The Fascination of the Occult
“ONLY a foolish or an ignorant man would today refuse to accept that there are some forces or influences about which we know little, and over which we have no control,” warns Peter Underwood in the preface to his book Into the Occult.
Many people are interested in those forces. As a former member of a witches’ coven in Canada put it: “Every time I make a trip to Victoria I see at least a dozen of the witches. Many of them are prominent business people . . . During the daytime they can’t be picked out from anyone else.”
In the British Isles there are now 6,000 known witches, and one person in 20 is actively connected with occultism. In Germany over 50,000 practice sorcery. Although witchcraft is illegal in South Africa, estimates are that between 40,000 and 90,000 members of the white population are involved in the “black arts.”
Why is the occult so popular?
What Fascinates Them
“Do you want a bank account bursting at the seams with money? A love life that would make a sultan envious? Supreme power to crush your enemies and reward your friends? . . . Witchcraft can bring your heart’s desire!”
This advertisement for a book on magic shows why many people are first drawn to the occult. They have been promised money, sex and power. Others may desperately wish to contact dead loved ones, or to know the future. Still others are merely curious.
Many claim to get results. A British photographer and his wife joined a satanist group after a “sex-filled initiation” and suddenly their business began making lots of money. As soon as they quit the group, their business went flat.
Others do not fare so well. In the African country of Liberia, the son of a prominent politician and several others sought to use witchcraft to gain political power. The young man wanted to be an ambassador. The group murdered a local fisherman and used parts of his body to make charms and potions, but their magic did not help them. After a spectacular trial, seven persons were hanged.
Results of a Parlor Game
Persons merely curious about the occult are often lured into active involvement by means of allegedly harmless items such as Ouija boards. The familiar boards are advertised and sold as a harmless parlor game. There is no question that the boards make a lot of money for the manufacturer—but are they harmless? A lot of people don’t think so.
A popular Canadian singer tried to commit suicide several times after being invited by her board to “come to our side.” A lonely Alberta woman was advised that she would meet ‘the man of her dreams’ at a Calgary night spot. She was beaten and raped instead. Just last year in Miami, Florida, mass hysteria broke out when young students playing with a Ouija board claimed they were possessed by demons. “The whole school went berserk,” said a police officer. Students kicked holes in walls and tore a door off its hinges. According to a teacher, “There were girls crying and screaming that there was a spirit inside (the Ouija board).”
Clearly, persons lured into using a Ouija board as a ‘harmless parlor game’ are often not prepared for what may happen to them. Their fascination with the occult produces results all right, but are they results that you would want?
How Reliable the Predictions?
The uncertainties of life make most people wish they could know the future. The occult promises such knowledge.
Sometimes it seems to work. A North Carolina witch predicted that a neighbor would die on a certain date. The woman did die on that date—a victim of alcohol and pill overdoses.
Noted astrologer Jeanne Dixon claims to have predicted President John Kennedy’s death in Dallas, Texas, in 1963—but she doesn’t say too much about her prediction that the Vietnam War would end in 1966. A group of scientists examining her overall record concluded that her predictions were no more accurate than those of any ordinary person making informed guesses.
Is the future being seen—or, are occultists merely in league with invisible forces who sometimes cause predictions to come true, and sometimes don’t?
Missed Loved Ones?
Many persons first turn to the occult in an effort to contact dead loved ones. The North Carolina witch made her prediction at a séance in which the family attempted to contact their dead son-in-law. The result was tragedy.
In other cases the “dead relative” seems to speak through the medium, giving convincing evidence of his identity. Yet often the personality of the spirit contacted is vengeful or capricious. One researcher into Ouija boards characterized the personalities contacted as “characteristically sadistic and psychopathic.” Why would relatives who were loving in life become cruel in death? Could the spirits claiming to be departed loved ones be impostors?
A Canadian couple got caught up in an occult group, only to flee in terror at the changed personalities and evil in the members. “Anyone who thinks they’re going to play around with witchcraft—they’re playing with dynamite,” they said.
Even if they had doubts before, those who get involved in the occult become convinced that superhuman forces are involved. But, having done so, many feel that they have been snared in an evil web.