AD 251 | Mitch Horowitz

Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality and one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult. He is the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America, One Simple Idea, The Miracle Club, Daydream Believer, Uncertain Places, and the forthcoming Modern Occultism. Mitch hosted, co-wrote, and produced a feature documentary about the occult classic The Kybalion directed by Emmy-nominee Ronni Thomas and shot on location in Egypt. The movie premiered as the #3 documentary on iTunes. Mitch plays a newscaster in the forthcoming Paramount feature thriller My Animal directed by Jacqueline Castel, an official selection of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Mitch’s books have been translated into French, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Portuguese. His work is censored in China.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Mitch’s currently unreleased book, “Modern Occultism” (00:04:33) Mitch’s concept, “The Ten Day Miracle Challenge” (00:07:00) Having an obsessive intellect (00:09:53) Nurturing one’s intrinsic nature (00:11:19) Positive lessons Mitch learned while working in publishing (00:13:41) Learning from suffering (00:17:17) Emotions informing memories (00:20:31) Anton Lavey’s teachings (00:24:03) Truth comes in the form of a lie - G. I. Gurdjieff (00:26:34) Finding one’s personal truth (00:31:49) The films of Ruben Östlund (00:35:19) “The Wish Machine” in Andrei Tarkovsky‘s film Stalker (00:38:39) The effects of technological information overload and Anton Lavey’s “The Augmentive Principle” (00:42:32) Fear and a wish being one and the same (00:47:27) Building character through difficult situations (00:54:23) Mitch’s fascination with the work of G. I. Gurdjieff (00:57:09) Separating the art from the artist (00:59:42) Limiting judgments against others (01:06:38)

Books Referenced:

Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel) Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) The Third Mind (Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs)

Films / TV Shows Referenced:

The Square Force Majore Stalker Anti-Christ The Last Ship The Last of Us Alone

People Mentioned:

Jacqueline Castel Carlos Castaneda Jack Parsons Brion Gysin William S. Burroughs G. I. Gurdjieff Vernon Howard Ruben Östlund Andrei Tarkovsky Anton Lavey Emily St. John Mandel Ralph Waldo Emerson Napolean Hill Grant Morrison Alan Moore

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