Hitler Used Werewolves, Vampires, and Astrology to Brainwash Germany: despite the tabloid-esque title, this is a sobering article about a forthcoming Yale U Press book on Nazi exploitation of pre-existing supernatural beliefs to further their ideology. To quote the article, “…in times of crisis, supernatural and faith-based thinking masquerading as “scientific” solutions to real problems helps facilitate the worst kind of political and social outcomes.” Indeed.
The Occult Roots of Modernism: Nineteenth century French artist-author-guru Joséphin Péladan is the subject of a new exhibition on the “mystical symbolism” of the artists of his Salon de Rose + Croix. Péladan was part of a wider occult milieu in Belle Epoque Paris that embraced everything from Theosophy to Rosicrucianism to neo-Catharism. If you’re in New York City between now and October 4, you might want to check it out.
Witchcraft and dueling are now legal in Canada: I’m sure they don’t mean together, because combining these could be dangerous…or awesome:
I was astonished we still had witchcraft and dueling on the books, just because I’m old enough to remember a 70s game show called “This is the Law” in which panelists were shown short comedic films in which a weird/obscure/out-of-date Canadian law was broken and then had to guess what the actual law was. Since this show was broadcast nationally by the CBC it led to a lot of legislative weirdness being housecleaned (after everybody managed to stop laughing).
Here’s a link to a clip of the first few minutes of one episode; I forget the name of the actor who always played the cop but the Lawbreaker character is Paul Soles (who was also the voice of Spider-Man in that animated series).
OMG, that is SO 70s! Thanks for sharing!
So 70s indeed. I was gawping at how YOUNG guest panelist Donnelly Rhodes is in this clip … get out your “Da Vinci’s Inquest” DVDs and he’s the gravel-voiced, white-haired cop Leo Shannon in those.