THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | OCCULTISM | MAGIC | FOLK

Translationhelp

To: alt.magick
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Translationhelp
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 22:35:06 GMT

[X] wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 23 Oct 2001  19:21:00 +0000, Spartacus
>  wrote:
> 
> >Hi
> >
> >Crowley writes:
> >
> >Even in regard to the excrements of the body they were equally 
> careful; in trimming the hair and nails, they ceremonially destroyed 
> the severed portion"
> >
> >"in trimming", is it the same meaning as in "as for trimming"?
> 
> "When they trimmed..." is better. In ancient cultures the trimming 
> of hair and nails followed by ceremonial destruction was regarded as 
> a mimesis of human sacrifice, there are many references to this in
> ancient Chinese literature.

This belief occurs in folk magic of many cultures. For instnace, in the
USA among country people, both white and black, it is considered a bad
thing to throw one's hair-combings or hair trimmings out the door
because wild birds may pick them up for use in building a nest. Folks
say, "If a bird builds a nest of your hair, you'll get a headache," or
"If the birds use your hair for a nest, you'll go mad." 

When i was young, a man with Down's Syndrome (a type of mental
retardation) lived in our town. He was friendly and acted like a child.
One day while i was walking by him and he was yelling rather
incoherently at the cars driving by, another townsperson said, "Well, he
sure let the birds build a nest out of *his* hair, didn't he?" 

> >He use "in" again in this sentence:
> >
> >"We may eat meat, provided that in doing so we affirm that we 
> eat in order to strengthen us for the special purpose of 
> our proposed invocation"
> >
> >"in doing so", is it synonymous to "by doing so"?
> 
> Not quite. Better: "We may eat meat, so long as when we do so...."
> Actually, Crowley's English is not that great when looked at close 
> up.

Or "provided that when doing so..."

In other words, both of these uses of "in" really mean "when." They are
simply idiomatic phrases. 

"In doing so" is even sometimes inverted to a more formal and legalistic
phrase -- "in so doing" -- which still means "when doing so."  

Lars, i admire your serious purpose in trying to understand Crowley's
idiomatic English. I know that it will help you not only in magic, but
also in understanding conversational English better! 

cat yronwode 

Hoodoo in Theory and Practice -- http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races