For about a decade of practicing Magick, I’ve encountered various warnings against it. According to the mainstream, these are the usual “inevitable” possessions, cults, and paranormal fantasies. According to Occulture, things are a bit more specific:
- Not banishing is dangerous.
- Too much banishing is dangerous.
- The Supreme Pentagram = dangerous.
- Liber V = dangerous.
- Density ordering is dangerous.
- For some, traditional ordering… well, you get the point.
Given that, I decided to offer my two cents on “specific changes” that may occur if you practice seriously. None of them is particularly “dangerous,” but they can be unpleasant/disturbing based on circumstances.
Disclaimer
For the real “mystery knowers,” “adepts,” “initiates,” and other luminaries: I am not a “true seeker,” nor an “initiate” of any order or system.
Think of me as a “disciplined dabbler”: a biohacker who uses rituals instead of substances (nootropics). Everything I say is based on personal practice and the experiences of those who bought my course or manuals.
Politics
I don’t care how apolitical you are; things will likely change, although you probably won’t succumb to ideologies. Conversely, you might become highly politically opinionated as you see how currents and movements have been shaping your destiny since birth.
It’s one to learn things passively. It’s very different to realize and experience them first-hand through real-life situations, emotional states, and racing thought trains.
It’s a big part of what rending the veil actually is. Magick operates in three layers:
- Personal;
- Interpersonal;
- Transpersonal;
Bringing light between those will likely include seeing objective/collective truths… as “transpersonal” does include egregoric forces of economy and states.
Occultists tend to be influenced by sci-fi and fantasy. Some believe that life is kind of like SWTOR, only to find it’s more like Dune. And this brings some good and bad news:
- Increasing awareness of your actual circumstances can be extremely discouraging. No doubt.
- On the other hand, it can also protect you from overexerting mindless effort without reward… and fighting wrong fights and lost battles.
Real Danger 1
The real danger comes from surrendering your agency and drowning in nihilistic assumptions that “nothing matters.” Life is mostly like Dune, but with moments of Star Wars. Moments when your personal skills, routines, and ability to make the most out of your probability shifts can make a difference.
Geography, states, and economies are perpetually impacting you, but that doesn’t mean you cannot act.
So keep on doing so.
Melting Metals
Some adore yapping about “melting metals” until they realize it may involve the depths and mysteries of their sexuality. No, it isn’t that you’ll suddenly flip to a polar opposite.
It might be that you discover what you’re actually responding to, distinguishing between an attraction to archetypal energy (femininity/masculinity) versus purely biological mechanics.
What you truly find attractive vs what you’ve been socially conditioned to perform. Understanding that distinction is part of what “Solve et Coagula” and “Know Thyself” actually look like in practice.
Awareness increases resolution.
The goal is not to turn you into something you are not.
Most likely, it’s cultivating the ability to accept yourself as more of everything. The more you do, the more fitted you become to cause various changes and turn things into existence realistically.
Realistically? Yeah.
A magickal practice can vastly benefit the crafts and lives of creatives, self-improvers, and especially polymaths. On the contrary, it cannot override geopolitical circumstances.
Real Danger 2
The “danger” isn’t the realization per se. It’s your context. So we’re kind of back to politics.
- In a healthy, open society, this is just maturity, self-awareness, and growth.
- In one of tribalism and rigidity, that same clarity can bring friction.
A healthy reflection could be: Can your environment mirror/match your maturity? Or does it carry old dogmas as a badge of honor?
Similar applies to culture, music, etc.
You might have lived your life as a backpacker, only to find you really enjoy deep house and hard/acid techno… or metal, for instance.
And while you likely won’t start producing these or attend raves, you’ll understand that it’s not a specific thing or culture per se. It’s the underground, raw energy and exclusivity that you’re drawn to.
So, the question is: how attached are you to your narratives?
Dependency
It might be that the more you practice, the more you want or even need to do so. No, it won’t be like a substance craving or dependence.
You just might find yourself relying a bit too much on increasing the likelihood of you taking particular actions, or appearing in certain kinds of situations.
The good news is that if this is the case, you are making things happen one way or another, taking relentless action, having skills, mastery… not waiting for spirits to do anything for you. If not, maybe start there.
Real Danger 3
The actual danger is that you can overdo it, which can lead to depression, mood swings, and even manic episodes. Not because angels and demons are attacking you, but because bringing light between subjective narratives (and social conditioning) and objective truths and your core nature might be challenging to assimilate.
Another reason might be “pulling in too many directions.” You can have different but complementing forces to achieve the same goal. Or, increase that likelihood with somewhat regular, similar workings.
Conversely, aiming for different results simultaneously is probably not a good idea… especially for solo practitioners. As they say, you can accomplish many things… just not at the same time.
Collector Syndrome
Far less dramatic, but quite common, another danger is what I call the “collector syndrome.” You read and collect, understanding frameworks. You feel like you’re progressing because you can explain things, connect ideas, or recognize patterns.
Yet five years later, nothing has been accomplished or built. No skills, projects, or tangible output. The same unhealthy living and poor quality work, if any at all. Obesity, addictions, and no discipline.
Real Danger 4
The real danger is not getting too “deep into the mysteries.” It’s that you’re in deep delusions, using heavy abstractions for entertainment and escapism, rather than creating. Like anything meaningful, Magick requires reality feedback. Plus, as Don Webb says:
“Masters manifest the universe in their heads.”
Mixing Systems
Being eclectic is one thing. Mixing random techniques is not really optimal. Magick can bring severe vulnerability, uncertainty, and test what you’re actually made of… without your actual awareness of what that is.
Different systems do that differently.
One explanation might be that your subjective narrative and social conditioning stay the same, but the objective truths come filtered through somewhat different currents and egregores.
The SRP might melt metals by reshaping you where you are. To help with “having your head above the heavens and feet below hell,” Liber V might initiate moments of exposure therapy while persistently suggesting that “mingling your life with that of the Universe” would be far more doable in a completely different country and setting.
Real Danger 5
Nothing wrong either, or even cycling them long term. Everything wrong with mixing them or hitting them back-to-back.
It might be too much to question who you are, while feeling that “cities are calling you,” and considering relocating… researching them actively.
They say, “the map is not the territory.
It’s okay to test the “absolute 100% validity” of that in all cases, just not when experiencing serious doubts about who you are.
Peace.
— POTB