Occultism structurally mirrors the totalitarian society that produces it

Evidence

By its regression to magic under late capitalism, thought is assimilated to late capitalist forms. The asocial twilight phenomena in the margins of the system, the pathetic attempts to squint through the chinks in its walls, while revealing nothing of what is outside, illuminate all the more clearly the forces of decay within. The bent little fortune-tellers terrorizing their clients with crystal balls are toy models of the great ones who hold the fate of mankind in their hands. Just as hostile and conspiratorial as the obscurantists of psychic research is society itself. The hypnotic power exerted by things occult resembles totalitarian terror: in present-day processes the two are merged. The smiling of auguries is amplified to society’s sardonic laughter at itself, gloating over the direct material exploitation of souls. The horoscope corresponds to the official directives to the nations, and number-mysticism is preparation for administrative statistics and cartel prices. Integration itself proves in the end to be an ideology for disintegration into power groups which exterminate each other. He who integrates is lost. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 260

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The compressed claim that margin phenomena of the ‘twilight’ — crystal balls as toy models of the rulers, horoscopes corresponding to central directives — illuminate the forces of decay more clearly than the center is a paradigm-level inversion, not a passing point.
• XREF: connects to: Totalitarian movements replicate the structure and psychology of secret societies in public — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 870; Totalitarian movements borrow secret-society forms while broadcasting their aims openly — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 872

Broader Connections

• Totalitarian movements replicate the structure and psychology of secret societies in public #corroborates (0.90) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 870
• Totalitarian movements borrow secret-society forms while broadcasting their aims openly #corroborates (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 872