71 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
71 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
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History of Witchcraft (part 2)
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From Mesopotamia lets move over to Persia.
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Unlike the Mesopotamians, and Egyptians, who believed that all
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was done with either the favor or lack thereof of the Gods, the
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Chaldean star religion taught that luck and disaster were no
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chance events, but were controlled from the heavenly bodies
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(planets/stars) which send good and bad according to mathematical
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laws. It was their belief that man was incapable of fighting the
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will of the planet divinities. Though, the more this system
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evolved, the more the wise men read ethical values into man's
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fate. The will of the stars was not completely separate from
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man's behaviors. The stars were important, but not omnipotent in
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deciding man's fate. It was believed that the star Sirius would
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carry messages to the higher gods and he returned to announce
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their will.
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Around the 7th Century B.C. Zoroaster, the Median prophet was
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preaching the doctrines that evil could be avoided and defeated.
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He brought about the principles of the good and evil spirits.
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Below, we will look at the beliefs and influences of this man's
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life which created the religion named after him.
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The first of the belief structure had to do with Ormazd (Ahura-
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Mazda) king of light, and his twin brother Ahriman (Anro-Mainyu)
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prince of darkness.
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Zoroaster brought about the belief in the "holy war" (that
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between good and evil.) In this faith, the archangels (the
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spirits of Divine Wisdom, Righteousness, Dominion, Devotion,
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Totality, and Salvation) and the demons (the spirits of Anarchy,
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Apostasy, Presumption, Destruction, Decay, and Fury) were
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constantly at battle with one another. The archangels were
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controled by Ormazd and the demons by Ahriman.
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This religion had it's belief that in the end, Ormazd and his
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demons would prevail, but until then, Ormazd would keep the world
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safe.
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It is interesting that the last of the demons (the demon of Fury)
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holds such a hard and fast thought that it was incorporated into
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the Hebrew and Christian belief structure. The last archdemon's
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name is Aeshma Daeva also know to the Hebrews as Ashmadai and to
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Christians as Asmodeus.
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Asmodeus was the "chief of the fourth hierarchy of evil demons",
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called "the avengers of wickedness, crimes and misdeeds." He
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appears with three heads, a bull's, human, and a ram. He has
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goose feet, and a snake's tail. To appear more frightening, he
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also exhales fire and rides upon a dragon of hell.
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It is said that Asmodeus is not to be feared. When you say to
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him: "In truth thou art Asmodeus," he will give you a wonderful
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ring. He will teach you geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and
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mechanics. When questioned, he answers truthfully.
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The other demons tempt people away from the true worship of
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Mazda. They are Paromaiti - Arrogance, Mitox - The Falsely
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Spoken Word, Zaurvan - Decrepitude, Akatasa - Meddlesomeness,
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Vereno - Lust.
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Much of the current day Christian beliefs were taken from this
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man's religion. (That of good and evil forces, the redemption,
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the "savior" factor, etc.)
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From here, let us move on to Egypt where we will look at other
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mystical symbols and more history of magic and the craft.
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