6531 lines
268 KiB
Plaintext
6531 lines
268 KiB
Plaintext
(360) Sun 21 Feb 88 13:33
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By: Hugh Read
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To: All
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Re: The 27th Path, Tzaddi, The Moon, The Active or Exciting Intelligence
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:f00e 10556c3a
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The Moon, the Presence of God in or Mundane world, glows in
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unulant splendour from New to Full to New...
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I am as the Moon
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Our Light is ever changing
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Healing, gathering
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The Tzaddik, the Righteous One catches the Splendors of G-d, and
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illumines Mundane world as the Moon catches the splendours of the
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Sun.
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The Moon through his-r aspects runs the world. When the Moon is
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unaspected, the cat's away and the mice can play...but in another
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octave the Ultimate, the One is there without interferance from the
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Moon and wonders can emerge...it is a time to let go and let God
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and enjoy when the Moon is Void of Course...it is a time to trust
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in the Grand Ultimate and "know that I am God!" for the is now no
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mediator between God and Human...not even the Moon.
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"The Twenty-seventh Path is the Active or Exciting Intellgence and
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it is so called because every existent being recieves its spirit
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and motion."
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Perhaps every esistent being does recieve its spirit and motion
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through the Moon on the 27th path between Netzach and Hod.
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---
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* Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(361) Sun 21 Feb 88 13:43
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By: Hugh Read
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To: All
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Re: The 28th Path, Pices, The Sun, The Natural Intelligence, The Sun
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:d8bd 6d761055
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5. The Coordinator
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From its earliest beginnings, the Magick Conference has@EID:f00e
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10556d76
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Pices the last mysterious sign of the zodiac, signifier of the Age
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coming to an end, the final sign in the zodiac where the soul is
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completed and perfected. The Path from Yesod, the Moon, to
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Netzach, Venus...and the mysterious Venus (the Hidden Intelligence)
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shows his-r nature and subtle, hidden ways again.
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The 28th Path is called the Natural Intelligence: by it is
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completed and perfected the nature of all that exists beneath the
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Sun.
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Once again the sychronistic beauty of this system of attribution
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shows its appropriateness: two children playing in the Sun, Who is
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mentioned in the Yetziratic Text...two children being purified by
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the benign Sun.
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From The Stoned Tarot, Hugh Read, 1968
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Thirteen sweet Tears of Mercy
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Fall from the Sun
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To feed the Children
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These are the Children of Life and of Light
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Coming out of the Earth
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They are clumsy and gentle
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And sweetly submissive
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Deeply dependent on God
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The Sun Tears
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Surround them
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And touch them
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And heal them
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and nourish them
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Fully on Love
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Touch me with Sun tears
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Touch me, dear God,
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Nourish me fully on Love
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Notice that as we approach the "end" of the paths we are
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approaching what most think of as the beginning and the paths begin
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to become more abstract and less personal and mundane. Those who
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say Malkuth is the mundane world do not notice what the Yetziratic
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verse covering Malkuth says, ITSELF. They listen to what others
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say and ignor the words.
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---
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* Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(362) Mon 22 Feb 88 17:02
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By: Hugh Read
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To: All
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Re: The 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd Paths
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:f00e 10568850
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"The Twentinineth path is called the Corporeal Intelligence; it
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informs every body which is incorporated under all orbs, and it is
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the growth thereof."
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Judgement covers this Path, with Resh, the Sun: Initiation.
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From the Stoned Tarot:
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Miracle of patience:
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God!
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Muttering man...childless man...slack, old, naked man,,,
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Crude woman...
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Sad child
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They raise crude arms to Death: Black Sacophegus
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The seek Joy, hiding in Defeat
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They are hiding in silent Defeat
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Release!
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Fail again...grow again...die again...
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Faithful, patient, Joyous, Crude, Loving:
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God!
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The thirtieth path is called the Collective Intelligence, for
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thense astrologers, by the judgement of the stars and the heavenly
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signs, derive their speculations and the perfection of their
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science according to the motions of the the stars"
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This path is covered by the World and Tav...and what this path has
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to do with astrology I do not know...why the World and Tav...
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The Stoned Tarot:
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The Two sexted Creature, clothed in Flesh,
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Benignly dances on.
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Within a Wreath, with Gold beneath
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She dances in her mind
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Angels in their varied forms
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Sadly watch her cance.
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They want to see her Faith in God.
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She dances in her mind
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Touch, dear God, our Flesh with Faith
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Touch us with Holy Faith.
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Faith is all we need, dear God,
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To dance right out of our minds.
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Tav indeed!
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continued
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---
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* Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(363) Mon 22 Feb 88 17:15
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By: Hugh Read
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To: All
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Re: More Paths
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:f00e 105689fa
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...correction...the thirtieth path is covered by shin, sharper
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than a serpents tooth...the old ways die hard...
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The thirty-first path is called the Perpetual Intelligence. Why
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is it so called? Because it guides the sun and the moon according
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to their constitution and cases each to gravitate in its respective
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orb.
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The thirty-first path is covered by the Fool and Tav. What does
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the Fool and what does Tav have to do with movement of the sun and
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the moon...I don't have the slightest idea. Case says this is the
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path of conscious immortality. Sounds good to me! Perhaps a
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little alchemy is hidden here.
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The thirty-second path is called the Assisting Intelligence,
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because it directs all the operation of the seven planets, with
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their divisions, and concurs therein.
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There is only one Aleph in this system, in Kether. There is only
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one Magician in this system, in Kether. The thirty second path,
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also called the Administrating Intelligence is void of symbolism,
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save that which you choose as you travel the path. Perhaps this is
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where Higher Self abides...or where the Holy Spirit whispers in
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silence and beauty.
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Thank you all for bearing with me in this Mercury Retrograde
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operation which I am bringing to a close now amidst physical
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confusiong and computer madness. In time to come, I may get this
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into a presentable form. Now it is a tattered tree of spontaneous
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thoughts based mostly on the text of the Sepher Yetzirah as fond in
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A.E. Waite's, The Holy Kabbalah and in Gareth Knights, a Practical
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Guide to Qabalistic Symolism.
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Blessed Be and 93 93/93
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---
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* Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(364) Mon 22 Feb 88 20:08
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By: Brad Hicks
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To: All
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Re: Instructions for Cut-Over to MagickNet *** URGENT ***
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:3db6 a10a1056
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If you are on a board whose sysop does not read this echo, please
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insure that he or she reads this message. Thank you.
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In instituting the changes discussed here recently, I am following
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Josh Gordon's advice and killing the MAGICK echo area name. If you
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do not follow these instructions, you will have problems, so please
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pay attention and ask questions - via crash netmail, as time is
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short - if you don't understand any thing that follows.
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STEP ONE - MARCH 1ST
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"STOP MAKING SENSE"
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As soon as feasible after midnight on March 1st, every sysop on the
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Magick echo should change this echo to read-only, if not completely
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remove it from his or her list of available areas.
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There's currently about six-day lag time from the far end of the
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net, which is either in net 107 (NY MetroNet) or 106 (Houston).
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This will allow the last of the messages in the combined echo,
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MAGICK, to reach me by the morning of March 7th.
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STEP TWO - MARCH 1ST TO 7TH
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"ENTROPY REQUIRES NO MAINTENANCE"
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Once you have passed up the last packet for the nodes below you,
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there is no sense in polling anyone just to get the MAGICK echo -
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as there will be no more packets passed down.
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While you are waiting, make sure that you have read and understood
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the file MAG-POL.ARC, the contents of which were also posted to
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this echo. (Version 1.0 has only cosmetic changes, but is now
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available from 1:100/523 except during the netmail hour and a
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half-hour or so either side of it.)
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Personally, I before I transfer ANY system that polls me (other
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than the two hubs) to enter a netmail message to me, from its
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sysop: "I have read and will comply with MAG-POL.TXT, version 1.0."
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At that time, I will transfer them to the appropriate line in my
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AREAS.BBS file. I cannot recommend this too strongly to all
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systems which will carry the new echo, because you will (in event
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of a worst-case nightmare) be held responsible for the behavior of
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nodes downstream of you.
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STEP THREE - MARCH 7TH AND 8TH
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"LIKE A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES ..."
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I will spend almost all of the day on March 7th performing two tasks.
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First of all, I will manually sort the most recent 600 messages in
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MAGICK. The best 30 or so (no fixed number, that's just my gut
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feeling for how it will work out) will be moved to METAPHYSICAL.
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Then, all message threads directly related to the topics of this
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echo will be moved to MAGICKNET. The remaining message area will
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be renamed MUNDANE.
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Then, to insure that we all start from a common point, the seen-by
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lines will be removed from all of these messages. That done, I
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will perform the first ConfMail Export run on the newly born
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MagickNet Echos. By 11pm or so Central Time, I will have crashed
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the first packets to AT LEAST the other two hubs, and we will all
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be distributing it, touch wood, no later than National Mail Hour on
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the morning of March 8th. If you have stopped POLLing your links
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in the interim, resume the morning of March 8th (if you are an
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unreasonable distance down the topology, you may as well wait until
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the 9th or 10th).
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And so, no later than March 8th you will need to have removed the
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MAGICK echo from your system, and modified your echo control files
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to accomodate the new, improved Neopaganism, Witchcraft, and Magick
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conference.
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- Brad Hicks, 1:100/523
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MagickNet Coordinator
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--- Sirius 0.50
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* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-389-WYRD * (Opus 1:100/523)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(365) Wed 24 Feb 88 0:06
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By: L.a. Hussey
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To: All
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Re: Ribald Ram Rondeau
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:fbfd 105800d5
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(written in traditional trouvere metre; part of a projected series
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of nine poems, of which 4 are finished, one for each Sabbat, to be
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set to madrigal music in 4-5 part harmony...)
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The horned Ram runs high and low,
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And through the land his influence grows;
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The Equinox upon us springs
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With swellings and with moistenings,
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And pleasant pastime all folk know.
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The blacksmith's iron hot doth glow;
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The planter's dibbing stick doth sow;
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The baker's loaf to th'oven clings.
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The horny Ram runs high and low,
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And through the land his influence grows;
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The Equinox upon us springs!
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The milkmaid's churn with cream o'erflows;
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The blossom doth attract the nose;
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The minstrel's pipe he's fingering.
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The ploughboy's joyfully ploughing;
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The shepherd's staff to work doth go.
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The horned Ram runs high and low,
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And through the land his influence grows;
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The Equinox upon us springs
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With swellings and with moistenings,
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And pleasant pastime all folk know.
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(copyright 1988, Leigh Ann Hussey)
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---
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* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(366) Thu 25 Feb 88 22:17
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By: Ammond Shadowcraft
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To: All
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Re: Poetry
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:bf7a 1059b225
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_The_Cauldron_Chant_
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by Ammond ShadowCraft
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We form the Circle,
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The Circle most round.
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We form the Chalice,
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The Chalice now found.
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We call the Goddess,
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to meet the great need.
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We call the God,
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To plant His fertile seed.
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We call the quarters,
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which we call four.
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We summon the powers,
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that contain the force.
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We stir the Cauldron,
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from which we were born.
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We call the Gods,
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from whom we were torn.
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We say the words,
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which lead us round.
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We pass the kiss,
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with our lovers found.
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We face our dreams,
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in nights psychic flight.
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We face our hopes,
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in bright moon of the night.
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We face our fears,
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on the Dark Lords Horn.
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We face our failure,
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in the Mothers new planted corn.
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We live our lives,
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druming and dancing on the meadow.
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We confront our Death,
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in the dancing moon light shadow.
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Our paths run quickly,
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on fleet foot and wing.
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Our Circle is joyous,
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with our Queens and our Kings.
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Let our little Circle be happy,
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with Bell, Bowl or Bow.
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And form now this Circle,
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with gracious Love, Joy and Hope.
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BLESSED BE
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---
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* Origin: SMARTNet - WOC'n faster HST (They made me say it!) (Opus
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1:128/23)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(367) Sat 27 Feb 88 2:41
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By: John Shklov
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To: Rich Harper
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Re: Hawaiian Myths
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:e73c 105b1532
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Just some loose info re Hawaii/Hawaiian mythology etc...The
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Hawaiians of old had no written language so everything had to
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memorized and passed down from
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teacher to pupil. Comparing chants from different parts of the
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pacific show
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amazingly little change took place in this word of mouth process.
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Some
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cultures seperated by thousands of years (carbon-dating gives clues
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as to
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when migrations took place) have almost identical chants!(recorded
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when
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whitey came on the scene ) All knowledge was passed this way..as a
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result
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they were a culture of specialists. Each kahuna specialized in a
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specific
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aspect of knowledge, be it medicine for healing or for killing or
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fishing
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methodology or warfare. They believed in a highself a midself and
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a low
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self much as in Hinduism. Different Gods represented different
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aspects of
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life and had power over different times of the year and different
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activities.
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For example Ku, was the God of war and represented the forces of
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death.
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Lono
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represented the agricultural cycles and the power of life and
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renewal.
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In themind of the Hawaiian these were just two aspects of the same
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totality.
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Hawaiians had a VERY structured society and a set of rules that
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MUST be
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obeyed or one risked death or some worse punishment...eyeball
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gouging,
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torture etc..The upper classes got better food and after many
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generations
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of superior victuals and intermarriage they became significantly
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larger and
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stronger. These upper classes ruled by force and superior warfare
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skills.
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One of the special areas of knowledge that the Alii or upper classes
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concentrated upon was the skills and technology of war. They
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passed these
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skills down to their men children. Women were disfranchised and
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although
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the bloodlines were passed thru the women they didn't even get to
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eat at
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the same mat as men.
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|
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The Hawaiian mythology got mixed in with western mythology when the
|
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missionryscame to bring their word to the PAGANS. As a result even
|
||
today there are
|
||
many misconceptions as to what the real beliefs were"pre-contact"as
|
||
they
|
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say. For example, heres a funny story that illustrates that fact;
|
||
When
|
||
Fordandder was interviewing Hawaiians last century he asked who
|
||
built"that"
|
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structure and who built "those" walls etc. Tiring of his repeated
|
||
queries
|
||
the chief answered "oh it was the mana-hune"(litterally translated
|
||
it means
|
||
the "people with little mana or power") Fordenander seized on this
|
||
response
|
||
and said "little People", how big were they? were they small? etc
|
||
etc....
|
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ignorant xtian missionaries. pleasures right under the noses of
|
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theiribeThe
|
||
|
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|
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---
|
||
* Origin: Kauai1 - Aloha (Opus 1:12/4)
|
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|
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(368) Sat 27 Feb 88 2:53
|
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By: John Shklov
|
||
To: Rich Harper
|
||
Re: Hawaiian Myths-2
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
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@EID:fabc 105b16b4
|
||
|
||
The Hawaiian mythology got mixed in with western mythology when the
|
||
missionryscame to bring their word to the PAGANS. As a result even
|
||
today there are
|
||
many misconceptions as to what the real beliefs were"pre-contact"as
|
||
they
|
||
say. For example, heres a funny story that illustrates that fact;
|
||
When
|
||
Fordandder was interviewing Hawaiians last century he asked who
|
||
built"that"
|
||
structure and who built "those" walls etc. Tiring of his repeated
|
||
queries
|
||
the chief answered "oh it was the mana-hune"(litterally translated
|
||
it means
|
||
the "people with little mana or power") Fordenander seized on this
|
||
response
|
||
and said "little People", how big were they? were they small? etc
|
||
etc....
|
||
he probably was thinking of some western myth such as the
|
||
Leprechauns...The
|
||
Hawaiians who loved a joke encouraged this foolishness, laughing to
|
||
this day
|
||
behind his back. Even today we have walls and structures said to
|
||
be built
|
||
by the "menehunes" and signs that proclaim to the tourists this
|
||
legend!
|
||
|
||
One last tidbit...The Hawaiian language was high developed (perhps
|
||
the most
|
||
highly developed) in the area of lovemaking. They had words to
|
||
describe
|
||
every conceivable sexual position and act. The songs they sung had
|
||
many layers of meaning with a desciption of a pounding wave or
|
||
a dripping leaf
|
||
that had explicit meaning with reference to lovemaking as well as its
|
||
literal meaning. In this way the pleasure loving PAGANS were able to
|
||
sing about and endorse their pleasures right under the noses of their
|
||
ignorant xtian missionaries.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Kauai1 - Aloha (Opus 1:12/4)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(369) Mon 29 Feb 88 3:53
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
Re: Re: Reclaiming Lucifer
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 105d1ea7
|
||
Good message!
|
||
|
||
Every known religion supplanted an earlier religion, and usually
|
||
some derogatory mythological niche was created for the deities and
|
||
spirits of the older religion when this happened. In the case of
|
||
Satan, he is a fusion of our old friend the Horned God (especially
|
||
in the Pan-form to which he was best known by the Greek-speaking
|
||
world) and the Judaic mythic figure of Satan from the book of Job.
|
||
But far from the loyal prosecuting attorney of Job, Satan as
|
||
formulated to insult pagans was made into an evil nemesis of God,
|
||
and the exemplar of what to the pain-worshipping Christians was
|
||
"sin", that is, anything ecstatic and joyful. Satan is constantly
|
||
telling us to get drunk, pig out on good food, and have sex in the
|
||
Christians' accounts, to which my reaction is "Amen".
|
||
|
||
I think you have put it very well when you say that "Even though
|
||
[new pagans] have thrown off the chains of Jehovah they still fear
|
||
Lucifer. They cringe at the sound of his name." Over and over we
|
||
hear this shallow refrain, that witches are NOT NOT NOT Satanists,
|
||
and I think: Why the Hell not? There's more wisdom in any one page
|
||
of William Blake's overtly Satanic "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"
|
||
than in the whole corpus of Starhawk's work, after all. (But then,
|
||
Blake wrote sophisticated and literate poetry, not folk tales, so
|
||
few neo-pagans have read him.) What are these people so afraid of?
|
||
|
||
Not only are neo-pagans NOT NOT NOT Satanists, they are quite
|
||
nasty toward anyone who recognizes the deep truth of Satanism. One
|
||
widely liked member of this board called me a "neurotic
|
||
Christian-lover" for espousing the reading of Blake and Shaw's
|
||
Satanic works. Needless to say, no neo-pagan objected.
|
||
|
||
Within the last month a person interested in invoking Lucifer had
|
||
his account removed by one of the sysops, who said the reason was
|
||
that "he was extremely abusive"; of course, he didn't mention that
|
||
the guy started out polite and only became abusive after the
|
||
aforesaid sysop himself sent some
|
||
*very* nasty and prejudiced messages to him. Again, zero objection
|
||
from
|
||
the neo-pagans.
|
||
|
||
Similar examples abound; but I think things are beginning to
|
||
loosen up on this front, thanks to people like yourself, and (I
|
||
like to think) because of my continued pounding on the
|
||
counter-consensual drum.
|
||
|
||
Tim
|
||
|
||
PS. You called for resources; aside from the Blake, there is
|
||
Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple", and you might want to check out
|
||
Campbell's "Masks of God" for more information on the mythic
|
||
disparagement of older deities such as happened to the Titans in
|
||
Greek myth and various matriarchal deities. Campbell's sympathies
|
||
are clearly with the underdog.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(370) Tue 1 Mar 88 11:54
|
||
By: Brad Hicks
|
||
To: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
Re: Re: Cult Awareness Week
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:3db6 5ece1061
|
||
Actually, back around '77 or so Congress almost passed a definition
|
||
of a "cult" that was given to them by some religion and philosophy
|
||
professor from the Ivy League. By that definition, a cult is any
|
||
religion that accepts or solicits converts from any other religion;
|
||
the only non-cults are religions (I assume he meant like Judaism or
|
||
Catholicism) where you're born into it, raised in it, and expected
|
||
to stay.
|
||
|
||
It was funny as heck to me at the time to see fundamentalist
|
||
Christians, members of the Unification Church, and pagans
|
||
bombarding Congress with letters, all taking the same side.
|
||
|
||
But then I've said before that there's about four or so different
|
||
phenomena that we only have one word for in English. Religion can
|
||
mean roughly the same thing as "culture" - the beliefs that parents
|
||
teach their children and have an expectation, reasonable or not,
|
||
that the kids will carry that culture on and pass it on to their
|
||
kids. On the other hand, religion can mean doctrines and beliefs
|
||
that the individual has to think, believe, or "have faith in" - and
|
||
by definition, that's individual rather than cultural. On yet
|
||
another hand, religion can mean personal relationship with Deity,
|
||
with Higher Consciousness - which can be (and in my opinion usually
|
||
is) separate from either of the other two. Then there's community
|
||
and group work motivated by altruism, which only rarely overlaps
|
||
any of the other three. Yet we only have one word for all these
|
||
separate phenomena: they're "religion."
|
||
|
||
The same people who decry the work of Christian missionaries on
|
||
Indian reservations ("Cultural imperialism! It'll be the death of
|
||
that whole way of life!") defend heartily their right to practice a
|
||
way of life, to maintain beliefs, to identify with a religious
|
||
culture and to relate to Deity in a way entirely opposed to the way
|
||
their parents brought THEM up. Perhaps this doesn't seem odd to
|
||
you, but it certainly seems odd to me.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-389-WYRD * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(371) Sun 13 Mar 88 13:13
|
||
By: Larry Hudson
|
||
To: Brad Hicks
|
||
Re: Neo-Paganism
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9b58 106d69ba
|
||
This is a response to a response you gave to Curly Howard way back
|
||
in Aug of 85 (File called Ritual.Txt
|
||
Okay-here's where I am: Always, since I can remember ( in this
|
||
life) I have been Pagan.(Other lives, too, but I won't go into these)
|
||
I grew up in a very strict, small, Mormon town (to where myu
|
||
family, at times, was the only "Heathen" family around) There was
|
||
no Pagan structure to our lives - no religious structure at all j-
|
||
since growing up, my sisters have chosen their own paths.
|
||
I have always isolated myself from others, gone walking in the
|
||
hills, and feel the Gods&Goddesses there with a fierceness that was
|
||
sometimes frightening. If I let it happen, the "old energy" starts
|
||
to rise within me.
|
||
My trouble is: when this energy does rise, I don't have any
|
||
release for it. I can't control it, and if I let it enter my
|
||
physical body, I often get ill because of my lack of training.
|
||
I get restless, I can't sleep, and I feel a tightness in my spine.
|
||
About 8 yrs ago, my husband and I moved to California to persue
|
||
the American Dream.
|
||
While there, I encountered yoga & threw myself into it with much
|
||
ferver & devotion. My teacher was (or seemed) very uptight and
|
||
narrow. He would scorn avenues that were interesting to me )Tantra
|
||
of which I know very little; Magick of which he refused even to
|
||
speak; and other paths that seemed quite natural as my next step).
|
||
The yoga group had a falling out, the teacher quit, and I was left
|
||
with carrots dangling in front of me in all directions and no idea
|
||
what to do.
|
||
The "energy" was once again shut down and life took on the plastic
|
||
on-dimension of "dry" times before.
|
||
jRecently, I have moved back to that small town in which I grew
|
||
with the moon, and the seasons.
|
||
I came across the book "Drawing Down the Moon", read it with tears
|
||
in my eyes and now the energy is back - with a vengence! I believe
|
||
there will come a time (perhaps has already come) when I will no
|
||
longer be able to "shut it down."
|
||
jThere is definitely something pushing it's way through my psyche
|
||
and I don't know what to do! It's making me bonkers - strung tight
|
||
like a guitar string.
|
||
Things are happening. I got other books. Scott Cunningham's
|
||
Natural Magic series. Ed Fitch's Rituals from the Crystal Well.
|
||
And the heavy-duty 80 lb. killer, the Golden Dawn.
|
||
There are so many things that I know that I know, but I don't
|
||
remember how to remember them!
|
||
One morning I awoke and knew that I should go to this little
|
||
second-hand store to get "my" mirror. I just KNEW. So I walked in
|
||
the door and this huge 3 ft round mirror sits and grins right in
|
||
fromt of me. So I buy it of course and lug it home. Now what do I
|
||
DO with it?
|
||
I feel like an amnesiac among people I love. I know I love them -
|
||
I just don't remember WHY!
|
||
I guess what I want from you is no advice, really but
|
||
acknowledgement. Am I bonkers? Does my story match up with any
|
||
others you have heard? Does anybody else out there want to comment?
|
||
I am virtually alone in this, or so it seems. I've read and read
|
||
everything I can get my hands on. I've read authors who say "Do
|
||
this, and while you do this, say this..." Other authors who say
|
||
"Neo-Pagans do this; they believe this; they are this..."
|
||
Basically I feel this to be just more carrot-dangling .
|
||
I WANT what you described in your response to Curly, but nobody
|
||
will tell me HOW to get it.
|
||
This town i'm in is a million light years from anywhere, and it
|
||
doesn't look as though we will be leaving anytime in the near future.
|
||
I've heard people say ther are Neo-Pagans who work alone. How?
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: House Atriedes-(818) 965-7220 HST-JungleLaser (Opus
|
||
1:103/602)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(372) Sat 19 Mar 88 8:22
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: Draco ...
|
||
Re: Re: Crowley
|
||
St: Pvt
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 107342c8
|
||
|
||
D.>One other question which I haven't even begun to try to
|
||
understand
|
||
D.>yet is the relation between Nuit and Hadit. Think you can
|
||
explain
|
||
D.>what they represent? Why do they figure so prominenty in the
|
||
D.>Book of the Law?
|
||
|
||
I think of Nuit and Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit (or -Khut?) as
|
||
something of a triple-god manifestation of the nature of godhead.
|
||
Nuit is she who is adored; she is the power of beauty, and
|
||
sensuality, and natural attractiveness, and omnipresent splendor.
|
||
Hadit, on the other hand, is the inverse, the adorer, the act of
|
||
worship itself; it is Hadit who worships Nuit (and, by extension,
|
||
All). RHK is more difficult to fit into this paradigm, but I'm
|
||
owrking on it. Perhaps the crowned and conquering child is the
|
||
Magical Child of Nuit and Hadit, the precipitate that develops when
|
||
the Worshipped and the Worshipper become as one.
|
||
|
||
It is easy (and common) to meditate on the nature of Nuit. Shakti
|
||
is a relatively simple Yoga; to devote oneself to God or Goddess by
|
||
adoration is an ancient, noble, and well known path to ones Holy
|
||
Guardian Angel (to use the deliberately ridiculous word). It is
|
||
more difficult, but equally beneficial, to do the reverse: devote
|
||
oneself to Hadit, the worshipper; to become the object of adoration
|
||
and of meditation. To do so, one has to accept one's godhood; in
|
||
the absence of such acceptance, to be worshipped is to risk madness
|
||
(or at least cognitive dissonance).
|
||
|
||
It would have been very easy (and perhaps more sensible, if this
|
||
were an authored book!) for AC to have written in terms of, say,
|
||
Geb and Nuit. I would think the imagery of Geb, lying on his back
|
||
with his phallus rising to the sky, almost touching the lithe,
|
||
arched body of Nuit, would have been very attractive to Crowley. It
|
||
is well worth considering just why Nuit and Hadit are there, and
|
||
Geb is absent. What is the message in the breaking of ancient
|
||
convention?
|
||
|
||
Ra-Hoor-Khuit needs more consideration, as well. This complex,
|
||
combined God is the result of the eclipsing of the pure Ra
|
||
worshippers; he is a combination of Ra and Hoor-Khuit. (At the time
|
||
RHK was worshipped, Ra worship had virtually disappeared, and
|
||
showed up only as one of many combined forms). I understand RHK the
|
||
least, and perhaps he deserves the most study. Perhaps he is the
|
||
actual chemical process in the Alchymical Marriage of Nuit and
|
||
Hadit, rather than the result; perhaps the actual _result_ is you,
|
||
the reader, the student.
|
||
|
||
Consider "The Lovers" as the glyph of the marriage. Then is "Art"
|
||
maybe the glyph of the consummation of the marriage; then perhaps
|
||
"The Tower" might be the nature of RHK as the reaction itself; then
|
||
perhaps, what, "the Universe" is the result?
|
||
|
||
It's so nice to be a Center of Pestilence. Glad I could help.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(373) Sat 19 Mar 88 8:21
|
||
By: Morgana Silverthorn
|
||
To: Larry Hudson
|
||
Re: Re: Neo-Paganism
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:e7cb 107342b3
|
||
Dear Larry, please excuse me for butting in. I am Morgana
|
||
Silverthorn, Neo-Pagan, Witch and occasional teacher. While
|
||
reading through the messages I notice that you had not received any
|
||
replies (I'm sure will receive many) yet I thought I would try to
|
||
help. There are many who work alone, some who have always worked
|
||
alone and some who now work alone from choice.
|
||
I have little insight to offer you about "how to" because each
|
||
person's "how to" is slightly different. There is no one single
|
||
absolute truth unless it is that there is no one single absolute
|
||
truth. As difficult as it may be, the only and best advice I can
|
||
offer is keep searching. Read, anything that sounds interesting,
|
||
try. And not just once or twice. If it really sounds interesting,
|
||
it may not be easy to do. I am still trying to learn "how to's"
|
||
that I know I "should" be able to do but can't seem to get the hang
|
||
of.
|
||
Listen to people, go to lectures, classes etc. Hypnosis, NLP,
|
||
Herbcraft, etc. Wander though bookstores and read/thumb through
|
||
interesting books. Keep yourself open to the possibilities - it
|
||
will come through eventually. gotta run - outta time - Morgana
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: TIDMADT: Ex Skilletus Ad WOCum! (703) 370-7054 (Opus
|
||
1:109/728)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(374) Sun 20 Mar 88 12:05
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Aries
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 60ae1074
|
||
|
||
Slate grey, cold Aries
|
||
Bites the Air with solemn grace
|
||
In this Nothern place
|
||
Of harsh Earth-wisdom
|
||
Of hardy old souls
|
||
Of new souls reaching for life
|
||
|
||
The ots are twisting
|
||
Little, waiting shivering buds
|
||
Waiting for bursting
|
||
Ecstacy coming
|
||
Hard on in the Sun
|
||
Bustling, quivering buds
|
||
|
||
Hard with slick pleasure
|
||
That will grow beyond measure
|
||
And burst with great sighs
|
||
Between the strong thighs
|
||
Of men and women
|
||
Grappling for Springtime's passions
|
||
|
||
|
||
(Well, young ones fuck
|
||
Old ones dream
|
||
Sipping the cream
|
||
Out of memories muck!)
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(375) Sun 20 Mar 88 21:25
|
||
By: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: We Are one.....
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:99b8 ab321074
|
||
Wrote some new verses to the song Cybele taught us in Dallas, and
|
||
I wanted to share them with all of you. The original goes
|
||
We are one with the infinite sun
|
||
Forever and ever and ever ( x 2)
|
||
And the wheel of the year goes round and round
|
||
And the circle of the wheel goes round( x 2)
|
||
We've added the following verses:
|
||
We are one with the horses that run
|
||
We fly high with the eagles in the sky
|
||
We swim free with the fishes in the sea....
|
||
The dark moist Earth is the womb of our birth....
|
||
The ripples expand from the tough of Her hand.....
|
||
The wolf children cry to the moon in the sky..( for Blackwolf)
|
||
|
||
We've also changed the chorus slightly to go
|
||
"And the wheel of the year goes round and round
|
||
and the circle of the wheel goes round
|
||
And the wheel of the year goes round and round
|
||
And the SPIRIT of the wheel goes round."
|
||
|
||
The ending we're currently singing uses the tune for the verse and
|
||
the following words, growing softer as they end
|
||
|
||
"And my spirit soars with the turning of the wheel forever and
|
||
ever and ever....."
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.3
|
||
* Origin: On The Edge BBS - Only source for MAGICKNET in OKC.
|
||
(1:147/4)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(376) Sat 26 Mar 88 7:53
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Christmas
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:513d 107a3ea6
|
||
Outside:
|
||
|
||
"Hark the Herald Angels sing,
|
||
Glory to the newborn king..."
|
||
|
||
Then, inside:
|
||
|
||
"Azael, Baphomet, Chemosh,
|
||
you many-headed star, you blinder of fools..."
|
||
|
||
"Peace on Earth and mercy mild..."
|
||
|
||
"Lean down and whisper your names,
|
||
sit at my table and taste of my spirit..."
|
||
|
||
"God and sinners reconciled..."
|
||
|
||
"Lousy brats!"
|
||
|
||
The man in robes, his concentration broken, came down through the
|
||
spheres and pulled the curtain in time to see the last caroller
|
||
wandering out of the porch light. "Lousy brats," he said again
|
||
as the odor of Chemosh departed. It's tough to be an occultist
|
||
in a working class neighborhood.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(377) Mon 28 Mar 88 12:47
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Newspaper story on Cult Awareness Week
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 107c65ed
|
||
|
||
|
||
San Francisco Chronicle Monday, March 28, 1988
|
||
|
||
"Jonestown Resolution Ignites Debate"
|
||
by Larry Liebert Chronicle Washington Bureau Chief
|
||
|
||
Washington--Commemorating the madness of the mass suicides at
|
||
Jonestown a decade ago would hardly seem controversial in a capital
|
||
where resolutions are passed by the truckload.
|
||
|
||
But the approaching 10th anniversary of the carnage that took the
|
||
lives of 913 people, mostly from the Bay Area, has revived a bitter
|
||
debate over the threat from cults and the threat to religious
|
||
freedom posed by anticult crusaders.
|
||
|
||
The seemingly innocuous resolution that has caused conflict in the
|
||
halls of Congress would designate a "Cult Awareness Week" this
|
||
November to mark the 10th anniversary of the murders and mass
|
||
suicides at the Rev. Jim Jones' cult retreat in Guyana.
|
||
|
||
The House resolution was introduced by Representative Tom Lantos,
|
||
D-San Mateo. His predecessor from the Peninsula, Leo Ryan, was
|
||
slain as he led a group to investigate Jones' Guyana retreat.
|
||
|
||
"We're approaching the 10th anniversary of one of the most ghoulish
|
||
and nightmarish tragedies of recent years," said Lantos. "I think
|
||
it would have been a dereliction of duty on my part not to remind
|
||
the nation."
|
||
|
||
But the fine print in Lantos' resolution has revived a debate
|
||
about cults and religious freedom.
|
||
|
||
The resolution asserts that there are more than 2,500 cults in the
|
||
United States, with 1 million to 3 million members subjected to
|
||
"mind-control techniques" ranging from "isolation from friends and
|
||
family" to "promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of
|
||
leaving it."
|
||
|
||
Such blanket assertions have angered a coalition of critics
|
||
ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Zen master
|
||
from Malibu who calls himself Rama.
|
||
|
||
They charge that the resolution will encourage the coercive
|
||
practices of "deprogrammers", who have been known to seize
|
||
suspected cult members and pressure them into renouncing their
|
||
beliefs. The critics trace the resolution to a group of anticult
|
||
crusaders known as the Cult Awareness Network.
|
||
|
||
"For them to be asking the Congress to denounce 2,500 religious
|
||
groups as cults and to make the kind of broad accusations that
|
||
resolution makes is clearly an unconstitutional act," said Barry
|
||
Lynn, legislative counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union.
|
||
"Congress is not in the theology business."
|
||
|
||
Representatives of the Cult Awareness Network did not return
|
||
repeated phone calls. Lantos acknowledged that his staff had worked
|
||
on the anti-cult resolution with Ryan's daughter, Patricia, who is
|
||
associated with the group.
|
||
|
||
Now that Lantos' resolution is attracting controversy, the
|
||
congressman hinted that he may let it drop without even bringing it
|
||
to a House vote. He argued that the resolution has "already
|
||
achieved its purpose" by calling attention to the anniversary of
|
||
the massacre.
|
||
|
||
If so, it has also underlined the difficulty of judging when a
|
||
religious leader becomes a charlatan and when religious followers
|
||
surrender their individuality to a cult.
|
||
|
||
The most outspoken foe of Lantos' resolution has been Frederick
|
||
Lenz, a 38-year-old former English professor who lives in Malibu
|
||
and calls himself Zen Master Rama. The ordinarily reclusive
|
||
religious leader has been here lobbying for the defeat of the
|
||
resolution--and to defend himself against charges that he is just
|
||
the sort of cult leader parents should warn their children about.
|
||
|
||
"Jim Jones was clearly a hustler, charlatan, and madman," said Lenz.
|
||
"But that's no excuse to push your own moral and political viewpoint
|
||
to interfere with First Amendment rights and engage in illegal
|
||
activities.
|
||
|
||
To make his case, Lenz brought along Jennifer Jacobs, a follower
|
||
who says she was kidnapped in an unsuccessful deprogramming attempt.
|
||
|
||
"They terrified my parents so much that they were willing to put down
|
||
$25,000 on the spot to have me kidnaped and psychologically abused,"
|
||
said Jacobs. "I was held for 11 days in a seedy motel room in
|
||
Seattle, completely against my will."
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(378) Thu 31 Mar 88 20:12
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Hunger
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 a199107f
|
||
|
||
Well, Spring in Minnesota has a coldness like mid-Western concrete
|
||
or railroad tracks that run through the center of Minneapolis or
|
||
the Mississippi River with ice that is breaking up. Spring in
|
||
Minnesota is hard, the air is hard...Spring slips back into Winter
|
||
for two days and then it rains and is bitter cold.
|
||
|
||
To my right is an Etrscan Sword, one of a kind, I am told. It
|
||
leans against the East wall of my bedroom, the hilt crowned by a
|
||
sunburst with 24 rays resting on the bottom of a metallic print of
|
||
an owl that I bought from a sensitive, hungry asian on Lyndale Ave.
|
||
last Fall. I also bought a metallic print of Pegasus from him.
|
||
Over the owl print is a page from the Larousse Dictionary of
|
||
Mythology with a photo of a statue of Minerva, a coin like thing
|
||
with Minerva on it and another coinlike thing with a figure of
|
||
Mercury on it. Above that is a very tasty color print photo of a
|
||
statue of Minerva that I saw years ago in Bill Heidrick's
|
||
pschedelic house in Marin County and loved but was not able to find
|
||
a copy of the book until recently. He would not let me tear the
|
||
page out of the book at that time...naturally.
|
||
|
||
The powerful release of energy in the Spring is torrential here in
|
||
the upper Midwest. There is something brutal about what happens
|
||
when Winter is overr. Winter is brutal enough but when it is
|
||
finished it really gets strange.
|
||
|
||
Over the past week or so I have listened to the Llewellan (wierd,
|
||
Welsh word that I could never quite master) tapes by Denning and
|
||
Phillips and they have damn near taken over my life. I got them at
|
||
Evenstar, a local Pagan bookstore I love quite dearly inspite of
|
||
the fact that I have not been able to attract their attention. Oh,
|
||
yes...I have indeed attracted their attention, but I am still
|
||
looking for a receptive, sane, intelligent and wonderful wicca
|
||
circle and have been in such a quiet, inarticulate rage at the
|
||
store and the owners that I had not visited Evenstar for about a
|
||
year. Well, I walked in, said a few words to the somber,
|
||
exqusitely attractive witch who was running the shop. I had not
|
||
met her. Poked around. Found eight or nine of these tapes.
|
||
Bought them for sixty bucks and went home talking to myself about
|
||
spells to sell and things like that. Paranoia is part of my
|
||
psyche. (times up!)
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(379) Sat 2 Apr 88 6:59
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Continued
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 37611082
|
||
The paranoid streak in my nature seems to be gentled by these
|
||
tapes which are supplying the soul food I have hungered for for
|
||
months. I reccomend them to one and all with great enthusiasm.
|
||
|
||
They are showing me something about the Tree of Life. One can put
|
||
anything anywhere on the Tree and it will work. The Tree is a very
|
||
flexible geometry. THAT is the key to the Tree. It is the
|
||
geometrical form that is the important thing. Whatever one imposes
|
||
on the Tree is irrelevant or like frosting on a cake.
|
||
|
||
The four joined circles, each touching the center of another, on a
|
||
line are the important thing. The points of intersection chosen by
|
||
whoever it was who first designed the Tree are equally
|
||
important...and of course the lines drawn to indicate the paths are
|
||
important. Giving names to the Sephiroth, placing Intelligences on
|
||
the Paths, Hebrew letters...and then ultimately "pathworkings," or
|
||
initiatory, guided imagery trips...all of this is irrelevant to the
|
||
purpose of the Tree of Life.
|
||
|
||
The purpose of all of the added stuff is to fix ever more clearly
|
||
and ever more deeply the shape of the Tree which I suspect is some
|
||
kind of astral design...astral vehicle that will be deeply etched
|
||
in very deep levels of consciousness of those drawn to this
|
||
work...whose genuine purpose will be realized at death. I think it
|
||
may be a kind of Noah's Ark that is available even now for voyages
|
||
through time, space, inner space and timeless space.
|
||
|
||
The path working is helping me see tsomething of the uses this
|
||
dynamic geometry has. As one begins to see the differant
|
||
pathworkings that others have applied, each more or less
|
||
idiosycratic, one begins to see that anything goes...best it has an
|
||
inner consistancy...but any logical story ccan be applied to these
|
||
paths. The important thing is that the paths are learned. I
|
||
learned them in the early 70's under the canny guidance of Frater
|
||
Albertus in Utah. Though I had worked with them myself before that
|
||
time, the word to ear teaching went deep within me.
|
||
|
||
Recently, with a gentleman named Bruce LaHue, I enjoyed a quicky
|
||
course in the paths that was both powerful and wierdly
|
||
idiosyncratic based mostly on Shining Paths and partly on Mr. LaHue
|
||
rather gaudy and livid imagination. Though I paid him his forty
|
||
bucks for eight sessions (as many as three paths a session, God
|
||
help us all!), I feel a gratitude for his contribution to my
|
||
spiritual growth. Inspite of his obsession with gory, exploitation
|
||
horror films, he communicated a deep understanding of the
|
||
Tree...which just goes to show you.
|
||
|
||
Inspite of the fact that the course was given in a yuppified
|
||
supermarket for occult trivia, there was an initiation of sorts
|
||
given and recieved, at least by me. Genuine occult growth takes
|
||
place in strange places under even stranger circumstances.
|
||
|
||
At the moment on this cold, grey spring day...the Saturday between
|
||
Good Friday (a special day indeed -- eggs, Frater Albertus was wont
|
||
to say, that are laid on Good Friday never spoil -- a fact that
|
||
eager alchemy students who lived on farms demonstrated time and
|
||
again)...I am going to the local Science Fiction Conferance --
|
||
Minicon.
|
||
|
||
Yesterday, on Good Friday, instead of finding a freshly laid egg,
|
||
I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and purchased a
|
||
magnificent figure of Anubis which seems appropriate to the Good
|
||
Friday, Black Saturday, Easter sequence. I will take him in spirit
|
||
to Minicom, which may well have something to do with Hell where
|
||
Jesus spent some time on this day.
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(380) Mon 4 Apr 88 10:02
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: A Buddhist (maybe) Statement that is beautiful:
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 50441084
|
||
|
||
THIS IS THE GREATEST BLESSING
|
||
|
||
NOT TO SERVE THE FOOLISH
|
||
BUT TO SERVE THE WISE
|
||
TO HONOR THOSE WORTHY OF HONOR}i
|
||
|
||
TO DWELL IN A PLEASANT LAND
|
||
WITH RIGHT DESIRES IN THE HEART
|
||
|
||
TO MAINTAIN SELF CONTROL AND BE PLEASANT OF SPEEK
|
||
THAT EVERY WORD MAY BE WELL SPOKEN
|
||
|
||
TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY
|
||
TO GIVE HELP TO KINDRED
|
||
TO FOLLOW A PEACEFUL CALLING
|
||
|
||
TO ABHOR AND CEASE FROM EVIL-DOING
|
||
NOT TO BE WEAR IN WELL DOING
|
||
|
||
TO BE LONG-SUFFERING AND MEEK,
|
||
TO ASSOCIATE WITH PEACEABLE
|
||
|
||
Beneath the stroke of life's changes
|
||
The mind that shaketh not
|
||
Without grief or passion
|
||
That is secure:
|
||
|
||
ON EVERY SIDE THEY ARE INVINCIBLE WHO DO ACTS LIKE THESE
|
||
ON EVERY SIDE THEY WALK IN SAFETY
|
||
AND THEIRS IS THE GREATEST BLESSING
|
||
|
||
attributed to Gautama Buddha (Fifth Century B.C.)
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(381) Mon 4 Apr 88 10:44
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All Members
|
||
Re: Pagan Christs
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 10845590
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Sacrifical God man
|
||
|
||
How did the Christian mythos arise? Where did it come from?
|
||
|
||
The Christian myth is almost totally Pagan in origin. I
|
||
used to
|
||
think that anything outside the Judeo/Christian/Moslem Belief
|
||
System or
|
||
worldview was Pagan. Such is not the case.
|
||
|
||
The two main features of the CBS are the Eucharist and
|
||
Sacrifice of
|
||
a God man. These two features were well known and well loved by
|
||
Pagan
|
||
mystery cults centuries before the Christian Cults intergrated
|
||
them
|
||
into the Gospels.
|
||
|
||
The Eucharist goes way back into history and is based upon
|
||
the
|
||
ritual consumption of the God man. Osiris, Dionysus, Attis and
|
||
many
|
||
others were ritually consumed. The practice dates back to
|
||
prehistory
|
||
when a human sacrifice was identified with the God (perhaps a
|
||
Vegetative God) and was sacrificed and eaten. Over the ages human
|
||
sacrifice was found detestable. Animals were then substituted and
|
||
sacrificed as the ritual identifier of the God which was then
|
||
followed
|
||
by grain offerings, breads shaped into the form of the God,
|
||
sometimes
|
||
in the shapes of natural items (sun, moon, etc.).
|
||
|
||
The mythos of the Jewish Christ integrated this practice
|
||
into it's
|
||
mysteries. There is strong reason for this. For some 200 plus
|
||
years
|
||
before the time recorded for Jesus the Greeks and their mystery
|
||
cults
|
||
invaded and changed Israel for all time. A war was instituted to
|
||
diminish or wipeout the Hellenizing influence. Part of the
|
||
Hellenizing
|
||
influence was an effort to update or change the Jewish religion
|
||
to
|
||
something more applicable to the times. After the Maccabbes War
|
||
the
|
||
Hellenizing cultist were driven underground; right to the heart
|
||
of the
|
||
Jewish mystical culture. Hence the Greek influence upon the
|
||
myth of
|
||
Jesus.
|
||
|
||
The sacrifice of the God man (Jesus, Attis, Adonis, Osiris)
|
||
was a
|
||
well known and well loved feature also. In fact it was
|
||
necessary to
|
||
have a willing sacrifice before a Eucharist could be performed.
|
||
When
|
||
the sacrifice was not willing the legs and sometimes arms of the
|
||
sacrifice were broken to make it look like the sacrifice was
|
||
willing
|
||
(not struggling against the sacrificers). Jesus was a willing
|
||
sacrifice.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(382) Mon 4 Apr 88 10:45
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All Members
|
||
Re: Pagan Christs, part ii
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 108455ad
|
||
|
||
|
||
Images of Attis (Tammuz/Dummuzi) were nailed or impaled
|
||
upon a pine
|
||
tree. The Jews knew this and wrote "Cursed is he who hangs upon a
|
||
tree." A goat was substituted for a boy in sacrifice to
|
||
Dionysus at
|
||
Potniae and a hart for a virgin at Laodicea. King Athamas had
|
||
been
|
||
called upon to sacrifice his first born son by the Delphic
|
||
Oracle,
|
||
Melenloas sacrificed two children in Egypt when stayed by
|
||
contrary
|
||
winds; three Persian boys were offered up at the battle of
|
||
Salamis. It
|
||
was only in the time of Hadrian that the annual human sacrifice
|
||
to Zeus
|
||
was abolished at Salamis in Cyprus. The God man Jesus was hung
|
||
upon a
|
||
tree; he was also the lamb of God. As such the sacrifice and
|
||
Eucharist of
|
||
the God man Jesus is purely Pagan in origin.
|
||
|
||
Part of the older Pagan sacrifices was in the King
|
||
sacrificing his
|
||
only begotten son. Jesus was the only begotten son of the King of
|
||
Israel, sacrificed to take away the sins of the world. This
|
||
practice
|
||
was overturned in the myth of Abraham and Issac when it was found
|
||
detestable and injurious to the tribe or kingdom. Yet the God
|
||
man Jesus
|
||
was sacrificed in the flesh. This was done to appeal to the
|
||
underground
|
||
Greek mystery cults who had much in common with the Jewish
|
||
Christian
|
||
Cultist.
|
||
|
||
"During centuries of this evolution, the Jewish people
|
||
tasted many
|
||
times the bitterness of despair and the profound doubt
|
||
denounced by the
|
||
last of the prophets. In periods when many went openly over to
|
||
Hellenism, it could not be but the the ancient rites of the
|
||
Semitic
|
||
race were revived, as some are declared to have been in earlier
|
||
times
|
||
of trouble. Among the rites of expiation and propititiation,
|
||
none stood
|
||
traditionally higher than the sacrifice of the king, or the
|
||
king's son.
|
||
The Jews saw such an act performed for them, as it were, when the
|
||
Romans under Anthony, at Herod's wish, scourged, crucified
|
||
[lit. bound
|
||
to stake], and beheaded Antigonous, the last of the Asmonean
|
||
priest
|
||
kings in 37 B.C." _Pagan_Christs_ page 44,45 by J. M. Robertson
|
||
|
||
The mode of sacrifice was predetermined by previous Pagan
|
||
doctrine.
|
||
The type of sacrifice was also predetermined by Pagan doctrine.
|
||
Both
|
||
the sacrifice of the king, and the king's son were incorporated
|
||
into
|
||
the Gospel myth. The God man Jesus is both the King of the Jews
|
||
and the
|
||
son of God, the king of Israel.
|
||
|
||
As stated before the sacrifice of the king or king's son
|
||
was found
|
||
injurious to the state. Before animal and grain sacrifices,
|
||
criminals
|
||
and prisoners of war were substituted. Yet the criminal had to be
|
||
identified with the king. This was done by putting royal robes
|
||
on the
|
||
sacrifice and parading the sacrifice around, calling it the king.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(383) Mon 4 Apr 88 10:46
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All Members
|
||
Re: Pagan Christs, part iii
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 108455ce
|
||
|
||
|
||
"The number three was of mystic significance in many parts
|
||
of the
|
||
East. The Dravidians of India sacrificed three victims to the
|
||
Sun-god.
|
||
In western as in eastern Asia, the number three would have its
|
||
votaries
|
||
in respect of trinitartian concepts as well as the primary
|
||
notions of
|
||
'the heavens, the earth, and the underworld.' Traditionally,
|
||
the Syrian
|
||
rite called for a royal victim. The substitution of a criminal
|
||
for the
|
||
king or kings son was repugnet, however, to the higher doctrine
|
||
that
|
||
the victim be unblemished. To solve this problem one of the
|
||
malefactors
|
||
was distinguished from the other criminals by a ritual of
|
||
mock-crowning
|
||
and robing in the spirit of 'sympathetic magic'. By parading
|
||
him as
|
||
king, and calling the others what indeed they were, it was
|
||
possible to
|
||
attain the semblence of a truly august sacrifice."
|
||
_Pagan_Christs_, by
|
||
J.M. Robertson page 45
|
||
|
||
There is nothing in this mythos that did not originate in
|
||
other
|
||
cultures.
|
||
|
||
"We can only conclude that the death ritual of the
|
||
Christian creed
|
||
was framed in a pagan environment and embodies some of the most
|
||
widespread ideas of Pagan religion. the two aspects in which the
|
||
historic Christ is typically presented to his worshipers, those
|
||
of his
|
||
infancy and death, are typically Pagan." _Pagan_Christs_ by J.M
|
||
Roberts, page 52.
|
||
|
||
What about the man Jesus then? Was he divine? Did he exist?
|
||
Is/was
|
||
he the Savior?
|
||
|
||
Most, if not all, of the Christian Belief System is Pagan in
|
||
origin. It is indeed hard to force oneself to believe that
|
||
Jesus is
|
||
the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God when such titles were
|
||
readily
|
||
copied from Pagan doctrine. Perhaps the only item not borrowed
|
||
from
|
||
Pagan sources was the Messiah concept. That, of course, was
|
||
taken from
|
||
the Jewish hysteria of the time. In the siege of Jerusalem in
|
||
72 C.E.
|
||
there were some 18 Messiahs inside Jerusalem alone. Neither the
|
||
God man
|
||
Jesus nor the self proclaimed militant messiahs saved
|
||
Jerusalem. Such
|
||
was the measure of hysterical superstition upon the nation of
|
||
Israel.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(384) Mon 4 Apr 88 10:47
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All Members
|
||
Re: Pagan Christs, part iv
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 108455f7
|
||
|
||
|
||
"There is not a conception associated with Christ that is not
|
||
common to some or all of the Savior cults of antiquity. The title
|
||
Savior was given in Judaism to Yahweh; among the Greeks to Zeus,
|
||
Heilos, Artemis, Dionysus, Hercales, the Dioscurui, Ceybele and
|
||
Aesculapius. It is the essential conception of Osiris. So, too,
|
||
Osiris
|
||
taketh away sin, is the judge of the dead and of the last
|
||
judgment.
|
||
Dionysus, the Lord of the UnderWorld and primarily a god of
|
||
feasting
|
||
('the Son of Man commeth eating and drinking'), comes to be
|
||
conceived
|
||
as the Soul of the World and the inspirer of chastity and self
|
||
purification. [J. M. Robertson may be referring to Attis here.]
|
||
From the
|
||
Mysteries of Dionysus and Isis comes the proclamation of the easy
|
||
'yoke'. Christ not only works the Dionysiac miracle, but calls
|
||
himself
|
||
the 'true vine.'"
|
||
|
||
"Like Christ, and like Adonis and Attis, Osiris and
|
||
Dionysus also
|
||
suffer and die and rise again. To become one with them is the
|
||
mystical
|
||
passion of their worshippers. They are all alike in that their
|
||
mysteries give immortality. From Mithraism Christ takes the
|
||
symbolic
|
||
keys of heaven and hell and assumes the function of the
|
||
virgin-born
|
||
Saoshyant, the destroyer of the Evil One. Like Mithra,
|
||
Merodach, and
|
||
the Egyptian Khousu, he is the Mediator; like Khousu, Horus and
|
||
Merodach, he is one of a trinity, like Horus he is grouped with a
|
||
Divine Mother; like Khousu he is joined to the Logos; and like
|
||
Merodach
|
||
he is associated with the Holy Spirit, one of whose symbols is
|
||
fire."
|
||
|
||
"In fundamentals, therefore, Christism is but paganism
|
||
reshaped. It
|
||
is only the economic and doctrinal evolution of the system--the
|
||
first
|
||
determined by Jewish practice and Roman environment, the second
|
||
by Greek
|
||
thought--that constitutes new phenomena in religious history."
|
||
_Pagan_
|
||
_Christs_ by J.M. Robertson pages 52,53
|
||
|
||
No religion develops in a vacuum. All religions are
|
||
influenced not
|
||
only by it's predecessors but by the contemporaries of the time
|
||
also.
|
||
Such is the nature of Christism yesterday and today.
|
||
|
||
Now about Jesus the man, did he exist? I think not. All the
|
||
teaching of Jesus can be attributed to other sources and
|
||
grafted over
|
||
the Gospel myth. Nothing he said was substantially different in
|
||
any way
|
||
from previous sayings. Jesus was not a man but a contrived myth.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(385) Mon 4 Apr 88 10:48
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All Members
|
||
Re: Pagan Christs, part v
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 1084561a
|
||
|
||
|
||
"The Christian myth grew by absorbing details from pagan
|
||
cults. The
|
||
birth story is similar to many nativity myths in the pagan
|
||
world. The
|
||
Christ had to have a Virgin for a mother. Like the image of the
|
||
child-god in the cult of Dionysus, he was pictured in swaddling
|
||
clothes
|
||
in a basket manger. He was born in a stable like Horus--the
|
||
stable
|
||
temple of the Virgin Goddess, Isis, Queen of Heaven. Again , like
|
||
Dionysus, he turned water into wine, like Aesculapius, he
|
||
raised men
|
||
from the dead and gave sight to the blind; and like Attis and
|
||
Adonis,
|
||
he is mourned and rejoiced over by women. His resurrection took
|
||
place,
|
||
like that of Mithra, from a rock tomb."
|
||
|
||
The man Jesus did not exist. There are however sources that
|
||
speak
|
||
of others seeing him. These were secondhand sources. No direct
|
||
observations were made. At one time or another we have all had
|
||
a vision
|
||
of Deity in our minds. Such is the sight of Jesus, a mental
|
||
image.
|
||
|
||
What of the Gospels then? They are passion plays designed
|
||
to be
|
||
read or acted out in front of an audience. Passion plays were a
|
||
common
|
||
feature of pagan religion. Looking at the Gospels themselves
|
||
one finds
|
||
a chopply written, scene by scene, display of the life of the
|
||
God man.
|
||
Only the important aspects of his life are described. The minor
|
||
events
|
||
and influences of the life of Jesus are not recorded, which
|
||
leaves one
|
||
to think that the Gospels are indeed a play.
|
||
|
||
"When we turn from the reputed teaching of Jesus to the
|
||
story of
|
||
his career, the presumption is that it has a factual basis is so
|
||
slender as to be negligible. The Church found it so difficult
|
||
to settle
|
||
the date of its alleged founder's birth that the Christian era
|
||
was made
|
||
to begin some years before the year which chronologists latter
|
||
inferred
|
||
on the strength of other documents. The nativity was placed at
|
||
the
|
||
winter solstice, thus coinciding with the birthday of the
|
||
Sun-god. And
|
||
the date for the crucifiction was made to vary from year to
|
||
year to
|
||
conform to the astronomical principle which fixed the Jewish
|
||
Passover.
|
||
[The Passover is moon based, an already familiar pagan method of
|
||
cyclic, monthly dating.] In between the birth and death of
|
||
Jesus, there
|
||
is an almost total absence of information except about the
|
||
brief period
|
||
of his ministry. Of his life between the ages of twelve and
|
||
thirty we
|
||
know nothing. There are not even any myths. It is impossible to
|
||
establish with any accuracy the duration of the ministry from the
|
||
Gospels. According to the tradition it lasted one year, which
|
||
suggests
|
||
that it was either based on the formula 'the acceptable year of
|
||
the
|
||
Lord', or on the myth of the Sun-god." _Pagan_Christs_ by J.M.
|
||
Robertson, page 68
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(386) Wed 6 Apr 88 15:47
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Historical Jesus?
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 10867df6
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Quest for the Historical Jesus
|
||
|
||
"...It is only in comparitively modern times that the possibility
|
||
was
|
||
considered that Jesus does not belong to history at all. Those who
|
||
come across this idea for the first time are naturally startled by
|
||
it. In fact the suspicion that Jesus might be as mythical as other
|
||
ancient saviors as Osiris, Mithra and Krishna arose as a result of
|
||
a serious effort to discover his real voice and actions. the most
|
||
scrupulous of analysis of the texts failed to reveal a convincing
|
||
picture of an authentic person."
|
||
_Pagan_Christs_, page 63
|
||
|
||
Well such is what J.M. Robertson claims.
|
||
|
||
"Modern biblical critics freely admit that some of the Gospel
|
||
narritive
|
||
must be fiction. We know now that much of it was composed well
|
||
after the events it purports to describe. Comparitive religion has
|
||
drawn attention to close pagan parallels--to the essential features
|
||
of the story--the virgin birth, the sacrifical death and
|
||
resurrection. The same is true of the rites of baptism and
|
||
sacramental communion. Many critics still feel, however, that these
|
||
are accretions which, together with, togehter with the miracles,
|
||
can be safely shed without injury to a nucleus if historical fact.
|
||
The argue that pagan Gods may have some of the attributes of Jesus,
|
||
and although they may have been regarded as law givers and
|
||
teachers, they did not leave behind a coherent and profound
|
||
teaching. Apollo, Osiris and the rest seem, therefore, to be
|
||
obviously mythical, whereas Buddha and Jesus are not. The teachings
|
||
of each of the latter, it is felt, bear the unmistakable of a
|
||
single, unique mind. Such a doctrine could not have formed itself
|
||
spontaneously." _Pagan_Christs_, page 64.
|
||
|
||
The rite of baptism has already been discussed in this topic.
|
||
Robertson
|
||
contends that the rite of baptism superceeded the rite of
|
||
circumsicion. This makes sense to me. It is much less painful and
|
||
physically safer to undergo ritual initiation through baptism by
|
||
water than by ritual circumcision. The gentile Christists would
|
||
contend for this; and as the Jewish Christists died baptism did
|
||
replace circumcision as a physical sign of new spiritual being.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(387) Wed 6 Apr 88 15:49
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Historical Jesus, part ii
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 10867e2b
|
||
|
||
|
||
"We shall consider the case of Buddha later. First let us look at
|
||
the main
|
||
objections to this view that the existence of a body of teaching
|
||
is overwhelming evidence of the existence of an historical teacher.
|
||
The earliest Christian documents are ascribed to Paul. These
|
||
epistles were written long before the canonical gospels were put
|
||
together and accepted by the Church. The older protions, however,
|
||
tell us nothing about the life of Jesus. The silence of paul is
|
||
remarkable if indeed he was familiar with the Jesuine biography.
|
||
Secondly, the unity of teaching, which it is said, would show it to
|
||
have been the work of one mind is conspicuously absent. So far from
|
||
displaying coherence, the ethical precepts are frequently obscure
|
||
and contradictory. So far from being original, many of the sayings
|
||
are merely quotations from Hebrew literature, and some have pagan
|
||
parallels. As for the Sermon on the Mount, it is no more than a
|
||
patchwork of utterances found in the Old Testament."
|
||
_Pagan_Christs_ pg. 64
|
||
|
||
I was suprised to hear that some of the Epistles of Paul are the
|
||
earliest
|
||
of the Christian writings. Anyone care to point us to an already
|
||
typed in dating of the N.T.? Care to type one in? If such is the
|
||
case then it is outstanding that as Paul was the first to write
|
||
about mystery of the sacrifice of Christ he tells us nothing of the
|
||
life of Christ. It's as if he didn't know. Surely he would have
|
||
known such details being close to the original twelve. Perhaps he
|
||
didn't care, such details being meaningless as the ethics, mystery
|
||
and sacrifice of the God man were most important.
|
||
|
||
It seems the earliest of the gospel forms was lost with Matthew
|
||
and Mark
|
||
being dependent opon these lost forms. This scans nicely. The
|
||
earliest forms were probably the purest of the Jewish Christian
|
||
story of the Messiah. As time went by more of the pagan gentile
|
||
influence was felt as needed. Various features of the virgin birth
|
||
of the God man, the nativity scenes, the Last Supper, the betrayal,
|
||
the crucifiction and mysterious ressurection were incoroprated into
|
||
the present gospels to appeal to pagan cultist.
|
||
|
||
Some scholars indicate that Revelations was next inline. This scans
|
||
nicely as it presents a supposedly Jewish-Christian eschotology.
|
||
When one looks at the symbolism one can see the Mazedian influence
|
||
in Revelations. Revelations seems to present a first or second step
|
||
in the evolution of the Sacrifice and Resurrection of the God man.
|
||
Perhaps a middle step is more appropriate. A middle step between
|
||
Jewish Messiah cults and Gentile Savour cults.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(388) Wed 6 Apr 88 15:51
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Historical Jesus, part iii
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 10867e68
|
||
|
||
|
||
It would be monumental to eliminate all supposedly contradictory
|
||
and
|
||
questionable passages from the Gospels. Fortunately that work has
|
||
already been done with some suprising, for me at least, outcomes.
|
||
Here's one..
|
||
|
||
"For over a hundred years German scholars have been struggling to
|
||
solve
|
||
this problem, and their efforts have been unavailing. In order to
|
||
establish some solid textual foundation for the historicity of
|
||
Jesus, they have piled hypothesis upon hypothesis with ever new
|
||
refinements. The retreat from this hopless task was finally sounded
|
||
by the emminent German critic, O. Schmeidel. Afer an exhuastive
|
||
search, he was satisfied that he had discovered some texts which
|
||
passes the most severe tests and were entirely credible. But in the
|
||
whole of the gospels all he could salvage were NINE such texts. Let
|
||
us enumerate this forlorn handful of unwounded survivors.
|
||
|
||
1) Mark XXX.17 [really mark 10.17] f.f. "Why callest me thou
|
||
good?" etc. 2) Matt XII.31 f.f. "Blasphemy against the Son of Man
|
||
pardonable" 3) Mark III.21 "He is beside himself" 4) Mark XII.32
|
||
"Of that hour and day knoweth no man" 5) Mark XV.34, Matt "My God,
|
||
My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" etc. 6) Mark VIII.12 "No sign
|
||
shall be given this generation." 7) Mark VI.5 "He was able to do no
|
||
mighty work there." 8) Mark VIII.14-21 Rebuke to disciples
|
||
concerning bread and leaven.." 9) Matt XI.5, Luke VII.22 Passage to
|
||
be taken in the sense of spiritual
|
||
healing, since it ends with mention of preaching--not a miracle
|
||
at all."
|
||
_Pagan_Christs_ pgs 64,65.
|
||
|
||
What was the basis for selecting these texts? Basicly O.
|
||
Sshmeiedel felt
|
||
that where Jesus speaks simply as a man, making no pretense to
|
||
divinity, or to miraculous powers, and where he is presented as
|
||
failing to impress his relatives and neighbors with any sense of
|
||
his superiority--there the record is entirely credible. I'll have
|
||
to quote this because of the logical content...
|
||
|
||
J.M. Roberts quoting Schmeidel:
|
||
"According to Schmidel, these passages represent "the foundation
|
||
pillars
|
||
for a truly scientific life of Jesus... They prove not only that
|
||
in the person of Jesus we have to do with a completely human being,
|
||
and that the divine is sought in him only in the form in which it
|
||
is capable of being found in a man; THEY ALSO PROVE THAT HE REALLY
|
||
DID EXIST, and that the Gospels contain at least SOME ABSOLUTELY
|
||
TURSTWORTHY FACTS concerning him.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(389) Wed 6 Apr 88 15:53
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Historical Jesus, part iv
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ca31 10867eb4
|
||
|
||
|
||
This will shock the believer without satisfying the scientific
|
||
naturalist. I submit that the propostition I have italicized is
|
||
absolutely untenable. On this point may be staked the whole dispute
|
||
about the actuality of the gospel Jesus. It simply does not follow
|
||
that because a statement is credible it is therefore trustworth or
|
||
proved. If it were so, half the characters in fiction could be
|
||
"proved" to be real people. Perfectly credible statements are made
|
||
about them." _Pagan_Christs_ pgs 64-65.
|
||
|
||
And I would add that perfectly credible statements are made by
|
||
fictional
|
||
characters also. It is credible to pronounce that Joe Catholic
|
||
said a hundred Hail Marys this morning. Such is a credible
|
||
statement concerning Catholics. But is it trustworthy?
|
||
|
||
Such thinking requires a leap. The leap involves a thought
|
||
process that
|
||
says what is possible must indeed be true. T.X. Huxley makes this
|
||
same mistake. Huxley says that Sauls visit with the Witch of Endor
|
||
is entirely probable, so there is no reason not to believe it. It
|
||
is probable that I, as a child, fell into a dark hole for 3 days
|
||
and nights. History is full of discredited "probablilites".
|
||
|
||
To finish this section up I'd like to say that what applies to
|
||
characters
|
||
of fiction must also apply to demigods and characters about whom
|
||
there is a fable. Unless it can be shown on independent grounds how
|
||
the credible story came to be associated with the fable, we have no
|
||
reason to accept one and reject the other. There are instances of
|
||
myths being built up on a basis of facutal events, but although
|
||
this can be established in modern times, such cases do not enable
|
||
us to distinguish between the merely possible and the actual in
|
||
ancient tradition. Admittedly there are borderline cases, but even
|
||
when these are free from supernaturalism they may often be doubted.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Changing for the better (I hope!) (Opus
|
||
1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(390) Sat 9 Apr 88 7:35
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Poems
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 3c7b1089
|
||
(I found these poems from another time while prowling through
|
||
Chaos!)
|
||
|
||
THE RAINBOW PROMISE
|
||
|
||
With quantum leap the light of love illumines every heart
|
||
Humans of the world unite in the light of love
|
||
Let the light of unity flash love from heart to heart
|
||
And blow away the mushroom cloud in waves of living love
|
||
|
||
Lovers of the world unite in the light of love
|
||
Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Moslem, Jew: all you others too
|
||
Let the light of unity flash love from heart to heart
|
||
And blow away that angry cloud in waves of living love
|
||
|
||
Let love explode in vaults of banks, in the hearts of thieves
|
||
In generals hearts, in lawyers hearts. In our hears
|
||
Let the light of unity flash love from heart to heart
|
||
And blow away that bitter cloud in waves of living love
|
||
|
||
In prisons and in hospitals let human love flow free
|
||
All races in a rainbow, one great loving symphony
|
||
Let the light of unity flash love from heart to heart
|
||
And blow away that hatefilled crowd in waves of living love
|
||
|
||
Let our one great rainbow song of love flow up
|
||
Our rich and holy promise to the Living God on High
|
||
To let the light of unity flash love from heart to heart
|
||
And blow away the mushroom cloud in waves of living love
|
||
|
||
|
||
copywright
|
||
by Hugh Read
|
||
1983
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(391) Sat 9 Apr 88 7:47
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Yet another poem out of Chaos
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 3de91089
|
||
|
||
THE BALLAD OF ALLIGATOR FLATS
|
||
...dedicated to Michael...
|
||
|
||
Old Mose he cried
|
||
He sputtered and died
|
||
His gas tank dried
|
||
And there we sat
|
||
In the desert flats
|
||
Singing songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
Visions danced before our eyes
|
||
Silent vultures in the skies
|
||
Sang silent songs of one who dies
|
||
Where we sat
|
||
In the desert flats
|
||
Singing songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
Old Mike, he sat, grinning wide
|
||
Looked to God and Fate defied
|
||
His songs decreed the Devil lied
|
||
And there we sat
|
||
In the Desert flats
|
||
Singing songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
That devil, fear, stung my heart
|
||
Our gas tank dry as a desert fart
|
||
My soul has shrunk to a gristly wart
|
||
As there we sat
|
||
In the desert flats
|
||
Singing songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
Old Mike, he sung, Water to wine, water to wine
|
||
Water to gas would be just fine
|
||
So we pissed in the tank, first his then mine
|
||
And there we sat
|
||
In the desert flats
|
||
Singing songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
Old Mose he coughed and gripped the tar
|
||
Shuddered and sighed ready for war
|
||
And lightning flashed on the mountain far
|
||
As there we sat
|
||
On the desert flats
|
||
Singing songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
He bucked and reared
|
||
I shuddered and feared
|
||
By God he started and we put him in gear
|
||
No more we sat
|
||
On the desert flats
|
||
As we sang our songs to Jesus
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(392) Thu 5 May 88 7:50
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: The Book of the Law
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 3e4010a5
|
||
Recently, I have had the joy of having Aleister Crowley's, Book of
|
||
the Law, opened to me. I want to share some of my thoughts with
|
||
you about this. Perhaps these thoughts will turn into a commentary
|
||
as I find my way more deeply into the beauties of this book. For
|
||
now, I only want to share some of my very subjective responses to
|
||
this beautiful little book.
|
||
|
||
Some years ago through some idiot grace that may be manifesting
|
||
her results now, Bill Hiedrick introduced me to Grady McMurtry,
|
||
previous Caliph of O.T.O. At that time Grady showed me his signet
|
||
ring given him by Crowley. I will never forget the impression of
|
||
deep and powerful beauty that I got from that ring. I can see it
|
||
now.
|
||
|
||
The feeling was a green feeling. I sense the same soft, feathery
|
||
green feeling as I read The Book of the Law. It is like a delicate
|
||
grey mist, or streamers of pale green silk. It is a green feeling.
|
||
|
||
Green is the color of illumination in Sufi land...some say because
|
||
there is so little green in the austere, sun blasted desert. I
|
||
heard an Arab wanderer say that the thing that impressed him the
|
||
most about Minnesota was that it was so GREEN.
|
||
|
||
Cairo is an Arab place where green means illumination. The ring
|
||
and the book have a green aura for me. Perhaps the Book of the Law
|
||
hides a pure light of illuminatin. Perhaps...
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(393) Fri 6 May 88 19:44
|
||
By: Hugh Read Of 282/341
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: The Pentagram
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:01a6 10a69d92
|
||
|
||
I invoke Ancient Powers of The Star
|
||
The Powers of Five
|
||
The Spiral Powers
|
||
The Powers of Earth
|
||
|
||
I invoke the Ancient Powers of Life
|
||
Star in the Circle
|
||
In the Iron Circle
|
||
Quaint, ancient symbol
|
||
|
||
So ancient, primordial and timeless
|
||
Dark symbol of life
|
||
On planets bearing life
|
||
Deep in DNA
|
||
|
||
Deeply branded in the Heart of our Earth
|
||
Touchstone of Wisdom
|
||
Of Ancient Knowledge, NOW,
|
||
Living in the stars
|
||
|
||
I call out through the Circled Iron Star
|
||
For my Star Power
|
||
Out through the Galaxies
|
||
Claiming Dark Powers
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(394) Sat 7 May 88 17:58
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: Invocation to Frigg
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 8f4610a7
|
||
When this invocation was first used, each person in a healing
|
||
circle invoked a healer into (her/him)self. This was my
|
||
invocation. The rest of the circle was asked to echo "Join us,
|
||
Frigg" as I was saying "Join us. Frigg,". This was my first
|
||
attempt at writing an invocation, and it DID work. I hope that it
|
||
also works for anyone else who wishes to use it, because it now
|
||
feels like time to share it.
|
||
|
||
Blessed Be
|
||
Russ
|
||
|
||
Frigg, Daughter of Jord, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Daughter of Fiorgyn, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Wife of Odin, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Sister of Thorr, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mother of Balder, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mother of Hodr, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mother of Hermod, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mother of the gods, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Wise in all fates, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Who will tell no fortunes, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, First among the Asynjur, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Queen of Asgard, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mistress of home and hearth, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mistress of Eir, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Mistress of healing, Join us.
|
||
Frigg, Your servant _______ calls you! Come to me NOW!
|
||
|
||
This invocation is being reposted as part of a group of
|
||
invocations, most of which were patterned on this one. Permission
|
||
is granted to use these invocations in your own rituals. I do ask,
|
||
however, that I get credit in any copies of those rituals which are
|
||
written or distributed.
|
||
B*B
|
||
Dragonfriend (Russ)
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(395) Sat 7 May 88 18:03
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: invocation to Baldr
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 907210a7
|
||
"Baldr, Son of Frigg, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Son of Odin, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Husband of Nanna, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Brother of Hodr, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Brother of Hermod, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Father of Forsetti, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Slain by blind Hodr, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Master of Breidablik, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Who is much loved, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Who Thokk alone would not mourn, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, The Fairest of the Aesir, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Whose Judgments stand unaltered, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Whose Judgments stand unheeded, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, The Wisest of the Aesir, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, The Shining One, Join us.
|
||
Baldr, Your servant _______ calls you! Come to me NOW!"
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(396) Sat 7 May 88 18:04
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: invocation to Freyja
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 909110a7
|
||
|
||
Freyja, Of the many names, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Of the golden tears, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Daughter of Njord, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Wife of Od, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Sister of Freyr, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Mother of Hnoss, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Claimed by Thrym, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Driver of cats, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Goddess of Fertility, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Who shares the slain with Odin, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Who taught the Aesir Magick, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Lender of Falcons' Flight, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Mistress of Brisingamen, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Mistress of Folkvang, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Mistress of nature, Join us.
|
||
Freyja, Your servant _______ calls you! Come to me NOW!
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(397) Sat 7 May 88 18:05
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: invocation to Thorr
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 90aa10a7
|
||
|
||
Thorr, Red-beard, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Son of J<>rd, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Brother of Frigg, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Father of M<>di, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Father of Magni, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Father of Thr<68>dr, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Husband of Sif, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, J<>tunn bane, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Foe of I<>rmungandr, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Who bears Marriage Hallower, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Who bears Death Hallower, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Who wields Mj<4D>llnir, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Defender of Asgard, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Thunderer, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Storm Lord, Join us.
|
||
Thorr, Your servant _______ calls you! Come to me NOW!
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(398) Sat 7 May 88 18:06
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: invocation to Freyr
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 90c510a7
|
||
|
||
HP: (both do "Freyr" and "Join us.")
|
||
"Freyr, Son of Nj<4E>rd, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Husband of Gerdr, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Brother of Freyja, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Father of kings, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Whose sword would fight for itself, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Who gave his sword for Gerdr, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Patron of married couples, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Most beautiful of Gods, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Whose tooth-gift was Alfheimr, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Master of Gullinbursti, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Owner of Skidbladnir, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Slayer of Beli, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Master of Frodi's Peace, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Who directs Man's good fortune, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Who brings fruitful seasons, Join us.
|
||
Freyr, Your servant _______ calls you! Come to me NOW!"
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(399) Sat 7 May 88 18:07
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: invocation to Herne
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 90e410a7
|
||
|
||
|
||
"Herne, Winter Lord,
|
||
We, your children, call to you.
|
||
Horned One, Hunter,
|
||
We, your children, invite you here.
|
||
Woodland Spirit,
|
||
We, your children, ask your presence.
|
||
|
||
Herne, Winter Lord,
|
||
We, your children, call to you.
|
||
Horned One, Hunter,
|
||
We, your children, invite you here.
|
||
Woodland Spirit,
|
||
We, your children, ask your presence.
|
||
|
||
Herne, Winter Lord,
|
||
We, your children, call to you.
|
||
Horned One, Hunter,
|
||
We, your children, invite you here.
|
||
Woodland Spirit,
|
||
We, your children, ask your presence, NOW."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(400) Sat 7 May 88 18:07
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: invocation to Brigit
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 90f810a7
|
||
|
||
"Brigit, Wise One,
|
||
We, your children, call to you.
|
||
Lady, Smithy,
|
||
We, your children, invite you here.
|
||
Triple Goddess,
|
||
We, your children, ask your presence.
|
||
|
||
Brigit, Wise One,
|
||
We, your children, call to you.
|
||
Lady, Smithy,
|
||
We, your children, invite you here.
|
||
Triple Goddess,
|
||
We, your children, ask your presence.
|
||
|
||
Brigit, Wise One,
|
||
We, your children, call to you.
|
||
Lady, Smithy,
|
||
We, your children, invite you here.
|
||
Triple Goddess,
|
||
We, your children, ask your presence, NOW."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(401) Sun 15 May 88 8:49
|
||
By: Russ Anderson
|
||
To: Meredydd Harper
|
||
Re: Re: invocation to Herne
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 462410af
|
||
mh> These are lovely, Russ, but they evoke a question:
|
||
mh> why is it that it felt comfortable to *demand* that
|
||
mh> Freya, Thor, Freyr, and Baldr appear, and yet not
|
||
mh> comfortable to do the same with Herne? The tone of
|
||
mh> the Herne invocation is *noticeably* gentler.
|
||
|
||
Meredydd,
|
||
|
||
Answer 1. I Don't know!
|
||
|
||
Answer 2, despite the previous, ACCURATE answer, I'll attempt to
|
||
speculate.
|
||
I don't see those as demands, I see them, rather, as strongly
|
||
worded requests. It is a tone that I simply had not seen in them
|
||
(we ALL have blind spots). Since I'm not ready to tamper with
|
||
success, you may well see other Norse invocations with the same tone.
|
||
All of the Norse invocations were built to a pattern set by the
|
||
Frigg invocation. (god/dess name, kenning, join us. times 15,
|
||
god/dess name, Your servent _____ calls you, Come to me NOW!) This
|
||
was my FIRST attempt at writing ANY piece of ritual. But it WORKS
|
||
and seems to fit the god/desse/s of that mythos and their
|
||
worshipers of old, etc. The Herne and Brigit invocations, along
|
||
with a set of quarters invocations, came to me in the space of a
|
||
few minutes as I was sitting in the bathroom thinking about what
|
||
needed to be done for the Imbolc/Lady day/Brigit/... ritual that a
|
||
friend and I were writing (We have half the wheel of the year so
|
||
far. They will probably NOT be published as a whole, even here
|
||
because Starhawk, Leigh Ann, and Raymond Buckland, at the very
|
||
least, might have unfair use of copyrighted material claims. We
|
||
drew on all of these sources and more in writing these rituals.
|
||
At some future time, I will post the quarter invocations. My
|
||
friend wrote 3 of the 4 sets we have (with some minor editing on my
|
||
part [she hasn't asked for any changes in my invocations]) and I
|
||
have her permission to post them. I feel like I should wait until
|
||
we have the whole wheel before posting the quarters invocations. We
|
||
have actually been using 5 quarters (NO MATH FLAMES will be
|
||
accepted!); Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit/LifeForce - North,
|
||
East, South, West, and Center respectivly, and we have been casting
|
||
the circle from the appropriate quarter/cross quarter. We are
|
||
lighting candles (no invocations) at NE, SE, SW, & NW. At Yule, we
|
||
cast from North, at Brigit, from NE, etc. Center is invoked last,
|
||
and "dismissed" first.
|
||
|
||
B*B
|
||
Dragonfriend (Russ)
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(402) Tue 24 May 88 13:28
|
||
By: Brad Hicks
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review: Robert Anton Wilson, _Natural Law_
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 229a44b3
|
||
A few months ago, I did something that I almost never do. I bought
|
||
a book, sight unseen. It was a safe bet, of course, because I'm a
|
||
Robert Anton Wilson fan and a completist; I knew for sure that his
|
||
book _Natural Law, or, Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy_ would be
|
||
worth the $6.00 it was going to cost me.
|
||
|
||
I was wrong.
|
||
|
||
A little history behind this volume: three years ago someone named
|
||
L.A. Rollins wrote a book called _The Myth of Natural Rights_ in
|
||
which he (apparently) held forth on the extreme Social-Darwinist
|
||
argument that there are no "rights" other than those you can grab
|
||
and defend. Perhaps you can imagine what members of the
|
||
Libertarian Party (as opposed to real libertarians) thought of
|
||
this, and true-to-form, Murray Rothbard and George H. Smith wrote
|
||
review articles for _New Libertarian_ entitled "On the Duty of
|
||
Natural Outlaws to Shut Up" and "Roughing Up Rights," respectively.
|
||
|
||
Apparently, Robert Anton Wilson wants to side with Rollins against
|
||
the rest of the Libertarian Party, so he submitted a lengthy
|
||
rebuttal of Rothbard and Smith to _New Libertarian_. And now he's
|
||
very, very angry because Samuel Konkin, the editor of _New
|
||
Libertarian_, had the unbridled temerity to edit an article
|
||
submitted to his own magazine.
|
||
|
||
Konkin's editing didn't change a word of Wilson's article, by the
|
||
way. He merely footnoted it heavily with his own refutation of
|
||
Wilson's refutation of Rothbard and Smith's refutations of Rollin's
|
||
refutation of the existence of "natural rights." But this has so
|
||
deeply angered Wilson that he has blown his article up into a slim
|
||
volume (68 pages) and persuaded Loompanics to print it as if it had
|
||
validity on its own and free-standing.
|
||
|
||
So you see, _Natural Law_ is Robert Anton Wilson's refutation of
|
||
Samuel Konkin's refutation of Robert Anton Wilson's refutation of
|
||
Murray Rothbard's and George Smith's refutations of a book by L.A.
|
||
Rollins, which is itself a refutation of the Deist notion of
|
||
"natural rights."
|
||
|
||
If you read the original book and the original articles in _New
|
||
Libertarian_ and this issue is one of mind-numbing urgency to you,
|
||
then possibly you might think that you can get your $6.00 worth out
|
||
of this volume. You're probably wrong. Wilson's argument is far,
|
||
far below his standards elsewhere, and consists primarily of
|
||
Swiftian ridicule combined with gutter language. (Scarcely a page
|
||
goes by without his describing some argument as "Ideal Platonic
|
||
Horseshit." This gets very, very tiring.)
|
||
|
||
Pass this one up. You won't be missing anything.
|
||
|
||
(Robert Anton Wilson, _NATURAL LAW or Don't Put A Rubber On Your
|
||
Willy_. Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited, 1987. Trade
|
||
paperback, 68 pages, $5.95.)
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(403) Tue 24 May 88 6:50
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: The Deva
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 364410b8
|
||
|
||
When a Deva descends...or rises up
|
||
Within a human
|
||
A god has come to rest
|
||
To nest in a heart
|
||
|
||
To brood without words over an old soul
|
||
Of many lifetimes
|
||
Giving quiet power
|
||
Beyond that human
|
||
|
||
Making that life a skillful game of love
|
||
Healing and delight
|
||
Guided by wise insight
|
||
Through shadows and light
|
||
|
||
What a subtle joy it is to see it
|
||
In another's eyes
|
||
To feel it in a heart
|
||
That has grown so wise
|
||
|
||
That it knows the tale before it is told
|
||
And heals with a smile
|
||
Hurts before they are felt
|
||
Making us complete
|
||
|
||
Even imperfections radiate love
|
||
Sparks of rainbow light
|
||
Twinkle through mistakes
|
||
With happy mischief
|
||
|
||
And we know it is alright...no harm meant
|
||
It all rights itself
|
||
What wonderful good luck
|
||
To have a deva
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(404) Tue 24 May 88 6:57
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: The Deva, II
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 372e10b8
|
||
|
||
The deva is beautiful and cunning
|
||
She gives ecstacy
|
||
Unlimited healing
|
||
As she does her work
|
||
|
||
Her implacable power holds terror
|
||
That shimmers like ice
|
||
In the dry arctic Sun's
|
||
Frozen rainbow fields
|
||
|
||
Her tenderness in curiosity
|
||
Relaxes to lust
|
||
Of a sly beast of prey
|
||
From other dimensions
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(405) Tue 24 May 88 7:10
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: A Special Kind of Healing
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 394010b8
|
||
|
||
Most non-human in their complications
|
||
The other-minded
|
||
Learn secrets of healing
|
||
To cover their tracks
|
||
|
||
They feed on pain of human souls dying
|
||
Giving them more life
|
||
They feed on disease
|
||
Letting health increase
|
||
|
||
Their strange gift is healing for all
|
||
Their food is sickness
|
||
They gain strength from weakness
|
||
Leaving the weak strong
|
||
|
||
Stronger themselves from eating the weakness
|
||
Fungus of the soul
|
||
That is a special food
|
||
For these strange healers
|
||
|
||
The mind parasites sapping others strength
|
||
Are these healers
|
||
Food of immortality
|
||
The food of their gods
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(406) Tue 24 May 88 7:19
|
||
By: Hugh Read
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Avalokitsvara, or a crystal is not a diamond
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 3a7010b8
|
||
|
||
The crystal Kuan Yin
|
||
Rooted within a human
|
||
Quiet ecstacy
|
||
|
||
That ancient being
|
||
Neither man nor a woman
|
||
Rainbow ecstacy
|
||
|
||
Healing other planes
|
||
Yielding non-human delight
|
||
Clear light ecstacy
|
||
|
||
The crystal Kuan Yin
|
||
Rooted in man or woman
|
||
Timeless ecstacy
|
||
|
||
The crystal Kuan Yin
|
||
Rooted within a human
|
||
Divine ecstacy
|
||
|
||
Divine Unity
|
||
Within the crystal Kuan Yin
|
||
The Crystal Body
|
||
|
||
The Crystal body
|
||
The Crystal Kuan Yin in my heart
|
||
Crystal ecstacy
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(407) Sun 29 May 88 1:51
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (1 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 e7d10bd
|
||
YOUR HIGH PRIESTESS
|
||
|
||
In the Magic Circle, the words, commands, and wishes of the
|
||
High Priestess are Law. She is the earthly representative of our
|
||
gracious Goddess. She is to be obeyed and respected in all things.
|
||
She is our Lady and, above all others, a Queen in the highest
|
||
sense of the word. All female coveners will curtsy and say
|
||
"Blessed Be" when they come before Her, and all male coveners will
|
||
bend their knee and kiss Her on the right cheek and say "Blessed Be".
|
||
|
||
YOUR HIGH PRIEST
|
||
|
||
In the Magic Circle, the High Priest is the earthly
|
||
representative of the Great God. He commands the respect due a
|
||
Magus, Lord Counselor, and father.
|
||
|
||
THE LAWS
|
||
|
||
THE LAWS WERE MADE FOR THE WITCHES TO ADVISE THEM IN THEIR
|
||
TROUBLES. DO NOT CHANGE THEM LIGHTLY.
|
||
|
||
1. The Witches should worship the Gods as is their due, and obey
|
||
their will. For the worship of the Gods is good for the Witches
|
||
even as the worship of the Witches is good for the Gods: For the
|
||
Gods love all their Witches.
|
||
|
||
2. As a man loves a woman more by acquiring more knowledge of
|
||
her wants and desires, so should the Witches love the Gods by the
|
||
learning (mastering) of them.
|
||
|
||
3. It is necessary that the Magic Circle, which is the Temple of
|
||
the Gods in these times, be case and purified such that it may be a
|
||
fitting place for the Gods; and the Witches should be properly
|
||
prepared and purified to enter into the presence of the Gods.
|
||
|
||
4. With love and worship in their hearts the Witches shall raise
|
||
power from their bodies (and the elements around them), and they
|
||
shall offer this power to the Gods so that the Gods may help their
|
||
Witches.
|
||
|
||
5. The High Priestess shall rule her coven as the representative
|
||
of the Goddess, and the High Priest shall support her as the
|
||
representative of the God. The High Priestess will choose any
|
||
member of the coven to be her High Priest, if he has sufficient
|
||
standing in the cover. As the God Himself kissed our Lady's feet,
|
||
gave Her the five-fold salute, and offered Her His power because of
|
||
Her youth and beauty, Her sweetness and kindness, Her wisdom and
|
||
justice, Her humility, gentleness, and generosity, and shared His
|
||
power with Her, so therefore the High Priestess should always be
|
||
aware that all power comes from Him; it is only lent, to be used
|
||
wisely and justly.
|
||
|
||
6. The greatest virtue of a High Priestess shall be recognition
|
||
that youth is necessary to the representative of the Goddess. She
|
||
will, therefore, gracefully retire in favor of a younger covener
|
||
should the coven so decide in council. The true High Priestess
|
||
should realize that gracefully surrendering the pride of place is
|
||
one of the greatest virtues, and that thereby she will return to
|
||
that pride of place in another life with even greater power and
|
||
beauty.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(408) Sun 29 May 88 1:53
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: Laws (2 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 eb810bd
|
||
7. In the Old Days, when there were many Witches, we were free
|
||
and worshipped freely in the greatest temples; but in these times,
|
||
we must celebrate our sacred mysteries in secret. Therefore, none
|
||
but the Witches is to see our mysteries; no coven shall know the
|
||
location of any other coven or who its members are, except the High
|
||
Priest, the High Priestess, and the Messenger; and that there shall
|
||
be no communication among the covens, except by the Messenger of
|
||
the Gods or the Summoner. Only if it is safe may the covens meet in
|
||
some safe place for the Great Festivals; and while there, none
|
||
shall give their true names or any information about their coven or
|
||
its members. This law is made for this reason: no one can tell
|
||
our enemies what they do not themselves know.
|
||
|
||
8. It is ordained that no one shall tell any person not in the
|
||
Craft who other Witches are, or give them names, or addresses, or
|
||
in any way tell anything that can betray a Witch to their face.
|
||
Nor may anyone tell where the covendom or covenstead is, where any
|
||
meetings are held, or any other information about the coven unless
|
||
directed to do so by the coven in council.
|
||
|
||
9. If anyone breaks these laws, even under torture, may the
|
||
Curse of the God and the Goddess be upon them, so that they may not
|
||
be reborn upon the Earth (but shall live forever in the Hell of
|
||
the Christians).
|
||
|
||
10. Let each High Priest and High Priestess govern their coven
|
||
with justice and love, with the help and advice of the other and of
|
||
the elders of the coven, always heeding the advice of the Messenger
|
||
of the Gods if he should arrive. They will heed all the
|
||
suggestions of their coveners and strive to settle any differences
|
||
among them.
|
||
|
||
11. It is recognized that there will always be people who will
|
||
try to make everybody agree with their ideas: these people are not
|
||
necessarily bad --they often have good ideas, and these ideas
|
||
should be discussed in council. But if they will not come to
|
||
agree with their other coveners, or if they say, "I will not work
|
||
with this High Priestess," then the elders will have them leave.
|
||
It should be suggested that they might join another coven, or if
|
||
they are of sufficient standing they may be encouraged to found
|
||
their own coven. For it is better this way, to avoid strife among
|
||
the family of Witches.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(409) Sun 29 May 88 1:55
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (3 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 efa10bd
|
||
12. When using geographic boundaries, whenever anyone of Third
|
||
Degree lives more than a league from the covenstead (or are about
|
||
to), any of these may found a new coven; indeed, any Witch living
|
||
within the covenstead who wishes to form a new coven will inform
|
||
the elders of this intention, and immediately move to a new
|
||
dwelling beyond the boundaries of known covensteads. Members of any
|
||
coven may choose to join the new coven when it is formed, but they
|
||
must totally avoid their old coven if they choose this course. The
|
||
elders of the old and new covens should meet in peace and love to
|
||
determine the boundaries of the covens. Any Witch living outside
|
||
of any two covens may choose to join either coven, but never both.
|
||
All may meet for the Great Festivals if the elders agree, so long
|
||
as they meet in peace and love. Let the elders confer as to the
|
||
use of this law when it is not directly applicable. Always be aware
|
||
that the splitting of a coven breeds bad feelings; this law was
|
||
made chiefly for this reason. And may happier times come!
|
||
|
||
13. If you would keep a Book (whether it is called a Black Book,
|
||
Book of Shadows, Book of Light, or whatever), write it in your own
|
||
hand. Let your brothers and sisters in the Craft copy as they will
|
||
from your book in their hand, but never let your Book out of your
|
||
hands and never keep the writing of another. Every Witch should
|
||
keep and guard their own writings, that none may be discovered
|
||
through their Book being found in another's possession.
|
||
|
||
14. Destroy your Book whenever danger threatens, and commit as
|
||
many as possible of these Laws to memory. Destroy the writings of
|
||
a deceased Witch if they did not have time to do so themselves. If
|
||
any of their writings are found, it is clear proof against both the
|
||
writer and the holder, for our enemies firmly believe that "one
|
||
may not be a Witch alone": their family and all who are known to
|
||
be friends may be suspected as Witches. Be responsible with your
|
||
writings and you will protect all who love you.
|
||
|
||
15. If your Book is found on you, it is clear proof against you
|
||
alone unless you tell our enemies what you know. You may be taken
|
||
and tortured, but keep all thoughts of the Craft from your mind.
|
||
If the torture is too much to bear, tell them, "I cannot bear this
|
||
torture. I will confess. What do you want me to say?" If they
|
||
try to make you talk about the Craft, do not; but if they try to
|
||
make you speak of absurd things, such as flying through the air,
|
||
consorting with the Christian devil, sacrificing children, or
|
||
eating men's flesh, say, "I held an evil dream; I was beside
|
||
myself; I was crazed," or words to that effect, to obtain relief
|
||
from the torture. Not all magistrates are bad -- if there is any
|
||
semblance of an excuse, they may show mercy. If you have confessed
|
||
to anything, deny it afterwards: say that you babbled under
|
||
torture, or that you don't remember what you said. If you are
|
||
condemned, do not be afraid, for the Craft is powerful and your
|
||
escape will be aided if you stand fast. If you go steadfast to
|
||
the flames, be certain that drugs will reach you and you will feel
|
||
nothing of the pain. You will only go to death and what lies beyond
|
||
-- the ecstasy of the God and the Goddess. If you betray
|
||
anything, however, there is no hope for you in this life or that
|
||
which is to come.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(410) Sun 29 May 88 1:58
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (4 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 f5210bd
|
||
16. To avoid being discovered, choose your working tools to be
|
||
ordinary items which you would have around the house. Make your
|
||
Pentacles out of wax so that you can break and melt them at once.
|
||
Do not keep a sword unless its presence would alarm no one. Have
|
||
no signs or names visible on anything: write the signs in ink or
|
||
water immediately before consecrating the tool, and wash them off
|
||
immediately after. Do not engrave anything, for this will only
|
||
help you be discovered. Keep your athame and kerfan (working
|
||
knife) among your kitchen knives, and let the colors of the hilts
|
||
determine the one from the other and from the other knives. Always
|
||
remember that we are the Hidden Children of the Goddess. Never do
|
||
anything to disgrace the Craft or Her --never boast, never
|
||
threaten, and never say that you wish ill of anyone.
|
||
|
||
17. It is not forbidden to say, "There is Witchcraft in the
|
||
land," for the Christians say so themselves and have made it heresy
|
||
not to believe so; but always say, "I know nothing of it here,
|
||
though it may be elsewhere." If any person speaks about the Craft
|
||
outside of the Circle, say, "Don't speak of such things -- it
|
||
frightens me. It is bad luck to talk about such things." Say this
|
||
for this reason: the Christians have their spies everywhere.
|
||
These spies have been known to talk as if they were drawn to the
|
||
Craft and as if they would want to come to our meetings, and they
|
||
say such things as, "My fathers and forefathers worshipped the Old
|
||
Ones, and my mother; I would like to worship in this way myself."
|
||
To all of these, tell them that you do not know what they are
|
||
talking about, and that you wish they would stop. But to others,
|
||
say, "It's silly to talk about Witches flying around in the air;
|
||
they would have to be lighter than feathers or thistle-down.
|
||
Besides, everyone knows that Witches are all bleary-eyed old hags;
|
||
what fun could they possibly have at their meetings, and why
|
||
should I want to participate? And besides, you know we were
|
||
taught in school that there are no such things as Witches." Always
|
||
make fun of the subject, that we may worship in peace when the
|
||
persecution ends: let us all work for that happy time. May the
|
||
blessing of the God and the Goddess be upon all who keep this law.
|
||
|
||
18. If any in the Craft holds any property, let all Witches
|
||
guard it and keep it clear and good for the use of the Craft. It
|
||
is the further responsibility of all Witches to guard Craft funds
|
||
wisely.
|
||
|
||
19. If any Witch offers a well-made item, it is proper to pay
|
||
them for it according to the value of the work; this is not taking
|
||
money for the Craft, but payment for honest work -- even the
|
||
Christians believe that "the labourer is worth his hire". Still,
|
||
if any Witch works willingly for the good of the Craft and will not
|
||
accept payment, this shall be to their greater honor.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(411) Sun 29 May 88 2:00
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (5 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 100f10bd
|
||
20. It is known that a coven may be bound together by sexual
|
||
ties, and that this is often not desirable. When it is found that
|
||
this is not desirable, the coven should be made up of loving
|
||
couples, and there may also be single coveners. In such cases, it
|
||
is required that the search for new love be undertaken outside the
|
||
coven except when two single coveners find love with each other;
|
||
otherwise, it will often cause division in the coven. For while
|
||
all acts of love and pleasure are indeed the rituals of our beloved
|
||
Goddess, She is not inclined to favor acts which divide her covens
|
||
and scatter Her Witches unnecessarily.
|
||
|
||
21. If there should arise quarrels or disputes among the
|
||
Witches, the High Priestess or High Priest shall immediately
|
||
convene the elders and inquire into the problem. The elders shall
|
||
hear each side separately, and then both together. Their decision
|
||
should be just, not siding with one side until the matter is
|
||
determined, recognizing that there are people who cannot work under
|
||
others, and others who cannot make wise decisions. To those who
|
||
must always be in charge, the possible solutions for them are to
|
||
void the coven alto-gether, find another coven for them, or for
|
||
them to found a new coven (taking with them all who will go). To
|
||
those who cannot rule wisely, the solution is that those who
|
||
cannot bear the rule will leave the coven. No one can truly
|
||
worship the Gods when personal conflicts among the coveners are not
|
||
resolved; all who cause strife in the coven must be told, "Go away
|
||
from us, for the Craft must ever survive."
|
||
|
||
22. In the Old Days, we could use the Art against anyone who
|
||
treated the Witches badly; but in these times, we must not do so.
|
||
Our enemies have invented a burning pit of everlasting fire into
|
||
which their God throws everyone who does not worship Him, except
|
||
for those few who buy their penance from His priests (for their God
|
||
always seems to be in need of money). Even as our Gods need our
|
||
aid to make fertility for people and crops, so it is that the God
|
||
of the Christians is always needing men to find and destroy us.
|
||
Their priests tell them that any man who is helped by us will be
|
||
damned to their Hell forever, to the point that men are mad with
|
||
the terror of it. But the priests also make them believe that they
|
||
may escape this Hell if they give up Witches to be tortured, so
|
||
that these men are always thinking, "If I catch only one Witch, I
|
||
will escape the fiery pit." For this reason we have our hiding
|
||
places, and when no Witches are found, the searchers will say,
|
||
"There aren't any Witches, or at least not in this area." But as
|
||
soon as one of our oppressors dies or even catches a cold, the cry
|
||
will go up that it is "Witches' work", and the hunt will be on
|
||
again. And while they may kill ten Christians for every Witch,
|
||
they will not care, for they are countless millions while we are
|
||
few indeed.
|
||
|
||
23. THEREFORE, IT IS ORDAINED that none shall use the Art in any
|
||
way to harm anyone or even wish them ill. However much they may
|
||
injure us, HARM NONE, and may the Christians forget that we exist.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(412) Sun 29 May 88 2:02
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (6 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 105110bd
|
||
24. These laws are ordained to help us in our difficulties. No
|
||
person, no matter how large the injury or injustice they incur, may
|
||
use the Art in any way to do evil or harm anyone. But they may use
|
||
the Art, after great consul-tation with the elders and fellow
|
||
coveners, to keep the Christians and their tools from harming
|
||
anyone -- but only to constrain them. To this end, some day men
|
||
will say, "That man says he is a mighty persecutor of Witches, but
|
||
all we ever see him torture are old women -- we cannot see that
|
||
they have hurt anyone, and if they are all such powerful Witches,
|
||
why has he not been harmed?" They will see him as an evil person
|
||
regardless of his professed beliefs. We know that too many people
|
||
have died because someone had a grudge against them, or were
|
||
persecuted because another wanted their wealth or because they were
|
||
too poor to bribe the witch-hunters. And many have died only for
|
||
being old women -- so many that most men now seem to believe that
|
||
only old women are Witches. This is to our advantage, for it turns
|
||
many suspicious eyes away from us; but we mourn deeply for the old
|
||
women. Still, in England and Scotland, it has been hundreds of
|
||
years since a Witch "died the death"; be vigilant, for the misuse
|
||
of our power might begin the persecutions again. Never break this
|
||
law no matter how much you are tempted. Never consent to the
|
||
breaking of this law: even a High Priestess who merely consents to
|
||
the breaking of this law must be deposed immediately, for it is the
|
||
blood of all the Witches that she endangers. DO ONLY GOOD, and then
|
||
only when it is safe to do anything at all.
|
||
|
||
25. Never accept money for the use of the Art, for money always
|
||
smudges the receiver. Christians take money for the use of their
|
||
arts, and they sell pot-metal charms, pardons, and potions to men
|
||
so that they may escape from their sins. Do not act like these
|
||
men; as long as you refuse to take money, you will be free from the
|
||
temptation to use the Art for evil causes. All may use the Art for
|
||
their own advantages, or for the advantage of the Craft, but you
|
||
must always be certain that no one will be harmed by its use. Let
|
||
the coven debate the use of the Art at length, and only when all
|
||
are satisfied that none will be harmed by its use will the use be
|
||
allowed. Remember that if you cannot achieve your means in one
|
||
fashion, your aim may still be reached through another -- always
|
||
harming none.
|
||
|
||
26. If anyone in the Craft needs a house or land and there is no
|
||
one willing to sell to them, you may use the Art to incline an
|
||
owner's mind to be willing to sell, provided that the spell does
|
||
not harm the owner or the property and that the full value is paid
|
||
without haggling. Never bargain or cheapen anything wile living by
|
||
the Art.
|
||
|
||
27. The most important of laws: Do nothing that will endanger
|
||
anyone in the Craft or which will bring them into conflict with the
|
||
law of the land or any of our persecutors. In this regard, it is
|
||
NEVER permissible, in any dispute involving the Craft, to invoke
|
||
any laws other than those of the Craft, nor may any tribunals be
|
||
held other than one consisting of the High Priestess, the High
|
||
Priest, and the elders.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(413) Sun 29 May 88 2:04
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (7 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 109110bd
|
||
28. The coven is to keep two books on herbalism: one of these
|
||
will list the names and uses of all herbs which are cures for ills
|
||
or are otherwise good for humans, and all may have access to this
|
||
book to learn these things. But keep a separate book with the
|
||
names of all poisonous herbs and those used in dark spells, letting
|
||
only the elders and other trusted Witches know of these secrets or
|
||
even of this book's existence.
|
||
|
||
29. Remember that the Art is the secret of the Gods and may only
|
||
be used in earnest -- never for show, or pride, or personal glory.
|
||
The Christians may taunt you saying, "You have no power: Perform
|
||
some magic for us, and then we may believe." Do not listen to
|
||
them, for the Art is holy and is to be used only in need.
|
||
|
||
30. It has always been the way of men and women that they should
|
||
seek after love, and while no one should be reproved for this, it
|
||
may be to the disad-vantage of the Craft sometimes. It has
|
||
happened too many times that a High Priestess has found a new love
|
||
and run off with him, giving no word to the coven of this. A High
|
||
Priestess may resign in full coven at any time, and this
|
||
resignation is valid; but if she has not resigned, the coven shall
|
||
wait for her to return for a year and a day (for she may return
|
||
sooner, having left for love). If she has a deputy, that deputy is
|
||
to act as Priestess for as long as the High Priestess is away. If
|
||
she returns within this time, all will be as if she had never left;
|
||
but if she does not return within this time, a new High Priestess
|
||
shall be elected in full coven. Unless there is a good reason to
|
||
the contrary, the deputy, having done the work, should reap the
|
||
reward and be chose as the new High Priestess. But if another is
|
||
chosen, the deputy shall be the maiden and deputy of the new High
|
||
Priestess.
|
||
|
||
31. The High Priest serves at the pleasure of the High
|
||
Priestess. If the High Priestess is gone for more than a year and
|
||
a day, he shall continue in his office while the deputy serves in
|
||
her place. However, once a new High Priestess has been chosen, the
|
||
new High Priestess will appoint her own High Priest (and it may be
|
||
the current High Priest or not). Neither the prior High Priest nor
|
||
his friends may be angry if a new High Priest is chose, for pride
|
||
must always give way to harmony in the coven.
|
||
|
||
32. The Art is sacred: it is the Art of the working of
|
||
energies, and it must always be taught inside of the Magic Circle.
|
||
It has been found that teaching the Art frequently leads to a
|
||
sexual attraction between the teacher and student -- and that this
|
||
often improves the result. If for any reason this is not
|
||
desirable, it should be avoided at the beginning by both persons
|
||
firmly - and verbally - resolving that their relations will be
|
||
limited to that of brother and sister, or parent and child. It is
|
||
for the reason that shared love often increases the result of
|
||
working magic that teaching should always be done from
|
||
man-to-woman and from woman-to-man. When a coven is made up of
|
||
members of all one sex, the masculine-to-feminine energy exchange
|
||
should be adhered to whenever possible. Teaching people about the
|
||
Craft, however, may be done whenever and wherever it is safe, so
|
||
long as the teacher is knowledgeable, the student is willing, and
|
||
the information taught is available publicly or is not a secret of
|
||
the Art. No one may charge for teaching, unless it is to cover
|
||
such expenses as the cost of the room, books or other printed
|
||
materials, refreshments, and so forth.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(414) Sun 29 May 88 2:06
|
||
By: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
To: all
|
||
Re: laws (8 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d466 10c610bd
|
||
33. Order and discipline must be kept within the coven: the
|
||
High Priestess of the High Priest should and may punish all faults.
|
||
To this end, all in the Craft should receive their correction
|
||
willingly. With the culprit kneeling, all in the Circle should be
|
||
told of the offense, and the sentence will be pronounced.
|
||
Punishment might include the scourge or the recasting of the
|
||
Circle, followed by something silly such as several kisses. The
|
||
culprit must acknowledge the justice of the punishment by kissing
|
||
the scourge upon receiving sentence, and afterward by thanking
|
||
everyone for their loving correction.
|
||
|
||
SO MOTE IT BE!
|
||
|
||
Note to MagickNet friends and acquaintances: The above is a
|
||
combination of what I was taught and what I learned. Many
|
||
different sources, including my NeoGardnerian training, two
|
||
different sets of Celtic Craft laws, four versions found in print,
|
||
and the picked brains of several of my students, went into it.
|
||
|
||
(J. Random Folksinger)
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Dragonfriend's Point (1:104/904.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(415) Fri 17 Jun 88 21:30
|
||
By: Mordecai Shapiro
|
||
To: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
Re: Re: Historical Jesus, part iv
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0ac0 10d1abd6
|
||
RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER READING
|
||
Maccoby, Hyam, "The Mythmaker: Paul and the invention of
|
||
Christianity" Harper & Row 1986.
|
||
-- presents some new historical criticism in the light of
|
||
Talmudic scholarship. clear, vivid writing throughout.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(416) Fri 17 Jun 88 21:35
|
||
By: Mordecai Shapiro
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Poem
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0ac0 10d1ac7c
|
||
I am the Anticrowley
|
||
here to abolish all
|
||
necrophile-sycophants
|
||
who suck dry marrow
|
||
from long-dead bones
|
||
and leave fresh sap
|
||
of the world-ash to
|
||
feed mere fungi, molds,
|
||
bacteria, and snails.
|
||
Hear me, ye Crowleyan
|
||
fans and bigots,
|
||
the lowliest creatures of slime
|
||
are nobler than you!
|
||
For instead of turning shit
|
||
to life, you turn the brightest
|
||
shining gold to puerile turds
|
||
of deadest lead. You spurn
|
||
the truth that Man is God
|
||
and waste your worship
|
||
on a fat old fraud.
|
||
I am the Anticrowley
|
||
and I am angry that
|
||
even the word of Will
|
||
is bent by you, not
|
||
into a fitting yoke of
|
||
discipline, but into links
|
||
to forge a chain
|
||
to bind yourselves
|
||
to another's brain.
|
||
I am the Anticrowley.
|
||
I peck at the eyes
|
||
of Aleister as he dies
|
||
in purple ecstasy.
|
||
I spit on your
|
||
crapulous creed!
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(417) Mon 20 Jun 88 10:23
|
||
By: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
To: Hugh Read
|
||
Re: Re: Hawaiian Myths
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:ee8a 52e010d4
|
||
Actually, this is the posting for ths chants that Devin did. My sysop
|
||
hasn't taken off therestrictions on posting on Mataphysical so the
|
||
only way I can get them in is to do it in "reply" mode.
|
||
Sorry.
|
||
God verses for the "Lady's Branle" on the Gwydion "Songs for the Olde
|
||
Religion"
|
||
The Hunter's call He leads in Fall
|
||
Through leaf and thorny brier.
|
||
In winter's cold He guards the hold
|
||
And harps beside the fire.
|
||
His children sing sweet in the spring
|
||
The fields are in His keeping.
|
||
He beards the corn that's summer born.
|
||
Ale's power lies a'sleeping."
|
||
words by Devin Storm
|
||
Lady weave Your Circle Chant (Goddess verse given to me by Lady
|
||
Phoenix coven of Our Lady of the Inner Sea, Dallas ,Tex. God verse
|
||
by Devin Storm, harper to Coven Amber Moon, OKC> OK
|
||
Lady weave your circle tight.
|
||
Spin a web of glowing light.
|
||
Earth and air, fire and water
|
||
Bind us to you.
|
||
Father in the coming night
|
||
Gather in your ancient might.
|
||
Sage and warrior,Horned hunter.
|
||
Guide us to You.
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.01
|
||
* Origin: On The Edge BBS - (405)848-2828 - OKC's only source for
|
||
MAGI (1:147/4
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(418) Sat 25 Jun 88 0:13
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
Re: The Laws
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0ac0 10d901b0
|
||
I am disturbed and disappointed. "The Christians are our
|
||
enemies." "They will torture you to make you talk about the Craft."
|
||
"Lie about the Craft." "Covens splitting up makes for bad
|
||
feelings."
|
||
|
||
What depressing garbage. This is the 20th century, and this is
|
||
America, this is not Inquisition days. The more we keep secret,
|
||
the more the ignorant will assume that we have horrible secrets to
|
||
keep. The true secrets of the Gods cannot be given away, because
|
||
they cannot be spoken -- they are beyond all language. And as for
|
||
bad feelings when covens break up, maybe that is how it is where
|
||
you are, but around here, there is rejoicing when one coven becomes
|
||
two. Seems to me like my best possible response to your "Laws" is
|
||
the following song:
|
||
|
||
BURNING TIMES
|
||
The songs are sung to rouse our anger of martyred Witches gone to
|
||
the fires,
|
||
But what is served by righteous singing, if all we do is stew in
|
||
our ire?
|
||
Nine million dead in four hundred years;
|
||
More in that time simply died of disease.
|
||
Why do we dwell on long past dead
|
||
When we are alive in times like these?
|
||
(cho)
|
||
Rise up, Witches, throw off your masks
|
||
And cease crying guilt for ancient crimes.
|
||
Earth and all Her children need us
|
||
For ALL face now the Burning Times.
|
||
|
||
In the face of that hostile power, how did the old knowledge stay
|
||
alive?
|
||
How have we still a Craft to practise? Our ancestors knew how to
|
||
fight and survive!
|
||
How do we honour our blessed dead?
|
||
Slavery threatens us all but few.
|
||
We must teach their cunning ways --
|
||
EVERYONE needs the skills they knew!
|
||
(cho2)
|
||
Rise up, Witches, gather your strength,
|
||
And let your power spread and climb;
|
||
Earth and all Her children need us
|
||
For ALL face now the Burning Times.
|
||
|
||
I will not cast off Science's works -- Witches all forces to Will
|
||
can bend;
|
||
I'll not accuse for war and waste some patriarchy of faceless men.
|
||
Men do not cast the only votes;
|
||
Women alone do not demonstrate.
|
||
Rather than shut out half the race,
|
||
Who if not we will change that state?
|
||
(cho2)
|
||
|
||
I will not blame a Father's Church -- blame and guilt are their
|
||
tools, not mine,
|
||
And even in the shuls and churches, allies there will I seek, and
|
||
find!
|
||
I will not answer hate with fear,
|
||
Nor with a smug, cheek-turning love.
|
||
I will not answer hate with rage;
|
||
By strength alone will I not be moved!
|
||
(cho2)
|
||
|
||
(cont'd next msg)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(419) Sat 25 Jun 88 0:36
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: J_Random Folksinger
|
||
Re: Burning Times, cont'd
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0ac0 10d9049d
|
||
I will not hide in my sacred grove -- the fact'ries and cities yet
|
||
ring me
|
||
about;
|
||
I will not climb my ivory tower -- the real world exists tho' I
|
||
shut it out.
|
||
I will not work for Church nor State
|
||
Who serve themselves while they serve us lies,
|
||
Nor only for my Witchen kin,
|
||
But for the family of all alive!
|
||
(cho2)
|
||
|
||
So if rebellion means to fight a State lost sight of why it was
|
||
built,
|
||
If heresy's to reject a Church that rules with force or fear or
|
||
guilt,
|
||
Then let us all be rebels proud,
|
||
And shameless heretics by creed --
|
||
A tyrant's hand subjects the Earth,
|
||
More heretic rebels are what She needs!
|
||
(cho2)
|
||
|
||
(copyright 1988, Leigh Ann Hussey)
|
||
|
||
|
||
Did it ever occur to the writers of your antique laws that the
|
||
Craft might
|
||
actually be WELCOMED by a great number of people? That there
|
||
might actually
|
||
be more of us than of those who wish us ill? That the only reason
|
||
those who
|
||
fear us are so active nowadays is because they see us becoming
|
||
more and more
|
||
welcomed by more people? As I say in another song, "When folk in
|
||
sorrow turn
|
||
away/ From paths that lead to misery/ And seek new ways for
|
||
wholeness' sake/
|
||
Then waiting, ready shall we be."
|
||
|
||
All I can say is, I'm Goddess-glad I'm not in your tradition.
|
||
|
||
B*B
|
||
Leigh Ann
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(420) Sat 25 Jun 88 0:38
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: The Darkness
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0ac0 10d904da
|
||
As Pat suggested, I'm posting this here from the Magick
|
||
subsection...
|
||
|
||
From: L.a. Hussey Rec'd
|
||
To: Peri Andren Msg #109,
|
||
07-Jun-88 14:33
|
||
Subject: Re: How do you KNOW ?
|
||
|
||
No, Hugh is right. Modern Wicca is indeed a life-affirming
|
||
religion, and
|
||
life-sacrifice of any kind is looked on as repugnant. But it is
|
||
unquestionable that old paganism did involve sacrifices of both
|
||
animals and
|
||
humans.
|
||
|
||
And completely aside from that, the Goddess is not just the
|
||
nurturing Mother.
|
||
She is the Black Sow who devours her own young, she is the
|
||
scouring wind that
|
||
whips away all decay, She is the refiner's fire (to snatch a
|
||
phrase from the
|
||
Bible). The Craft ain't all sweetness and light, because life
|
||
itself is not.
|
||
Life lives off of death, as the ancients knew, and that's why She
|
||
is Demeter
|
||
Enraged, and Erishkegal, and Kali. She is the Crone who has heard
|
||
every plea
|
||
and throws you in the Cauldron anyway.
|
||
|
||
We work with symbols and images and archetypes, and these come
|
||
from the human
|
||
subconscious -- wherein, if we're healthy, dwell all manner of
|
||
dark and
|
||
uncontrollable forces. The difference between the yogi and the
|
||
schizophrenic
|
||
is the difference between a swimmer and a drowning person. We all
|
||
have our
|
||
dark side; the way to sanity is to accept that power and channel
|
||
it into
|
||
constructive uses, rather than to deny it and close it off
|
||
entirely. Shut out
|
||
the dark, and you may find it imploding on you, sucking you,
|
||
helpless, into
|
||
it. Indeed, we are not an ascetic religion, and that means that the
|
||
unconscious, the body, the irrational, sensuality, and all the
|
||
accompanying
|
||
things which Christianity embodied in their Devil, are for us an
|
||
important
|
||
part of ourselves, to be integrated with and not cut off from the
|
||
rational
|
||
mind, the intellect, and so forth. At one time, Apollo and
|
||
Dionysos (or if
|
||
you prefer the Celtic pantheon, Lugh and Cernunnos) were one God.
|
||
The
|
||
darkness is there, and it is welcoming, not forbidding. We need
|
||
no longer
|
||
make human sacrifice, but we also need not sacrifice our humanity.
|
||
|
||
B*B
|
||
Leigh Ann
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(421) Sun 26 Jun 88 9:24
|
||
By: Jonathan Miran
|
||
To: L.a. Hussey
|
||
Re: Expressing our dark side
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:5de8 4b1c10da
|
||
To follow up on your commentary, Leigh Ann, We look around this
|
||
world and find many people in the grips of acute depression. and
|
||
what is depression? It is anger turned inward in a destructive
|
||
manner. it is a failure to express our dark side in a useful and
|
||
life affirming way. I agree totally with your commentary: The Craft
|
||
is a religion of polarities and if we can't express the dark side
|
||
we can't express the light.
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Short Line - Denver, Colorado - (303)-969-9510
|
||
(1:104/36)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(422) Tue 28 Jun 88 20:12
|
||
By: Laura Creighton
|
||
To: Jonathan Miran
|
||
Re: what is depression
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dca182
|
||
One of my good friends, Chuck Guerigues, has been studying
|
||
depression for more than 30 years. He says that it used to be
|
||
orthodox belief that all depression was anger turned inward, but
|
||
that this view is far too limited. While it is indeed true that
|
||
some depression, and perhaps even most depression is anger turned
|
||
inwards, there are a significant number of depressed people who are
|
||
not angry at all. Certain depression is merely a chemical
|
||
inbalance, for instance, and sometimes can even be cured by
|
||
proper diet. Others he has treated have experienced a particular
|
||
vision of the world as all-suffering, which is powerful enough to
|
||
colour their entire experience. Some people he has met are only
|
||
depressed because they believe that their depression is caused by
|
||
an inner anger which after years of serching they are unable to
|
||
find. Some people produce depression out of fear, or joy, or some
|
||
other strong emotion which they do not know how to express, or for
|
||
some reason do not desire to express. Depression is very complex.
|
||
If you are depressed and can't find a reason that you are angry,
|
||
don't give up -- this may not be your problem at all.
|
||
|
||
Sorry if this is too heavy -- you pushed a major button of mine.
|
||
|
||
Laura
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(423) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:15
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book of the Law, Preface
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd01f9
|
||
THE NEW BOOK OF THE LAW
|
||
[sources: The Book of The Law, The Old Laws for the Old Religion,
|
||
The Great
|
||
Book of the Law, The Dragon Law]
|
||
|
||
Preface: In my years of teaching and running a group, I have
|
||
always had a dissatisfaction with the popular "Book of the Law"
|
||
available to most Seekers. I felt it to be too archaic in its
|
||
wording and perspective -- and while it was valuable in the Burning
|
||
Times, it simply does not deal with the concerns and needs of
|
||
"modern-day" Witches. Over the years I became familiar with
|
||
several other sets of Laws. Each of these had many good points,
|
||
yet they also had their disadvantages as well.
|
||
|
||
Recently, I decided to do something daring -- I took the four
|
||
different versions of the Laws which I had, and combined and
|
||
reworked them. I deleted what was no longer pertinent or
|
||
meaningful, rewording others to make them clearer and more
|
||
understandable, as well as throwing in a few new ones which I felt
|
||
had been lacking.
|
||
|
||
I believe that what has evolved out of this work is a set of Laws
|
||
which are readable, usable, and most importantly, pertinent to the
|
||
needs of today's Witches and Neo-Pagans. It is with these thoughts
|
||
and hopes that I would like to share them with you. If you should
|
||
find merit or worth in them, then I will
|
||
feel as though I have accomplished something. The material in this
|
||
booklet has not been copyrighted, so you may reproduce the Laws for
|
||
students or friends, or reprint them in your publication. It is my
|
||
sincere hope that the New Book of the Law will be of use to the
|
||
Craft Community.
|
||
|
||
Blessed Be,
|
||
Lady Galadriel
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(424) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:16
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 1
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd0215
|
||
PART ONE
|
||
|
||
1. The Laws were created to give our lives form and order, that
|
||
all might be balanced throughout all of the planes. In truth there
|
||
are two sets of laws which govern us -- one sets forth the ways of
|
||
the Wiccan, an dthe oter the ways
|
||
of the Universe. Both are important, both should be observed with
|
||
respect and treated with honor. The Laws were shaped and molded to
|
||
teach us, to advise us,
|
||
and to counsel us in our time of mortal life on earth.
|
||
|
||
2. Honor the Gods, for They are the channels and the manifestation
|
||
of the Source. Honor yourself, for this force also lies within
|
||
you. Love the Gods as
|
||
They love you, and by loving yourself and your brothers and
|
||
sisters, so the Gods shall honor you. As the love and joy of a man
|
||
and a woman [or "lover and beloved" -- LAH] flowers and grows when
|
||
nurtured with respect, and cultivated with understanding
|
||
and honor, so should you love the Gods.
|
||
|
||
3. The Goddess is the Great Mother, and the God is the Great
|
||
Father, and we are
|
||
Their children; and we shall worship Them, for They are the rulers
|
||
of the Universe, and all that is therein. Therefore, O Children of
|
||
the Gods, try Them
|
||
not, nor attempt to test Them, for They shall show you that he
|
||
Ways of the Craft are not to be belittled or mocked.
|
||
|
||
4. Let the Power of the Craft flow from you only in love -- or not
|
||
at all. For
|
||
it has always been known that the energy webs which we weave and
|
||
maintain shall
|
||
eventually return to encircle their creator. Thus our works
|
||
become either the net which entagles and binds us, or th eweb of
|
||
light by which we find the Gods.
|
||
|
||
5. Let the Rites of the Wicca be a way for the children of the
|
||
Gods to be as One -- for Power only flows when unified. Always
|
||
should you revere the Earth, and heal and tend Her, for She is our
|
||
life, our Mothership, on which we navigate the dark currents of
|
||
space.
|
||
|
||
6. When you reap the harvests of your lands, then you shall not
|
||
reap one corner
|
||
of the field, nor glean the herb gardens, or the fallen fruits of
|
||
the orchards.
|
||
These you shall offer to the Earth Mother, in direct return, or
|
||
through offerings made to your Circle, or to sustain its Priests
|
||
and Priestesses.
|
||
|
||
7. Always be proud to be of the Wicca, but do not allow your pride
|
||
to become vanity -- for those who are conceited are a stubling
|
||
block at the door of the Temple, and they shall be cast adrift, to
|
||
swim within their own vanity.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(425) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:21
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 2
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd02a7
|
||
8. Observe and listen, reserving your judgement, for until all the
|
||
silver is weighed, who can know the worth thereof?
|
||
|
||
9. As like breeds like, even more so does good beget love and joy.
|
||
Your life will be full of love and joy if you are joyful and happy.
|
||
|
||
10. Your teachers are the servants of the Gods, and they shall
|
||
plant the seeds of knowledge within the minds of their students,
|
||
and they shall use their power
|
||
for the good of the Wicca. Yet it is each individual's duty to
|
||
tend the seeds which are planted, and to make the final harvest.
|
||
Those who misuse the power and the trust of the teacher's position
|
||
shall have to answer to the Lords of Karma, and adjust the balance
|
||
accordingly.
|
||
|
||
11. The Temples of the Gods, which are Their abode on Earth, shall
|
||
belong to all Their children, and each Circle shall be as a special
|
||
family. Do naught against any Temple or any family of the Wicca,
|
||
lest you do that thing unto the Gods, and against yourself.
|
||
|
||
12. You must not be a teller of tales amongst the children of the
|
||
Goddess, and you must hold no malice or evil thoughts towards
|
||
others of the Wicca.
|
||
|
||
13. You should not lie, nor give false testimony before your
|
||
Elders, or those who are of the Wicca -- for liars are fools, and a
|
||
menace unto themselves, and to the Wicca. Be truthful in all your
|
||
works and deeds, especially within the Circle, for what you say
|
||
within the presence of the Gods becomes manifest.
|
||
|
||
14. You must not put stumbling blocks in the way of those who do
|
||
not follow the
|
||
Path of the Wicca. You must make no unrighteous judgements of
|
||
their ways, and you should aid them with an attitude of love when
|
||
it is asked for. Yet ever should you keep the Counsel of the
|
||
Elders, and reveal naught to others of where
|
||
our Circles may be, nor may you reveal our ways without the
|
||
consent of the Priestess.
|
||
|
||
15. When you make a vow to the Lord or the Lady, or you swear an
|
||
oath to another of the Wicca, then you must do all that has come
|
||
forth from your mouth,
|
||
for a covenant with the Gods, or with the Wicca, is your Honor,
|
||
and woe to those who care not for the fetters they attach to their
|
||
souls by not keeping their word.
|
||
|
||
16. The Great Mother and Father would not have their children
|
||
suffer the indignities of oppressors for their sake, for what is
|
||
within the hearts of Their children is dear and true to Them. The
|
||
Ancient and Mighty Ones shall cause the balance to be made for
|
||
those who desecrate the Lord and Lady, Their temples, or Their
|
||
creations.
|
||
|
||
17. Never shall you use Magick, nor the Craft, to cause harm, for
|
||
this is misuse of the Power, and it is not to be condoned. To
|
||
cause the death of another through the Craft is to require the
|
||
death of the Self in sacrifice.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(426) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:22
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 3
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd02c2
|
||
18. Never betray any of the brethren, nor the lore of our people,
|
||
for you are all servants of the Gods, and must live by the virtues
|
||
of love, honor and wisdom. Let truth, loyalty and honor be your
|
||
creed. Let them be your guides, tempered by love and wisdom.
|
||
|
||
19. The Order of the Gods shall you keep, and within Their Circles
|
||
shall you walk. You should not say "I believe" when you doubt, nor
|
||
claim to obey the Lord and Lady's word when you never enter into
|
||
the Temple. You must not profess with your lips that which is not
|
||
in your heart.
|
||
|
||
20. Do not use the names of the Gods in negative or evil ways, for
|
||
They love and cherish Their children above all others. All others
|
||
They love, even those who know them not. Yet those who hate and
|
||
curse in Their name shall have the Mighty Ones take the measure of
|
||
their worth.
|
||
|
||
21. In any disputes between the children of the Goddess, no one
|
||
may invoke any laws but those of the Craft, or any tribunal but
|
||
that of Priestess, Priest, and
|
||
Elders.
|
||
|
||
22. No one of the Wicca may do anything which will endagner the
|
||
Craft, nor bring any of the Wicca into conflict with the Law of the
|
||
Land, or with any of our persecutors.
|
||
|
||
23. Your magickal tools are channels to that which is most
|
||
precious and pure within you. Do not cheapen them by haggling
|
||
their price when you acquire them.
|
||
|
||
24. Never accept money for the use of the Power. It is sorcerors
|
||
and charlatans who accept money for their spells and prayers. If
|
||
you accept no money, you will be free from the temptation to use
|
||
the Craft for evil or unworthy causes.
|
||
|
||
25. You shall never take unduly from any human, animal or
|
||
elemental that which is not yours to take -- for if you steal from
|
||
another, in the end you will have
|
||
to sacrifice something dearer to you in order to attain the balance.
|
||
|
||
26. Show honor to all people, that they may look up to you, and
|
||
respect you, and their eyes shall become a mirror for your soul.
|
||
|
||
27. Those who are of the Wicca shall not own slaves, for one
|
||
person may not own
|
||
the spirit of another, for only the Great Mother and Father own
|
||
our souls. Nor
|
||
shall you take as a pledge any person's life, for to do so is to
|
||
take upon yourself both a mill and a millstone.
|
||
|
||
28. If a stranger sojourns with you, you shall do them no wrong;
|
||
they shall be as one of the Circle, born amongst ye, and you shall
|
||
deal with them as you would yourself.
|
||
|
||
29. Just weights and just balances shall be given by you, and just
|
||
value shall you give, and thereby receive threefold.
|
||
|
||
30. Your altars shall be kept clean, pure and holy, and all that
|
||
is brought into the Temple or the Circle shall be cleansed and
|
||
blessed, for the joy of the
|
||
Gods, and of the Wicca.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(427) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:22
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 4
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd02d8
|
||
31. A clean mind should have a clean body. You should keep your
|
||
body, your clothes, and your house clean, in honor of the Mother,
|
||
who gives these things to you.
|
||
|
||
32. Let none die without honor, without love, without respect,
|
||
unless their actions have decreed otherwise.
|
||
|
||
33. You should not couple together if it shall cause pain,
|
||
jealousy or deprivation to another by doing so. Union for malice
|
||
or evil reasons such as these upsets the balance, and the Lords of
|
||
the Universe shall make adjustments accordingly.
|
||
|
||
34. Let those who would love, and would be as one, and bear child,
|
||
be handfasted. For the sharing of love in this manner is
|
||
beauteous, and love's union in the energy of the Gods, and the
|
||
heritage of the child. It is important for children to know and to
|
||
identify with those who brought them here.
|
||
|
||
35. The Law of the Goddess is that none of the Wicca shall take
|
||
and wed someone
|
||
who they do not love, whether it is to harm another, or for some
|
||
form of material gain.
|
||
|
||
36. Remember that your children are Goddess-spawned, and are free
|
||
spirits. You
|
||
do not own nor control them. They are your brethren, come to
|
||
visit for a while, that they may share in the vision of your love
|
||
and wisdom. Let each parent realize that although they may teach
|
||
and guide with love, the child shall also teach the parent, and aid
|
||
them in their growth and lessons.
|
||
|
||
END OF PART ONE
|
||
|
||
PART TWO
|
||
|
||
37. The etheric web and energy vortexes of the earth are in
|
||
constant flux and motion to adjust to the needs of the planet. The
|
||
sacred trust of the Wicca is to create and to maintain centers of
|
||
light and knowledge, using the magick of the divine spark within us
|
||
to focus and channel the forces of the Universal fire. And these
|
||
are the channels established between the worlds of the stars and
|
||
the realms of the earth, bringing in and regulating the spirit
|
||
flames which energize and activate all life forms. Thus we tend
|
||
and guard the threads of creation, and we weave the patterns of
|
||
life and manifestation in an ever-evolving tapestry.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(428) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:23
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 5
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd02ef
|
||
38. Never use your heritage or position for self-glorification or
|
||
gain. Respect your magick and our ways. We must always recognize
|
||
that while others may look to us to lead them, they too are our
|
||
guides.
|
||
|
||
39. Keep yor body strong, your mind keen, and your purpose pure,
|
||
for within your being you shall channel the Power, and it needs to
|
||
be strong and pure. And these are the keys to the path of Oneness,
|
||
and to communication with the Gods. Yet first you must learn to
|
||
speak to Them in such a manner as They can comprehend you. For the
|
||
children of the Wicca must aid the Gods, and work with Them,
|
||
otherwise the Gods cannot aid and work with you. Ever remember
|
||
that the Priest and Priestess are the living representatives of the
|
||
God and Goddess Forces, and likewise that all humans carry these
|
||
forces within them, though they may lie dormant and unawakened.
|
||
|
||
40. As the Great Mother and Father come unto one another and
|
||
create with the pure vibration of Love-Wisdom, so should you strive
|
||
to make your Temple pure in vibration, and thus a fitting place
|
||
wherein you may invite the Gods. Thus, your Circle should always
|
||
be duly purified and cast, and likewise, those who would use the
|
||
gateways and travel the Circle between the earth and other realms
|
||
should also be duly prepared and purified.
|
||
|
||
41. The Goddess hath said, "I shall not carry thee, yet neither
|
||
shall I hinder thee, nor keep thee from having the same
|
||
opportunities as all of my children. Thou art free, yet thou shalt
|
||
not be coddled like babes in the storm. If thou hast true devotion
|
||
within thee, then all obstacles may be overcome."
|
||
|
||
42. The laggard is but half a person -- and though half is better
|
||
than none, the whole is twice as good as the half. Those who do
|
||
not work, or who lack the will and desire to learn the ways of the
|
||
Gods, unto them is said, "The Ancient and Mighty Ones shall not
|
||
keep thee within their house, if ye learneth not."
|
||
|
||
43. A sanctuary you shall make unto the Gods, that They may dwell
|
||
amongst you. And you shall fashion it to the best of your ability,
|
||
according to all tha your Elders shall show you, and pure energy
|
||
shall you place therein.
|
||
|
||
44. An altar shall you make to unto the Lady, and you shall make
|
||
due reverence unto Her, for every place where She is exalted, She
|
||
will come to you and bless you. And you shall fashion your altar
|
||
out of wood or stone, and burn incense and candles thereon, at the
|
||
proper times, in observance of her ways.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(429) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:24
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 6
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd030a
|
||
45. You should set aside at least one day during each moon unto
|
||
the Goddess, and on these days you shall do Her work; and on those
|
||
days She shall renew Her children and bless them.
|
||
|
||
46. Learn to build your own Temple, and to craft your own sacred
|
||
Circle, and all the tools that are used therein -- for to be a
|
||
person of the Craft is to be a person of consequence.
|
||
|
||
47. Let each of you inscribe your own record of our ways and
|
||
teachings. For the course of each Wiccan should be charted, that
|
||
the patterns of their life-web may be made known and utilized. Let
|
||
each Wiccan start their Book of Light with the teachings and lore
|
||
of their tradition, yet let it also contain the rites and ways of
|
||
each individual, which are the harvest of each child of the Wicca,
|
||
to use the wisdom of their heritage as the seeds of their own
|
||
wisdom. Thus shall our lore and knowledge continue to grow and
|
||
unfold, like a beautiful flower.
|
||
|
||
48. It is right to study and to understand the sigils, statues and
|
||
stories of the Gods, for they shall guide your thoughts to Them,
|
||
and They shall hear them.
|
||
Yet you must ever remember that you worship not the sign nor the
|
||
statue, but the Gods which inspired them.
|
||
|
||
49. If your Circle owns any land, let all guard it, and help to
|
||
keep it clean. Let all justly guard all monies of the Circle, as
|
||
well as the rights and property of all members of the Circle.
|
||
|
||
50. If any Wiccan truly labors, then it is right that they should
|
||
have their just pay. This is not considered the taking of money
|
||
for the Art, but good and honest work. Yet if any Wiccan works
|
||
willingly for the good of the Craft, or for their brothers and
|
||
sisters without pay, then it is to their greatest honor.
|
||
|
||
51. If any Wiccan should deny themselves some pleasure or material
|
||
indulgence in order to do service in the Circle, this person shall
|
||
be blessed and remembered. For those who give for the greater good
|
||
of all shall have their spirit uplifted.
|
||
|
||
52. Know also that if you gift the Lady's Priests and Priestesses,
|
||
or Her Circles, this is an offering made unto the Mother Herself,
|
||
for a true Priest or Priestess strives always to do Her work, and
|
||
to be of service to Her children, so to honor and respect them is
|
||
to honor and respect the Queen of All.
|
||
|
||
53. And the offerings which are considered the most pleasing to
|
||
the Gods are these:
|
||
the fruits of the orchards
|
||
the scents of the trees and herbs
|
||
the metals of the earth
|
||
the waters of the earth
|
||
the flowers of the meadows
|
||
and the milk of all mothers.
|
||
Yet offerings of labor or money are honest too, and these will
|
||
also be accepted
|
||
-- moreso if you work with love in your heart, for always there is
|
||
work to be
|
||
done for the Gods, and service to be given to the children of the
|
||
Wicca.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(430) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:25
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd0326
|
||
54. If your offerings are made to restore the balance, it must by
|
||
of a nature that it not offensive to the Gods. It must be of
|
||
value, yet given with a free heart. Thus shall the harmony be
|
||
restored. If your offerings are given with a heart filled with
|
||
love and devotion, or are of service to the Gods, or to the Craft,
|
||
then shall you receive blessings manifold.
|
||
|
||
55. And when you make an offering unto the Gods, you should offer
|
||
it thru the most proper medium, at the proper times, and in such a
|
||
manner as to make it acceptable. Any and all remains of the
|
||
rituals shall be consumed in the fire, or buried within the Earth,
|
||
as a way of returning to the Source all that we use in the
|
||
observance of our ways, thus ensuring the continuity of the cycle.
|
||
|
||
56. All may use the Craft to help and aid them, or for the
|
||
advantage of their Circle, or the Craft -- yet only if you are sure
|
||
that you harm none. Let each Wiccan and Circle always debate these
|
||
matters at length. Only if all be satisfied that none be harmed in
|
||
any way, may the Art then be used. If it is not possible to
|
||
achieve your ends one way, then perhaps the goal may be achieved by
|
||
actng in a different way, so as to harm none.
|
||
|
||
57. Throughout the world it has been many a year since Wiccans
|
||
have been burned. Yet misuse of the Power might raise the
|
||
persecutions once again. So never break the Laws, however much you
|
||
might be tempted, and never consent to their being broken. And if
|
||
you know they are being broken, then you must work strongly against
|
||
it.
|
||
|
||
58. In days of old it was decided by the Mighty Ones who came
|
||
before us that the Art might be used to restrain others from
|
||
harming the Craft or its children, yet only after great
|
||
consultation with all members of the Circle, and only then to
|
||
deflect or to constrain them.
|
||
|
||
59. And such were the ways of the Lady that She brought us forth
|
||
in joy, and such were the Ways of the Lord that His reign gave all
|
||
life pleasure. Offer love in your worship and all shall be joyous
|
||
in beauty.
|
||
|
||
END OF PART TWO
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(431) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:26
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 8
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd0348
|
||
PART THREE
|
||
|
||
60. In the dimly remembered dawn of ages past, the Wicca were
|
||
truly free. Then, in Atlantis came the Age of the Misuse of Power,
|
||
followed by the Ages of Persecution and Suffering. Thus the people
|
||
of the Wicca hid themselves and cloaked their knowlege, and wove
|
||
veils of secrecy and silence. And this is how the Ways of the
|
||
Wicca have been preserved through the time of darkness. Yet much
|
||
of the ways of our people were lost to the ignorance of others.
|
||
|
||
61. Yet the cycle spirals ever on -- and the Age of the Earth
|
||
Mother once again draws nigh. We must be strong -- one with our
|
||
birthright, and one with our Gods, if we are to bring forth the
|
||
balance. Those who would harm us, or attempt to enslave us, we
|
||
must overcome -- yet only through light and love, and never through
|
||
violence or the evil of chaos. And through our efforts the time of
|
||
our people will come into being once more. In the times which lie
|
||
ahead, there lies much work to be done, so that oncemore the cycles
|
||
of life are drawn to the path of light, and the balance acheived
|
||
through the power of love.
|
||
|
||
62. In order to bring the ways of Light and Love and Life to the
|
||
peoples of the Earth, our secrets are slowly becoming secrets no
|
||
more, and it is good that this is so -- for the age of shadow and
|
||
secrecy is passing. Yet the sharing of our ways needs always to be
|
||
guided by wisdom and by love. Let our rites and our mysteries be
|
||
kept sacred. Let no one defile our worship or our heritage. For
|
||
the defilement of our ways is an honor loss to self, and for the
|
||
Craft.
|
||
|
||
63. Let each High Priestess govern her Circle with justice and
|
||
Love, and with the help and advice of the Elders and the High
|
||
Priest, always heeding the messages of the Gods when they come.
|
||
|
||
64. Ever remember that although the Priest is the force with which
|
||
the Circle is built, the Priestess is the ruler therein -- for it
|
||
is through her that the Goddess created the world, and all things
|
||
therein.
|
||
|
||
65. The High Priestess will heed all complaints of all Pagans and
|
||
Wiccans, and strive to settle any differences between them with
|
||
reason and with justice.
|
||
|
||
66. Let each Circle of Light decide how it shall be known --
|
||
whether by earthly name or magickal one. For each child of the
|
||
Wicca knows best the safety or dangers of their homeland.
|
||
|
||
67. Let each Circle or Temple maintain and dedicate unto the
|
||
Goddess and the God all the things that are required for Their
|
||
rituals, for what is blessed in the name of the Gods rightly
|
||
belongs to Them, and the Priest and Priestess shall be the
|
||
caretakers thereof.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(432) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:27
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd0360
|
||
68. Anyone of the circle who is of sufficient rank, and wishes to
|
||
form a new Circle, shall tell the High Priestess and the Elders of
|
||
their intentions. Members of the old Circle may join the new Circle
|
||
when it is formed, but if they do so they must leave the other
|
||
Circle, unless otherwise instructed. For it is the Old Law that
|
||
each Wiccan may join the Circle of their choice, yet their energy
|
||
should not be divided between two or more Temples.
|
||
|
||
69. The Elders of the old and new Circles shall meet in peace and
|
||
with respect, to decide the level of interaction and connection
|
||
between the Circles. Yet it is known that the splitting of a
|
||
Circle often means strife. So only if it is truly in a spirit of
|
||
peace and harmony should the Circles meet for the celebration of
|
||
the Great Festivals.
|
||
|
||
70. None shall enter the Circle that have a sickness or an ailment
|
||
which may be passed on to the Lady's other children -- for to do so
|
||
causes harm to yourself, as well as to the others of the Circle.
|
||
Rather should the Healers go unto the sick one, that through the
|
||
love of the Gods they shall be made well and whole once more.
|
||
|
||
71. It has been judged lawful that if any of the Craft need a
|
||
house, or land, and none will sell, to incline someone's mind so as
|
||
to be willing to sell, providing it harms none and the full price
|
||
is paid without haggling.
|
||
|
||
72. In the matter of quarrels or disputes between the members of
|
||
the Circle, the High Priestess shall convene the Council, and
|
||
inquire into the matter. The Council shall hear each person
|
||
privately, and then both together. And they shall decide justly,
|
||
not favoring one side nor the other.
|
||
|
||
73. If an agreeable resolution cannot be reached, then that Wiccan
|
||
must leave the Circle, for a Circle of Light cannot be properly
|
||
formed where there is disagreement and discord. And when a Circle
|
||
is not properly formed, the energy within is either dissipated, or
|
||
turns ugly, festering like a hidden sore. So let them leave, but
|
||
only with love in their hearts and yours, for even though your
|
||
paths may diverge, you are still all children of the Wicca, and
|
||
there must be no violence between us. Bear no grudges, hold no
|
||
thoughts of vengeance, for this will rot away the foundation of
|
||
your power.
|
||
|
||
74. It has ever been recognized that there are some people who can
|
||
never agree to work under any others. At the same time there are
|
||
also people who cannot rule justly. To those who must ever be
|
||
chief there is but one answer: "Void this Circle, and seek another
|
||
one, or if ye be of sufficient rank, then form a Circle of your
|
||
own." To those who cannot rule justly, the answer shall be
|
||
"Those who cannot bear your rule will leave you." For none may
|
||
come to Circle
|
||
with those with whom they are at variance, for to do so angers the
|
||
Gods, and hinders the Craft.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(433) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:27
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 10
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd037a
|
||
75. Those that do wrong without knowlege shall be held innocent;
|
||
those that do wrong through carelessness shall be judged lacking in
|
||
wisdom, and dealt with according to the nature of the
|
||
transgression. Those who do wrong with deliberation and
|
||
forethought shall be thrice punished, and the Lords of Karma shall
|
||
lay low their pride.
|
||
|
||
76. Each person must make a balance for their words and actions,
|
||
and the judgements of the Elders should incline to try to make good
|
||
come from the injustice or wrong-doing. Many are the ways to
|
||
restore the balance, so let the judgements of the Elders and the
|
||
Priestess be in keeping with this.
|
||
|
||
77. Do not turn aside those who seek the ways of the Wicca for the
|
||
want of an offering or the lack of a robe. You are the servants of
|
||
the Gods, and the servants of Their people, and those that seek for
|
||
the Gods you must aid in their quest.
|
||
|
||
78. Of those who would inquire as to the ways of the Goddess, or
|
||
who wish to become of the Wicca, ye shall search their hearts, and
|
||
even into their spirits you shall look, as you are able. For the
|
||
Wicca do not look to acquire mere numbers. Let none be turned away
|
||
if their hearts are true, and their desire earnest.
|
||
|
||
79. The hidden children are like the strings of a harp: each one
|
||
may give a clear note, and when gathered together in sympathy and
|
||
accord, they shall give rise to a beautiful symphony. Yet when
|
||
struck without reason or thought, these notes may cause discord or
|
||
disharmony. Therefore the Gods decree to Their Teachers and
|
||
Priests that all must be taught to master their harp, and to pluck
|
||
their strings with care, that they cause no discord or imbalance.
|
||
|
||
80. Choose the Priests and Teachers of the Wicca with diligence
|
||
and with care. The qualities that you should search for within them
|
||
are Faith, Belief, Knowledge, Ability, Patience, Leadership,
|
||
Humility, and a loving nature -- for they must lead and teach the
|
||
children of the Goddess, and will thereby have the power to do
|
||
great good, or to cause great imbalance.
|
||
|
||
81. In practice it should be that the greatest of the Priests and
|
||
Priestesses should guide the rituals within each of the Temples of
|
||
the Old Gods, and truly you should be content with the advice and
|
||
guidance given by them. Yet ever it should be given so that it is
|
||
clear and understandable, for within the Temple each of the Wicca
|
||
is free, and thus they should be able to recognize and to
|
||
understand our ways and their implications. And those who cannot
|
||
explain the inner workings, or give just cause and reason for their
|
||
decisions, may be questioned, or the wisdom of the advice weighed.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(434) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:28
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 11
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd0393
|
||
82. Let the Priestess and Priest lead as long as they are able,
|
||
and their leader
|
||
ship be wise and strong, and to the benefit of the Wicca. Yet if
|
||
their health is ill
|
||
-favo red, or if the next generation needs to try their hand, then
|
||
let them have the v
|
||
ision
|
||
and the wisdom to step away from their position, and pass the
|
||
duties of the Cir
|
||
cle t
|
||
o another. Let them not become overly attached to the office, nor
|
||
too fond of t
|
||
he po wer.
|
||
|
||
83. If a Priestess or a Priest should tire of their duties and
|
||
charges, then the
|
||
y may
|
||
step down, but only after having trained and acknowledged a
|
||
successor. If a Pr
|
||
iest
|
||
or Priestess deserts their Circle, then they have lost the right
|
||
to ever lead ag
|
||
ain w ithin this life, so great a trust they have broken. If they
|
||
should return to th
|
||
e Cir cle within one turn of the Wheel, and are judged to have true
|
||
atonement in their
|
||
hear ts, new insight and growth, then they may be forgiven, and
|
||
allowed to return to
|
||
the C ircle, yet they shall worship only, and hold no office or
|
||
title. Leadership is
|
||
a sac red commitment and an honor, and they have shown that they
|
||
cannot be trusted wit
|
||
h suc h responsibility.
|
||
|
||
84. Any Priestess, Priest, or Elder who consents to a breach of
|
||
the Laws regardi
|
||
ng th e use of the Craft to cause harm to others must immediately
|
||
be relieved of their
|
||
offi ce, for it is the lives of the children of the Goddess which
|
||
they endanger, as w
|
||
ell a s the honor of the Craft.
|
||
|
||
85. The High Priestess may take a Sabbatical from her Circle, if
|
||
her personal li
|
||
fe an d duties require it, for up to a year and a day. During that
|
||
time, the Maiden s
|
||
hall act as High Priestess. If the High Priestess does not return
|
||
at the end of a ye
|
||
ar an d a day, then the Initiates of the Circle shall name a new
|
||
Priestess. Unless th
|
||
ere i s good reason to the contrary, the person who has done the
|
||
work of the Priestess
|
||
shou ld reap the reward. If someone else is named, then the
|
||
Maiden should continue i
|
||
n tha t office.
|
||
|
||
86. Each Priestess and Priest shall choose their own consorts, yet
|
||
let them be w
|
||
ise i n the learning of our people, and thus others shall abide by
|
||
the wisdom of their
|
||
choi ce. Yet if the Circle feels the decision is ill-advised, or
|
||
that they cannot ab
|
||
ide a nd work in honor and trust with that consort, then they may
|
||
request a gathering
|
||
of al l concernted to meet and to talk, and to resolve the balance
|
||
with love and honor
|
||
. Fo r only those who are pure and strong, keen and wise, patient
|
||
and loving, can eff
|
||
ectiv ely and properly carry out the duties of a Keeper of the
|
||
Circle.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(435) Wed 29 Jun 88 0:29
|
||
By: L.a. Hussey
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: New Book o' Law 12
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10dd03ac
|
||
87. Those of the Priesthood shall not neglect their mates, or
|
||
their children, or
|
||
thei r house, nor anything which is in their possession; nor shall
|
||
the sick and the n
|
||
eedy be neglected for the sake of the Circle. Therefore let them
|
||
adjust the one thin
|
||
g aga inst the other, that neither should suffer, and that which is
|
||
given by the Gods
|
||
is tr eated with love and respect.
|
||
|
||
88. Long ago, at the time of Creation, it was deemed that the
|
||
female should hold
|
||
the power of life-giving. And such was the male force drawn to
|
||
the love and beauty
|
||
of th e Creation of life, that he surrenders unto her keeping the
|
||
force of his powers
|
||
in th e furtherance of life. Yet the Priestess must always
|
||
remember that the fuel of
|
||
the f lames which light the fires within her Temple comes from the
|
||
Priest. Thus she m
|
||
ust u se the force wisely, and only with love, and she must honor
|
||
and respect he who i
|
||
s the
|
||
activator of the Life Force.
|
||
|
||
HERE ENDS THE NEW BOOK OF THE LAW.
|
||
|
||
Published by: The Grove of the Unicorn PO Box 13384 Atlanta, GA
|
||
30324
|
||
|
||
Ordering Information: Send Legal size SASE A small contribution
|
||
towards printing/handling costs will be appreciated.
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
---------
|
||
|
||
To this I would add only one more admonishment, based on my own
|
||
experience: It is as important not to take oneself, one's power,
|
||
and one's Craft too seriously as it is not to take them too
|
||
lightly. Moderation in all things, including moderation. And
|
||
remember that all acts of love and pleasure are the rites of the
|
||
Goddess, and this includes HAVING FUN.
|
||
|
||
B*B Leigh Ann
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(436) Thu 30 Jun 88 9:55
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Liber OZ
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 10de4ef6
|
||
|
||
|
||
Oz:
|
||
"the law of
|
||
the strong;
|
||
this is our law
|
||
and the joy
|
||
of the world."
|
||
AL. II. 21
|
||
|
||
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
|
||
-AL. I. 40
|
||
|
||
"thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other
|
||
shall say nay." - AL. I. 42-3.
|
||
|
||
"Every man and every woman is a star."--AL. I. 3.
|
||
|
||
There is no god but man.
|
||
|
||
1. Man has the right to live by his own law--
|
||
to live in the way that he wills to do:
|
||
to work as he will:
|
||
to play as he will:
|
||
to rest as he will;
|
||
to die when and how he will.
|
||
|
||
2. Man has the right to eat what he will:
|
||
to drink what he will:
|
||
to dwell where he will:
|
||
to move as he will on the face of the earth.
|
||
|
||
3. Man has the right to think what he will:
|
||
to speak what he will:
|
||
to write what he will:
|
||
to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will:
|
||
to dress as he will:
|
||
|
||
4. Man has the right to love as he will:
|
||
"take your fill and will of love as ye will,
|
||
when, where, and with whom ye will."--AL. I. 51.
|
||
|
||
5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.
|
||
"the slaves shall serve." -- AL. II. 58
|
||
|
||
"Love is the law, love under will."--AL. I. 57
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(437) Fri 1 Jul 88 12:06
|
||
By: Brad Hicks
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: If You Had Told Me 3 PSGs Ago ...
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 22cc6714
|
||
IF YOU HAD TOLD ME 3 PSG'S AGO ...
|
||
|
||
* that there wasn't going to be a ritual fire * that all of the
|
||
parties would be over by 2 a.m. * that I'd see a horde of ecstatic
|
||
dancers prancing around two candles * that we could lose about half
|
||
of our regulars without the population decreasing noticeably * that
|
||
there'd be no applause between announcements in the Village Meeting
|
||
* that the drumming would all but stop most nights around midnight
|
||
* that there'd be seven crowded tracks of programming * that
|
||
there'd be no potluck * that we would hear no amplified rock-n-roll
|
||
music in the evenings * that we could get about half of the
|
||
Gathering to all wear the same uniform (in this case, tie-die) *
|
||
that Selena would suggest that a nine-inch plastic Statue of
|
||
Liberty would be an adequate substitute for a Solstice ritual
|
||
fire--and say it with a straight face * that we'd someday see
|
||
people stand in line--to use a microphone, no less--to make
|
||
announcements at the Village Meeting * that there'd be only a few
|
||
people in SCA garb * that even after midnight, most people would be
|
||
sober * that there'd someday be only two people in Ar nDraiocht
|
||
Fein uniforms * that we could have a PSG with no bonfires at all *
|
||
that there'd be no Variety Show * that we could go a whole week
|
||
without seeing glazed eyes and dialated pupils * that there'd be
|
||
not one but several flashlight-lit processionals * that we'd see a
|
||
member of the staff of a state Governor wearing a spirit bag and
|
||
leading a workshop * that almost no one would sing "Give Me That
|
||
(Real) Old Time Religion" * that a men's mysteries ritual would be
|
||
on the schedule, but not women's mysteries * that we'd have dozens
|
||
of small children, but almost no teenagers * that people could and
|
||
would walk out of an energized circle in the main evening ritual *
|
||
that a computer bulletin board sysop would be considered a "group
|
||
leader" for the purpose of the Group Leader's session * that
|
||
someone would bring a computer to the PSG--and use it * that the
|
||
Med Tent wouldn't be talking about sex all the time--that instead
|
||
they'd be talking about when they used to talk about sex * that
|
||
almost nobody would be skyclad, most of the time--but that Dennis
|
||
would * that we'd have someone selling pyramids and another person
|
||
leading a UFO contactee's "support group" * that every member of
|
||
the Gathering's security detail would make a point of carrying
|
||
swords * that there'd be so little screwing that even Shiva was
|
||
only seen coming out of one tent * that the people at the Village
|
||
Meeting would all sit facing the same direction instead of in
|
||
concentric circles, and that there'd be no arguments during the
|
||
Village Meetings, and that they'd end mostly on time * that there'd
|
||
be almost no rituals except the ones scheduled for the main,
|
||
official evening rituals * that the Summer Solstice wouldn't even
|
||
be during the PSG *
|
||
|
||
... I WOULD'VE SAID THAT YOU WERE CRAZY.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(438) Thu 7 Jul 88 17:29
|
||
By: Brad Hicks
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Welcome to METAPHYSICAL
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 22d50619
|
||
MAGICKNET, MUNDANE, and METAPHYSICAL are semi-restricted echos.
|
||
This message is intended to serve as a periodic reminder of those
|
||
rules. It is a =summary=, so for more details please see the file
|
||
MAG-POL.TXT or MAG-POL.ARC, which should be available on any BBS
|
||
which carries this echo.
|
||
|
||
DEFINITIONS OF THE ECHOS:
|
||
|
||
MAGICKNET: This is the normal Neopaganism, Witchcraft & Magick
|
||
echo. Newcomers and the casually curious are welcome, and any topic
|
||
relevant to Neopaganism, Witchcraft, Magick, the New Age, or Pagan
|
||
Rights may be discussed here. Discussions of only marginal
|
||
relevance to the topic(s) will be strongly encouraged to move to
|
||
MUNDANE.
|
||
|
||
METAPHYSICAL: Only messages of magazine-article quality should
|
||
be posted in Metaphysical. Replies to articles posted in
|
||
METAPHYSICAL should be posted in MAGICKNET. Each and every sysop
|
||
is responsible for enforcing this rule on their own system, and
|
||
users who are not trusted to follow this rule should =not= be
|
||
permitted to post to this echo. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should
|
||
unvalidated, first-time callers be permitted to post in METAPHYSICAL.
|
||
|
||
MUNDANE: This echo is a general-purpose chatter channel which
|
||
was created so that MAGICKNET echo participants could continue any
|
||
conversation that was ruled irrelevant to MAGICKNET.
|
||
|
||
|
||
RULES FOR ALL MAGICKNET ECHOS:
|
||
|
||
1) All nodes which make these echos available to the public or
|
||
which distribute them to other systems =must= carry all three echos.
|
||
|
||
2) Any node which is carrying these echos legally may distribute
|
||
it LOCALLY, but must inform Brad Hicks, at 1:100/523, as soon as
|
||
they do so.
|
||
3) No node shall distribute these echos outside their local
|
||
calling area without first obtaining permission from Brad Hicks, at
|
||
1:100/523.
|
||
|
||
4) No message which is blatantly illegal in content shall be
|
||
entered into the MagickNet echos. The only exception will be for
|
||
messages regarding legitimate religious practices or beliefs which
|
||
are or may be made illegal.
|
||
|
||
5) No message which is intended to harrass someone because of
|
||
their religious beliefs, or to convert them to another religion,
|
||
shall be entered into any of the MagickNet echos. No exceptions
|
||
will be made to this rule, even in the MUNDANE echo.
|
||
|
||
6) No message which is irrelevant to the topics of Neopaganism,
|
||
Witchcraft, and Magick shall be entered into MAGICKNET or into
|
||
METAPHYSICAL. For this rule, a warning will be issued, and in
|
||
general the conversation will be permitted to continue in the
|
||
MUNDANE echo.
|
||
|
||
7) No message which contains unnecessary profanity or personal
|
||
insults shall be entered into any of the MagickNet echos. Only one
|
||
warning will be issued to any violator. This includes messages in
|
||
the MUNDANE echo.
|
||
|
||
ENFORCEMENT
|
||
|
||
In brief: each sysop is responsible for his or her own users, and
|
||
must ensure that users which violate any of the above rules will
|
||
not post to MagickNet on that system ever again. If a sysop breaks
|
||
these rules, their "feed" for the echo will be instructed to cut
|
||
them out. From then on, any system which distributes the echo to
|
||
the evicted system will itself be evicted.
|
||
|
||
LEGAL NODES
|
||
|
||
Only the following FidoNet nodes are carrying the echo in
|
||
accordance with all of the above: 100/523, 104/610, 104/18,
|
||
102/744, 107/539, 104/20, 104/93, 104/55, 104/739, 104/904,
|
||
109/728, 109/115, 109/712, 363/9, 141/222, 141/375, 322/210,
|
||
101/115, 101/196, 101/667, 15/7, 366/221, 366/222, 382/7, 382/1,
|
||
382/2, 161/93, 102/862, 103/602, 103/501, 103/507, 103/503,
|
||
107/293, 107/416, 161/414, 282/341, 106/117, 124/109, 124/106,
|
||
124/214, 137/12, 139/640, 147/4, 163/32, 163/523. If your system
|
||
is not included in this list, then contact me AT ONCE.
|
||
|
||
- J. Brad Hicks, 1:100/523
|
||
MagickNet Coordinator
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(439) Mon 11 Jul 88 11:48
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Basic Astrology Precept
|
||
St: Pvt
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1eec 10eb5e0c
|
||
The basic precept of Astrology has been summed up with the
|
||
phrase
|
||
"As Above, So Below." What is displayed in the heavens is said to
|
||
be
|
||
mimicked on Earth.
|
||
|
||
Astrologers once believed that the planets, luminaries, and
|
||
stars
|
||
introduced a force or influence upon earthly creatures and
|
||
events.
|
||
One may easily imagine a Wise Man (or Woman, aka. the
|
||
Essenes)
|
||
standing on his palatial balcony in 5,000 B.C.E., gazing intently
|
||
up
|
||
at the night sky, carefully noting the passage of heavenly
|
||
bodies.
|
||
These notes would then be compared to the events of the
|
||
Kingdom,
|
||
realm, of region.
|
||
|
||
If events of the current period matched previous events, the
|
||
Magi
|
||
would expect similar planetary configurations in the heavens. If
|
||
the
|
||
events of the period were original, careful notes would be made
|
||
for
|
||
future study. These notes would of necessity been closely guarded
|
||
and
|
||
secret, least they fall into the hands of a rival.
|
||
|
||
There are accounts of Wise Men (Magi, Astrologer, same thing)
|
||
who
|
||
gained great power through contrived, controlling predictions
|
||
that
|
||
were not later born out in reality. These gentlemen and women
|
||
usually
|
||
lost their heads, but many lost their gonads- quite literally.
|
||
Job
|
||
security fell to those who new their profession well or could
|
||
talk
|
||
very fast.
|
||
|
||
Many religious cults, as cults today, frowned upon
|
||
astrology
|
||
schools. The students were not conforming to what was
|
||
religiously
|
||
demanded of them by those in power, and were often hacked to
|
||
pieces
|
||
for their efforts.
|
||
|
||
There is a story told by a woman who was "regressed" to a
|
||
"past
|
||
life," where she was a Astrology student. Those who were in her
|
||
group
|
||
were all male youths under the tutelage of one purple robed
|
||
Teacher.
|
||
Late one night while they were going about their business learning
|
||
the
|
||
Hieros Logoi (sacred accounts), another group who practiced
|
||
religious
|
||
intolerance decided to do a little butchering the same night.
|
||
|
||
The astrology students were castrated and left to die.
|
||
|
||
If this account is true or not, the point is the same: If
|
||
they
|
||
had spent more time considering earthly events (staying in
|
||
the
|
||
Present), they may have been able to avoid the horror that
|
||
night.
|
||
(They might have gone out for pizza instead).
|
||
|
||
Around the time Rome was being built, those in power thought
|
||
it a
|
||
good idea to marry off the Goddess (the Triple Lunar Goddess) to
|
||
their
|
||
Air Gods. With the patriarchy taking power, something had to be
|
||
done
|
||
to diminish the Goddess in the eyes of mankind, and make
|
||
Her
|
||
subservient to the Male. Thus the goddess Juno was conceived,
|
||
who
|
||
would be the "goddess of marriage."
|
||
|
||
Juno was married off to Zeus, who didn't believe he was bound
|
||
to
|
||
any marriage vows and liked to frolic in any and all
|
||
pastures
|
||
available, begetting sons by the score. No other goddess has
|
||
been
|
||
hurt by marriage more than Juno.
|
||
|
||
To make the profane act of marriage complete, a new Sign
|
||
was
|
||
added to the Zodiac. Libra, which is said to rule marriage as well
|
||
as
|
||
relationships in general, was the twelfth Sign placed in the
|
||
popular
|
||
Zodiac. The Wise Men (and Women) of this period thus had to
|
||
alter
|
||
their methods and ways of thinking.
|
||
|
||
The oldest known astrology "chart" only had eight signs.
|
||
House
|
||
systems were added later. It was square, and the planetary bodies
|
||
had
|
||
to be placed precisely on the paper so that a straight edged
|
||
graduated
|
||
"ruler" could be used to determine aspects. It seems that the
|
||
"equal"
|
||
or "fixed" house system was the one used.
|
||
|
||
With the advent of "houses," the astrologer could determine
|
||
which
|
||
arena of life was to be involved. It seems reasonable that the
|
||
number
|
||
of houses should match the number of Signs in the Zodiac,
|
||
right?
|
||
Well, not really. There were usually eight houses used, even when
|
||
the
|
||
number of Signs grew to twelve.
|
||
|
||
Today the most popular methods of Astrology use twelve Signs
|
||
and
|
||
houses, using the Tropical Zodiac in the West, Geocentric
|
||
(Earth
|
||
centered). There are many variations available. One may
|
||
use
|
||
Heliocentric (Sun centered) astrology, or use the Sidereal
|
||
Zodiac
|
||
(which takes into account the precession of the Equinox).
|
||
|
||
There are many popular houses systems in use today as
|
||
well.
|
||
Porphyrus (spelling differs) was a poet, astrologer, and scholar
|
||
in
|
||
ancient times. He came up with a house system called
|
||
"Porphyry,"
|
||
though I don't know anyone who uses it.
|
||
|
||
Most astrologers today tend to believe that the heavenly
|
||
bodies
|
||
do not reach down and push us about. Rather, the planets,
|
||
luminaries,
|
||
and stars "mimic" Earthly events. Synchronistic in nature,
|
||
they
|
||
corollate instead of dictate. This hands one's fate back to
|
||
the
|
||
individual, to augment or squander as one sees fit. The
|
||
slight
|
||
comfort of Fate has been replaced by responsibility for one's
|
||
actions.
|
||
|
||
A few astrologers still portend death and destruction from
|
||
the
|
||
"astrological chart." This mode of thinking (a belief pattern
|
||
based
|
||
on preconceived ideas) is almost extinct. One may stay on the
|
||
rail
|
||
road tracks, deeming it "fate" has said one must be mashed by
|
||
the
|
||
train, or one may say "Screw it," and step to the side and let
|
||
fate
|
||
pass. It is one's right and responsibility to take charge of
|
||
one's
|
||
life events.
|
||
|
||
Still, one always has the right to be squashed by one's
|
||
"trains."
|
||
If you refuse to drink, you are allowed to die of thirst. It's
|
||
your
|
||
right.
|
||
|
||
The perceptions of "Fate Versus Free Will" seems to lean
|
||
towards
|
||
"free will" for the individual in the current astrological
|
||
community,
|
||
but the question of the "Fate of Nations," and the rulers of
|
||
Nations,
|
||
is still hotly disputed.
|
||
|
||
There are arguments that a Nation must follow what is
|
||
"Fated,"
|
||
and that those closely connected to that Nation are heavily
|
||
minified
|
||
in their rights to act freely. It is well documented that a Nation
|
||
in
|
||
trouble always produces a single individual to correct the problem.
|
||
|
||
Abe Lincoln believed in Fate, and was said to know when he
|
||
would
|
||
die and how. Did he have the Right to choose? Since he was
|
||
closely
|
||
connected to the United States and the Civil War, I doubt it.
|
||
|
||
Kennedy chose to ignore warnings from "psychics," we've been
|
||
told
|
||
to believe, and ended up slaughtered on national
|
||
television,
|
||
presumably by the hand of Cuba, Castro. But did he have a choice?
|
||
I
|
||
believe not.
|
||
|
||
Someone ponderously, corpulently, grossly into
|
||
religious
|
||
intolerance mentioned to me that "The One True God destroys
|
||
Nations,"
|
||
while individuals destroy themselves, I will add. Bending his idea
|
||
of
|
||
"God" to a non anthropomorphic deity, we could say that "The
|
||
Universe"
|
||
takes care of nations and leaves the individual to fend for her or
|
||
his
|
||
self.
|
||
|
||
Astrology does not predict. It points to probabilities,
|
||
not
|
||
unequivocal, assured events. Any likely event can be
|
||
circumnavigated
|
||
if one knows about it first. This is why I believe Astrology to
|
||
be
|
||
the single most useful tool for taking responsibility for one's life.
|
||
|
||
The question "Is Astrology valid?" is one that I cannot
|
||
answer
|
||
competently. It is always best to question everything, and
|
||
take
|
||
nothing as it is offered (without the arena of astrology as well
|
||
as
|
||
within). I leave this question to others for exploration.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Document 3 in Astr-4.0
|
||
|
||
David Rice 7/11/88
|
||
unar Goddess) to their
|
||
Air Gods. With the patriarchy taking power, something had to be
|
||
done
|
||
to diminish the
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 The Lesbian Dorm (Opus 1:103/503)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(440) Mon 11 Jul 88 12:12
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Is Astrology valid?
|
||
St: Pvt
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1eec 10eb6184
|
||
|
||
Astrology?
|
||
|
||
"This is a joke, right?" someone asked me when I showed him
|
||
the labels I developed for Astr-4.0. I had said that I planned
|
||
on mailing a copy to President Ronald Reagan and Wife. After
|
||
assuring him that my many months of hard work on this program was
|
||
no joke, I started to wonder.
|
||
|
||
Is Astrology valid? How in the hell can it be, when no
|
||
logical scientific vehicle can be found to account for an alleged
|
||
astrological influence? This question has been asked by
|
||
thousands of men and women throughout history, with few receiving
|
||
an answer they can be comfortable with.
|
||
|
||
"It's synchronism, like Jung taught," some opinion. "As
|
||
Above, so below," others say. "On Earth as it is in Heaven,"
|
||
Jesus was said to tell us. Many have offered opinions such as
|
||
different dimensions, ethers, subtle radiation, gravity waves,
|
||
and propagating vectors. Most look for a physical means by which
|
||
to prove astrological influences.
|
||
|
||
But can astrology be proven as valid? The mind of humankind
|
||
often holds onto ideas and beliefs long after they are obsolete
|
||
or no longer valid (bigotry, over compensatory defence
|
||
mechanisms, religious intolerance, etc.). This tends to
|
||
invalidate the argument that "If it wasn't valid Astrology
|
||
wouldn't have lasted 5,000 years." Humans have been killing each
|
||
other for sport for at least that long, which seems rather
|
||
anti-survival, so the age of an event or belief cannot make it a
|
||
viable one.
|
||
|
||
"I know it works. My clients are very satisfied with the
|
||
results," is a major argument made for astrology. But valid
|
||
though it may be for the individual, it does not offer any means
|
||
for proof. Satisfaction cannot be placed on a scale to be
|
||
weighed and measured. It only offers subjective opinion at best,
|
||
where the mind is fraught with mental gymnastics consciously or
|
||
otherwise.
|
||
|
||
These days there are very many astrologers doing "research."
|
||
I put the word between quotes because their methods show a very
|
||
poor understanding of scientific inquiry and methodology at best
|
||
for the most part. Some "researchers" into astrology often have
|
||
"significant results" at times, only to have duplication by
|
||
another team fail.
|
||
|
||
Homosexuality and astrological indicators of homosexuality
|
||
has been sought for hundreds of years. There have been many
|
||
astrologers who have come up with indicators that "prove" their
|
||
method works, only to have their method fail when another
|
||
astrologer tries it. (Most astrologers now know that
|
||
homosexuality cannot be deduced from the chart, but some still
|
||
try.)
|
||
|
||
Astrology is NOT predictive. An astrologer cannot say "You
|
||
have Sun in the XII and Venus in the IX Square Mars in the VI, so
|
||
you're going to be fat and bald by age 32."
|
||
|
||
There is a story told by an astrologer about a client who
|
||
came to her for advice. The client had never been to an
|
||
astrologer, and expected the astrologer to know all about her
|
||
(the client) just by reading her chart. After the client said
|
||
several times "Well, can't you tell?" the astrologer called for a
|
||
break to give her client a short spill about astrology.
|
||
|
||
"Astrology cannot tell me that your husband's name was John,
|
||
and that he died in the Navy in 1943, and that you have a son
|
||
who's in the army over seas, and that your son is getting married
|
||
next week. It just isn't possible."
|
||
|
||
The client looked up at the astrologer and said "But all
|
||
that's correct. . . ."
|
||
|
||
This story may or may not be true. The point is, astrology
|
||
is not predictive. It only suggests, and points a direction for
|
||
further questing.
|
||
|
||
Astrology is an art form. As such, the astrologer may make
|
||
up her or his own rules, and apply them as she or he sees fit.
|
||
What works for one astrologer may not work for another. That's
|
||
why there are so many house systems, and even zodiacs! One's
|
||
reality is up to one's self, and what one makes of it. There are
|
||
no rules to astrology. If you don't like the way something is
|
||
done, try something new.
|
||
|
||
The houses don't have to be numbered counter clockwise. If
|
||
you, the astrologer, want the houses to go clockwise, that's
|
||
fine. It's up to you. I don't presume to tell an artist to use
|
||
the colors and tools I prefer. If you don't want houses, leave
|
||
them out. If you don't like Virgo, leave it out too. See what I
|
||
mean? Your craft, your rules.
|
||
|
||
I had written an article called "Asteroids I'd Like To See."
|
||
I gave them a name, a suggested meaning, and a suggested
|
||
interpretation. "RAMBO" of course meaning that anyone with it on
|
||
their Moon likes to sweat a lot and shoot people, preferable
|
||
many, many times. "STUPIDITY" is an asteroid whose meaning, no
|
||
doubt, you can probably figure out, unless it's on your Sun.
|
||
|
||
The point? If I had given these made up asteroids
|
||
ephemerides of their own, I feel they would be valid in every
|
||
chart I draw up! They would be valid for me, and they could take
|
||
directions, progressions, etc., and accurately time events.
|
||
|
||
They might even work in your charts as well, if you like
|
||
them. If you didn't like them, and thought they couldn't
|
||
possibly "work," they wouldn't. They'd just sit there like an
|
||
ink smudge on your chart and refuse to perform.
|
||
|
||
And this is the heart of why astrology cannot be proven.
|
||
Art, as is life and love, is always and forever only in the mind
|
||
of humankind. It cannot be measured, sliced, examined, or put
|
||
under a microscope. Indeed, it cannot even be taught. Astrology
|
||
is an art form, and as such is beyond laws, rules, and
|
||
restrictions.
|
||
|
||
With Astr-4.0 you have the brush and canvas. Please, go
|
||
paint.
|
||
|
||
David Rice
|
||
Document 2 Astr-4.0
|
||
, subtle radiation, gravity wav
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 The Lesbian Dorm (Opus 1:103/503)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(441) Sun 10 Jul 88 22:54
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Re: Tarot Cards
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....Brad Hicks (100/523)
|
||
* Original: TO.......L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:0 22d855d6
|
||
LAH> I'd be interested to know what you didn't like.
|
||
|
||
More than that: my critique. I'm no tarot genius, but I've studied
|
||
a bit. Here are my opinions.
|
||
|
||
[References first: the cards themself are in a MacPaint/ReadMac
|
||
file called MAJ-ARC.MAC on WeirdBase. I will primarily compare
|
||
them with the Rider-Waite major arcana, but will also make
|
||
references to the Fantasy Showcase deck because I like it, and to
|
||
the Morgan Robbins deck because this one reminds me of it in spots.]
|
||
|
||
OVERALL #1: As I see it, you have attempted throughout to update
|
||
the standard Tarot symbolism to Neopagan religious symbolism.
|
||
Sometimes this works, sometimes I question it. For example, ALL of
|
||
the figures in the Major Arcana look young to me, even when it's
|
||
not necessarily appropriate (such as the Empress, the Emperor, the
|
||
Moon). OK, the Hermit looks old - maybe.
|
||
|
||
OVERALL #2: Oh, and I like the crescent-moon motif that you worked
|
||
into the explicitly feminine cards (The Priestess, The Empress, The
|
||
Moon). Why no similar, solar emblem for the explicitly masculine
|
||
cards (The Magician, The Emperor, The Hanged Man)?
|
||
|
||
OVERALL #3: One of the meditation tricks that I picked up from
|
||
A.E. Waite is to think of the 22 Major Arcana as a Story, and work
|
||
from card to card following the storyline as best you can. I
|
||
perceive that this is much harder with your deck. I also note
|
||
(without criticism) that your cards don't seem to quite so strictly
|
||
follow the Qabalistic attributions - am I wrong? And being mostly
|
||
ignorant of QBL, and weak on Astrology, the attributions in the
|
||
corners could probably stand commentary and explanation for me.
|
||
|
||
0) THE FOOL - Quite different! I'd like to hear your explanation
|
||
for your choice of that image for that card; I can effortlessly
|
||
relate to the idea of, as Kim quoted when she saw it, "The face we
|
||
wear to meet the faces we meet," and think it's a valid
|
||
contribution as a tarot card: I'm uncertain it belongs in the Major
|
||
Arcana and it seems to me unrelated to The Fool. Would you explain
|
||
this one further to me?
|
||
|
||
I) THE MAGICIAN - Nice, in a modern sort of way. Is the similarity
|
||
between the Ferris wheel in the background and the Whirling Golden
|
||
Wheel of the Morgan Robbins, as a symbol of endless (and
|
||
profitless) motion, intentional? By putting the Magician against a
|
||
carnival background, are you comparing him to the Prestidigitator,
|
||
the OTHER kind of magic? The "balancing the elements" aspect is
|
||
kinda nice - is it intentional that they both show a masculine
|
||
symbol over, and in suggestive relationship to, a feminine symbol?
|
||
Also, what is the symbolism of the snake that is entwined around
|
||
this wand? I do like the way you've worked the Cosmic Lemniscate
|
||
into the figure, by the way.
|
||
|
||
II) THE PRIESTESS - Portrayed as a modern female Neopagan Witch. I
|
||
have absolutely nothing bad to say about this card. Wonderful!
|
||
Oh, minor 1-pixel nit - the athame is one-sided. (BFD, right?)
|
||
The two pillars as two kinds of tree (Oak and Ash?) is a subtle
|
||
effect, and I can't make up my mind if YOU have made up your mind
|
||
to preserve the "temple pillar" symbols of the RW.
|
||
|
||
III) THE EMPRESS - Portrayed as the Earth Mother. Remarkably like
|
||
the (simpler) portrayal in the Fantasy Showcase. I like it.
|
||
|
||
IV) THE EMPEROR - I take this card to be Herne/Lugh, the solar God
|
||
of the Hunt. It makes a nice, pagan pairing to The Empress. But
|
||
(first peeve!) you've robbed me of a perfectly functional tarot card!
|
||
|
||
The standard Emperor has a lot to do with EMPIRE, with monarchical
|
||
patriarchal government. One of the things I especially =like=
|
||
about my Fantasy Showcase deck is Trump IV, which makes the
|
||
death-linked, warlike, and ruthless aspect of Government blatant.
|
||
This is an important symbol, and one that is appropriate (and
|
||
frequently useful, and sometimes necessary) in many readings. What
|
||
=shall= I use for such a symbol in the future?
|
||
|
||
V) THE PRIEST - I have the same complaint with this card that I
|
||
have with The Emperor. The Hierophant in the Rider-Waite to me
|
||
represents the sterility (but stability, and power) of ORGANIZED
|
||
religion. Again, I like the fact that the Fantasy Showcase makes
|
||
this coldness and sterility more blatant; but between them these
|
||
two cards symbolize Patriarchy to me.
|
||
|
||
Of course, I will grant that as displayed, you have an interesting
|
||
pantheon of Maiden (The Priestess), Mother (The Empress) and Crone
|
||
(The Moon) matching with the Hunter/Warrior (The Emperor), The
|
||
Priest, and the Wise Man (The Hermit). But in the process, it
|
||
seems to me that you've (a) stripped the Major Arcana of villains
|
||
and (b) tangled a lot of inter-card relationships.
|
||
|
||
VI) THE LOVERS - This may be the best card in the lot. I have
|
||
nothing but good to say about this card. I am in Love with The
|
||
Lovers.
|
||
|
||
Oh, now that I think about it, I =do= have a nit to pick - but it's
|
||
more appropriate that I cover it under XV, Intemperance.
|
||
|
||
VII) THE CHARIOT - To me, the Chariot represents relentless
|
||
oncoming motion; traditonally the unstoppable force of War. I
|
||
cannot for the life of me guess what your Chariot is supposed to
|
||
represent.
|
||
|
||
VIII) STRENGTH - Remember the Cuteness Tarot? That lion looks like
|
||
Hello Kitty with a mouth. Strength represents (to cop a familiar
|
||
Judeao-Christian symbol) Daniel in the Lion's Den - the triumph of
|
||
Harmlessness and Spirituality over the hungry, "powerful" predator.
|
||
That lion doesn't look at all like a predator, and to me that robs
|
||
Strength of much of its impressiveness. It is pretty, though. Or
|
||
are you proposing a whole new symbol for Strength?
|
||
|
||
IX) THE HERMIT - Traditionally, the Hermit resembles Diogenes
|
||
searching endlessly by the light of the Lantern of Truth; endlessly
|
||
and hopelessly because the wisdom he accumulates will never be the
|
||
Wisdom he seeks. You may go to the Hermit for Wisdom; what you'll
|
||
get is wisdom without the capital-W - which is more useful and
|
||
real, but still not what you wanted. Sage and wise, at rest
|
||
before the Flame of Truth, and surrounded by a powerful and
|
||
beautiful aura, your Hermit looks to much to me like someone who
|
||
has achieved Capital-W Wisdom. But this may be a matter of taste.
|
||
|
||
Continued next message ...
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(442) Sun 10 Jul 88 22:56
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Re: Tarot Cards
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....Brad Hicks (100/523)
|
||
* Original: TO.......L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:0 22d855d8
|
||
... continued from previous message
|
||
|
||
X) THE WHEEL - From a traditional standpoint, I cannot criticize
|
||
this card much. Oh, the three emblematic figures around the
|
||
Rider-Waite Wheel seem more PERSONAL to me, but I can learn to
|
||
attribute personal ebb and flow to the seasons if I try. Unrelated
|
||
question: if you are converting to Neopagan symbolism, why keep the
|
||
Four Evangelists? Wouldn't the standard emblems for the elements be
|
||
better?
|
||
|
||
XI) JUSTICE - I love this card. I have nothing bad to say about it
|
||
at all. Beautiful, meaningful, appropriate.
|
||
|
||
XII) THE HANGED [MAN] - I'm afraid I cannot translate the runes
|
||
around his head, so I'm sure I'm missing something. Assuming that
|
||
this is Odin hanging from Ygdrassil, then perhaps the missing eye
|
||
(which I didn't notice until about the eight time I looked at this)
|
||
should be more obvious - maybe substitute a straight line for the
|
||
empty socket, the represent the eyelids swollen shut? Oh, and
|
||
isn't this guy a bit young to be the All-Father?
|
||
|
||
XIII) DEATH - The Rider-Waite displays Death as the Ultimate
|
||
Democrat, taking down King and Priest and Peasant all. This is an
|
||
aspect of Death that I can live without, and your Death as the
|
||
birth canal (I assume the vulval shape is deliberate?) is very much
|
||
in keeping with the traditional teachings on reincarnation. (Shame
|
||
I don't really believe in it.)
|
||
|
||
XIV) TEMPERANCE - Portrayed as Apollo. A bit juiceless, this card
|
||
lacks the impact of some of the others. It is, however, perfectly
|
||
appropriate.
|
||
|
||
XV) INTEMPERANCE - In the Rider-Waite, Trump XV is The Devil. I
|
||
can understand why you wanted to expunge this symbol (just as I see
|
||
why you expunged the Last Judgement, number XX). But I miss the
|
||
parallel between this card and V, the Lovers. I also like the
|
||
message that the "chains" of Lust are illusionary, that we can slip
|
||
them off when Lust is less appropriate than Love. (If you never
|
||
noticed this, look at the chains around the necks of the figures
|
||
"chained to the Devil" - they're both quite loose, and could be
|
||
slipped off easily.) It also made sense numerically for 5 and 15
|
||
to be related. On the flip side, your Dionysus makes a similar
|
||
parallel/contrast to/with XIV, Temperance/Apollo. There is
|
||
complexity here that I will have to meditate on.
|
||
|
||
XVI) THE TOWER - Simple and direct. Minor nit - the human figures
|
||
falling from the top lent identification to the image. Can/will
|
||
you work them back in?
|
||
|
||
XVII) THE STAR - You have portrayed the Star as the intersection of
|
||
Sun and Moon. I don't really like that, I think. Feel free to
|
||
speak at length in favor of your reinterpretation (it's your deck,
|
||
after all), but I much, much prefer the personification of Sirius,
|
||
bridging land, sea, and sky in radiant, sexual beauty, as shown in
|
||
Rider-Waite and portrayed SO beautifully in the Fantasy Showcase.
|
||
|
||
XVIII) THE MOON - The Cauldron of Cerydwen is a beautiful lunar
|
||
symbol, and I much prefer it to the traditional card.
|
||
|
||
XIX) THE SUN - I do not understand the symbolism of this card at
|
||
all. Could you explain it to me? I'm especially curious why you
|
||
didn't use the Yule Child as a straight-forward adaptation,
|
||
especially since some of your symbolism (the lemniscate on I, the
|
||
pillars on II, and the evangelists on X) are =more= traditional
|
||
than need be.
|
||
|
||
XX) THE PHOENIX - This could stand to be drawn a bit better
|
||
(perhaps a more flame-like flame) to make it look a bit less
|
||
cartoony, but I like the substitution of this card for The Last
|
||
Judgement.
|
||
|
||
XXI) THE WORLD - As with The Sun, I think I'm missing the point on
|
||
this one.
|
||
|
||
P.S. Nice self-portrait on card III. Is IV supposed to be David?
|
||
(Hard to tell with that helmet on.)
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(443) Sun 17 Jul 88 8:26
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Re: Tarot Cards
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Original: TO.......Brad Hicks (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:524a 10f1434e
|
||
Good-oh, here are my responses to your critiques, point by point, as
|
||
you made them.
|
||
|
||
First of all, I have one major disclaimer to make. I am not an
|
||
artist. I never have been. I possibly never will be. I know my
|
||
stuff looks cartoonish sometimes, but that's only because it's the
|
||
best I can do at the moment. The Mac has gone a long way toward
|
||
liberating my graphic arts, but there's still a long way to go. Any
|
||
inadequacies in the artwork, and any problems that arise because of
|
||
them (ie the Hermit not looking old, the lion not looking like a
|
||
lion)
|
||
I would please ask you to indulge.
|
||
|
||
OVERALL #1: There's no reason why the Emperor or Empress should look
|
||
old. Mature, yes, old no. The Hermit does look old (or should); so
|
||
does the Moon. Those hollow cheeks and white hair have nothing to
|
||
do
|
||
with malnutrition. I don't know what you think I could do to make
|
||
Odhin any older looking; if he were a really old and decrepit
|
||
figure,
|
||
I couldn't see him even trying the ordeal on the Tree.
|
||
|
||
OVERALL #2: Thanks. I knew the Triple Goddess was in the cards
|
||
somehow, but never could place the Crone until I realised She was
|
||
the
|
||
Moon. As for solar symbols for the explicitly masculine cards,
|
||
well,
|
||
I don't associate the Mage with masculinity for starters. Coyote
|
||
(as
|
||
the Mage is depicted in the Native American deck) could be male or
|
||
female; Mercury was often depicted somewhat androgynously. The sort
|
||
of adeptness/artfulness I associate with the Mage is not specific to
|
||
men. The Emperor, who is explicitly male, does have the sun on his
|
||
breastplate. The Hanged is not a solar card, but more of a
|
||
Saturnian
|
||
card.
|
||
|
||
OVERALL #3: I don't read the Majors as a story, so maybe that's part
|
||
of the problem. The Majors are archetypal forces, which is why I
|
||
reject the "villain" associations for Emperor and Priest -- such
|
||
petty
|
||
associations have more to do with the Minors than with the energy of
|
||
the Majors which is beyond good and evil or any other human moral
|
||
categories, including political correctness.
|
||
|
||
THE FOOL - He's the Tabula Rasa, the blank slate. He could be
|
||
either
|
||
face, or neither. He's at the beginning of the road (can you pick
|
||
out
|
||
the tiny direction pointer?); the traditional cliff is off in a
|
||
corner, by the way.
|
||
|
||
THE MAGICIAN - Yeah, you got it. I wanted him to be ambiguous, as
|
||
though Coyote or Hermes took on the job of prestidigitator at the
|
||
local sideshow -- hence the halo ("Gee, Mabel, 'dja think that guy
|
||
may
|
||
be a god or something?"). I balanced the tools the way I did
|
||
because
|
||
it seemed the easiest way to balance them -- they way I would do
|
||
it if
|
||
I were trying to (and the thame in the cup is indeed supposed to be
|
||
suggestive -- look at that grin on his face). I suppose the
|
||
pentacle
|
||
could have gone on top of the wand (like the plate-spinners do),
|
||
but I
|
||
just didn't do it that way. The snake around the wand turns the
|
||
wand
|
||
into a caduceus, which was Hermes' wand.
|
||
|
||
THE PRIESTESS - Actually, this one was more of an intentional
|
||
self-portrait than the Empress (who just turned out that way).
|
||
Yeah,
|
||
I did intend to preserve the "temple pillars"; as I've been ranting
|
||
about lately, I do try to balance dark and light as a priestess.
|
||
|
||
(more next msg)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(444) Sun 17 Jul 88 8:31
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: More Tarot Cards
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Original: TO.......Brad Hicks (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:524a 10f143f1
|
||
THE EMPRESS - Interesting; the first pregnant Empress I saw was in
|
||
the
|
||
Sacred Rose deck (by the way, how can you stand to read the Fantasy
|
||
Showcase? So many of the cards are way off -- and you think MY
|
||
cards
|
||
are off!! Ah, well, de gustibus etc etc). It turns out that the
|
||
pregnant Empress is traditional, pre-RW (I'll look up the sources if
|
||
you want).
|
||
|
||
THE EMPEROR - I absolutely reject the association of the Emperor
|
||
with
|
||
patriarchal monarchical government. He is the lightning-catalyst to
|
||
the Empress' "primordial soup"; He cannot exist without Her anymore
|
||
than She can without Him. Without Her, all his fire makes nothing;
|
||
without Him, She is virtual space, potential but not actual (how'dya
|
||
think She got pregnant?). Note his phallic staff. And again, my
|
||
art
|
||
wasn't quite up to this, but the stuff in his other hand is seeds --
|
||
he is the inseminating Ram of spring. He's not the Hunter (the
|
||
Hunter
|
||
comes next), because I don't associate the Hunter with agriculture
|
||
(and just plain culture) the way I do the Emperor. Like the
|
||
Empress,
|
||
that he looks like David is incidental (David shows up for real in
|
||
The
|
||
Sun). I guess my subconscious was working overtime... <grin>
|
||
|
||
THE PRIEST - The word "Pontiff" comes from the Latin word,
|
||
"Pontifex":
|
||
Bridge-builder. The word "Hierophant" is Greek for "Shower of
|
||
secret
|
||
things". The difference between the Priest and the Priestess is
|
||
that
|
||
he shows, where she tosses you right into the experience. In
|
||
traditional shamanic societies, the Shaman is the bridge between
|
||
this
|
||
world and the Otherworld, and the one who tells about that journey
|
||
to
|
||
help others along. Also, the shaman is the caller-up of wild
|
||
animals,
|
||
the master of beasts, hence the Hunter. There are no equivalent
|
||
depictions of female figures in the caves to this one at
|
||
Trois-Freres
|
||
because the caves are the wombs of the Goddess, teeming with life.
|
||
This figure is the one who coaxes them close. But he wears antlers
|
||
also; he is both the Hunter and the Prey -- the primary shamanic
|
||
experience is that of death.
|
||
|
||
This is a deck for Witches, Brad. We don't have a sterile,
|
||
organised
|
||
religion, therefore it is not fitting for that image to be among our
|
||
archetypes (the same way it is not fitting for Hell to be a threat
|
||
in
|
||
our laws). The associations of repression, sterility, severity, and
|
||
so on occur in the Minors (mostly among the Swords, interestingly
|
||
enough). It's high time we reclaimed the God; the tendancy of the
|
||
feminist decks to make the Emperor and the Hierophant villains is
|
||
totally unacceptable to me. "Appropriate male energy" (ie, wimpy
|
||
and/
|
||
or sexless) is not in my vocabulary.
|
||
|
||
THE LOVERS - Thanks. Hm, I never associated the Lovers with the
|
||
Devil
|
||
because I see lust as a part of love. More later, at INTEMPERANCE.
|
||
|
||
THE CHARIOT - It's the statue of Boudica in London. Do you know her
|
||
story?
|
||
|
||
STRENGTH - Notice the woman's eyes. Same as the lion's. It's
|
||
Beauty
|
||
and the Beast, the harmonious (or inharmonious, depending on
|
||
context)
|
||
juxtaposition of the beast self (of which we all have one) and the
|
||
"human" self. "Harmlessness"? Gimme a break! You complain about
|
||
"cuteness" and then you say she's supposed to be "harmless"! Beauty
|
||
is far from harmless; she is just as powerful as Beast. But they're
|
||
inseperable, which is why the aren't depicted with seperate bodies,
|
||
but as two faces in a surrounding mane. Remember that episode of
|
||
Star
|
||
Trek where Kirk got split up into two personalities? That's the
|
||
point
|
||
of Strength.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(445) Sun 17 Jul 88 8:40
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Daughter of Tarot Cards
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Original: TO.......Brad Hicks (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:524a 10f14516
|
||
THE HERMIT - I never saw that lamp as Diogenes'. I saw it as the
|
||
bodhisattva's lamp, lighting the way for other people. You bet He's
|
||
capital-W Wisdom (the Hebrew letter YOD that corresponds to this
|
||
card
|
||
reminds David of the word "yodeah", meaning "knowledge"; but you
|
||
have
|
||
to walk through the fire first, the way you have to drink from the
|
||
Moon's cauldron before you get Her Wisdom.
|
||
|
||
THE WHEEL - The tetramorphs apply equally to the four Fixed Zodiacal
|
||
signs as they do to the Evangelists (and you'll note I put them near
|
||
the appropriate season). The early Celtic church used them in their
|
||
imagery way back when, and those folk were a scant step removed from
|
||
being Pagans themselves -- how else do you suppose Brigid could have
|
||
survived? The seasons suggest the slow, cyclical nature of the
|
||
Wheel's turning to me. Joe Campbell, in the PBS series recently,
|
||
said
|
||
"If you're on the rim of the Wheel, you go up and down; if you're
|
||
the
|
||
hub of the Wheel, always acting from your own center, you're
|
||
unaffected by the turning of the Wheel." All the seasons are
|
||
good, to
|
||
a person at the hub.
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE - Thanks! You have no idea how tricky it was to fit the
|
||
Anubis image in that little space... I like it better than the
|
||
Justice with the sword, because to me Justice is not part of the
|
||
outcome. Maat just judges, she doesn't punish or reward. And as I
|
||
said a while ago, the person being judged knows the outcome already;
|
||
we punish and reward ourselves.
|
||
|
||
THE HANGED - The runes around his head have no fixed meaning,
|
||
they're
|
||
just runes. "None gave me bread or drinking horn, and there below I
|
||
looked; I took up the runes, screaming I took them; then I fell
|
||
back."
|
||
("Odhin" means "The Scream") The eye-socket was as clear as I could
|
||
make it; I think a straight line would look too much like a wink,
|
||
and
|
||
the eye swollen shut both inaccurate and difficult to render at that
|
||
resolution. Shit, I could have given him an eye patch if I'd wanted
|
||
to, but I WANTED that empty socket staring. As for his age, see
|
||
above.
|
||
Odhin/The Hanged is the canonical image of self-sacrifice for
|
||
knowledge.
|
||
|
||
DEATH - Your problem if you don't believe in reincarnation. But
|
||
consider this: what is birth but death to the life we knew in the
|
||
womb? What is death?
|
||
|
||
TEMPERANCE - I associate Apollo with all the things "civilisation"
|
||
brings, hence the depiction of him in front of a formal temple and
|
||
holding his lyre (as opposed to Dionysos out in the fields with his
|
||
bottomless amphora); juiceless is the point. Here's your "sterile
|
||
organisation" if you want it; remember that Apollo was as celibate
|
||
as
|
||
his sister. On the other hand, it isn't repressed sexuality, but
|
||
redirected sexuality. Artemis keeps herself unburdened by
|
||
children so
|
||
she'll never be incapacitated when some other mother needs her
|
||
(reminds me of a great aunt I had who chose never to marry and to
|
||
become a nurse instead); Athene channels the sexual drive into
|
||
creations of the hands and mind rather than the womb. Not all bad;
|
||
there are no "bad" cards in the Major Arcana.
|
||
|
||
(more next)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(446) Sun 17 Jul 88 8:43
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Tarot Cards meets Mothra, er, Mother
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Original: TO.......Brad Hicks (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:524a 10f14567
|
||
INTEMPERANCE - I prefer not to depict chains at all; the body should
|
||
never be looked on as a fetter, however easy to remove. Not to
|
||
mention the fact that the Devil as depicted in RW and its clones is
|
||
the Christian image, which I reject. Sometimes Intemperance is more
|
||
appropriate than Temperance; the dark more appropriate than the
|
||
light.
|
||
Sensuality, sexuality, and fleshly pleasures were nix for the
|
||
ascetic
|
||
early Christians (who in typical Semitic fashion were distinguishing
|
||
themselves from their neighbours by engaging in opposing practises
|
||
--
|
||
the Jews forbade "seething a kid in its mother's milk" because that
|
||
was a sacrament of another local tribe, the Christians were
|
||
ascetic in
|
||
opposition to the dissipated Roman pagans, and ate treyf food to be
|
||
different from the Jews). Hence the association of Dionysos with
|
||
everything evil. I've reclaimed him, is all. Check out the Hurley
|
||
"New Tarot", which inspired my making XIV and XV opposites of each
|
||
other. BTW, numerology doesn't really enter into my readings at
|
||
all,
|
||
and I'm seriously thinking of taking out the Hebrew letter
|
||
associations (which are the traditional ones, I believe) -- though
|
||
it
|
||
would somewhat unbalance the top of the card unless I took out the
|
||
Astro signs too -- which I just may do for the final version,
|
||
since my
|
||
Minors don't have either symbol set.
|
||
|
||
THE TOWER - Nah, I'm not going to put humans in it. Maybe it
|
||
would be
|
||
more appropriate if I made the tower human-shaped. Here's my
|
||
notes on
|
||
The Tower: "A carefully built structure is losing its integrity
|
||
under
|
||
attack. Swift and abrupt change. Sometimes the best defense is no
|
||
defense at all, since to put up a shield is to taunt attack."
|
||
|
||
THE STAR - The image of the woman pouring from jugs has never made
|
||
it
|
||
for me. Not satisfying at all. The Star is clarity coming out of
|
||
obscurity, hope, the sun coming out from behind the moon (remember
|
||
the
|
||
sun is technically a star too), that flash of enlightenment, the
|
||
light
|
||
at the end of the tunnel, the sign that the eclipse is over and the
|
||
world is not at an end. That's all. There're plenty of other nice
|
||
female images in the cards; no need to have gratuitous breasts and
|
||
confusing imagery. My imagery is (evidently) just as confusing to
|
||
somebody with whom it doesn't resonate, but what the hey.
|
||
|
||
THE MOON - Thanks again. Like I said, I was pretty pleased to
|
||
come up
|
||
with this image. The Moon is associated with the sephira of Yesod,
|
||
which is called "Treasure House of Images", and that's what
|
||
Ceridwen's
|
||
Cauldron is for me. The Akashic well, source of dream and vision.
|
||
"Gwion tasted of the potent brew, and he gained all knowlege it is
|
||
true, and sweet bardsong; but no taste is free! Whoso drinks my
|
||
draught belongs to Me. As with him, through water, air and earth,
|
||
you
|
||
too I'll pursue, consume, and birth..."
|
||
|
||
THE SUN - C'MON Brad, how long 'dya say you were in this religion?
|
||
It's the Oak King and the Holly King. In the older decks, there
|
||
were
|
||
two children in that garden... The Yule Child is a good idea, which
|
||
didn't occur to me when I was presented with the challenging
|
||
opportunity to make a silhouette of David and translate it to pixels
|
||
(and tiny ones at that). What the hey, I may make an alternate card
|
||
-- if Lady Whatserface could do it, so can I, since I don't want to
|
||
throw out that image any more than she did the other depictions of
|
||
Magus.
|
||
|
||
THE PHOENIX - Draw me a flame on a Mac. Go ahead. I'm waiting...
|
||
At least you recognised them as flames, right?
|
||
|
||
(concluded next)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(447) Sun 17 Jul 88 8:45
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Tarot Cards meets Mothra's Mother
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
* Original: FROM.....L.a. Hussey (161/93)
|
||
* Original: TO.......Brad Hicks (161/93)
|
||
* Forwarded by.......OPUS 161/93
|
||
|
||
@EID:524a 10f145a2
|
||
THE WORLD - Usually drawn as a female dancer. I depict her as the
|
||
Star Goddess, holding the Earth. Simple as that; equally apropos to
|
||
the traditional interpretation of the card (namely, not at all; what
|
||
the hell does a dancing woman have to do with the completion of
|
||
cycles? I thought I'd at least put the Earth in there to give the
|
||
name of the card some relevance).
|
||
|
||
It's interesting that as I've been working on this deck, my own
|
||
knowlege of the cards has expanded. With many of the other decks,
|
||
if
|
||
the image doesn't speak to me or I haven't completely figured out
|
||
the
|
||
associations, they mysteriously don't come up in any of my
|
||
readings --
|
||
other cards say similar things in context, and I've always been
|
||
complimented (sometimes begrudgingly) on the accuracy of my
|
||
readings.
|
||
I don't do the "You will meet a tall dark handsome stranger and go
|
||
on
|
||
a long trip" sorts of readings; my angle is more archetypal and
|
||
large
|
||
scale, and interestingly enough, everybody who's ever asked me to
|
||
read
|
||
for them has been in some sort of transitional crisis in their
|
||
lives.
|
||
I find the Tarot real useful in pointing one or more ways out of
|
||
such
|
||
crises...But meanwhile, the ones that used not to come up are now
|
||
appearing...
|
||
|
||
Thanks for your frankness. I hope my responses make things more
|
||
clear. When the deck comes out as a program, the interpretations in
|
||
the less obvious cases (or in the ones where I want to make a point,
|
||
like INTEMPERANCE) will include a description of the symbolism.
|
||
|
||
There will be more cards, I hope before the end of the year. But I
|
||
have two tapes to compose and record in the same time period, and
|
||
the
|
||
cards come when I get insights about them. Very little of my
|
||
imagery
|
||
is RW-esque -- for example, I find that the severity and pain of the
|
||
three of swords is more effectively depicted for me by the Morrigan,
|
||
Irish triple war-goddess. I'll let you know when it's all done.
|
||
The
|
||
artwork will certainly be done before the program is written, so
|
||
I'll
|
||
just send you a disk or something.
|
||
|
||
B*B
|
||
Leigh Ann
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(448) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:25
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Laws: New Circle Pt1
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 533510f2
|
||
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ETHICS--LIFEWAY SHAMANIC FELLOWSHIP
|
||
|
||
By Usen's grace, Ho-dah....
|
||
|
||
1.) PURPOSES:
|
||
This is an era of decision. Do we allow ourselves to cut
|
||
the
|
||
throat of the Mother Who has nourished us as a species
|
||
since
|
||
we "came down from the trees"? Or do we work to walk in
|
||
Beauty and Harmony with Her, and cherish Her, and work to
|
||
see Her healed? The resurgence of Shamanism, the primal
|
||
Earth Religion of practically all of the Earth's
|
||
pre-Agrarian cultures, is an important thing, foretold by
|
||
the Paiute prophet Wovoka and in the Hopi Prophecies. It
|
||
was said that both the Red Man would return to the Ways of
|
||
the Old Ones and that the non-Native would also embrace the
|
||
Lifeway. There are non-Natives who respectfully have
|
||
chosen
|
||
these Ways, and are carrying them on in a reverent way. If
|
||
the Lifeway was only given for the Native peoples, it would
|
||
die out within our lifetime. There are simply not enough
|
||
traditional Elders left.
|
||
|
||
It has been shown to some of us that Our Mother The Earth
|
||
is
|
||
not willing to die quietly. She has demonstrated this by
|
||
the increase in natural disasters of the past decade, which
|
||
continue day by day. The Hopi prophecies state that, when
|
||
the "bowl full of ashes" (most interpret this as the
|
||
Thermonuclear Bomb) is overturned, that Our Mother shall
|
||
rise up in Her righteous anger and destroy humanity. This
|
||
prophecy is coming true, although it may yet be reversable.
|
||
Perhaps it is we who reverence the Ways and walk in harmony
|
||
with Our Mother that may stay Her hand.
|
||
|
||
The Lifeway Fellowship is here for those who wish to honor
|
||
Our Mother and Our Father, Earth and Sky, and to honor The
|
||
Giver Of Life, from whence all things flow in the Universe.
|
||
Our world-view is primarily allied with that of the
|
||
Navajo/Dineh, Apache/Teneh, and Hopi peoples. However we do
|
||
not represent ourselves as the keepers of those ways. The
|
||
secrets of those Nations are for them alone, unless Usen'
|
||
wishes to reveal them to us. Our mission is to help heal
|
||
Our Mother, The Earth, and to help each other walk in
|
||
closer
|
||
harmony with Her. We also exist to provide a way for urban
|
||
and sub-urban people to learn and practice the root
|
||
Shamanic
|
||
techniques that aid us in finding our True Vision and True
|
||
Way of Power, and following that Vision and that Way.
|
||
|
||
We identify ourselves as Pagan (Webster's New World
|
||
Dictionary "1. b)...a person who is not a Christian,
|
||
Moslem,
|
||
or Jew (by faith); heathen. Pagan specifically refers to
|
||
one
|
||
of the ancient polytheistic (or pantheistic) peoples.") and
|
||
as unashamed Pantheists and Polytheists. The Lifeway
|
||
is truly a religious commitment. No-one can make a
|
||
commitment
|
||
to the Lifeway and to the worship of Life Giver, The Earth
|
||
Mother and The Sky Father and remain a worshiper of other
|
||
Paradigms of the Deity, much as one cannot be a Christian
|
||
and worship the Greco-Roman pantheon. However this does
|
||
not
|
||
imply the condemnation of other Paradigms, nor impel a
|
||
duty to
|
||
"convert" others.
|
||
|
||
>>> CONTINUED NEXT POST <<<
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(449) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:29
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Lf Laws:Pt2
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 53b310f2
|
||
We stand by other Pagans who do not share our paradigms,
|
||
IE.
|
||
Wiccans, Asatruans, Hellenists, and other Shamanic
|
||
traditions,
|
||
(African and neo-African(Santeria & Voudoun), Australian,
|
||
Siberian, Traditional Native American, and Polynesian, to
|
||
name
|
||
a few) and even though we may disagree with some or all of
|
||
their practices and beliefs, they are Brothers, Sisters and
|
||
Cousins, and in times of persecution as well as times of
|
||
goodwill we must defend them. We may even share in their
|
||
open
|
||
rituals and allow them to share in our open ceremonials.
|
||
But
|
||
that which is ours must remain ours, just as that which is
|
||
theirs must remain theirs.
|
||
|
||
2.) THE(A)OLOGY:
|
||
|
||
As our Fellowship is inherently religious, we must
|
||
declare a
|
||
The(a)ology. (The strange spelling refers to the fact that
|
||
we acknowledge a Goddess as well as a God)
|
||
This is summed up very easily. There are three main powers
|
||
we worship, Usen' the Life Giver, The Earth Mother, and The
|
||
Sky Father. The latter Two are emanations of the First, as
|
||
all, including the God and the Goddess, are emanations from
|
||
Usen', which is the primaeval First Cause.
|
||
|
||
Usen': One cannot look upon The Life Giver as either Male
|
||
or
|
||
Female, for The Life Giver is beyond those distinctions.
|
||
Usen', and The Life Giver, are names for this First Cause,
|
||
this Force that pervades all and caused all to come into
|
||
being. From Usen', the God, Sky Father, and the Goddess,
|
||
Earth Mother, emanate, as the lesser Deities emanate from
|
||
Them.
|
||
|
||
The Earth Mother: We live and walk and are sustained from
|
||
The Earth Mother, which is our Earth. She is alive, and we
|
||
all exist within Her as part of Her structure. Science,
|
||
through the Gaea Hypothesis, has finally acknowledged Her
|
||
existence, and some even have learnt the lesson that our
|
||
duty in this life is to care for and honor Her. This is a
|
||
lesson that all must learn, for as long as we despoil Her,
|
||
we risk Her wrath. She is expressed through the faces of
|
||
White Painted Woman, Who is The Woman Warrior, through Corn
|
||
Mother, Who is The Nourishing Mother, and through Spider
|
||
Woman, Who is The Wise Woman, The Ancient One, The
|
||
Custodian
|
||
of Wisdom. Women are acknowledged as being human represent-
|
||
atives of The Earth Mother.
|
||
|
||
The Sky Father: Just as among we Humans, there is both Man
|
||
and Woman, so there is no Earth Mother without Sky Father.
|
||
Sky Father is the air we breathe, the flame that gives us
|
||
warmth and cooks our food, and brings forth the rain that
|
||
fertilizes Our Mother and allows Her to provide us with
|
||
the crops and animals that sustain us. Sky Father is also
|
||
expressed as The Hunter, The Warrior, and First Shaman, and
|
||
is also expressed in Killer Of Enemies and The Child Of
|
||
Water. He is also present and acknowledged as being present
|
||
in every Man.
|
||
|
||
>>> CONTINUED NEXT POST <<<
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(450) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:33
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Lf Laws:Pt3
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 542910f2
|
||
There are other spirits that exist in the Universe, some
|
||
beneficient, some maleficient. But most important is
|
||
Usen',
|
||
Earth Mother, and Sky Father. By walking in harmony with
|
||
the
|
||
God(esse)s, one can tell the Good from the Evil, welcoming
|
||
in Good, and protecting each other from Evil.
|
||
|
||
3.)ETHICS:
|
||
|
||
We have our code of Ethics. It is neither lengthy nor
|
||
overly restrictive. We do not include ancient taboos in
|
||
this list, such as Mother-In-Law avoidance or the taboo
|
||
against Fish, because they may not apply nowadays. If you
|
||
wish to not eat fish or to avoid your Mother-In-Law for
|
||
religious reasons, it is your perogative. But it is not a
|
||
requirement.
|
||
|
||
1.) If the action does not harm yourself, other people or
|
||
intelligent beings, or Our Mother The Earth, you are free
|
||
to
|
||
do as you wish.
|
||
|
||
2.) To charge for healings, sweats or ceremonials is
|
||
totally
|
||
wrong and extremely offensive. Also, to charge excessively
|
||
for teaching is equally offensive, but a modest fee
|
||
over expenses is allowable. Your conscience is the best
|
||
guide, that and the Will of the Deities.
|
||
|
||
3.) Magick should be limited only to protection of Self and
|
||
Loved Ones, and to healing and helping those in need,
|
||
provided that permission is given by the patient and that
|
||
help other than healing does not interfere with the Will of
|
||
others. Magick that is used in a coercive (IE. Love spells)
|
||
or destructive (harming or killing magick) way is patently
|
||
wrong and is considered Black Magick.
|
||
|
||
4.) Contact of spirits by any means other than Shamanic
|
||
journeying or the Vision Quest is very risky, and
|
||
Possession
|
||
is a real possibility. The practice of mediumship, or
|
||
"channeling" has no place in the Lifeway, and exposes not
|
||
only Self but others to danger.
|
||
|
||
5.) Permission must always be asked of the spirits of
|
||
plants
|
||
and/or animals before taking them for either sustenance or
|
||
for medicine.
|
||
|
||
6.) One's visions and one's personal ceremonies are one's
|
||
own. Personal visions should not be spoken of, but shared
|
||
visions are for all of the group.
|
||
|
||
7.) It is wrong to criticise another within the group or
|
||
outside the group. Racism, sexism, xenophobia or general
|
||
disrespect of others has no place in the Fellowship.
|
||
Individual decisions about lifestyle and other ethical
|
||
issues not covered here are an individual's own affair.
|
||
|
||
>>> CONTINUED NEXT POST <<<
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(451) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:36
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Lf Laws:Pt4
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 549710f2
|
||
4.):GROUP STRUCTURE AND INITIATION PRACTICES
|
||
|
||
There is only one Initiation, which is the Initiation that
|
||
makes one Kin within the group and in the sight of The
|
||
Deities. It is given after one has taken their first
|
||
Vision
|
||
Quest, has found their Power Animal(s) and has met the
|
||
Shaman Within. It can only be denied to those who have met
|
||
these requirements, is younger than the legal Age Of
|
||
Consent
|
||
(in most places, 18 years) is not of sound mind, and/or is
|
||
under suspicion of being a Law Enforcement Officer or other
|
||
person antipathetic to Pagan and/or Shamanic belief
|
||
who requests initiation for fraudulent purposes (usually to
|
||
infilitrate to either sabotage or publically discredit the
|
||
Fellowship) Initiation must not be denied on account of
|
||
physical disabilities, blindness, deafness, or sterility,
|
||
nor on account of sex, race, nationality, political belief,
|
||
or sexual preference.
|
||
|
||
There are no set offices within the Fellowship. Ideally,
|
||
leadership should be by consensus, with true leaders being
|
||
temporary and purpose-oriented. Facilitation of rituals
|
||
may
|
||
be done by any Initiate of the Fellowship. ANYONE WHO
|
||
REPRESENTS THEMSELVES AS A HIGH PRIEST/ESS OF THE LIFEWAY
|
||
SHAMANIC FELLOWSHIP IS A FRAUD, AND IS DOING SO CONTRARY TO
|
||
THIS STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ETHICS.
|
||
|
||
Support of the Fellowship is done on a purely voluntary and
|
||
mutual basis. No tithe or dues should be assessed unless
|
||
they have been agreed upon by all members, initiates and
|
||
non-initiates alike.
|
||
|
||
Membership is extended to all. But initiation is reserved
|
||
for those who meet the criteria mentioned above.
|
||
Non-initiates can participate in open ceremonials and in
|
||
basic workshops, but may be denied participation in certain
|
||
ceremonials and advanced workshops.
|
||
>>> CONTINUED NEXT POST <<<
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(452) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:39
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Lf Laws:Pt5
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 54ea10f2
|
||
5.) THE QUESTION OF RECOGNIZING SHAMANS
|
||
|
||
In traditional societies, the title Shaman was not just an
|
||
honorific, or recognition of talents. Nor was it the
|
||
highest initiatory level in a Shamanic society. The Shaman
|
||
was, in most cases, above the Chief in decision-making
|
||
power
|
||
and was judge, doctor, father-confessor, and intercessor
|
||
with the Deities for the tribe. Some Shamanic societies
|
||
are
|
||
now providing their membership with "Shaman training
|
||
seminars" and "Shaman apprenticeships" that can be had for
|
||
an exorbitant price. This implies that the cost of being a
|
||
Shaman can be paid in money and in a set amount of time.
|
||
This is not the case. Many tribes believe that the office
|
||
of Shaman is not one that is earned, but one that one is
|
||
born into. Certainly, the skills are never something one
|
||
is
|
||
born with, and this is not merely hereditary. Rather, when
|
||
a child is born, the current Shaman would recognize that
|
||
the
|
||
child had the POTENTIAL of being the next one, and the
|
||
child's training would begin when they were considered
|
||
ready
|
||
by the Shaman. At adulthood, they would be tested. If
|
||
they
|
||
passed the test, they would become the next Shaman. If
|
||
they
|
||
failed, usually the test was such that they would either
|
||
die
|
||
outright, or they would go insane. Many "heroic quest"
|
||
tales, and most notably the Arthurian legends have echoes
|
||
of
|
||
this practice within the ancient Shamanic traditions of
|
||
Europe.
|
||
|
||
But the point that is being made here is that we should not
|
||
go back to that sort of way of doing things, because in
|
||
this
|
||
society it is nigh on impossible. The stand I am offering
|
||
here is that recognition as a Shaman can be conferred only
|
||
through shared vision, and signs from the Deities. It is
|
||
not my place to say what the signs are...it will be obvious
|
||
to the Fellowship. I am not Shaman myself, and will not
|
||
brook anyone calling me that. This is something I place in
|
||
the lap of the Deities to decide. I cannot do anything
|
||
more. It is a mockery of those people that can truly be
|
||
called Shamans, who are respected, powerful people of
|
||
traditional tribes, to do anything less. In any event, to
|
||
claim such a title is definately not enough, and is
|
||
punishable by withdrawing Fellowship from the one who
|
||
claims
|
||
to be Shaman falsely.
|
||
>>> CONTINUED NEXT POST <<<
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(453) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:42
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Lf Laws: Pt6
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 555d10f2
|
||
6.) FESTIVALS AND WORSHIP DAYS
|
||
|
||
The festivals are reckoned as they have been for centuries
|
||
by most Southwestern tribes, by both the Sun and the Moon.
|
||
The seasons begin on the first full moon after a Solstice
|
||
or
|
||
an Equinox. The Solstices and Equinoxes themselves are
|
||
times of celebration as well, and perhaps the period
|
||
between
|
||
the two (which usually works out to be no more than a week
|
||
or so) could be considered a time of Holiday. Lesser
|
||
ceremonials are held on New Moons and Full Moons between
|
||
the
|
||
first Full Moons of the seasons. Optionally certain Pagan
|
||
festivals could be celebrated in conjunction with other
|
||
groups, but they are not to be adopted as official Lifeway
|
||
Fellowship ceremonial days.
|
||
|
||
There are other ceremonials that are personal in nature,
|
||
and
|
||
can be held at any time, although synchronizing them with
|
||
the Festivals and the New and Full Moons is advisable. They
|
||
are Naming, where a newborn child is named in the presence
|
||
of the group and their Life-beads given; Coming Of Age,
|
||
where the child's physical maturity is acknowledged, and
|
||
where, for a short time, they become Child of the Water (if
|
||
a boy) or White Painted Woman (if a girl); Initiation,
|
||
where
|
||
a person becomes a full-fledged member of the group, given
|
||
after a person becomes a legal adult; Joining, where a man
|
||
and a woman consent to be married; Unjoining, where a man
|
||
and woman who are married consent to have the bond
|
||
dissolved, which is to be done only after four reconcili-
|
||
ation attempts fail or after evidence of marital infidelity
|
||
or abuse is given before the group; the Moonlodge, which is
|
||
a special sweat for women in their Moon-time; and Release,
|
||
where a ceremony for a dead member of the Fellowship is
|
||
done
|
||
to guide their soul Back Home. Other ceremonials that are
|
||
dreamed or envisioned by a person or group are also
|
||
encouraged.
|
||
|
||
7.) SUMMING UP
|
||
|
||
A few quick ones: One can be either clothed or unclothed at
|
||
ceremonies, but it should be known that none of the
|
||
Southwestern tribes did ceremonies in the nude. However,
|
||
one should disrobe for the sweat lodge, as clothes are not
|
||
only uncomfortable within the sweat lodge, but interfere
|
||
with the cleansing process of the lodge.
|
||
|
||
This Statement can be accepted or rejected by individual
|
||
groups that federate themselves with Lifeway Fellowship.
|
||
But
|
||
federation can be denied to those groups who stray too far
|
||
from some of the basic guidelines, or do anything that
|
||
would
|
||
sully the reputation of the Fellowship in general.
|
||
|
||
Hi-dicho...this is finished.
|
||
May these proceeds please Life Giver Usen', and the Mother
|
||
and the Father.
|
||
ENJU!
|
||
Chihacou White-Puma, 1988.
|
||
>>> SUMMARY NEXT POST <<<
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(454) Mon 18 Jul 88 10:46
|
||
By: Michelle Hass
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Lf Laws: Summation And Comments
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:2bad 55d210f2
|
||
I hope all of you have found the last few posts edifying, if not
|
||
perhaps a little long-winded. I am now in the process of finding
|
||
like-minded people to join me in this circle, and although I am the
|
||
one putting this together, I do not wish to set myself up as
|
||
leader. Starhawk, bless her heart, has spoken many times about the
|
||
concept of leaderless groups, and although I think perhaps she
|
||
might not extend this to her circle, I wanted to do so myself. I
|
||
am an inveterate Anarchist as well as a Shamanic Pagan, and I have
|
||
seen enough times where power trips get in the way of things.
|
||
However, I do not wish any longer to work Solitary, so I am
|
||
offering this possibility to those in the LA area who are
|
||
interested in exploring the Shamanic Way and celebrate Earth Mother
|
||
and Sky Father in a respectful and reverent way. If one is
|
||
interested in what I have here, and want to be a part of it, please
|
||
leave me a private message here.
|
||
ENJU! Walk in beauty, one and all...Michelle Chihacou White Puma
|
||
Klein-Hass.
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: Cult Monitor LA (818)985-2701 (102/744)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(455) Fri 22 Jul 88 10:28
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Blood on the Wire
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:524a 10f65387
|
||
L.A. ANIMAL TORTURE-KILLINGS BLAMED ON SECT
|
||
Associated Press
|
||
Los Angeles
|
||
Animal torture and slayings attributed to devil worshippers
|
||
and the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion appear to be increasing in
|
||
this area, and authorities are studying the legal question of how
|
||
to stop the practices.
|
||
The city Board of Animal Regulation has asked for a report on
|
||
the matter, board member Arther Margolis said yesterday.
|
||
Reed said authorities last fall found six goats bound and kept
|
||
in the bathroom of a Culver city home, along with several chickens.
|
||
Candles and other religious items suggested Santeria links, and
|
||
the owners were charged with animal cruelty.
|
||
Margolis, an attorney, hopes the report will lead to
|
||
consideration of a law banning animal killing and torture as part
|
||
of a religious ceremony. He expects a First Amendment fight to
|
||
follow immediately, as it already has in Hialeah, Fla.
|
||
That predominantly Hispanic city near Miami passed three laws
|
||
in 1987 aimed at the Santeria Church of Lukumi Babalu Ave.,
|
||
Florida's first public church of the sect.
|
||
The Hialeah laws prohibit sacrifice of animals, including
|
||
goats, pigs, cows, poultry, cats or dogs, animals that sect members
|
||
slaughter during rituals.
|
||
The church sued the city in federal court, alleging that the
|
||
laws violate the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion.
|
||
Santeria is a mix of Roman Catholicism, voodoo and African
|
||
rituals attributed to a Nigerian tribe.
|
||
(Taken without permission from the San Francisco Chronicle,
|
||
Friday, July 22, 1988, page A14)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(456) Tue 26 Jul 88 20:54
|
||
By: Judy Harrow
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Exegesis on the Wiccan Rede (REDE.TXT)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 22ed5626
|
||
EXEGESIS ON THE WICCAN REDE
|
||
by Judy Harrow
|
||
|
||
originally published in HARVEST - Volume 5, Number 3 (Oimelc, 1985)
|
||
second publication: THE HIDDEN PATH - Volume X, Number 2 Beltane,
|
||
1987)
|
||
|
||
All religions began with somebody's sudden flashing insight,
|
||
enlightenment, a shining vision. Some mystic found the way and the
|
||
words to share the vision, and, sharing it, attracted followers.
|
||
The followers may repeat those precise and poetic words about the
|
||
vision until they congeal into set phrases, fused language,
|
||
repeated by rote and without understanding. Cliches begin as great
|
||
wisdom - that's why they spread so fast - and end as ritual
|
||
phrases, heard but not understood. Living spirituality so easily
|
||
hardens to boring religious routine, maintained through guilt and
|
||
fear, or habit and social opportunism - any reason but joy.
|
||
|
||
We come to the Craft with a first generation's joy of
|
||
discovery, and a first generation's memory of bored hours of
|
||
routine worship in our childhood. Because we have known the
|
||
difference, it is our particular challenge to find or make ways to
|
||
keep the Craft a living, real experience for our grandchildren and
|
||
for the students of our students.
|
||
|
||
I think the best of these safeguards is already built into the
|
||
Craft as we know it, put there by our own good teachers. On our
|
||
Path, the mystic experience itself is shared, not just the fruits
|
||
of mysticism. We give all our students the techniques, and the
|
||
protective/supportive environment that enable almost every one of
|
||
them to Draw the Moon and/or Invoke the God. This is an incredibly
|
||
radical change from older religions, even older Pagan religions, in
|
||
which the only permissible source of inspiration has been to
|
||
endlessly reinterpret and reapply the vision of the Founder (the
|
||
Bible, the Book of the Law, the Koran, ... ). The practice of
|
||
Drawing the Moon is the brilliant crown of the Craft.
|
||
|
||
But notice how often, in the old myths, every treasure has its
|
||
pitfalls? I think I'm beginning to see one of ours. Between the
|
||
normal process of original visions clotting into cliche, and our
|
||
perpetual flow of new inspiration, we are in danger of losing the
|
||
special wisdom of those who founded the modern Craft. I do not
|
||
think we should assiduously preserve every precious word. My love
|
||
for my own Gardnerian tradition does not blind me to our sexist and
|
||
heterosexist roots. And yet, I want us to remain identifiably
|
||
Witches and not meld into some homogeneous "New Age" sludge. For
|
||
this, I think we need some sort of anchoring in tradition to give
|
||
us a sense of identity. Some of the old sayings really do
|
||
crystallize great wisdom as well, life-affirming Pagan wisdom that
|
||
our culture needs to hear.
|
||
|
||
So I think it's time for a little creative borrowing from our
|
||
neighbors. Christians do something they call "exegesis;" Jews have
|
||
a somewhat similar process called "midrash." What it is is
|
||
something between interpretation and meditation, a very
|
||
concentrated examination of a particular text. The assumption often
|
||
is that every single word has meaning (cabalists even look at the
|
||
individual letters). Out of this inspired combination of
|
||
scholarship and daydream comes the vitality of those paths whose
|
||
canon is closed. The contemporary example, of course, is Christian
|
||
Liberation Theology, based on a re-visioning of Jesus that would
|
||
utterly shock John Calvin.
|
||
|
||
Although our canon is not closed - and the day it is is the
|
||
day I quit -I'm suggesting that we can use a similar process to
|
||
renew the life of the older parts of our own still-young heritage.
|
||
|
||
So, I'd like to try doing some exegesis on an essential
|
||
statement of the Craft way of life. Every religion has some sort of
|
||
ethic, some guideline for what it means to live in accordance with
|
||
this particular mythos, this worldview. Ours, called the Wiccan
|
||
Rede, is one of the most elegant statements I've heard of the
|
||
principle of situational ethics. Rather than placing the power and
|
||
duty to decide about behavior with teachers or rulebooks, the Rede
|
||
places it exactly where it belongs, with the actor.
|
||
|
||
eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
|
||
AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT YOU WILL.
|
||
|
||
I'd like to start with the second phrase first, and to take it
|
||
almost word by word.
|
||
|
||
do what YOU will. This is the challenge to self-direction, to
|
||
figure out what we want, and not what somebody else wants for us or
|
||
from us. All of us are subject to tremendous role expectations and
|
||
pressures, coming from our families, our employers, our friends,
|
||
society in general. It's easy to just be molded, deceptively easy
|
||
to become a compulsive rebel and reflexively do the opposite of
|
||
whatever "they" seem to want. Living by the Rede means accepting
|
||
the responsibility to assess the results of our actions and to
|
||
choose when we will obey, confront or evade the rules.
|
||
|
||
do what you WILL. This is the challenge to introspection, to know
|
||
what we really want beyond the whim of the moment. The classic
|
||
example is that of the student who chooses to study for an exam
|
||
rather than go to a party, because what she really wants is to be a
|
||
doctor. Again, balance is needed. Always going to the library
|
||
rather than the movies is the road to burnout, not the road to a
|
||
Nobel. What's more, there are others values in life, such as
|
||
sensuality, intimacy, spirituality, that get ignored in a
|
||
compulsively long-term orientation. So, our responsibility is not
|
||
to mechanically follow some rule like "always choose to defer
|
||
gratification in your own long-term self interest," but to really
|
||
listen within, and to really choose, each time.
|
||
|
||
DO what you will. This is the challenge to action. Don't wait for
|
||
Prince Charming or the revolution. Don't blame your mother or the
|
||
system. Make a realistic plan that includes all your assets. Be
|
||
sure to include magic, both the deeper insights and wisdoms of
|
||
divination and the focusing of will and energy that comes from
|
||
active workings. Then take the first steps right now. But, beware
|
||
of thoughtless action, which is equally dangerous. For example,
|
||
daydreaming is needed, to envision a goal, to project the results
|
||
of actions, to check progress against goals, sometimes to revise
|
||
goals. Thinking and planning are necessary parts of personal
|
||
progress. Action and thought are complementary; neither can replace
|
||
the other.
|
||
|
||
When you really look at it, word by word, it sounds like a
|
||
subtle and profound guide for life, does it not? Is it complete?
|
||
Shall "do what you will" in fact be "the whole of the law" for us?
|
||
I think not. The second phrase of the Rede discusses the individual
|
||
out of context. Taken by itself, "DO WHAT YOU WILL" would produce a
|
||
nastily competitive society, a "war of each against all" more
|
||
bitter than what we now endure. That is, it would if it were
|
||
possible. Happily, it's just plain not.
|
||
|
||
Pagan myth and modern biology alike teach us that our Earth is
|
||
one interconnected living sphere, a whole system in which the
|
||
actions of each affect all (and this is emphatically not limited to
|
||
humankind) through intrinsic, organic feedback paths. As our
|
||
technology amplifies the effects of our individual actions, it
|
||
becomes increasingly critical to understand that these actions have
|
||
consequences beyond the individual; consequences that, by the very
|
||
nature of things, come back to the individual as well. Cooperation,
|
||
once "merely" an ethical ideal, has become a survival imperative.
|
||
Life is relational, contextual. Exclusive focus on the individual
|
||
Will is a lie and a deathtrap.
|
||
|
||
The qualifying "AN IT HARM NONE," draws a Circle around the
|
||
individual Will and places each of us firmly within the dual
|
||
contexts of the human community and the complex life-form that is
|
||
Mother Gaia. The first phrase of the Rede directs us to be aware of
|
||
results of our actions projected not only in time, as long-term
|
||
personal outcomes, but in space - to consider how actions may
|
||
effect our families, co-workers, community, and the life of the
|
||
Earth as a whole, and to take those projections into account in our
|
||
decisions.
|
||
|
||
But, like the rest of the Rede, "an it harm none" cannot be
|
||
followed unthinkingly. It is simply impossible for creatures who
|
||
eat to harm none. Any refusal to decide or act for fear of harming
|
||
someone is also a decision and an action, and will create results
|
||
of some kind. When you consider that "none" also includes
|
||
ourselves, it becomes clear that what we have here is a goal and an
|
||
ideal, not a rule.
|
||
|
||
The Craft, assuming ethical adulthood, offers us no rote
|
||
rules. We will always be working on incomplete knowledge. We will
|
||
sometimes just plain make mistakes. Life itself, and life-affirming
|
||
religion, still demands that we learn, decide, act, and accept the
|
||
results.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Judy Harrow
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(457) Tue 2 Aug 88 2:20
|
||
By: David Schaal
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: natural passages pt. 1
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 128a1102
|
||
NATURAL PASSAGE P.O. BOX 33284 Minneapolis, MN 55433
|
||
|
||
Who are we?
|
||
|
||
We are a group of people dedicated to reviving the custom of
|
||
natural (ecological) burial.
|
||
|
||
What is "Natural Passage"?
|
||
|
||
"Natural passage" is a system whereby, after death, the body's
|
||
nutrients are given back to the Earth for return to the life cycle.
|
||
|
||
Why Natural Passage?
|
||
|
||
Throughout our lives we take sustenance from nature. Our high
|
||
technology and standards of creature comfort put considerable
|
||
stress on natural resources and nonrenewable energy sources. To
|
||
illustrate how grave is this drain on land and resources: the
|
||
U.S., with 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the
|
||
world's resources.
|
||
Natural passage is a means by which we can give back some of
|
||
what
|
||
we have taken, reclaim land for nature, and provide new life from
|
||
death.
|
||
|
||
Why not traditional methods?
|
||
|
||
Modern burial convention requires that trees be killed, land
|
||
be ill
|
||
used, energy be wasted, and considerable expense be incurred by
|
||
the deceased's family. This system continues our drain on nature
|
||
after our deaths.
|
||
Local and state laws often require elaborate containment
|
||
systems.
|
||
these may consist of tightly sealed caskets, cement vaults or
|
||
slabs to prevent soil or water contamination from communicable
|
||
disease or embalming fluid (formaldehyde). The body's own bacteria
|
||
is the only benefactor of this system. Eventually, it too dies.
|
||
By the time these high-tech burial canisters decompose, the
|
||
resulting matter is nearly inert. No nutritional value remains to
|
||
return to the life cycle.
|
||
Cremation, though less expensive, fares little better from an
|
||
ecological standpoint. It requires vast amounts of energy
|
||
(usually taken from nonrenewable sources) and the resulting product
|
||
is of little ecological value.
|
||
|
||
Our Proposal:
|
||
|
||
Imagine a nature sanctuary, filled with trees, flowers, and
|
||
native
|
||
wildlife -- living mememorials to those interred beneath the soil.
|
||
Work toward these life cemeteries would begin with the
|
||
purchase of
|
||
unused farm or pasture land. Sack cloth or a simple pine box
|
||
would serve as the repository for the deceased. Visitors would be
|
||
encourages to donate living plants (rather than cut flowers) to be
|
||
transplanted at the burial site. A young tree could be planted in
|
||
place of a headstone. New graves would be dug with low impact
|
||
machinery so as to minimize damage to surrounding vegetation. When
|
||
all the plots have been filled the 'life cemetery' would become a
|
||
nature preserve, serving as an eternal monument to the renewal of
|
||
life.
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(458) Tue 2 Aug 88 2:22
|
||
By: David Schaal
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Natural Passages pt. 2
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c712 12d21102
|
||
How will this be accomplished?
|
||
|
||
First, we need dedicated people to organize a core group and
|
||
begin
|
||
the necessary paperwork for establishing a legally recognized
|
||
non-profit organization.
|
||
Next, we will need to increase public awareness and gain general
|
||
public support for natural burials. This will be accomplished
|
||
through education and advertising. Additionally, we hope to
|
||
solicit support from other organizations sympathetic to our cause.
|
||
Ecologists, naturalists, animal rights activists, and certain
|
||
religious groups might be sources of support.
|
||
We must lobby to enact legislation and/or relax laws and
|
||
ordinances
|
||
so that natural burials will be permissible when the deceased has
|
||
not died from communicable disease and the body has not been
|
||
embalmed. Additionally, laws requiring the emblaming of bodies
|
||
transported over state lines must be relxed.
|
||
Finally, we hope to purchase land for 'life cemeteries' to be
|
||
maintained and preserved as nature sanctuaries.
|
||
|
||
How you can help.
|
||
|
||
Our immediate need is not for money but for people willing to
|
||
devote time and energy toward legal research and networking. We
|
||
do not know the exact costs that will be incurred for printings,
|
||
mailings, and legal paperwork; but we expect they will be minimal.
|
||
Only after we have legal recognition do we plan to launch a
|
||
contributions campain. Hopefully, most of these contributions can
|
||
be put toward the legal battles ahead and toward a fund to purchase
|
||
land (while we will gladly accept any monetary contributions toward
|
||
defraying printing costs, please understand that, at the present,
|
||
they will not be tax-deductable).
|
||
If you support the concept of natural passage please fill out
|
||
and
|
||
return the enclosed form. Understand that this form does not
|
||
necessarily mean that you have chosen natural passage, only that
|
||
you support the philosophy and would like ti see natural passage as
|
||
a legal and viable option for those who prefer it. If you so mark,
|
||
your name will be matched with others from your geographic area so
|
||
that state chapters may be formed. (Many of the legal obstacles
|
||
occur at either the local or state level, so having an active
|
||
chapter in each state is imperitive.)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
------
|
||
|
||
|
||
_____ I Support the concept of natural passage. Please put me on
|
||
your
|
||
mailing list.
|
||
|
||
_____ I would like to become a working member of Natural Passage.
|
||
Please
|
||
send my name to others in my area (and their names to me).
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||
Name: ________________________________________
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|
||
Address: ________________________________________
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||
|
||
City, St: ________________________________________
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||
|
||
Zip Code: _____________
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|
||
Telephone # (Optional): (_____) __________________
|
||
|
||
Thank you for your support Natural Passage, P.O. Box 33284,
|
||
Minneapolis, MN 55433
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN (1:282/341)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(459) Mon 8 Aug 88 11:18
|
||
By: Josh Gordon
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Air Force Times article
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 11085a4d
|
||
WITCHES, PAGANS CAST ASIDE SHROUD OF SECRECY By Grant Willis Times
|
||
Staff Writer from The AIR FORCE TIMES, October 26, 1987
|
||
|
||
WASHINGTON - Military members who practice witchcraft and
|
||
paganism are
|
||
emerging from secrecy to demand respect for their civil rights and
|
||
increased recognition from the armed services.
|
||
In interviews with Air Force Times, military witch and pagan
|
||
activists
|
||
said they want time off for their major religious holidays. Some
|
||
said they want dog tags that state "Pagan" or "Wicca" as their
|
||
religious preference. Other pagans and witches said they need
|
||
chaplains who understand pre-Christian beliefs and who can help
|
||
them form worship groups at remote duty locations.
|
||
Signs of the new assertiveness appeared this fall in Europe,
|
||
when some
|
||
witches and pagans formed a network called the Farwanderer
|
||
Military Pagan Fellowship. Air Force SSGt Lorie A. Johnson said
|
||
she placed an announcement in European Stars and Stripes to recruit
|
||
fellowship members.
|
||
"The goal is to let military pagans know they're not alone,"
|
||
Johnson
|
||
said, and "to show the military that we're not just a bunch of
|
||
scattered weirdos."
|
||
Johnson is assigned to the 601st Tactical Control Wing at
|
||
Sembach AB,
|
||
Germany. She said she is a witch, but added that witches prefer
|
||
to call themselves Wiccans. Their religion is called Wicca.
|
||
Wiccans are considered pagans because they worship several
|
||
nature gods
|
||
instead of a single god, according to the Army's chaplain
|
||
handbook. They also believe in phychic powers and hold rituals
|
||
according to lunar cycle. Other pagan groups include Druids, who
|
||
base their rituals on solar cycles, and worshippers of the Norse
|
||
gods, of the ancient Vikings.
|
||
Military witches and pagans have tended to practice their
|
||
religion
|
||
secretly - so secretly, in fact, that many people outside the
|
||
pagan subculture are startled to learn that it exists. Some people
|
||
deny that paganism is a religion find pagan rituals offensive.
|
||
But the pagans who were interviewed said their religion is
|
||
serious and
|
||
their problems are real. Those problems include choosing whether
|
||
to keep their beliefs a secret from commanders and co-workers,
|
||
unwelcome solicitations from people who try to convert them to
|
||
Christianity, and harassment by those who erroneously regard pagans
|
||
as devil-worshippers.
|
||
No one knows how many of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000
|
||
pagans in the
|
||
United States are military members. In a December, 1986
|
||
Department of Defense survey, 10,487 military members marked "other
|
||
religion" as their preference instead of choosing one of the 250
|
||
faith groups on the questionnaire. That was less than 1 percent of
|
||
the 2.1 million who responded.
|
||
Officially, the military takes a neutral view of pagan
|
||
activity in the
|
||
ranks. "We acknowledge their right to exist," said Chaplain (Lt.
|
||
Col.) William L. Hugham, a spokesman for the Army chief of
|
||
chaplains office at the Pentagon.
|
||
A 1984 Department of Defense directive allows any religious
|
||
faith group
|
||
to apply for recognition as an "ecclesiastical endorsing agent."
|
||
This status allows a faith to seek chaplain commissions, among
|
||
other things.
|
||
Pagan and Wiccan groups are welcome to apply to the Armed
|
||
Forces
|
||
Chaplains Board for endorsing status, said Chaplain (Col.) John
|
||
Mann (USAF), the board's executive director. However, Wiccans and
|
||
pagans acknowledge that their groups probably are too loosely
|
||
organized to meet DoD criteria.
|
||
Even without official recognition, Mann said, military pagans
|
||
are
|
||
entitled to support from more than 3,400 active-duty Catholic,
|
||
Protestant or Jewish chaplains. "The military chaplaincy exists to
|
||
provide for the free exercise of religion," he said.
|
||
But as long as the armed services don't count pagans,
|
||
separately, they
|
||
can continue to ignore pagans' needs, Johnson said. The military
|
||
also tolerates a climate that makes many pagans afraid to exercise th
|
||
their rights openly, said Sgt LaVern Bentz (USArmy), a Wiccan
|
||
assigned to the 284th Military Police Company in Frankfurt, Germany.
|
||
"You have these commanders who don't want to rock the boat,"
|
||
Bentz said.
|
||
"So they tend to look at (paganism) as not part of the norm - is
|
||
not uniform."
|
||
"Then your assignments start getting changed. They put you
|
||
on the back
|
||
burner somewhere in a nice little office...To me, this is very
|
||
wrong."
|
||
Bentz, a four-year Army veteran, said he started getting
|
||
"rotten" job
|
||
assignments after he revealed his beliefs to his previous unit
|
||
commander. Then enlisted soldiers stopped listening to what Bentz
|
||
said, or jokingly asked if he could cast a good-weather spell for
|
||
their next field exercise, he said.
|
||
Despite the problems, Bentz said, he managed to get
|
||
transferred to a
|
||
unit where no one cares that he is a witch. he has since joined
|
||
the Farwandere Fellowship and hopes that other pagans will follow.
|
||
"Most of them are finally coming out of the closet and
|
||
saying: The
|
||
military is the pinnacle of what we believe in - freedom of
|
||
religion - so why are we afraid to reveal our beliefs?" Bentz said.
|
||
But other pagans have chosen to keep a low profile. Jack
|
||
(not his real
|
||
name), a Navy hospital corpsman second class stationed in the Deep
|
||
South, said secrecy protects his family.
|
||
"If I were a civilian and things got hot, I could always pick
|
||
up and
|
||
leave," he said. "Being in the Navy, I can't do that."
|
||
Jack said he might consider practicing Wicca openly if he
|
||
were stationed
|
||
on a ship, because everyone aboard would be subject to Navy
|
||
discipline and regulations that protect freedom of religion. On
|
||
shore, however, Jack said he feels intimidated by vocal Christian
|
||
fundamentalists on and off base. The Klu Klux Klan is still active
|
||
in the civilian community, he added.
|
||
Jack and his wife did attend a workshop for military pagans
|
||
last summer
|
||
at Barneveld, Wis. The worship had about eight participants and
|
||
was sponsored by Circle Sanctuary, a 10-year old Wiccan church that
|
||
claims 15,000 members.
|
||
Some pagans find that their religious implements are banned
|
||
in barracks,
|
||
said J. Gordon Melton, a professor who heads the University of
|
||
California at Santa Barbara's Institute for the Study of American
|
||
Religion.
|
||
For example, Melton said, some bases ban incense because it
|
||
is sometimes
|
||
used to cover the smell of marijuana. Candles may be considered a
|
||
fire hazard. And the Wiccan ritual knife, the atheme, may be
|
||
considered an unauthorized weapon.
|
||
The estimate of 30,000 to 40,000 pagans in the United States
|
||
comes from
|
||
Melton's research.
|
||
Wiccans and pagans don't try to convert others to their
|
||
religion, but
|
||
many feel harassed by the well-intentioned efforts of some
|
||
Christians to
|
||
"save" them from sin, said Kim Rayworth, the wife of an Air Force
|
||
major at
|
||
Incirlik AB, Turkey. Rayworth said she and her husband have been
|
||
Wiccans since 1970.
|
||
Last summer, Rayworth said, she woke up one morning to find a
|
||
large
|
||
wooden cross planted in the front yard of her on-base home. She
|
||
could have made a formal complaint to the base commander but chose
|
||
to ignore the incident, she said.
|
||
A neighbor also tried to hang crosses around Rayworth's
|
||
daughter's neck,
|
||
Rayworth said.
|
||
"At the age of 7, she had accumulated nine crosses from (the)
|
||
neighbor," Rayworth said. "I finally told her, 'I don't need your
|
||
crosses. Please don't push your religion on my daughter.'"
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|