Bogan Esotericism,

I wouldn’t call this a coming out of a hiatus as such, but more so a continuation of thoughts that you get drip-fed once every so often. Forgive me, as this is my first time attempting to convey my thoughts about anything other than clothing.

A lot has happened in the space of 18 months to 2 years. A lot has been learned about myself and the world around me, from the deeper search of what it means to be a follower of Christ to what is Tarot, Kabbalah, and how it ultimately impacts my day-to-day. I’ve been wanting to touch on this for a while, the merging of fashion and the qliphothic elements of where culture is at the present moment, almost as a continuation of Mark Fisher’s work in relation to the subject of Hauntology. I clearly don’t hold phd in philosophy, but what I do possess is the ability to constantly put myself in situations that have gained me almost too much experience at the age of 33 (crucifixion age), and through these experiences, I have developed an understanding of how people work, which has also led me down the rabbit hole of psychoanalysis through the writings of Jung. You may be wondering what the Qliphoth(ic) is and how that ties into culture as we know it today. Now, without diving into Jewish Mysticism too heavily, in Kabbalah, you have the Tree of Life, which, to Christians, is a false light or pathway to obtaining what Kabbalists or even new-agers call spiritual enlightenment, personal character development, and esoteric and occult practices. As a mirror to the Tree of Life (false good/light), you have the Tree of Death or the Qliphoth, translating literally to “Husk” or “Shell”. These Husks represent the corrupted or empty reflections of the divine emanations, also known as the Sefirot. As a Christian, and to most Christians, this is extremely taboo and should not be tampered with. To my understanding, these corrupted Husks serve as an esoteric framework that gives meaning to why the world is the way it is today when looking at society from a philosophical and metaphysical perspective in relation to Jungian psychoanalysis. I don’t lean on Kabbalah for guidance at all, to be clear, God states in the bible clearly in the book of Matthew (see below) that no one can serve two masters. I do find it interesting how this ties into present-day eschatology and what it means for the world as a whole.

Leviticus 19:31 - ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:26 - ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.

Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”.

Whilst Hauntology and the diseased archetypes that are represented in the Tree of Death haven’t exactly merged, there is some parallel to be drawn in the sense that Hauntology deals with the longing for the past and as Fisher states, “the slow cancellation of the future”. Maybe I have it all wrong and am trying my very hardest to tie the two together because I’m feeling performative or onto something, and I’m fact-checking and power reading as I write this. My take on the Qliphothic element of culture today is that everything is rinsed, everything is commercial, nothing is sacred or new, and no one is taking risks. Example, PlayStation working with Chris Cunningham, an English Video artist responsible for contributing to Aphex Twin’s aesthetic through videos such as ‘Windowlicker’ and ‘Rubber Johnny’, handing over creative control, knowing full well that there probably won’t be an initial return on investment all whilst Cunningham’s being described as a form of anti-advertising and possessing the ability to set trends for future creativity, thus feeding the notion of a possible future hauntology.

PlayStation Advert: Mental Wealth, 1999

2025 was a huge year for me moving forward. I was able to save enough money for plans, thus opening a salon in Melbourne, not without the growing pains of feeling inadequate due to moving back in with my father after years living abroad. The feeling of being overseas and walking the tight rope that is not being around your true friends and family, yet living out your expat fantasies, causes a level of uncertainty that will have you wishing you were back in your hometown with nothing else to do except read and go walking. Upon a re-visiting of your former life your’re quickly reminded of the feeling of an uneasy familiarity that you worked so hard to escape and thus the cliche proverb of “be careful what you wish for” enters the forefront of your mind followed by the dread in which youve decided to pack up your life once again that you spent 4 years to build only to realise youve landed where you may or may not need to be. Not all was as confronting as the initial shock of being back in my hometown, a lot of great things came from the year, the ability to sit by the ocean with a great cup of coffee and tune into a fairly unknown at the time of listening, content creator by the name of Izzy. N. Griffin. Izzy has done an incredible job of connecting the music industry and popular culture to the world of philosophy and metaphysics, all whilst maintaining a Christian “overtone”. Izzy helped introduce me to concepts such as Kabbalah, Tarot, Esotericism, Conspiracy, Metaphysics and many other weird, unexplainable to many, concepts, very schizo if you will. Izzy is just one of the many incredible content creators that have helped shape my perspective when it comes to psychoanalysis; another one of these creators is Julianphilosphy, a soft-spoken, younger guy who breaks down ideas such as Gooning, Israel, Bonnie Blue, TRT, Looksmaxxing, to name a few and filters it through a Lacanian, Kantian or Hegelian lens, which is incredibly interesting when you start to understand the concept of archetypical behaviours and how these archetypes interact with the shadow self.

JulianPhilosophy - Bonnie Blue, Testosterone, Žižek, Lacan

The point of this post all comes down to behavioural choices and taste, and the analysis of the current state of creativity and how it is so far from what it once was. The world through the eyes of someone who has constantly searched for quote on quote ‘the real thing’ is rapidly becoming more and more diseased. Apologies for sounding completely black-pilled or nihilistic, which I do believe I am neither of. I do hold tight to the things that do feel incredibly authentic, i.e., food, walking, swimming, cooking, and obviously many, many more, but I digress. Finding real things is becoming harder than ever, due to the many strains and demands the world has placed on society. I started to feel the need for honest, tangible activity community whilst living in Antwerp, noticing the shift in the lack of authenticity, not necessarily related to the city at the time, but more so a shift post covid into what most would consider late-stage capitalism, which has also been driven by the philosophical movement known as accelerationism, pushed into the minds of silicon valley by names such as Nick Land, serving as a blueprint to drive the economy into the ground only to be built back up by tech and future AI initiatives.

I can't say I have ever longed for the released of a book but another signifier of my desire for authenticity was my interest in W. David Marx second booked titled, Status and Culture, An interesting disection of culture and societies need for authenticity and a sort of one up manship in relation to solidifying your place on societies totem pole which is something that has peaked my interest since starting hairdressing in 2014. Marx, more so, touches on things such as old money signifiers of patina on a Hermes Birkin bag, which may seem banal; however, there is an element of truth or tangibility to the statement when it comes to the desire for real things and things that last.

I say all this to encourage you to dig deeper, for we don’t fight wars against flesh and blood; there is a spiritual war going on between powers and principalities for our souls. We live in the world, not of the world; however were here, so enjoy it, but to enjoy it, you must continue to dig in the garden of life, grow it responsibly with great food, take care of your body, don’t settle for the easy option. I think I will expand more in the next post.

Until then,

Best,

Cain