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Via this blog then this blog, I arrived at The Market As God. It's a long article, and it does what it says on the tin, framing free-market economics as a religion with the all-powerful Market at the head. It's long, but just skim through and you should get the drift. Obviously, this article will cause you untold rage if you happen to be partial to free-market economics, and discussions along those lines will be best left to the Switchboard.
People often consider secular society to be a 'blank page' that specifies no positive beliefs. I disagree, seeing secularism as a religion, albeit one that won't admit it. (This is one of the few relics I keep from my days as an evangelical Christian - though of course it's not a strictly Christian idea.)
Anyhow, the interesting part is about 60% down the page:
"In days of old, seers entered a trance state and then informed anxious seekers what kind of mood the gods were in, and whether this was an auspicious time to begin a journey, get married, or start a war. The prophets of Israel repaired to the desert and then returned to announce whether Yahweh was feeling benevolent or wrathful. Today The Market's fickle will is clarified by daily reports from Wall Street and other sensory organs of finance. Thus we can learn on a day-to-day basis that The Market is "apprehensive," "relieved," "nervous," or even at times "jubilant." On the basis of this revelation awed adepts make critical decisions about whether to buy or sell. Like one of the devouring gods of old, The Market -- aptly embodied in a bull or a bear -- must be fed and kept happy under all circumstances. True, at times its appetite may seem excessive -- a $35 billion bailout here, a $50 billion one there -- but the alternative to assuaging its hunger is too terrible to contemplate."
So if the market has beliefs and gods and energies, can we work with them? And - perhaps more to the point - would we want to? I remember Grant Morrison describing corporations as demonic entities, ostensibly ones that could be evoked. Presumably, this can segue into pop-culture and media magick.
So what does Barbelith think about this analysis? And has anybody had experiences of market magick? |
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