Oct 9, 2026 · 36 min · 19 segments
When did the occult become ordinary—and why are so many people embracing it? Jac Marino Chen joins Discerning Our Days to examine how New Age spirituality and occult practices are becoming culturally…
Jac Marino ChenGuestMark HenryHost
Josh SchwartzHost
I was sexually abused as a child, and unrelatedly, my dad was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
I turned to self-harm, eating disorders, drug and alcohol addiction, and supernatural experiences to stuff down the memories and escape my pain.
I found the law of attraction, and that really gave me a feeling of power over my life, thinking that I could control my own destiny.
I ended up in abusive relationships where I believed my twin flame taught me New Age beliefs.
I started finding spirituality to be my new high, my new escape, and I ended up in the occult, where I believed I was being led by the entity Thoth to Aleister Crowley.
I began practicing ritual magic and alchemy, and I eventually ended up being initiated into an order called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where I practiced ritual magic in a Freemason lodge.
And it was there that Jesus Christ met me, delivered me, saved me, and gave me the peace I'd been looking for my entire life.
Behold, the old has passed away, the new has come, and I desire to testify of who Jesus Christ truly is and the glorious gospel that set me free from sin and death and has given me everlasting life.
I was sexually abused as a child, and unrelatedly, my dad was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
I turned to self-harm, eating disorders, drug and alcohol addiction, and supernatural experiences to stuff down the memories and escape my pain.
I found the law of attraction, and that really gave me a feeling of power over my life, thinking that I could control my own destiny.
I ended up in abusive relationships where I believed my twin flame taught me New Age beliefs.
I started finding spirituality to be my new high, my new escape, and I ended up in the occult, where I believed I was being led by the entity Thoth to Aleister Crowley.
I began practicing ritual magic and alchemy, and I eventually ended up being initiated into an order called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where I practiced ritual magic in a Freemason lodge.
And it was there that Jesus Christ met me, delivered me, saved me, and gave me the peace I'd been looking for my entire life.
Behold, the old has passed away, the new has come, and I desire to testify of who Jesus Christ truly is and the glorious gospel that set me free from sin and death and has given me everlasting life.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
