What is the occult?
Please keep in mind that in terms of magic, which is my main interest, especially ritual magic (not stage magic, so any pet rabbits you might have are perfectly safe around me and I'm not in the habit of throwing knives at people), I'm decidedly old fashioned. The modern magicians of today are software developers, coders and programmers. If you've ever tried to design your own website (which I do, funnily enough) you enter the occult because the process of developing a website or an app, designing, writing the code, and getting the code to work is an exercise in mysticism.
Understand that all digital technology and even AI is based on the I-Ching which was developed 3,500 years ago in the East.
But yet the fear and misconceptions remain as many people, particularly the religious minded, see the occult as dark, evil, and so on. Here's an example of of a religious nutter ranting about the lyrics of Led Zeppelin's song 'Stairway to Heaven'. I have a post about this in my blog.
This is essentially people claiming religious authority inspired by the Church, who needs followers. If everyone explored the occult and became their own mystics and sages, the churches would lose their followers and not only much of their income but also their position as central moral arbiters on social and cultural values.
At a fairly recent residents association meeting introducing people to the concept of Qultura and the Qultura community I mentioned that the esoteric nature of the community was similar to the freemasons. You should have seen the look of horror on people's faces. Yet get this, I'm on pretty much the same page as Christian mystics and many church elders. However I haven't been invited back by the residents association to another meeting.
But see the occult is knowledge and wisdom which is not only useful to know, but often fundamental to retaining your sanity in today's society.