I hate the Internet.
You know, in my day, back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, the ability to be taken seriously as a practicing magus was predicated on a few things that were within the scope of my control. Before delving seriously into the practice of Magick, I, at least, took some time to get a degree in Psychology, with study of the paranormal as an interesting sidelight. I took the practice of magick and the exploration of the unseen world very seriously. And while I never subscribed to the raging atheism of stage magicians, I did think it prudent to study their work. While I've never had the luxury of skepticism, I have on occasion found at least a couple of things that were spoiled for me by serious scientific inquiry. In fact, one can make a case that most haunted houses could stand a vigorous check for carbon monoxide fumes, and for infrasonic phenomenon. Taos, New Mexico has a hum that some people can hear, and it's a well-known fact that infrasonic frequencies can cause erratic behavior and even hallucinations in people. Infrasonic phenomenon are naturally occurring in some places. Is it so far a jump to wonder how many "hauntings" are in fact nothing of the kind? And I speak as a person who has WALKED in the spirit world.
But, in the fullness of time, the field of occult research has been crowded up, not only by John Edwards, James Van Pragh and other charlatans of their ilk but also by any hausfrau with an itch for the paranormal and time to code a web page. God's teeth! At least stay away from the hokier aspects of our work. Every pair of eyes that sees a web page that looks like an advertisement for a store selling Halloween costumes makes my work that much harder to digest for the serious thinker.
By the thrice great, I am an old old man. I'll be shouting at neighborhood youngsters to get off of my lawn next.
No comments:
Post a Comment