LEGEND OR TRUTH?
…I was at a party at one of the dorms at college. Someone suggested we have a mock séance. Everyone agreed. We all got around in a circle and clasped hands. We tried contacting various dead spirits. People were laughing. Someone suggested we try to contact the devil. Again, everyone agreed, saying it would be fun. We began contacting him. Suddenly everyone and everything got really quiet. A mysterious gloom came over the room. The guy who was contacting couldn’t speak any longer. All of a sudden one of the girls screamed really loud. She then fainted. When she awoke she started to babble. She said that she had looked in the corner and seen a shadowy figure. He was clothed in black and had a disfigured face. He was laughing hard, in an evil way. It was at that time that she screamed and fainted….
Folklore narrative:
Preserved at USU folklore archives
1975
This occult narrative is a reminder of the fear and mystery associated with supernatural experiences. The occult has always been regarded with a certain sense of trepidation. Whether it be nefarious sorcery, Mothman attack, or revenants stumbling out of local graveyards in search of babies to eat, the occult has always been correlated with dark and unseen forces. The question is why? What is it about the occult arts and sciences that mainstream culture finds so frightening? The answer can be found in a thorough study of the occult and its effect on modern society.
Maybe one of the most obvious reasons that the occult is targeted by ultra-conservative Christians is the fact that the phenomenon eludes concise definition. Everybody knows that it appears on the fringes of society, but the characteristics and esoteric qualities of the occult seem to be so vast and far-reaching that it becomes impossible to be classified, categorized, and easily referenced. Jorgenson and Jorgenson state that “knowledge in the esoteric community derives from almost every conceivable source, including Indian and Eastern religions, Greek mythology and philosophy, heretical versions of Christianity, paganism, psychic phenomenon and research, and an odd assortment of anomalies (monsters, UFOs, Atlantis, and pyramids). Characteristically , adherents mix and synthesize these doctrines in complex and confounding ways” (379). Although a sufficient definition of esoteric knowledge, specific aspects of the occult such as demonology and ceremonial magic have been omitted to the detriment of the esoteric community.
A basic premise of ceremonial magic is that things can be changed on account of the magician’s Will. For the occult practitioner, nothing is permanent; everything is in flux, durable, and subject to inherent properties of change. Even the magician himself is in a constant state of becoming or completion. According to Karin Johannison,
“For the magus, the supernatural coincides with the unusual, the marvelous, the artificial; the laws of nature are not regarded as absolute and can be exceeded by art”. The ceremonial magician is an architect of the universe that focuses on a design conforming with his personal Will. He or she uses his belief in the experience to exact changes in the world around him.
The study of belief is essential to gaining a better understanding of how the occult operates and is disseminated through world culture. As folklorist David Hufford succinctly stated, “An understanding of any belief must recognize an implicit claim of reference to the ‘objective’ world (that is, the world out there” (11). Here context is imperative because time and place determine to what extent occult belief is sanctioned in modern society. After all, the Western world is dependent on the rationality that encompasses empirical analysis of scientific data. Many members of society find the entire idea of the occult absurd and without scholarly merit. A contextual understanding of where the occult fits into other spiritual paradigms and institutions is important when discussing occult belief in our communities.
For many, legitimizing occult belief is directly related to how these beliefs are performed or ritualized. Sarah Pike states that, “ritual practice and other experiential aspects of occult involvement exist in an interdependent relationship with belief. Systems of belief cannot be fully understood apart from the ways in which they are expressed and experienced” (357). Here experience is key because it is the supernatural experience that is interpreted through ritual and/or performance. These folk beliefs are socially constructed based upon their perceptions of the supernatural event.
Also, cultures around the world often accept the presence of the occult in their social and religious structures. This cultural inheritance helps to maintain cohesion and order in their social systems. Essentially being ‘what they are brought up to know’, the occult and demonology are not fantastic but a regular occurrence in people’s lives. A part of tradition, belief in the supernatural is acquired in the same way as language. It becomes both common knowledge and folk belief simultaneously.
The distinction of common knowledge belief and folk belief becomes blurred in societies where science and religion compliment one another to explain natural and supernatural occurrences. In societies where the sun is both an astronomical body that works off of nuclear fusion and a creator deity that bestows the gift of life, the folk belief becomes as legitimate as scientific certainty. The occult finds meaning in a kind of science-based metaphysics that supports the folk belief as objectively true while relying on empirical and/or rational data to explain its form.
In addition to studies of belief, legend formation is essential to understanding the folklore of the occult. Legends provide a platform with which occult-lore is disseminated in society. Some of these legends are very well known, such in the case of Hiram Abiff or Christian Rosenkreutz. Other legends are more obscure, as in the skrying visions of John Dee and Edward Kelley. Still others appear as horrifying cautionary tales that give novice practitioners the bends when dabbling in occult ritual. We see evidence of this in a narrative about Aleister Crowley. As recounted by Dennis Wheatley, “Aleister had a disciple named MacAleister (Aleister’s son), who performed a ceremony to summon the god Pan. Their rite was all too successful: in the morning the disciple was found dead and Crowley was temporarily driven insane” (Wheatley 1956, 1971). A nightmarish story to be sure. But what is the truth of the legend? And are legends supposed to be based on fact? Folkloristics tells us that legends are ‘purported’ to be true and regarded as events that could actually happen. However, the study of legends is ripe with a myriad of definitions as characteristics. For example, Bill Ellis states that “whatever else we could propose a legend to be, it is not an underlying plot but rather a social impetus to create new narratives in the shape of the old” (125) Ah, finally some insights into legend formation. A legend is a modern derivative of a more traditional folkloric form. A sound theory if we consider the demonic characteristics of ufology’s Men In Black, or the Mothman’s uncanny similarities to ancient devils and monsters. Who says the Chupacabra or Jersey Devil are strictly modern creatures? In reality, they are variations of folklore from the past. What we see in these legends are narratives that rely on belief to be perpetuated. Linda Degh is absolutely correct when she remarks that “Belief makes its presence felt in any kind of legend” (1976:306). Without some element of belief, the legend isn’t viable as a part of tradition.
Occult legends certainty make use of belief as they move through popular culture. A classic example can be found in the original marketing and advertising of 1999’s ‘Blair Witch Project’. The best part of this film was the idea that it was based on ‘true events’. The internet website was equipped with mock newspaper headlines and interviews with residents of the town. The disappearance of the college students was relayed as an actual event and even documentaries were created about the witch herself. The result was a powerful legend of modern witchcraft.
Popular media plays off the fear we have of the unknown or mysterious. In fact, statistical surveys show that almost one-fifth of the American population has frequently experienced paranormal events, including extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, and communication with the dead” (Bennett 1999). The popular media becomes representative of the folklore that is disseminated through society. Having its proverbial finger on the pulse of society’s beliefs, popular media transmits traditional folklore and also makes use of modern variants to tell these stories.
At the beginning of this discussion, we asked “What is it about the occult that society finds so frightening?” Could it be that conservative aspects of modern culture largely consider occultists one step removed from a padded cell? Maybe it’s the Simon Magus syndrome and mainstream society prays with all their hearts to pull a St Peter and stomp the wily sorcerer into a gelatinous substance. Whatever the case may be, modern society believes in the occult like they believe in an abscessed tooth. Something to be grabbed by the root and swiftly yanked until no trace remains except a goofy gap in an un-anesthetized smile. Say it ain’t so. What these conservatives fail to understand is that these are stories that have been around since early man first burned himself on the deitic campfire. These narratives speak to us of spirits, angels, and theophanic realization. They are archetypes that transcend the test of time. As legends, they are a way to touch the anima of contemporary society. As oral traditions, they help provide cultural stability. And maybe most importantly, the folklore of the occult sheds light on the mysteries that permeate everyday life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bennett, Gillian. Alas, poor ghost! Logan. Utah State University Press, 1999.
Degh, Linda. Legend and Belief. Bloomington. Indiana University Press, 2001.
Ellis, Bill. Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults. Jackson. University Press of Mississippi, 2001.
Hufford, David J. “Beings Without Bodies: An Experienced-Centered Theory Of The Belief In Spirits.” In Out Of The Ordinary: Folklore And The Supernatural. Ed. Barbara Walker. Logan. Utah State University Press, 1995.
Jorgenson, Danny L. and Jorgenson, Lin. “Social meanings of the occult.” The Sociological Quarterly. Vol. 23 No. 3. (Summer 1982): 373-389.
Johannison, Karin. “Magic, Science, and Institutization in the 17th and 18th Centuries”. In Hermeticism and the Renaissance: Intellectual history and the occult in early modern Europe. Ed. Ingrid Merkel. 1988 pg 252.
Pike, Sara M. “Forging magical selves: Gendered bodies and ritual fires at Neo-pagan festivals.” In Magical Religion And Modern Witchcraft. Ed. James R. Lewis. Albany. State University Of New York Press, 1996.
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