Occult Shenanigans

Magickal Childe at 19 W, 35th Street, circa 1990

Magickal Childe was everything a person would expect in an occult store. It was dark, creepy, smelled funny, and the folks working there were weird. They had everything from swords and robes to voodoo oils and church incense. It was a lot of fun to go there. They had a pretty good assortment of books. In fact, one could find a lot of out-of-print books at their old prices. I do not think the folks there inventoried the book shelves because I found some real hard-to-find texts at rock-bottom prices.

Magickal Childe was as much a show as a shop.

Herman Slater

The owner was a strange fellow named Herman Slater. Strange or not, he knew how to make money in the occult business. Slater purposely hired bizarre-looking people. Instead of being polite, he told them to yell at customers. “That is what they want,” he said.

Herman Slater was known as Horrible Herman partly because he was a hot-head. He was known for yelling at annoying customers, “Get out of my shop!” Herman was a cantankerous fellow. But then, folks expected to see bizarre things in an occult shop, and Herman Slater fit the bill.

In the back of Magickal Childe was an “occult apothecary.” There was a counter where you could buy potions, formulae, scented oils and unique incenses. If they did not have it, they would make it for you. The oils were mostly formulae used in Louisiana “hoodoo” and Voodoo. They had weird names like Black Cat, Boss Fix, Lodestone and Law Stay Away.

Voodoo Candles

Next to the “apothecary” was a set of shelves with candles. Along with colored tapers of every size were others cast in various shapes. You could find devil candles, heart candles, dragon candles and even candles shaped like a dick. Most were meant for the kind of folk magick that used oils. For candle magick, they would rub the appropriate oil over the candle before lighting it., The candles came in several sizes and most looked creepy. Of course, they sold like hotcakes.

Magickal Childe also sold prepackaged spell kits that contained everything needed for a specific act of hoodoo. A potential spellcaster would find the candles, oils, incense and incantations necessary to complete his spell, all in a cardboard box with a scary picture on the cover.

Like much that is occult, Magickal Childe profited from the hype. The place purposely had a quasi-Halloween atmosphere and the equally-bizarre trappings that went with it.

When Slater died, he left the shop to his employees. The shop closed a year or so later, I was told. Maybe the employees did not have the knack. More likely, rising commercial rents and other costs ended the store. Either way, one of the more colorful shops in New York City bit the dust.

The other popular store was Weiser Books, an esoteric bookstore over by 26th street. Weister had all kinds of books and tarot cards. The store had a reference book of all the Tarot decks it sold. They carried everything from Rosicrucian texts to Theosophy books to reprints of Medieval grimoires. It was not as creepy as Magickal Childe, but it had a lot of interesting books that could be found nowhere else.

I was in Magickal Childe one afternoon looking for an obscure book. I had already been to Weiser’s with no luck. While poring over one of the shelves, another customer started talking to me. He was wearing the uniform of a custodian and was some years older than me. There was something seedy about him.

“I belong to the Golden Dawn and the O.T.O.“ he said, mentioning two well-known occult groups. “If you want to join, I can get you in.”

For those who don’t know the nuances of these things, legitimate occult groups are much more discreet. They carefully screen potential new members. These groups certainly do not offer memberships to strangers in whimsical esoteric shops. And they do not announce themselves to strangers.

I smiled and declined. Not seeing the book I wanted, I drifted to one of the other shelves. Half the fun of occult shops was watching some of the weird customers without having to interact with them. But that day, I just wanted to find my book and get out of there.

The thing about occult books - and in fact, everything else involved with the occult - is that 90% is pure malarkey. The best of that 90% of books are watered-down copies of older, better books. It is redundant. The rest ranges from crackpot concepts to utter nonsense. It is mostly hype, superstition, egotism and hucksterism. You have to learn how to sort through a lot of crap to find the gems. Some learn quickly, but too many like to believe the hype.

But then, the 90% sells like hotcakes to the wanna-bes, the superstitious, the power seekers and the egomaniacs with inferiority complexes. These are the same folks who buy the smelly oils, funny candles, odd statues, occult jewelry and instant spell kits.

The good 10% are mostly fair to satisfactory, with the best being 1% or less. Ironically, the same can be said of the martial arts and a few other pursuits.

I have had the good fortune to experience many forms of spirituality and religion over the years. You might say that I have been from Alchemy to Zen and back again. The problem with some of them - this includes the occult - is that you have to wade through so much hype and malarkey to find the few gems.

There are five rules to investigating mystical and esoteric religion:

1: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
2: If it sounds stupid, it probably is.
3: If it sounds unbelievable, it probably is.
4: If you meet a teacher or leader, ask yourself this: would you want to have anything to do with this person if the context weren’t the current form of spirituality you are investigating? Would you feel comfortable introducing him to your spouse, your family, your most trusted friends? Would you feel comfortable leaving his person alone with your spouse, significant other, or your children?  If the answer is no, get away as fast as possible and stay away!
5: If they promise great power or anything else for a high price, leave.

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The Occult is a generic term for various non-conventional spiritual and religious practices. These are not necessarily related, other than being outside mainstream religious and spiritual practices. Most deal with some kind of mystical practices. A few beliefs under the umbrella of the Occult are pre-Christian religions and native shamanism. There are also divinatory and magickal practices as well as mysticism and alchemy.

Many things considered occult were common religious practices in the pre-Christian era. Things like skrying, divination and oracles were part and parcel of everyday religion for most of the world. They are still common in places. The stories of bizarre rites and extreme practices are mostly superstition. There are a few people who engage in such things, but they are thrill-seekers rather than spiritual seekers. In the few cases of deviant behavior, there is usually some kind of criminality involved.