joined by both my cohorts, Seedperson1 and Chris Fiato, and this time around we're getting deep into the analysis of the winter season itself.
Starting with the crucial role that cold temperatures play in studying chemistry, we move into the psychology of prolonged cold and darkness in the winter, considering what it does to the mind and body in a variety of different ways and bringing that with us into a symbolic analysis full of Jungian sentiment.
Considering the diurnal nature...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy! This week we're blowing the dust off of an episode recorded in early October. Unfortunately, it was temporarily shelved when I got blindsided by 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week for over a month! If you'd like to hear all about that, just give last week's episode a listen. That in mind, I'm now happy to report that I'm rested, back in a normal routine and ready to hit the ground running with more BHA.
This episode, my cohort Chris Fiato and I get into another sprawling, bat-shit crazy and fascinating subject! My research...

THE WAIT IS OVER! Black Hoodie Alchemy is back in action, baby!
This episode might not be the greatest start for new listeners, just as a heads up, but hey if you're new and already here then give it a shot anyway! You'll certainly get to know me better for your dive into the increasingly large back-catalogue of episodes.
To start with (especially since I've been settling back into my regular life lately ) I present you this episode as a bit of a kick-back and catch-up session. No heavy research, I'm just going to fill you in on...

For this episode on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we're celebrating the fall and Halloween aesthetic a bit more with our historical overview of the vampire!
As Carl Jung often said: whether or not God exists, the image of God certainly exists, and has propelled humanity thought throughout history in ways both enlightening and catastrophic. Certainly, one could say this to varying degrees about all symbolic aspects of the psyche, especially the particularly old and familiar ones -- and certainly, this mentality has a lot to do with Jung's overall viewpoint. All that in mind, we apply that the notion of...

This episode of Black Hoodie Alchemy is a seriously wild ride! The un-canonized Latin American 'Saint of Death' aka 'Santa Muerte' is essentially the Grim Reaper or Angel of Death moved to the forefront of Catholic folk magick. Along with other folkloric figures like Jesus Malverde, Santa Muerte is considered a "Narco Saint" and is a spiritual figure that not only helps us process and contextualize the death around us in digestible ways, but they as well will never turn a blind eye to the criminal's plight.
The Narco Saint is not one that judges -- it is one...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we're getting deep into the history, practice and application of Voodoo! Firstly, what's the difference between Voodoo, Vodou, Vodun, and Hoodoo aside from the spelling? We'll explain that and all the other African Diasporic Religions associated (like Santeria and Palo Mayombe) all the way up to traditions in good ol' New Orleans, Louisiana!
We also take the time to discuss in some detail the historical events and characters surrounding Voodoo, like the successful Haitian Revolution against Napoleonic France, and prominent New Orleans characters like Queen Marie Laveau and Dr. John Bayou.
As...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy we’re celebrating for our hundredth episode! But aside from some sincere thank yous and some extra music, this is mostly another research driven episode that you've come to expect -- and it's one that we're very excited to get into for this hundredth go-round. For a little more celebration and absurdist humor, don't forget to check out last episode, 99.999!
For this episode, we're getting into the plant known as datura stramonium AKA jimson weed AKA devil's trumpets AKA hell's bells (among many other names) and the strange and vast comparative religious history th...

Thanks for tuning in! This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we're taking a break from the intense rabbit holes of research involving extra-sensory perception, parapsychology, outlier physics and so much more. That's right, this week you're getting another surrealist comedic break from reality with the return of Jeff Mamba - Mind Jockey (AKA Steve Buschemi AKA Jefferson Tillamookslinger AKA Shnelius Maximus)!
Being a self proclaimed 'classy movie critic', Jeff sits down with returning-guest Justin Otto to give an in-depth, metaphysically minded movie review of the cult-classic movie ⁠DONNIE DARKO⁠ (the director's cut, to be exact.) We here at Black Hood...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, Seedperson1 and Chris are helping me wrap up our multi-episode deep dive about the modern scientific research done on extra-sensory perception in general. Over the last month, we've talked about Jung and synchronicity, chaos magick, quantum and chaos theory, JB Rhine and Duke University's decades of study into ESP, and the CIA's Project Stargate, which involved the heavy funding of the Stanford Research Institute (associated with the college) and The Monroe Institute. And, as you can probably imagine at this point, Project Stargate involved the CIA's Cold-War interest in astral projection, remote viewing, and...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, Chris Fiato and Seedperson1 join me once again to help build off the recent conversations we've had about the connected web of: synchronicity, Hermeticism, psychology, physics, and even things like clairvoyance, remote viewing, ESP in general, and astral projection.
After discussing JB Rhine and his ESP research at Duke University, we are now diving headfirst into the waters of the CIA's research into remote viewing, astral projection, and all forms of extra sensory perception. We talk about Robert Monroe, the Monroe Institute, and the CIA's interest in what he dubbed "The Gateway Experience,"...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy! This week, to help supplement what we've been talking about on this show lately, I share with you my most recent appearance on the 'Juan on Juan' podcast (and one of the few guest spots I've had the time to do this year). If you didn't hear my first chat with Juan, you can check that out right here too!
I share with Juan some of my favorite research as of late, talking to him more about heuristic comparative religion, evolutionary psychology, dreams, trance states, and the pineal gland; as well as The...

This show description will be updated here soon. In the meantime -- listen to this episode anyway, champ.
This week's featured music is from the homies Ronnie Pontiac and his wife Tamra Lucid! Night Prowler - Lucid NationLas Vegas - Lucid NationCoyote - Lucid NationLA River - Lucid Nation --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blackhoodiealchemy/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blackhoodiealchemy/support

This episode description will be udpated very soon! In the meantime, you should still check out this episode, champ. This week's featured music from the cohort Chris Fiato and more! Glory Hole - Odd Combo Song of the Siren (John Fusciente Cover) - Odd Combo I Am (feat. Reef the Lost Cauze) - Babylon Warchild Walk Wit the Word - KDB --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blackhoodiealchemy/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blackhoodiealchemy/support

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, Seedperson1 joins me with a book recommendation. Many years ago, he read a book that really opened his eyes to the practicality of magickal philosophy and metaphysics, a book that got him looking further and asking more questions. This work was Synchronicity: The Art Coincidence, Choice & Unlocking Your Mind by Dr. Kirby Surprise.
Using this book as an opportunity to look further at CG Jung's research and philosophy of the "synchronicity experience", we also find ample opportunity to discuss chaos theory and the magickal philosophies related to it, and really probe the idea...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we are taking a break from the dark character studies and metaphysical deep-dives to catch up with our old friend, Tippy Patson -- the redneck mystic extraordinaire who is NOT me with a modulated voice! Unfortunately (like usual when it comes to Tippy) I was unable to make it to this recording, but thankfully Joe Rupe was able to fill in for me! The twist here is that Joe was a bit tired of trying to put up with Tippy's bizarre and surrealist philosophies, so in order to stomach it, he brought Tippy onto...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we're doing another deep-dive character study as I tell Seedperson1 and Chris all about one of the wildest serial killers I've ever heard of: Carl Panzram. Imagine if Henry David Thoreau kept some of artistic spark, love of philosophy, and awe of nature -- yet also assaulted thousands of people and murdered over 20, some of them even being children.
Immersed in hobo train-hopping culture in the early 20th century, Panzram was known to commit acts like church burnings, murder-and-pillage sprees on stolen yachts, successful prison-breaks, and a ton of robberies that even included...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we are going for the jugular and making this a chat with a heavy LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED warning, trigger warning, and all that fun stuff. The full descriptions of gore will be left out of our discussion here, but the fact of the matter is that these stories in and of themselves are so gory, terrifying, and true that even talking about them at any length requires a legitimate WARNING.
And with that out of the way, my cohort Chris Fiato joins me with a strong existential, alchemical perspective as we dive into...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we have a very information-dense topic! Lots of notes, lots of twists and turns, tragedy and comedy, philosophy and practicality, and a combination of essentially every topic that this show tends to cover. It's wilderness adventure-time!
I'm joined once again by my cohorts Seedperson1 and Chris Fiato, and I share with them ten stories of men who experience what I can only describe as "wanderlust syndrome", which is throwing away all of their worldly possessions to hit the open expanse -- whether it be the Alaskan wilderness, the desert, the mountains, the beach...

Welcome back, folks! This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we have the final installment of the post-patreon infusion to the main feed. Yes, the patreon was a thing we tried for a couple months, but decided to conserve our energy and momentum for one feed for the time being.
I'm joined once again by my cohorts, Seedperson1 and Chris Fiato, as we continue to unpack the concepts revolving around what we are calling 'Existential Alchemy in Practice.' We've discussed surreal and unexplainable memories from childhood, the strange modern-day concept of "lost media" and how this relates to surreal...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we're releasing the third of four episodes from the now-defunct Patreon feed! Patreon will be back eventually, but no dates are set right now and I've decided that, for now, I do not want to split my time and attention up so much when it comes to my show.
So this episode comprises the third installment of Chris, Seedperson and I analyzing "Existential Alchemy in Practice" by sifting through the unexplainable, surreal, and highly symbolic aspects of our lives.
This week we build off our investigation of surreal, dream-like childhood memories...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy, folks! This week is another chat I had with my good friend and fellow alchemist, Seedperson1. It's also a chat that was recorded in February of this year, and was originally put into the now-defunct Black Hoodie Alchemy patreon feed. (Candidly, we'll likely do a patreon again at some point, but it ended up being a greater strain on my schedule than I thought it would be, and there was not a huge amount of listener interest in it for now anyway.)
In this conversation, we build off of our last chat in...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy, folks! This week is all things Sasquatch -- not only do we analyze some of the folklore and typical content in the sightings, but I also am pleasantly surprised to report to you all that I have my own Sasquatch story to share with you! It happened over the weekend of April 2024's Solar Eclipse, it was auditory with several people around, and it happened multiple times. Oh yeah and there was a Sasquatch hunting board-game involved! But you'll have to listen in to learn more.
From a hairy hominid, to mystical gatekeeper...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we have a podcast-swaparoo with my homie Joe Rupe, host of Lighting the Void, and we're both celebrating the fresh release of my audiobook Dive Manual: Empirical Investigations of Mysticism. With the paperback released in 2020, Joe has lended his narration and editing talents to help me bring this book into audio form, and since he took the time to read the entire thing -- including all the outtakes and re-reads -- he now has quite a bit to say about it all.
I admittedly have a hard time explaining this book briefly, but...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we have another special guest: the wonderful, talented and laid-back Ronnie Pontiac. Ronnie is the author of books like 'American Metaphysical Religion: Esoteric and Mystical Traditions of the New World', he's part of the punk rock duo Lucid Nation with his wife Tamra Lucid, and he also just so happened to work as the great Manly P. Hall's research assistant and substitute lecturer for the last seven years of Hall's life.
For the first half of the show, we talk about the legacy of Manly Hall as seen and experienced by Ronnie and...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy, folks! This week is coming in from the Black Hoodie Alchemy patreon feed, which I have decided to roll into the main feed of the regular show. Given the inconsistency of my own schedule, not wanting to split my show feeds apart, and the fact that patreon listenership can be a long game sometimes -- I am consolidating things just a bit!
With my cohort, friend, BHA listener and fellow alchemist, Seedperson1, this week we dive into the deeper aspects of alchemy in everyday life to include unraveling the idea that so many...

This week, I share with you my most recent guest appearance on my longtime friend Joe Rupe's show, Lighting the Void.
By telling the traditional story of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (which is far more alchemical and esoteric than the Universal rendition), the heartbreaking and triumphant story of Joseph 'Elephant Man' Merrick, and discussing some of Viktor Frankl's survival of the Auschwitz concentration camp (and development of logotherapy), we try to understand the struggles in our own personal lives a bit more. Relativizing one's own suffering can be problematic, surely, and should be done with caution -- but looking into...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, our outlaw wizard friend Keats Ross returns from his last appearance on the show to talk about his latest work: Divergent Magick - An Anarchic Grimoire, which is far less destructive than it sounds. Or, perhaps a better way to put it is: it is destruction with strong alchemical purpose. But beyond that, the true nature of the anarchy and divergence here lies in the difference between orthodoxy and heterodoxy; the tried-and-true versus the path less traveled. With study, practice, and structure, so much of Keats' work is centered around flipping his study on...

Welcome black to Black Hoodie Alchemy! This week I'm joined by yet another special guest, researcher and longtime show-host, Jess Rogge of 'Escape the Simulation'. In her time involved with broadcast and internet streaming, Jess has talked all sorts of people -- from Tommy Chong to David Icke and so many more in between -- and her wealth of experience helps me navigate modern conspiracy theory lore in our chat.
Jess is a researcher that is willing to look into just about anything with a healthy mindset that is equal parts skepticism and open-mindedness, whether it be esoteric knowledge...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, I'm joined by another special guest Leticia Martinez -- an alchemist, journalist, and holistic health counselor that utilizes herbal remedies, massage therapy, and much more in her practice with clients. Not only has she taken her studies seriously throughout the years, she has also put her money where her mouth is being a terminal cancer survivor!
In this episode, we talk about Leticia's come-up into alchemy, her cancer diagnosis and also the path that lead her into a full remission that baffled doctors. With a combination of nearly all the doctor-offered treatments ASIDE...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, I got the chance to be in-studio here in Pensacola, Florida with my two guests and local Floridians: Justin Otto, host of the Dharma Junkie podcast, founder and instructor of Gulf Coast Dharma, childhood cancer survivor, former addict, and current wonderful human being; and Max Komes, licensed yoga instructor, operator of Clarity Wellness Collective, student wrapping up his Masters in Psychology, and also a current wonderful human being!
In this conversation, we peel back the layers of psychology and physical health a bit, discussing the mind-body connection in a way that seeks to...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy I have a double-whammy for you! I'm joined by special guests and fellow writers, Brad Kelly and Kevin Kautzman of the popular biography-philosophy podcast 'Art of Darkness', which focuses on lengthy deep dives into the full lives and dark psychologies of history's greatest artists, whether they be painters, authors, filmmakers, et cetera.
With Brad as a published working fiction author and Kevin as a working playwright and director, armed with their encyclopedic brains about the plights of the artist, we get into more Jung and the shadow complex, the catharsis of art and...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, I'm joined by the wonderful and well-studied Hermeticist, Ashley Ryan AKA Pythian Priestess of tiktok (witchtok to be specific) and her investigative occult podcast, The Occult Unveiled, which you can find on all platforms. While tiktok is not usually on this podcast's radar, it's worth noting a bit since our guest has nearly half a million followers, and she is a refreshing example of a genuine person, putting out authentic content on tiktok (among other places), and it goes to show that you should never judge a book by its social media platform!⁠
As...

This week is a revisit of the topic from BHA #62, but if you've heard that episode before I urge you to stick around for a listen! Not only is the true crime narrative polished and expanded, there is A LOT OF ADDITIONAL RESEARCH THAT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN EPISODE 62.
More research was done into the events and songs that put several big names artists (one way or another) in association with the cult leader Malachi Z York, to include: Jay Z, Nas, Andre 3000, MF DOOM, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Army of the Pharaohs, A Tribe Called Quest, and a...

Welcome back to Black Hoodie Alchemy! This week is another solo episode, and another episode about the Christian author CS Lewis. Last time we brought him up, we went through his work The Problem of Pain and this time we're going to bring up a fictional philosophical book he wrote, something he dedicated to his friend JRR Tolkien, called The Screwtape Letters. This is a fascinating read into the letters of an arch-demon, Screwtape, written to his nephew-demon-apprentice, Wormood -- teaching him how to claim the soul of a European man amidst the onset of World War II. I am...

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, I'm joined by another special guest: Adam Butler -- philosopher, psychonaut, alchemist, and author of the book, Butler's DMT Field Guide.
This book is a dense collection of DMT extraction recipes, the various ways to consume DMT, the best precautions and intentions to shape when trying it -- as well as some of Adam's personal experiences with it, his rigorous study and experimentation, and his overall analysis of the biological and psychological potential. And yes, some of these studies include sexual activity of the tantric variety while under the influence of DMT!
...