THE |
|
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects. |
To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.pagan.magick,talk.religion.misc From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nigris (333)) Subject: Magick: Judeochristian, Recipes, Fundies Date: 3 May 1997 02:58:33 -0700 [technical difficulties enforced delay -- apologies for outdatedness] 49970417 AA1 Hail Satan! E6 nigris re the kinds of Hermetic rites I prefer: #> ...usually less light-based, less dualistic, less fear-based. Judy Watson from private conv. taken public per her permission: #with some things it is that. with some things, my learning style is such #that i have to back into things. with the lbrp, he says the archangel #names and i want to scream. I know the feeling. this doesn't sound the same as you described, but I have an innate resistance to Judeochristian things, the utilization of Hebrew and archangels and such, in magical pursuits. it isn't that I am anti-Jewish or something, but that alot of traditional Hermetica and Christian mysticism strikes me as unbalanced, anti-nature, and in general very destructive of many things I hold dear. the LBRP in particular I find quite repulsive, since it ostensibly 'sends away' beings whom I feel we have no call to order about, does so in an egotistical or Deistic manner, and for the purposes of protecting a potentially continued and corruptive weakness. #he did one the other night for tegan because she'd had horrible nightmares, #...i had to control the reaction. as i hear it more and more, the reaction #will fade. i guess. as you become more and more lulled into somnambulism by the evil effects of their corrupted magick (!) you will eventually accept Jehovah and his army of astral dominators and learn to like it? (oo) I'm being rather intentionally extreme above, yet I think it is important to consider the possibility that the dualism of some Judeochristian cosmological frame- works may make nightmares, the conflict of conscious and unconscious realms, and a distinct anti-terran attitude more common (especially as it continues to operate under Zorastrian or Manichaean influences). #some of my reaction might just be to the fact that people use a prescribed #form for ritual. why is that better than something i do off the cuff? (and, #mostly, no one says that it is - especially around here at blake....) pre-fab rite has always given me the willies. I tend to like more shamanic, less predesignated pursuits. much like art, I find that the FEELING is often more real to me when someone is originating their rite from within, rather than attempting to infuse a common construct they have adopted. of course I have experienced exceptions to this, especially within my Order and the greater Thelemic and Wiccan communities. at times the recipes were exuberantly and expertly given a life which allowed me to see their value as emotive batteries. I was not always certain what underlying evils they might be inspiring, however. :> this is always the danger of group rite and recipe-orientation. the first pits us at odds with the twisted spices of a number of others, potentially reinforcing psychological elements and cosmological schema which we have been actively working to oppose in ourselves as it may be pervasive within the society in which we live. the recipe-orientation can have a cumulative effect, reinforcing whatever horrible curses may be contained therein. [re Blake] #there is a very supportive atmosphere for people to do and learn and #teach about whatever works for them.) someone, a person, an actual #human, wrote these rituals... why are they so standard? ('cos they work, #i know).... that is the usual response. I think it not very well-thought out. the question I'd ask in response is 'work toward what ends?' if the rites have all the desired effects you desire, more power to you. I have found that many rituals considered 'standards' may reinforce some particularly nasty and persistent problems with which even the surrounding culture is grappling (things like rigid gender roles, standards of human beauty vs health and the enjoyment of life, limited attitudes sexuality, metaphysics and methods of resolution of conflict, etc.). #i also have a very different feel for doing "kata" rituals - daily #"practice" of ritual to keep you in good form, whether this is a #banishing or whatever. i don't get it - to me, this would feel like #a dulling, not a sharpening. whereas, daily meditation, tai chi, #yoga, wood chopping, walking, ummm... there are tons more... daily #something-like-that feels like it would keep the necessary parts of #me close to the surface. this is a VERY important issue within the culture of routinized (condemned? :>) magicians. yes, there does appear to be some measure of support for the 'daily rite' method, though my own feelings are quite similar to your own here. I find that rituals are diluted and dulled if I repeat/perpetuate them. they function for me as very important Transition-Workings, infused with power based on all the preparatory 'work' I've done in what the elite would call 'mundane' activities (inclusive of 'useless' conversations like this one). [re magick/qbl fundamentalism] #> #...i do find it tiresome that, once again, people are treating this #> #stuff like it's the only way to the answers, the one true faith kinda #> #thing. #> ...the question is: does the material #> that they are studying *inspire* that kind of approach? or is it #> perhaps their own hangup, or is it the methods of absorption itself #> (i.e. out of books, from "teachers", associated with "spirituality", #> etc.). all good subjects for T93-L, I think. #i think it's just that people get so excited about what works for them. #it's like food. if there's something you think is delicious, it's very #difficult to stop trying to get people to try it and admit that they #like it. "but it's so good! just *try*..." it's good hearted. people #just want to share their cookies. (ok, that's the feel for from people #i know. i also have seen online that there is a different feel-ed #motivation for the behavior). surely for some this is the case. the real "fundies" I'm talking about, though, are those who don't understand that there are many roads to a similar place as they appear to be headed. I ran into this just recently in conversation with a security guard who works at the same company I do. he had previously asked if I was studying Qabalah (he didn't spell it at the time :>) and so recently we discussed this in some greater depth. he claimed that the tarot is only meditative tool to understand the Qabalah and was quite absolute in his certainty. he didn't just mean it *could be used for this as well as other things*, but that this was ALL it was good for, that people who used it for other things were lost and wasting their time and/or doing themselves serious harm by experimentation or "divination". when I asked him what Qabalah meant to him he began to ask me questions about a variety of Qabalistic terms and "what they meant", with the clear presumption evident that there was some specific response I could give in the short time allotted by which he could confirm 'where I was at'. I got this most clearly when, after explaining that I was only a beginning student of Qabalistic materials and found concepts such as Ain/Ain Soph/Ain Soph Aur and Kether rather difficult to 'define' for him, he began to suggest that I look into some group like BOTA "if you really want to make some progress". I go on at length here because he wasn't the first person I've come across with this type of attitude. others have had the same, limited, fundamentalist attitude toward everything from Wicca and Thelema to Tarot and the Proper Way to Do Candle Magick. often it came with some sort of moralism and elitism attached to it -- if you don't do it the Proper Way then Bad Things will happen; those who practice the rituals of the Chosen in Wrong Ways were deluded or charlatans; if you don't do it Arightly then it will be ineffectual, so why bother?; etc. this is why I asked about where this comes from. it is an OBVIOUS element in religious instructions, and there is a certainly some degree of overlap between the occult and religious cultures, yet it can also be found among the political just as easily, or among those of ANY TECHNICAL FIELD. it is possible that there are particular instructional styles or learning environments which encourage this type of ignorance. it is to our benefit to understand which these are and keep them from becoming the methods by which we learn, or, perhaps more importantly if we do, offer instruction. E6/6/6 3 3 3 -- see http://www.hollyfeld.org/~tyagi/nagasiva.html and call: 408/2-666-SLUG!!! ---- (emailed replies may be posted) ---- CC public replies to author ---- * * * Asphalta Cementia Metallica Polymera Coyote La Cucaracha Humana * * *
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):
OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST
Southern
Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo,
including slave narratives & interviews
|