"Occultism"-- Coming out of the Closet

[blackout]

After grappling with labels for so very long,
I've finally come to the conclusion
that All in All
I feel that the many definitions of "Occult"
work in tandem,
(and largely esoterically)
to describe 'me' and My Way
most profoundly and accurately
on the most levels
with emphasis on the esoteric,
where my preferred artistic emphasis always lies.

I TRULY love,
and could easily make personal use of
ALL of the following definitions...
(on my own terms, and in light of my Own under'standing)
--see posts 2 and 3

It's the only word that seems to fit, and feel right.

I think that when people in general ask me
if I'm part of a religion
from now on
I'm going to say
"mine is a Mystery Religion".

Anyone who gains my trust
I will come out of the closet
and just call mySelf an Occultist.


My question to you all,
do you think
given our "christian" culture,
that it is wise to just come out openly
to anyone who asks?
I mean,
we do have freedom of religious practice,
but people can be so squeamish...
and they assume things....
so
I don't know.
I do have kids,
and that sometimes concerns me,
but the truth is

I'm tired of *Occulting my Occultism.
LOLOL!

*hiding, covering over, making secret, concealing....



Should I come out of the closet?
In real life,
now please be honest,
would you assume negative things about me?
Would you view me as some kind of danger?
Would you hold it against me?
Would you dissalow your children
from playing with mine?

I REALLY want to Out mySelf.
I am tired of hiding who I am.

Telling people I'm an esoteric symbolist
will probably be even weirder,
and not at all helpful.:areyoucra

 

[blackout]

[Latin occultus, secret, past participle of occulere, to cover over; see kel-1 in Indo-European roots.]

 

[blackout]

occult
adj. 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.
2. Beyond the realm of human comprehension; inscrutable.
3. Available only to the initiate; secret: occult lore. See Synonyms at mysterious.
4. Hidden from view; concealed.
5. a. Medicine Detectable only by microscopic examination or chemical analysis, as a minute blood sample.
b. Not accompanied by readily detectable signs or symptoms: occult carcinoma.


n. Occult practices or techniques: a student of the occult.

v. (

-k

lt

) oc·cult·ed, oc·cult·ing, oc·cults
v.tr. 1. To conceal or cause to disappear from view.
2. Astronomy To conceal by occultation: The moon occulted Mars.

v.intr. To become concealed or extinguished at regular intervals: a lighthouse beacon that occults every 45 seconds.

occult
adj 1. a. of or characteristic of magical, mystical, or supernatural arts, phenomena, or influences
b. (as noun) the occult

2. beyond ordinary human understanding
3. secret or esoteric

vb [ɒˈkʌlt] 1. (Astronomy) Astronomy (of a celestial body) to hide (another celestial body) from view by occultation or (of a celestial body) to become hidden by occultation
2. to hide or become hidden or shut off from view
3. (intr) (of lights, esp in lighthouses) to shut off at regular intervals [from Latin occultus, past participle of occulere, from ob- over, up + -culere, related to celāre to conceal]
occultly adv
occultness n

 

[blackout]

Here's another Question,

In real life,
if I told you in the context of a conversation
that I was an Occultist,
what would be your first response?
Would you internally prepare to try and save me?
Would you immediately dismiss me as a kook?

... and of more interest to me....
Would you be genuinely curious?
Would you ask me questions?
If so,
what questions would you ask me?
(I may even try to answer them here. )
if only for the sake of practice.

 

[blackout]

As an aside,
I do feel that it's unwise
to discuss religion, politics,
and anything of a highly personal manner
at your place of work,
in general.

You are there amongst your co-workers
to do a particular job.

It's not the place for it.

 

[LuisDantas]

I usually assume that people who call themselves occultists would rather tell me about their beliefs at their own leisure and desire me to make as few assumptions as possible.

I would also assume that I will never truly understand their beliefs, but I guess that is ok.

As for being weird or dangerous, quite frankly, the most dangerous and weird beliefs that I know are among the most mainstream as well.

 

[blackout]

I usually assume that people who call themselves occultists would rather tell me about their beliefs at their own leisure and desire me to make as few assumptions as possible.

Really. :cover: It's a very good assumption actually!
One of the few truly helpful ones.

Nothing worse than dragging a suitcase of assumptions
into a new relationship.
So much cumbersome sorting.
And for what?

I would also assume that I will never truly understand their beliefs, but I guess that is ok.

This is true for so many of us anyway, right?
It's really not a problem.

As for being weird or dangerous, quite frankly, the most dangerous and weird beliefs that I know are among the most mainstream as well.

That's very rational... and pragmatic... of you.

 

[Willamena]

Considering the stigma associated with occult, that even you admit here, I would suggest that "esoteric symbolist" does sound bad at all.

 

[blackout]

Considering the stigma associated with occult, that even you admit here, I would suggest that "esoteric symbolist" does sound bad at all.

Does? or Doesn't?

So you think it's a bad idea I gather.

 

[blackout]

So the silence in here is deafening.

I was hoping for a cross section of responses,
yet so far, only one athiest/agnostic buddhist, and one 'just me'.

 

[Revoltingest]

I say to come out.
But my advice is often wrong.

 

[Erebus]

Hi

In my honest opinion, "coming out" as an occultist of any variety requires great care. It's entirely up to you who you open up to of course, but I personally tend to be very selective in who I talk about it with at all and even more selective over who I reveal my own brand of occultism to.
Some people will never be able to accept it and simply don't want to know what you believe. Here in England, a lot of people think that saying "I believe in magic" is roughly equivalent to saying "I'm a schizophrenic". It requires a certain skill in reading people before you can safely reveal it.

Still it's up to you and if you want to go "out" then i wish you the best of luck

As to your other question, if somebody was to tell me they were an occultist, I'd probably dive into a conversation right away (what paradigm do you follow, opinions on ritual etc). For me "Occultist" is an umbrella term that would demand exploration

 

[Twig pentagram]

After grappling with labels for so very long,
I've finally come to the conclusion
that All in All
I feel that the many definitions of "Occult"
work in tandem,
(and largely esoterically)
to describe 'me' and My Way
most profoundly and accurately
on the most levels
with emphasis on the esoteric,
where my preferred artistic emphasis always lies.

I TRULY love,
and could easily make personal use of
ALL of the following definitions...
(on my own terms, and in light of my Own under'standing)
--see posts 2 and 3

It's the only word that seems to fit, and feel right.

I think that when people in general ask me
if I'm part of a religion
from now on
I'm going to say
"mine is a Mystery Religion".

Anyone who gains my trust
I will come out of the closet
and just call mySelf an Occultist.


My question to you all,
do you think
given our "christian" culture,
that it is wise to just come out openly
to anyone who asks?
I mean,
we do have freedom of religious practice,
but people can be so squeamish...
and they assume things....
so
I don't know.
I do have kids,
and that sometimes concerns me,
but the truth is

I'm tired of *Occulting my Occultism.
LOLOL!

*hiding, covering over, making secret, concealing....



Should I come out of the closet?
In real life,
now please be honest,
would you assume negative things about me?
Would you view me as some kind of danger?
Would you hold it against me?
Would you dissalow your children
from playing with mine?

I REALLY want to Out mySelf.
I am tired of hiding who I am.

Telling people I'm an esoteric symbolist
will probably be even weirder,
and not at all helpful.:areyoucra

It depends on if you're ready for the prejudice attitude that comes with everyone knowing who you really are. I only tell my ideology to the people that I think can handle the truth.

 

[Twig pentagram]

Here's another Question,

In real life,
if I told you in the context of a conversation
that I was an Occultist,
what would be your first response?
Would you internally prepare to try and save me?
Would you immediately dismiss me as a kook?

... and of more interest to me....
Would you be genuinely curious?
Would you ask me questions?
If so,
what questions would you ask me?
(I may even try to answer them here. )
if only for the sake of practice.

I would probably ask a few questions. I really don't know exactly which questions I would ask but I know that I would be interested.

 

[blackout]

Hi

In my honest opinion, "coming out" as an occultist of any variety requires great care. It's entirely up to you who you open up to of course, but I personally tend to be very selective in who I talk about it with at all and even more selective over who I reveal my own brand of occultism to.
Some people will never be able to accept it and simply don't want to know what you believe. Here in England, a lot of people think that saying "I believe in magic" is roughly equivalent to saying "I'm a schizophrenic". It requires a certain skill in reading people before you can safely reveal it.

Still it's up to you and if you want to go "out" then i wish you the best of luck

As to your other question, if somebody was to tell me they were an occultist, I'd probably dive into a conversation right away (what paradigm do you follow, opinions on ritual etc). For me "Occultist" is an umbrella term that would demand exploration

Occultic type people, and LHP people really do get it from both directions.
From "fearful" , judgemental religious/theists
to
'superior' mocking, judgemental non-religious/athiests,
and while the judgements made are vastly different,
still predjudice is predjudice.

It would be SO nice if people were ACTUALLY interested
in who "other" people really are.
(instead of who they want, assume, or imagine them to be)

 

[blackout]

It depends on if you're ready for the prejudice attitude that comes with everyone knowing who you really are. I only tell my ideology to the people that I think can handle the truth.

THOUGHT: Perhaps I should say that, "I am "into Occult/ic studies".
(instead of saying "I'm an Occultist"- which is far more 'loaded')
This actually IS a true statement,
(though the studies 'I am into' are (of course) my Own....)

but still
it sounds more like "book learning"
to 'educated secularists'
who might be put off by the term "Occultist",
and as well
to the traditionally religious
It comes off more as
"it's something that interests me"/
"something that I look into"
rather than
"it's something that I 'Am' /that I engage in/practice"
(dis'spelling ideas that I somehow "belong to 'the enemy' "/Am 'evil'/whatever)

What do you think?
It may be a good way to let others know what interests me,
(more like a 'hobby' or a personal fascination),
then, if they are truly interested,
they will ask intelligent questions,
and I can answer them intelligently.

And then I don't feel like I have to closet
entire aspects of "what I'm about",
my interests and personality/persona,
my "World Views",
from the world at large
for fear of ridicule and persecution.

 

[doppelganger]

I always thought of "occult" as "hidden or secret". But now I understand it to be more like "seeing things that are in plain view, but were concealed by the gloss of culture that blinded me to them." Does that make sense?

Once your eyes are opened, you wonder how you ever missed it, yet no amount of pointing it out to someone not prepared to really look will help them see it.

Strange stuff, the occult.

 

[blackout]

Revoltifarian Athiest says "come out".

DarkPagan/Demonotater and Light-bearer (Luciferian Panthiest?) say....
"Be careful/guarded/selective",
ie, probably best NOT to come out of the closet. :no:

 

[blackout]

I always thought of "occult" as "hidden or secret". But now I understand it to be more like "seeing things that are in plain view, but were concealed by the gloss of culture that blinded me to them." Does that make sense?

Once your eyes are opened, you wonder how you ever missed it, yet no amount of pointing it out to someone not prepared to really look will help them see it.

Strange stuff, the occult.

It does make sense.

Is it any wonder that The Occult World is full of See'rs?

 

[Erebus]

ie, probably best NOT to come out of the closet. :no:

Tis up to you obviously, though I would be inclined to only reveal it to people you trust. Unfortunately like you said, people ARE prejudiced and occultism (especially of the darker variety) isn't something a lot of people are comfortable with. The flip-side of this of course is that it's a quick way to distinguish who is and isn't accepting of you, so it isn't all negative.

I always thought of "occult" as "hidden or secret". But now I understand it to be more like "seeing things that are in plain view, but were concealed by the gloss of culture that blinded me to them." Does that make sense?

Once your eyes are opened, you wonder how you ever missed it, yet no amount of pointing it out to someone not prepared to really look will help them see it.

Strange stuff, the occult.

Excellent post. It's always amazed me how many people will claim it's all BS or evil without having ever actually looked at it, let alone practiced it.