What initially got you into the occult
Unsure if it was a dream or a real event. My earliest childhood memory is a vivid one of waking up in a crib, standing up and looking around. There was a Ouija board among games on the top shelf of the closet. There was also a styrofoam mannequin head with a shoulder length 60's bouffant wig on the same shelf. I wanted the wig and it levitated toward me.
Once I discovered the religious shows on other channels between children's shows they were a big initial attraction trying to get answers, but that got nowhere.
Works of fiction and anything really that brought back that memory as a child would fascinate me and get me to read things about the subject. Focus with telekinesis and astrology, then ciphers and stage magic. Spirits and ghosts. Red Room Riddle was one of my favourite stories. Ancient Egyptians. Arthurian. Then scifi around 1977 with Star Wars, Star Trek, and Galactica. Project Bluebook. Close Encounters.
and why do you continue to pursue it?
Ability to investigate and experiment improved with school and greater access to material and personal freedom growing older. Peers doing their own things, but willing to get together for stuff. This is the 80s now and I'm 11. Michelle Remembers...
Threats of invasion and war.
Expanded practices to Jane Roberts and adjacent materials for the next few years which produced successful results that allowed for more determination and clarity going forward.
Videodrome, Firestarter, Cosmos, Hitchhiker's Guide, Dune, Mechanical Universe, Gleick's Chaos, ... String theory
The universe was beginning to make a glimmer of absurd sense.