There was a time, in the English
language, where you could only dabble in the occult. The implication
was that no matter how seriously you took your magical path, as far
as the real world was concerned you were only mucking about. The
idea of “dabbling” mean that if something went wrong in a magical
experiment, it was down to you not taking it seriously.
One of the downsides of the modern age
is that beginners have access to more information than they used to
and this makes “dabbling” much easier than it was before.
As a result you find views being forged
which are based on reading books by “new age experts” or
“fantasists”. This type of person shows up on web groups saying
that the “know nothing” but at the same time often pontificating
at great length in vacuous New Age statements. They usually finish
their posts with phrases like “my two cents” as if to hint that
they are not really sure what the hell they are talking about, but
they will say it anyway. They are also fond of trying to take people
down a peg or two if they are disagreed with.
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| Voodoo has become the new black when it comes to magic |
In addition you can usually tell if
someone is playing at magic by their tendency to do a lot of
different systems, often employing them all at once. They
universally have Reiki degrees, often have trained in a form of
martial arts, like Chi Gung or Buddhist (usually Zen) techniques.
Weird fashionable magical ideas pop up, in the last few years it has
been Voodoo.
But not one of them has focused on a
training system to be any good at it, and none of them amounts to
much when it comes to magic.
On one web group there was a recent
discussion about Goetia, which is another hot topic amongst those who
do not understand it. They were talking about a technique which
involved sticking Goetic demons into spirit pots. This is a voodoo
technique and means that you lure the spirit into a pot with a
promise and it will do your bidding.
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| Rock me Asmodeus. |
While I get that this might work with
weak, terminally stupid, astral demons, or ancestors, I cant see how
it would work with Goetic demons. I had an image of some magician
asking Asmodeus, King of the Nine Hells, embodiment of the seventh
deadly sin of lust willingly going into a bean tin. Think about it,
how can you stuff the concept of lust into a peanut butter jar? When
someone with a little more experience pointed this out, he was told
that such magical techniques were successfully worked in Brazil, so
that was the end of the matter. Even if that were true, it does not
mean that they have bottled real demons as if they were preserves.
Part of the problem is a literal idea
of magic which most people get kicked out of them by experience, but
the rest is simply because they do not think about what they are
doing. They are playing with what sounds cool, rather than doing
real magic.
The number of people out there who say
they have had no teachers, but have actually experimented with
heavier ceremonial magic techniques is frankly alarming. It shows,
amongst other things, a level of arrogance and a belief that they are
so important that training within an esoteric school is not necessary
for them. They have the answers already because they have read about
it. But it is not as if they have really studied, or done regular
meditation work to reach that state. After playing around with
systems they did not completely master, they have just moved onto
something else.
Ways you can tell if someone in a web
group is playing at magic
1. They use out-of-date flowery
language in web posts.
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| Today we will teach you how to mix your traditions until they are light and fluffy and do what you want them to do. |
2. They mix traditions and systems.
3. They use esoteric terms without
understanding them.
4. They interpret magical teachings
literally.
5. They mention UFOs, or conspiracy
theories alongside occult teaching.
6. They refer to their “past lives.”
7. They use books and references
instead of personal experience.
8. When personal experience is used as
a reference, it is usually conventional, literal, and could have been
read somewhere.
9. They write long posts with
extensive quotes from other people to give their words authority.
10. They use long sentences which
contain phrases that they think sound good, but don't actually mean
anything.
11. They revise basic magical
techniques without understanding what goes on behind them.
12. They say what they think the web
group wants to hear, and will attack who they thing the web group
wants to attack. Often they will praise the leader of the web group
highly.
13. They often complain that they
cannot do practical work because their house is too small, or they
are disturbed by their children or spouse.
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| Pah, Christians, Jews or Pagans, they all taste like Chicken |
14. They attack other religions,
normally Christianity, because they are trying to rebel against their
upbringing.
15. They often try to mention science,
particularly things like quantum physics so that they can demonstrate
their intellect without having to talk about magic which they know
nothing about.
16. They admit that they don't belong
to a school, or have a teacher, or if they do it was a group that did
not last long, or treated them badly.
17. They go into detail about the
nature of their contacts with angels, demons, secret chiefs, God etc.
18. They ask for help from the rest of
the group to carry out magical operations, under their directions,
for the good of humanity.
19. They recount how they are being
magically attacked or been psychically vampired by someone.
20. They take personal umbridge when
people disagree with their latest theory. Often “telling the
person off.”
21. They think this list and article is all about
them.
