Caustic Ramblings

Some recent thoughts of mine on why occultism (psychism) is can be such a dangerous path for the type of people who exist in this age and culture:

1. The practice of Psychism devoid of Spirituality always leads to disaster, in my estimation. Many people have enough trouble navigating the material plane without any solid principles to live by; taking the same condition to the astral is going to be even worse by many degrees. It's simply too easy and common for the ignorant and egocentric to get seduced and tricked by the various classes of baddies who dwell on the subtle planes.

2. Spirituality devoid of religion (which doesn't necessarily have to be a big, organized one) offers very little in the way of an intelligible means for the average seeker to distill spiritual principles into concrete rules, precepts, guidelines, advice, ect. Yes, more mature seekers, ones who are at least somewhat self-directed, and philosophically-minded, can do this on their own (granted they are practicing an established system or method) but this doesn't really work for the untrained and clueless, which is the vast majority. I would consider myself a lower-level seeker and I've come to terms with the idea that I'm struggling quite a bit with trying to practice spirituality in a self-directed manner; even using established methods has proven to be quite the challenge. But on that last part; this is why reputable teachers and written sources are so crucial. I almost hate to admit that I find myself religion-shopping (A cringe term, I know...) once again. For most, I don't think the esoteric can be practiced safely in lieu of an exoteric doctrine or set of precepts; and if two are combined then they cannot be too symbolically dissimilar, lest the unfortunate combination might amplify the pre-existing elemental imbalances of the immature seeker.

3. The degenerative culture we now live in is one of hyper-atomized individualism; people by and large reject competence hierarchies when it comes to the qualitative sciences. Ever since the late 60s, we've been mentally programmed to think it's "cool" to see the Critical Parent archetype (which in Spirituality, is the Hierophant or Guru) as something to constantly mock, deride, and act in defiance of. And since then, any formal type of social organization (except the state or one's big corporate employer, funnily enough) scaled higher than the nuclear family is something that's to be seen as suspect. And now the family itself is under this same type of attack. So, by all of this, the notion that one must defer authority and experience in spirituality to a reputable grand master or high priest or even a humble teacher with a lot of sweat equity under his or her belt, is something to be harshly rejected; because after all, it's an affront to modern sensibilities! There's no question why the vast majority of those butting their nose into occultism these days have no clue what they are doing. In fact, they probably pride themselves on this, though likely that part takes place subconsciously. In our Brave New (Woke) World, Truth is subjective and everyone is their own pope. The legions of astral critters chomping at the bit out there in the shadowy mists must absolutely adore this arrangement.

4. With this arrangement of inverted and broken-down social hierarchies being the norm now, most attempts to organize a group of seekers along sane principles and a proper baseline respect of knowledge and skill, is bound to devolve into chorus of shrieks, howls, and general psychodrama. The so-called "alt spirituality" scene, the place where those interested in occultism tend to flock, are the kind of people who were raised by the TV, online social media, and the sort of mind-rotting garbage that passes for "education" in today's government indoctrination centers. In other words, the kids sure weren't raised by knowledgeable and caring elders, much less ones they've personally met face-to-face. As a result, when the misguided moderns and postmoderns dive head-first into things like occultism and the attempt to venerate the Old Gods, they're bound to see things like deities, spirits, spiritual powers/attainments, psychic abilities, ect. like they are pokemons or power-ups they easily grab in their favorite video game. No one is around to teach them otherwise, and even if they were, their knowledge would surely be spat upon with puerile defiance.

5. I think the relative anomaly this is JMG's Ecosophia group/commentariat , helps illustrate some of my above points. Through years of JMG's diligent comment-weeding and troll-banning, we have a nice little group of respectful and open-minded people who can respect expertise and knowledge without falling into the opposing extreme of blind guru worship or devotional madness (typical Piscean pitfalls). This I think might be good template of how spiritual order gets reestablished in the Aquarian Age. But most seekers today aren't fortunate to have found a group like this. Or they lack the character and maturity to behave courteously in such a group.

6. No matter how much I rant about how occultism today is too dangerous for most people, those curious people are going to do it anyway. And may the universe have mercy on their souls when they screw up big or just do something really stupid. I've been taught that the Gods don't really have a plan for this, or really any sort of systematic mitigation process in place. The notion that most of the Gods are uncaring is another factor that's brought on my new round of religion shopping. The Eastern religions in particular all tend to be anchored around transcendent principles that aren't dependent on mythological particulars and peculiarities from 3000 years ago.

From the very WIDE net I've cast out in the area of comparative religion studies, in a very Sagittarius-rising kind of way, mind you, I've arrived at a concept I have termed "Complete Tradition." By this I mean, a spiritual/religious umbrella that allows for a plurality of different spiritual paths and approaches to metaphysical inquiry and outward religious expression.

Using the framework of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), we could say that within a Complete Tradition there are 3 basic Spiritual Paths, or simply, Approaches to the Divine:

1. God-communion
2. Self-realization
3. Nature-communion

1. (God-communion) is the path of direct communion with a deity, typically by way of prayer, mantras and various other devotional activities. The devotee calls upon God using personality-representation or Avatar of the Supreme Being. Hindus worshiping Krishna as the last avatar of Vishnu (Hindu Godhead), is one famous example. The even more famous example would be worshipping Jesus Christ as the incarnation of Yahweh* on Earth. And of course, there's Muslims with Allah. You get the picture. In the Hindu tradition, this devotional path is called Bhakti Yoga, or simply Bhakti. Sometimes Karma Yoga can be combined with this. Worship often has a communal expression and in general this path is suited for people of an emotional or earthly nature; the sort of people who require a group atmosphere and the peer-reinforcement that comes along with that territory. This type of religion can eventually degrade into blind faith, dogma-attachment and even fanaticism. The Age of Pisces (which we are now departing) saw Bhakti religions as the most dominant and widespread. As we enter further into Aquarius, religions that have only allowed for this type of path are either going to shed tons of followers or be forced in one way or another to loosen up on the old dogma and allow for more diverse types of practice and belief.

2. (Self-realization) is another way of connecting with the Absolute Divine, although in a much more individualized manner than the above path. A deity is usually invoked, though this is not totally necessary. The prime Hindu example of this path would be the invocation of Shiva as the representation of Pure Consciousness in its highest form. This path does not at all require any sort of communal religious activity. And thus it's a path well suited to monks, hermits, and renunciates in general. And for those who aren't willing to entirely give up mundane worldly life, this can simply be a path of individual worship or practice for a householder. In essence, it's the perfect path of the "spiritual but not religious" type who might be averse to group activities or rigid dogma. In a more degraded form, the Self-realization path becomes the so-called "Left Hand Path" taken by the casual (or serious) dabbler in the Occult who still believes in a power or powers much higher than the material plane. Whether an occultist, heterodox practitioner, or loner adherent of an established tradition, the Self-realization path is suited toward the person who is considerably more experimental, eclectic, enterprising or intellectual than the average person. Various types of Yoga are geared toward this path. In summary, Self-realization is how the seeker discovers the divinity of their own consciousness and eventually the transcendent Oneness of all reality.

3. (Nature-communion) is what we get when we think of popular conceptions of Paganism, Witchcraft, Shamanism and Native American spirituality. This is a set of myriad and diverse practices and ritual forms used to connect with unseen** forces of nature in a very local context (as in, in your own bio-region here on Earth), typically phenomena like nature spirits/elementals, terrestrial devas, planetary energies, telluric spirits, demons, ghosts, departed souls, ancestor spirits, ect. Or this is simply the exploration of paranormal phenomena.

Of course, any serious (and relatively-unbiased) scholar might conclude that the actual ancient pagan traditions had this path merely as a part of their outer forms, and that within these traditions were metaphysical teachings and spiritual practices that certainly included many aspects of the first two paths. The most famous example of this is the Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) tradition, which like Sanatana Dharma wasn't a singular religion at all, but rather an expansive cultural umbrella containing myriad cults, practices and teachings. In fact this is what ALL pagan traditions really were -- not any specific "ism" but actually that very umbrella. Most Monotheists have difficulty conceptualizing their concept of "paganism" in these broad, nuanced terms. And thus they treat it like a creed they need to denounce, because all they know of religion and spirituality is precisely-written creeds. To use an old cliche here: When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. One of the hallmark practices of Abrahamism was to treat all Nature-communion spirituality as "devil worship," and idolatry, because of the rather ambiguous nature of the countless spiritual entities that are neither angels nor infernal beings. With this rigid type of dualism, any non-human sentient entity with a neutral-leaning alignment generates an immediate "does not compute!" result and thus gets cast into the "demon" bin because it can't be accurately classified within the tone-deaf dualist schema. The more mature way of looking at path#3 is to realistically see it as only being able to go "so far"... in other words, only leading slightly up the mountain, yet serving as a potent entry point to the transcendent paths that go far higher. IMHO, Nature-communion is a good way to introduce skeptical personality types*** to the realm of spirituality. But the seeker must be informed of all the potential pitfalls native to this path.


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*Yahweh is the Hebrew God of the Torah, originally one among the whole Northwest Semitic pantheon. Eventually, with the rapid spread of Christianity, the Romans ended up passing off this god as universal when they mass-adopted the religion and made it their one-and-only state religion, and thus conflated what was once just a tribal god with The Good/Absolute principle of the Platonic and Gnostic traditions. Several centuries later, Jewish kabbalists would incorporate the Platonic Godhead into their own system in a much more holistic and sensible manner and created a Hebrew metaphysical doctrine far more elaborate (and in line with Perennial tradition) than the confusing hodgepodge known as Christian theology. By the medieval period, the YHWH (Tetragrammaton) of Kabbalah became synonymous with the Platonic, Gnostic and Eastern (Dharmic) concepts of the transcendent God.

**Unseen by those lacking in psychic and clairvoyant faculties. According to most traditions that are inclusive of the third path, these are abilities that a practitioner can develop and augment over time with much practice, determination and instruction from a competent and knowledgeable teacher.

***Skeptical personality types, meaning people who in this context lack faith in divine providence, yet harbor an intellectual curiosity in the paranormal and are thus willing to explore this area in an experimental manner.

A very rough sketch of the kinds of personality types and temperaments we can render using the number 4; some of these are build upon existing models from various points in time and from places around the world.

Greek Humors:

Choleric - Hot-headed, driven, active, action-oriented, results-focused, disciplined, impatient

Sanguine - Affable, gregarious, active, action-oriented, pleasure-seeking, optimistic

Melancholic - Reserved, deliberate, pessimistic, results-focused, disciplined, withdrawn, irritable, ascetic, gratification-delaying

Phlegmatic - Laid-back, reserved, unflappable, humble, self-conscious, non-disclosing


Hindu Varna (not to be confused with hereditary classes):

Brahmin - Knowledge/wisdom-seeking, scholarly, truth-seeking, creative, gratification-delaying, risk-averse, spiritual, idealistic

Kshatriya - Honor-seeking, driven, ambitious, active, action-oriented, hot-headed self-sacrificing, risk-taking, spiritual, idealistic

Vaishya - Acquisitive, driven, ambitious, goal-oriented, shrewd business sense, results-focused, disciplined, gratification-delaying, pragmatic, risk-averse, materialistic, comfort-seeking

Shudra - Laid-back, risk-averse, unambitious, goes with the flow, humble, down to earth, habitual, materialistic, comfort-seeking, hedonistic


Classical Elements:

Fire - Hot-headed, driven, active, creative, action-oriented, aggressive, quick to anger, natural leader, impatient, expansive, sets the pace, pushy

Water - Affable, expressive, people-oriented, sentimental, diplomatic, agreeable, emotional, smooth, collaborative, consensus-oriented, charismatic, irrational, faithful

Air - Cerebral, deliberative, knowledge/wisdom-seeking, cold, calculating, scholarly, curious, arrogant, limber, impersonal, nimble, mercurial, clandestine, hubristic, presumptuous

Earth - Grounded, solid, habitual, down-to-earth, reliable, stubborn, risk-averse, change-averse, boring, conventional, lacking in creativity or novelty, repetitive


Jungian Types:

Intuition - Creative, mystical, novelty-oriented, big-picture-seeking, holistic-minded, visionary, idealistic, unconventional, idiosyncratic, qualitative, weird, crankish, neurotic

Sensing - Conventional, experiential, quantitative, grounded, solid, habitual, here-and-now, pragmatic, reliable, stubborn, change-averse, boring, lacking in creativity or novelty

Thinking - Cerebral, deliberative, experimental, cold, calculating, impersonal, challenging, scholarly, mercurial, results-oriented

Feeling - Expressive, people-oriented, sentimental, diplomatic, agreeable, emotional, collaborative, consensus-oriented, charismatic, irrational, faithful, wellbeing-oriented


Keirsey Temperaments:

Idealist - Idealistic, creative, mystical, novelty-oriented, big-picture-seeking, holistic-minded, people-oriented, sentimental, diplomatic, agreeable, unconventional, idiosyncratic, qualitative, consensus-oriented, wellbeing-oriented

Guardian - Honorable, law and order-seeking, ambitious, conventional, experiential, quantitative, grounded, solid, habitual, stubborn, change-averse, goal-oriented, disciplined, gratification-delaying, pragmatic

Rationalist - Cerebral, creative, novelty-oriented, big-picture-seeking, deliberative, cold, calculating, impersonal, challenging, scholarly, experimental

Artisan - Affable, active, action-oriented, pleasure-seeking, goes with the flow, down to earth, habitual, materialistic, novelty-seeking, hedonistic