Double Trouble

“Why do you want to live? If you would learn just a little from me, you would not beg to live. I am rumor. It is a blessed condition, believe me. To be whispered about at street corners. To live in other people’s dreams, but not to have to be. Do you understand?”
- Candyman

Like any modern Magus, this Old Fox maintains a presence on a few Social Networking sites. While I have no love for Suckerburg’s sinister Big Brother attitude towards our once personal information, or the Twitterverse highjinks of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Fry, I do revel in the chance to discuss the Weird with others who even in some small way share my darker interests whenever possible. One such interaction revolved around what seemed to be a deceptively simple question relating to the danger that a Thought Form version of the original Highgate Vampire, created and maintained by the continued claim and counter-claim surrounding the case, might pose to those currently investigating the site even in the absence of the original Entity, whatever that might have been. The following article was born from that initial reply, and my eventual conclusions might surprise you.

For those that are new to my dark little corner of cyberspace, and the more abstract concepts that arise from the modern Chaos Magick Current, it is worth starting with a little Occult 101. Thought Forms are extremely intriguing things, Creatures born of pure Will and fed on continued interest, modern Homunculus in function if not form and only a razor talon shy of achieving Godhood in their own right. Indeed, some would argue that the Gods Of Old coalesced from the thoughts and fears of the ‘Primitive’ peoples that witnessed Natural processes or wondered at the root causes of the events that occurred in their lives, concepts that were refined over time to the fully functional ‘Pagan’ Deities that we now recognise. Not quite living and breathing, but existing all the same, they are the truest expression of a given idea, and as such have a symbiotic relationship with those that come into contact with it, whether the lowley Mortal on the sharp end realises it or not. Think Magickal Memetics, and you should be on the right track.

When creating a Thought Form, as I have done on more than a few occasions, it is important to build in an Achilles Heel, a personality trait or quirk of its continuous existence that gives you a way out should things go badly. Alexandra David-Neel is famous for not embedding such a clause in her pioneering Western work on the subject, and had a nightmare of a time reabsorbing the jolly, but increasingly malicious, monk she had imagined as a result. Mostly such a clause is no more complex than binding it to a physical object, one that can be destroyed should the Thought Form decide to play hide the spleen with your legal next of kin, in doing so bringing its own existence in the Material Plane to an end. Note that you cannot actually kill a Thought Form, only banish or reabsorb it, as Ideas live forever, especially in the minds of others that have been informed of its existence. And as previously mentioned, reabsorbing one is anything but easy; even the Neverborn will fight viciously for Life after all.

The other thing you need to keep in mind when creating a Thought Form is clarity of purpose, and it is this often overlooked fact that leads us neatly towards our answer as to whether such a Highgate example would be a threat to those currently exploring the site. The Entity, to have any real Power, must be created from one stream of thought, even if it is shared between many people. Incorrect assumptions leaking into its Pool of Existence like mental effluent will do nothing more than muddy the waters of the Creature’s mental DNA. When you have nothing but the continued interest of your Creator or Followers to give you Form you have to hope that they choose to colour inside the lines, or you quickly go from looking like Dorian Grey to resembling his painting in the attic, so to speak.

The fall of the Christian Godhead and rise of the Muslem Creator can be viewed as a stark illustration of this; the Islamic viewpoint, suffocatingly structured as it is, helps to keep all of Allah’s followers on the same page with regards to His Form and Function, while the recently schism wracked Catholic and Protestant Churches have allowed freedom of Thought and deed to weaken their Divine Ruler to the point where He is little better than a lunatic with Multiple Personality Disorder and severe Body dysmorphia left in charge of an asylum staffed by Paedophile Priests and Italian Gangsters. A more Pagan example can be found in our very own Hecate; the Wiccan apologists and inexperienced Emo ‘Witches’ have done much to dilute her original Necromantic and Liminal Aspect during the 20th Century, leaving her now resembling not so much a Terrible and Just Deity of the crossroads as a washed up movie starlet whose greatest roles are long, long behind her somewhere in the depths of Human history.

And that is most likely the case With the Highgate Vampire, and why, in this Old Fox’s informed opinion at least, those visiting the Cemetery have little to fear from its Astral Clone, should one actually exist there. People who believe the original Entity in the Material Realm to be a King Vampire, a Psychic Vampire, an early manifestation of the Shadow People, a Summoned Entity, a pissed off or disturbed Graveyard Guardian, a gentleman Ghost or even a Hoax have rendered any resulting Astral Thought Form at best MPD and at worst unable to find a single pattern of existence to coalesce into. The bottom line? No body, no threat; So in this case, at least, all the cranks have done us a favour.

Necrolog Redux: Fox’s Necronomicon 2013

“You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody’s crazy.”
- Charles Manson

Evening Gravehounds, and welcome to the second part of my Necrolog Redux Project. Originally envisioned as a handy little Moon Phase and Pagan Holiday list for my own personal use, the Necrolog soon evolved to include the births and deaths of a handful of notable Occult personalities whose ideas I had explored during my ongoing Research. But as my own interests have widened so the Necrolog has also come to require expansion, thus I have split it in to various parts, with the Moon Phase and Sunrise/Sunset Data presented in my previous Fox’s Almanac article, and the greatly augmented birth/death information presented under the new title of Fox’s Necronomicon here for your perusal. There is a third part in the works, but more about that closer to the time as it is taking a lot of work to put together and may not be ready to publish for a while yet. My Necronomicon starts with the Dead, as is to be expected, but if you prefer to look up the Living then they have their own section at the bottom of the page. Happy hunting.

The Dead

Jabir ibn Hayyan, Alchemist, born 772 died around 804.
Michael Scot, Magickian, born 1175, died around 1232.
Albertus Magnus, Alchemist, born either 1193 or 1206, died 15 November 1280.
Roger Bacon, Mystic, born around 1214, died 1294.
Pietro d’Abano, Astrologer, born around 1257, died around 1315.
Ramon Llull, Mystic, born around 1232, died around 1315.
Nicolas Flamel, Alchemist, born around 1330, died 22 March 1418.
Gilles de Rais, Magickian, born 04 September 1404, died 26 October 1440.
Marsilio Ficino, Astrologer, born 19 October 1433, died 01 October 1499.
Johannes Trithemius, Occult Author, born 01 February 1462, died 13 December 1516.
Johann Reuchlin, Kabbalist, born 29 January 1455, died 30 June 1522.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Magickian, born 15 September 1486, died 18 February 1535.
Paracelsus, Alchemist, born around December 1493, died 24 September 1541.
Mother Shipton, Seer, born 1488, died 1561.
Michel de Nostredame, Seer, born around 21 December 1503, died 02 July 1566.
Benvenuto Cellini, Magickian, born 03 November 1500, died 13 February 1571.
Gerhard Dorn, Alchemist, born around 1530, died 1584.
Gerald FitzGerald 11th Earl of Kildare, Alchemist, born 1525, died 1585.
Johann Weyer, Demonologist, born 1515, died 24 February 1588.
Edward Kelley, Medium, born 01 August 1555, died 01 November 1597.
Giordano Bruno, Astrologer, born 1548, died 17 February 1600.
John Dee, Magickian, born 13 July 1527, died around 1609.
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Alchemist, born 18 July 1552, died 20 January 1612.
Walter Raleigh, Alchemist, born 1554, died 29 October 1618.
John Lambe, Astrologer, born 1545, died 13 June 1628.
Henry Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland, Alcheist, born 27 April 1564, died 05 November 1632.
Robert Fludd, Magickian, born 17 January 1574, died 08 September 1637.
Arthur Dee, Alchemist, born 13 Jult 1579, died September or October 1651.
Isobel Gowdie, Witch, bornaround 1632, died 1662.
Athanasius Kircher, Occult Author, born either 1601 or 1602, died 1680.
La Voisin, Witch, born around 1640, died 22 February 1680.
Thomas Browne, Hermeticist, born 19 October 1605, died 19 October 1682.
Christina Alexandra Queen of Sweden, Alchemist, born 18 December 1626, died 19 April 1689.
Ole Borch, Alchemist, born 1626, died 1690.
Isaac Newton, Alchemist, born 25 December 1642, died 20 March 1727.
Emanuel Swedenborg, Mystic, born 29 January 1688, died 29 March 1772.
Antoine Court, Occult Author, born around 1719, died 10 May 1784.
Jean-Baptiste Alliette, Fortune Teller, born 1738, died 1791.
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, Magickian, born 02 June 1743, died 26 August 1795.
Ulrica Arfvidsson, Fortune Teller, born 1734, died 1801.
Franz Mesmer, Mystic, born 23 May 1734, died 05 March 1815.
Adam Weishaupt, Illuminati, born 06 February 1748, died 18 November 1830.
Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier, Demonologist, born 1765, died 03 December 1831.
Marie Anne Lenormand, Fortune Teller, born 1772, died 1843.
Allan Kardec, Spiritist, born 03 October 1894, died 31 March 1869.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1st Baron Lytton, Occult Author, born 25 May 1803, died 18 January 1873.
Eliphas Levi, Magickian, born 08 February 1810, died 31 May 1875.
Paschal Beverly Randolph, Magickian, born 08 October 1825, died 29 July 1875.
Marie Laveau I, Voodoo Queen, born 10 September 1794, died 16 June 1881.
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Theosophist, born 12 August 1831, died 08 May 1891.
Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, Mystic, born 18 January 1743, died 14 October 1893.
Marie Laveau II, Voodoo Queen, born 1827, died around 1895.
Stanislas de Guaita, Rosicrucian, born 6 April 1861, died 19 December 1897.
Henry Sidgwick, Parapsychologist, born 31 May 1838, died 28 August 1900.
Frederic William Henry Myers, Parapsychologist, born 06 February 1843, died 17 January 1901.
Rufus Osgood Mason, Parapsychologist, born 22 January 1830, died 11 May 1903.
Henry Steel Olcott, Mystic, born 02 August 1832, died 17 February 1907.
August Strindberg, Alchemist, born 22 January 1849, died 14 May 1912.
Gerard Encausse, Magickian, born 13 July 1865, died 25 October 1916.
Grigori Rasputin, Mystic, born 22 January 1869, died around 30 December 1916.
Samuel Mathers, Magickian, born around 11 January 1854, died around 20 November 1918.
Guido Karl Anton List, Rune Caster, born 05 October 1848, died 07 May 1919.
James Hyslop, Parapsychologist, born 18 August 1854, died 17 June 1920.
Théodore Flournoy, Parapsychologist, born 15 August 1854, died 05 November 1920.
Rudolf Steiner, Mystic, born around 27 February 1861, died 30 March 1925.
William Wynn Westcott, Magickian, born 17 December 1848, died 30 July 1925.
Robert Felkin, Magickian, born 1853, died 1926.
Moina Mathers, Magician, born 28 February 1865, died 25 July 1928.
James Hewat McKenzie, Parapsychologist, born 1869, died 1929.
Arthur Conan Doyle, Spiritualist, born 22 May 1859, died 07 July 1930.
Rudolf John Gorsleben, Rune Caster, born 16 March 1883, died 23 August 1930.
Charles Fort, Occult Author, born 06 August 1874, died 03 May 1932.
George Frederick Kunz, Folklorist, born 29 September 1856, died 29 June 1932.
Leila Waddell, Magickian, born 1880, died14 September 1932.
Theodor Reuss, Magickian, born 28 June 1855, died 28 October 1932.
Evangeline Adams, Astrologer, born 08 February 1868, died around November 12 1932.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Occult Author, born 20 August 1890, died 15 March 1937.
William Butler Yeats, Magickian, born 13 June 1865, died 28 January 1939.
Otto Wilhelm Rahn, Occult Author, born 18 February 1904, died 13 March 1939.
Harvey Spencer Lewis, Rosicrucian, born 25 November 1883, died 02 August 1939.
A. Frank Glahn, Mystic, born 1865, died 1941.
Arthur Edward Waite, Mystic, born 02 October 1857, Died 19 May 1942.
Constant Chevillon, Rosicrucian, born 26 October 1880, died 23 March 1944.
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler, Magickian, born 07 October 1900, died 23 May 1945.
Dion Fortune, Magickian, born 06 December 1890, died 08 January 1946.
Whately Carington, Parapsychologist, born 1892, died 1947.
Aleister Crowley, Magickian, born 12 October 1875, died 01 December 1947.
Arthur Machen, Mystic, born 03 March 1863, died15 December 1947.
Evan Morgan 2nd Viscount Tredegar, Magickian, born 13 July 1893, died April 1949.
William Lyon Mackenzie King, Spiritualist, born 17 December 1874, died 22 July 1950.
Ludwig Straniak, Mystic, born 1879, died 1951.
Pamela Colman Smith, Magickian, born 16 February 1878, died 18 September 1951.
Algernon Blackwood, Mystic, born 14 March 1869, died 10 December 1951.
John Whiteside Parsons, Magickian, born 02 October 1914, died 17 June 1952.
James Lewis Spence, Occult Author, born 25 November 1874, died 03 March 1955.
Austin Osman Spare, Magickian, born 30 December 1886, died 15 May 1956.
Etzel Cardeña, Parapsychologist, born 1957.
Franz Bardon, Mystic, born 01 December 1909, died 10 July 1958.
Hereward Carrington, Parapsychologist, born 17 October 1880, died 26 December 1958.
Rudolf Tischner, Parapsychologist, born 03 April 1879, died 24 April 1961.
Carl Gustav Jung, Mystic, born 26 July 1875, died 06 June 1961.
René Warcollier, Parapsychologist, born April 1881, died May 1962.
Marguerite Frieda Harris, Magickian, born 1877, died 11 May 1962.
Eugen Grosche, Magickian, born 11 March 1888, died 05 January 1964.
Gerald Gardner, Witch, born 13 June 1884, died 12 February 1964.
Nandor Fodor, Parapsychologist, born 13 May 1895, died 17 May 1964.
Karl Zener, Parapsychologist, born 22 April 1903, died 27 September 1964.
Max Heindel, Mystic, born 23 July 1865, died 06 January 1865.
Friedrich Bernhard Marby, Rune Caster, born 10 May 1882, died 03 December 1966.
Konstantīns Raudive, Parapsychologist, born 1909, died 1974.
Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola, Mystic, born 19 May 1898, died 11 June 1974.
Walter Ernest Butler, Mystic, Born 1898, died 1978.
Joseph Banks Rhine, Parapsychologist, born 29 September 1895, died 20 February 1980.
Martinus Thomsen, Mystic, born 11 August 1890, died 08 March 1981.
Sybil Leek, Witch, born 22 February 1917, died 26 October 1982.
Tommaso Palamidessi, Mystic, born 16 February 1915, died 29 April 1983.
Jane Roberts, Medium, born 08 May 1929, died 05 September 1984.
Israel Regardie, Magickian, born 17 November 1907, died 10 March 1985.
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, Magickian, born 13 March 1911, died 24 January 1986.
Hellmut Wolff, Mystic, born 30 March 1906, died 22 March 1986.
Ralph Maxwell Lewis, Rosicrucian, born 1904, died around January 1987.
Scott Rogo, Parapsychologist, born 01 February 1950, died 18 August 1990.
Manly Palmer Hall, Mystic, born 18 March 1901, died 29 August 1990.
Hans Bender, Parapsychologist, born 05 February 1907, died 07 May 1991.
Charles Honorton, Parapsychologist, born 05 February 1946, died 04 November 1992.
Jean Chevalier, Occult Author, born 1906, died 1993.
Marjorie Cameron, Magickian, born 23 April 1922, died 24 June 1995.
Timothy Leary, Mystic, born 22 October 1920, died 31 May 1996.
Thelma Moss, Parapsychologist, born 06 January 1918, died 01 February 1997.
William S. Burroughs, born 05 February 1914, died 02 August 1997.
Robin Skelton, Witch, born 12 October 1925, died 22 August 1997.
Anton LaVey, Satanist, born 11 April 1930, died 29 October 1997.
Carlos Castaneda, Mystic, born 25 December 1925, died 27 April 1998.
Dora van Gelder Kunz, Theosophist, born 28 April 1904, died 25 August 1999.
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente, Witch, born 04 January 1922, died 01 September 1999.
Gerald Suster, Occult Author, born 02 August 1951, died 03 February 2001.
Robert Morris, Parapsychologist, born 19 July 1942, died 12 August 2004.
Michel Moine, Parapsychologist, born 08 March 1920, died 15 January 2005.
Robert McConnell, Parapsychologist, born 1914, died 2006.
Robert Anton Wilson, Mystic, born 18 January 1932, died 11 January 2007.
Ian Pretyman Stevenson, Parapsychologist, born 31 October 1918, died 08 February 2007.
Christopher Hyatt, Magickian, born 12 July 1943, died 09 February 2008.
Hans Holzer, Parapsychologist, born 26 January 1920, died 26 April 2009.
Mellie Uyldert, Astrologer, born 31 May 1908, died 10 May 2009.
John Alva Keel, Occult Author, born 25 March 1930, died 03 July 2009.
Michael Thalbourne, Parapsychologist, born 24 March 1955, died 04 May 2010.
Kenneth Grant, Magickian, born 23 May 1924, died 15 January 2011.
William Roll, Parapsychologist, born 03 July 1926, died 09 January 2012.
Murry Hope, Witch, born 17 September 1929, died 25 October 2012.
Ingo Swann, Psychic, born 14 September 1933, died 31 January 2013.

The Living

Lawrence LeShan, Parapsychologist, born 1920.
Kenneth Anger, Magickian, born 03 February 1927.
Gareth Knight, Magickian, born 1930.
Robert G. Jahn, Parapsychologist, born 01 April 1930.
Colin Henry Wilson, Occult Author, born 26 June 1931.
Stanley Krippner, Parapsychologist, born 04 October 1932.
Laurie Cabot, Witch, born 1933.
Russell Targ, Parapsychologist, born 11 April 1934.
Michael Bertiaux, Magickian, born 18 January 1935.
Kenneth Ring, Parapsychologist, born 1936.
Charles Tart, Parapsychologist, born 1937.
Daryl Bem, Parapsychologist, 10 June 1938.
Deanna Conway, Occult Author, born 1939.
Brian David Josephson, Parapsychologist, born 04 January 1940.
Rupert Sheldrake, Parapsychologist, born 28 June 1942.
Raymond Moody, Parapsychologist, born 30 June 1944.
Lionel Snell, Magickian, born 1945.
Randall Fontes, Parapsychologist, born 20 October 1945.
David Farrant, Parapsychologist, born 23 January 1946.
Margot Adler, Witch, born 16 April 1946.
Uri Geller, Psychic, born 20 December 1946.
Lon Milo DuQuette, Magickian, born 11 July 1948.
Derek Acorah, Medium, born 27 January 1950.
Genesis P-Orridge, Magickian, born 22 February 1950.
Antero Alli, Astrologer, born 11 November 1952.
Peter James Carroll, Magickian, born 08 January 1953.
Andrew Nichols, Parapsychologist, born 02 June 1956.
Grant Morrison, Magickian, born 31 January 1960.
Miriam Simos, Witch, born 17 June 1951.
Sally Morgan, Medium, born 20 September 1951.
Alan Moore, Magickian, born 18 November 1953.
Gerina Dunwich, Witch, born 27 December 1959.
David Wells, Medium, born 08 June 1960.
László Harasztosi, Mystic, born 28 June 1963.
Ciarán James O’Keeffe, Parapsychologist, born 21 March 1971.
Christopher Penczak, Occult Author, born 1973.
Frater Vulpes, Magickian, born 1979.
Matthew Fraser, Medium, born 08 July 1991.

Reality Check

“And the sad thing is we’re all in on the action
We’re all holding our breath, waiting for a reaction
You play your part, I’ll be playing with matches
And if you’d like a show, you can follow the ashes “
- Icon For Hire, Theatre

The world is changing. As free thinking adherents to any of the numerous modern Magickal Path’s our most die hard enemies, the Religions of old, may no longer have the right under law to punish us for our freedom of thought and deed. Yet they are increasingly finding other ways to infest our Zeitgeist, not least through the Mainstream Media that they infiltrated long before we even existed. Turn on any show made in the USA over the last thirty or so years and you will find numerous positive references, some obvious and some not, to the prevailing Christian faith. It is the same with the twenty four hour news channels and talk radio stations, news papers and commentators, Politicians and Presidents, all backed by Christ’s own money and told to tow God’s party line like good little pawns in some far reaching master plan of which the rest of us are not only oblivious, but also on the opposing side.

While the shadowy Muslim and Mexican hordes are the external ‘Other’ in the average American mind, it is the Goth, the Rocker, the Witch and the Satanist that they fear from within. Watching any of the numerous True Crime documentaries that hail from the Land of the Free is all that is required to see the bias in action; even those criminals that were in no way affiliated with the aforementioned lifestyles are regularly recast as Avatars of Satan replete with black trench-coats, dark eye-liner and an unhealthy interest in Heavy Metal. Yet it is jarring to see actual file footage of the same people later on in the episode, and realise that they were, in reality, anything but. Scratch the surface and it is easy to see that such ostensibly factual slices of American life are little better than modern morality plays, spoon fed food for thought for a Theocracy that has always seen things in stark black and white, Good and Evil, when the truth is actually very many shades of grey.

Perhaps it is to be expected. After all, the continued cohesion of any Regime, Theocratic or otherwise, directly relies upon both the manipulation of information and the existence of the ‘Other’ to maintain its power base, more so now in an age where geographical borders are increasingly irrelevant to daily life. While the sort of state controlled media that is tolerated in Muslim nations or outright censorship of free and open debate that we witness in less obviously Religious places like China would be vehemently resisted by the emancipated population of the ever widening Western World, we see the same tactics utilised by those few corporations that own the lion’s share of the indigenous media, albeit underpinned by the constant lie that all you have to do is change the channel to get an opposing point of view. All Governments realise the need to manipulate this data stream in such a way as to control the emotions of those experiencing it, to repress dissent and present a unified front behind their Deity or figurehead of choice on the Global Stage; America is no different.

In the UK, where the Church of England is slowly drowning under the weight of it’s own inability to evolve and the more fundamentalist voices from the Muslim Faith are thankfully only a minority, albeit one that seems to be given a disproportionate amount of airtime in the most negative of senses for no other reason than keeping the ‘Other’ front and centre in the mind of the population, it is a whole different line that the Media tows, and one that is equally threatening to our continued Spiritual freedom. Unlike the USA, a thoroughly modern Theocracy every bit as fundamentalist as the Muslim Nations that it continues to lead a war for oil against, Great Britain is far less concerned with matters of Church than State, instead breading the sort of Iconoclasts and Heretics that are more than willing to stand alone and watch both sides in that particular Twenty-First Century Crusade kill each other over whose Godform has the bigger crozier and bloodier hands.

Yet get enough Heretics together under a single banner, throw in a few outspoken pseudo-celebrities such as Brian Cox and Susan Blackmore, and you have a movement, and one that is every bit as dangerous to us Magickians as the Mainstream Religions that organised Skepticism was created to oppose. Despite recent opinion pieces in the daily Print Media claiming something of a failure for the so called Atheist Spring that typified the desire for social evolution in early Twenty-First Century Britain, Skepticism remains a very real threat to our right to think as we please. Add the influence of such unapologetically vocal Ultra-Skeptics as Richard Dawkins, who has recently become notorious for claiming that bringing a child up within a religion is in some ways more damaging to their continued mental well-being than sexual abuse, to the mix and you soon have a media juggernaut that consistently generates column inches in amounts second only to the mainstream Religions themselves, most of it positive due to the Pro-Skeptical slant of many of the UK newspapers.

But, while many view the Skeptical Movement as a harmless diversion, as someone who has moved in Skeptical Circles at Grass Roots level I can personally attest to the continued threat posed by those that flock to their banner to anyone that holds any form of Belief other than in their much quoted One Commandment, the suddenly staunchly Atheistic Scientific Method. In this case, the enemy of my enemy is far from my friend; the Skeptics view us all as opponents of reason, be we Occultists, Pagans, Christians or whatever else gets you through the day, and would gladly inoculate our children against the apparently irrational ideas that we carry within our collective psyche if given half the chance. Such Memetic Eugenics is exactly what they have in mind, working or studying within the higher education system as many of them do, and despite the best efforts of a few members of the modern Occult Community to get the message out that we have fallen into something of a stupor regarding the continued need to watch our backs and fight for our rights, nothing seems to change.

While we sit in Second Life and share ideas for Sigils, the Christians in the US Senate try to censor the internet. While the Pagans meet up in pubs and chew over the best places to buy candles, the Skeptics meet up on university campuses and plan entire multifaceted campaigns against those that do not think the same way that they do. There are Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Skeptical lobby groups all fighting over the scraps of Western Civilisation, while the Magickal refuse to stand together and make their voices heard on legislation that will one day matter to them. The James Randi Educational Foundation endorses groups that regularly undermine the validity, and in certain cases re-edit whole chunks of, Wikipedia entries on Paranormal subjects, while the Parapsychological Community looks the other way and refuses to mobilise to defend their borders. We allow the Celebrity Media to publish poorly researched slam pieces about Peaches Geldof and her supposed ties to the ‘Satanic’ O.T.O. without bringing them to task about their lies, yet we watch Skeptics and Christians descend like vultures to peck away at any Pro-Occult piece that somehow gets through the censors as if it is acceptable to hide our heads in the sand and take it up the ass.

The bottom line is a simple one: I can no longer sit by while my fellow Pagans, Witches and Occultists remain oblivious to the wolf at the door threatening to blow their house of cards down around their ears, yet there seems little that I or anyone else can actually do unless those around me also wake up to the reality of the situation that faces us all. We must unify as a Movement, even if is one that acknowledges out desperate Paths, for our continued survival in an increasingly hostile social environment. Because mark my words well, the world is indeed changing, and we who would strive to remain Free need to either drag those in positions of power within our Occult and Pagan Hierarchies kicking and screaming into the Twenty-First Century to lead us against the growing tide of anti-Occult sentiment, or make them stand aside so that the next generation can take up the mantle in their stead. Perhaps it is poignant to note, in closing, that we could learn a great deal from the way the Skeptical Activists approach their chosen target; they have shown great unity and indeed ingenuity in finding avenues to create genuine change in line with their Will. Yet the greatest shame is that said target is, in truth, all of us, and as such every victory for them is little better than a brick in our collective cell wall.