False and True Worship: How the Occult Reveals the Truth of Catholicism Part 1

As a child, I adored rocks and minerals. I went to the local mall where they had crystal exhibits select times each year, so I could buy and grow my collection of sparkly geodes. I still have my amethyst, rose quartz, pyrite, and more from over 15 years ago.

Of course, I attached no spiritual meaning to these nature-made objects; I simply thought they were beautiful (and still do). On the other hand, I unfortunately had an unhealthy fascination with the paranormal, often watching ghost hunting shows and documentaries on haunted houses.

Today, it is ironic that the occult--literally meaning 'hidden'--is out in the open and socially accepted. Walk into any major bookstore or retailer and it is easy to find objects and books pertaining to witchcraft, Astrology, and the like for sale.

The prevalence of these tells us not only the current values of society, but the attempt to fulfill a particular need, whether consciously or not. On a micro level, this also gives us a hint into some fundamental needs and desires of the human person.

However, the ends do not justify the means.

The Falsehood and Injustice of the Occult

It's just harmless fun. I've had only good experiences. These may be arguments used to justify sorcery. "Manifesting" becomes a way of conjuring desired outcomes. Tarot cards are meant to give insight into one's future. Séances attempt to contact dead loved ones for one's own comfort and grieving.

But if it wasn't a big deal, why have these things become so widespread?

Living a happy life--which these practices attempt to achieve--is supposed to be a big deal. Nobody wants to be miserable. To live well is a good and understandable desire.

Yet the problem lies not in this desire, but the means to attain it.

First, crystals, sage, stars, planets and such have no power in and of themselves. They are surely God's creation and preach His beauty and goodness in their existence and uniqueness (Summa Theologiae I-5). But attributing to, or honoring any divine power in them, or any invisible "forces" not sanctioned by Him, is falsehood. Balls of gas millions of light years away, rocks, and bundles of grass are given too much credit for what they actually are and do!

Second, belief that one can control their life by sorcery is also prideful deception. As dignified as man is above creation, he did not will himself into existence. He does not possess this power alone. Assigning divinity where there is none, or giving honor reserved for God to lesser sources, is grave false justice.

The great Medieval theologian St. Thomas Aquinas recognized justice as a virtue, that which gives another what rightfully belongs to him (Summa Theologiae II-II, 58 a.1). Religion--namely, worship and spiritual adoration to the transcendent--is that which man owes God, who is eternally supreme above all. But when this virtuous act is directed to lesser sources, it goes against the reality for which man was designed.

These practices, too, dangerously open one to a largely unknown spiritual realm, especially as they are not within the confines of the precepts of relating to God.

Who is to say that the spirits with whom one is communing are benevolent? If they are not the one true God--who logically must be all perfect, all good, and all powerful as the uncreated, supreme source of all things--how can one be sure of their true nature and intentions, despite any "good" outcomes that may result from communing with them?

False worship invites spirits of falsehood, deceiving souls away from He who is Truth.

But as risky and wrong as these practices are, they contain slivers of truth about the purpose of the human person and creation. First, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "An idolater is someone who"transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God""(2114). This notion is "indestructible" in that all activities pertaining to the transcendent are inherent to the human person, and that they must be directed to the supreme, all-powerful, and all-good King of all creation. Nothing less.

Man is both body and soul; he comes to know the Divine through creation with intentional religious observance, and these are the means through which he fulfills the justice due to his Creator--namely, worship and adoration--from whom he derives his ultimate source.