Thread: Why do people think the occult is evil? Is It?

We all seek power (or at least we should), all spirits can lie, knowledge is always dangerous, every authentic choice carries risk of some kind, "demons" do not make bargains, and self-deception is the only kind there really is.

Ghost -

There are some very odd things, about these forums. (Mind you, I've only begun exploring the site so my perspective may be skewed at this time).

There most be a bazillion user-name manifestations of persons who portray themselves having a wide range of backgrounds & interests, all of whom eventually betray that their real purpose in posting here is to repeat conspiracy theorist accusations about "occultists" practicing human sacrifice in pursuit of worldly power and/or about persons who do possess wealth & power secretly being "occultists" who practice human sacrifice.

I won't disagree with that observation. I suppose that odd sort of comes with the territory when dealing with matters such as these, but sometimes things aren't the result of demonic oppression or a negative karmic wallop. Sometimes things just are.

Power is the last thing you should seek in the occult. You already have all the power you need. You have a soul. The forces you contend with in the occult do not. Enough said?

The occult is what you make of it. If you use it for selfish ends, then yes, it WILL become a force of evil in your life. If you use it to help others, you will gain strength, character and it will take care of your needs without you having to ask for it. Do all you can physically to fix a situation before turning to the occult. Magic should be respected and kept sacred, or it will corrupt.

THose who chase power will never truly get it. They will be deluded, sure, but gain real power?, no. Real power changes things before your eyes. Real power is only given to the adepts, and adepts themselves, by nature of what they are, refrain from using the power they are given. The last such adept was Ghandi.

Knowledge is power, but one with a deep responsibility. Those that are not responsible create situations that lead to evil outcomes. This is why most determine that the occult is evil. Because most who tamper with the occult are uninitiated and irresponsible or selfish individuals.

Originally Posted by justinkl75

Okay something i wanted to know for a long time. Ive always felt very drawn to practicing magick and anything to do with having out of body experiences and just experiencing deeper spiritual realities in general and any practices that put you directly in touch with the spiritual realm, these practices are considered occult by most i guess. but ive always been wary or afraid of these practices because of how they are viewed by society. I have read into the conspiracy stuff quite a bit as well and i do definately believe that powerful and not very nice people are heavily involved in very malevolent occult rituals. but does this make the occult itself evil? Is this THEIR domain only. Ive heard that the goal of most occult practices is becoming a living God and that this is what Luciferians want, when you read about some of it it does tend to suggest this, such as kundalini awakening or crossing the abyss and ascending to godhead. Anyway though i guess im asking, could the occult itself be an evil body of knowledge that has been obtained from demonic communication, such as john dee's enochian magic, is it always about communing with spirits, and are these spirits usually demonic? Or is the occult basically more about just exploring the unknown and spiritual aspects of nature and ourselves and its the person practicing it that makes it good or evil, the occult just being a route to understanding, your choice how you use that understanding. the other thing also is, can things like meditation or going into trances or having out of body experiences open you up to demonic influence, because your letting your guard down basically, ex: if you leave your body spirits may be waiting for you on the other side to take possession of your empty body, or during meditation being possessed by something because your dropping all your thoughts and your consciousness is wide open. I just feel like i need a better understanding of it before i start to practice this stuff, i guess nothing good comes without a price though, it just depends on how great that price is, if its your soul its not worth it. How safe are these practices if you know what your doing? If someone can please explain exactly what the real deal is with the Occult and why it is viewed the way it is, I would be very grateful.

People can react in two ways to the unknown; fear or awe. It's very obvious where the camps of philosophy divide themselves amongst that line. The occult literally means hidden, and we're talking about a realm of philosophy and science that are hidden. And because of this, the occult knowledge tends to be something ideological systems work in reverence with, or in fear against. Like any technology it's only morally neutral until it's applied or interpreted.

Best of Luck,
-Frater Apotheosis

I think this is actually an extremely important question. One that many people ask at one time or another, especially with the prevalence of accompanying the occult with evil or dark forces in popular culture.

I have seen many interesting replies for one reason or another on why it might or might not be considered evil, but I haven't seen anyone really touch I think on the most important aspect, though there was one reply I think that came close to making the point, ie) if you are outside of any of the particular systems that consider your practices to be evil, who cares as you are outside of their system in any case.

In either case most of the responses have dealt with the question from an ideological background. It isn't evil or it is evil for this reason or that. But I think the real question should be why do people think anything is evil, and what is evil anyways?

I am more inclined to think of anything in the occult more like a science then anything else, something to be experimented and learned from, with no right specific answers or ways, there are many answers and there are may ways. Some work, some don't, and at least in some regards this makes it as much art as science, with a lot of it having to do with preference. And I don't refer to it as a science in the limited sense that science is often practiced, more in the original spirit of science as a tool to learn about the world through experiment and experience.

In this sense more then any other, you could ask the very same question of science as it is practiced today as well. Is science evil? Science is used to build weapons of massive destructive ability which are often then used to kill and harm not only people but just about everything else, however destruction in and of itself is not evil and it is natural and necessary in the order of things. Does this then make Science evil? Science is also used to heal people and make people's lives better, does this mean that science is good? Some have remarked that it is how it is used, either as a prism, and that the user is more likely to determine the good or evil of something rather then the practice itself. Which, while I agree with to some extent still completely disregards the question at the heart of the matter.

Evil is consistently spoken of and pointed to, this is evil that isn't or is that evil and this isn't? We shouldn't commune with demons, because they are evil... how do you know that the things you commune with aren't actually evil demons tricking you, etc. All of this begs the question of evil. What is it? Does it actually exist, and why should we assume that demons or anything are specifically evil. Given that most people's familiarity of demons and their evil reputation comes from the Judeo-Christian belief set, it seems rather backwards to study the occult using that same belief set that calls occult practice itself evil. Given that the majority of the demons and devils of the Judeo-Christian belief set are just gods of other religions, it seems kind of ridiculous to immediately vilify them with no experience or familiarity with their origins, or history. Not to mention taking into account that many of the characters in the Bible itself have been people who use these same forces and practices, Soloman as one example off the top of my head, who supposedly summoned and controlled 'demons'.

So, first word of advice is to look into and try and understand where the particular idea of 'evil' originates from. But once again, even more importantly, what is evil? Does it exist at all more then just a particular point of view from a limited perspective. The more we pursue this question, the better prepared I think people would be to better understand and practice in the occult without fear or ignorance of what we are getting ourselves into. If you are not prepared to understand what you are practicing and why you are practicing it, where it comes from or how it can be used, then you are better off not getting involved with it at all.

The occult isn't any more dangerous then anything that is mishandled and applied with ignorance. We are always going to be ignorant, that shouldn't stop us from trying to learn and understand. What we need to realize and accept, is that we are ignorant, and use that awareness to help better prepare us for continuing to strive for understanding. No belief is safe, no idea or truth is guaranteed. An open minded approach with a healthy sense of skepticism and critical thinking are terrific companions on any search for truth.

The only thing that is evil is the assholes asking if it is.

Magic and the Occult itself is not evil , what makes it evil or good is the person that is using it. If you give a gun to a monkey what is going to happen ?

and the pope had to do major dirt to get his position. what do you think takes them so long to study? also, why is there such an intricate and complex heirarchy there? use your logic

they always think things are evil cause they dont understand. my parents used to say i was evil cause they did not understand me and my passion for the occult.