I know I exaggerated, but my beliefs on those areas is that magic, if not able to make changes in the physical universe (altought it does, because it changes the brain.) can offer mental benefits. I already believe that a lot of people entered altered planes of existence without drugs, utilizing the magical techniques, and some other lesser things like obtaining benefits trought magic wich is no more than positive thinking. It is also good to notice that phenomena such as astral projection, shamanism, trances in wich people gain power, invocations (wether the subjects invoked are real or not, it shows that people have a power of talking with deeper dimensions and the mind utilizes archetypes for that, even if it's the mind talkint to itself) really happen.
In the book Octople mentioned, there is a part that quotes a teosophist asking adepts to start thinking collectvly around a desired tought wich they wanted people to consider, like reincarnation, repeatedly for days, as to create "form-toughts". Now at the beggining this might sound stupid, but not to one who considers that every action is meaningful (and it is). For example, if there is a situation wich would be suitable for the person who did such focused thinking to bring reincarnation up, he might be more inclined to do it after that tought concentration, or, he might be more open to realize when he can act as to spread that view, after his mind has been conditioned for that. Consider the other adepts who did that exercise, and their varying mental powers, and you have a positive result on the goal desired (spread the word on reincarnation). That is of course a tiny example. I guess that is why it's called "The occult". We live reflexions of realities of thousands and thousands of years ago, results from actions, beliefs and philosophies very old actually still dwell in our world, "occult".
I can totally understand the mentality of someone who feels there are more important stuff to research and to do than the occult, but somehow since I was a kid, probably because I was brought up on protestantism and always heard of god, heaven, hell, the soul, I was drawn to mystical stuff, as well as horror movies, and now I feel that researching the occult is important, because it also brings self knowledge, and ultimately there is always something occult, even if only inside ourselves, worth pursuing, knowing, talking to, communicating to.
The American Nihilist Underground society obviously researched (or better yet prozak) these subjects extensivly, we can tell from various parts of the site.