Occultism & Religion Today

Fusion of the core components of occultism, media literacy, conspiracy theory, depth psychology, alchemy and Gnosticism carve out a radical alternative path of spiritual development to the increasingly restrictive, literalist and Fundamentalist cries of mainstream religion and culture.

Religions provide people with a vocabulary of stories and symbols to pattern their lives after. They act as software to interface with the infinite complexities of the universe and the divine. Institutionalized religion helps to bind people together (both positively and negatively) with a culturally-shared system of stories that provide answers to Life’s big questions.

In the contemporary world, many “religions” vie for our attentions. On one side clamor the traditional religions of the West and East with millennia of tradition. On another front, secular and political ideologies scream to be noticed. And on yet another, the behemoth of popular culture rises up to engulf us. Each of these provide us with a system of interlocking stories about how and why we ought to live our lives. How are we to conscientiously navigate between all these competing story-systems, each of which promises us the answers we’re all so desperately looking for?

It might be useful here to observe that religions are cultural-constructs, very much like language (Even if they are “sent” from God, they are still received and filtered through human hearts and minds). Each religion can be seen to have its own vocabulary, syntax, concepts and poetic possibilities. In linguistics, there is not one “true” language, and many “false” languages. Yet, for some reason, we regularly encounter this assertion in the field of religion. What we find ourselves in need of nowadays is a method of translation between all these different religious languages.

DIY Search Engine

Occultism offers just such a theoretical system as it operates almost exclusively by finding and utilizing connections. This tendency to ignore artificial social and cultural boundaries has of course relegated it to the fringes of society since it challenges institutional power bases. Occultism also tends to function as more of a “do-it-yourself” (DIY) variation of religion, in which practitioners thrive on direct experience, rather than mediation – something similar to the so-called “priesthood of all believers”. Knowledge, authority and strength tend to rest in the hands of the individual, rather than a culturally-approved priest or minister. As in the Gnostic tradition, the spark of divine truth resides in each of us, and may be unlocked through intense spiritual dedication.

Where institutionalized religions offer ready answers to life’s questions, occultism instead uses religion as a “search engine technology.” It teaches one how to become an expert on asking bigger, better and more interesting questions. Rather than making things easier on people, it vigorously embraces the great and sometimes maddeningly complex quest towards truth. Commitment to this path may also yield the revelation that sometimes the most profound answers come in the form of a question.

Pop Spirituality

Many people today were raised without or have rejected formalized religion or ideology. With those avenues cut off, they are left with the difficult task of finding religious significance in pop culture. In the resulting chaos of the mediasphere, celebrities rise up as modern day Greek gods and goddesses. All eyes are fixed on them. Stories of their exploits are swapped and expounded upon ad infinitum. For better or worse, they become cultural models for how each of us can or should live our lives.

As is often the case with religions though, this modern Church of the Media is run not by the spiritually elect, but by those who wield immense power and financial resources. They inject the religion of pop culture with stories and subtle control devices which promote their agendas and enhance their wealth. Media literacy has risen to prominence in the past several years as a means of critically deconstructing media messages. Questions probe into the sources, intentions, biases and funding of the message, and its resultant effect on people. Media literacy finds the “story behind the story”. It is an approach which dovetails almost perfectly with the DIY “search engine” ethics of occultism. A fusion of the two offers a ready set of tools for the modern spiritual seeker within pop culture.

Subconscious Conspiracy

The only problem is that once you start dismantling and investigating stories and belief systems, it’s easy to end up in weird or even dangerous territory. A great illustration of this is conspiracy theory: a contemporary pursuit lurking out on the fringes of pop culture typified by a radical devotion to questioning. Conventional wisdom tells us that people involved in it are paranoid lunatics, searching for meaning where there is none. Part of the reason conspiracy theorists are depicted as freaks and weirdoes is a cautionary fable though. It’s a little like a police officer herding onlookers at a crime scene: “Move along folks. Nothing to see here.” It is an instruction to the indoctrinated that the grass is in fact not greener on the other side. The alternatives are not worthwhile, and you will endanger your cultural standing if you investigate them.

But the fact is, when you start in on questioning everything, stuff can get pretty weird. Information springs up where none was before; formerly trusted sources suddenly seem tainted and unusable. It becomes all too easy to lose your orientation and devolve into paranoia and obsession. When we move away from the literalness of facts and instead follow endless connections, we invoke what Jung called the unconscious or subconscious mind. Compared to the rational ordering of the conscious mind, it is an overgrown wilderness: filled with heroes, monsters and feats of magic. Perhaps this is why conspiracy theory so often involves such freaky phenomena as UFO’s, secret Illuminati cabals, Armageddon prophecies and more. They are dredged out of the darkness as the mind of the questioner turns ultimately to question itself. While such things may or may not be physically real, the fact of the matter is that they are very much active as psychological phenomena.

Spiritual Alchemy

With its focus on connections and frequent forays into the unconscious, conspiracy theory shares many connections to the occult. In fact, it could be said that it is the occult side of the modern “religion” of pop-culture. As such, it stands to reason that a conscious recognition of it’s relation to more traditional occult predecessors would both strengthen it and those involved in the practice. Jung saw in such occult systems as alchemy a clear relation to his system of depth psychology. Mythological picture language was used to transmit symbolic psychological truths which could not be expressed through ordinary means. Jung believed that medieval alchemists utilized exterior physical objects and processes as stand-ins or symbols which ultimately enacted corresponding deep psycho-spiritual changes within the spiritual alchemist. They were not merely seeking to turn lead into gold, but themselves into gold as well.

Conspiracy theory, in it’s finer moments, could be considered to do much the same thing. It can be understood as a practical technique whereby we rearrange outward semiotic structures, and in so doing make psychological and spiritual changes within ourselves. Conspiracy theorists concentrate their time on transmuting the “base matter” of current events, official stories, propaganda and public relations into the gleaming golden truth buried within (even sometimes “transcending” facts in the process). Much like Jung’s spiritual alchemists, modern alchemical conspiracy theorists actually seek to transform themselves - to rise up, and take part in the unfathomable mysteries of their universe, and the hidden “True Order” of things.

Gnostic Liberation

Jung also developed a deep fascination with Gnosticism, an early alternative to mainstream Christianity which was stamped out by the Roman Catholic Church. Gnosticism offers modern conspiracy theorists in the alchemical mold an over-arching story-system in which to fit their understanding. Rather than giving in to paranoia or despair, Gnosticism provides a system of ethics for conspiracy theorists based on personal liberation, the quest for knowledge and love of something greater than the world as we see it. And it does so in a mythical-symbolic context which speaks deeply to the type of internal psychological processes that are going on for people involved in conspiracy theory. Gnosticism shows you that whatever kinds of insanity and difficulty you encounter in your quest, that you always have the answers in your heart. It counters the conspirators mantra, “The Truth Is Out There” with the equaling stunning revelation that “The Truth Is In Here” too. Or, in the words of Hermes Trismegistus: “As above, so below.”

Occultism in the modern world invites us to look beyond what we know, peering into the hidden, into the marginalized, into the darkness inside and around us. Through its emphasis on connections and possibilities, we’re liberated from patterns which we have outgrown, or which have trapped us in the past. Used in this spirit of liberation, occultism becomes a holistic avenue of change, personal growth and exciting exploration – all things which are increasingly useful in this day and age.