Things in America are getting more soviet all the time… Doesn’t your revolution deserve a soundtrack?
Enter: “Sonic Weapons of Mass Resistance” – the 2.5 hour Live DJ set, just released to the public (in its entirety) by the new steward of CyberVamps Media, “DJ Jennarra.”
‘CyberVamps Media’ first launched over a decade ago, in 2015 by “DJ Nabu” (mystic philosopher and prodigious author, Joshua Free) as an extension of ‘JFI Publications’ (then called ‘Mardukite Truth Seeker Press’) – coinciding with, and named after, the original releases of “Book of V: Vampyre’s Bible” and “Cybernomicon” (both of which are currently available in “The Vampyre’s Handbook” combined edition released in 2020 for the 5th Anniversary).
Soon thereafter, ‘CyberVamps CyberGoth DJs’ quickly evolved as an underground brand representing a unique EDM-troupe of electro-industrial-inspired remixing DJs, mainly “DJ Nabu” and “DJ Kyra Kaos.” A significant collection of this musical material from 2015 to 2025 – titled “Ten Years of CyberVamps” – has recently been uploaded to ARCHIVE.ORG by the current steward, “DJ Jennarra” (a.k.a. Jennifree-The-Valkyrie).
While the brand has generally received only limited underground exposure, and remained mostly dormant over the past five years, the recent social-civic and political climate in America has spurred an increased interest in potential uses of ‘CyberVamps Media’. Under its new co-leadership with the Mardukite Org., Systemology Society, and JFI Publications, we expect to see more from the ‘CyberVamps’ brand developed for the public in the future.
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This blog article first appeared on necrogate.com; posted by Mardukite HQ Web Admin Staff.
This message is posted by the Mardukite Admin Webmaster. It was delivered to the Mardukite Systemology HQ via Joshua Free’s personal messenger; penned at the remote underground Ascension Hermitage. It has been reviewed and edited by JFI Publication Staff as part of a series of Joshua Free’s final public transmissions. These cryptic writings first appeared on the mardukite.com blog site. (Nabu’s Journal Archive: Public-03A02)
Greetings, Dear Friends and Seekers.
Did you hear the one about the Persian King? He consulted his council of wise sages; asked them to produce a magic ring that could make him happy in times of sadness. After deliberating amongst themselves, they gave to him a simple ring with the inscribed words: THIS TOO SHALL PASS, with the clear implication that in this ever-evolving artificial creation you consider material reality… Nothing Lasts Forever.
You would think that the ‘apparent solidity’ of all this existence denotes some greater degree of ‘realness’ for its ‘reality’. But such a description only applies to a world with a ‘black’-and-‘white’ nature of only extreme conditions. Our existence, the one we experience day-to-day, does not support that belief. Yet many cling to it. It is a matter of fact that our existence is a projection across an entire spectrum of grays and hues and quantum leaps of perturbed energies; and at its core, not very ‘solid’ at all (and actually quite ‘mercurial’).
In the Fundamentals of Systemology (New Standard Systemology Basic Course), one of the little known influences to early Systemology development is introduced: Charles Fort, author of ‘Book of the Damned’ (1919). In it, he essentially open with the words that “By ‘the Damned’, I mean the Excluded” and that…
Of course, the literal context Fort was referring to was ideas and data that the mainstream (authorities) had ‘Excluded’ – and then further existential allusions of ‘beingness‘ in general; but we would be hard pressed to objectify such conceptions as separate from the individuals that create and carry them…
So, by the damned, I mean the excluded.
But by the excluded I mean that which will some day be the excluding.
Or everything that is, won’t be.
And everything that isn’t, will be;
But, of course, will be that which won’t be.
It is our expression that the flux between that which isn’t and that which won’t be, or the state that is commonly and absurdly called ‘existence’, is a rhythm of heavens and hells: that the damned won’t stay damned; that salvation only precedes perdition.
The inference is that some day our accursed tatterdemalions will be sleek angels. Then the sub-inference is that some later day, back they’ll go whence they came.
It is our expression that nothing can attempt to ‘be’, except by attempting to ‘exclude’ something else: that that which is commonly called ‘being’ is a state that is wrought more or less definitely proportionately to the appearance of positive difference between that which is ‘included’ and that which is ‘excluded’.
It would be all too easy to quote the entirety of Fort’s first chapter (and it is something worthwhile to review and meditate upon). Certainly some will be able to read between the lines.
What is happening now? Well, personally, it is of great comfort that I completed the work I set out to make available after so many years of writing (among other things necessary to the visible work). That work is referred to a “New Standard Systemology” and is supported by an entire library of my formerly published works.
IF IT WASN’T FOR ANTI-FASCISTS IN THE 1940s: YOU, YOUR PARENTS, YOUR CHILDREN, WOULD ALL BE SPEAKING GERMAN.
It is no coincidence that the written, published or broadcast “word” is often the last shred of stability and wall of resilience maintained by a suppressed culture under rising rule of authoritarianism. It is a gray day when bookstores accurately relocate classic “dystopian sci-fi” literature to “current event” shelves.
And it is something that current generations have not experienced before in America (often conceived of as these ‘Divided States‘ during this Second American Civil War unleashed publicly by ultra-conservative ignorance-fueled MAGA-culture during a traitorous insurrection on January 6, 2021), but of which has been swelling to spread even wider in this unusually technocratic age.
Authoritarian control of ‘free speech’, ‘free press’, and ability to ‘soap box’, is destruction of the last line of defense between a ‘free state’ and a ‘fascist regime’… and it has happened now in America.
And while it seems like a bit of 20/20 hindsight at this point, let’s just take a moment to intellectually review the other lines of defense that have fallen. It’s not a matter of my opinion, but of intelligence — and just maybe where you might want to put your attention if you hope to have a habitable country in 400 days.
For example, Lawrence Britt (a historian) studied the fascist regimes of our past and present (including the authoritarian examples of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Pinochet, and Suharto) and he found fourteen “characteristics of fascism” that they all held in common. So, what are they?
Powerful Continuous Nationalism.
Disdain for Recognition of Human Rights.
Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause of Problems.
Supremacy of the Military.
Rampant Sexism.
Obsessive Emphasis on National Security.
Religion and Government are Intertwined.
Protection of Corporate Power.
Suppression of Labor Power.
Disdain for Intellectuals, Scientists and the Arts
Obsession with Crime and Punishment.
Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fraudulent Elections.
Controlled Mass Media.
While it would be easy to point out the current-affair examples for each of these, such is not my intention in this discourse. It has never been my goal to ‘tell’ people what to think, or ‘how’ to think — and my Systemology work is simply a way of clearing the field in order to be ‘able’ to think.
So many individuals believe they are ‘thinking clearly’ and this is probably more dangerous than the simple fact that they are fragmented. At least in our Systemology, an individual is aware of the programming that is engaged in daily life. They work to improve themselves by improving their control and handling of emotional flows and thought.
Where else are we finding efforts to improve living conditions for everyone, without exclusion?
I haven’t seen it.
Maybe before they try pushing people to breed more, they might consider what environmental conditions they are subjecting the living to.
Then they seem surprised and insulted when the abused — and ‘Excluded’ — fight back.
Well. For many, it certainly does get harder every day not to just say:
This message is posted by the Mardukite Admin Webmaster. It was received by the Mardukite Systemology HQ via personal messenger from Joshua Free; penned at the remote Ascension Hermitage. It has been reviewed and edited by JFI Publication Staff for public transmission. It first appeared on the mardukite.com blog site. (Nabu’s Journal Archive: Public-03A0
Greetings, Dear Friends and Seekers. Let me just start here by sharing one of my favorite old anecdotes to set up a backdrop for this message.
So, one day the King’s most loyal servant came into the royal chambers and said, “Your Majesty, all of the kingdom’s wheat has been infested with a fungus that turns the people crazy when they eat it!” The King sadly contemplated this news then replied, “If we are going to be able to understand the people, then you and I must consume the fungus and become crazy too. But before we partake of the grain, let us make a mark on each others forehead so that later, when we see one another, we will know that we chose to become insane, while everybody else is just crazy…”
In this case, I am quoting Ken Kesey, from his contribution to the opening of the “Timothy Leary’s Last Trip” documentary. In the past, I’ve only touched briefly on these topics, such as in “Arcanum: The Great Magickal Arcanum” or even “The Metaphysics of Stranger Things.” But, Ken Kesey was among the first to receive LSD-25 from CIA-sanctioned experiments starting in the 1950’s.
As a result of his experiences (as much of these experiments took place in ‘mental hospitals’), Ken Kesey was inspired to write the book (and inspiration for the movie) “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.” However, perhaps he is better known for co-founding the famous “Merry (Band of) Pranksters” in the 1960’s, whose adventurous brand of cacophony was loosely documented as “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests.”
You may as well ask, “why am I bringing all this up?” Well, as I mentioned in my interlogue contributed to the final volume of Douglas Monroe’s Merlyn Trilogy (Deepteachings of Merlyn) back in 2011: “So long as one maintains the ‘norms’ of society, there is noquestion of SANITY – and reality experience is one-to-one with the consensus of the REALM.”
Of course, what the “REALM” actually is, and what consequences exist for disagreement or non-conforming divergence, are far less often discussed. Because by definition, and in view of the purest etymology of the word: “REALITY” equals the “REALM of the King” — and naturally this is where we are now finding some trouble in the modern world.
But this has always been where we get into trouble as a society — when the politics and policies of “SANITY” and the “REALM” are called into question. And it’s been a long time since anyone has attempted to proclaim themselves “King” of America. In fact, that is the very reason this country was established to protect itself from such tyranny.
What Ken Kesey was alluding to might seem like the opening to a fantasy story in medieval times, but it is a direct jab at things that have happened right here in America. Note that LSD-25 resulted from pharmaceutical experiments regarding the ergot fungus and its potential medicinal use. Its militant use concerned the temporary psychosis that could be inflicted on an enemy (since it was tasteless, odorless, and psychoactive in minute traceless amounts).
Yet that is not the first time we have seen the appearance of ergot so strongly influence the determination of an individual’s “SANITY” in America. That credit must be given to the period of puritan “Salem Witch Hysteria” in Salem Village (now Danvers) Massachusetts. Keep in mind this was an event which had absolutely nothing to do with the supernatural and everything to do with excessive rain, lowland moldy crops, and a moronic union of ‘church’ and ‘state’.
It’s true that the Mardukite Academy of Systemology does also offer a complete education in practical magick, occultism and metaphysics (in addition to many other subjects and gradients of higher new thought). But those that know me or my work realize that I am not one of those New Age puffballs and so there is no reason for me to refrain from saying that the whole witchcraft aura around “Salem” is about as genuine as the Blair Witch. I explain much of this in “Arcanum: Great Magickal Arcanum” which is used at the Academy as the fundamental “magick school” textbook:
“In the 1970s, it was realized that the Salem Village was actually naturally divided by a lower western half and an elevated eastern part. Nearly all (30 of 32) of the accusers and victims occupied the western portion, while the apparently ‘sane’ and unaffected folk of the eastern half were actually accused of witchcraft. By the same time the following autumn, the hysteria was forgotten as an embarrassment (leaving 19 innocents hung and one compressed to death).”
“Doctors didn’t know much about ergot then. According to public records, 1691 was an unusually wet year for that community. Salem villagers managed their own crops as part of Puritan Tradition of self-sufficiency and were dependent on rye. The fungus that occurs on rye in the wetlands is very potent, comparable to LSD-25. It not only accounts for all of the physical symptoms of the victims, but also why only the rye grown in the lower elevations were affected. The annual harvest would have begun being introduced into the diet synchronously to when the sickness emerged in late 1691. Once the harvest of the drier year of 1692 is brought in, the hysteria disappears completely and is locally forgotten.”
Where it comes to the ‘Politics of Truth’ — the handling of REALITY, SANITY and governance of the REALM — we have too often seen the naivete and ignorance and pomposity of self-appointed “authorities” or even large masses of the “populus” play out as destructive violent and horrendous ends in the moment; yet when we look in the rearview, they are unapologetically dismissed as flaws in human nature.
And such an excuse, is quite honestly, inexcusable in the New World. With the stakes as high as they are, the magnitude of scale that is being handled today… how long will you continue to let it go on? You are more than the sum of what they have given you permission to be, do, and have — and my dear friends, even that false perception of permission may just be running out for you soon.
Two lifetimes ago — meaning two human incarnations prior to this one — I wrote about how strange it is that in view of the fact of how greedy and obsessive and lustful the human condition is toward accumulating more and more of everything, an individual seldom desires for more “sense” or “reason” than they already have, believing their given lot is sufficient at any given time. This is strange. And disturbing. And limiting.
While I did developed what is now referred to as ‘New Standard Systemology’ to effectively resolve such barriers to experiencing a metahuman state, it has been slow to catch on — and momentum towards that brand of ‘New Thought’ is still building.
Given that I am now finished with my literary work and goals for this incarnation, I feel little reservations in alluding to such information as what is referred to as ‘past lives’, since none of that was ever brought into play in order to establish the validity of the work these past few decades. Of course there are some that have known that this is not the first time (or even the second time) I have written on New Thought topics or even launched an interconnected publishing company. So, yeah, I had some practice; and that probably is easier to believe that thinking that all of what has come about during my present career was spontaneously generated from thin air.
I bring this up now as a further anecdotal example to consider in light of topics like “REALITY” and “SANITY.” This is a topic I addressed to tens of thousands of readers in the introduction to the Mardukite “Necronomicon” (and “Complete Anunnaki Bible”).
To get to my original point here: all folks tend to believe what they know to be true and they continue to validate their beliefs from within their “paradigm” or “perspective” or “viewpoint” that distinguishes their perceived experience. But that paradigm or “worldview” is authoritatively dictated to them and/or through social conformation. Everything must be black and white for those who cling to the “old” and stagnation, and there is no room for non-conformity of any kind.
The language lesson (etymology) goes something like this: the word REALITY comes from the root ‘reg’, meaning “ruler” and “realm”, which is to say the “king” who as the “ruler” establishes the ‘measure’ of the “Realm” and thereby the definitions of REALITY. Of course the nature of the beast has changed in some ways for our modern world. But again, there are now those that think they know better. And while they believe themselves to be in possession of some unique communication line to the Divine, all of their actions would suggest otherwise.
The boundaries of a functional civilization are once again being called into question. In this accelerated age, nothing lasts. New movements, political parties, ideals and religions have experienced the same “enlightened rise” and “corrupt fall” that would have taken hundreds if not thousands of years in the past.
The distinction constituting the difference between what is “REAL” versus “INSANITY” is now being orchestrated with physical technologies (which only mirror the more advanced spiritual technologies coinciding with this world that you are not even consciously aware of — although we all compulsively and unknowingly contribute to their creation. (But that is a matter you will find out about in upper-level Systemology if you choose to reach out that far.)
The practical conclusion I would like to suggest is that the way of the old-school “sanitariums” and state-funded “asylums” is a diabolical travesty and crime against the human spirit. Yeah, maybe if our Systemology processing therapy were employed, but it is likely to be ignorant Clockwork Orange style nazi-tactics of abusive torture, electric shocks and lobotomies passed off maliciously as promoting social rehabilitation. This is the way that “civilized” societies like to deal with those that won’t keep in step with authority. Because outright killing is just too “uncivilized.”
SANITY is a LEGAL definition determined by the STATE; not a clinical one found anywhere in the field of what is laughingly called Psychology.
This means you better watch out; you better not cry; you better not pout about whats going on where anyone can see you — UNLESS you are fully prepared to stand strong, unite together and defend a sustainable world today; because tomorrow you may just find that they took your legs to stand with.
FOR TEN YEARS a wide-spanning global “Mardukite“ underground organization has progressively developed a modern methodology reviving the most ancient spiritual technologies on earth — beginning with those gleaned from cuneiform Mardukite Tablets of ancient Mesopotamia (meaning Sumerians, or more specifically the “Mardukite” Babylonians) appearing within an amazing core anthology: THE NECRONOMICON ANUNNAKI BIBLE edited by Joshua Free and now available in its 10th Anniversary Seventh Edition! The “Mardukite” work is based extensively on historical research and mystical traditions independent of anything involving Simon, Lovecraft, Tyson or the rest. Here is your REAL ‘NexGen’ NECRONOMICON for the 21st Century!
BUT HOW DOES IT ALL REALLY WORK ???
…I will tell you!
1. Self-purity and acquisition of True Knowledge
2. Self-dedication and development of True Understanding
3. Pure Invocation and execution of True Action
The path to power begins first by purifying the self, both within and without, in addition to the material and the immaterial, the mind and the environment, the set and setting. Without self-honesty, which is the state of being in “Self” free of worldly conditioning (and especially the last few thousands of years of misinformation), a practitioner is unable to fully “self-actualize” beyond what they have been conditioned to be or “kNow,” typically a “victim” of circumstances, unable to channel and manifest from within the self-made prison.
This is accessible through one level of practicum: work which will lead to self-honest knowledge and experience of Self (and the Anunnaki). This is the true and faithful dedicated devotion that is prerequisite to this work in general. One could classify this first form of practicum as “magick” or “prayer” since it is based on a ‘transmission’ of intention for the sole purpose of establishing the necessary relationship (and communication) with ‘spiritual’ forces existing in the background reality of the material world.
Systematic spiritual and mystical prayer-books (not bound “books” of course, but cuneiform clay tablets) are found in the private collections and even bed-chambers of the most successful priest-kings, scribe-priests and magicians in Babylonian history. Although this part of the work is primarily “introspective” in nature and meant to prepare the individual, it can also be studied and developed in groups, orders and priesthoods (as it once was) — such as seen among the modern “Mardukite” revival occurring today!
Beliefs and judgments affect our personal attentions and flow of energies that use our being as a catalyst. We are all interconnected to the divine spiritual grid-like matrix. Energy flows where attention goes. To become an empty vessel is not enough – one must be filled with Truth, “true knowledge” and then only afterward, via dedication and commitment, can it be realized as “true understanding.”
Personal dedication in the material world means understanding the knowledge of how and why things are, and learning when to give up the hold on the narrow mindedness carried by all concerning their confrontations with fate. The powers and ethics that bind them are, in their most pure form, well beyond comprehension from a “human” point-of-view. A second level of practicum the Anunnaki Star-Gate System, described in the new 10th Anniversary Seventh Edition of the NECRONOMICON ANUNNAKI BIBLE with a supplemental education spanning the remainder of the ‘Mardukite Core’. This form of practice is also “introspective” — it composes “private” practices of members of the “priesthood” developed from personal work with the Anunnaki in ancient Mesopotamia (Sumeria and Babylon). This is different from ‘public’ displays and later more recognizable ‘folk magick’ of common people, which was usually more ‘superstitious’ in nature, often employing religious talismans and amulets.
The “ladder of lights” — as described in the NECRONOMICON ANUNNAKI BIBLE edited by Joshua Free — is not concerned with further accumulation of ‘additional fragmented energies’ or ‘layers of consciousness’, but rather the removal of these ‘artificial light filters’ by which the Anunnaki had influenced the parameters of awareness capable to humans in their experience of reality. This more cosmic development of practice could be classified as a “Celestial” form of “Ceremonial Magick.” This is not necessarily the same, one-to-one, with the contemporary understanding of what you may already know as “Ceremonial Magick.” However, the archetypal Mesopotamian practice of ‘high magick’ did evolve into the later Egyptian and European “Hermetic” practices as well as the Judeo-Christian forms of kabbalistic “Gnostic-Mysticism.”
An additional level of practicum also exists in ancient Mardukite Babylonian Tradition, closely identifiable with what anthropologists observe as ‘cultural magick’ and it was the only aspect of the tradition that allowed for public observation and participation. Compared to the previously described “religious” and “celestial” forms, this practice is highly qualified to earn the title “low magick” in many respects. It reflects everything we have come to expect from the cultural archetype of Babylon – the rites of national spirituality that further strengthened the ‘system’ and the people’s belief in it via annual festivals; the ritual gestures and idol statue use among commoners to accomplish fertility and healing effects (often with the assistance of priests, but not necessarily so); even the ‘personification’ or demonization of perceived ‘negativity’, or even ‘pestilence’ and ‘infertility’ as a means of ritually destroying evil in the land with ‘suggestive symbolism’ that later became the basis for a morally-defined demonology (such as seen in the maqlu series of tablets).
But… this is certainly not where the journey ends.
Powers of a dedicated priest and magician (and these are NOT to be misunderstood as gender-specific terms) are drawn from both internal and external sources. From within the power of this magick is drawn forth by BIRTHRIGHT! From without the power of the magick is drawn forth by DEDICATION! Combined, the practitioner effectively executes an “Invocation” which is to “invite in” a specific persona and energetic current. In our example, the Solar Lord of Jupiter, regardless of whether we label the current “Enki,” “Marduk,” “Aten,” “Amon,” “Jesus,” “Dys Pater” or “Jupiter” – the effect is unchanged and dependent solely on “true understanding” and the ability to tap into that specific current beyond titles and labels alone. The final introductory secret of this system is essentially revealed with an initiate’s first utterance of: “It is not I, but Marduk, that commands you…”
LOOKING BACK…NOW
In the end, what we take away to understand about the ancient world is: All of this resulted in a representation of the human relationship with the earth in ‘everyday life’ and ‘material existence’ on the planet within the systems of human civilization. In essence, just looking at these three aspects of the tradition described, one can even recognize the subsequent and cumulative fragmentation of the ‘systems’ as the relay of the energy evolved and developed outwardly among the human populations – and in essence, human consciousness. We begin with a self-honest life of unity with the ‘gods’ and a pious condition of ‘golden age’ living – ending with the use of waxen dolls to represent one’s enemy before a sacred fire and other forms of sympathetic magic used to affect worldly change at the most condensed end of the spectrum.
A decade before the 2008 public launch of Mardukite Ministries and publication of the complete Mardukite Chamberlains core NECRONOMICON ANUNNAKI BIBLE, Joshua Free’s debut work as “Merlyn Stone” rocked the underground New Age and THE SORCERER’S HANDBOOK revealed the precursor origins of Joshua Free’s later monumental literary masterpieces such as ARCANUM and THE DRUID COMPLEAT (including the famous BOOK OF ELVEN-FAERIE) and of course: NECRONOMICON ANUNNAKI BIBLE. The newly released 20th Anniversary edition of the SORCERER’S HANDBOOK even includes essays and articles from “Lost Books of Merlyn Stone” demonstrating origins of NexGen Systemological thought later contributing to such works as AWAKENING (SYSTEMOLOGY-101) and its companion REALITY ENGINEERING.
“In 1995, the world was not ready for Mardukites. I worked within the paradigms that were much more accessible and did not require a lot of “background” – ritual magick, spellcraft, high psychology and even the ceremonial systems. The two methodologies I was most concerned with connecting later work I planned to accomplish (now known as “Mardukite”) was Pheryllt Druid material of Douglas Monroe and also “Simon’s” Necronomicon. This was about as close as I could come to ‘mainstream’, and even these facets of the “New Age” had been enshrouded in misguided controversy and restricted recommendations from the more publicly elite and visible organizations and group leaders. “Members” of well known groups were explicitly told not to look into these materials, just as much as the current Mardukite work has seen its share of scrutiny and disapproval from the uninitiated.”
The materials developed by Mardukite Chamberlains as NECRONOMICON ANUNNAKI BIBLE far surpassed the scope and limited understanding available from the Simon Necronomicon alone. However, prior to the 2009 Mardukite NECRONOMICON cycle by Joshua Free, the former Simon work is all we had available for the decade prior, meaning the SORCERER’S HANDBOOK and original edition of ARCANUM. These early explorations later inspired Joshua Free’s Liber-555, a complete exploration into the Simon Necronomicon specifically. This circulated underground under many titles, but most recently available as CROSSING TO THE ABYSS (by Joshua Free) or within the Mardukite Chamberlains Year-4 Core anthology HISTORY OF THE NECRONOMICON (edited by Joshua Free).
“Simon’s Necronomicon contains no preliminary primer in the practice of magick offered, particularly concerning the Sumerian and Babylonian mythoi involved, so someone with no magickal (or cultural) foundations might have difficulty in simply opening it up and “using” it to its full potential. I would recommend obtaining a copy in addition to our “Necronomicon Anunnaki Bible” (edited by Joshua Free). While it may or may not be drawn from an actual collection titled: Necronomicon, the book does offer some practical applications of ancient magick, particularly incantations found on Chaldean, Akkadian and Babylonian tablets, such as those once housed in Borsippa, or those discovered in the royal library of Nineveh. Some of these have been dated to second millennium BCE. So therefore, it is important to understand, forsaking Lovecraftian fantasies if necessarily, that the Necronomicon as we understand it in the “occult world” today, is at the very least a symbolic embodiment of a mythos and ancient current of power that is very real and alive – even if only kept alive by obscure sects.”