The Witching Hour Interview

 Recently I was honored to be a guest on Eron Mazza’s podcast, The Witching Hour.

 Check it out by following the link below.

H.P. Lovecraft Birthday

“The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.” ― H. P. Lovecraft

Note: Lovecraft’s racism is well known. Although his views moderated later in life, he maintained both until death. 

I must emphasize that I find Lovecraft’s racism disgusting and vulgar. This post is not supportive of his views, but it is a brief exploration of the long-lasting influence of his work on various occult practices and philosophies.    

H.P. Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island, to an affluent family. Howard was a sickly child, physically and emotionally, and regularly missed school. In 1893, his father was institutionalized due to syphilis and died in 1898. After his grandfather’s death, the family’s wealth dissipated. His mother was later institutionalized in 1919. 

Lovecraft’s literary career began in 1913 when he wrote essays for the United Amateur Press Association. From then on, he wrote speculative fiction and was published in several pulp magazines. While living in New York City in 1924, he married Sonia Greene. Greene and the literary circle of friends introduced Lovecraft to Weird Tales, which became his primary publisher. 

In 1926, he returned to Providence and wrote some of his most famous stories. His works during this time included The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow over Innsmouth, and The Shadow Out of Time. 

H.P. Lovecraft died on March 15, 1937, at age 46 from intestinal cancer.

While Lovecraft’s impact on American horror is well known, little is discussed about his influence on contemporary occultism and philosophy. 

In 1972, Michael Aquino, PhD.D., developed the Ceremony of the Nine Angles. Initially published in The Satanic Rituals, The ritual incorporates Lovecraft’s entities, such as Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. When Aquino left the Church of Satan and formed the Temple of Set, he incorporated the Ceremony into the rituals of his new organization. To learn more about the Ceremony of the Nine Angles, I highly recommend Toby Chappell’s excellent book Infernal Geometry and the Left-Hand Path.

While most think of the Cthulhu Mythos when they think of Lovecraft, he also developed a philosophy known as Cosmicism. Wikipedia provides an excellent definition of Cosmicism: “The literary philosophy developed by the American writer H P Lovecraft, stating that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as God, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence.”

In many ways, Cosmicism anticipated the work of Sartre and Camus. Neither Sartre nor Camus would develop their philosophies of Existentialism and Absurdism until well after Lovecraft developed Cosmicism. The similarities of the three philosophies speak highly to the influence of the zeitgeists of the times we live in.

The Source of Magick

Today, we have a pop quiz. Don’t worry; it’s multiple guess.

Question: What is the source of magick? Choose one from the following options.

A.    Spirits, such as gods, demons, angels, ancestors, etc.
B.    Energy
C.    Placebo
D.    Yet undiscovered natural laws of nature
E.    An interconnected, conscious universe interacting with your divine will
F.    It’s a mystery
G.   All of the above

Answer: G. All of the above.

The reality is that all six options play a role to varying degrees in the function of magick.

There was a tendency to boil everything down to one simple answer during modernity. A hallmark of modernity was the belief that everything could be simplified. “This phenomenon is nothing but (insert simple answer here).” Scholars today are moving away from the simplistic answers that were so popular in modernity. In this postmodern (some say post-postmodern or metamodern) world, scholars today see complexity in nearly everything. When asked to explain something, many scholars now say, “It’s a combination of factors,” before going into a complex answer with caveats that there’s much that we don’t understand. Many scholars admit that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know.

This metamodern preference for complexity and acknowledgment of our limitations is healthier than the hubris of modernity. It recognizes both the tremendous power of the sciences while recognizing that there’s so much we don’t know.

More and more occultists are going to a complex understanding of magick. We shouldn’t be surprised about this. We’re embedded in this era, so our thoughts tend to match it. Therefore, occult thought usually follows the zeitgeist of the times.

This metamodern complexity is better than the simplistic modernity for the magick user. One advantage is that it allows us to be flexible and pragmatic. Some rituals are more effective if we emphasize spirit work, while others should emphasize energy. Another benefit is humility as the opposite of hubris. Hubris is a form of exaggerated and excessive pride. And while pride is healthy, so is recognition of one’s limitations.     

So, don’t get caught up in simple answers, especially regarding occult matters. Life is messy and complicated. Embrace the complexity.

Magick

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ― Roald Dahl, author

Dark Paganism, as the name implies, is part of the larger Contemporary Pagan movement. And magick plays a vital role in the lives of most Pagans.  

Magick is a profound and sacred spiritual practice with deep, ancient roots. The world’s earliest writings of Mesopotamia contain spells used by sorcerers and everyday people. Magick continues to impact all aspects of our lives.

What is magick? The most common definition one will find was given by Aleister Crowley, who defined it as “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will.” However, many practitioners, myself included, are moving away from this. The definition I use is “probability influence.” Magick increases or decreases the odds of an occurrence.  

We can see magick as an influence on probability in money spells. The odds of finding an American dollar randomly lying on the sidewalk of a major city in the US is greater than finding a roll of $100 bills. Therefore, a money spell may increase your cash flow, but it’s not likely to make you rich because it takes less influence to simply increase cash flow. 

Interestingly, I’ve found that the most profound benefit of practicing magick isn’t the changes it makes to my mundane life. Sure, it helps me with my finances and family. Magick opens doors and gives me opportunities I might not have had without it. However, the most significant benefit of magick is its effect on me as a person.  

I am a better person because of magick. It has helped me grow and become more confident. Because of this confidence, I can do more without magick now than I could before I started practicing.

The benefit of personal growth is a major reason magick is an integral part of Dark Paganism.