Why Are So Many Occultists “Poor”?

I’ve seen this question pop up on a few group I’m a member of so I figured why not bring it to my blog.
So yes, why are so many people who practice magic poor? And by “poor” I don’t mean living below the poverty line, I mean that they’re not rich or wealthy. We occultists can bring the angels down from heaven and the Demons up from hell, we can commune with the dead, heal the sick and destroy our enemies but it seems that many people are unable to generate wealth.
And before anyone says it, the whole I don’t need money to be happy bullshit is exactly that…..bullshit. Ok, so you don’t want to be Bill Gates rich, fine. But what’s wrong with having enough money in the bank to do whatever you want when you want. Having enough money that if you get fired from your job you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay your bills for at least several years, not months.
So with that, why aren’t more magicians wealthy?
I think most Magus did not reach a wealthy state of life because :
– most of them are unable to manifest wealth in their lives because of lack of skills to attract wealth into their lives. So they will all say money is useless shit and that they’re fine with what they have bla bla ……..
– for most people (Magus or not), money is still evil and contrary to any spiritual development. I was reading a practical evocation book written by Franz Bardon and regarding one of the entities, he talks about he was saying that he (the entity) could give you wealth if your Karma allowed it, saying that wealth can be a boulder in one’s spiritual path. I really like Bardon’s work but I don’t agree at all with that statement.
There’s still that picture of the monk or Mystic Indian who reached enlightenment, living in a cavern, with nothing, and from that cliché is that idea that to gain spiritual knowledge one has to have nothing, and certainly not wealthy.
According to me, there are no rules, and I’ve known rich assholes as poor dicks. Money might pervert one’s mind, but that’s not because of the money, that’s because of the individual. Money is just a mirror, a kind of catalyst.
If you’re a dick, then wealth will make you a bigger dick.
If you know how to handle money and where are your priorities, money can only be a good thing for you, a tool giving you freedom and allowing you to focus on your center of interests (spiritual included).
So, why are so many Magus poor? Only because they have chosen so.
But that’s ok, I will never discuss this choice because the beauty of life is that it allows everyone to act and think freely according to his own sensitivity. For me, there’s nothing wrong having lots of money (or looking to have some), and money and spirituality are additional. For others, due to moral education or beliefs, both will not be compatible.
Poor people aren’t poor because they aren’t rich, just like rich people aren’t rich because they’re not poor. It’s not one or the other. By choosing not to the rich path, it doesn’t mean occultists are poor by any means. Plenty of different types of people choose not to be rich, some by choice, others by consequence.
I don’t think occultists choose to be poor. I think they focus their energies on things other than acquiring wealth. The spirits listed in the grimoires do work as advertised but people tend to think that after invoking Shax for instance, who can steal the treasure out of kings houses, they wake up the next morning with billions of dollars in their bank account. That’s not how it works. But, the treasure is the equivalent of money. Kings obviously have lots of money. How could you get money from a King? Do work for the King. Build a hotel in his realm, drill for oil on his land, etc. All these things would allow the King to give you money, and a lot of it.
When it comes to things like wealth and love/lust the spirits can only open the door. The magician still has to walk through himself, meaning he has to actually go out and meet girls for love or lust and he has to actually go out and make business deals in order to receive money from business ventures. These things don’t just fall into our laps.
Yes, the spirits can indeed bring great wealth. The issue is that people don’t have common sense. They don’t think logically about it. They invoke a spirit like Bune and ask for wealth and when none comes they think their invocation was a failure. Bune can give great wealth but the question is how. There needs to be a catalyst and 9 times out of 10 that catalyst is a business venture. Bune cannot make money just appear in your bank account.
So, in my opinion, all occultists and open-minded people that I have come across are not that bothered about money and material stuff, they are seekers of a higher power. Occultists (and some non-occultists, as occultists are people too) tend not to have the mindset of hierarchy and even if that is still ingrained through conditioning, then a devoted occultist who is into sharing knowledge and ideas with open-minded people who respect each other will strive to be equal and not superior.
That is something that money can’t buy – respect and inner knowledge.
That’s my view.
Hope you enjoy it!
This perspective fails to account for the structural inequalities that exist in Capitalist economics. Further it outs the onus on the practitioner instead of analyzing the unfair economic structures of society. This is not limited to only occultists and the more expansive question is what about society ensures that so many remain poor or only middle class instead of doing away altogether with a system that reproduces inequality and figuring out the best way to share the wealth that we all generate through our labor more equitably in a human commons. It is has little to do with our morality around money and a decided lack of analysis of the social determinants of wealth and a structural mal-distribution of resources. This essay glosses over five centuries of colonialism, history and the problematic assumptions of capitalism. The reason many occultists or individuals for that matter are “poor” is because 20% of the human population controls almost the entire wealth produced annually in the world by our labor.
I will agree with your perspective. but the main concept of the article is that for the moment we can use magick (invocations, money spells etc), why the 90% of the occultists are poor. Of course, the term “poor” its a little bit tricky. Personal, I think someone poor when its spiritual poor. The only thing that money can give you its freedom. Very important, but still they cant make you see the big picture if you don’t want to!
Well I had wealth and I spent it, it didn’t buy me freedom just responsibilities and different chains. It is an end in itself and buys little of any real worth. knowledge and memories are all you will leave this world owning; Bill Gates included. So I guess poor is subjective, if you wish it to mean having less cash than you want…then you have failed. If you have what you want you aren’t poor. Bills are created by having spent too much money, get rid of the things that give you bills. If you need material wealth to be happy you aren’t an occultist (though a bad use of the word)
Bills come from having to live. Food costs money. Homes cost money. Utilities cost money. Transportation costs money. Clothes cost money. Everything costs money.
Shall we all go live naked in the woods, eating only what we can hand collect each day?
I should think not. People NEED money to LIVE. Needing to pay your utilities and buy food does NOT make you a bad occultist. Wanting to be comfortable and secure doesnt negate your claim as an occultist. The less time you spend focused on trying to survive, the more you can really live, and the more time you have to spend on occult pursuits. How do you focus on higher realms when you are starving and freezing, dying a painful death in this one?
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Sound reasoning! When I started selling Tarot readings online, I got called a sell out – but hey, if you are good at something why do it for free?
I also agree that there is more to life than money but that shouldn’t stop you from pursuing your goals, in the end.
I had a life once. Corporate environment, IT sector, well earned life. High magic on top of that. I would still continue, if a bunch of a “poor magickers” that got overly envious of the situation wouldn’t ruin me. Apparently envy in this business is heavily charged. So – I don’t know why are you poor? Systems inequality are one thing, lack of industriousness is another. You’re not living in a developing aka third world country, right? Do magic! But get a life!! I have none anymore thanks to lazy bastards that didn’t know why.
Totally agree with you! I’m not living in a third-world country and yes, magick can give you all of what you want but not sitting on the couch waiting a bag of money falls from the sky cause u cast a spell, or u make an agreement with a Demon. Besides that, Demons hate laziness…