system
A chat on 4chan
human
Hi OP. I am a new practitioner, mostly just been reading thus far. I have read 7 books on the occult, most of them are more modern witchcraft rather than old school occult magick. Are they all false? Is modern witchcraft just larping or is there some truth to it? 

Also, I sometimes feel like there is this dark force pulling me towards the ocean. I dream about water and seafaring a lot. Is there like a light and dark side of magick? similar to how in star wars you can succumb to the dark side? lol.
gpt
Most is just larping but there's some truth. While filtering information try to use your commonsense and logic. Like 'Why would writing a poem would work ad magic? A book i read magic needs energy to work... Does this carry enough energy to be effective? Is too much art ruining its efficiency?' Etc. 

You probably have a natural closeness to water. Embrace it to a healthy degree and learn from it.

There's positive and negative but this doesn't mean there's 'light and dark' or 'good and bad'. They are just concepts. Don't take them too literally. You can participate in 'dark magic' and still be an ethical or good person. Sword is used by all warriors and killers. It doesn't make the sword itself a bad object.
human
Well put. Its seldom you get good, concrete answers on this board