We’re going to backtrack a little bit to actually look at what the occult really is. Not in the literal or historic sense— which is an article in its own right —but more from a philosophical standpoint. There’s obviously still quite a bit of confusion, and I’ve noticed quite a few things going on here that are troubling to myself and Jordan. Perhaps I should have followed up “The Reception and Acquisition of Knowledge” with this article rather than jumping straight into “Three Pillars, One Goal.” I suppose this was my own mistake, but this is how we learn. So let’s actually look at what the occult really is, and depending on how this goes will actually decide if I’ll continue writing here. Oh, and for those of you that wanted rant time: Rant Mode Enabled.
That Scary “O” Word
“Occult,” how scary. A tiny little two syllable word that means “secret or obscure knowledge,” how menacing. The reality is that virtually everything we discuss on this site, not just myself but everyone, actually falls under the heading of “Occult” whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Astral travel, tarot reading, willing things to happen (magick), everything actually belongs to the occult because these are all things we practice regularly, and in fact the “New Age” movement is born of the occult revival of the late 19th to early 20th century, without it nobody here would even know this stuff exists. In “Magick part I” I revealed that you do unconscious magick all the time. Ryan has shown that we unconsciously project ourselves all the time (OBEs anyone?). Tarot reading is just a way for us to tap into a part of ourselves (higher self) that few, if any of us, actually has access to, using the symbolism of the cards (we are human; our chief defining characteristic is our use of tools).
Here’s the thing we humans, all of us, have these wicked little egos that make us try to inflate ourselves, make us bigger than life (there’s a seven page rant on the next person that tells me “I’m part/reincarnated from [insert mythical creature here]”), and in turn we have to divide everything, give it titles to make us feel better about ourselves. Alchemist, chemist, magician, physicist, these are just titles people need to express their specialization in a field, but the fact is anyone can learn them, they’re not limited to a select few that hoard the knowledge (at least not anymore). Just like picking a major in college we all focus on this area or that area, I for instance prefer to focus on magick when it comes to the Hermetic sciences, and use the title of “magician” or “occultist” when referring to myself in this manner. The reality is that we’re all just people in the end. In essence it’s not being able to see the forest before the trees.
Why the Occult is so Powerful
This, believe it or not, is a one word answer. Why is the occult so powerful? FEAR. It is human nature to fear what we do not understand. As people we are highly limited in what we can learn and understand, so when something defies everything we’ve always learned, especially when it comes to our militant beliefs on certain issues, we go into terror mode (kill it or run!) “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown,” –H. P. Lovecraft. By being afraid of anything you turn your power and possibility of control or understanding of it, over to it. This inflates it in your mind and in so doing you then put that into the super-conscious of all mankind. Certain groups can then harness that fear to get themselves even greater power and control. The occult belongs to all of us, not just one group or another.
AAAAGH! A SPIRIT!
While we’re on the subject of fear let’s look at another disturbing trend. For several months now people have been showing a deepening paranoia and fear of spirits of all kinds. Here’s the thing: Not all spirits are “out to get us,” nor are all of them helpful. They are intelligent beings in their own rights, and the reality is that the majority of them could care less about us either way. The reality is that they are from higher levels of existence to us, and the majority of their reactions isn’t that dissimilar from us seeing a wild animal nearby. They observe and do nothing. There are among them those that don’t really care for us, that’s true. Likewise, some are legitimately helpful. You have to side with caution with them though, and look at their track records before you decide what they think of us (good, ill, or indifferent).
You Want Me to Drink WHAT?!
By now I’m sure a lot of you have received an e-mail, probably from an anonymous source, claiming that he/she has discovered the secrets to create the Philosopher’s Stone, with the chief ingredient being urine. While it is true that urine does have some qualities that can be useful (kills jellyfish sting, cures athletes foot, among many more) it cannot possible create the Stone. In “Three Pillars, One Goal” I explained that the Stone is symbolic of The Great Work (the ascension process). In fact if you follow the steps he/she outlines I can only see three results:
1) You’ll make yourself horribly ill.
2) You’ll create a form of birth control known to Chinese medicine.
3) You’ll create the military grade incendiary weapon: White Phosphorus, and promptly kill yourself.
Alchemy’s goal is to master the applied part of the Hermetic Arts. Again, “Turns any base metal (we flawed humans) into gold (perfect, ascended masters). There’s also the question of why I didn’t just outright explain things like planetary tinctures, holy water, oleum salis, etc. back in “Salt of the Salt,” the answer was simple: You needed to learn other things first. Yes you can go on-line (that is how you’re reading this right now after all) and find out how to make say, a planetary tincture for Saturn. The problem is that a lot of the sites I looked at give deadly poisonous plants and herbs in the list of what can be used for the tincture, which is obviously not safe. Likewise, you wouldn’t know how to perform certain magick necessary to create them, and without understanding astrology at all (namely planetary attributions), you wouldn’t have known where to begin. Remember, I write these for people that don’t know where to start.
Silly Names = Worthless!
Okay, I didn’t want to come straight out and say this, but there are a lot of authors out there whose entire published work is only worth kindling. I put a warning about this up once, but now I’m naming names. Here are the keys to remember if you want to read into occultism.
1) Llewellyn publishing is 90% trash, and I’m being generous.
2) If the author’s name sounds stupid, then they don’t know what they’re talking about, and if you get any response expect something bad to happen. Example: Silver Ravenwolf, Zell Oberon Ravenheart, Konstantinos, etc.
3) Weiser Publishing is very trustworthy (look for an Ankh as their trademark).
4) Wicca does not equal Occult. Wicca is in fact an offshoot of Thelema (as is Scientology). The joke about Wicca among Thelemites is that it’s Thelema-lite. Gerald Gardner, founder of Wicca, was an initiate in Thelema’s, Ordo Templi Orientis.
Not What You Think
In “The Reception and Acquisition of Knowledge,” we looked at what the word occult really means: secret or obscure knowledge. From there it was ascertained that that which is occult today becomes common knowledge in the future. This is true, we looked at examples to prove this claim (mathematics, literacy, astronomy, etc.), but there still seems to be a lot that has a bad rap. From here I’m going to let this turn into a Q&A session. Feel free to post your questions, comments, and concerns. Let’s kick fear and ego out of this place! Oh, and sorry about the lack of art.
Contacting and Connecting
You can e-mail me at a.s.raithe@gmail.com
You can follow me on Twitter as SSTheGreatWork
All questions, comments, and concerns are welcome.
Thank you for your kind reply, A.S. I, too, see the importance of finding truth for self, which is the reason for my initial post. For instance, I refrain from giving advice about practices I’ve never taken (ie, urine consumption), although I have researched the topic and understand why many individuals take on the practice, I give no advice on that topic, as I have no personal experience with it.
Anyway, the portion of conversation where our minds do not yet meet is not my interest. If we have some occult knowledge among us, I see it as a very intelligent thing to put that knowledge into action. Disseminating this sort of info in an open manner, not in lists of things to do and not to do (this being the more common method I see employed, not specific to the author of this article). This is not the way. I think, perhaps, it’s time we step our game up and start talking about/becoming more engaged in raising the vibratory rate of people in a more subtle way. Is it not the lower vib rate of the masses that we, individually, must overcome?
Kindness and LOVE
and also, Much Thanks for the work done here by the Spirit Science team!
i comment because i’m noticing a trend in articles i read here. above, you note some of the drawbacks to the ancient practice of consuming one’s own urine (something i’ve done a bit of study on, but do not practice), but you do not talk about the origins of the practice, the actual benefits of the practice (specific benefits to the endocrine system are gained through this practice), and you actually say it could create a violent agent within the body (phosphorus), which it can’t.
in reading a previous post (with video), i was told which things to eat and not eat, with no reason other than the observation of one who sees auras. while it’s true that we should avoid certain foods, you didn’t give the real reason why we should avoid these foods (the reason for most of them is because the control system is poisoning our food sources, not because we aren’t able to imbibe simple things like sugar and milk).
i enjoy the work that you’re doing, and love and appreciate you all, but it should be noted that to give incomplete knowledge is simply initiating another control system of fear. i think WE must be very careful in how we instruct the masses on these subjects, and that those that wish to study the truth should be more willing to find out for self, not simply parrot the last thing they read on the net.
is it not true that those of us who have knowledge found this knowledge through self? to gain understanding of the hidden, one must come to realize that an individual becomes whatever they practice. the practice constantly is. if one has want to know, one then must be in knowing (aka engaging EMPATHY)
this being said, i do have a question. in this current moment, i’m noticing a distinct movement towards waking those that still sleep (i’m drawn heavily to this task). even the dalai lama is talking about people becoming slaves to the machine! i wonder, since the control system is obviously using mystic symbology/numerology as their main tactic, could we not formulate a plan of symbol/number placement to do just the opposite? what if we started stenciling the number 330 in public places? or symbols from sacred geometry? is there an approach that spirit science is already employing?
Much Love, Thanks, and Appreciation!
ps, nothing wrong with a little ranting now and again ;D
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2011/12/15/the-dairy-myth-%E2%80%9Cmilk-does-a-body-good%E2%80%9D/
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2011/12/16/the-protein-myth-eat-your-meat/
This is to answer your question about why we shouldn’t drink milk and eat meat(links above). I also believe that Spirit Science wants to initiate people going out and learning for themselves, we can only show the door right?
Also that sounds like a good idea! Sacred Geometry graffiti! and maybe writing messages that inspire love. The spirit science team is also participating in the crystal movement, getting crystals to the people!
Bobby, I’m going to reply to each thing you posted in order.
1) I did not say that consuming it would create phosphorus, I said “In fact if you follow the steps he/she outlines I can only see three results:… 3) You’ll create the military grade incendiary weapon: White Phosphorus, and promptly kill yourself.” This is from the supposed production process, not consumption. You likewise do not mention the drawbacks of drinking it.
2) I agree with you. This of course wasn’t I that made the video (in fact I am a meat eater, and love cheddar).
3) I will not hold peoples hands and walk them down the path blindly like certain other people have (as you would put them, “control systems”). I merely show the path, give pointers, and let the person choose whether or not to walk down it. Knowledge is something that each person should gain, not just be given outright, it loses any value that way.
Further, I have been a practicing occultist for nearly 14 years now, not some armchair occultist. The information I provide is based on my years of study and practice, and is condensed from the following works in addition to many more:
Magick Without Tears, Magick in Theory and Practice, Magick Book 4 parts I-IV, among others by Crowley
The Book of Black Magick by Waite
The Golden Dawn by Regardie
4) As I said, knowledge is something I believe people must go and find themselves through discipline, practice, trial, and error.
5) Let’s see together. It sounds like an interesting experiment.
Hm.. Synchronicity sure is awesome! Nice of you to post this around the same time I begin to get interested in the Hermetic science. I just began reading a book called “THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES” by Manly P. Hall which is supposedly a great introduction to masonic, hermetic, qabbalistic, and roscrucian symbolical philosophy. Anyone new to this like me should look into reading this book. Great post!
Hey I noticed what you said ” depending on how this goes will actually decide if I’ll continue writing here” and just had to say that I hope you continue writing here. Your the one who actually got me to start studying Alchemy, Astrology, and Magick
We will see, anger does do strange things though.
Dark Magick I read about that somewhere..
In essence you can view magick in many ways. Light vs Dark, High vs Low, etc. in reality of course magick is magick and doesn’t care what title we put on it. You could make the argument that Theurgy (white magick) is like being a Jedi, while the other form would be like being a Sith, but in reality its just one force.