My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma
Donald Michael Kraig
I laughed the first time I saw the above line on a bumper sticker. Like most people, I stopped laughing long before I saw it on the zillionth bumper sticker years ago. But recently I have noticed some trends in a variety of occult books and magazines that I personally have found to be disturbing and which brought that old bumper sticker to mind. Right now my karma is going to run over some dogma.
There is an old saying that if you get ten Pagans together they'll have twelve different systems of belief. To me, this has been a strong point of Paganism—unity in diversity. There is a great strength in being so sure of yourself that you can allow others to be free to follow their own paths. When I was writing Modern Magick I originally used expressions such as all magicians, all Witches, you must, etc. As I edited it I was shocked at my own self-righteousness and changed the above phrases to expressions such as some magicians, many Witches and to follow tradition you may want to. In this way I moved from telling people what to do and what was reality to suggestions, openness and sharing. In that way I think I was able to avoid much of the dogma found in some recent writings.
Examples of such recent dogmatists? I know of one book which claims that it is the only real form of Witchcraft although it is obviously one person's creation. I know of another book which claims to be the only real system of runic magic even though some of it is obviously culled from the Kabalah and some from Michael Aquino's brand of Satanism. I have seen self-professed heads of orders, who give themselves titles from Greatly Honored High Poobah to Sir, from High Priestess to Mentor. All of them have one thing in common: they use the title for intimidation. I have a title, don't disagree with me.
Make no mistake—dogma has one purpose: to keep power in the hands of the leader(s) and to intimidate the followers. As I have written many times, there is no room for authority in occultism (and yes, that includes me). This does not mean that you shouldn't listen to others, including the dogma spouters, but you should then determine if it is correct for you. So how can you determine who are the dogma spouters attempting to use and control you? Here are some suggestions:
1) Avoid self-professed enlightened masters. Of necessity, a master must know everything. They speak the truth and will not allow disagreement. They teach in order to get power over others, not to share the knowledge. Calling oneself an enlightened master (or something similar) is more a sign of egotism than any form of spirituality.
2) Avoid money-grubbers. Over the past few years I have noticed an increase in the rip-off artists. These are individuals and groups that demand large sums of money. I know of one group that demands up to one-third of all you earn. Another group charges huge sums for published materials and questionable proxy initiations. Still another demands that you pay more than you can easily afford. On the other hand there are honorable organizations, groups and individuals which ask for only small amounts of support. One such group is the Builders Of The Adytum (B.O.T.A.), a true offshoot of the original Golden Dawn and whose focus is on the Tarot. Another honorable group is the Rosicrucian Fellowship in Oceanside, California. The main focus of their lessons is astrology; and I have heard that if you cannot afford the lessons they will reduce the price or even send them to you for free if you do the work (I do not know if this is still true).
Besides, if a person is an enlightened master, why should they need large sums of money? Shouldn't they have also mastered the physical plane? That means that they should have all the money they need.
3) Avoid spiritual blackmailers. These are the people who threaten you with being sent away if you do not do what they say. At least one group I know of allegedly uses this form of spiritual intimidation to determine which member will have sex with another member. Another type of spiritual intimidator is the person (or group) that demands your obedience because they know more than you do. I have seen even benign groups practice this form of intimidation. One such group keeps promising its members that you will find the secrets of our order in the higher degrees, but the degrees and promises go on forever.
Another spiritual intimidator to be wary of is the person or group that attacks you with claims that cannot be disproved. For example, the head of the Golden Dawn, Moina Mathers, expelled Dion Fortune from the order because certain signs and symbols had not appeared in Fortune's aura. This was a claim that is impossible to disprove because the interpretation of the aura is highly subjective. As long as a person can hold this type of information over you (my spirit guide tells me you must do such and such, you have a hole in your aura, etc.) you are always in their power.
4) Avoid the paranoid. For example, if a person or group is constantly talking about being under psychic attack, watch out! According most writers I have read (and whom I respect), most psychic attacks are delusional on the part of the person or group who claims to be under attack. The best book on the subject, in my opinion, is still The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Psychic Self-Defense and Well-Being by Denning and Phillips.
Along with this is the everyone else is wrong syndrome. With this a leader or group tells you that most of the other writers and people have no idea what they are talking about. This sets up a we-them dichotomy which aligns you with the person or group. You may end up doing anything they want or say so that you can continue to receive the love and affection of the leader or group. Although this may sound farfetched, I recently heard a person say I am going to do anything my leader says in the future. The leader, a self-proclaimed enlightened master, had new interpretations of various occult topics and insists that everyone else is wrong and that he is correct.
So what can you do? The bottom line is this: Don't give up your free will and personal power Too many people are willing to do this.
Other things you can do:
1) Don't take anybody's word for something in the occult world. Check it out yourself.
2) Don't let someone talk you into doing something you don't want to do.
3) Don't go into poverty so a leader or group can live better than you.
Those who try to force us to believe their dogma are, in my mind, no different from those fundamentalist Christians who insist that you believe and act as they do. I believe that it is time, once again, for Pagans and all magical folk to rise up against the dogmatists, money-grubbers, self-professed Grand High Poobahs and spiritual blackmailers and say, enough!
And that goes for what you are reading here. Merely because I have written something does not make it so. If you agree with what I have written, fine. If you disagree, that is fine too. If you choose to be part of a group that intimidates you, that is your privilege. If you want to give more money than it is comfortable for you to do, then by all means do it. But do these things because you freely want to, not because you have been intimidated into it. Do so because you want to, not because you are addicted to a person or group and the attention they give or withhold.
In other words, come from your strengths, not your weaknesses. Come from a place of free will and not a place of slavery.
1993, Donald Michael Kraig | 
