Italian peddlers of pricey occult courses and conferences, LaSocietà dello Zolfo (LSDZ) , are pushing an esoteric event titled L’Alba d’Occidente (“The Dawn of the West”) that gives a mystical makeover to one of Italy’s most toxic historical figures. The target of the incense-and-symbolism treatment is Gabriele d’Annunzio , a protofascist icon whose ideas and methods fed directly into Mussolini’s bloodstained regime. La Società dello Zolfo has spent years building international credibility by surrounding itself with well-known Italian and English-speaking occult figures. Names such as David Rankine, Stephen Skinner, and Christopher Warnock regularly appear in connection with the society’s activities, events, courses and social orbit. Their presence at other LSDZ gatherings gives the group street credibility and an aura of legitimacy. That international sheen now buffers an event that strips d’Annunzio of his political reality and repackages him as a poet, a Mason, a Martinist, and ...

A north London woman who posed as a faith healer to con victims out of £1m (€1.17m) to fund her extravagant lifestyle has been jailed for 10 years. Juliette D’Souza posed as a shaman for more than 12 years, tricking 11 people, telling them the money would be used as a spiritual offering to cure health problems, including terminal illnesses and infertility. The 59-year-old from Hampstead insisted the cash was a “sacrifice” and that it would be hung in the Amazon rainforest. She claimed two other shamans would perform rituals around the money before it was sent back, and their problems would be resolved. Instead, the cash went on designer handbags, luxury holidays and antique furniture. Many of D’Souza’s victims were financially ruined, with one man left “as poor as a church mouse”, the court heard. D’Souza also “remorselessly extracted” more than £200,000 (€234,000) from an elderly woman over several years. On Thursday, she was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court of 23 counts of obtain...

Christian Poeschke A blistering report from the Vienna International Sceptics’ Association has shone a harsh light on a booming esoteric racket where energy coaches claim they can rinse away the spiritual residue of previous foreign partners from a woman’s DNA for 150 euros. Dubbed Telegonie-Löschung, the method is a soft marketing label for a long-dead race theory hauled out of the nineteenth century and polished until it looks like wellness. The report wastes no time linking this fantasy to its ideological ancestors. It states that telegony is connected to racial hygiene and to the volkisch ethnonationalist worldviews of the nineteenth century. The same document then explains that the idea later entered directly into National Socialist ideology. So this is not just fringe and heritage pseudoscience with a history of doing real damage. Berlin’s Telegonie-Löschung Basencoach Christian Poeschke [ pictured ], who flogs the whole thing as a spiritual detox for modern women. His pi...

 Maxine Saunders defends Christian Day again The witch world has turned in on itself again, and Maxine Sanders, Queen of the Witches, has had quite enough of it.  Speaking about the endless squabbling that has gripped parts of the craft community, Saunders tore into those she sees as petty, power-hungry busybodies. “Say to those people who are distracted from the work by lots of infighting and bickering. Oh, have I got opinions on that now,” she said, clearly exasperated.  “There’s so much viciousness in the craft, judgmental nastiness. They forget themselves. Somebody picks on someone who’s been a bad boy, and then others pile in instead of just asking, ‘Are you bad?’” Sanders went on to describe the craft’s current state as “vicious,” filled with self-appointed judges who “have no power in their own circle and nothing better to do.” She insisted that the backbiting should stop, calling it “unnecessary” and “nobody’s business.” The Queen of the Witches then turned he...

Evangelicals forgot how badly witch hate worked for them in Salam last time The Pagan Solidarity Alliance has torched Salem law enforcement for sitting on their hands. At the same time, a pack of Bible-thumping zealots went on a three-day crusade against witches, spiritual shops and ancestral altars. Things kicked off on 26 October when the evangelical mob stormed the Psychic Fair and Witches’ Market, screaming abuse like it was a Sunday hobby. Not content with that, they marched into a local witchcraft shop the next day, vandalised private property and smeared some oily muck on an ancestral altar. Then on 29 October, the fanatics expanded their little hate tour, targeting more businesses and sacred sites. They blocked doors, lobbed fluids about, and shouted every slur in their hymn book at shop owners and passersby. Local police, apparently on a three-day tea break, handed out nothing but warnings. Not a single arrest. Not a single charge. The Pagan Solidarity Alliance rightly poi...

A self-styled “Archon Basilius” of the Canadian-based Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Martin Thibeault , has been showing off to his Facebook followers with what look like front-cover triumphs on the world’s most prominent business magazines. There’s just one tiny hiccup: the "covers" are adverts. Thibeault proudly posted an image of himself on the cover of Forbes Australia , calling it “by far my greatest accomplishment.” Which is quite a statement from a man who “crossed the abyss” in his magical order. A quick look at his personal website reveals 14 magazine covers allegedly featuring him as one of the “top disruptors of the blockchain industry.” It all looks glossy, billionaire, and “please believe I’m a super entrepreneur.” So, we dug further. The articles attached to those flashy covers all tell the same heartwarming tale: Thibeault used to be a shy carpenter (yes, like Jesus), failed twice in brick-and-mortar businesses, but somehow still became the masterm...

Bartolo Longo takes a more necromantic role The Vatican has officially declared Bartolo Longo a saint, recognising a man who once immersed himself in spiritualism and occult rituals before becoming a pillar of Catholic charity and devotion.  Pope Leo XIV canonised Longo during a ceremony in St Peter’s Square witnessed by 70,000 onlookers, many drawn by the astonishing trajectory of the former law student turned religious icon. Longo was born in 1841 in the town of Latiano in southern Italy. Raised in a Catholic household, his life took a sharp turn when he enrolled at the University of Naples in the 1860s. At that time, spiritualism and anti-clericalism were hot across Europe, and Longo found himself swept up in the intellectual and occult trends of the time.  He participated in séances, spiritist circles, and ritualistic practices that the Church later labelled. He even claimed to have been "ordained" in one of these groups, though it is unlikely that it was a formal Satan...