The central question for our time is not how you worship God, or even whether you worship God. It's whether you believe in this life you can be in possession of the absolute truth and you have the right to impose it on others - and therefore whether your differences are more important than our common humanity. That's the values crisis.
Posted by IAO131 on in 10° : in 19° : dies : Anno IVxvii (May 31, 2009 - 09:18 PM)
Naturalistic Occultism
by IAO131
Naturalistic Occultism is an attempt to treat the phenomena of occultism with an eye of naturalism (i.e. not supernatural), science (i.e. based on empirical evidence), and pragmatism (i.e. what works is provisionally 'true'). It is largely a continuation of the ideal of Scientific Illuminism as expressed by Aleister Crowley in his motto "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion." This book seeks to separate the gold of occultism from the dross of superstition and dogma.
IAO131 creator & editor of the Journal of Thelemic Studies (ThelemicStudies.com) and author of many articles on the subjects of Thelema, Occultism, Philosophy, and Psychology at his blog: http://iao131.livejournal.com.
Table of Contents Introduction
0. Preface
1. What is Magick?
2. On Subjectivity and Objectivity
3. A Note About Free Will, Determinism, and Pragmatism
Naturalistic Occultism
0. A Naturalistic, Scientific Approach to Magick
1. As Above, So Below – As Within, So Without
2. The Planets, the Zodiac, and other Symbol Schemes
3. Divination: Tarot, I Ching, and Animal Entrails
4. Gematria: Finding Patterns in Numbers
5. Why Magick Seems to Work
6. Psychotherapy and Initiation
7. The Neurology of the Astral Plane, the Astral Body, and Astral Projection
8. Astral Workings & Scrying: The Interpretation of Ambiguous Stimuli
9. Invocation and the Willed Activation of Latent Parts of the Psyche
10. On the Mystic Attainment
11. Conclusion
Appendices
APPENDIX I: “Astral projection” or Out-of-Body Experiences
APPENDIX II: Un-differentiated Consciousness or Mystic Union
APPENDIX III: Recommendations for Further Reading
in 22° 
: 
in 19° 
: Anno IVxvii 
in 10° 
: 
in 19° 
: dies 
