I’ve decided I wanna lower the standard of my writing, so for today’s lesson in Occult Mysteries and Secrets, we shall depart from our usual programme and resume somewhere between my previously published “Dying Out of the Left-Hand Path” which was more of a pamphlet, and “Stepping Stones of Power” which was actually satire. Sadly, a lot of people didn’t take it that way and practice the hell out of it every day.
Today we are going to take a time-traveling trip back into the Olden Days of Occult drama, which most of you cannot remember because you are too young.
Well let me tell you of the Days of High Adventure… *drumroll*
See, it wasn’t like it is now. The world as we know it, hath not yet cometh into existence. There was no social media, and some even say there was no Internet, but that is more of a quaint legend. As far as I remember, the Internet has always been there. It was slow and crap for sending pictures, so you actually had to out and be seen in your witchy hat, and full ritual regalia, and silver jewelry, in order to be socially recognized as a Witch which was just as important back in the day as it is now. In fact, it was the only thing most Witches were doing. That, and the pick-up lines.
Most people confused us with role-players and scholars, and we sucked at both. We didn’t know how to pronounce Hebrew and were always secretly afraid that our peers would find out. Our ritual costumes sucked, and shameful as it is, I do remember people wearing home made robes stitched up from bedding blankets…
What we lacked in looks we made up in legends and cool names. For a good Occult sounding name, one didn’t have to be inventive. The opposite was true, so there was always “a” Morgana, Merlin, and Lestat to call out. You’d never make a mistake shouting out that name, or claiming that you knew them. Somebody made a random magical name generator, which many believe the famous author used to come up with Silver Raven Wolf. The Ceremonial Magician crowd, which was always feuding with the Wiccans, but always frequenting Pagan meet-ups for the booty, preferred the way of elaborate honorifics. It was not uncommon for people to sign off their emails with three lines of Occult titles that nobody could verify, and for Orders that somebody made up as a drunk joke to take on a life of their own.
Life was slower, and it allowed for more build-up before the final disillusion with the Occult, because nobody had ever seen the authors hiding behind pen names, and everybody could brag about having met them in secret. Nobody was having emotional meltdowns on live streams, so you had to stay up late at night with drunk people to witness some real drama. Juicy gossip traveled via word of mouth and telephone, so we were all fairly adept at impersonating each other when re-telling these stories.
Social clout, bragging rights, and booty was the main reason to get into the occult. Everybody was seeking admission to the fabled naked sexual initiation cults, which never turned out to be real, and if you got into one, by the time your Third Degree Great Rite came up, you have already slept with the entire coven and had seen all the unholy secrets of the passed out High Priestess who was actually a middle school teacher with a waning beauty complex. That was the third main reason why women got into the occult – with the hopes that some of that witchy pussy magnetism would provide them with a competitive advantage over the young, non-mystical crowd. The middle-aged waning beauty was begrudgingly matched with the even older, balding Ceremonial Magician, who had horrible social and seduction skills, so such pairings were usually only witnessed by the still-sober after midnight.
In order to advance within the ranks of the Occult, you had to kiss ass, and sometimes go even further on the rear end. Oh, how I miss the Olde Days! Nowadays, you don’t need to go to such… ends. You learn all the slang that you need online, and gain the clout from engaging in the so-called Witch Wars. Which is sort of like what shit-posting and flame-wars were in the 2000s, except I am too old so my Internet slang is lagging behind I am sure.
See, when I was young, the Internet-only stuff didn’t exist. You couldn’t have a relationship online, or get raped online. I wanna try it out someday, but I don’t know how it is done. Every online group back then was a group that existed in the real world (is that even a thing anymore?) where we met in the pub. Yes, the pub. Sometimes, it was the tea room, smoke-filled from shisha, and it was always pretty obscure, and underground. Finding the entrance was your First Rite of Passage. You had to go there, not knowing if some weirdo is going to lure you into human sacrifice… Which actually never happened, as it was all gossip drama, but sometimes a particularly feeble mind committed suicide in their room full of occult regalia, and then the police came asking around, and we got all scared and were all goodie-goodie for a month. Then, we held a candle-lit vigil and went back to our usual programme of clout chasing, backstabbing, ass-kissing, and reliving Ancient Atlantean wars in most demented ways.
This was all before the Baneful Magic reprint in 2009 so we instead fought each other by spreading veneral disease, and fucking behind each other’s back, mostly. Sometimes in front, when things got really wild, all while viciously preparing our papers and presentations for the nearest Occult conference. Nobody really did any real magic anyway, so it was like a rap battle between armchair scholars. Then, we engaged in drunken orgies and ruthless testing of our newest Occult pick-up lines.
Our group rituals were kinda clumsy, as nobody really knew what to do, and our robes were sub-par. So you basically looked at the others and tried to blend in, and then when the leader shared their ritual experience in the post-ritual circle, you said you saw the same thing with your Inner Eye. This assured your good standing in the social circle and raised your chances of being invited to one of the “secret” meetups… which everyone knew they existed. Many actually had a website but it was protected by a password so that was pretty much the Last Bastion of the Mysteries, because there you could access the High Mysteries of drunken photos of everyone from the Event-That-Never-Happened as everyone was sworn into secrecy, but kept bragging about it.
After a few years within the game, everybody realized that the Secret Societies were only so secret as they all had websites and collected membership fees, so those who stayed in the Occult developed a solitary path…
Anyways all that I wanted to impart in you with this all-important essay for y’all, is that indeed before the times of Internet and social media occult community drama existed, and it was actually better, and more funny. ‘Twas way more hilarious than sitting bored at home drinking beer alone, reading on my iPad how I allegedly human sacrificed my second husband (on-line) while I molested men from all over the world (also on-line) from screenshots sent to me by a friend of a friend of a friend who is actually the second friend’s secret undercover spy who has infiltrated all their Facebook groups… Alas, that is the New Era! The changing of the timelines, the emergence of the New Atlantis, the True Spiritual Timeline on which none of your street cred and the clout which you had built with the Olde School shall survive because that was before social media, so without a decent following you are as good as dead.
I am old enough to have been around before the internet became a thing. So i actually understand what you mean when you spoke about of the “Old days”.
Yes there were a lot ov theses groups that would get together and kiss each others asses. Or try and get brownie points from the “leader”
Believe me I was invited to a few ov these groups just to get up and leave angry.
One group I went to only once and they ended early because they wanted to go to some bdsm leather show. That didn’t really bother me too much because I am a retired dominatrix.
It was the point that when I asked serious questions they mostly looked at me in confusion. Nor could they answer a single one. I’ve always been a loner in my practices, so I could have cared less about these groups or anything they had to say.Its just all drama anyway. This is a lonely path and I’m absolutely fine with it.
It’s so true! The Vampire and BDSM subculture, the LARPers were often times the exact same folks as the occult, just different dress codes for events! I remember one event where due to strange fate literally there was a Pagan moot gathering upstairs and a BDSM hangout downstairs same day, it was because every subculture coveted this liberal venue that was owned by a brothel so they really did not give 2 fucks about who they are lending it to. Good times.
I was also “there”. Before the internet, before cell phones and even before beepers and pagers. I served Lilith even then in my youth and upon my accepttance of a High Priestess received one hell of an education. My cirriculum empowered me and I evolved into an even more worthy servant to Lilith. I continue to evolve, the progression has no end when She favors you as a delight unlike most who suffer Her Wrath. I put a smile on Her face and I have been blessed to maintain myself to Her as a delight.