Occultism and Witchcraft

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Now, I'm failry sure that most of the people in this guild have used witchcrat before, or rather, the magical system that witchcraft is part of. Occultism, on the other hand, i have found to be comletely different from witchcraft, opperating by a different set of rules. Discuss  

[Winter Black]

I don't think I've ever actually dabbled in Occultism... What is it, exactly?  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

First of all, it's a completely different set of rules for working it's magic. The strength of the ritual does not nevessarily depend on the caster. It invokes names of power and god-names in the rituals. it's hard to learn, because you have to get pretty much every little gritty detail down perfect, or it won't work perfectly. But when you do, man is it powerfull. For example, I wrote up a Wiccan based purification ritual, and use dit in this mini-forest near my house where someone had called some energy up and promptly forgot about it. my ritual cleared out about a tenth of the energy there. i did the occult rit, and cleared allmost all of the energy there.  

[Jameta]

Isn't the Occult more akin to religion? It make be just me, as people tend to refer to many Pagan faiths as being "the Occult".  

[The Bookwyrm]

Jameta

Isn't the Occult more akin to religion? It make be just me, as people tend to refer to many Pagan faiths as being "the Occult".

Actually, I think Occultism is more like Paganism without the religion part. Makes me think of things like Alchemy and high magick, and has a strong focus on ritual and spirits. Paganism gets thrown into the Occult classification, primarily to make is seem undesiarable, and secondly because it's a broad generalization made by people who really don't know any better.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Occult basically means hidden. I use it to describe the world of high/ceremonial magick  

[Starlock]

Nihl was right on the definition for occult. I'd probably classify the Craft as simply a division of the occult. If you really start studying the Craft, you're going to end up reading a lot of works that are considered occult, such as old grimroires.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Has any one else practiced ceremonial magick before?  

[Winter Black]

I would, but I don't want to try it alone... I may be confident on summoning (I'm an excellent poet), but I'm too afraid I'll mess something up in Ceremonial Magic... I might do something wrong...
I'm scared to go it alone, and there's no one in my city that I can practice with...  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Learn the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. You can't go wrong with that.  

[Akwila]

i have read occult, wicca, witch craft, and the craft, used almost inter chagibly....maybe i have just read bad books, who knows. but it hink they are all essentailly the same, they just have differnt lables  

[Rakei]

I never preform ritualistic magic(k) Why? Because I don't feel a need for it, rituals is a way to collect energy/power and direct it.
I preform my magic by will and knowledge over how things work, I'm pretty sure I've reached the buddhic plane of existance.(4th)

I understand how my magic(k) works and I can therefore draw power from anyplace and hold it within me and then impower it with my intentions and release it towards my goal... Also I can't find supplies for anything big.  

[Charity.Solei]

Nihilistic Seraph

Has any one else practiced ceremonial magick before?

Aren't the ritulas in Wicca where energy is raised and then magic is done (depending on the rite) ceromonial magic?  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Charity.l.bedell

Nihilistic Seraph

Has any one else practiced ceremonial magick before?

Aren't the ritulas in Wicca where energy is raised and then magic is done (depending on the rite) ceromonial magic?

In a sense, yes, but having practiced both, I can definitely say that there is a difference in the way the magic operates. While the line is very hazy, it is there.  

[Rakei]

Actually I do have two occultist works... ninja The Lesser and Greater Keys of Solomon the King.