There were books on astrology, divination, which included Tarot, the I Ching, cartomancy, or telling fortunes with regular playing cards, palmistry, numerology, phrenology, crystal gazing, clairvoyance, clairaudience, automatic writing and tea leaf reading. It was the paranormal and occult category. When I was a kid, my first stop in our public library was always to the books shelved in the 130 section, as defined by the Dewey Decimal System. It was a generic term that incorporated almost everything that we now view to be part of the nontraditional spiritual frontier. In decades past, the word occult dealt with anything that was outside of “natural” thinking. It is a world of multi-faceted possibilities, like a beautiful gemstone that reveals a different view of the world at every angle. The key to understanding the realm of the occult is to approach it without fear, bias or a desire to use it for unscrupulous reasons. It’s unfortunate that occultism has come to be cast in such dark shadows, because it truly is a place of wonder and offers opportunities to enrich and embrace life in many ways. Those who do know it, rarely use the term due to an abundance of negativity surrounding the whole concept. Very few people call themselves occultists, yet many are, perhaps without knowing it.
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To others, it implies sorcery and dark intentions. To some, it represents a fascinating sphere of paranormal activity and mystery.
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The reason for this is that almost everyone has a different view of what the word means. The word, “occult,” is difficult to define.