One thing that I’ve often struggled with while dealing with mental health professionals is the basis of spirituality. I am a self taught theologian and occultist, as well as an herbologist/shaman. Seemingly though, any practice besides atheism or some form of half assed christianity is the only practice not considered “inherently insane”. I have evolved in my pursuit of knowledge, ranging from more popular religions such as christianity, islam and judaism, to more obscure practices like thelema, laveyan satanism, wicca, and jewish mysticism. I’ve become equated with forms of medicine not well accepted in the united states, but seen as a first resort in some other cultures. I am also somewhat of a psycho-naught, as Ive experimented with things like peyote or psibocilic mushrooms, usually as part of a ritual. Something that psychiatrists should keep in mind when treating a patient is that it’s not always about what YOU beleive is tangible. It’s about whether or not your patient has a world view that helps them sleep soundly at night. Things like kundilani experiences, Chakras, alchemy of mind and transmutation of thoughts are all a part of occult philosophy and it branches into the psychology of the occult. Some religions and practices are far fetched to me, but there is an entire worldview WITHIN the occult, that believes that there is nothing supernatural about it to begin with. Things like demons and possession being parts of human conscousness that can run amiss and act independently. The idea of the holy guardian angel actually being the superego. I’ve spent a lot of time studying julian janes, carl jung and sigmund Freud, and I think maybe psychologists and psychiatrists need to have a picnic or something and exchange ideas, and then educate themselves about different cultural movements as to become less ignorant about it.