Has anyone else noticed the nonchalance whereby countless profane seem to believe that they just have casual conversations with Gods and spirits? Like it takes serious discipline and training to actually facilitate genuine contact with such entities and then to be able to visibly and audibly perceive them. But it seems like every goth self- declared “satanist” on social media act like they just call them up at will and have the secrets of the universe given on speed dial. Doesn’t work that way. Someone needs to figure out how to deal with all the socially awkward and mentally defective who gravitate toward the occult for whatever fetish or reason they have. Smoking cannabis and fantasizing about speaking with a spirit in your mind is not an evocation. Even on YouTube you have idiots “calling up Lucifer” and… nothing is there. But they sincerely believe that they evoked Lucifer! Lmao it’s almost sad. Anyway, if I’m not the only one who has noticed this let me know. I’m curious to hear people’s takes on this
Let them do what they want, focus on you and your practice is what I think. Does it really matter whether they’re calling up Lucifer or not? You’ve put forth your hard work to get the results that you do, and that is what matters most. In my opinion.
Not our problem.
I do not see a problem with that. If at all, it helps to keep the “profane” (haha) away from the juicy bits while they are completely content with their doings. Let them.
Also, a small part of them might actually learn something valuable through imitation and play pretend. It could help to open up their understanding about whats there to see. Like a child who plays with dolls, to imitate and learn and process basic social behaviour. Imitating parts of certain practices can lead to basic understandings, as well.
Truly, the secrets of magick are only obtained by those who have been set to obtain them. But there is also pop magick, and this is by no means a recent phenomenon, but has been around for a very long time. I think that is perfectly fine.
Not really… Who made you the gatekeeper of who’s experiences are valid or not? 
It all comes under the banner of “UPG”. This forum respects UPG, period. WE can all individually carry the opinion that certain people are LARPing, but we can’t shut down that discussion.
My own UPG can be so far out there I guarantee people would think I was insane or LARPing if I told them about it… and probably have. There’s a point where if you haven’t experienced something another could view as fantasy you haven’t experienced much a mage yet anyway.
What we don’t do, is allow people to preach their UPG as the vernacular Truth™. That’s a whole other thing and preaching is against the rules… After that, we are not the thought police, we’re here to discuss magick and spiritual questions, and these make for as valid questions as any.
Josephine McCarthy, author of the Quareia magic course, said that someone told her, ““I’m going to call up Satan””. Her response, ““Good luck with that one””.
There’s a chance that by becoming more and more ‘serious’ the right spirit will eventually be summoned: that’s a middle way between a thought which I had myself such as, indeed, “Oh right: this guy summoned Marchosias and that one invoked Apollo, sure” and another school of thought, the magician as observer and creator at the same time… until the truth isn’t known, if an entity may be John Doe, maybe it is.