Saturday Night Special: Community and Cults Over Tea

I think at this point it's no secret that extremist view points have infiltrated the occult community.

From the MAGA loving love and light crowd or the Cult of KEK all the way to the organizations like O9A, a subtle yet severe campaign for white supremacy has placed a firm grasp on the occult communities globally.

They are using these avenues to make inroads.

To groom and recruit the next generation. Not unlike the Hitler Youth Brigades, this generation will carry on the proud tradition of hate through the misuse of memes, subtle brainwashing, misinformation, and blatant bigotry.

Nothing appeals to a young white boy, regardless of political bent, than a feeling of superiority when your self-confidence frequently shifts from low to high to low again. It's a crutch. Something you can always rely on.

"At least I'm better than THEM."

And the "them" is important, because they're all the rest of us. Not some nameless mass of individuals. Your friends, your family, even the non-magickal of the group.

The interesting things to recognize are the direct methods of their indoctrination, as they're quite subtle.

• Memes meant to be edgy humor, but may contain hidden sigils and imagery, sometimes even directly attacking.
• Rumor mills and harassment campaigns are a noted favorite of recruiting because it shows who the easiest are to manipulate.
• Blacklisting campaigns on social media platforms.
• Direct physical confrontations by people at homes.

Sometimes, abusive harassment campaigns lead to suicide or threats of suicide. These are not made up, mythical occurrences. They are really happening, even at this very moment.

These conditions are present in many, but not all, online magick groups. This is nothing more than cosplay magick wars gone wrong, children playing with what they don't fully understand, and corruption allowed to take root.

It's a childish game and unethical misuse of power on a grand scale, fueled by the need to feed ego.

But on the darker side of things, many others are reaping the benefits of this childish behavior.

Let's take the curious case of "The Forgottening." The online group will remain nameless, but it's a simple story to look up if you take the time. It's shrouded in mystery, named so to ensure several levels of misinformation were in place to thwart people looking into the subject.

But it has an ugly truth.

What began as a simple "magick war" between various groups and sub-groups exploded into real world doxing campaigns. The lone admin of the group had little control, as all the others in the admin team had checked out of their responsibilities.

This abusive behavior, harassment, and stalking went on without abandon between two different online magick groups, one of which is known for its affiliation with O9A.

Ultimately, it led to legal ramifications and a suicide, if reports are to be believed.

And that's when the Zucc Hammer fell.

But the same group was reborn.

And while it's a kinder, gentler version of the place it was before, it is still very much an abuser's playground.

There have been many targeted attack campaigns on individuals.

A once semi-famous micro niche celebrity in the chaos magick circuit was harassed to the point they had to take a break or risk complete mental breakdown.

One practitioner, a female, simply dropped all her friends after targeted attacks by a well-known abuser and doxxer when they focused their sights on her after turning down further romantic involvement.

A close friend of my own, in the LGTQ+ community, ended her life, in part due to the level of criticism and harassment she received in this group.

In fact, they kicked one such abuser out for egregiously and repeatedly failing to follow the rules. They were let back in when all the abusers and enablers banded together and an overworked admin team acquiesced, letting them back in.

They have promised to change, but the fact of the matter is the abusers are still there and the members of the community the admin team is responsible for protecting are at their mercy as long as they word their attacks in an acceptable way.

Let me reemphasize that the current admin team of this group is overworked. That alone has led to a lot slipping through the cracks. Most of their team has once again checked out, not caring what happens as long as their egregore fuels them.

Meanwhile, two decent admins struggle against a coalition of serial trolls who specialize in targeted abuse and attack campaigns.

They gave into the cult group think, that nothing is real and "everything is permitted means anything goes, snowflake."

They've failed their community and given themselves over to darker influences that have become pervasive in such a way in our community, they can no longer be ignored.

They claim they aren't a "safe space." And that's a good thing, because they are not.

We either stand against this rising tide, or we become consumed by it. We either allow this to go on without calling it what it is, or we remain silent and become accomplice to it being carried out.

These look and feel like the cementing of cult activity, because it is.

While many see it as a conspiracy, it is not. Many elders in the community see where the online faction of their influence has grown and do not wish to endorse what it has become.

In fact, many elders have been labeled as the baby eating cabal for speaking out against these dark movements.

The investigation of this, in and of itself, will lead you down a rabbit hole that shows you exactly the type of bad actors working in the background of many niches of the occult scene.

The OGs out there see this insidious attack, and many are trying to warn us, but we remain defiant out of an unwarranted self-confidence that we can handle whatever may come.

It shows an immaturity and lack of self-awareness that boggles the mind, as these same movements have infiltrated and overrun our real world political and business environments.

This is something worthy of fighting back against.

So, how do you fight back?

Petty magick wars, where "wizards and warlocks and witches, oh my!" scream, "Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!" at each other?

Please. As magicians, I think we can have a bit more class than that.

We provide haven in the storm to those who don't want to be swept up in the torrent of shit.

We hold people accountable in our communities.

We meme them right back.

We flood them with something they can't really fight.

We show them hope.

Magick works if you believe in it.

And remember, there are more of us than there are of them. Fear is just a mindset.

If we don't make a stand, who will? And how many more victims will we let them claim?