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How It Feels to Be Blacklisted
I discovered the limits of the alternative spiritual culture
My spiritual search is controversial. There’s no easy way to explain this — actually there is an easy way to explain but not to be heard — but I explore a highly personal version of what I consider Satanism.
By that I do not mean evil, violence, maleficence or anything that has gotten historically and religiously misapplied to that term.
Rather, I see the Satanic as the Romantic poets did: the force of rebellion, radical self-expression, artistic freedom, usurpation, and revolution. I believe the snake in the garden was a trickster-emancipator without whom humanity wouldn’t be humanity. The price for that human creativity can be friction — but without it we wouldn’t be sentient beings.
As you can see, I am open and forthright about my search. This is because I believe in transparency and in a search without barrier or compulsion.
But there is a price. And I accept it.
A New Age organization with which I have had years of productive collaboration, and for which I’ve raised money, recently hosted me for a conference. I was told that some members were uncomfortable with my search and its connotations but that management nonetheless supported me, which I appreciated. I…
