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Between Synchromysticism
and Paganism: Tracing some
metaphysical uses of popular
fictions
a
Danielle Lee Kirby
a
School of Media and Communication, RMIT University,
Building 9, 124 Latrobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria
3000, Australia
Published online: 10 Oct 2013.

To cite this article: Danielle Lee Kirby , Culture and Religion (2013): Between
Synchromysticism and Paganism: Tracing some metaphysical uses of popular fictions,
Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal

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 Culture and Religion, 2013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2013.838796

Between Synchromysticism and Paganism: Tracing some

metaphysical uses of popular fictions
Danielle Lee Kirby*

School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Building 9, 124 Latrobe Street,
Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
Beliefs that directly draw on fictional material constitute a small but notable
element of contemporary ‘occulture’. Interestingly, the utilisation of popular
source material in the formation of personal idiosyncratic beliefs and
practices seems to be increasing in its presence. This paper explores the role
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of popular narratives in relation to a number of contemporary alternative

beliefs, articulating a spectrum of distinct relationships between belief and
text. Five particular characterisations of the role of texts are proposed as a
loose framework for further observation, exploring the function of texts
variously as catalyst, ideal type, reality, practice and proof. Popular texts can
function as a catalyst, providing impetus for emergent beliefs in a formative
capacity. When used as ideal types, texts can help to support sustained
engagement with narratives sympathetic and evocative to the particular
metaphysic. Narrative can also provide source material for the assertion of
the reality of entities and worlds beyond the bounds of the text. When treated
instrumentally rather than aesthetically, texts can become a site of ritual
performance, becoming intentional tools of the practitioner. And through
various reading strategies, texts can also function as both evidence and
revelation, demonstrating alternative knowledges and ways of reading
the world.
Keywords: alternative religions; popular narrative; emergent religion;
occulture

Within the context of alternative religiosity and occultural metaphysics, the

notion of fictionally oriented beliefs and practices is becoming, if not generally
familiar, then at least perhaps comfortably unusual. Occulture is a new, Western,
and ‘essentially non-Christian religio-cultural milieu . . . that both resources and
is resourced by popular culture’ (Partridge 2004 –2005, ix). While notoriously
difficult to define precisely, occulture is generally framed as deviant and
incorporates an eclectic array of practices and beliefs, including various forms of
magic, paganisms, occultism, environmentalism, divination, radical politics and
elements of mystical traditions: effectively an extension and expansion of
Campbell’s cultic milieu (Campbell 1972). Within occulture, non-normative
locales for experiencing the numinous and exploring the intangible abound, as is

*Email: [email protected]

q 2013 Taylor & Francis

 2 D.L. Kirby
evidenced by both idiosyncratic individual practice, and the formation of
communities of interest around such beliefs. The particular role of the text is
distinct in these contexts, and demonstrates a range of differing uses. Drawing on
the cases of the Church of All Worlds, Jedism, Sithism, Paganism, the Otherkin,
contemporary Chaos Magic, the Church of the SubGenius and Synchromysti-
cism, this study explores five particular approaches to using fictional texts in
metaphysical practice and alternative belief. These groups have been chosen
because they represent a reasonable, if fractional, cross cut of contemporary
alternative religiosity and spiritual inquiry that utilises fictional texts. These
fictional texts can be seen to function in a range of interesting ways: as catalyst,
ideal type, reality, practice and proof. In seeking to characterise these various
types of relationships to fictional texts, it is intended that the diversity of uses of
fictional narrative is articulated, beyond simply acknowledging the existence of a
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relationship.
The classifications proposed here are intended as a starting point only, and are
envisaged as a useful tool to assist in discussing textual relations within the
realms of occultural metaphysics. This proposition is a development and
expansion of earlier suggestions regarding the types of engagement, in those
cases constructed variously as the text as inspiration, as evocative support and the
object of belief (Kirby 2009, 2013). The types articulated here are not intended to
be exclusive or singular. Indeed, in every example, at least two of the uses of the
text characterised in this framework can be seen within the same practitioner’s
accounts. Moreover, across the spectrum of contemporary Paganism, for
instance, all five of the proposed types of engagement with texts can be seen,
alongside many other variations. Given this, then, these classifications are best
viewed as a spectrum, and an attempt to articulate some discrete positions within
a context of highly individualised belief and practice: they are intended to be read
as general and useful characterisations of engagement, not proscriptive limits
firmly demarcating how individuals or groups engage with texts.
The communities, metaphysics and practices used as examples here are not
chosen on any substantive philosophical continuum, but rather because they share
a common situation within the alternative and occultural milieu (Partridge 2004 –
2005) and explicitly engage with fictional narrative in direct relation to their
particular beliefs: in other words, they are chosen on the basis that they represent
a range of relationships, rather than a uniform approach, to popular fictional texts.
It is also important to note that within the instances of relations to texts explored
here, there is no unified position on the attribution of such stances as ‘religious’ or
otherwise, either within specific communities or across the occultural field at
large. Individuals may, dependent upon their personal relation to their particular
ideology, frame the following positions and practices as, respectively, religious,
spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical, psychological and even unproblematically
secular. Also, in many cases, these positions may be seen as complementary to,
or an element of, a broader religious or spiritual belief. In the contrary case, these
various paradigms may be framed outside the realms of metaphysical inquiry,
 Culture and Religion 3
rather constituting a lived practice situated entirely within an everyday
desacralised world. Treatment here is premised upon academic categories of
religion, and does not necessarily reflect self-identification on behalf of
participants (Kirby 2013, 7– 21).
For the sake of precision, it is worth digressing briefly to clarify some of the
terminology used here. Use of the term ‘metaphysical’ in this context denotes a
world view that encompasses some form of the superempirical within its bounds.
The term ‘spirituality’ indicates religiosity without the necessity of religion:
idiosyncratic, informal or unstructured, yet undeniably concerned with the
substantive content of the religious. Continuing from this, where ‘alternative’
religion is utilised, it reflects a notion of alternative culture which highlights a
divergence from normative or generally acceptable approaches to religiosity:
these fall within the ‘alternative’ category of Robbins’ framework (Robbins
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2005), and within the ‘alternative’ and ‘emergent’ religions of Bromley and
Melton’s most recent construction of the category of new religious movements
(Bromley and Melton 2012). In short, approaches to the experience of the
superempirical drawn on here are substantively, rather than functionally,
religious (Barker 1994, 101), and should not be taken to imply particular social
structures, prescriptive doctrine or defined religious institutions, but rather denote
an orientation towards the superempirical aspects of lived experience.

Text as catalyst
One of the ways that texts can be seen to function within occultural metaphysics
is in instigating and framing beliefs, functioning as a catalyst. While by no means
suggesting that texts are likely to be the only factor in spiritual formation,
characterising the text as a catalyst focuses upon the role a text can play in the
initial inspiration for metaphysical or spiritual engagement. In this framing, the
text functions to motivate a distinct spiritual position, and is considered central
enough by participants that the text itself, or particular aspects of it such as
specific terminology or characters, is explicitly given place within the paradigm.
While a text functioning as a catalyst is highly likely to be coupled with the use of
a text (or texts) as an ideal type in a more sustained fashion, as explored below,
these two functions of the text seem distinct enough to warrant separate
treatment. In the case of text as catalyst, emphasis is placed on the formative role
texts can play in inspiring discrete metaphysical positions as well as more general
spiritual engagement.

Church of All Worlds

Arguably the most well-known example of this type of textual relation is
exemplified by the Church of All Worlds. The metaphysical orientation of the
Church of All Worlds is pagan, placing a heavy emphasis upon a respect and
engagement with the natural world in conjunction with generally libertarian
 4 D.L. Kirby
ideologies and a commitment to alternative social structures (Cusack 2010,
53– 82; Hume 1997, 39; Lewis 1999, 56). Founded in 1962, the Church of All
Worlds is notable in this context in that the group explicitly acknowledged the
importance of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein 1961) in the
founding of the group. Inspired by the text’s vision of a Martian utopic
community, the Church of All Worlds incorporated this fictional model in both
their ideology and structure. In A Stranger in a Strange Land, the narrative
follows the human-raised-Martian, Valentine Michael Smith. Martians and
Valentine as their adopted child, live in a state of peaceful union and intense
sensitivity where everything is shared. The centrality of the text in this case is
clearly demonstrated not only by the Church of All Worlds’ open acknowl-
edgement of the formative role of the text, but is borne out in their use of the
terminology and central spiritual practices (Cusack 2010, 53). Specific notions
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such as sharing water and the corollary waterkin, which refer to familial-like
relations within the narrative, and the structuring of community sub-groups as
nests, are ideas directly drawn from within the narrative. Although the Church of
All Worlds is not limited to spiritual exploration as articulated within the frame of
Stranger in a Strange Land, the text’s role within the formation of the group
serves as arguably the premier example of the catalytic potentials of textual
relations within non-traditional spirituality.

Jediism
Jediism is a far more recent example of the use of a popular fictional text as a
catalyst for this worldly metaphysical/spiritual engagement (Possamai 2005,
2011). Similarly to the Church of All Worlds, Jediism, in both its name and
ideology, centrally positions itself in relation to popular fictional narrative
(Davidsen 2011). In this case, the textual referent is George Lucas’ Star Wars
films (Lucas 1977 and continuing), in particular the characters of the Jedis and the
notion of ‘the force’, which have inspired the constitution of the community.
In the narrative of the Star Wars series, the Jedi are warriors for peace, attuned to
the universe and able to utilise energy, ‘the force’, to their ends, and are
emphatically situated on the ‘good’ end of the ethical spectrum. In the lived
philosophy of Jediism, the text is situated front and centre, as with the Church of
All Worlds, and does not particularly support truth claims regarding the fictional
worlds depicted in the text. Rather, the Star Wars films articulate a language and a
structure for this way of life. There are, however, regular disclaimers made from
within the community about the role of the text within the metaphysic, with the
predominant stance emphasising the text as an exemplary and evocative
demonstration of good practice. The following quote illustrates clearly the
centrality of the text as a language and a point of orientation for participants:
Our faith in the Force existed well before the fictional Star Wars movies brought
popular recognition to the terminology and concepts that our members always
innately held, but had difficultly describing in a shared forum . . .
 Culture and Religion 5
Here, it is clear that the Star Wars texts have an illustrative capacity to express
metaphysical truths that are not limited to the text, and serve to provide a
descriptive language that enables group discourse. The author goes on to clarify:
The terminology used by the Jedi Church were introduced by the fictional Star Wars
movies, and often references are made to the movies by our members, as a
conceptual demonstration of how some might ascribe [sic ] to the higher levels of a
Jedi faith, in a far away land, a long time ago. The fact remains, that these concepts
merely reflect a deep held innate morality, that we all have inside us, and now we
have some common terminology and place to share our thoughts with each other.
This morality existed prior to the movies. The movies do not in any way legitimise
nor negate the legitimacy of the Jedi Church. They are merely a discussion point.
(Jedi Church)
This explanation must, of course, be seen within the group’s broader adoption of
language and concepts: the Jedi Church is so named from the films, and even if it
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is seen as encapsulating eternal or pre-existing truths, it nonetheless does so

through the frame of the text. While I am not seeking to negate their claim to a
broader morality beyond the text, I would nonetheless suggest that their close
relation to Star Wars makes any internal claim about the irrelevance of the text
somewhat suspect.
Jediists, while explicitly situating themselves in relation to the text through
their use of the terminology and ideals of the Star Wars series, also make clear
that the narrative Jedi are an evocative illustration of the group’s ideals rather
than an essential point of belief or practice. In this, I would argue that Jediism,
while clearly representative of the situation of text as catalyst in group formation,
equally demonstrates the use of text as an ideal type.

Sithism
Interestingly, recent developments in Star Wars-oriented metaphysics have
introduced the ‘dark side’ into the field of fictionally oriented metaphysical
engagement. Within the Star Wars narrative, the Sith are the ‘dark’ counterparts
to the Jedi, committed to power and dominance rather than peace and equality,
and practicing their nefarious arts in secrecy. A small but strident online Sith
community now exists, promoting the Sith path and offering initiatory learning
(Sithacademy 2012b).1 To all appearances, this group of individuals is sincere in
their embrace of what seems like a notably antisocial and imperialist position that
articulates explicit political and social ideologies as well as magical and occult
orientations. In particular, their assertion of political ideals is unusual within
emergent spirituality of this type, as priority is more usually given to personal
lived experience. However, the site clearly states that the order ‘opposes
socialism, democracy and egalitarianism and favours oligarchy, theocracy and
imperialism’ (Sithacademy 2012a). Highly indebted to Western Esotericism and
Left Hand path ideologies (Granholm 2009), and directly citing Nietzsche,
among others, as a prophet of Sithism, this group seems strongly oriented towards
gaining techniques of power and control over others. In many ways, ideologically
 6 D.L. Kirby
continuous with current forms of religious Satanism (Lewis 2002), Sithism
appears to invert Christian notions of good and relies more on a brutalist reading
of social Darwinism for its ethical structures. It is also comfortably occultural and
typically eclectic in the array of practices and techniques utilised.
The Sith Path is a path of inner and outer empowerment designed to produce the first
generation of Sith masters in this galaxy. The Sith Path incorporates elements from
many traditions, including Eastern disciplines such as Zen meditation, Kundalini
Yoga and Qigong, “mind tricks”, persuasion and seduction techniques, left-hand
path occultism, Machiavellian political skills, cosmic science and imperialist
ideology. (Sithacademy 2012a)
Beyond the clear referent in the nomenclature (as, obviously, also Jediism), the
Star Wars texts clearly function as paradigmatic support, as well as being highly
important within the metaphysic itself. A recent discussion which took place
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between Sith on the associated forum illustrates this point very clearly (Dark
Council 2012). The question was raised as to whether or not the Sith Academy
should consider adopting a non-Star Wars name, which was strongly argued
against by other participants in the discussion. Most explicitly, the word ‘Sith’
was posited as a word of power, owning explicitly magical properties that are not
interchangeable with other words. Another participant emphasised the linage of
the Sith, citing an ideological provenance predominantly populated by fictional
sources, including references to Tolkien’s Middle Earth and the DC Universe.
‘Sith’ to me is just one name for an eternal order of sorcerers which takes different
forms in different times and places throughout the multiverse. In Hyboria we were
called the Black Ring; in the 30th century DC universe we’re the Dark Circle; in
Middle Earth we’re the Nazgul; in ancient Egypt perhaps we were the Cult of
Nephren-Ka; in imperial China we were the Wu Sorcerers; in recent times some of
the more sinister sects of chaos magicians come closest to our vision. We are
beyond names and forms, but we use whatever names and forms have the most
magical power in any era. (Dark Council 2012, Imperius)
While clearly a site of discussion and dispute, Sithism, like the Church of All
Worlds and Jediism, nonetheless demonstrates a formative relationship with
popular fictional narrative. As well as providing an ideal type, as will be explored
below, the respective texts of Stranger in a Strange Land and Star Wars
functioned as catalysts for group formation.

Text as ideal type

Approaching texts as ideal types highlight the role of texts in providing an
exemplary narrative, often constituting a blueprint for behaviour, an articulation
of philosophy or describing a way of life desired and to be emulated. In this, the
text may be seen to provide sustained engagement with the ideal, providing a
supportive narrative to complement lived experience. While often coupled with
the situation of text as catalyst previously discussed, the emphasis here is rather
on a sustained, ongoing engagement with the narrative. A text utilised as an ideal
type serves in an evocative, or metaphoric role, and is not necessarily directly
 Culture and Religion 7
placed within the metaphysical framework, although it may well constitute an
integral aspect of practice or maintenance with regard to individual metaphysical
orientation. So while both the Church of All Worlds and particularly the Star
Wars-oriented positions of Jediism and Sithism comfortably illustrate the
situation of the text as ideal type as well as catalyst (in that Stranger in A Strange
Land and Star Wars, respectively, provide an ongoing supportive narrative) other
spiritual positions perhaps more clearly illustrate the distinctions between these
textual relations.

Paganism
Paganism, in its regular use of fantasy narrative, seems the clearest example of
this type of textual engagement. Paganism is perhaps most usefully thought of
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as a category of spirituality rather than a particular ideology or institution,

encompassing as it does a diverse range of traditions and individual practices. It is
characteristically difficult to articulate, largely due to the many distinct and
overlapping practices and beliefs that fall under its rubric, as well as the swathe of
individualised spiritualities that are situated within the category. What these
various paganisms have in common, though, is an orientation towards nature and
the natural world, focused on the ‘physical, sensual world within which humans
are embodied participants’ (Harvey 2009, 357). Of particular relevance here is
the animist stream of pagan ideology, which populates the world with both
human and non-human beings.
Within this world view, as Rountree notes,
the landscape itself is, for Pagans, an infinitely complex network of intersubjective
relationships among living, sentient beings. Humans are not central to this
eco-system; they are one kind of people alongside tree-people, waterfall-people,
bird-people, and so on. (Roundtree 2012, 308)
Not only does a pagan paradigm tend to ‘ensoul’ the non-human elements of the
natural world, but also to populate it with mythological and folkloric entities that
would traditionally be understood as supernatural, but are perceived by pagans as
a natural element of the re-enchanted world. Pagans ‘treat the supernatural as
mundanely present and leave ambiguous the relationship between the merely
asserted and the really real’ (Luhrmann 2012, 139).
Paganism regularly refers to fantasy fiction as supportive narrative (Harvey
2000a, 2000b, 2006), depicting as it frequently does a ‘wider than human
community’ (Harvey 2006, 43). Fantasy narratives, both in general and as
epitomised by series like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld or Robert Holdstock’s
Mythago Wood, provide both sympathetic narratives to a pagan world view, and
also evocative illustrations of the ideologies and experiences of those pagans who
utilise them. For instance, Harvey notes the resonance of Granny Weatherwax
and Nanny Og, characters within the Discworld series, with pagans from a
number of traditions (Harvey 2006, 43– 45). Texts such as these serve as
immersive, evocative narratives that may serve to sustain belief and provide
 8 D.L. Kirby
ongoing illustration of ideal types sympathetic to individual spiritual
engagement.

Text as reality
In this type of relationship, the text is constructed as a reality in itself, not simply
within the internal logics of the narrative, but also possessing a form of extra-
textual ontological status. This may include the text as a whole, in the sense of the
narrative world owning actual existence, perhaps as a world in a different solar
system or on a spiritual and intangible plane of existence. Alternatively,
particular textual elements such as characters or worlds may be attributed reality
beyond the text without the same level of reality ascribed to the rest of the text.
Constructing the text as reality is arguably on the more radical side of textual
positioning within metaphysical contexts, and is certainly not particularly
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common, but nonetheless is an important part of the trajectory of types explored

here. It should be noted that this position should not be assumed to simply
constitute a failure on behalf of participants to understand fiction as a category,
but rather that, through specific and articulable logics, the text can be reframed as
possessing a reality beyond its fictional status.

Otherkin
Perhaps the best example of this characterisation of the text as reality is evident
within various elements of the Otherkin community. The Otherkin, and broader
Otherkin-like beliefs outside of the particular community, are particularly
interesting in demonstrating a range of approaches to popular texts. In brief, the
Otherkin believe that they are, in some way and to some extent, non-human
(Kirby 2009, 2013). In its simplest statement, ‘Otherkin is a collective noun for
an assortment of people who have come to the somewhat unorthodox, and
possibly quite bizarre, conclusion that they identify themselves as being
something other than human’ (Windtree 2005). The particular nature of the
individual non-humanness is idiosyncratic and positions range across a wide
spectrum, from taking an archetypal, perhaps even totemic, approach to non-
human entities in regard to the self, through to a belief in the soul as non-human.
An archetypal approach in this context might posit a dragon, for instance, as a
quintessential universal form, perhaps with particular attributes or characteristics
that may serve as a personal guide or totem. Whatever the particular construction
of the non-human elements of the self, the entities referenced in this context
include mythological, literary and natural entities, as well as beings more
explicitly sourced from popular cultural: dragons, angels, vampires and elves as
well as various natural animals and Japanese anime characters regularly comprise
the site of the more-than-human self. Insofar as any generalisation can be made
about such unique and individualised beliefs, it seems that generally Otherkin are
more likely to situate the self in relation to various tropes of the fantasy canon,
rather than specific entities from particular narratives. In this, perhaps, the
 Culture and Religion 9
majority of those who hold to an Otherkin-type metaphysics would tend to fall
more towards the ideal-type classification. That said, however, there are also
clear instances of more direct relations to specific texts, with particular entities
and worlds attributed concrete, rather than metaphoric or evocative, reality.
One of the more explicit practices where textual creations are ascribed extra-
textual reality can be seen in ‘soulbonding’. Soulbonding is a type of relationship
associated with, but not necessarily a part of, an Otherkin-type paradigm. The
term itself carries a wide range of implications, and indeed is present within
creative writing discourse as well as in the more explicitly superempirical context
discussed here. Soulbonding refers to the relationship experienced between an
individual and a fictional character. In its creative writing context, typically less
‘spiritually’ oriented, soulbonding, or soulbonds, can refer to the experience
authors may have of feeling like a character they are writing has desires and
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intentions of their own. At the other end of the spectrum, and more within the
scope of this discussion, a soulbond is a relationship with a character from a
fictional source that occurs outside of the immediate experience of the text.
A character from a computer game, for instance, may be perceived as an entity in
their own right, existing outside of the game within which they were first
experienced. Characters in this light may be conceived, for instance, as coexisting
within personal mental space, on a different plane of existence such as the
‘astral’, or externally in the world in an intangible form, as a spiritual being.
In this relationship, characters, and implicitly texts, are attributed a far higher
degree of ‘realness’ than in other contexts.
Of course, the question arises of how a fictional text can hold extra-textual
‘realness’ outside of a fundamental confusion between the fictive and the real.
This can occur through a number of ways, such as treating the author as a channel
or medium for a world or entity understood as already in existence, or even
asserting the creative and actualising power of an audience’s attention, and its
corollary capacity for world creation (Kirby 2009, 150 – 152). Whatever the
particular logics utilised by individuals, in the case of soulbonding it can be seen
that textual elements are attributed direct status outside the bounds of the text.
Unlike the two previous categories, this approach is distinguished by a less
metaphoric and more definite assertion of the ‘really real’ (Luhrmann 2012, 139)
nature of fictional entities.
The Otherkin, and particular relationships like soulbonding, constitute a very
specific manifestation of alternative metaphysics insofar as they attribute some
degree of reality and actuality to fictional content. The fictions they access in the
creation of their metaphysic range from traditional mythologies through to pulp
fiction. Their relationship to these texts is complex and nonlinear, and tends
towards extension and expansion, and often the outright creation of new texts.
In terms of their particular source texts, though, it is interesting to see that the
Otherkin generally do not adopt texts wholesale, but rather tend to assert the
actual existence of specific textual elements such as characters or worlds. This
 10 D.L. Kirby
point is of particular interest as it constitutes one of the primary distinctions
between this position and a more evocative or metaphoric reading of texts.

Text as practice
Situating the text as practice highlights its role as a site through which religious,
spiritual or magical activity may take place, most evidently within contexts
where the text itself becomes the tool of practice. This type falls towards the more
instrumental end of textual engagement, with the content of the texts more likely
to be framed as a means to an end than as material to be enjoyed in its own right.
The particular nature of the text as tool is highly specific, but examples of such
an approach include treating texts as conglomerates of symbolic forms to be
manipulated by the practitioner, as archetypal statements of being, or as power
sources. This approach is often highly evident within magical practices across a
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range of traditions, although perhaps most explicit within less traditional forms of
occultism, such as chaos magic.

Chaos magic
Chaos magic is a particular form of late modern magical practice highly indebted
to the occultist experimentation of earlier practitioners such as Aleister Crowley
and Austin Osman Spare and the schools of thought associated with them, but
also generally highly oriented towards the late modern digitised world (Urban
2006, 222– 254). Although most usually associated with sex magic and
anarchism in their connection to Crowlian forms of magic, what is rather of
particular interest in this context is their openness towards practices that utilise
popular culture source material within magical practice. One proponent, Taylor
Ellwood, describes a popular text-based approach to magic in his practitioners’
manual, Pop Culture Magic (Ellwood 2004). Ellwood outlines a practice in
which characters within particular narrative contexts can be treated as power
sources or god forms, and where narrative content can serve as a site for ritual
practice. In this framework, popular culture icons such as the character Buffy are
framed as god forms (Ellwood 2004, 16), and can be magically utilised in the
same way as traditional gods and goddesses. An individual can charge their sigils
while watching TV or playing a computer game, or wear specific characters to
empower the self (Ellwood 2004, 142). Wearing specific characters in this
context does not imply a costume, but instead a sort of variant of channelling –
the magician pulls down the god form (in this case Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
into his or herself, and takes on their attributes and, perhaps, strength. In this case,
the popular text becomes a part of the magician’s ritual armoury – an important
and powerful element of spiritual practice.
It is interesting to note that, in this case, there is a distinctly different approach
to the source texts to previous examples. This more explicitly magical approach
may, at first, appear to lack the specificity of text that was more obvious in some
of the previous cases discussed, and indeed perhaps seem arbitrary. And to a
 Culture and Religion 11
degree this seems true. But on the other hand, it is important to recognise that
Buffy potentially has, for instance, particular attributes that are different to, say,
Sephiroth (a character from a popular game series, Final Fantasy VII (Square
Co., Ltd 1997). They are precisely not generic or arbitrarily interchangeable, but
rather treated as archetypal. In any case, this type of magical practice gives a clear
illustration of the use of popular narrative as a tool for spiritual and magical
practice.

Church of the SubGenius

Through a somewhat different approach, the Church of the SubGenius also
demonstrates a tendency to use popular fictions as a tool for metaphysical
practice. The Church of the SubGenius is perhaps best characterised as a Dadaist
type of late modern religiosity, emerging from a broadly similar ideological
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heritage as chaos magic of the Discordian type (Urban 2006, 233 –235), and
coupled with a deep and gleeful sense of the absurd, a highly performative
approach, and a firm grip on popular as well as occultural sources (Cusack 2010,
83– 111; Kirby 2012). While the group’s beliefs and practices are eclectic,
complex and defy simply rendition, of particular interest here is their penchant
for utilising science fiction tropes (Cusack 2010, 83), as can be seen in their
various publications (Stang 1983, 2006). Central tenets include the coming of the
alien Xists on the good spaceship JEHOVA1 in 1996; the awesome power of Bob
Dobbs, the ultimate 1950s salesman; the Yeti heritage of all Sub Genii and the
general unpleasantness of the elder gods of a Lovecraftian type. The Church of
the SubGenius seems intent upon shocking people out of normative patterns of
thinking with regard to all areas of human engagement, be they personal, political
or spiritual. It is inherently postmodern insofar as, while materials are presented
with ironic and subversive humour, this is indeed part of the philosophy that is
being propounded.
Both their philosophy and brutal use of conceptual, visual and narrative
juxtaposition is notoriously difficult to approach from an etic position, but it is, at
minimum, evident that the Church of the SubGenius uses popular narrative as a
deliberate mechanism of metaphysical awakening or awareness: a kind of pulp
fiction kenshō. Similar to the practices of the chaos magician, the Church of the
SubGenius recasts the popular into new contexts to forge a metaphysical tool.

Text as proof
The final characterisation proposed here locates the text as a proof of
metaphysical and/or occluded realities. Popular texts, in such cases, are taken to
have revelatory or evidential force in certain contexts, pointing towards hitherto
unknown or unacknowledged connections that can constitute a more meaningful
or knowing engagement with the world. This type is quite continuous with the
previous category of text as tool, but again seems worthy of distinction on the
basis of both reading strategies and related practices.
 12 D.L. Kirby
Synchromysticism2
Arguably one of the more obscure of all the textual relations explored thus far,
Synchromysticism can perhaps best be characterised as part artistic practice, part
spiritual or metaphysical system, part conspiracy culture. Less a group, movement,
or belief, it seems rather a very particular way of reading texts, and denotes an area
of interest that tends to manifest in, and be read through, new media art. Clearly
showing the eclecticism native to much contemporary occultural thought and
practice, Synchromysticism incorporates, among other things, Jungian mysticism,
conspiracy theory and alternative histories and science, and has been characterised
as an approach that ‘attempts to see beyond the darker aspects of society, politics,
and popular culture, to a cosmic design’ (Horsley 2009, 96). A more participant-
oriented understanding, attributed to Jake Kotze, is ‘The art of realizing
meaningful coincidence in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric
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significance’ (Clelland 2010; dedroidify.com 2012). Alternatively, it has been

described by Steve Willner as ‘The vast and noble undertaking of piecing together
the occult holographic language system of the universe, in order to identify and
more aptly understand the relationship between the collective consciousness of all
sentient beings on earth and beyond’ (Synchromysticism Wiki). For Pinchbeck,
Synchromysticism, as a newer incarnation of synchronicity, is potentially the
experience of a subjective signposting that precedes a significant change
of perception or belief (Pinchbeck 2012, 111). On the other hand, as one of the
better-known practitioners of the form points out ‘This is Poetry Folks, Take it with
a Grain of Salt’ (Soundlessdawn).
Basically it is about going beyond the accepted realm of ‘reality’ by decoding
patterns and symbols of worldly phenomena. Here, the physical world is viewed
only as a subset of a greater matrix, a hidden configuration that gives rise to such
things as synchronicities and symbolic patterns that we all encounter from time to
time even without active interest. (dedroidify.com)
Both the eschatology and the common themes of hidden power brokers implicit
within New World Order ideologies (Barkun 2003, 39 –64) are evident within
synchromystical discourse, clearly articulated, for example, by the regular
appearance of alternative 9/11 narratives. Synchromystical thought and practice
involve making mash ups of images, video and concept, in ways that reveal or
suggest deeper truths about reality. The juxtaposition in the form is often radical,
and almost inevitably leads to distinctly alternative readings of the world.
Typically, bricolage in this context removes the audio– visual material utilised
from its original narrative contexts, and links it in new, generally symbolic and
usually unanticipated ways: for example, footage of the destruction of the twin
towers might be placed in relation to footage from the films StarGate, Escape
from New York and the three pillars of Freemasonic lore, thus potentially
revealing deeper truths about 9/11 (dedroidify.com).
This type of practice can be positioned as a variant of revelatory
experience, but not one that fits comfortably with more traditional views of the
 Culture and Religion 13
same. Here, popular media content, when broken up and recontextualised,
becomes a new map through which connections in both the mundane and the
metaphysical can be glimpsed. ‘Pop culture is easily dismissed as trite and
vapid, and it can be dismissed by those searching for deep metaphysical
answers. But hidden within the soup of our mundane movies and TV shows is
a path to the divine’ (Clelland 2010). So, the popular texts, both fictional and
otherwise, when read and deployed within a context of symbolic rather than
contextual continuity, become both a form of inquiry and even a potential
source of new truths.

Conclusion
Theorising the particular ways in which texts are utilised within religious,
spiritual or metaphysical contexts is a fraught endeavour at the best of times,
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and one intensified within contemporary occulture where personalised and

idiosyncratic approaches are the norm. In this context, the plethora of meta-
physical relationships to popular narratives is paralleled by a diversity of how
the text is utilised within these various beliefs. The characterisations outlined
here are by no means exclusive, nor do they claim to represent the full spectrum
of relationships to texts within occultural contexts. They do, however, signify an
attempt to track something of a middle path between the two extremes of either
case studies that articulate a single, highly specific textual relationship, or
simple and general acknowledgements that there is such a relationship.
By proposing this initial set of characterisations, it is hoped that a more nuanced
approach to the variety of textual relations is facilitated in such a way as to
avoid eroding the differences between various spiritual uses of popular texts,
whilst opening up a space for discussion that is not entirely dependent upon the
particular. As this study has demonstrated, popular texts can function as a
catalyst, serving as the impetus and framework for emergent beliefs in a
formative capacity. When used as ideal types, particular texts can help to
support sustained engagement with narratives sympathetic and evocative to the
particular metaphysic. Narrative can also provide explicit source material for
the assertion of the reality of entities and worlds beyond the bounds of the text.
When treated instrumentally rather than aesthetically, texts can become a site of
ritual performance and practice, becoming intentional tools of the practitioner.
And through various reading strategies, texts can also function as both evidence
and revelation, demonstrating and even proving alternative knowledges and
ways of reading the world.

Notes
1. There were 27 members at the time of writing.
2. Acknowledgement should be given to Jaimie Leonarder of Mu-Meson Archives,
Sydney, whose presentation ‘Synchromysticism and the Decoding of Mainstream
Hollywood Cinema’ (ACMI, Melbourne, 3 April 2009) first brought this practice to my
attention.
 14 D.L. Kirby
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