Behind the Bastards – "It Could Happen Here Weekly 207"

Date: November 8, 2025
Host: Garrison Davis
Panelists: Ryan, Elaine, Delta
Produced by: Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts

Overview

This week’s “It Could Happen Here” episode is a thought-provoking deep dive into the 2025 OCCulture Conference in Berlin, focusing on the intersections of occultism, art, tradition, and technology—especially AI. The episode explores how modern digital practices, chaos magic, and traditional occult beliefs coexist and clash, topped off by a lively discussion on what the occult means in today’s sociopolitical landscape.
Later sections feature in-depth reporting on the disturbing realities and history of lethal injection in the U.S., and the contemporary state of American politics, including incisive commentary on the New York mayoral election, class/race dynamics, and the evolving tactics of both left and right-wing organizing.

Key Segments & Insights

1. [03:12–19:07] Recap of the OCCulture Conference: Chaos Magic, AI, and Digital Technomancy

• Chaos Magic & Digital Rituals:
  The conference heavily featured modern chaos magic—highlighting how magicians engage with internet communities, meme magic, and AI-based rituals.

• Techno-Animism & LLM Servitors:
  Practitioners are experimenting with LLMs (large language models, i.e., AI chatbots) as tools for communicating with imagined magical entities (servitors), acting as translators between nonhuman spirits and magicians.

  "They tried to communicate using the LLM as a translator, which I assume would come from specially training a localized LLM with traits that you would associate with your servitor to make that communication match up."
  - Garrison Davis [06:07]

• Superstitions about Technology:
  Animism is reframed for the digital age—computers and even printers are seen as having spirits that need to be appeased (e.g., placing snacks on computers in Taiwan).

• AI Girlfriends and the Waluigi Principle:
  Technical explainer by AI engineer Karen Vallis debunking the mystification of AI, clarifying that LLMs are probability machines, not sentient entities—a useful reality check for occultists.

  "When you're talking to an AI, you're not talking to an entity, you're talking to a probability machine and a multiverse generator."
  - Garrison Davis [12:46]

• AI in Ritual and Performance:
  AI-generated art is used in reimagining ancient rituals—though the limitations of AI image generators (e.g., can't display nudity) are noted as ironically restrictive.

2. [19:07–24:34] The Conference’s Two Main Currents: Chaos Magic vs. Traditional Practices

• Chaos Magic is defined by its flexibility and postmodern roots—"nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
  Traditionalism embraces closed-root practices (Voodoo, Romani magic, British witchcraft), often with stronger religious or communal identities.

• Greek Goetia Panel:
  Dr. Sasha Kaitao’s panel underlines that magic is a living social tradition, not a relic needing reconstruction.

  "So much of ancient magic as it exists to us... is a living practice in community."
  - Ryan [21:00]

3. [24:34–38:16] Why Practice Occultism in 2025? Meaning, Community, and Power

• Motivations Range Widely:
  From cultural inheritance and community to a search for meaning, control, power, or simply “the cool aesthetics.”

• Magic as ‘Manipulation of Meaning’:
  Magic reframed as a tool for redefining personal or cultural associations, often as a method to cope with life’s uncertainties.

  "Magic is the manipulation of meaning. And that can be internally for you... or as a way to affect culture."
  - Garrison Davis [29:00]

• Ritual as Coping Strategy:
  Example of Tom Banger, a magician using rituals to process terminal illness—“magic as the bargaining state of grief.”

• Re-enchanting the World:
  Drawing from Max Weber, the disenchantment of the modern world is countered by occultism’s power to gift new experiences of time, community, and connection.

  "The project of magic is to re-enchant the world. And there's a certain romanticism with that that I'm sympathetic to."
  - Ryan [32:47]

• Community vs. Solitary Practice:
  The tension between collective magical projects (art, performance, public ritual) and individual introspective practices.

4. [38:16–47:56] Magic, Art, and Culture: Creation vs. Preservation

• Art as Occult Practice:
  Occult influences are everywhere in pop culture—from Klimt and Twin Peaks to Harry Potter and The X-Files.
• Tension: Innovation vs. Preservation:
  Some occultists want to “keep the flame alive” for traditional practices; others push for synthesis and new cultural forms via chaos magic and performance.
• Anthropologist as Practitioner:
  The parallels and frictions between academic observers and those who create, perform, or “dwell” within occult communities.

5. [47:56–61:49] Media, Narrative, and the Occult: Twin Peaks and the Power of Cultural Magic

• Pop Culture as Ritual:
  Panel explores how shows like Twin Peaks (especially The Return) act as both magical narratives and tools for cultural introspection, utilizing esoteric concepts to reach mass audiences.

  "What Frost’s doing is using the contemporary tools of filmmaking and of writing to affect and induce change into the world. That is a more powerful form of magic..."
  - Garrison Davis [52:56]

• Access and Barriers:
  Modern pop culture can spread occult ideas more widely (for better or worse) than closed, hard-to-access traditions or expensive grimoires.

6. [61:49–70:24] The Political Potential of the Occult

• Occult as Resistance:
  Discussion of Genesis P-Orridge and the tradition of using magic/art as a tool for radical societal change—a legacy often overlooked or diluted in newer occult scenes.

  "If you're not actually changing anything, are you doing magic?"
  - Elaine [65:28]

• Limits of Individualism:
  Panelists criticize purely personal or New Age self-help approaches, advocating for collective projects and service, as seen in Haitian Vodou and the Haitian Revolution.

7. [70:24–71:30] Concluding Thoughts on Magic’s Social Role

• Community, Service, & Social Change:
  Magic is most impactful when tied to community action or political projects, rather than just self transformation. The Haitian Revolution is cited as a rare example where occult ritual directly fueled collective liberation.

  "To be an ongun or a mambo in Haitian Voodoo is to serve the community. It’s first and foremost a service position..."
  - Ryan [70:24]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “When you're talking to an AI, you're not talking to an entity, you're talking to a probability machine and a multiverse generator.”
  — Garrison Davis [12:46]
• “Magic is the manipulation of meaning.”
  — Garrison Davis [29:00]
• “The project of magic is to re-enchant the world. And there's a certain romanticism with that that I'm sympathetic to.”
  — Ryan [32:47]
• “If you're not actually changing anything, are you doing magic?”
  — Elaine [65:28]

[Additional Episode Content from 73:31 Onward (Briefly Summed Up)]

Note:
The latter half comprises a multipart docuseries on the history and current practice of the American death penalty—especially lethal injection. This segment details the medical, social, and political deceptions underpinning state executions.

Highlights

• Executions as Disguised Torture:
  Lethal injections are not ‘painless’; autopsies and witness reports detail slow suffocation, burns, and immense suffering. The three-drug protocol was invented with no research and implemented with little oversight.

  “Lethal injection only does one thing well... it hides... the violence of the death penalty.” (Prof. Corinna Lane [78:30])

• Racism and Error:
  The U.S. death penalty’s history is steeped in racism and wrongful conviction; for every 8 executions, one person is later exonerated.
• Declining Support:
  With mounting evidence, support for the death penalty is at historical lows—especially among younger generations and communities aware of its injustices.

[209:11–End] News Roundtable: Politics, NY Mayoral Election, Social Movements

Hosts: Garrison Davis, Robert Evans, James Stout, Mia Wong

• Cheney's Death:
  Satirical reflection on political legacy.
• Zoran Mamdani Elected Mayor of NYC:
  First under-50 mayor to receive over 1 million votes since 1969, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
  • Key takeaways:
    • Campaign grounded in affordability, renter protections, universal childcare, fast/free public transit.
    • Refused to apologize for being a young, Muslim, democratic socialist; ran openly on these principles.
    • Emphasized fusion (not competition) between class and identity politics.
    • Notable quotes:

      “We will leave mediocrity in our past. No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great. Our greatness will be anything but abstract.”
      — Zoran Mamdani [238:13]

    • Staunch resistance to Islamophobic attacks and 9/11 fearmongering.
• Texas Ballot Measures:
  Numerous amendments passed, many limiting the ability of the state to tax the wealthy.
• Air Travel Disruptions:
  ATC shortages and shutdowns are causing major flight delays and safety concerns.

Final Thoughts

This episode is a dense and wide-ranging conversation on the power—and limits—of culture, belief, art, and collective action. It highlights:

• The dynamic ways in which “magic” continues to influence culture, often transmuted through art and technology.
• The real consequences of policy and history, from executions to social welfare to electoral strategy.
• The ongoing need for community-centered resistance in the face of neoliberal atomization, rising authoritarianism, and sanitized state violence.

Listeners are left to reflect on what it truly means for belief, art, politics, and communal ritual to change the world, and whether the hidden can survive in an age of total visibility.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• OCCulture Panel Recap: [03:12–19:07]
• Chaos Magic vs. Tradition: [19:07–24:34]
• Why Practice Magic?: [24:34–38:16]
• Art, Culture, and the Occult: [38:16–47:56]
• Pop Culture & Magic (Twin Peaks): [47:56–61:49]
• Occult Politics: [61:49–70:24]
• News & Politics (NYC Election, Texas Ballots): [209:11–266:32]

All ads and non-content filler omitted.

This summary captures the episode’s unique blend of serious sociopolitical reporting, spirited philosophical debate, cutting satire, and rich subcultural insight, offering newcomers a point of entry into the weird, urgent world of “It Could Happen Here.”