Roman Catholic Worried... Options

As you can tell from the topic title, all this stuff interests me and I'd like to be able to perform some of it, but everything about the Golden Dawn, Hermeticism, and Ceremonial Magick in general tends to freak me out. I'm a Roman Catholic and I'm obscenely worried about my spiritual self getting into some trouble by doing this stuff. Are there any 'Judeo-Christian' roots to these rituals? I mean it doesn't take a lot to notice the archangels and God's names in the rituals, but seeing videos of people using sinister voices and generally acting like they want to be Lucifer's best friend during said rituals is a little worrisome.

If anyone has any advice for me I'd really appreciate it. I want to be closer with my HGA and thereby God by doing a little magick everyday, I desperately want Him to work through me, but what if unwittingly I allow myself to be worked by an entity with less than amiable goals? Etc., etc.

Thanks in advance..

Hey man my best suggestion to you would be to study almost every religion you can. Now I don't mean delve profoundly within, but seek and try to understand the religions of the world and their origins, you'd be surprised how much influence Paganism has had on Christianity, and the profound similarities between the Catholics and the Voudun religions of Africa.

I'm not trying to convert you (as i'm sure that is the first thing you thought), what i'm trying to do is help you understand the "outer cloister" of Catholicism. Why this is important is that it will help destroy and cultivate the fear that has come from a little misunderstanding and perhaps more judgement of the material that is not too profoundly covered in the Catholic Church.

By understanding the religions of this world and their history/mythology, you will also be quite fond of your newly found knowledge. I promise you, this won't be a harrowing experience for you.

The choice is and always will be yours, but the fact of the matter is, to not fear something you must break within its guise and scrutinize it. I'm quite sure the priest of the Catholic church himself knows a fair amount about the occult and external religions and their beliefs/backgrounds, question him about what he knows.

All the best,
DeathStalker

This post has been edited by DeathStalker: Dec 7 2006, 01:35 AM