Modern Misunderstanding Of The Occult

I recently had an interesting conversation with a casual acquaintance about spirituality and the occult. She is new to metaphysics and mysticism, but since these topics are of great interest and intrigue to me, I needed no convincing to dive into it with her.

It soon became obvious that she had some misunderstandings, and even a few misgivings regarding these matters. For example, she believes a ‘spiritual person’ is someone who engages in some form of religion or spiritual practice, such as meditation or prayer. She also believes spirituality is the exclusive domain of humans, as animals do not practice any religion or spirituality – they merely exist in nature.

Many people confuse ‘being religious’ with ‘being spiritual’ – one does not necessarily imply the other. Living a spiritually aware or conscious life simply means ‘living in the truth’ of who you are – a spirit being in human form. One can be religious, but it is not a prerequisite to living your true spiritual identity.

I also explained to her that the creatures of this earth may appear to be ‘soulless,’ but all living, sentient beings, as well as nature at large, are all expression of Spirit, God, Source, Universe, the Divine. How the animals operate and survive in this world is what is inherently true of the inner being of who they truly are. The entire universe is an expression of its sacred origins. In fact, in my opinion animals live with much greater alignment to higher consciousness than most modern humans do!

It took her some time to evaluate these concepts, but she did eventually come to a conclusion that there must be some truth to it. However, the real fun began when I mentioned my life-long interest in the occult. She vehemently protested that everything relating to the occult is “evil and demonic.” I asked her what facts or personal experience she based this opinion on, but her only justification was that this is “what most people believe.”

Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned ~ Umberto Eco

I then asked her what she considered to be ‘the occult,’ but she was clearly not very sure at all. She ultimately settled on describing it as the practicing of “satanic rituals and black magic, and so on.”

This was very surprising to me, as it is my understanding that the occult refers to the study and knowledge of the mystical, magical, supernatural, or paranormal. In fact, Evelyn Underhill, a respected Catholic writer known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, describes the occult in her best-known book Mysticism (1911) as “knowledge of the paranormal,” as opposed to “knowledge of the measurable.”

The occult is merely a category of supernatural beliefs and esoteric practices which generally falls outside the scope of orthodox religion and mainstream science. There is much more to it than the stereotype of ‘magic spells and mysterious rituals.’ The occult sciences include, among other, the fields of astrology, psychic phenomena, mediumship, divination, alchemy, natural magic, paranormal investigation, shamanism, and esoteric traditions such as Spiritualism and Theosophy.

My mother always referred to herself as a ‘white witch,’ and had no qualms about admitting there is also such a thing as ‘black magic.’ She further raised me with the understanding that there was a place for both of these approaches to exist under the occult umbrella.

There is a gap between what we know and what we feel. Many feel the occult can bridge that gap. It can take us beyond ourselves, to the infinite ~ Nevill Drury

Dogmatic religion and mechanistic science has branded the occult as pseudo-science, superstition, and even something evil to be feared and shied away from, but in truth it is merely a term used to describe various unexplained, unusual or outside the norm phenomena, beliefs and practices.

Of course, the occult as a realm of interest is not everyone’s cup of tea, neither is it required that everybody must believe in it. But at the very least, it should be correctly defined and understood to be a category of mystical and metaphysical pursuit – instead of being simply dismissed due to ignorance, prejudice and fearmongering.