Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church Ashfield, New South Wales.
I would like to begin this with a quote from Liber 30 with a few marginal notes from me:
In the true religion there is no sect, therefore take heed that thou blaspheme not the name by which another knoweth his God; for if thou do this thing in Jupiter thou wilt blaspheme יהוה [YodHeVavHe, the Judeo-Christian God] and in Osiris יהשוה [Yeshua, ie, Jesus]. Ask and ye shall have! Seek, and ye shall find! Knock, and it shall be opened unto you! – Liber Librae, verse twenty-one.
This issue has been raised recently locally, not because there was a problem, but because it’s an interesting topic of discussion and food for the mind. I haven’t seen it addressed much online, so I thought I would throw in my two cents on the matter.
These days I’m not very big on posting pointless things, and music videos are pretty pointless. Nevertheless, I really like this song and think it has a good message, not only because it echoes 1:3. Little known fact about me: I tend to have songs stuck in my head during major rituals. Sometimes, this is bizarre. For instance, “Ya Soshla Uma” will always be mildly associated with First Degree. Recently, however, this particular song was stuck in my head during a Minerval initiation, and I found it rather appropriate.
On a further note, certain people need to stop trying to get me to talk about the initiations. I didn’t do it in September; I didn’t do it in February, so what makes you think that the billionth time you ask, I’ll suddenly spill everything? If you care so much about what happens in Minerval and First Degree, then take them yourself. What, you don’t want to? Because you don’t into Thelema? Totally your business and totally cool, do what thou wilt. But, if you don’t into Thelema, then why do you even care what goes down in the initiations? Furthermore, I find it highly inappropriate when these same people couch their requests for information in an “I’m concerned for you” way. No, I’m not going to do it just to allay your fears. When you care about someone, sometimes you just have to trust that they’ve made the right decisions. Besides, I don’t believe in your concern for a minute. You actually do trust me. Bottom line: you’re barking up the wrong tree.
[4/21/13 9:15:26 PM] Protagonist: i kinda wanna go on my oasis’s messageboard and ask if anyone would be interested in a Gnostic Mass where we all wear fursuits [4/21/13 9:16:18 PM] Xepsurah: o3o [4/21/13 9:19:35 PM] Xepsurah: priest pls [4/21/13 9:19:38 PM] Xepsurah: What if like [4/21/13 9:19:40 PM] Xepsurah: tag [4/21/13 9:19:43 PM] Xepsurah: what if [4/21/13 9:19:46 PM] Xepsurah: I was a real fur [4/21/13 9:19:52 PM] Xepsurah: and I attended a fursuit mass [4/21/13 9:19:58 PM] Xepsurah: but I have to blend in [4/21/13 9:20:02 PM] Protagonist: Hmm [4/21/13 9:20:08 PM] Protagonist: Odd line of questioning [4/21/13 9:20:10 PM] Xepsurah: and make others think I’m wearing a fursuit [4/21/13 9:20:11 PM] Xepsurah: o3o [4/21/13 9:20:35 PM] Xepsurah: Would be cool to be a fur priest at fursuit mass <_<
Neither critics of the occult nor occultists seem apt to mention the appeal of occult… stuff. I am talking, of course, of all the products purveyed by occult shops. Wands, pentacles (or pantacles), chalices, altar cloths, daggers, Tarot decks, and jewelry all fall into this category. There is a wide variety of these things available. I was in an occult shop the other day that had an entire shelf devoted to offering bowls, and several large tables devoted to stones of various stripes.
whether they will absorption in the Infinite, (Kether)
or to be united with their chosen and preferred, (Chokmah)
or to be in contemplation, (Binah)
or to be at peace, (Da’ath)
or to achieve the labour and heroism of incarnation
on this planet or another, (Geburah)
or in any Star, (Tiferet)
or aught else (Chesed) – Xepsurah 2013
Today I would like to talk about the occult in fiction as opposed to the occult in reality, and how occult fiction, if taken too seriously, can be poisonous to a person’s spiritual development. Now, I’m sure you think you’ve read this over and over on a million different sites and books. This topic has been discussed to death; there are plenty of people willing to tell you that The Craft isn’t real and that shouting “Pyrofuego!” won’t create a wall of fire. What I have to say, however, is a bit different, and (I feel) more important than that.
It’s a bit silly for someone to see a few movies and then march into an occult group hoping to learn to shoot fireballs, but these people don’t really hurt anyone, aside from embarrassing themselves. They’re quickly disabused of their obvious fantasies and either leave it in favor of the less esoteric side of life, or stay and attempt to understand the reality of the occult. Unrealistic expectations of magic are annoying (to those who have them, and others) but no where near as damaging as other, more subtle lessons that can be learned from occult fiction.
Just a quick update: I became I° in the OTO on February 9th, 2013. I’m working on several posts at the moment. My big problem is that I can’t seem to focus on one thing exclusively for long enough to master it. Getting better about it, but as is always true with these things, it’s a process and not an event. Lately I’ve been working on a “discussion” of Liber Resh vel Helios. I am also trying to into the Thoth deck (which is turning out to be a lot easier than I thought). Beyond that, I’ve been working with Mercury and Asklepius some. Has anyone else seen the new USGL site? I applaud their use of WordPress, but it looks patently hideous.
English: Vicodin tablet Italiano: Pillole di Vicodin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I was in one of my classes yesterday, this one being about how the law effects pharmacists and technicians. Someone rattled off a disturbing statistic. Supposedly, 40% of all pharmacy workers (techs and pharmacists) have some kind of substance abuse issue. I haven’t been able to find this statistic anywhere, and the person could have just made it up, but it got me thinking about drug abuse in general. And, as always, I had to relate it to magic, because that’s what i do with everything right now.
This is a fairly old topic, but it has a bearing on the current occult community, so I’m writing about it. I’ve been following this movement from the sidelines for about a decade. It concerns children, metaphysics, and psychic phenomena. Let me explain why this pisses me off.
This is the second part on my series about Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals. The first part is here.
Nietzsche’s Moral Project
Today we’re going to look specifically at his “moral” philosophy, if it can be called that, as enumerated in On The Genealogy of Morals. Suffice to say much of society would not consider Nietzschean morality to be morality in the true sense, and they may in fact be right. Please note that Nietzsche’s approach to morality is descriptive, rather than prescriptive. This means that Nietzsche is not concerned with telling us how to live our lives. Instead, he wants to talk about what role morals play in our lives. This is best summed up in a quotation from On The Genealogy of Morals. Nietzsche asks, “Under what conditions did men invent for themselves these value judgments good and evil? And what inherent value do they have? Have they hindered or fostered human well-being up to now? Are they a sign of some emergency, of impoverishment, of an atrophying life? Or is it the other way around—do they indicate fullness, power, a will for living, courage, confidence, the future?”
