Ye "experts"

Señor Shaman has recently written this article which I find most wonderful. Not only does it represent a bitch slap to all those wannabe guru figures that have been slicing their veins lengthwise ever since Asteria was published, but it's also a very informative article for occultists in general. As such, I couldn't help myself from adding another layer to it.

What makes someone be an expert? This unofficial title speaks of something close to the absolute, since it implies perfection. I for one am sick of it because of the way it's been used around here for a long time, and elsewhere too from what I've seen.

To give you a quick example, there's all sorts of shows on tv that discuss various topics, from politics to sports and more. Various people are invited to such shows and the host usually refers to them as experts in the field that's being discussed. But such discussions easily veer off topic and the alleged experts feel more than welcome to add more than two cents on the matter, while the host ends up brown nosing these characters that quickly reveal themselves as being nothing more than complacent dicks who get off by showing up on tv and spitting their "knowledge". Although they know next to nothing in regards to be the subjects of discussion that have been brought to their attention adjacent to the initial topic (not that they know more about the initial topic, except for shallow, generic stuff), they go out of their way to display their vast amount of alleged expertise. All too often they end up becoming pathetic, once viewers realize Mr. or Mrs. Expert is full of baloney.

That's why I despise this term, especially when it's being overused. I'm sure there's people out there who are indeed experts in various things, but so far I haven't had the chance to actually see a genuine expert at work regardless of their field of expertise. But what does this have to do with the occult?

Just like any other field out there, the occult can generate income for anyone who practices (although it also does so for those who pose as actual practitioners). But being a practitioner alone is not enough to generate income. One must have a certain amount of time of practical experience, not to mention the fact they must be aware of a certain amount of theoretical data. 

Moreover, they must have at least a vague idea of how spells work so they would know how to explain to clients what they should expect based on their needs and circumstances at the moment the spell was cast. "Magick doesn't work like in Hollywood" makes no sense as an explanation because a) I know a person who used to live in Hollywood and his magick worked regardless of his location and b) the actual phrase is "magick doesn't work like in the movies", which implies people should not expect a quick paranormal effect they can easily perceive followed by their desire manifesting in front on them (regardless of some occultists' fetish with respect to so called physical apparitions). But anyway...

Then there's those who, although have been in this field for a more than a few years and have read more than a few books on the topic, have next to no practical experience in working with more than a certain class of spirits in a certain way or in dealing with various types of scenarios repeatedly. Imagine someone who's only working with planetary angels mostly through offerings and through a simple conjuration and who's only dealt with health issues using occult means simply by asking a certain angel to "heal N". Yet they go out of their way to chastise people who ask about working with demons, for example, although they've got little or no experience in that field. Or, they come across as condescending in discussions surrounding healing methods using occult means despite the fact their only "knowledge" in the field is that "you should know your herbs". 

By contrast, I'm not calling Señor Shaman that way to make fun of him. Even though he's not an actual shaman in a sense he's not undergone the specific training and experiences needed to become a shaman, he has studied under the guidance of such a person. Besides that, he's diversified his studies and managed to incorporate methods from several cultures and traditions into his approach when it comes to performing this highly complex science-slash-art. 

He wrote El toque de Asclepio as a simple means people can use to work with themselves to improve their health and at least alleviate whatever condition they might be having, but the information inside is insignificant compared to the vast volumes of knowledge one ought to know (and use) to even have the right to be referred to as being an expert. I'm not saying his book won't help people, but that it's more of a first aid kit and not a hospital.

True to his ever so humble nature, Señor Shaman doesn't consider himself an expert in this field regardless whether his knowledge in regards to occult means of healing is light years of the alleged experts'. "Know your herbs" doesn't even come close to this comparison because it's as if one would say a plumber has to know tiles. While a plumber would find certain jobs in which he'd have to make use of tile work, plumbing implies pipes than come out of walls covered (or not) in tiles, so the latter is something adjacent to his actual work. We've discussed a bit about magical healing in Asteria although we haven't gone too deep into it because it would've taken many volumes.

But just like the alleged experts I've been referring to that spew crap out their face hole on tv, there are occultists out there who will gladly talk about everything under the sky that's more or less related to the occult in order to project an image of someone who's an expert. More often than not they will force their way into a conversation just to do that, even if the people conversing are clearly making use of notions and concepts the alleged experts have no knowledge of. But they've heard of such things and so that alone makes them entitled to intervene and potentially ruin a conversation that would've helped many others since one or more of the participants would have to stop discussing the topic itself and answer the alleged expert's comments, something that in many cases derails the initial conversation. 

There's also a probability the initial exchange of comments will escalate into a fight and that would totally ruin everything that had been constructed. If it gets to bans and blocks, the experts will then start virtue signaling, letting everyone know how righteous they are and how much harm they had suffered from those who dared to contradict them, simply because those people contradicted them in the first place. 

One would say the alleged experts deliberately derail interesting conversations the topic of which they no nothing about just to put an end to them, otherwise they risk becoming eclipsed by the people who were taking part of the conversation. That would have the potential to affect their income since people would realize "know your herbs" is retarded compared to the advanced information the initial people who were taking part in the conversation were freely sharing. So why should they be paying for the alleged expert's services?! Should they instead buy various pentacles for that purpose? Probably not, unless they specifically know the person who's making and consecrating them is doing it at precise auspicious times and using at least a decent consecration method.

Speaking of which, then there's those who dismiss everything they no nothing about whenever they're specifically being asked about it, saying there's no need for it. They offer no additional reason as to why there'd be no need for such things either than they don't use it. They merely say to the other what they're doing, without going into details and usually end the comment by saying what they do always works. 

Although this latter category is way less dangerous than the former, it's far more vocal on a constant basis. However, they're mostly vocal through their followers while they themselves pose as goody-two-shoes individuals who say they don't want to take part in any conflict. Nevertheless, the propaganda that's being snowballed by their followers loudly proclaims they're experts in their field as they're being praised and elevated by more and more people. Very often those people end up attacking anyone who dares contradict the person or uses logic and arguments to determine the person to reveal their actual knowledge over certain fields. 

This propaganda has to start from somewhere, namely from someone, and in most cases that someone is the person themselves who's constantly scheming in the background. It's actually very similar to the way corporations in the movie industry unleash their shills to defend whatever crap product they're selling and at the same time attack whoever is criticizing that product. It doesn't matter whether the critics offer compelling arguments against the product in their assertion, their behavior does damage to the person the shills shill for and so those people must be attacked, otherwise the person risks losing popularity and thus income.

I've talked about such things in Cielos, but I felt the need to comment more on this subject. I'm doing this because I think people should be able to recognize such malignant elements in order to avoid them (or show them the finger). I'm also doing it because the same trend that's being pushed by the entertainment industry has been infecting the occult environment as well and the long term results can be unpleasant for anyone willing to learn and expand their practice. Speaking of malignant elements, I think I've included those exact words in the end note of Asteria 2.