I really enjoy reading books about the occult. In fact, they're one of my favorite things to read, up there with science fiction, comic books, weird science textbooks and video game instruction booklets. So perhaps it is no surprise that as of recently I've begun planning on writing one of my own. On one hand, I'm a little "blocked" in terms of writing fiction at the moment, and I really want to write something. And I'm always bitching about all the generic New Agey/Wicca/Power Crystal type books that glut up the occult section of the Barnes & Noble I work at, little black holes sucking up valuable shelf space that could be filled with so much better occult books... So I thought, "Well, instead of complaining about it, why not write one of your own? Something that could give the average reader a braingasm so lacking in much of this watered down pap?"
Of course, when one sets off on such an endeavour, one must ask "How much do I really have to say that hasn't been said already?" Looking over my notebooks, diaries, threads I've posted here and what not, I thought I might be able to cull something together that, at the very least, is a little more inspired then most of what gets churned out these days (as well-meaning as those authors probably are). But I also had to ask myself, "How could this be presented?"
My major brainstorm actually came about through reading the Voudon Gnostic Workbook, of all things. There's one section that talks about "Angelic Germatria" and taking words and turning them into special numeric forms. This got me looking into the so-called "barbarous names" and looking over them I realized "You know, a lot of these names to call on these beings look like those old passwords the old school video games used to unlock hidden areas or jump ahead to upper levels". Following this train of thought I came upon the notion that a magician is very much like a video game player who has access to all these secret cheats and codes: They have an edge over the common player because they can manipulate reality in the game world itself. And you always hear people around here referring to life as game, the universe as an illusion, and so on. It could be argued, then, that those bulky strategy guides you always see are like grimoires for video games. It was then that I realized that perhaps I could write my occult book in the format of a strategy guide, even have the words "strategy guide" in the title, just instead of talking about video games, it could be a strategy guide for the esoteric realms. I could fill it up with the type of jargon common to video games and that whole genre, as that's the kind of language kids understand these days. They can't usually relate to all those weird occult books, but if that type of information is presented to them in a format they can understand, with lots of colorful text, glossy screenshots, secret codes and "hints", and a bit of an anti-authority edge and sex, it might give them a bit of a push they need to explore some of those "out-there" concepts that most of us here are familiar with...
I realize that quite a few of my friends, coworkers, online friends, and what not, fall into the "fan boy" category: computer nerds, retro video game geeks, comic book fans, lovers of "The Matrix" and "Lord of the Rings", and all that. It was here I found what could be my target audience. The way I see it, the fan boys, those who are familiar with information and computers, will one day have an edge on society as we become more and more an age of information (surely we outnumber the jocks of the world at least). Therefore, these are the perfect people to be inducted into the occult secrets, if society is to change. I realize that reality makeover shows like "The Swan" have it all wrong: rather then change yourself to fit society's idea of beauty, you hack reality itself and change it's notion of beauty. I once said that I believed that the computer geeks and comic fans, the goths and harry potter fanatics of today, could be the leaders and sex icons of tommorow. I still think this can come about. Websites like Suicide Girls could be pointing the way for changing notions of sexuality... And we are, according to Kenneth Grant, in the "Age of Goth". There is energy to be harnessed here, I think. |
