In My Secret Life

I’ve been in one form of the Occult/Spirituality game or another for over…40 years. That’s my first memory of this sort of thing and I was searching for answers since. Doesn’t mean it was 40 years of hard-charging, ass-kicking, middle finger trail blazing. Change takes time as the lessons get harder. Now, (non-New Age bullshit) answers are a lot harder to find than back then, when YouTube wasn’t even a fart in someone’s mind and no one had home access to the Internet. Now, we’re deluged and trying to make sense of it. Magical practice can become part of you, part of your Life, and this means we usually want to share.

I largely don’t. I’ve tried in the past, very different age ranges, in various ways. I STILL encourage people to be quite cautious. I’m likely older than the majority reading this article, so I ask that you hear me out. In the end, we gotta do what’s good for us. What’s good for us can change. The NOW has consequences the FUTURE online world doesn’t forget about.

I’ve worked in several professional Scientific and Information Technology fields. I currently work in a field that requires severe analytical rigor. Most pretend explanations of “String theory” or “Quantum (whatever)” in the Occult won’t pass the smell test. That’s partly why you don’t find them in any of my posts without stating it makes the “explainer” seem desperate, which is true. It reeks of validation desperation and immediately lets anyone actually scientific know they need boots for the amount of coming bullshit being spewed forth. Good intentions does not guarantee good theory. Theory is NOT practice and the two typically don’t meet for quite a while. As in, a generation or more. String theory has been around for quite a while and it’s still – Theory for good reasons. It’s complex topic and those at the forefront still aren’t using it meaningfully in out daily lives. But Occultists desperate for validation will latch onto anything they can for validation. This hurts more than helps and using it as anything foundational means the rest doesn’t have a solid base to stand on with genuinely intellectual people.

How does this relate, Norse? You’re spouting the opposite, but equal, amount of nonsense without specifics and without references. Not quite. I’ve lived this. Professionally. Life ISN’T social media and Wikipedia has more credibility than Witchtok and personal affirmations on Youtube. Rank it right up there with testimonials of religion X. That’s all they are- Sunday testimonials with good intention, mostly emotional and belief-oriented, with nothing concrete but comes with a whole lot of words.

Someone at work was talking about faeries a bit ago. A few words relating to Norse land spirits and it was clear she didn’t go deeper than knowing basic folklore for a different geographic area at a superficial level. Would’ve been tempting to start spewing all sorts of talk about the experiences I’ve had with land spirits in several locations, thousands of miles apart, with different cultures. The conversations a week or two after confirmed my suspicions that to do so would’ve meant ridicule and a cadre of people in the group that would remember the “crazy” conversation about illogical things. All of them fairly younger than me and more open than, say, my “generation”.

People can post Bible or Quran quotes all day long and it gets shrugged off. If I do similar, it’s a potential black mark. So why state it? Because despite the progress, fast, genuine progress in largely other areas, Occultists haven’t experienced the same. It shouldn’t be “okay” to post religious stuff, but not mine or similar, but that isn’t where things are at. I encourage others to really get a feel for their organization – AND their target organizations for future jobs – before posting things like this in a public space. A bunch of people yelling about progress isn’t the same as actual progress and social media seems to have confused these points more than made it clear.

Frankly, most individuals in my spaces will shrug and go over your work several times afterwards. They won’t want to hear it and they largely won’t care. But we’re still the minority, by far, and until sympathetic people, that genuinely understand one or more parts, are a sizable minority, then you will likely get blowback in professional spaces.

While some would say you should bleat the trumpets and war horns, I don’t see them in positions where this actually matters or has any significant impact. Agree or not, I suggest caution. Doesn’t matter if the “social media” posts shouldn’t matter, if some intolerant jackass is in charge of the hiring or overseeing your performance review. You can be whatever poster child you choose to be, but that doesn’t meant you’ll occupy a position where you’re more than a token.

It’s a hard pill to swallow and you don’t have to. Small linked or energetic items are on my desk. I throw devil horns and related it to a rockin’ work style. I related horror stories and, VERY rarely, ghost experiences from Kuwait and Iraq.

And no one but Security knows I’m Norse900.

Frankly, getting mad can be a waste of energy, if it exceeds focus. But I don’t hold onto anger like that. It’s unbalancing to do so and, with some skill, that sort of crude fuel isn’t needed for workings, but more as a driver to spur one on when most beneficial.

If you aren’t in a position to make change, usually meaning one with experience in a field to become more of policy maker, then save your breath and think before putting the target on your back. Be smart about it – not emotional.

I invite entities into spaces to get people used to feeling something “other”, so I’m less odd with my significant, daily cultivation. I’m bringing the unseen culture into the mundane one, already going into leadership, and will have an impact because of all of it over time.

In the end, You do you. If you work in organizations where this is fine, then good for you. I’ve seen contractors do it and they are tolerated because they are contractors. If that’s a good fit for you, then go for it. If you want a pension (rare as hell) or to climb a corporate ladder, say, to travel at their expense, you may want to use a bit more subtlety. Society and laws can still play a factor and all I’m saying is that it should be considered from a non-emo point of view before blasting everyone around you (that thought they “knew” you).

Best of luck.

Obligatory reference to the late Leonard Cohen