Episode 3: Damien Echols | High Magick and The Alchemy of Change

DAMIEN ECHOLS is the author of the New York Times bestseller Life After Death (Plume, 2013), and co-author of Yours for Eternity (Plume, 2013) with his wife, Lorri Davis. His new book is HIGH MAGICK: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row (Sounds True, October 30, 2018). He and Lorri live in Harlem. For more, visit damienechols.com.

Damien Echols was one of the West Memphis Three, three teenagers (at the time) who were aged between 16 and 18 and wrongfully accused of murder in what felt like a witch-hunt of a trial.

This harrowing story was explored in the documentary Paradise Lost as well as West of Memphis (produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Wals), and in the feature film starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth Devils Knot. Echols, along with Jessie Miskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin were convicted as teenagers in 1994 for the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Echols was sentenced to death, Misskelley, Jr. to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin to life imprisonment. During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the juveniles killed the children as part of a Satanic ritual.

It's a harrowing case, and the story is stranger than fiction, but with an alchemical lens, and the mindset of the magician, Echols persevered through the adversity, citing his Magickal practice as one of the key elements for surviving such a horrendous experience, and living to tell the tale through his books, work, teachings and embodied wisdom.

This conversation is filled with wisdom, as we explore what magick is and isn't, the interconnected nature of all things, and how even through adversity and the dark night of the soul on the hero's journey, the light will always prevail.

Damien is a kind, gracious being, and I couldn't be more thrilled to share our dialogue with you all...