Halloween is as good a time as any to explore the occult a little, and recent study material coincidentally conspires .... mainly Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's (oc)cult classic "The Illuminatus Trilogy" ... impossible to summarise or describe here ... this version arrived brand new via Hive Books (your opportunity to shop online ethically and support the local independent bookshop of your choice) .... the first time I saw the book it was some years ago during a stint at a local residential college for folks seeking to bolster their employment prospects, many with assorted diagnosed divergent abilities ... I was there earning a crust as a Residential Officer on night shifts during one of the periodic financial crises ensuing due to a lack of focus on security ... staying awake was one challenge, though there was usually a chance to sleep a few hours once the residents had settled down ... otherwise it was chatting to insomniacs or other students, one of whom thought I would find the book of interest after a long conversation around topics esoteric ... he managed to escape before it could be returned, though it did not really resonate at that time ...
Other occult items include a look at the Rosicrucians, a masonic order faintly on the radar since learning that inspirational folks like Peter Caddy, co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation, and Rudolf Steiner were members ... an aversion to masonry in general kept the interest at bay .... recent investigation of the aversion reveals that my father was strongly against masonry for reasons never fully explained, but possibly connected to suspected corruption, whilst my own experience with local government endorsed such suspicions ... also the requirement to cede personal authority to a hierarchy of humans with no expectation of explanation never sat well with this anarchistic soul ...
So, whilst a mild interest is explored, a full on dabble is not ... in student days a craze for ouija boards was also eschewed ... the paradox accepted here being that one can only know from one's own
experience (and even then there may be delusion) ... so, for now, the occult, like heroin, LSD, Las Vegas, Dubai, murder and other undesirable things, remains at the periphery of consciousness ... perhaps best left there until such time as the psyche is fully prepared for the inherent dangers ... meanwhile, focusing on gentler explorations of the hidden realms, perhaps one may bypass the demons, or bring them into the light and Universal Peace!
As house buying limps along endlessly, observation of the mind reveals occasional thoughts about stuff discarded during the extreme de-cluttering of recent years ... watching those thoughts without judgement dissolves them and gathering stuff to stock the base continues, including, of course a library ... hence, sitting alongside the bulky Illuminatus Trilogy is an elegant version of the Tao Te Ching ... teaching that the Tao which can be described is not the immortal Tao and proposing three Treasures: Simplicity, Patience, Compassion ... later development of Daoism discovered its own occult systems, of course ...
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