Jun 14, 2022

International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) EVENT: The Occult in Cults: Toward a Better Understanding

The Occult in Cults: Toward a Better Understanding
International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) EVENT: The Occult in Cults: Toward a Better Understanding
June 26, 2022, 3:00 PM - 3:50 PM, Track 3

Hidden knowledge, ancient wisdom revealed, mystical power, and secrecy all attend what we call the occulture that undergirds most religious movements, new and old. The speaker will reference the work of James C. N. Webb (1946-1980), a remarkable, young Scottish historian and biographer. whose concentrated on the history and effects of the occult in religion, politics, and personal growth. Human curiosity about things hidden from our senses and awareness has led our species to create plausibility narratives as disparate as astrology and astronomy to help us make sense of the world and ourselves. Harmful cults often bait recruits with the potential to realize and learn how to use occult powers.

Joseph Szimhart began research into cultic influence in 1980 after ending his two-year devotion to a large New Age sect. As a cult interventionist since the early 1980s, he has assisted in over five-hundred interventions in America and abroad. He was chairman of an interdenominational, cult information organization in New Mexico for seven years. Since 1998, he has worked as a mental health professional at a psychiatric emergency hospital. He maintains a cult informational website, lectures, consults for the media, and has published articles, book reviews, and papers related to the cult problem. His novel, Mushroom Satori: The Cult Diary, was released in 2013. His memoir of how he became a cult interventionist, Santa Fe, Bill Tate, and me, appeared in 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from International Cultic Studies Assoc. in 2016. He graduated from the University of Dayton and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He maintains an art career in his private studio.

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