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In the corners of the Internet where I mostly lurk, there are a few things I've enjoyed or found useful that take a lot of heat. I don't mind; I am an oddball and don't really expect others to share my views and perspectives, but sometimes I chuckle when someone builds up a real head of steam bashing something I think is pretty groovy.
I am an occultist, although I make no claims of being particularly wise or learned. In fact, studying occultism and the ideas of much smarter, more knowledgeable people has liberated me from the belief that my intellect is anything to write home about. That reality check was something I desperately needed and it was actually sort of a relief. For a long time I centered my identity on being smart; it created a lot of self-generated pressure and was incongruous with my everyday existence as a regular working-class person.
I discovered occultism proper through a few different means. Dungeons and Dragons, rock and roll, drugs, and fantasy novels were all things I used to escape the grind of school, then work as a young adult, and they definitely helped lay some of the groundwork for my awakening (looking over that list, all I can say is the fundies were right about those things being a gateway to the occult, so well played, guys).
Later, when I began to look for some kind of spiritual path, I ended up discovering the much-maligned New Age movement. I never delved too deeply into it, but there were a few books that shaped the way I thought about reality in useful ways. The Celestine Prophecy, for one, gave me a perspective on what occultists call the etheric plane that I found quite useful, and the methods Redfield describes people using to basically steal energy from one another in manipulative contests has shaped my understanding of human interactions in a persistent and useful way. In fact, "psychic vampires" can be understood quite well using the information in his book. Not to say that I think the frame story for the teachings is particularly great, but some of the info seems solid.
Gary Zukav also wrote a few books I ended up enjoying that helped me grasp karma and reincarnation in a way that I found similar to the views many occultists share about those topics (not all occultists have similar beliefs on them). His work also gave me something positive to contemplate at a time when I really needed it. I still have fond memories and thoughts about his books. I even got some good use from the much-maligned book The Secret, which I credit for helping me get my first major promotion and achieving my long-term goal of netting a salaried office job (which ended up being a disaster, incidentally, which seems to be common for people using that particular tome, but I digress).
The final example I have in mind is shamanism of the Micheal Harner variety. I picked up his book Way of the Shaman and thought it was pretty intriguing in a "not for me" way. There were a few concepts that I incorporated into my spiritual worldview and overall I had a positive view of his teachings, although I'd never practiced any of them. Later, I met a teacher who I am convinced is a true shaman in the traditional sense who uses Harner's system and teachings in his practice. This man had a terminal illness and was healed by spirits in a way that is often described in traditional shamanistic cultures, so he may be an outlier amongst shamanic practitioners who use Harner's system, but I later discovered Harner has a bad reputation in some circles. To each their own, but the teacher I briefly worked with knew his stuff and seemed to take Harner's framework and use it quite effectively. A lot of what he taught has parallels in the Western Mystery Tradition as well, so maybe he incorporates techniques from different traditions, but I don't discount Harner or his system because of my (admittedly limited) experiences with this teacher.
As unfashionable as some of these teachings and methods are (or have become), they have all been useful to me in various ways, so I thank the authors who opened my mind and heart to what has become my true spiritual path.
I am an occultist, although I make no claims of being particularly wise or learned. In fact, studying occultism and the ideas of much smarter, more knowledgeable people has liberated me from the belief that my intellect is anything to write home about. That reality check was something I desperately needed and it was actually sort of a relief. For a long time I centered my identity on being smart; it created a lot of self-generated pressure and was incongruous with my everyday existence as a regular working-class person.
I discovered occultism proper through a few different means. Dungeons and Dragons, rock and roll, drugs, and fantasy novels were all things I used to escape the grind of school, then work as a young adult, and they definitely helped lay some of the groundwork for my awakening (looking over that list, all I can say is the fundies were right about those things being a gateway to the occult, so well played, guys).
Later, when I began to look for some kind of spiritual path, I ended up discovering the much-maligned New Age movement. I never delved too deeply into it, but there were a few books that shaped the way I thought about reality in useful ways. The Celestine Prophecy, for one, gave me a perspective on what occultists call the etheric plane that I found quite useful, and the methods Redfield describes people using to basically steal energy from one another in manipulative contests has shaped my understanding of human interactions in a persistent and useful way. In fact, "psychic vampires" can be understood quite well using the information in his book. Not to say that I think the frame story for the teachings is particularly great, but some of the info seems solid.
Gary Zukav also wrote a few books I ended up enjoying that helped me grasp karma and reincarnation in a way that I found similar to the views many occultists share about those topics (not all occultists have similar beliefs on them). His work also gave me something positive to contemplate at a time when I really needed it. I still have fond memories and thoughts about his books. I even got some good use from the much-maligned book The Secret, which I credit for helping me get my first major promotion and achieving my long-term goal of netting a salaried office job (which ended up being a disaster, incidentally, which seems to be common for people using that particular tome, but I digress).
The final example I have in mind is shamanism of the Micheal Harner variety. I picked up his book Way of the Shaman and thought it was pretty intriguing in a "not for me" way. There were a few concepts that I incorporated into my spiritual worldview and overall I had a positive view of his teachings, although I'd never practiced any of them. Later, I met a teacher who I am convinced is a true shaman in the traditional sense who uses Harner's system and teachings in his practice. This man had a terminal illness and was healed by spirits in a way that is often described in traditional shamanistic cultures, so he may be an outlier amongst shamanic practitioners who use Harner's system, but I later discovered Harner has a bad reputation in some circles. To each their own, but the teacher I briefly worked with knew his stuff and seemed to take Harner's framework and use it quite effectively. A lot of what he taught has parallels in the Western Mystery Tradition as well, so maybe he incorporates techniques from different traditions, but I don't discount Harner or his system because of my (admittedly limited) experiences with this teacher.
As unfashionable as some of these teachings and methods are (or have become), they have all been useful to me in various ways, so I thank the authors who opened my mind and heart to what has become my true spiritual path.
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