Occult of Personality: Episode 78 & Site Re-Launch -

Greg's gotten up his newly modified site with an added members only section. In episode 78 he interviews Joe Moore, from the Occult Sentinel podcast. Find details on this episode here. For more details on membership options, see here. For "what took so long?", see here.

Occult of Personality has been producing occult-themed podcasts for several years now, and I hope Greg gets strong support for his new site.

Glad to see OoP back operational! Unfortunately, I thought this interview was rather meh, though. I'm just not that impressed with Joe. I listened to around a dozen of his OS podcasts before swearing them off. ...

tedious

amandachen wrote:tedious

Ouch!

Khephra wrote:Greg's gotten up his newly modified site with an added members only section.

There is no "members only" website for a netcast out there for which I would pay 96 dollars a year to access. A really excellent netcast that produces regular content, & has a forum for further info, I'll kick in maybe twenty bucks per year, buy a book or two via their webstore.

Occult of Personality mainly interviews people who have books to sell, yet they are sort of riding an Evangelical media template, of being spiritual service, yet being bottom line oriented. Thelemites get that "establish a Clerk House" line from Liber AL and use it to justify being absolutely spastic profiteers. I'm glad that torrenting sucks the energy out of that behavior.

I misread your comment the first time I read it. It seemed you were praising the site and denying the existence of its members-only section. Re-reading it (after looking at the members-only section mentioned above) gave me the intended meaning, but I had to concentrate to get it. Might want to work on that a bit. Punctuation and formatting are some of a writer's greatest tools when it comes to clarity. Must be getting muddled in the head lately...

Interesting that you point out the effects of file-sharing on profiteering in the occult. Reducing profits is not really our goal, here, but it is nice to see our work appreciated, even for the ways it benefits the world unintentionally. I do honestly doubt we have enough steam (even with the other groups out there, with similar purpose to our own, added in) to really grind occult profiteering to a halt, but I can see that it may put a dent in the amount of pointless fees placed on people. Just surviving is expensive enough, these days, without having to pay large sums just to gain a bit of self-improvement for ourselves - and each other. Almost seems counter to the purpose of most occult groups.

- Sendoshin

sendoshin wrote:I misread your comment the first time I read it. It seemed you were praising the site and denying the existence of its members-only section. Re-reading it (after looking at the members-only section mentioned above) gave me the intended meaning, but I had to concentrate to get it. Might want to work on that a bit. Punctuation and formatting are some of a writer's greatest tools when it comes to clarity.

First thought best thought. Language is hard enough to control, writing? My present mind state comes from conjugating Mandarin. I like it-more immediate, realistic. Less canned Skrunk and White.

sendoshin wrote:Interesting that you point out the effects of file-sharing on profiteering in the occult. Reducing profits is not really our goal, here, but it is nice to see our work appreciated, even for the ways it benefits the world unintentionally.

I think it is mostly grand dreams of being a rock star author media figure nursed by some, in a cloud of dust at "Burning Man".

sendoshin wrote: I do honestly doubt we have enough steam (even with the other groups out there, with similar purpose to our own, added in) to really grind occult profiteering to a halt

-An impossible task. I don't have any method of predicting the future, but large paywalls aren't what I would bet on. If people like you & what you do, they will give you money, just not regular predictable amounts in perpetuity. People won't give any money if you make them mad. A netcast that has a few interesting interviews and is charming in a "Waynes World" way got a few cents via Amazon and my click, and that is it.

I do love not having to pay a Used Book dealer a couple hundred for a text that is out of print, author dead. Kessinger Reprints? I don't hear much of those guys anymore.

As to Occult Orders, so much of their energy was simply a small group of people sitting on top of hard to get information, and spoonfeeding it to people for all their worldly goods.

Malgwyn wrote:As to Occult Orders, so much of their energy was simply a small group of people sitting on top of hard to get information, and spoonfeeding it to people for all their worldly goods.

You must have been stung badly to develop such a cynical view. Care to share why you feel this way about "Occult Orders"?

A good/legitimate order changes very reasonable dues, which cover running costs. Their accounts are open for members to inspect. You should avoid orders like the plague that don't allow this.

There's nothing wrong with his writing.

There's nothing wrong with his writing.

*sigh* Yes, of course you're right. I apologize for my impolite reply earlier. It is time for me to properly clear my mind.

- Sendoshin

Frater_NS wrote: You must have been stung badly to develop such a cynical view. Care to share why you feel this way about "Occult Orders"?.

My statement was broader than your interpretation; think about the Alchemical Masters, Cagliostro/St. Germaine, Kashmiri & Bengali Tantrik groups, Bhutanese Bonpos, Han Triads, and plenty of New Age Orgs. Those, and whatever Stanley Kubrick was trying to draw attention to in "Eyes Wide Shut". I think the point was by the time you are even aware that they exist, they can blackmail you, make you do anything they want. The information they sit upon may be what makes politicians do strange things.

Frater_NS wrote:A good/legitimate order changes very reasonable dues, which cover running costs. Their accounts are open for members to inspect. You should avoid orders like the plague that don't allow this.

Sure if we are talking about a contempory "Lodge" style groups all of that is true. I'm not sure any of those qualify as "Occult", especially if they have websites and are filing their 501(c) on a regular basis. Those are exteriorized remnants of Occult Orders. There may well be groups within those that are "hidden".

Here's a question: how much time do you think it takes to research, conduct, and distribute a single podcast?

ankh_f_n_khonsu wrote:Here's a question: how much time do you think it takes to research, conduct, and distribute a single podcast?

You'd have to ask the person who does it.

Podcasts are not the same as a news broadcast, where a contractual agreement is made beforehand, the finances are up front.

Most netcasters do them based upon activities and interests already engaged in by their producers.

Being paid for things you like to do is a nice deal. If however, what you do is subverted to what is an advertisement for products, services and groups, then who should pay? Realistically, you should take a cut from those beneficiaries. Should I as mere consumer of a media pay? The answer is market driven, and most of the market says no. The consumer has paid a great deal for the mere ability to listen to the message (computer, internet service).

Many of these larger podcasts have value added services, they provide a forum, like this one. If money is needed, then banner adds, paylinks and the like has been the tried and true method to generate income. There are people who would prefer not to have those, and wish their users to kick in.

That is where we have a few social models:

• Private & Public Media Television/Radio
  
• Religious media.
  
• Huckster media

Private Media exists on standard business model, it provides a service, and uses advertisement or subscription to pay for it. Customers have legal rights.
Public Television and most Religious Media is explicitly non profit, it has clear and open financial transactions between the producer and consumer. They have a board of directors, auditable accounts, public filing.

Huckster media has no legal basis, they ask for money without any clear agreement, the contributors have no right to expect that anything will even be there tomorrow, no quid pro quo. Contributions are donations for a job already done, to be spent as the receiver sees fit.

In the netcast arena, media often begins as a hobby. If the cast is popular, the expense hits the producers for bandwidth, better equipment etc. Naturally, they would like if their consumers would pay for this, if not for their time and expertise.

If you expect to be paid like a professional, then you have to provide a professional product and probably should set up as a legal, for profit business, where you can write off equipment, internet service etc.

Here is where the Pagan, New Age, Gnostic, Psychedelic and fly by night Religious net casters bauk. They want money, but don't want the legal framework required to be a legitimate business. They suddenly become like wandering tent revivalists passing the plate and running when the sheriff and tax man come a calling. Either set up as legit, or settle for small change.

As mere consumer, and sometime hobby producer of of netcasts myself. I have limits to what I consider justifiable for a hobby outfit. I do contribute to dozens of them, but not large amounts. If half of your podcast is advertisement, you should be getting a cut from them, not me.

ankh_f_n_khonsu wrote:Here's a question: how much time do you think it takes to research, conduct, and distribute a single podcast?

My exposure to podcast publishing is minimal, and I suspect different podcasts have different methods of preparing. I assume a well-produced podcast episode would easily take somewhere around 10 hours of investment. On the other hand, I'd also assume some go much more smoothly - perhaps an hour or so of prep, an hour or so for interview, and a few hours for polishing.

Since I don't make podcasts, I'm pretty ignorant of the mechanics involved, so would rather not be too critical.

However, I would add that the admin team has discussed producing our own podcast a few times over the years. The only thing that's stopped us is, as AfnK put it, "manpower".

To flip your question around, how much time do you think it takes to research, compile and distribute a submissions digest?

Khephra wrote:However, I would add that the admin team has discussed producing our own podcast a few times over the years. The only thing that's stopped us is, as AfnK put it, "manpower".

I can do the technical stuff if the rest of it is handled by someone else... Not very good at the whole interviewing thing.

Khephra wrote:To flip your question around, how much time do you think it takes to research, compile and distribute a submissions digest?

Here's a hint: what was once a weekly release is now done quarterly.

- Sendoshin

sendoshin wrote:Here's a hint: what was once a weekly release is now done quarterly.

Indeed! But back then there were two of us handling digests and that was pretty much all that needed taking care of.

Going a bit off-topic here, but: Maybe sometime digimob should consider this possibility again. It seems like it could be tricky to make a new esoteric-themed podcast stand out from others. If digimob were to revisit this idea, I'd be happy to see what I can do to help. Some of my expertise is in the realm of audio, though I've never produced talk content...

Khephra wrote:Indeed! But back then there were two of us handling digests and that was pretty much all that needed taking care of.

Yes, life was a lot simpler then.

Perhaps a minority view, but I think we should focus on releasing the best possible digests and leave the podcasts for someone else.

OK. So this morning I downloaded OoP#79 and listened to it on my commute to work. I was disappointed that the interviewee wasn't Khephra. When is that going to be released?

That disappointment aside, I was immediately confronted with another: I felt like I was listening to a commercial! On the one hand Collen A’Miketh was trying to sell copies of his book, and on the other Greg was trying to sell exclusivity. I can understand how he might like to make a living off producing podcasts, but am far from convinced that's the best way to go about things.

Anyway, that second disappointment aside, I felt like I had some major points of consonance with Mr. A'Miketh, but then I strongly disagreed with several things he said too. Of interest to current discussion here, they touch on the topic of "will" (albeit not very rigorously, IMO).

That aside, and I'm left with one big 'meh'. ... and I'm beginning to re-think my previous comment...

ankh_f_n_khonsu wrote:OK. So this morning I downloaded OoP#79 and listened to it on my commute to work. I was disappointed that the interviewee wasn't Khephra. When is that going to be released?

Don't know. The interview was conducted in mid-December.

When it is posted - whenever that might be - I hope you're less disappointed.

Certainly wasn't #80 - posted yesterday, it's with David Goddard.

- Sendoshin

sendoshin wrote:Certainly wasn't #80 - posted yesterday, it's with David Goddard.

Hrm... Maybe since you weren't trying to sell your book you got bumped down the ladder, Khephra.

I listened to ep. 80 while baking cookies.

Given that Greg mentioned a specific date at the beginning of the podcast, I'm guessing he released it when he did out of timeliness. The interviewee is putting on a workshop, so I can see how that might bump it up further in the queue.

As for the interview itself, ... uhh... I found myself wanting to slap the interviewee. Within 5 minutes it became crystal clear that I have acquired a very different reading of Kabbala/Q'bala/Cabbalah than he has, and thought he was more than a little ... biased, if not down-right prejudiced.

Moreover, the interviewee didn't really seem to jive well with Greg. He got up on his soap box and spouted his spiel, and that seemed to be his sole purpose for being on. How may questions did Greg actually ask? 4? 5? In an hour? That's nearly 20 minutes a response! And the interviewee was going on about how he doesn't talk much?! Oh, really?

Anyway, apparently the interviewee has been popular with Greg's audience, so what do I know...

Khephra wrote:I listened to ep. 80 while baking cookies.

Given that Greg mentioned a specific date at the beginning of the podcast, I'm guessing he released it when he did out of timeliness. The interviewee is putting on a workshop, so I can see how that might bump it up further in the queue.

As for the interview itself, ... uhh... I found myself wanting to slap the interviewee. Within 5 minutes it became crystal clear that I have acquired a very different reading of Kabbala/Q'bala/Cabbalah than he has, and thought he was more than a little ... biased, if not down-right prejudiced.

Moreover, the interviewee didn't really seem to jive well with Greg. He got up on his soap box and spouted his spiel, and that seemed to be his sole purpose for being on. How may questions did Greg actually ask? 4? 5? In an hour? That's nearly 20 minutes a response! And the interviewee was going on about how he doesn't talk much?! Oh, really?

Anyway, apparently the interviewee has been popular with Greg's audience, so what do I know...

Funny. I agreed with a lot of what he said, though not necessarily about Qabalah and Western Magick generally (though I'm hardly an expert, so that's neither here nor there). I appreciated a lot of what he was saying about people's motivations for getting started on Western Magick. And I thought he was pretty right-on about society's reaction to sensitives.

On the other hand, you're definitely right that it wasn't an "interview" exactly. It was mostly hearing about some guy's thoughts and opinions on things. It also didn't help that the second half was hidden behind the membership section. I guess the dude needs money, but I think that tactic sucks.