Craft Secrets
Craft Secrets, Mystery, and
Occultation.
If nothing else the Occult World is full of secrets, secrecy, and information
that only the initiated can decipher, or properly make use of. Occult means
"hidden" after all. Under the umbrella descriptor of
"Occultism" exists a great many magic or religious expressions,
traditions, paths, and groups. The many traditions of Neo-Paganism, and Magick,
can be described as fitting into the Occult quite neatly, but not all
Neo-Pagans and practitioners of Magick think of it this way, for some don't
believe there are any Craft Secrets left to be exposed. Nothing could be
further from the truth. A great many Craft Secrets can never be exposed, at
least not in the sense of being laid open for anyone who wants a look at them.
The reason for this, and all the secrecy that is often thought of as either
paranoia, or schemes at maintaining control over others, is that even the
exposed secrets of the Occult are simply not much good to those that don't have
the eyes to see them in the fullness of their meaning.
There is in fact a great deal of difference between Craft Secrets, Mystery, and
the Occultation of Magickal Knowledge and proprietary information. One of these
three is forever free from prying eyes even fully out in the open, and will
never be lost, or exposed to prurient interests. Craft Secrets are just that,
the trade secrets of a particular craft, and a great many of these have been
laid open for all the world to see, if they are interested to look. People that
have experienced them intimately have shared some of them freely as society
became more accepting, and others have been stolen, quite literally taken
without the consent of those who were protecting them. In any case these sorts
of exposed secrets are merely the details of what a particular group practiced,
believed, or concealed from the general public at the time for a number of
reasons, some quite rightly to protect the anonymity of their members from a
suspicious public.
This sort of secrecy is still being practiced today by a number of groups, some
of which the uninitiated have never even heard of, and may likely never hear
about, unless an embittered member leaves, and holds gain, or revenge, above
keeping oaths they have sworn to their fellows. The other form of Craft Secrecy
is a whole lot less magickal, though certainly related to a magickal worldview,
and a topic of deep interest to magickal people, and non-magickal people alike.
This is the methodology of keeping secrets. Craft Secrets are also the trade
secrets of groups that may not be magickal at all, and in the history of
technologies, which in ages past was part and parcel of a magickal worldview,
are not thought of as magickal today. Consider that Chemistry, Astronomy,
Writing, Literacy, Stone Masonry, Mathematics, Geometry, Medicine, Anatomy,
Pharmacology, Architecture, Metallurgy, Cartography, Physics, Optics,
Photography, Art, and a great many other sciences and technologies were once
protected by the same sorts of obfuscations seen in the Occult World, but are
no longer thought of as magickal by the greater pubic, even if they have no
idea how to practice any of these once hidden arts. The details of each were
hidden from others at various points in history nonetheless, sometimes to
protect trade secrets, and sometimes to protect people from punishment for
going against the dictates of the Church.
Today in our modern society you can get each of them at the appropriate
educational institution for the right price, or even practice some of them in
the comfort of your own home without any training whatsoever. Today trade
secrets are still protected by the industries that have an interest in their own
intellectual property, and are wrongfully sought by others in the industries
for the same reasons. At this stage in history most industrialized nations have
copyright, patent, and intellectual property laws that protect technology,
intellectual products, and industrial trade secrets, but these are relatively
new in comparison to the long history of protecting such secrets, thus the use
of occult means, and oath bound memberships in trade guilds seen in the past.
The Occult World still makes use of the time-tested methods of protecting
intellectual property, anonymity, and a sense of propriety for their groups. In
fact the non-Occult World of espionage, fraternal societies, and creative
people, also make use of a great many methods once belonging to a magickal
worldview, but more on this later. Occultation is the practice of obscuring
proprietary information through a bewildering array of practices,
methodologies, and techniques. The science of Cryptology is firmly set in the
traditions of occultism, and in fact occultists invented some of the better
methodologies of the science still used today by world-class national agencies,
such as the CIA, KGB, and MI6. The route to becoming an agency Cryptologist in
fact takes students of the science through the methods of past occultists, and
therefore preserves the connections between the secrecy of espionage, and
occultism. A careful inspection of the histories of some of the better-known
occultists will leave the sense that some of them may in fact have been spies themselves,
with a few having that suspicion plainly stated in some of the literature, and
in my estimation not without merit. I won't go into the details of Occultation,
but will state that these methods have in fact been used to control sincere
seekers in some instances, and out of paranoia in others.
Consider that openly stating one has Craft Secrets, or alluding to having them,
is a huge draw to the interested, and that interest alone can often mean the
willingness to part with money, time, and personal dignity, to be afforded the
chance at having a peek at them, or being fully initiated into the Mysteries
any given group alludes having mastery in. As with anything else in the human
experience I firmly assert that the spirit of Caveat Emptor should prevail on
all those interested in being initiated into the Mysteries. For those
interested in the methods of Occultation, I simply suggest that you read
"The Da Vinci Code," if you haven't already, to get a little taste of
what those methods are like, or how they might be used.
This leaves us with Mystery, something that can never be stolen, rationed from
others, or bought and sold as a neatly packaged commodity. It can only be
experienced. Mystery is wholly safe from the uninitiated, even right out in the
open, and cannot be pried away by any means, or even understood by those that
haven't experienced it first hand. Mystery is a powerful part of the allure of
the Occult, but it is not contained by it alone. Mystery cannot be contained.
It is the invisible essence of personal spiritual growth, and it calls forever
to every soul. For this reason initiation into Mystery can be helped along by
others that have been there before us, but cannot be handed around like a party
favor at a private gathering of snobby insiders. Mystery cannot be concealed.
It cannot be long held out like a carrot on a stick by those that would have
power over others, or take advantage of their sincere yearning for experiencing
it. Mystery itself cannot be abused, and that is part of its eternal character.
Mystery is open to all human beings that seek it out, and we have all tasted of
it to some degree. In fact every human being is an emissary of Mystery, a
cipher, a symbol, a hint at its essence. If one would find it in its fullness
they should do as the Masters have always admonished. Know Thyself.
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