How To Stop Using Occultism For Escapism

A common critique thrown at occultists from non-practitioners is that our beliefs and practices are a childlike escapist fantasy. That in a modern, secular, and rational world clinging to beliefs about magick, rituals, and witchcraft is childlike, the actions of an immature sad person who yearns for Harry Potter to be real. This is not true. Esoteric practices have been around since the dawn of humanity and have been interwoven with our history since that point. Magick and esoteric practices have always existed and are foundational aspects of many religions, including mainstream ones.

Yet, despite this critique not holding any validity for the whole of occultism, it is true for certain individuals. For these practitioners, the esoteric is not functioning as a gateway to the divine, but a gateway away from whatever problems they are facing in their mundane lives. For these people though, it does not need to stay this way, they can overcome this hurdle, and transmute their practice into something meaningful.

The most powerful way to avoid this happening to you is to constantly evaluate your practice, critically analyze what you are doing, and regularly engage in self-reflection. For years now, I have argued that a successful esoteric practice is made up of three equally important limbs: study, praxis, and contemplation. For many practitioners, that third wing is missing or de-emphasized. When this wing is forgotten, it is incredibly easy to fall into toxic patterns like escapism, spiritual bypassing, or any other trap without even realizing it. If you take time, say weekly, to journal on your practice, check yourself with tarot pulls, or talk with a trusted mentor in your local community, you are much less likely to fall, or remain stuck, in these traps. Remember, one of the most important esoteric teachings is to know thyself.

Once you realize you are using your occult practice as a form of escapism, it is important to get to the root of why. What is causing you to use the occult to get away from your material life? What is the issue, what is the trigger? In my time speaking with practitioners, every escapist has actually had a reason. For some, they know it consciously, for others, it is something they are avoiding thinking about, pushing deep into their subconscious. Regardless, it is critical to acknowledge the issue, then take material steps to resolve the issue. Of course, for people in say, abusive family dynamics, it is not so simple to fix the issue, but they can try to follow the next steps, even if immediate material resolution is not possible. If immediate material resolution is possible, take steps to do that. For instance, if you are using the occult as an escapist means to avoid thinking about a job that is soul sucking, begin immediately looking for new paths, new jobs, or ways to improve your current job.

After this resolution is done, or while it is ongoing, you need to assess whether or not taking a break is the next step. To get consistent and positive esoteric results, you do need to be consistent, you do need to do ritual regularly, and you do need a robust meditation practices. Despite this, there are some times when a break can actually be more spiritually productive than pushing onwards. If you are really struggling with breaking out of escapism, a break can actually be helpful.

During your break, pull back on all spirit-based and astral-based practices, instead focus solely on meditation, focus exercises, contemplation, and perhaps even psychic self-defense type practices. You do not need to abandon all spirituality to take a break, you simply need to pull back on the aspects of it that are being used in the toxic way. It is quite possible there are edge cases where they even need to take a break from things like meditation, in those cases, that may be needed too. I can’t think of a single case where avoiding contemplation would lead to anything other than continued destruction though.

Once you feel ready to return, dip your toes in, and progress slowly. Typically, escapists move too fast in their practices, jumping into things like Enochian or Sabbatic work when they are not mentally ready. If you know escapism is one of your challenges, you need to move slower than you want to. Set literal boundaries with yourself. For instance, maybe you cannot do initiatory work until a year and a day has passed. Or, you can only invoke once a month, on the full moon. Or, you can only have 3-5 spirits present in your practice at a time. This is up to your discernment, but it is critical to pace yourself if you are a known escapist. Check in with yourself via tarot, journaling, and contemplation throughout this entire journey.

For people with this pattern, it can be beneficial to seek out in-person community or a mentor. When you are working within a group, or directly with a mentor, there is another person who is checking you, making sure you remain on track. This person can hold you accountable and call you out when you fall into these patterns. This can be an essential spiritual safety net for a recovering escapist. Of course, when looking into groups and mentors, it is critically important to vet them to insure you are not dealing with cults or charlatans.

Another thing that can be helpful for some escapists is to focus heavily on purification and protection work. As many escapists fall into this pattern due to mental health or adverse external circumstances, it is quite possible that an escapist may be especially prone to miasma or spiritual attacks. For these practitioners, it is critical to focus heavily on protection, defense, and spiritual purification. Heavily incorporating banishing, warding, or even self-exorcism (eg: The Headless Ritual with an exorcism charge) can be highly productive.

For any escapist, a special attention needs to be held towards grounding. Every esoteric practitioner needs to be grounding, returning themselves to the material, and rooting themselves back to the earth. For escapists, this is doubly true. It is easy to become ungrounded and lost in the higher realms when you have a psychological inclination to do so already. Spend time every single day grounding if you are an escapist. Do it before and after every single ritual. Even if you are in a group setting, take extra time to meditate, or meditate again when you get home. Grounding is everything in these situations, and paired with contemplation, is the most surefire way to prevent this all from happening again.

Being an escapist is not good, but it does not mean your spiritual journey is over, it just means that you need to re-asses it.

-GR