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

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.divination,alt.tarot,alt.satanism,al.christnet.demonology
From: satanservice.org@boboroshi (SOD of the CoE)
Subject: Devilish History (Key Scale 26 Capricorn)
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 23:37:24 GMT

50031013 viii om

#>#> Wasn't it Christians who labeled anything having to 
#>#> do with nature worship Devil worship?

that this happened with Christians was not unique in the history
of religions. one might say that it is not uncommon (that some
sect defines something natural as demonic or in league with Evil).
this is especially true of natural events and caustic ones, but
sometimes in reflections of fertility deities and those whose
carnal and luscivious celebration offends conservative religious.

# So Christians did NOT label "anything to do with nature 
# worship" as Devil worship.

ok, not *anything*. some things (by some Christians).

isn't that weird how Christians liked Christmas and St. Nick and 
Trees and made them their favoured icons of the Winter Solstice
time period? check out the stories about St. Nick and you'll
more 'n' likely run into some Krampus or Der Teuffel that is
closing on the Devil what is supposedly worshipped (possibly
never worshipped at all, maybe a Wild Woods God of times past),
and there have been many gods and goddesses turned into 'demons'
by Church Fathers like Origen. the reputation is deserved.

# There are quite a few Pagan rituals that Christians just 
# adopted, took over, made their own, 

just about every day of the calendar. honest, there's a saint
day for all the days of the year, all the solar holies are
mapped to saint days if they can't be set to the tune of the
Jesus stories.

# that are NOT called devil worship.

name one that is called such a thing by *all* Christians. 
that is liable to be difficult. the ones that are prone to
qualify celebrate some downside solar holiday (like Halloween!) 
or a full or dark moon (e.g. 'Sabbats' LOL!), but even moreso 
some Walpurgisnaght (a *sex* holiday! very obviously evil 
because it participates in *this world*).
 
#> And on that note,  *who* invented the Devil?
 
# ...What is the history of the Devil?

consider relevant sources such as Paul Carus (decent), and the
classic by Christian Jeffrey Burton Russell. other interesting
reads on the history of the personification of evil include
Rudwin, and for Christian devilry, someone like Henry Ansgar 
Kelly. these great academics blow the shorts off of religious 
bible-blowhards anxious to put one over on their flock or the 
unsuspecting dullard.

# Christians certainly weren't the only religion to have a 
# "Devil." I hope the question asked about "who invented the 
# Devil?" is sincere and not meant to imply that Catholics 
# [Christians] invented the Devil.

in the particular role and character, they did. no real way
to get around it. that invention required making things out
of materials lying around or hewn from the bedrock of social
cultural history is not surprising. we don't begrudge the
builders of the Pyramids or the sculptors of 'the Sphinx'
(anyone know what that lion-man thing was called by Egyptians?)
because they had to procure the materials to build it nearby.
so this is true with the fabricators of the Great Devil, Satan.

# Judaism speaks of Satan and, as far as I know, is "older" 
# than Christianity 

typically 'Satan' is either a noun or an officer-angel, doing
the District Attorney work with Job to test out the faithful
for the Good-Cop-God. is the God getting His hands dirty? 
not if someone else does it for Him. or *is* He His angels?
explain this to Balaam, or Job.

# [mind you, I am not saying the Jews invented the Devil].  

this is some anthropologists' conclusion, based on the fact
that some Jews' inability to attribute the most heinous 
acts to the omnipotent divine required a Fall Guy. this 
seems to have blossomed very rapidly within the Jezoid
sects of Judaism as it emerged into Christianity.

# I'm just pointing out that the 
# concept of the Devil [whatever name] predated Christianity 

Angra Mainyu or Ahriman if nothing else. cosmic baddies are
apparently a big hit in religions from the Middle East. the
most dualistic of them all appears to be Mazdaism. some 
others rival 'em, but I don't think they are as adamant.
have a gander at Ravana, for example, or the Great Dragons
like Tiamat, Our Lady of Chaos.

# and we are talking about the concept of a "sinful" entity 
# or "evil".  

that's the tough part. 'sinful' narrows it down to cults that
believe in sin or something very alike to it. typically those
with personifications of evil have condemnatory terms like this.

# Don't most religions have some sort of "evil" entity or 
# entities?  Isn't that part of the process of faith for 
# many religions?  To be able to confront or battle
# or survive encounters with "the Devil"?

quite so. combined with the Flesh and the World, the Devil
in a wide variety of conservative religions are the 3 Evil
Baddies against which the faithful must constantly struggle
while in this world. as the Ruler of this World, the Devil
will attempt to constrain and deceive the penitent, trying
to undermine faith in the Truth, drive the religious to
despair or into service to malignant shades, and generally
turn against the Corporate Goodguy Brigade, usually predicted
as the winner in the coming struggle climaxing with a big war
(thank goodness we're on the Good Side!).

that's the reason I like the Devil-XV followed by War-XVI.
Hermetic decks in the origins of (occult) Tarot are pretty 
anti-materialistic in their symbolism. you've got these 
chained beings and a theriomorphed demon superior to them. 
the Devil seems very obviously Nature in all Hir glory, 
SHe whom Michelet lauded in "Satanism and Witchcraft".
the Frenchies like Etteilla and the Swiss (Wirth) really 
got the extreme down, complete with demonic slaves and 
a Mercurial sigil on the Devil's skirt. but what's with
all the 'Solve Et Coagula' Levi nonsense? will we steer
sharply Right, into the domain of Pike, and make of this
being a Sulphur Revelator?

#> ...if there is no devil, then is devil worship valid?

demonolatry is very old and typically carried out by 
those who have broader vision than Good Guys vs Bad Guys. 
actual veneration (as compared with appeasement) of what
is considered "evil" or contrary to cosmic goodness is
rather rare, except in horror films and sci-fi flicks.
there are almost no cults of which I'm aware that do it,
though I've heard of the occasional solitary what claims
to be doing it for some odd reason. I presume that they
are imbalanced or inverse-religious, struggling to escape
the ravages of a demented conservative upbringing/context.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Plebeian Implications
http://www.luckymojo.com/avidyana/plebe/tarotreektys.gif

Abysmal Comparisons
as P-FOE-CAPRICORN, this card is the first which crosses
a diagonal previously untravelled (from 1=>5, typically
symbolized by the Priestess in early (occult) Tarot 
decks, is not a part of the emanational course.

this absence of a path from 1 across the Abyss into is 
liable to be of some concern to any Tarotists using a 
Tetraktys Tree for their sefirotic construction. barring 
some odd (and somewhat arbitrary) paths between worlds,
setting 26 of them into such a structure will require an 
omission of anything not part of a matched pairing. the
trans-abysmal Adventure (to 1!) may be seen as ILLUSORY,
given how the typical Kircherean structure is fitted
(the faux path from 6=>1 within these Trees is *actually*
the Taurean GUIDE, masquerading as a representative from
1 but actually, and quite clearly a sigil of dualism --
note the Twin Columns typically adorning this figure,
for example, along with quadratic indicators that Her
Word, TORA, is more a message of the outrushing Rule or
Way to be followed by the intuitive than something more
transcendental and awesome.

P/S
the Plebeian Tree, however, presents the Adventure of 
the Abyss as proceeding from sefirot 3 to 2 via 
C-WITCH-PISCES! it is less conclusive than publicized.
as such, and in contrast to this, the P and S paths 
(S-TREE-SATURN) are interwoven in more than structural 
location on this form (see ascii diagram below!).


         o.          o           o          o
             \                           /
                 -P-               -S- 
                        \     /
               o           o           o
 


                     o  <- C ->  o
 


                           o

not only is Saturn the titanic precursor to Satan as
FOE, but in astrology the planet Saturn *rules* the
sign of Capricorn. WAR and the Jovian MOUNT come
betwixt them and all from the same, vibrant 5 sefira
(which I associate with LIFE, but it has long-running 
Martial orientation (mars=5) and is often given the 
title 'Geburah', Power).

5->7 vs 5->10
the connecting sefirot associated with WARfare (Mars)
and restriction (Saturn) compare intriguingly with
the TREE's Saturnine extension, joined by FIREy SUN
(W) and the mysterious BLANK (Z) headed to sefira 10.

Key 24 in the Plebeian Tarot, P-FOE has resonances with 
17 (G-LOVE) and 29 (U-STAR), FOE being overpowered by the 
AIRy CLOUD of the T cross and directly opposed by the
PASSION (M-LUNA) whose amusing harmonic kindred are the
KING (/ARIES) and MOUNT (JUPITER) (e.g. King of Kings?).

being the FOE, it is necessarily antagonistic, barring,
and challenging, and that it itself opposes both DEATH
and ART ought to tell us something about its nature.
the FOE as typically depicted in (occult) Tarot doesn't
like change, freedom, or liberation (later Trump 
themes), and it strives to keep these in check within 
the vehicle it manages to possess and manipulate.

in the Plebeian Tarot it appears to derive its primary
force from the WAR-CART and the Virgin's WHEEL, both
instruments of torture or domination indeed contrary
to freedom and liberation. its simultaneous relevance
to the Prince of Peace (depicted as a Capricorn and
the Lead Actor of the PASSION, plus as born under a
STAR and whose Law is LOVE) suits it well for what may
be called Christian and/or socioreligious themes, 
though not always as the faithful would have us believe.

I'm very fond of the oldstyle FOE cards such as may
be found in the (occult) Tarot's gaming origins,
like that of J. Galler, Belgium, in the late 18th
century (there's a nice colour plate (11) 
in Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot V.1 which I'm 
seriously considering using for my own deck, V1).

blessed beast!

boboroshi
-------------------------------------------------------------
cf:
http://www.luckymojo.com/avidyana/plebe/tarosymbolismatrix.txt
Church of Euthanasia: http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/
TOKUS WEBLINKS: http://dmoz.org/Bookmarks/B/boboroshi/
Ninth Scholar's Library (Satanism Archive): http://www.satanservice.org/