The Occult and Contemporary Culture
What you can’t see can hurt you.
Perhaps, not since Medieval times has the occult had such an influence on culture and society as it has since the 19th century to the present. Occult, by definition means “what is concealed, hidden, unseen, etc..” Although it is clearly manifest in television and movies, more recently, “Harry Potter”, it is casually dismissed as fantasy and harmless entertainment.
Wicca, the pagan religion of witchcraft is widely popular throughout Europe and the U.S. Not a few consider the practice of wicca as compatible with Christianity, even Catholicism…think of some of the deformed orders of women religious, such as The Sisters of St. Joseph for instance, who have a reputation for wiccan tendencies if you will.
I have met a few Catholic converts from wicca who have since reverted back to the Craft. One man had been an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, while retaining his wiccan practices. Another woman, who had gone through a sort of exorcism upon her conversion, later publicly boycotted Harry Potter movies. Both of these folks abondoned Catholicism and returned to the Craft. Both insist it is a harmless religion, which promotes the good. The author, Michael O’Brien believes otherwise, as do I.
Seeing the context of the times
“In his book, An Exorcist Tells His Story(Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1999), Fr. Amorth warns that modern men are losing their sense of the reality of supernatural evil. As a result, he says, many have made themselves more vulnerable to the influence of evil spirits who seek to corrupt and destroy souls. Amorth does not hesitate to say that cultural influences such as film, television, music, and books play no small part in the lowering of spiritual vigilance. “I was able personally to verify how great is the influence of these tools of Satan on the young. It is unbelievable how widespread are witchcraft and spiritism, in all their forms, in middle and high school. This evil is everywhere, even in small towns.” (pp. 53, 54)
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He emphasizes that, knowingly or unknowingly, the practitioner of magic always exposes himself to diabolic influence. “Directly or indirectly, witchcraft is a cult of Satan.”With occult themes now a part of mainstream culture, the (Harry) Potter series is juxtaposed between a growing amount of blatantly diabolical material for the young on one hand, and on the other a tide of cultural material that redefines good and evil in subtler ways. Thus, it can appear to be a healthier specimen of what has been more or less normalized all around us. This is precisely the time when we need to exercise more careful discernment, because in the confusing array of the extremely disordered ranging to the less disordered, our perceptions can be seriously blurred.
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Our society is saturated in false options, especially the lure of the “lesser evil” argument. In comparison to the great evil of Satanism, a lesser evil such as witchcraft (and in Harry’s case, “good sorcery”) can seem preferable by far, a message further reinforced by the Potter books’ condemnation of the extremes of diabolical behavior. What we so often forget is that manipulation of the “lesser evil” concept is a classic adversarial tactic in the great war between good and evil—the real war in which we are all immersed. If the lesser evil is presented with a little window-dressing of values, we can turn to it assuming we are making a choice for a good.” - Michael O’Brien
The Tarot.
A few of my blogger friends recently posted upon the evils of the Tarot, a dark art of fortune telling by the use of symbol laden cards, associated with the same practice of fortune telling using regular playing cards. In fact, just last night on the television show, “The Bachelor”, the couple had their fortune read at dinner. People often do it just for fun.
I encourage you to read Adoro’s post on the Tarot - with documentary links to back up her astonishing tale. Then read Cathy’s post, and then read Anita’s post on Marianne Williamson’s, “A Course in Miracles” - which is off the Tarot topic, but ties in with the occult/New Age deception. Don’t forget my post from yesterday on Scientology, paying particular attention to Paula’s comment there as well, and follow her links. Together these posts provide a rather revealing glimpse into how deeply permeated with the occult is our contemporary society and culture, along with academia, economics and politics, not to mention mainstream religion.
Diabolical delusion.
Sr. Lucia of Fatima once wrote about this “diabolical delusion that is sweeping the world.” For some reason we find it easy to dismiss events such as Fatima, that are in the past, or persons, who are now dead, but have alerted us to the dangers that surround us. In our state of denial we tell ourselves that was then, this is now - as if the dangers died with the person. Thus, we let down our guard.
I did. About 8 years ago, I went to a psychic, who used the Tarot for my ‘reading’. (I did it for “fun” - insisting I didn’t believe in it and therefore it was harmless.) Interestingly enough, the reader told me, “I see you were a monk once…you have to move beyond that now - it’s over and done with. You cannot live your life as if you are still a monk, give up that entire notion.” I wonder what spiritual being would want me to give up my entire spiritual formation and “move on” as it were? Move on to what?
I felt rather guilty about the readings and consulted with a priest. He insisted that it wasn’t sinful, as long as I wasn’t going to let it rule my life. He also said he believes some people are gifted with psychic powers, and the clairvoyance is not in the cards, rather the spiritual gift of the psychic. Needless to say, I confessed my experiences to another priest.
Priest and prophet forage in a land they know not.
John of the Cross asks, “Where does this poisonous harm fail to reach? And who fails to drink little or much from the golden chalice of the Babylonian woman of the Apocalypse?” - The Ascent of Mt. Carmel
As I mentioned before, numerous congregations of deformed religious women have allowed the New Age and occult practices into their communities. When I was with the Carthusians, the Father Master there had a Zen master, a woman who came into the Charterhouse to instruct him in the spirituality of Zen. (I helped him build his Zen garden.)
In another monastery I lived in, I recently heard that one of the monks there was a fan of Mariane Williamson’s, “A Course in Miracles”. (Another monk there is a firm believer in UFO’s and aliens amongst us.) While a priest friend of mine revealed to me that he believes in the Enneagram, subtley infusing those principles into his homilies. The New Age is here, and it seems to be pretty pervasive - we are just blind to it.
What of it?
What is the sin in playing around with the occult? For one, it reintroduces a soul into the ”original” sin, as it were. The devil tempted Adam and Eve with the promise they will be like God, they will have the same knowledge as God…knowledge, power, control over one’s destiny, as it were. It demonstrates a complete lack of faith in God alone, a hope in His loving, providential mercy, and a lack of charity, departing from Him and turning to idols. By dabbling in the occult, we open ourselves to the devil, we become ensnared, enchanted as it were, by the glamour of evil, no matter how ‘nice’ or ‘natural’ it seems to be.
“Stay sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith!” - 1 Peter 5:8-9
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray and do thou O Prince of the Heavenly Host cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.