Occult Groups on Social Media

Since the 1990s, my journey in the ever-elusive path of Magick has been challenging, intimidating and has encountered a lot of stops than the forking crossroads. As the interest in the study of witchcraft and the occult is on the rise, I have been scraping whatever information and knowledge available from books in the dusty, obscure corners of the library in UP Highschool. For the past five years, the only available source of information about it were a few Time Life Books, some Encyclopedia about ghosts and spirits, occult and other sociological studies of tribal beliefs and folk magic. One of the most influential persona in my interest to study the local Visayan folklore is Dr. Alicia Magos of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas. Her book, the “Enduring Ma-aram Tradition” contains some information that painted the picture of the magickal practices in the Tribes of Panay.  

 

In the coming years, I have started the research group in Iloilo and have started corresponding with active practitioners on the internet. I have met some of these practitioners in my trips around the country, sponsored by my university, when I was sent to writing seminars and competitions. The correspondence continued via the chatrooms on Yahoo Groups, MiRC, MySpace and Friendster. During the “occult revival” here in the country, a few prominent groups have started from all corners of the country. Some boast of “direct lineage” from mentors connected to established occult orders and traditions from around the world. Most of us were eclectic fledging witches experimenting with substitution of herbs for magick if the actual spell ingredient can’t be found in the spice section of the supermarket.  

 

As the 2000s started, the desire to create a community of practitioners was sparked and with this, events all across the country started to gather the everyone in parties, open circles and groups. In Iloilo, the Order of the Inner Circle was born and has become one of the most active groups in the country, coordinating and corresponding with various organizations. We have done some collaborative activities with groups from Bacolod, Cebu, Mindanao, and Luzon. We shared rituals, exercises and activities to create a more “codified” set of exercises and rites.  

 

As the popularity of the occult and the lure of mysticism became more mainstream, the media has caught whiff of it all and has become the “platform” of a few practitioners who started to create a public persona of authority in magick. Some of these “media personalities” became the unofficial spokesperson and “authorities” on magick, though some of them do not really know what they’re doing and talking about. These pressure from appearing “correct” on television and radio, for me has caused the existing issues that magickal practitioners have since then. Most of them thirst for the lure of the spotlight and the 15-minute fame an interview could bring. This has caused a lot of discord in the community as people started to compete with others for interview spots, TV and radio guesting and newspaper articles. Groups have engaged in “witch wars” as a result of these competitions. Now, 20 years after, the competition is still ongoing between groups and individuals to get their place on the spotlight, with clients or getting followers. Now, the new stage where these competitions happen is social media.      

 

We have seen a lot of groups popping on Facebook with claims of expertise and their promise of power to whoever follow or study under them. And when we have a couple of people, claiming to be masters, competing on a small stage, then conflict will rise. Some of these “masters” would also be quick to shut down other people they perceive as threat to their “kingdom” and will talk bad about them to remove them from their path. This is actually the reason why I decided to slow down and step away from these groups online. The community has become too toxic and the main goal of forming these organizations has shifted from learning to profit. Now people put themselves out there, not to educate people about the practice, but to get followers that are their potential clients in the future. For me, this “occult commercialization” has become such a norm that “energy exchange” for these lessons have been increasing dramatically. Now, instead of helping people and teaching them how things are done, it has become, “yeah just pay me, I’ll do it for you”. 

 

I just hope it is not too late to stir people back to become Seekers of Knowledge and the motivation of learning is not to monetize it but to look for answers. 

Images from the internet.