Health Warning No. 1365

22^nd April 2005 a.v.

London (Petronius).  Following a study published earlier this week by the A∴A∴ Research Group on Health (AARGH), prominent occult health experts are again repeating their earlier warnings to all teenagers of the dangers of indulging in illegal Oath-taking.  The AARGH report included a survey which showed that 36.9% of those in the 18–25 age group had felt pressured by their peers to participate in covert “shooting up” of A∴A∴ Grades, often whilst drunk and in order to show off to their friends.

The report stressed that those at greatest risk were from underprivileged occult backgrounds, where the lack of basic magickal amenities can draw the aspirant straight past the so-called “soft grades”, and on to the taking of Magister, Magus or even Ipsissimus.  The high cost of such grades inevitability forces the user into a life of petty politics in order to maintain their delusions.

Other examples of illegal Oath-taking, however, have been known to occur even in well-to-do areas of West London, where the famous case of “Magician X” occured back in the 1990s (see Occult Newswire #94).  According to the spokesman for the Rehabilitation of Occult Brats Society (ROBSoc), that particular case highlighted an often overlooked peculiarity of the underground Oath network: confused young magicians, being unable to find a copy of the Probationer Oath at short notice, often find their way to the notorious Oath-lord known as “John St. John”, who supplies them with the Oath of the Abyss instead.

When such cases first came to light they seemed to be utterly unbelievable, but as more and more victims of illegal Oaths started to turn up in mental institutions and on the internet, pressure groups such as ROBSoc became more vociferous.  A recent campaign by ROBSoc attempts to alert youngsters to the dangers of taking illegal Oaths. Controversially (if not anachronistically), the group provides free copies of the recently declassified Probationer Oath in order to prevent users from taking more dangerous obligations.  The current poster campaign from ROBSoc illustrates the important difference between the Oath of a Probationer and the Oath of the Abyss:

Other experts cited in the AARGH report suggest that ROBSoc isn’t going nearly far enough, with some insisting on more drastic measures to curb this insidious problem.  A topic of debate at the upcoming International AARGH Conference is the question of how to bring closet Magister addicts out into the open, since in many cases only the most intimate friends of the addict are aware of their addiction.  The addict can appear to be living an almost normal life, with a job and a partner, whilst secretly leading a double life as a pretend spiritual guru.  This hard-core of users can also be very difficult to treat, frequently employing their mysterious networks of associates to threaten and intimidate genuine occultists, and to recruit new users.

One victim of illegal Oaths, interviewed in the AARGH report, recounted the events leading up to his first Oath.  His tragic descent began when he saw one of his friends “shooting up”, and he describes his first hit as being “like nothing on earth”. Soon he was out “scoring” on his own.  His story is a tedious one, which ends with a warning addressed to all youngsters who might be thinking of taking illegal Oaths:

“After taking Magister, I spent years being unable to admit my stupidity to myself.  I lost my self-esteem and my sanity, and then one evening I went out for a drink and realised I was the most boring person in the pub.  That was when I turned to ROBSoc, but obviously there’s nothing they can do because my soul is dogfood.”

Occult Newswire: Educating Occultists in a Patronizing Manner since 1977.