So what's become of the Wicca/Occult/New Age Magic movement? I haven't payed much attention in nearly a decade and when I come back all the shops are gone, and the only books I see for sale are the same books that are as old as I am or older by the same old authors. Have there been any advancements in technique? Any new or interesting discoveries? Did Harry Potter, Ancient Aliens and the housing market crash fuck up the movement? What's the deal?
>>17551981
People are finding magic elsewhere.
(cough) *bubbling noise* (cough)
>>17552014
Like where? I mean, yeah I get that the internet has taken over for a lot of books, but I haven't seen much impressive online either. So anything new in the world of the occult? Or is it the same old shit that accomplishes nothing but getting poor people to dress like Stevie Nicks?
>>17552016
Magic unfortunately isn't real, sorry.
Ancient aliens = Gnostic Revival
They knew long ago that the gods were aliens.
They were known as the Archons, its a word that means Lord or ruler.
Like Baal or Bel its a Title not a name.
A word given to represent one of the Anunnaki, a descendant of the Bloodline Kingship of Anu. The king of Nibiru.
>>17552018
Yes it is. Use it all the time. It's just weak right now. Like a wee babe.
>>17552019
How's that hokum bullshit coming along other than making everyone sound schizophrenic?
I became involved with the new age/what I thought of as wicca in around, eh, 1995 or 1996. (It took me a lot of years to really get it that Brit-trad, Brit-lineaged “Wiccans” are really the only ones who can rightfully claim that name.) I was 19 or 20 at the time. After many years of involvement, I became disillusioned with it. I never really completely walked away and I do still consider myself new age to this day, but there were a couple reasons I disengaged from the movement as it was through about the early 00s. The reasons I walked away may well be representative of the reason many others walked away too, for all I know.
One factor was the huge volume of absolute shit shoveled out by the publishing house Llwellyn. At least in the mid/late 90s Llewellyn had no discernible integrity, and would publish anything by anyone. Llewellyn authors would often all quote each other in their books which turned them into more or less one massive echo chamber, and in those Web 1.0 days of simple websites with spinning pentacles and "Never Again The Burning Times" on every website, each website owner also parroted the Llewellyn books and each other. That meant pretty much all the websites were identical, too, with only a couple exceptions here and there. ”Teen Witch" was published not long after, and Silver Ravenwolf did a book tour for it; one of the stops was my local store, Good Scents (now long since out of business.) SRW was ... very jangly, an energetic mess, pounding back cigarettes during the break.
Granted, there were other publishing houses, but they had nothing like the same volume. At least “Uncle Bucky’s Big Blue Book” was already more or less required reading at the time. As I began drifting away from the movement in earnest in the early 2000s, there was a marked uptick in the quality of new books being put out, but I ceased looking into them. (continued)
>>17552041
(continued)
The other thing that put me off the Wicca scene was the personality types I ran into consistently at IRL meetups. Where was the calm confident serenity? the genuinely joyfilled delight at life? Instead, meetups were loaded with people starving for recognition and power. It wasn’t about life celebration or moving energy - it was about who knew more than who, and who knew -who-, endless ego games. The energy was, again, jangly.
In 2000, I got a job at a bookstore, and was there for the next five and a half years. At the time I started work, the New Age section was four bays. Over the next years, it gradually shrank until, at the time the store went out of business in Feb 2006, it was down to one bay.
>>17552041
>>17552044
Firstly, I never considered that glut of Llewellyn books to be a bad thing - quite to the contrary. I think a lot of those classics like Earth, Air, Fire & Water and Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (lel never heard it called "Uncle Bucky’s Big Blue Book") were all excellent introductory books for any kid excited over the prospect of learning about magic and the occult. But after they were published, it just seems like that exhausted the current knowledge base on the subject. A few slightly more advanced guides came out on very hyper-specific topics and a few internet "tricks" seem to have been discovered here and there, but none of that would I even consider intermediate level. A few people wandered off into Alchemy. And then it just seemed to dither away. The magic shops mostly closed (as you've noticed) and the community seems to have shrank significantly.
>As I began drifting away from the movement in earnest in the early 2000s, there was a marked uptick in the quality of new books being put out, but I ceased looking into them.
This is pretty much my exact experience, except I only ever considered myself "Wiccan" very briefly. I almost immediately realized I already understood the concepts Cunningham, Buckland and others were attempting to grasp at better than they did (or were saying - I consider the former much more likely, given the nature of most occult authors).
My experience with the practitioners wasn't the same as yours though. They were mostly poor and/or kids going through a phase or hippy-dippy lunatics believing they were channeling unicorns and other retarded shit with their heads far into the clouds. It sounds like you mostly associated with authors. I have found Neo-Druids to be of a different character, and much more serious. Although I question a lot of their ethical standards.
>...it was down to one bay.
Interesting. I've noticed this exact thing at B&N. Is that where you worked?
>>17552069
Yeah, Llewellyn did manage to publish a couple good books in among its deluge of what I shall politely call its more forgettable titles. I really did like Scott Cunningham's books.
I have no recollection at all who publishes Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book anymore. (in the days of Web 1.0, it used to be widely known by that name - I'm tempted to google it now and see what kind of search results I get.) If it was Llwellyn, good on them.
The bookstore was a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble called B. Dalton. This particular location was much bigger than the standard store, so it's all the more telling that the New Age section shrunk down to just that one bay over time.
Nah, I didn't associate with authors. I'm just an average schmo. The groups I met up with were all in Southern California, and while, yeah, there were some teens there, most of the people present were older than that.
>>17552041
Silver Ravenwolf is a hack and a liar. "Italian Tradition", my ass. That con-artist's included spells in Italian were clearly written by someone who doesn't know the language.
Also, saying only British traditions are valid Wicca is really ignorant. It's all Neo- stuff anyway, and you should know that.
>>17552069
Llewellyn was a circle-jerk for the most part, with exceptions. Lots of role-playing, with real work found elsewhere.
>>17552014
>dude like... come listen to this track with me. lots of magical vibes man
>>17552112
I'm not really interested in rehashing that argument. Yes, I know it's all neo, and that Gerald Gardner pretty much pulled it out of his ass. Regardless, he's the one who did the ass-pulling and put the movement together, and as the founder of the movement, he and his descendants are the only ones entitled to decide who has the right to call themselves 'Wiccan." If you aren't a member of Gerald's direct lineage, you aren't Wiccan, you're appropriating a name that doesn't belong to you. You can copy what Wiccans do from outside their lineage, but that doesn't make you one of them
>>17552089
>in among its deluge of what I shall politely call its more forgettable titles.
Well a lot of that came later. But the classics are still the most popular books in stores. I mean I was just in a store the other day and their occult section basically looked like my library when I was a teenager.
>Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book
It's still Llewellyn. I was on their site looking around after you mentioned them.
>it used to be widely known by that name
I figured it was, considering the phraseology, but I was never heavy on socialization back then. Or ever really, lol.
>This particular location was much bigger than the standard store, so it's all the more telling that the New Age section shrunk down to just that one bay over time.
Yeah, they recommended a larger one in a bigger city I knew of, but I wondered if theirs was any bigger. You've pretty much confirmed my suspicions that it's shrank everywhere.
>New Age section
I don't think they even call it that anymore. They called it something odd like "Self-help and Spirituality" or something odd. And it was literally just one bay. Then another one of Ancient Aliens shit.
>The groups I met up with were all in Southern California
I figured as much, since you were finding so many people. It's sparse in the East. Even in big cities.
>>17552117
>with real work found elsewhere.
Like where?
>>17552128
>he and his descendants are the only ones entitled to decide who has the right to call themselves 'Wiccan."
I would debate that, considering the origin of the term far predates Gardner. Gardner just codified a new occult movement based on a mixture of Satanism (yes, he really did - a lot of Wicca is borrowed hack neo-satanist drivel), Celtic tradition, pure fiction and folklore and other cobbled-together traditions. I'm glad Gardner did what he did and got the ball rolling, but most of the New Age movement is a jumbled mess.
>>17552138
The only bookstore near me is about a 45 minute drive away, so I don't get there that often. Next time I'm there I'll definitely have a look, though. I'm sure you're right, and they don't call that section New Age anymore. These days I'm into stuff I would have mocked myself endlessly for twenty years ago *shrug* - aliens, angels, Matt Kahn-type spirituality, and near-death experiences etc. are more my gig, so those subsections are the ones I'm looking at in the Section Formerly Known As New Age.
>>17551981
It's definitely gone dormant everywhere outside of California... it'll see a resurgence probably in the next 5 years or so when the culture is ready for another reboot.
Too many egotistical bastards and would-be cult leaders left a bad taste in people's mouths... that and the useless "manifestation" products that just didn't work and left people poorer than when they started.
HOWEVER... I will say that I'm aware of some very "underground" groups who continue their practices in secret. Mystery religions are juuuuust starting to become interesting to people again.
We're about to see a big resurgence in cults. After that, another New Age wave.
>>17552041
Agreed about Llewellyn. Fucktards. But there was some good stuff in there.
>>17552154
>It's definitely gone dormant everywhere outside of California
Hell, the other anon said he was IN California and it had gone dormant there also if I understood correctly. I think the movement ran out of steam.
>We're about to see a big resurgence in cults. After that, another New Age wave.
I don't know maybe. Won't do me much good that far in the future. That means I'm basically on my own.
>>17551981
They all became Muslims once they found out that practicing magic whores your soul out and keeps you trapped on earth for eternity.
Surah 2:102
