• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Occultism On The Rise?

Mighty_Emperor

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Messages
19,408
Or the fear of the occult on the rise?

Satanism on the rise in France – official report

23 March 2005

PARIS: Satanism is gaining ground in France, leading to an increase in cemetery desecrations and anti-Christian rituals and developing links between disaffected youths and neo-Nazi groups, an official report said yesterday.

An official group that tracks religious sects said it had noted small bands of youths were emerging with shared interests in black metal music, deviant sexual practices, magic or vampires.

They often left satanic symbols such as inverse crosses, pentagrams and demonic numbers at scenes of their crimes.

"One can reasonably speak of a marked progression of this phenomenon," said the report by the Interministerial Mission To Observe and Fight Sectarian Excesses which was handed over to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

"The police have noted a significant rise in profanations of cemeteries that are clearly marked as satanic - 23 cases from January to August 2004 compared to 18 for the whole year of 2003," it wrote.

Cemetery profanations have been especially frequent in eastern French regions such as Alsace, where the report said satanist groups had linked up with neo-Nazis.

Swastikas and satanic symbols have been found spray-painted on tombstones in Christian, Jewish and Muslim cemeteries in eastern France over the past year.

The report gave no overall figures for satanists in France but said that Satanism was also on the rise in Scandinavia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, Greece and Poland.

There were no structured satanist networks in France but youths had access to a wide array of information on the Internet, it said.

Satanists in southern France frequently crossed the border into Spain to hold rave parties in Catalonia, "where they can indulge more freely in their rituals," the report added.

It said the number of deaths linked to satanic practices was limited, with two suicides and two murders linked to them in the past two years.

Source
 
2005-04-08 16:47 *RUSSIA * OCCULTISM * SCALE *

OCCULTISM BOOMING, DAMAGE TO HEALTH UNACCEPTABLE

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Igor Trifonov) - With the aim of banning occult and mystic services, the Moscow City Duma's public health commission is working on amendments to federal legislation including the Law on Bases of Legislation on Public Health, the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights and the Law on Advertising. The amendments will define "occult and mystic services," establish stringent controls over their provision and introduce indemnity for harm caused by such services. The commission does not plan to ban traditional healing: traditional healing is permitted, if licensed, and in any case it is reasonably well controlled by the public health authorities.

Russia experienced an upsurge in occultism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By 1995, every town had its own divine beings and witches. Dozens of fatalities resulted from the activities of shamans and healers. Doctors were seeing people suffering from the most serious after-effects, for example, sudden epilepsy attacks brought on by mass hypnosis sessions. It was clearly no longer possible to ignore the problem and so in 1995 Moscow's Public Health Department launched large-scale campaigns against healers.

In February and March 1995, 189 mass healing and hypnosis sessions were banned in Moscow. The authorities put an end to the activities of "Supreme Shaman of the North" Vladimir Panteleimon, "Supreme Shaman of Siberia" Oyun Batyr, "clairvoyant" Rada and "Supreme Fairy of Flowers," Nadya.

In May 1995, the campaign against sorcerers went national. The judicial chamber for disputes attached to the president took up the issue of traditional healers. By September 1995, traditional healers were not allowed to advertise in the media unless they could provide the original copy of their license. Of course, it was not possible to stamp out pseudo-medical shamanism altogether, but by 2000 the problem had become less acute.

However, having been marginalized on the medical services market, sorcerers and shamans lost no time in switching to advertising solutions to problems, rather than cures. Love potions, removing curses, and aura correction continue to be advertised. This means demand for occult services persists. Psychologists and psychiatrists say that 11-13% of the Russian population believe in witchcraft and magic to such an extent that they would rather consult practitioners from these fields than go to a conventional doctor.

"Over 15 years as an emergency doctor, I have repeatedly seen patients who have harmed themselves by following the advice of sorcerers and magicians," said Fyodor Paperny, who works at a first aid station. "I once heard that a diabetic patient had paid a sorcerer several thousand dollars for treatment. The patient had so much faith in his recovery that he stopped giving himself insulin shots. As a result, he fell into the most severe diabetic coma and died. But then I once saw a man, who'd got to a patient at the same time as me, passed his hands over the patient's trophic ulcer and before my very eyes the ulcer started healing. Out of curiosity, I dropped in on the patient a few days later and could find no trace of the ulcer. Many of my colleagues can cite similar cases. However, there are still dozens more quacks out there than there are people with inexplicable healing abilities."

The Moscow City Duma has reported that during an investigation into the activities of hundreds of magicians and wizards in Moscow, only 20% of them were able to provide any proof of their paranormal abilities. Occult practitioners are estimated to make $3,000-40,000 a month. This sum includes proceeds from consultations, including over the phone, and sales of books, training aids, churingas and amulets.

The occult services market in Moscow alone is said to be worth $8-10 million, and the national market $18-20 million. The practitioners do not pay tax on their earnings, which means occultism obviously damages both people's health and the economy.

Source
 
Bit of both...

I imagine that the rise in occult activity and the fear of same are both exaggerated. I also find the generalizations and stereotypical mindset of both articles to be laughable. True Satanists don't engage in animal sacrifice or grave desecration or any of that other nonsense. True Satanists are interested in themselves, in taking care of number 1. To draw such needless, negative attention to themselves would go against their doctrine. They don't worship Satan, they recognize him as a metaphor only.

This may be old news; I just felt like pointing those things out.
 
I'm sorry, did this escape peopels notice:
The Moscow City Duma has reported that during an investigation into the activities of hundreds of magicians and wizards in Moscow, only 20% of them were able to provide any proof of their paranormal abilities.

So basically their governmental bodies have just said that 20% had some kind of paranormal abilities that they had evidence for?

*blinks*

I find that very Interesting. I wonder what they would clasify as proof?
 
Re: Bit of both...

Livia said:
I imagine that the rise in occult activity and the fear of same are both exaggerated. ... True Satanists don't engage in animal sacrifice or grave desecration or any of that other nonsense.
I imagine that the fear and rise of "occult activity" are interlinked - one feeds the other. The more a conservative, religious body like concerned christian groups defines this "Satanic danger", the more people who decide to be bad ape this definition of it. Following on from that, these people aren't necessarily "true satanists" in the LaVeyan sense. Although COSs see themselves as "true satanists", that doesn't mean they're the only ones. There is plenty of scope for kids to indulge in sacrificing cats and drinking blood :).
 
'True Satanists', i.e. those dedicated to promoting the cause of Satan as a manifestation of absolute evil, would engage in such activites - or at least ones which promote their cause in opposition to Christianity. Of course, this relies on believing in both Satan and God, as defined by the Bible.

CoS types simply use the word 'Satan' to shock, in a rather vapid way. This doesn't have anything to do with Satan as defined by Christianity.
 
Oops, I forgot who I was talking to...I should have specified that I was talking about members of the American Church of Satan.
 
I find myself to have an inconsistent relationship to the occult. Ouija boards - severe aversion. Astrology - well, there MIGHT be something in it, although more based on the moon and other gravitational influences in our solar system, not to mention the effect - in the anti-equatorial climes - of the different Earth experiences of life depending on summer or winter births. Tarot cards I like. I believe in Jesus but not - as yet - Satan. But I might believe in demons. I don't believe in the literal truth of the Bible. Complex, isn't it? Does anyone have an actual definition of 'the occult'?
 
Does anyone have an actual definition of 'the occult'?
Yes. Almost everyone. And they all differ. Mine has drifted far from "cranky shit to be terrified of just coz Jesus doesn't like it" into more like "helpful shit that the Council of Nicea knocked on the head and then the Academy drew a line in the sand about around the time of renaissance coz it's not politically correct to give credence to anything empirical process cant replicate in a stale laboratory, and which constituted about 50% of the lived human experience and used to be very naturally part of mechanical observable phenomena" sort of thing.

I guess what we're left with today is science minus the art. So occult is the historically deliberately sidelined alchemical art of human scientific response to observable phenomena, which is still listed on the Academy's illegal narcotics register yet can be accessed today almost, if not completely, for free.

For instance, apart from the expanding amount of reliably-sourced occult-related published material available, there is a growing palette of accessible, scholarly and practical occult content on Youtube, including Rune Soup, Esoterica, Angela's Symposium, Religion For Breakfast, Centre Place, Let's Talk Religion and Foolish Fish. Educated people I've made contact with include

  • Alexander Cummins
  • Justin Sledge
  • Peter Levenda
  • Jake Stratton-Kent
  • Angela Puca
  • John Hamer
  • Lora O'Brien
  • Peter Gray and Alkistis
  • Gordon White
  • Gary Lachman
  • Miguel Connor
  • Jason Louv
They're all very open and excited about being involved in the current rekindling of the lost and hidden knowledge of our ancestors and are happy to share it with everyone. Most of them keep their personal practices to themselves because firstly magic isn't a one-size-fits-all deal, and secondly because mind your own business, right?

So yeah, there's a legitimate groundswell of light-bringers to meet the growing interest and numbers of the would-be-lit. Flame on, I say.

Now who's occulted?
 
Last edited:
Mine has drifted far from "cranky shit to be terrified of just coz Jesus doesn't like it" into more like "helpful shit that the Council of Nicea knocked on the head and then the Academy drew a line in the sand about around the time of renaissance coz it's not politically correct to give credence to anything empirical process cant replicate in a stale laboratory, and which constituted about 50% of the lived human experience and used to be very naturally part of mechanical observable phenomena" sort of thing.
Nice! :hoff:
 
Certainly the Tarot seems to have ended up in 'the Occult' because the Church didn't like it. Possibly before anyone used it for anything other than complicated card games, but because it was used for gambling, like dice.

Of course there is then the whole Golden Dawn / Aleister Crowley mythmaking laid on top of what had become a tradition of mystical use, but that's recent history.
 
Back
Top