What if everything you think you know about Voodoo comes from Hollywood myths and colonial misconceptions?

What is Voodoo really, and how does it differ from Haitian Vodou, West African Vodun, New Orleans Voodoo and Hoodoo?

In this episode of Angela’s Symposium, we explore the fascinating history, theology, cosmology and magical practices of these Afro-Atlantic traditions, drawing on academic research and historical sources.

Discover the mysteries of the lwa, spirit possession, ancestral worship, ritual magic, sacred objects and initiatory practices. We also investigate the legends of Marie Laveau, the origins of zombies and the relationship between Vodou, Hoodoo and Western occultism.

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What happens when art becomes a vehicle for hidden knowledge, spirit communication, and alternative forms of spirituality? In this livestream interview on Angela’s Symposium, I am joined by Dr Nina Kokkinen to explore the fascinating intersections of art, esotericism, occultism, mediumship, and spiritual seekership.

We will discuss how esoteric ideas have shaped modern and contemporary art, why women’s contributions to occult and spiritual art have so often been overlooked, and how concepts such as occulture and seekership can help us understand artists whose religious and spiritual lives crossed conventional boundaries. We will also explore questions of mediumship, clairvoyance, artistic agency, and what happens when museums exhibit works that were originally understood as spiritually active or inspired.

Nina Kokkinen (PhD, 2019) is an art historian, scholar of religion, curator, and award-winning non-fiction author specialising in the intersections of modern and contemporary art with esotericism, occultism, and alternative spiritualities. Her research has contributed to scholarly discussions of concepts including occulture and seekership, while her curatorial work has explored how academic research can be translated into exhibitions and public engagement.

Her exhibitions include Arcana Borealis: Northern Women, Art and Esotericism (2026) at the Finnish National Gallery’s Ateneum Art Museum, and Aleksandra Ionowa: Visions of the Spirit World and Peace (2025) at the Gallen-Kallela Museum. From 2021 to 2024 she served as Editor-in-Chief of TaHiTi: Journal of the Society for Art History in Finland, and she is a member of the Advisory Board of Brill’s Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism. She also serves on the Scientific and Organising Committees of ESSWE 11: Alternative Epistemologies, to be held in Turku in 2027.

Join us for an academically grounded exploration of occult art, women’s esoteric networks, mediumship, spiritual creativity, and the often invisible histories behind some of modern art’s most intriguing works.

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What is Hoodoo, and how does its magic actually work? This episode explores the African American history of Hoodoo, rootwork and conjure, from slavery and resistance to healing, protection, divination and spiritual empowerment.

Discover the meanings behind mojo hands, roots, Psalms, candles, ritual baths, graveyard earth and laid tricks, alongside the regional variations found in the Lowcountry, Mississippi, New Orleans and urban spiritual-supply traditions. We will also separate Hoodoo from Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo, examining how African, Christian, Indigenous and European influences were transformed within a distinctly African American tradition.

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Were the Knights Templar really an occult secret society, or did that story emerge centuries after their destruction?

In this episode, I explore the real history of the Knights Templar and trace how a medieval Christian military order became associated with Baphomet, the Holy Grail, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, the Assassins, Freemasonry and hidden initiatory traditions.

We’ll examine the mysterious accusations made during the Templar trials, what the historical evidence actually says about their alleged secret rituals, and how figures such as Agrippa, Karl von Hund, Hammer-Purgstall and Éliphas Lévi helped transform the Templars into one of the most enduring symbols of Western esotericism.

From medieval Jerusalem to Baphomet, Freemasonry, occult orders and modern conspiracy theories, discover how the Templar myth was created and why it refuses to disappear.

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⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️

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What if the biggest problem with explaining magic is the question we keep asking: “How does it work?”

In this episode, I explore Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy and what happens when we stop imagining reality as a collection of separate objects and instead understand it as a web of events, relations and processes of becoming.

We examine actual occasions, prehension, causal efficacy and the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness”, asking what these concepts might contribute to the philosophy of magic. Along the way, I consider ritual perception, participatory thinking, egregores and spirits, Tanya Luhrmann’s anthropology of presence, Stanley Tambiah’s theory of participation, and the important differences between Whiteheadian process theology and Iamblichus’ theurgy.

Does process philosophy prove that magic works? No. But it may expose some of the hidden metaphysical assumptions that make magic appear impossible before the evidence is even considered.

If you are interested in magic, Western esotericism, occult philosophy, ritual theory and the academic study of religion, this episode offers a rigorous alternative to both pseudo-quantum explanations and simplistic psychological reductionism.

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MY SET-UP 🛠️

- Canon 90D camera 📸 https://amzn.to/3yQclh0

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⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️

Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!

We did it: 500,000 subscribers on Angela’s Symposium! 🎉✨

Join me LIVE on Sunday 13 September at 6:00 pm UK time / 1:00 pm Eastern Time for a special 500K celebration.

Half a million people have now subscribed to a channel dedicated to the academic study of magic, esotericism, Paganism, witchcraft, occultism, shamanism, mysticism, and religion. That is something I could never have imagined when I started Angela’s Symposium, and I want to celebrate this extraordinary milestone with all of you who have made it possible.

This livestream will be a chance to celebrate together, look back at the journey of Angela’s Symposium, talk about what comes next, answer your questions, and simply spend some time together as a community. I may also share a few behind-the-scenes reflections about the project, academic research, upcoming videos, books, courses, and future plans for the Symposium.

Whether you have been here since the earliest days or discovered the channel recently, you are part of this milestone. Thank you for watching, commenting, sharing the videos, joining the discussions, supporting my research, and helping demonstrate that there is a substantial audience for serious, evidence-based scholarship on magic and esotericism.

📅 Sunday 13 September 2026

⏰ 6:00 pm UK / 1:00 pm ET

🔴 LIVE on Angela’s Symposium

Come and celebrate half a million Symposiasts with me! 🖤✨

Angela’s Symposium explores magic, esotericism, Paganism, witchcraft, occultism, shamanism, mysticism and related religious traditions through peer-reviewed academic scholarship and the study of primary sources.

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MY SET-UP 🛠️

- Canon 90D camera 📸 https://amzn.to/3yQclh0

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⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️

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Can we really train ourselves to see the unseen?

From ancient dream divination and medieval grimoires to John Dee’s crystal visions, Golden Dawn scrying, psychedelic imagery, and modern neuroscience, this episode explores the extraordinary history of visions and spiritual sight. We examine how cultures have deliberately cultivated visionary experiences, how practitioners distinguished revelation from illusion, and what contemporary research on perception, mental imagery, expectation, mirror-gazing, and altered states can actually tell us.

Are spirits independently real, products of the mind, inhabitants of an imaginal realm, or something more complex? And if ritual can train us to see, how do we decide whether what appears is trustworthy?

Join me for an academically rigorous exploration of scrying, clairvoyance, mystical visions, altered perception, and the philosophy of magical sight, where history, esotericism, psychology, and neuroscience meet.

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(Check the related slide on screen)

MY SET-UP 🛠️

- Canon 90D camera 📸 https://amzn.to/3yQclh0

- Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 📷 https://amzn.to/3JjU1BS

- Teleprompter 🗒️ https://amzn.to/3linWCB

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- Microphone stand 🎤 https://amzn.to/3FueJOn

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⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️

Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!

s ancient magic really more powerful, or are we mistaking age for effectiveness?In this episode of Angela’s Symposium, we challenge one of the most persistent assumptions in occult and esoteric communities: that older spells, rituals and magical systems must be more authentic, powerful or effective simply because they are ancient.Drawing on the academic study of magic, ritual and Western esotericism, we explore magic as a form of “ritual technology”, examining how traditions evolve through adaptation, experimentation, transmission and innovation. From the Greek Magical Papyri and Solomonic magic to Wicca and chaos magick, we ask what actually makes a ritual powerful, and whether modern magical practices can sometimes be better suited to contemporary practitioners than ancient ones.If you are interested in witchcraft, ceremonial magic, grimoires, occult history, Paganism or the academic study of esotericism, this episode offers a different way of thinking about the relationship between tradition, authenticity and magical efficacy.CONNECT & SUPPORT💖MY COURSES 👩🏻‍🎓 https://drangelapuca.com/coursesWEBSITE 🔗 https://www.drangelapuca.com/BOOK A TUTORING OR A LECTURE 📖https://drangelapuca.com/servicesSUBSTACK ✉️ https://substack.com/@drangelapucaBECOME MY PATRON! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/angelapucaSUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ☕️https://ko-fi.com/drangelapucaONE-OFF DONATIONS 💰 https://paypal.me/angelasymposiumJOIN MEMBERSHIPS 👥 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSbip_LX2AxbGeAQfLp-Ig/joinMY PODCAST 🎙 https://open.spotify.com/show/2TKoWTGe6OKRokHN2zUIxM?si=dd9f50a734b14f86MY MERCH 👕 https://drangelapuca.creator-spring.com/FOLLOW ME👣- YouTube (@drangelapuca)🌟- SUBSTACK 💌 https://substack.com/@drangelapuca- Instagram (@drangelapuca) 📸- TikTok (@drangelapuca) 🎵- Twitter (@angelapuca11) 🐦- Facebook (Dr Angela Puca) 👥