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THE OCCULT:
As viewed by Occultists
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Religious liberals and occultists regard the Occult to be simply a list of mostly unrelated practices and
activities. "Occultist" is a very rarely used term that refers to a person
active in an occultic activity. It does not exist as an organization. Occult Crime does not exist, any
more than Christian, Muslim or Jewish Crime exists. No
ritual abuse is committed by occultists. Some Wiccans and other Neopagans do
engage in divination. Some individuals who engage in divination use many
different techniques. Otherwise, there is little connection among the various
occultic activities.
There are many definitions of the Occult; no general consensus exists.
Some groups divide the Occult into three branches:
 | Divination: Various harmless methods of foretelling the future:
 | Astrology: The concept that one's future is dependent upon the precise
location of the sun, moon and planets at the time of birth. |
| I Ching: an ancient Chinese oracle book which
some believe can be used to foretell
the future, answer questions, etc. The practitioner generates a number from 1 to 64 by
selecting sticks, or casting dice or coins. The oracle book assigns different meanings to
each of the possible numbers. |
| Numerology: the practice of assigning a digit to each letter in a
person's name, and deriving a series of numbers which have special significance to the
person. |
| Palm reading: foretelling a person's future by the creases in their
palm and shape of their fingers. |
| Runes: a group of from 16 to 31 (typically 26) letters of an ancient
Northern European alphabet. The letters are inscribed on small rocks or pieces of paper or plastic. A group is cast, and the future foretold from the runes that land
inverted and not inverted, as well as from their position. |
| Scrying: a technique of producing visions of the future by gazing into
a crystal ball, black mirror, bowl of water, hot coals from a fire, etc. |
| Tarot cards: fortune telling through the use of a pack of 78 Tarot
cards which can be divided into four suites (wands, cups, pentacles and swords).
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Each suite has number cards (ace to 10), a king, queen, knight and knave. In addition,
there are 22 additional cards which form the greater arcana; they include the Chariot,
High Priestess, Juggler, Lovers, Moon, Sun, Strength, Death, Devil, etc. The cards are
shuffled; a few are dealt and laid in a specific formation (circle, cross, square, etc.).
The cards are interpreted according to their inherent meaning, as modified by the
significance of their location. |
| Teacup reading: foretelling the future by the shapes formed by tea
leaves after a cup of tea has been consumed |
| Other methods: Future events have been predicted through the use of
dice, dominos, dream interpretation, pendulum movements, playing cards, etc. |
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| Religious and Spiritual Pursuits: These are normally a group of unrelated minority religions:
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| Magick: This is a list that includes ceremonial magick and many
other schools of practice involving rituals and spells. They are used
to change the environment, in order to reach the magician's goals. |
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Reference used:
- Solandia has many pages showing the great variety of Tarot
Cards that are currently available. See:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/
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Copyright © 1995 to 2002 incl. by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally published: 1995-JUN-8
Last update: 2002-OCT-28
Author: B.A. Robinson
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