The best of the occult?

Question

Which parts of the occult are worth looking into?

Answer 1

People often miss the point of what Crowley was doing. While Crowley was *gasp* human and had *gasp* human vices, his magical theory and practice are fundamental to Western occultism--including having an influence on Wicca, from whence much of the "OMGCrowleyisscary!" stuff comes from. Additionally, he was known for deliberately shattering taboos as a way of exploring reality rather than conforming to what was expected.

William G. Gray and Franz Bardon are two other excellent occultists, though not as well known as Crowley. In fact, there's a whole slew of occult authors out there who often get overlooked.

However, your best bet is to figure out what areas of occultism interest you the most. My recommendation would be to pick up a copy of Nicholas Graham's "The Four Powers: Magical Practice for Beginners of All Ages" (easily obtained on Amazon.com or anathemabooks.com ). This text outlines the various paradigms (neopaganism, ceremonial magic, etc.) and models (energy, psychological, etc.) of magic. He also gives excellent reading lists for each subject, and the exercises in the book are designed to help the reader narrow down what he or she might like to study. It's a wonderful guide for getting you started and giving you ideas on where to go next.

Answer 2

"Ceremonial magick" technically is "western occultism." It often incorporates elements from Medieval and Renaissance era magic and mysticism --including esoteric "magical" Christianity or else early Hebraic, Babylonian, or Greek magic-(you have to read up on Giordano Bruno, Albert Magnus, Robert Fludd, Pico della Mirandola--and there's a bunch of other folks--you have to be literate and have some background in philosophy to understand them, though) Also included is Tarot lore (which is an 18th century French invention although Tarot cards themselves date back to the 13th century), angel lore (ie The Enochian mysteries based on a book that did make it into the official Bible called the Book of Enoch) philosophical alchemy (which is a little different from certain forms of laboratory alchemy), Kabala (there as Jewish and occult Christian/western forms of Kabala), and nowadays syncretic ideas from Tantra concepts are sometimes thrown in as well.

The most infamous magician of the 19/20 century was Aleister Crowley--but he was more like "Lord 'Voldemoort" and died insane and in poverty although one historian who writes about the history of magick gave him credit for being a intrepid explorer of consciousness. I thought that was an enlightened way of putting it, actually.

Answer 3

It depends on what you believe in. Check out witchvox.com for examples and explanations of the different paths, there you will find something that will mesh with you.
Blessed be.

Answer 4

None of it, just like religion its all man made fake rubbish.
Chris.