1 post tagged “boucher”
Tim Boucher writes a blog called Pop Occulture.
"Sneak through the back alleys of pop culture & religion. Peek into unlocked doors. Pry open windows. And fish through other people's trash for hidden treasures..."
Tim's blog has a sizeable following. In my opinion, one of the reasons for this is he actively solicits reader's opinions and feedback and incorporates it into his writings on a fairly regular basis. This engenders a spirit of community and may serve to strengthen the connection between participants.
In addition to that, Tim's blog often focuses on areas of occult interest that are more personal or practical than some. In a way, that can be an important perspective...
We are fortunate as Tim has agreed to share his thoughts in a brief interview:
Sure, in particular I had this one dream about two years ago. Now, I was raised in a Catholic household and my parents were very serious about their religion, but I never was. At least not in the way they are. But I have always maintained a heavy interest in religion. Anyway this dream occurred during a night when I had inadvertently contracted food-poisoning from some under-cooked jerk chicken at a local pub. So I was in a very sick and somewhat delirious state when I had this. In the dream I was laying at night in an ancient city square in the Middle East somewhere. Around me lay beggars and poor people on blankets and mats. We were gathered there because we knew Jesus would be coming through that way. We were hoping to see him, touch him, be healed by him. He approached the place where I lay. My brother's cat was with me, and Jesus appeared to the cat first as another larger cat. They licked each other and purred. Then he came over to me and appeared as a person, roughly similar to the way he is classically picture - with a beard and flowing hair, etc. Except that his eyes were orange and his face somehow looked like the face of all people at once. And he told me a parable that explained my lifes mission. It had to do with people who went to the doctor to be healed, but were only made more sick. I understood that my mission then had to do with enabling those people to heal themselves.
I guess I don't know as much as I'd like to in regards to Taoism and Buddhism. I could make something up here probably, but I'd rather leave it to those better informed to go on at great length. I guess one thing I could say is that in Hinduism they seem to recognize that there are many different types of people and therefore many appropriate pathways to spirituality. I think in the West, thanks to a gross misinterpretation of Christianity, people have come to believe that there is only one way. This is simply untrue. I think the occult represents simply the traditions which were *different* that were driven underground. I don't especially think there is anything secret or weird about them. They are just like the many paths available in Hinduism.
Well, I have been working a job with plants for the past couple months and it has made me very plainly aware of the fact that "plant spirits" actually exist. I have seen them and had dreams where they have communicated with me. It's a very simple explanation really, but one which people who are firmly entrenched in a rational/materialist mindset are certain to balk at. That's fine. If they want to know about plants and plant spirits, then go work with plants. Go dedicate yourself to it. For a long time, because plants are much much slower than us. It's very simple, very direct.
update: Maybe this is easier said than done? Even deciding what is "noise" can be an exercise.I think politics are a flat-out waste of time. I'm even starting to think that following mainstream media and "current events" as a whole may well have a detrimental effect as well. I have been fasting for the last two days and it has made me see these things even more sharply. I would compare media, politics, etc to processed food. If you cut yourself off from it - even for a little while - you will realize that it is poisonous and addictive and that it takes you pretty much nowhere you want to go. I think what may be needed is to learn how to "turn down the noise" and focus on what's *really* important to us, day to day. Not on what other people far away with financial agendas tell us is important. Cause they don't know us, or our lives. We live here! They don't.
I think 2012 is a dead-end as either a metaphor or as a literal truth. 2012 is right now. The apocalypse is already happening or even better, it already happened and it's time we all just get over it. We have a lot of living that we need to do right here and right now. Life is hard work. We need to step up to bat and take care of it. We can't sit around waiting for it all to change because of some predetermined bullshit prediction from a culture that couldn't be more different from ours.
Are people waking up? I don't know. Am I? I hope so. I hope that I'm making an impact on the people around me. That's all any of us can really do. Are these topics becoming increasingly popular? Sure. But is that an unequivocal good thing? I don't think so. It just means that as the pioneers carve out the space, corporations will come in after us and colonize it like they do with everything. (Check out the Visa "Enlightenment Card" or "metrospirituality") We can't allow ourselves see corporate colonization of our mindspace as an indicator of our success. We just have to keep pushing on past them and living our lives.
6. What is your opinion of occult researchers that gain their insight by participating in type of activities that they research? Have you yourself tried any summonings, ceremonies, runes, joined the Freemasons, etc.? Why, or why not?
Oh I think if you're going to research this stuff, then you pretty much *need* to try it out for yourself. I know there is this thing in anthropology especially and science in general where you're supposed to be this passive objective observer. But that's a myth. There's no such thing. You're always bringing in your biases and influencing whatever you study. So to refuse to participate in what you're studying is a sort of lie or denial of that basic truth: that you impact what you study.
More important than that though, there are numerous areas in these fields that you can't really understand until you experience them. Many of these types of experiences simply can't be duplicated in words. That's the whole point. I have definitely tried a variety of things including: basic sigil magick, candle burning, meditation, leaving offerings on an ancestor altar, I had a dilogun (shell) reading done by a practitioner of Santeria, I had a reiki attunement done, I have started taking an intro yoga class, I am going to attend a Sufi dhikr this weekend actually, I have done a sort of music seance/invocation with a bunch of friends. I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting as well...
7. Do you have any hobbies or habits that you use to draw your mind away from these topics, or is it more that these topics are where you find relaxation and / or stimulation?
This is, honestly, all I do. I spend all my time immersed in it. I don't see it as a hobby, a habit, a job, or anything. It's just my life. There's no point at which I am not living my life or moving away from it. It all fits together into a bigger picture, no matter what it is I do.
I encourage you to check out Tim's excellent blog and find out what dark corner of the world, or your mind, he is looking into.
Copyright 2006 by Occult of Personality. Licensed under Creative Commons.Update: As an interesting epilogue, I received an email from Tim shortly after publication that I thought you would find interesting. Here is the main excerpt:
How about that. Synchronicity strikes again!... a couple years back, I had a dream where a two-headed eagle landed in my friend's neighborhood on the ledge of a nearby apartment building. I went out to see it and suddenly a familiar-seeming girl lead me down a path down a hill to a temple (not there in real life, of course) where holy men from around the world were gathered. Each had with them elaborate tapestries and beautiful art about the double-headed eagle, and told me myths about how rare and important it was. I thought you might be interested in it since I see that's your graphic used on your site profile!
Do you believe in coincidence theory? I do not.
