For most people, the phrase "the occult" conjures up (ahem) a variety of images ranging from the potentially erotic to the downright sinister. To some, it is the surest way to the Devil and to others the means by which all life's mundane problems can be made to vanish with but a thought. Sigh. None of these things are perfectly true, and we are therefor at some pains to explain and to allay what fears some might have.

In a very general sense, we would like to say that there are two distinct traditions of the occult: a literary tradition and a factual one. Most people are far more familiar with the former than with the latter--and why not? Who hasn't heard of the Sorcerer's Apprentice? Of Faust and his deal with the Devil? Of Solomon, who with his magick ring bound demons to his will? These are the denizens of the literary tradition, a time-worn collection of tales meant often to entice, or to incite wonder and--often--to warn against the Easy Road to the Wide Gate. In contrast to this is a collection of curious magickal orders, philosophers both well-known and obscure (and some members of the Church of Rome and it's children), cryptic volumes of theory and vast collections of charms, spells and lore of interest to few outside the ranks of the academics and enthusiasts.

We take issue with the literary tradition in that whatever deep messages may have been once contained in the oldest of stories, they seem to be lost (not all the oldest of stories, tho'). We are left with ( to take the examples above) the Sorcerer's apprentice, ranking high on the list of the oldest stories ever told, where things go badly for the unlearned who would dare reach beyond their station; or, of a man who sold his soul to the Devil to obtain goals both mundane and worthy (or was his crime really that he attempted to change his destiny, God's plan?); and the legends attending King Solomon, who is generally accorded as being a good sort of bloke and quite favored by God, despite the fact that he turned his back upon Him repeatedly, post beneficio.

Let us say that one can always reach higher (and we all are driven to do so, at heart), if one is mindful of danger and chooses the wise course of educating oneself in one's apprentice craft before attempting masterworks. The notion of selling one's soul to the devil is simply absurd on the face of it--the soul cannot be sold in this manner. "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's; give unto God what is God's" it's been said. Let us examine these tales in their true light, the everyday matter of enslaving ones' self to the devils of power, wealth and fame. Solomon? His historicity is more or less certain, yet his life is but a mishmash of legends and sacred scripture spanning the literary traditions of several middle-eastern cultures--a sort of magickal catch-all drawer.

Magick is a collection of techniques developed in the West which is in every way the corollary of Yoga in the East. Magick is about the Divine and about exploring our relationship with it. In a sense, Magick is the essence of all Religion, and runs like a hidden thread through every one of them one worthy of the name. Most metaphysical or occult schools of the West believe Mankind has a special destiny and that it is our responsibility to comprehend and make it manifest. It is our belief that anyone who would find that sinister is no fit judge of those with courage sufficient to seek True Wisdom.

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