Modern Occultist News

 ON THIS DAY IN OCCULT HISTORY January 24 “ Sementivae: Rome’s Festival of Sowing and the Blessing of the Earth” (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.)   In the deep stillness of late January, when winter’s breath still held sway over field and furrow, the ancient Romans paused in their quiet season of preparation to honor the unseen forces that nourish life itself. On this day—and the days around it—they celebrated Sementivae , the feriae conceptivae or movable feast of sowing, dedicated to Tellus (Mother Earth) and Ceres , the goddess of grain and agricultural fertility.  Unlike many later holidays fixed by calendars and clocks, Sementivae followed the rhythms of nature. The date—most commonly January 24–26—were determined each year by priests and magistrates, based on the signs of the season and the readiness of the soil. It was a festival borne not of convenien...

  MODERN OCCULTIST Publisher Nominated for Edgar Award   (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.)   MODERN OCCULTIST is honored to announce that the latest book by co-founder and co-publisher, C.M. Kushins— Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard — has been selected Notable Book for 2026 by the State of Michigan and has been nominated for this year’s Mystery Writers of America “Edgar Award” for Best Critical/Biographical work . Drawing on unprecedented archival and family access,  Cooler Than Cool: The Life of Elmore Leonard , is the first comprehensive biography of the master American crime writer, author of witty, gritty bestsellers like  Get Shorty  and  Raylan . [In it] C. M. Kushins tells Leonard’s full life story against recurring themes and evolving storytelling methods of his work, drawing on interviews with primary...

 ON THIS DAY IN OCCULT HISTORY January 23 “Hathor: Egyptian Queen of the Sacred Feminine” (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.) On this day, midway through the deep quiet of January, we turn our gaze to the ancient world of the Nile—to a goddess whose essence transcended both heaven and earth. Hathor, one of the most beloved deities of ancient Egypt, embodied joy, femininity, fertility, music, dance, and the ever‑mysterious alchemy of life and death. She was mother and lover, healer and reveler, protector and cosmic dancer—a deity who invited her followers to celebrate existence in all its tumultuous beauty.  Though the exact timing of her historic festivals changed with shifting calendars and dynasties, Egyptologists agree that mid‑winter and the months surrounding it were times when Hathor’s presence loomed largest in temple rites and communal festivities. In the later E...

 ON THIS DAY IN OCCULT HISTORY January 22 “The Trial of Arthur Tooth” (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.) On January 22, 1877, one of the most remarkable confrontations between church, state, and conscience in Victorian England reached its boiling point. The Reverend Arthur Tooth , a ritualist priest of the Church of England, was arrested and imprisoned not for heresy, but for refusing to abandon sacred ritual—making him, in the eyes of many, a modern religious martyr. Born on June 17, 1839, at Swifts Park near Cranbrook in Kent, Tooth was educated in science at Cambridge before answering a deeper calling: the priesthood. After ordination, he eventually became vicar of St. James’s, Hatcham, a working‑class parish in southeast London. There, he introduced forms of worship inspired by the Anglo‑Catholic movement—an expression of spiritual life steeped in ritual, sacrament, and ...

 ON THIS DAY IN OCCULT HISTORY January 21 “The Birth of Grigori Rasputin, the Mad Monk" (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.) On this day in 1869, in a remote Siberian village cloaked in frost and firelight, a child was born who would later walk among emperors and whisper to the dying heir of an empire. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin—one of the most mystifying and polarizing figures in the history of the occult—entered the world not with a roar, but with the slow burn of myth catching flame. Rasputin’s early life, shrouded in equal parts legend and mud, began in Pokrovskoye, a small village along the Tura River. Illiterate for most of his youth, he worked the land and roamed the countryside, reportedly marked from an early age by visions and an otherworldly sensitivity. Local legend has it that he could read souls—a claim as difficult to prove as it is to dismiss. Like many mystics o...

  ON THIS DAY IN OCCULT HISTORY January 20 "Ozzy Osbourne and the Bat of Babylon" (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.) On January 20, 1982, during a live performance in Des Moines, Iowa, the late, great Ozzy Osbourne—already infamous as the crown prince of heavy metal—sank his teeth into what he thought was a rubber bat tossed onstage. But it was real. This surreal act became a watershed moment in rock history, mythologized in equal parts horror and hilarity. But beneath the tabloid spectacle lies something curiously occult. Why did this single, grotesque moment lodge so deeply in the cultural imagination? Why does the bat bite endure? The Bite Heard ’Round the Underworld Ozzy’s musical legacy began with Black Sabbath, a band that, even in its name, announced a flirtation with esoteric forces. Their music evoked forbidden books, apocalyptic dreams, planetary devils. And while cr...

The  Modern  Occultist  Interview  #3                       Dr. Angela Puca (Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this blog may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. Every bit helps keep the lantern lit.) As part of our inaugural issue,  Modern Occultist  is honored to welcome three guest contributors into our Circle. Over next few weeks, readers will find exclusive and unexpurgated editions of our candid and illuminating interviews with these esteemed figures. Third in our unedited interview series is featured guest contributor  Dr. Angela Puca —an author and lecturer who has taught at several universities around the world and is currently based at Leeds Trinity University. In 2021, The University of Leeds awarded her a PhD in Religious Studies on  Italian Witchcraft and Shamanism , later published by Brill. As the author of several peer-reviewed...