Why do people think the occult is evil? Is It?

[justinkl75]

Okay something i wanted to know for a long time. Ive always felt very drawn to practicing magick and anything to do with having out of body experiences and just experiencing deeper spiritual realities in general and any practices that put you directly in touch with the spiritual realm, these practices are considered occult by most i guess. but ive always been wary or afraid of these practices because of how they are viewed by society. I have read into the conspiracy stuff quite a bit as well and i do definately believe that powerful and not very nice people are heavily involved in very malevolent occult rituals. but does this make the occult itself evil? Is this THEIR domain only. Ive heard that the goal of most occult practices is becoming a living God and that this is what Luciferians want, when you read about some of it it does tend to suggest this, such as kundalini awakening or crossing the abyss and ascending to godhead. Anyway though i guess im asking, could the occult itself be an evil body of knowledge that has been obtained from demonic communication, such as john dee's enochian magic, is it always about communing with spirits, and are these spirits usually demonic? Or is the occult basically more about just exploring the unknown and spiritual aspects of nature and ourselves and its the person practicing it that makes it good or evil, the occult just being a route to understanding, your choice how you use that understanding. the other thing also is, can things like meditation or going into trances or having out of body experiences open you up to demonic influence, because your letting your guard down basically, ex: if you leave your body spirits may be waiting for you on the other side to take possession of your empty body, or during meditation being possessed by something because your dropping all your thoughts and your consciousness is wide open. I just feel like i need a better understanding of it before i start to practice this stuff, i guess nothing good comes without a price though, it just depends on how great that price is, if its your soul its not worth it. How safe are these practices if you know what your doing? If someone can please explain exactly what the real deal is with the Occult and why it is viewed the way it is, I would be very grateful.

[GaianGuy]

Ive always felt very drawn to practicing magick...
What does "practicing magick" mean to you? How do you define "magick"?


"...experiencing deeper spiritual realities in general and any practices that put you directly in touch with the spiritual realm, these practices are considered occult by most i guess".

Not necessarily. Do you consider yourself an adherent of any particular religion or spiritual tradition? The major Western faiths; Christianity, Judaism, Islam, all have Mysticism movements which are methods-practices for "experiencing deeper spiritual realities": "Mysticism is the phenomenon of having a unique experience of communion with God, an ultimate reality, divinity, or insight into spiritual truths" - wiki. Mysticism isn't necessarily synonymous with "occult"

"Occult" generally refers to knowledge or truths that are hidden - specifically, hidden within the scriptures, symbols, teachings or traditions of a religion or spiritual movement, (again, in the West that usually means hidden within Christianity, Judaism or Islam). Occult practitioners would seek to extract & perceive this hidden knowledge by 'decoding scriptures', (as in Gematria) - by Necromancy (communicating with deceased Saints or others who might possess knowledge that was never acknowledged or recorded in orthodox traditions of a religion - by Demonology or Angelology (petitioning or forcing demons or angels to divulge knowledge they possess, that humankind is not intended by God to have access to under normal circumstances) - by focus assisted Divination ("fortune-telling" using a scrying mirror, tarot cards, runestones, etc) - or by Identification with/ Union with a Diety (by invocations that invite Diety to dwell within you, by systems of spiritual progression/attainment such as Kaballah or yogic-meditative practices whereby the practitioner becomes "like God", or "like a God").

If the hidden knowledge itself is considered to be "forbidden", then accessing it might be considered an evil thing to do. More often the knowledge itself is not considered forbidden or evil in itself, but various means of acquiring it could be.


I have read into the conspiracy stuff quite a bit as well and i do definately believe that powerful and not very nice people are heavily involved in very malevolent occult rituals.

You are already "under a spell", so to speak. Conspiracy theorists are all (whether they understand this or acknowledge it or not) black magicians. They purport to have access to hidden or suppressed knowledge, they profess that possession of this "knowledge" endows them with superior (super-natural) insights and infallible analysis about "what's really going on" in this world - making them the equivalent of a biblical Prophet - but they invariably use this "knowledge" to cause their listeners to become possessed by demons of fear, suspicion and paranoia, demons of hatred, predjudice and discord, and by demons of misunderstanding and confusion.

There would be no rational reason for powerful people to be involved in "malevolent" occult ritual. In today's world, performing rituals must be the least reliable or efficient means for creating change in the external world of our shared experience. Wealth, political power, social influence (including propaganda & marketing campaigns), scientific research, innovation/ invention, skill, talent, education etc. are all more efficient means of gaining power, holding power and extending power, than 'occult' ritual would be. If Bill Gates had relied on performing rituals, he'd still be a penniless schmuck chanting invocations of Satan or Christ-Jehovah in his garage.


"...could the occult itself be an evil body of knowledge that has been obtained from demonic communication, such as john dee's enochian magic, is it always about communing with spirits, and are these spirits usually demonic"

Whatever knowledge Dr John Dee obtained through Edward Kelly's scrying, in so-called "Enochian", both of them claimed that the source of this information was angels - not demons. The invocations Dee used call upon the Christian Diety, not Satan or any pagan god/dess: "Almighty, Everlasting, True and Living God, make haste to deliver me. Lord of Lords, King of Kings Jehovah Zebaoth, make haste to help me.
Glory be to God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost: As it was in the beginning, is now
and forever, world without end: Amen."

How is this any more a "demonic" communication than Moses chatting with a burning bush?

As for your concerns about being possessed by demons if you "leave your body" - any proper system of ritual practice involving "astral travel", will include various safeguards intended to protect the traveler's physical & spiritual wellbeing. If you are open to belief in demonic possession, I'd assume you'd be open to belief in the safety of a magic circle guarded top, bottom and all 4 sides by Archangels?

[Cartoon Character]

Could be evil. Then again, maybe not. I suppose it depends. To reiterate what GaianGuy said, there are protective measures you can take before doing astral work, etc. Keep in mind though, all of these things (leaving the body, going to another plane, etc.) are really just shifts in awareness, and these different aspects of the self are always there. We just need to turn our attention to them.

[Broomhilda]

WoW I dont even know where to start on this one.
Well the word Occult means hidden or cut off from view.
I study the Occult as a Witch I practise the Occult.
My practise is older then Christianity or the views of a God who is judgemental and a Devil looking to steal your soul to hell.
Nothing can posses me nothing can take over unless I allow it to.
If possession was as easy to obtain as a meditation ritual where you are outside your body then dont you think there would be alot of Possessed people running around? I mean seriously if that the way we are thinking wouldnt Near death experiances,Meditation,Dreaming,Prayer cause people to be possessed?
Now do I personally believe in possession? I have been studying claims of possession and interviewing people for about 20yrs on and off. I only met one person during that entire time that made me raise an eyebrow, and say to myself "Maybe". Many main stream people who claim possession for many different reasons most of them are just crazy and seeking attention.
I am not talking about religions that its a common practise in to become possessed by dietys like Voodoo rituals etc,
I am a practitioner of Magic and Occult I am not evil nor do I believe in "Black Magic" I believe magic is pure energy and people come in different spiritual colors and people take things to a dark place but Magic itself is not black nor white I think of it as like when light hits a prisim and just think of us as the prisims, we reflect the colors not the energy itself.
There generally arent bad occultist or Satanist or any faucet there of.
Generally all your murders and cereal killers oddly enough had christian or religious backgrounds or familys. I have never read in the paper that a group of Witches or Satanist or anything inbetween went out murdering people or harming anyone. We generally are good people who got off the Hamster wheel a little early.
If you have fear of the Occult or Magicks or anything like that I recommend not to practise just yet untill you feel more confortable with you. I think you might have alot of personal fears manifesting and untill you cleanse that you shouldnt practise anything. IMO.

[justinkl75]

By practicing magick i mean, communing with spirits or spiritual forces(the good kind), the elements and energies of nature, and causing change to things in the material world.

No I am not a part of any religion like that, I have a few New age beliefs but I am mostly after a non New Age form of spirituality.

There isn't necessarily hidden knowledge in scriptures, occultists or esotericists may just be interpreting them in that way, trying to find hidden secrets.

Yes you're right, the knowledge itself may not be forbidden, just the means of acquiring it. But then that poses the question, what means of acquiring higher knowledge are there, without using forbidden or dangerous means to do so, and who or what sets the standard for this so that people don't hurt themselves?

This I disagree with, as you would probably expect I would, some stuff in the conspiracy realm admittedly is paranoia yes, but I believe some of it does have truth. I disagree that the best means of doing things would be through material means such as you say. I think that if you could invoke a demon these beings must be very powerful and could give you almost anything you desired if you gave it something in return, like a sacrifice, which is what it would want because the blood has a lot of energy and power. That to me is a rational reason for these people wanting to invoke demons, power. There is a lot of things humans don't know and can't do. If you give a lot of demons a lot of things or do them a lot of favours, maybe they would give you a lot of power. To me that just seems possible. Perfoming rituals is not inefficient or unreliable if you know exactly what you're doing and what you're calling upon and why. These people could have a pact with demons for whatever reason going back generations, who's to say they don't?
Just because it seems crazy doesn't mean it couldn't be true. If there are people who call upon the forces of light, why not the opposite? If demons exist and they are malevolent in nature, their plans for humanity must be in turn extremely malevolent. Why wouldn't they have helpers on earth?

As for John Dee, just because he said, or the beings he invoked said they were angels, doesn't mean they were. And I've also heard that towards the end of his divinations, he started to believe that these so called angels were demons. They were giving him information about how to open the Abyss. Aleister Crowley continued his work when he went out to the Mojave desert to do just that, open the Abyss.

Regarding Astral projection....yes i guess it would be like with anything, use the right protection. What system of Astral projection do you know of that uses protection rituals, because I've never seen any.

And see what doesn't make sense to me about using the names of god or archangels in occult rituals is that some occultists (the Gnostics who practiced kundalini raising, Helena Blavatsky) have said that the bible god is actually the demiurge or the true devil, which would make his angels evil too, so why use those names?

[Morrigan]

I think it has a lot to do with the mind set a lot of people grow up with. A lot of the judeo-christain main stream culture frowns on such things. So rather you know it or not, you take in a lot of that attitude simply from growing up in the western world. So by the time you reach adult hood its almost a sub conscience thing.

[Broomhilda]

Okay let's get this even more simple and please keep up.
I am a Practitioner of the Occult and I study the Occult I study that which is hidden and or forgotten. I am a Romanian Scottish full blooded Gypsy who was raised around the Craft.
Alot of our teachings was never written word. There was a time where people would kill someone if they knew or thought they were Witches and or Gypsies. So alot wasnt written down but passed down.
We had to hide when we would cast and hide who we was or what we did through fears of being ripped out of dwelling and raped and murderd.
Times has changed yes, people are more exceptable? mmm some are. My Ex's Mum told me I needed to go to hell because of my beliefs and she preferd it better when people of pagan beliefs were killed. So some people still has reservations from coming out of the broom closet. So some of our work is still hidden.
Witchcraft is older then the God,Devil,Demon teachings. So speaking for myself I have never sacraficed anyone to a demon and ask for power. I might as well sacrafice something to the Easter Bunny I think I would get the same result.
Blood sacrafices hmm wow.:eek: Umm I have used my own blood in rituals and spells yes I have also taken a drop if blood from a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and was very sick taken her Chemotherapy, So I could work a spell to help her during that time.
I know many people from all sides of Occult I can speak for them when I say they havent used a blood sacrafice for anything.
I suggest if you want to use a blood sacrafice to conjure a demon to grant you powers you use your own.
Because if you knew any basic laws with magicks or asking for things offering up something else is blood life for you to gain powers wouldnt work if the demon really wanted that blood he would have taken it himself in the first place. No he would probably want something very special to you for this favor that would be a more fair trade because then you are loosing something you really want to gain something you really want. So if your not willing to give up some limbs or a few vital organs I suggest you find another hobby.:)

[chestermccoy]

You pose a rather interesting question. I would not hesitate to claim, that from a judeo-christian standpoint the occult is "evil". I provide evidence such as Exodus 22:18 "suffer not a witch to live" or Deuteronomy 18:10 "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch."
Moreover there are many places in the bible, particularly the gospels which dictate reliance on God, and the occult expands one's own sphere of influence. Do I *personally* find the occult to be evil? I feel that evil is a term thrown around far, far too often. And no, inherently I do not believe that one could call Occult practices in and of themselves "evil". But no one can really tell you that, mate. That's something that you will have to decide for yourself.

[chestermccoy]

P.S:in my opinion,some people believe it's evil since other people having free will,power,or knowedge that they themselves don't have means that they are harder to control.This is most often seen in public schools in the U.S,where kids are taught that being themselves is wrong,and conformity is seen as the most important thing to learn.

Excellent point! I was unaware as to the mistranslation, however it is safe to say that the bulk of modern Christians who DO believe in the occult see it as a tool of the devil.

Personally, it matters little to me. I was raised and confirmed in the Catholic Church (although I shed that belief many years ago), so I am rather well acquainted with their views on the matter. It seems to me, however, that one can observe a cycle of views on the occult. The views of the population seem to shift, over the course of a few generations, from respectful to fearful to disbelief. Right now I feel that we are mid transition from fearful into disbelief, with a greater emphasis on the disbelief end.

[Broomhilda]

Darius thank you so much on the break down of Exodus 22v18
I was about to mention it when I seen you had already posted it.
Makes me feel so good to know there are people like you around that look a little deeper then fear and motive and instead see cause and effect.
If the majority of Christians wasnt so biblical illiterate they would keep punching that scripture to death. I get so tired of hearing it I swear.:rolleyes:

[Broomhilda]

WoW a sister nowonder I was so attracted to this site. :)
I do believe Iza your right and alot of kids are watching to many TV shows like Charmed or Supernatural or even paranormal ghost hunting shows and think this is how it is in reality.
Its making it harder for us as a community to be taken seriously and also I believe there is a danger for kids who romanticize the paranormal.
I had a kid yesturday email me asking me if I could cast a spell that could turn him into a Vampire. /facedesk

[Cartoon Character]

WoW a sister nowonder I was so attracted to this site. :)
I do believe Iza your right and alot of kids are watching to many TV shows like Charmed or Supernatural or even paranormal ghost hunting shows and think this is how it is in reality.
Its making it harder for us as a community to be taken seriously and also I believe there is a danger for kids who romanticize the paranormal.
I had a kid yesturday email me asking me if I could cast a spell that could turn him into a Vampire. /facedesk

I am hoping that you told him yes? Because that's what we really need. Maybe you could turn him into one of those vampires that "sparkles" in sunlight and then make a gazillion dollars from his brooding, angst-ridden appearance.

[Broomhilda]

Ghost of Shaolin I swear if you were to go through my emails i get on a general day you would go bonkers LOL I usually jut want to know why a 15yr old. Kids would want to look like the boys from Twilight.
All I kept on thinkin was okay the dude has issues & lonely and looking to knock boots with a vampyre minion. Its just sad and more sad..

[Giraffe]

Ghost of Shaolin I swear if you were to go through my emails i get on a general day you would go bonkers LOL I usually jut want to know why a 15yr old. Kids would want to look like the boys from Twilight.
All I kept on thinkin was okay the dude has issues & lonely and looking to knock boots with a vampyre minion. Its just sad and more sad..


That's hormones for you. Obviously, this lad has not found his inner Adonis or something and thinks this could be the only way to pull. Maybe he just wants to be able to say to lasses "Mwahaha, Vere is no escaping my enchanting good looks!".

In all fairness to lads that want to look like this Twilight guy, Twilight guy is the son of the actor that plays Wolveriene in X-Men. So genetics may play a part in this.

As for why people think occultism is evil, well at the end of the day it all comes down to fear. It is wrong to make assumptions about things because assumptions can always be wrong.

[Cartoon Character]

I've heard some dandies, and I'm sure that you get some good ones too. I don't know that hormones alone can be blamed for this trend....we've all got 'em, but hormones combined with a general sense of dumb-assery can really do the trick. So, Broomhilda....will you turn me into a vampire? I'll turn you into a mummy or something as a trade. Deal?

[Cartoon Character]

I hear that Ghost Power is much cheaper than gasoline.

[KashakuTatsu]

Is it high in octane? If so I'd like to switch my race modified car to ghost power... the price of gas is just ghastly!

[Cartoon Character]

Is it high in octane? If so I'd like to switch my race modified car to ghost power... the price of gas is just ghastly!

Why, yes, it is very high in octane, among other things. And free. You just need to let me know when you want to go, so I can: 1) keep Darius and that ritual coat hanger away long enough to actually move, and 2) infuse your ride with enough juice to crank it up. I'm more than happy to help, but you may find ghost power to be even more ghastly than the price of gas. Because, I suppose that by definition it is.

And yes, Iza.....as is your custom, you are correct. Those Christian/Satanic hybrid models really do benefit from ghost power. It's part of a kinder, gentler, greener religio-spiritual view of the afterlife. If we all do our part, we can keep the Underworld clean for future generations. It moves me to ghostly, empty, Yin tears.

[Cartoon Character]

Yes, I know. I am quite familiar with this, Mommy Dearest. And I suppose, Mommy Darius too.

[GaianGuy]

By practicing magick i mean, communing with spirits or spiritual forces(the good kind), the elements and energies of nature, and causing change to things in the material world.

You define "practicing magick" as "communing with" spirits, elements and energies, causing change to things in the material world. How would "communing with" such 'forces' result in such changes? Are you talking about 'petitioning' said forces to intervene supernaturally on your behalf? That would seem more akin to spiritual prayer than to practicing magick. By the way, you expressed skepticism about the true nature of the entities Dr John Dee believed he had contacted - they claimed to be angels, you say they could be demons instead. I don't disagree with that, but please explain how you can be certain that the "spirits or spiritual forces (the good kind)", that you in communion with, are not similarly deceptive demonic forces in disguise?



There isn't necessarily hidden knowledge in scriptures, occultists or esotericists may just be interpreting them in that way, trying to find hidden secrets.

Very true. And self-deception always has been one of the foremost obstacles to deriving anything actually useful from "occult" practices. The movie "Pi" depicts this perils very astutely.



Yes you're right, the knowledge itself may not be forbidden, just the means of acquiring it. But then that poses the question, what means of acquiring higher knowledge are there, without using forbidden or dangerous means to do so...

As I mentioned before, most major faiths have sanctified mysticism traditions associated with "acquiring higher knowledge". If you chose to pursue such a goal, from outside any of those traditions, you may have to accept the risk that some people might judge your chosen methods as "evil". But if you don't belong to any such major faith community, why would you care if they think what you are involved in is evil?



I think that if you could invoke a demon these beings must be very powerful and could give you almost anything you desired if you gave it something in return, like a sacrifice, which is what it would want because the blood has a lot of energy and power. That to me is a rational reason for these people wanting to invoke demons, power. There is a lot of things humans don't know and can't do. If you give a lot of demons a lot of things or do them a lot of favours, maybe they would give you a lot of power.

If that was actually possible - invoke a few demons, give them something they want, then *POOF* they magickally transform you into one of the most powerful persons on earth - then surely 'invoking demons' would be all that anyone would ever do, 24/7, for their entire lives. Fortunately, that's not actually possible. To test your hypothesis, look up some of the modern persons who have committed or commanded murders (that's what human sacrifice is), and who are popularly associated in some way with something 'occult' - such as Richard Ramirez or the Manson family. Do those people possess incredible wealth & power, or are they rotting in prison cells?



Perfoming rituals is not inefficient or unreliable if you know exactly what you're doing and what you're calling upon and why.

Nonsense. That statement is just a variant of the old "magick invariably works, but only if you are a True Adept" excuse for explaining away the failure of most 'spellcasting' to acheive their stated desires.



These people could have a pact with demons for whatever reason going back generations, who's to say they don't?

I'll say it - they don't. No one does.



Regarding Astral projection....yes i guess it would be like with anything, use the right protection. What system of Astral projection do you know of that uses protection rituals, because I've never seen any.

The old Golden Dawn knowledge lectures on the subject, are one example.



And see what doesn't make sense to me about using the names of god or archangels in occult rituals is that some occultists (the Gnostics who practiced kundalini raising, Helena Blavatsky) have said that the bible god is actually the demiurge or the true devil, which would make his angels evil too, so why use those names?

Those names were used, traditionally, because the vast majority of "occult practitioners" who ever lived (at least, from 100 CE to present) were sincere, god-fearing Christians & Jews. You are correct in saying that it seems hypocritical for non Judeo-Christians to continue using such nomenclature in their own rituals.

[Cartoon Character]

We all seek power (or at least we should), all spirits can lie, knowledge is always dangerous, every authentic choice carries risk of some kind, "demons" do not make bargains, and self-deception is the only kind there really is.

[GaianGuy]

Ghost -

There are some very odd things, about these forums. (Mind you, I've only begun exploring the site so my perspective may be skewed at this time).

There most be a bazillion user-name manifestations of persons who portray themselves having a wide range of backgrounds & interests, all of whom eventually betray that their real purpose in posting here is to repeat conspiracy theorist accusations about "occultists" practicing human sacrifice in pursuit of worldly power and/or about persons who do possess wealth & power secretly being "occultists" who practice human sacrifice.

[Cartoon Character]

I won't disagree with that observation. I suppose that odd sort of comes with the territory when dealing with matters such as these, but sometimes things aren't the result of demonic oppression or a negative karmic wallop. Sometimes things just are.

[BalanceDragon]

Power is the last thing you should seek in the occult. You already have all the power you need. You have a soul. The forces you contend with in the occult do not. Enough said?

The occult is what you make of it. If you use it for selfish ends, then yes, it WILL become a force of evil in your life. If you use it to help others, you will gain strength, character and it will take care of your needs without you having to ask for it. Do all you can physically to fix a situation before turning to the occult. Magic should be respected and kept sacred, or it will corrupt.

THose who chase power will never truly get it. They will be deluded, sure, but gain real power?, no. Real power changes things before your eyes. Real power is only given to the adepts, and adepts themselves, by nature of what they are, refrain from using the power they are given. The last such adept was Ghandi.

Knowledge is power, but one with a deep responsibility. Those that are not responsible create situations that lead to evil outcomes. This is why most determine that the occult is evil. Because most who tamper with the occult are uninitiated and irresponsible or selfish individuals.

[frater apotheosis]

Okay something i wanted to know for a long time. Ive always felt very drawn to practicing magick and anything to do with having out of body experiences and just experiencing deeper spiritual realities in general and any practices that put you directly in touch with the spiritual realm, these practices are considered occult by most i guess. but ive always been wary or afraid of these practices because of how they are viewed by society. I have read into the conspiracy stuff quite a bit as well and i do definately believe that powerful and not very nice people are heavily involved in very malevolent occult rituals. but does this make the occult itself evil? Is this THEIR domain only. Ive heard that the goal of most occult practices is becoming a living God and that this is what Luciferians want, when you read about some of it it does tend to suggest this, such as kundalini awakening or crossing the abyss and ascending to godhead. Anyway though i guess im asking, could the occult itself be an evil body of knowledge that has been obtained from demonic communication, such as john dee's enochian magic, is it always about communing with spirits, and are these spirits usually demonic? Or is the occult basically more about just exploring the unknown and spiritual aspects of nature and ourselves and its the person practicing it that makes it good or evil, the occult just being a route to understanding, your choice how you use that understanding. the other thing also is, can things like meditation or going into trances or having out of body experiences open you up to demonic influence, because your letting your guard down basically, ex: if you leave your body spirits may be waiting for you on the other side to take possession of your empty body, or during meditation being possessed by something because your dropping all your thoughts and your consciousness is wide open. I just feel like i need a better understanding of it before i start to practice this stuff, i guess nothing good comes without a price though, it just depends on how great that price is, if its your soul its not worth it. How safe are these practices if you know what your doing? If someone can please explain exactly what the real deal is with the Occult and why it is viewed the way it is, I would be very grateful.

People can react in two ways to the unknown; fear or awe. It's very obvious where the camps of philosophy divide themselves amongst that line. The occult literally means hidden, and we're talking about a realm of philosophy and science that are hidden. And because of this, the occult knowledge tends to be something ideological systems work in reverence with, or in fear against. Like any technology it's only morally neutral until it's applied or interpreted.

Best of Luck,
-Frater Apotheosis

[Azraelmjollnir]

I think this is actually an extremely important question. One that many people ask at one time or another, especially with the prevalence of accompanying the occult with evil or dark forces in popular culture.

I have seen many interesting replies for one reason or another on why it might or might not be considered evil, but I haven't seen anyone really touch I think on the most important aspect, though there was one reply I think that came close to making the point, ie) if you are outside of any of the particular systems that consider your practices to be evil, who cares as you are outside of their system in any case.

In either case most of the responses have dealt with the question from an ideological background. It isn't evil or it is evil for this reason or that. But I think the real question should be why do people think anything is evil, and what is evil anyways?

I am more inclined to think of anything in the occult more like a science then anything else, something to be experimented and learned from, with no right specific answers or ways, there are many answers and there are may ways. Some work, some don't, and at least in some regards this makes it as much art as science, with a lot of it having to do with preference. And I don't refer to it as a science in the limited sense that science is often practiced, more in the original spirit of science as a tool to learn about the world through experiment and experience.

In this sense more then any other, you could ask the very same question of science as it is practiced today as well. Is science evil? Science is used to build weapons of massive destructive ability which are often then used to kill and harm not only people but just about everything else, however destruction in and of itself is not evil and it is natural and necessary in the order of things. Does this then make Science evil? Science is also used to heal people and make people's lives better, does this mean that science is good? Some have remarked that it is how it is used, either as a prism, and that the user is more likely to determine the good or evil of something rather then the practice itself. Which, while I agree with to some extent still completely disregards the question at the heart of the matter.

Evil is consistently spoken of and pointed to, this is evil that isn't or is that evil and this isn't? We shouldn't commune with demons, because they are evil... how do you know that the things you commune with aren't actually evil demons tricking you, etc. All of this begs the question of evil. What is it? Does it actually exist, and why should we assume that demons or anything are specifically evil. Given that most people's familiarity of demons and their evil reputation comes from the Judeo-Christian belief set, it seems rather backwards to study the occult using that same belief set that calls occult practice itself evil. Given that the majority of the demons and devils of the Judeo-Christian belief set are just gods of other religions, it seems kind of ridiculous to immediately vilify them with no experience or familiarity with their origins, or history. Not to mention taking into account that many of the characters in the Bible itself have been people who use these same forces and practices, Soloman as one example off the top of my head, who supposedly summoned and controlled 'demons'.

So, first word of advice is to look into and try and understand where the particular idea of 'evil' originates from. But once again, even more importantly, what is evil? Does it exist at all more then just a particular point of view from a limited perspective. The more we pursue this question, the better prepared I think people would be to better understand and practice in the occult without fear or ignorance of what we are getting ourselves into. If you are not prepared to understand what you are practicing and why you are practicing it, where it comes from or how it can be used, then you are better off not getting involved with it at all.

The occult isn't any more dangerous then anything that is mishandled and applied with ignorance. We are always going to be ignorant, that shouldn't stop us from trying to learn and understand. What we need to realize and accept, is that we are ignorant, and use that awareness to help better prepare us for continuing to strive for understanding. No belief is safe, no idea or truth is guaranteed. An open minded approach with a healthy sense of skepticism and critical thinking are terrific companions on any search for truth.

[Belasko]

The only thing that is evil is the assholes asking if it is.

[redmonk]

Magic and the Occult itself is not evil , what makes it evil or good is the person that is using it. If you give a gun to a monkey what is going to happen ?

[alyssa]

and the pope had to do major dirt to get his position. what do you think takes them so long to study? also, why is there such an intricate and complex heirarchy there? use your logic

[Lee]

they always think things are evil cause they dont understand. my parents used to say i was evil cause they did not understand me and my passion for the occult.