Publicizing Magic

I am of the view — seemingly unpopular in certain times, including our own — that the occult is called the occult because it is meant to be practiced, you know, occultly, but it’s hard to keep my mouth shut when magic is so real and utterly changes my life every day.

Fortunately, the real truth of the occult is that it keeps my mouth shut for me by occluding its nature and workings from the world itself, leaving it impossible to actually explain.

7 hours later…

It just occurred to me how much like proselytizing it is to publicize the benefits of magic, and while of course my intent is not conversion but liberation, that is what a well prepared evangelist would say.

Something tricky is going on here. “This practice will improve your life” is a sincere claim from personal experience, but it’s also an imposition, and it’s chosen because it’s more compelling than the more important claim, which is that more empowered, regulated, creative, and experienced magical practitioners would help with global problems.

That’s the claim, I’m saying. It is likely magical practitioners will believe that, based on their experience, and that’s what’s so urgent to them — I mean, us — about making sure everyone knows magic is real. A lot of the risks of ideology are present here.

Where is the line? Perhaps it comes down to how you handle resistance. When someone doesn’t want what you’re offering, do you push back on them for their own good? Or do you step back and work on nourishing conditions that are more supportive of the natural arising of better outcomes?