If you have been exploring magick for a while, you may have come across the writings with the many rules, equations, and symbols that have been decided upon by famous magickal practitioners of the past. There are many who believe that the deep knowledge of magick can only be gained from the intellectual study of these complicated texts and teachings. There are many who engage in a kind of spiritual competitiveness over how much of this they know. However, it is little known that much of the wisdom in these texts has been disguised in order to intentionally misguide those who rely on others’ work to gain what they believe to be enlightenment. But self-knowledge and personal empowerment does not come from learning by rote. You will gain considerably more through an experiential process – discovering your own wisdom and knowledge, writing your own texts, and intuiting your own symbols based on your personal explorations.
Since magick was rediscovered and re-established within a culture of Christianity, many of the occult/magickal rituals became merged with Christian belief systems and came to include the banishing of ‘evil’ spirits and/or the summoning of demons from hellish realms. There was much secrecy and fear surrounding it. It was during this time that the word ‘occult’ – which means ‘hidden’ and describes the study of non-measurable realities – came to be associated with ‘evil’.
Just to reassure you, there is no ‘evil’ here – this word belongs with religious mythology and doesn’t exist as a concept in Magickal practice. During the 30 years of my explorations of magick from a variety of sources, I have worked to clear away the false myths, the unnecessary dogma, and the fear-based superstition and religion that has become entangled with it. I re-present magick as a mystical practice – pure and untainted. But this doesn’t mean that I focus only on ‘light and love’. Becoming whole and true involves accessing all of our aspects, including our inner ‘demons’ and shadows. Every aspect needs to be discovered, acknowledged, and eventually embraced and integrated.