This Site Needs Resuscitation Options

So, should I invite the Occult Corpus people over here to colonize the place?

Where did all the people go...do I see "Croatoan" carved into the side of the board here?

Getting rid of the ads is easy--use Firefox with AdBlockerPlus. You'll have to tell it what to block at first, but then you don't have to worry about it.

I've noticed this place is collecting tumbleweeds. Most of the old guard is gone. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Getting rid of the ads is easy--use Firefox with AdBlockerPlus. You'll have to tell it what to block at first, but then you don't have to worry about it.

I've noticed this place is collecting tumbleweeds. Most of the old guard is gone. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Anyone is welcome to invite to the board whoever they like. The ads help to keep the site going - it does not pay for itself, and most members are unwilling to pay for library credits. There are people on the other end of the computer maintaining this place.

Finding the balance between a 'fun' community structure and an informative, productive one is very difficult. We try to be accessible and attractive to the widest demographic within our niche as we can, but inevitably some people will be repelled one way or another, and this in unavoidable regardless of the structure and features.

We have been attempting for a very long time now to groom this forum as a place where serious occultists, practitioners, philosophers, scholars, etc., can come and exchange ideas, collect theory, experience, wisdom, and knowledge. Unfortunately part of the reason the site seems so slow lately is that this grooming process has driven off a lot of the crazies. The population of mature and serious individuals is not enormous. If you would like to help in this process of building a strong, mature, and active community, then do your part too! If you find people who you think would be a good addition to the membership, and who could benefit from being here, then let them know about us. On an occult forum, word of mouth is not often the way our presence spreads, as most practitioners are unwilling to be open about themselves, for better or worse; and the crazies don't invite people they know because then they'll know about the crazy claims they make.

We're still a pretty strong community, although there are always going to be lulls in activity. But statistically we are not currently doing any worse on average than we have for a good long while.

peace

Unfortunately part of the reason the site seems so slow lately is that this grooming process has driven off a lot of the crazies. The population of mature and serious individuals is not enormous. If you would like to help in this process of building a strong, mature, and active community, then do your part too! If you find people who you think would be a good addition to the membership, and who could benefit from being here, then let them know about us. On an occult forum, word of mouth is not often the way our presence spreads, as most practitioners are unwilling to be open about themselves, for better or worse; and the crazies don't invite people they know because then they'll know about the crazy claims they make.

What do you consider "crazy" claims, Vagrant? Obviously, there are a number of claims on this site which merit more than a grain of salt, but personally I think a lot of the claims on this site are of things perfectly within reach of the average or above average practitioner. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wandwizard.gif)

What do you consider "crazy" claims, Vagrant? Obviously, there are a number of claims on this site which merit more than a grain of salt, but personally I think a lot of the claims on this site are of things perfectly within reach of the average or above average practitioner. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wandwizard.gif)

I'm not usually shy about stating plainly when i believe crazy claims are being made. You can dig up my skepticism all over the forums.

Battling demons, shapeshifting, being hunted by a clan of vampires, engaging in a war with the witch from third period, summoning up the great lord of demons himself ("Has anyone else ever done this?" <-- {snarky 'quote'}), the list goes on and on. We had a guy possessed by angels or aliens, who had made him gay, this was some year or two ago. I do not fault anyone else for being entirely 'open minded', to the point that they believe everything they read, but for me personally I watch people, weigh statements and questions, and apply some basic walkin' around sense (supplemented by going on 12 years of serious practice and 20 years of sensitive observation). I'm not going to claim I've seen everything that can happen, but I've known enough crazy to know when I'm seeing crazy. And I've known enough experienced magicians to know when I'm seeing someone with a realistic grasp of magic.

There is a ton of valuable and useful material on these forums. There's a bunch of crazy as well. We have to draw a line on the crazy, the extreme stuff we need to weed out - and ideally weed out the crazy all together. If you're (not you specifically, the general "you") going to claim that you did a love spell and now you need to break it, maybe you did and maybe you're lying. If you are going to claim that you opened a portal to hell in your basement and demons are coming out and you need to know how to close it - seriously, if you can do that, you can figure out how to close it, and obviously the situation is not so dire that you can't pop by the forums to ask a question and wait who knows how long for an answer. More likely you are either lying, or on some extremely fun (or not so fun if this is your delusion) psychoactive substance(s).

When we hear people talking flippantly about how they severed this one guy's spirit because they were a bully at school, or how they channel the archangel michael (or whichever one hasn't been channeled recently) who informs them that the earth is doomed if we don't recycle; I think you can see where I'm going here.

There are two kinds of people in that category. There are those that do something magically, something happens as a result, and so they come to a wild conclusion about the mechanics. (I put a curse on Bobby, and then bobby had a bad day, so obviously I tore his consciousness from his body and trapped him in a farraday cage). And then there are those that basically just want attention. (OMG you guys, there's a demon following me everywhere I go, do you think I should use the LBRP or the LBRH? Or is there a better super strong banishing that will work?) It is always something which demonstrates their extreme specialness.

That crap drags the community down. You can be entirely 'open minded' and invite everyone to come and tell their stories, and they will because they want an audience even online (especially online!), or you can temper your desire to believe in possibility with some reasoning skill and observation. Ask questions, find repeatable elements, if you really believe it can be done then figure out how and repeat the process yourself, even if it takes a lot of practice and focused effort. IF you honestly believe its true.

That's my fifty cents on that.

peace

I'm not usually shy about stating plainly when i believe crazy claims are being made. You can dig up my skepticism all over the forums.

Battling demons, shapeshifting, being hunted by a clan of vampires, engaging in a war with the witch from third period, summoning up the great lord of demons himself ("Has anyone else ever done this?" <-- {snarky 'quote'}), the list goes on and on. We had a guy possessed by angels or aliens, who had made him gay, this was some year or two ago. I do not fault anyone else for being entirely 'open minded', to the point that they believe everything they read, but for me personally I watch people, weigh statements and questions, and apply some basic walkin' around sense (supplemented by going on 12 years of serious practice and 20 years of sensitive observation). I'm not going to claim I've seen everything that can happen, but I've known enough crazy to know when I'm seeing crazy. And I've known enough experienced magicians to know when I'm seeing someone with a realistic grasp of magic.

There is a ton of valuable and useful material on these forums. There's a bunch of crazy as well. We have to draw a line on the crazy, the extreme stuff we need to weed out - and ideally weed out the crazy all together. If you're (not you specifically, the general "you") going to claim that you did a love spell and now you need to break it, maybe you did and maybe you're lying. If you are going to claim that you opened a portal to hell in your basement and demons are coming out and you need to know how to close it - seriously, if you can do that, you can figure out how to close it, and obviously the situation is not so dire that you can't pop by the forums to ask a question and wait who knows how long for an answer. More likely you are either lying, or on some extremely fun (or not so fun if this is your delusion) psychoactive substance(s).

When we hear people talking flippantly about how they severed this one guy's spirit because they were a bully at school, or how they channel the archangel michael (or whichever one hasn't been channeled recently) who informs them that the earth is doomed if we don't recycle; I think you can see where I'm going here.

There are two kinds of people in that category. There are those that do something magically, something happens as a result, and so they come to a wild conclusion about the mechanics. (I put a curse on Bobby, and then bobby had a bad day, so obviously I tore his consciousness from his body and trapped him in a farraday cage). And then there are those that basically just want attention. (OMG you guys, there's a demon following me everywhere I go, do you think I should use the LBRP or the LBRH? Or is there a better super strong banishing that will work?) It is always something which demonstrates their extreme specialness.

That crap drags the community down. You can be entirely 'open minded' and invite everyone to come and tell their stories, and they will because they want an audience even online (especially online!), or you can temper your desire to believe in possibility with some reasoning skill and observation. Ask questions, find repeatable elements, if you really believe it can be done then figure out how and repeat the process yourself, even if it takes a lot of practice and focused effort. IF you honestly believe its true.

That's my fifty cents on that.

peace

True, however, there's no getting around the fact that if magic is "for real," it is greatly at odds with the worldview held by the vast majority of people in the first world right now. I too am doubtful of some of these claims, but I stop short of outright calling someone a liar, because if we are absolutely certain that these things cannot be, why are we on this site to begin with? A good point to ponder: if magic is a real phenomenon, what would truthful claims about it look like? It would look something like, "I put a curse on Bobby, and he had a very bad day," because that is indeed what would happen if the curse worked. I agree with you on the "Big Messages to All of Humanity" c/o the peron posting on the board, not because entities are involved, but for the same reason I would doubt it if someone posted that Obama called them at home and wanted their input on foreign policy.

True, however, there's no getting around the fact that if magic is "for real," it is greatly at odds with the worldview held by the vast majority of people in the first world right now. I too am doubtful of some of these claims, but I stop short of outright calling someone a liar, because if we are absolutely certain that these things cannot be, why are we on this site to begin with? A good point to ponder: if magic is a real phenomenon, what would truthful claims about it look like? It would look something like, "I put a curse on Bobby, and he had a very bad day," because that is indeed what would happen if the curse worked. I agree with you on the "Big Messages to All of Humanity" c/o the peron posting on the board, not because entities are involved, but for the same reason I would doubt it if someone posted that Obama called them at home and wanted their input on foreign policy.

I rarely get involved with this sort of thing but I feel the need to say something. We are on this site to peruse greater knowledge about the occult arts. Truthful claims about magick are ones that have internal validity and at least resemble the understanding of magickal mechanics as presented by one of the generally accepted theories and traditions (from which many occultists have gained consistent results). All others are suspect. Incidental claims of causation represent post hoc fallacies; correlation is a perfectly reasonable claim, but requires time and reacquiring events within I reasonable frame. At some point "open minded" becomes "unwillingness to question." I don't think many people blatantly lie, so I take their claims at face value and hope they at least believe what they post, but I also know that people are often misinformed about magick and have ulterior motives and so will have a self-serving bias. On the site that is the informal equivalent of academic journal for the study of magick we should be able to call nonsense what it is.