why are you into this stuff?

[三江源]

lumping.. well, it's illustrative of a spectrum of possible experiences of love. maybe less lumping than ironically acknowledging. I should have added Henry Miller?

 

morepieguy, that's a great quote from HP Lovecraft! Thanks for finding that.

 

Yes.. what you think about the idea that Shakespeare was St.Germain? Well, in fact I guess there is not a lot one can think about that idea. One can only look at it, I suppose.

 

The stupendousness of Shakespeare would suggest that he had an ability to harvest multiple intelligences to add to his own.

[GrandmasterP]

I reckon old Wil was an Illuminatus , Ben Jonson likewise. Dee and Kelley too, that goes without saying.

Travelling players and those like Dee n Kelley who got about a lot due to their jobs were naturals for fraternal 'secret' societies and Latin was the internet of its day so Dee could correspond with chaps in Prague and elsewhere and vice versa and chat like old chums to his peers irrespective of 'mother' tongue.

Walter Raleigh for sure was an illuminatus, Wal was given the blue silk banner by Good Queen Bess (hermetic 'fag hag') bearing the motto you see above my tag to the left

Richard Brinsley Sheridan definitely was, he was a Grandmaster.

And there's a guy called George Cooper Murray from the old days who still gets a mention wherever like minded folk get together, not many know George's full story; but it's a good 'un.

Edited December 31, 2012 by GrandmasterP

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Ben Jonson has that scene in his 'The Alchemist'

 

MAM. O, I cry your pardon.

He's a divine instructor! can extract

The souls of all things by his art; call all

The virtues, and the miracles of the sun,

Into a temperate furnace; teach dull nature

What her own forces are. A man, the emperor

Has courted above Kelly; sent his medals

And chains, to invite him.

 

I kinda agree with old Ben that it is a noble humour indeed to be ataken with the Hermeticals.(Emphasis mine, ZYD)

 

"Extract the souls of all things" is a reference to what the alchemist referred to as sulphur, in Aristotle's terminology the form. The reason for using sulphur as a name is because when liquid it is red, but when solid it is yellow and the liquid extracts of gold were red as one can witness in the old fashioned red glass which received its color from gold used in its manufacture. The soul was the active agent and the alchemists extraction of the "active part" of a natural substance, whether animal, vegetable or mineral, is the distant ancestor to the modern pharmaceutical companies search for the "active ingredient" in traditional herbal remedies of which aspirin, from willow, and digitalis, from froxglove, are the models.

 

"The miracles of the Sun" is probably a reference to the Emerald Tablet.

 

"The Emperor" and "Kelly" is undoubtably a reference to the fate which Edward Kelly, skryer to John Dee, suffered at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf the Second, who first knighted Kelly for the transmutation which he "demonstrated" at court and then imprisoned him for not following through with his promises of more. Kelly died from injuries suffered when he jumped at least two stories in a botched escape attempt.

 

"Noble humour" is perhaps what GrandmasterP believes he is indulging by quoting at length from a play that, following the lead set by Chaucer in the Canon's Yeoman's tale, sets out to reveal the falsity of Hermetic Arts and the cons which accompany them. I only say this because in light of GrandmasterP's numerous negative comments about these subjects, his quoting of Johnson has the ring of the ironical.

 

To continue themes from Johnson's work, in memory of a certain "Dapper" gentleman, I will append the following account from the autobiography of William Lilly, the famous 17^th Century astrologer and by his own account magician:

 

Since I have related of the Queen of Fairies, I shall acquaint you, that it is not for every one, or every person, that these angelical creatures will appear unto, though they may say over the call, over and over, or indeed is it given to very many persons to {230} endure their glorious aspects; even very many have failed just at that present when they are ready to manifest themselves; even persons otherwise of undaunted spirits and firm resolution, are herewith astonished, and tremble; as it happened not many years since with us. A very sober discreet person, of virtuous life and conversation, was beyond measure desirous to see something in this nature. He went with a friend into my Hurst Wood: the Queen of Fairies was invocated, a gentle murmuring wind came first; after that, amongst the hedges, a smart whirlwind; by and by a strong blast of wind blew upon the face of the friend,—and the Queen appearing in a most illustrious glory, 'No more, I beseech you,' (quoth the friend:) 'My heart fails; I am not able to endure longer.' Nor was he: his black curling hair rose up, and I believe a bullrush would {231} have beat him to the ground: he was soundly laughed at, &c.

 

More of which may be found here:

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15835

 

I have often wondered whether one reason why magic "doesn't work" is because most people who claim an interest in these matters, as much as they may seem to long for it and affirm otherwise, don't really believe in it and are so astonished when it actually does work that they recoil in terror leaving success to heartier souls.

 

To Know, to Will, to Dare and to Keep Silent.

[GrandmasterP]

Ah but GMP is a part time semi pro magician by trade and calling and an initiated one at that.

Almost all real magic occurs north of our own necks, the paraphernalia are resources to expedite same.

The external remainder, well that's magic too.

Good crit though.

Edited December 31, 2012 by GrandmasterP

[Thunder_Gooch]

More Pie Guy, you are not welcome in this forum if your only wish is to disparage the Occultists here.

 

 

 

Looking at my posts here:

 

 

1st post, at OP DaoJones.

 

Dealt with my feeling he wouldn't get any satisfactory answers to his questions.

 

 

2nd post,

 

Two questions to clarify meaning of terms.

 

3rd post,

 

Agreeing that I enjoy listening to philosophers looking for insights that resonate with me.

[Thunder_Gooch]

morepieguy, that's a great quote from HP Lovecraft! Thanks for finding that.

 

Thanks. It's very meaningful for me personally.

[Meroe]

I practice Hermetic Magic, the Greek form of practice, ie absolutely nothing to do with qaballa in any capacity. I practice it because I believed that our ancestor knew something that we didnt, So i figured the only way to know for sure is to study the tenets & find out for myself, which is exactly what i did. I discovered my Chi through magic so I looked into Taoism, & began practicing Chi cultivation with Sword play & a few forms of Neigong, all to a syncretic, & continually beneficial, effect.

[GrandmasterP]

Great posts all. I love Lovecraft.

However we cultivate and whatever path we follow, we perceive the outcomes as phenomena with our senses; albeit one of those senses is intuitive.

Old Kant was maybe on to something.

[Seth Ananda]

I am curious as to what people who frequent this section of ttb are studying and practicing and why. It just seems like such an amorphous subject area to me and i am trying to get a handle on it. Is it practical, does it provide a philosophical, ethical, or metaphysical/cosmological paradigm?

 

What would you call what you are studying/practicing and why? (For bonus points)

Magick gives me fairly consistent access to deeper states of consciousness. And i personally feel that it helps develop the navigatioal skills for the spiritual world that will be required after death.

It also helps me integrate various parts of me that may often be at odds.

Invocation/evocation has given me some of the weirdst and very rewarding experiences of my life.

More so, Theurgy, or the Invocation of higher beings has given me some of the greatest experiences of my life.

 

I personally really enjoy Magick, more than most other things I have done. I enjoy interacting with the denizens of the universe. I enjoy the questions the inevitable experiences create for me.

I particularly enjoy the reciprocal relationship with the living interactive universe that gets brought about by Magick.

[stefos]

@The O.P.....

Well, let me share an "interesting experience" with you....READY? (this is meant for suspense and not offense, I know it's all caps...sorry):

O.K.

About 17 years ago, I went into a metaphysical bookstore, actually I didn't realize what that even meant really.

I saw Tibetan singing bowls and crystal bowls and I decided to play a Tibetan bowl, which I did and then I gently placed it on it's circular base/stand, letting it "sing" or ring.

I walked to the owner of the store who was behind a glass display case, a little higher than my waist, and a rested my 2 forearms there, relaxed and just gazing at her.

After I rested my 2 forearms on the metal part of the display case, I fell into a trance and saw a veil of sorts being removed from in front of my eye view level and I could then clearly see 2 bands of colors parallelling one another near this person's left hand side ribcage: Pastel green & Pastel purple and each band had the color black centrally located and the borders of each band were yellow/golden. After this experience, I shook the trance off, so to speak and told her about it.

Some time later, I got a hold of Dora Van Gelder Kunz's book "The personal aura" & C.W. Leadbeater's book about the various "bodies" that people have surrounding the physical.
What I saw was the "astral" or emotional part, not body, of this person, I would surmise.

So....I'm studying spirituality, existence & consciousness in its various facets & expressions......
Do I now receive "brownie points?"....yum...

stefos....The above is a true story! No drugs, booze, hypnosis, hysteria or "delusions" were involved.....It was a regular day and I wasn't expecting ANYTHING to happen......bye

 

Edited: 2/3/13

P.S. The lady above showed my a print out of an "aura photograph" she got done after I told her what I saw and the 2 colors showing on the print out as major influences, I assume, were green & purple! Hard to believe but true.....

Edited February 4, 2013 by stefos

[stefos]

Hi everyone,

 

Does anyone believe me?

 

It seems this thread just stopped! LOL

 

I swear to you all that the above event occurred as I state it....that's why I'm here.

Stefos

[Birch]

Ebbing in:-)

 

I'm all happy (still) because of the Blofeld book on Kuan Yin where he describes an insight he had about reality after having seen Kuan Yin present herself successively in all her different forms.

His insight was that we should stop imposing what we believe to be true on other people in ways that squelch their experience of reality. In this Hermetics is a way of unsquelching.

 

--opinion etc--

[Nikhil Dev]

The mind always yearns for something beyond the normal experiences of daily life..Magic, occult, siddhis and even religious practices are creations of such mind.

 

With change in technology and media (TV and internet) the people are increasingly aware of many belief systems including occult, but the depth in a particular system (even religion) has reduced.

[Seth Ananda]

The mind always yearns for something beyond the normal experiences of daily life..Magic, occult, siddhis and even religious practices are creations of such mind.

 

With change in technology and media (TV and internet) the people are increasingly aware of many belief systems including occult, but the depth in a particular system (even religion) has reduced.

Hmm, so why are 'you' into this stuff?

[manitou]

Ebbing in:-) I'm all happy (still) because of the Blofeld book on Kuan Yin where he describes an insight he had about reality after having seen Kuan Yin present herself successively in all her different forms. His insight was that we should stop imposing what we believe to be true on other people in ways that squelch their experience of reality. In this Hermetics is a way of unsquelching. --opinion etc--

 

That's weird. I just bought Blofield's Kuan Yin book too because I found a gorgeous Dragonware china tea set in W. Virginia at a junk shop and discovered that the entities contained on the tea set were Kuan Yin and the two boddhisatvas / warriors that guard her.

 

I'm 'into this stuff' because I think I was born being into this stuff. I've been a seeker all my life, even when 'seeking' meant seeking comfort in the bottom of a bottle of scotch. Even then, I was seeking. Once the alcoholism was cast aside, the true destination was intuited and followed up upon.

 

Is there ever really total satisfaction if you are a seeker? Isn't this what keeps us coming back to these discussions year after year with each other? at some point it becomes less about 'seeking' and more about 'living it'.

Edited March 29, 2013 by manitou

[lloydbaker]

I am curious as to what people who frequent this section of ttb are studying and practicing and why. It just seems like such an amorphous subject area to me and i am trying to get a handle on it. Is it practical, does it provide a philosophical, ethical, or metaphysical/cosmological paradigm?

 

What would you call what you are studying/practicing and why? (For bonus points)

 

I'm interested from a primarily Jungian perspective.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

I am reflecting; i am into "this" as "it" is into me.

[manitou]

It has a metaphysical bent. It is unstructured. It is the intersection where all lines of philosophical thought intersect, at the intersection of Agape Love and Love Your Brother As Yourself. I feel freer here.

[ChiForce]

The Tao and the Chi are as natural as nature herself. When you have a spontaneously awakening of the Chi energy and to be on the path of the Tao, just for the sheer fact that the way you have lived your life and certain issues surrounding you, you are on the path to the great enlightenment. The question is that why there aren't more people like that.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

The Tao and the Chi are as natural as nature herself. When you have a spontaneously awakening of the Chi energy and to be on the path of the Tao, just for the sheer fact that the way you have lived your life and certain issues surrounding you, you are on the path to the great enlightenment. The question is that why there aren't more people like that.

we're growing in volumetric percentage by the generation. just 10 years ago i was the one and only person on all the internet promoting omnitude; one of very few promoting anarchy and the only one promoting it nonviolently and/or non-sensationally; one of a minority of organic lifeways, and one of very few who promoted Love- at all.

 

 

In face when i was 13, i ahd a lengthy and heated debate about Love versus Currency and how money was an entrapment and invisible chains binding us in slavery, whereas love was all embracing and infinite for every individual, that we could all be equals. She laughed at me and called me names, and i cursed her and fouled her name, and that was it.

 

But now, now i am seeing it as a norm. seems little kids were reading my rants to heart you know who you are...

[manitou]

I see this intersection as a place without form. Even the taoist 'form', which is the least form of all, must be transcended. Once we reach the intersection we can readily reach down into any tradition and understand, once the 'language' is learned.

 

It all goes to the same place. The One. The only religion that's wrong is the one that says everyone else is wrong. Christians are pretty good at that, but perhaps that is common in all isms.

 

Funny you mention money. I read a book once that referred to money as 'stuck energy', and it seems to me that it nails it right on the head. If you think it through, that's all it is. 'Work' held in abeyance, in paper or coin form. Makes it a lot easier to spend, regarding it as merely stuck energy. But I've noticed that it also makes it easier to come by. What goes around comes around, and I'm guessing the same is true of money as well. Why hoard a bunch of stuck energy?

 

I now know that within me, I manifest from the inside to the outside. I Am. So are You. We Are. The magnificent design and intelligence that rotates like clockwork is our higher self, and we share the same higher self. We all do.

 

My path was not an ism at all. It was the onion peeling path which ultimately ends in Self-Realization. I fell in love with the TTC because it was unstructured, yet hit at the meat of what every other line of thought seemed to be trying to get to. My personal understanding is that one can be the most learned man in the world as to all the isms and precepts contained within; but without self-realization, it is still two dimensional and of the brain. The self realization turns it into 3 dimensions and knowledge resides in the heart....true understanding. It must be gained from experience, from the inner 'aha's!' which ultimately lead us to the place we're seeking.

[ChiForce]

we're growing in volumetric percentage by the generation. just 10 years ago i was the one and only person on all the internet promoting omnitude; one of very few promoting anarchy and the only one promoting it nonviolently and/or non-sensationally; one of a minority of organic lifeways, and one of very few who promoted Love- at all.

 

 

In face when i was 13, i ahd a lengthy and heated debate about Love versus Currency and how money was an entrapment and invisible chains binding us in slavery, whereas love was all embracing and infinite for every individual, that we could all be equals. She laughed at me and called me names, and i cursed her and fouled her name, and that was it.

 

But now, now i am seeing it as a norm. seems little kids were reading my rants to heart you know who you are...

Hey, "I" happened before "Matrix." Period. Yes, when I watched Matrix, I see a lot of my life in there.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

Matrix, Superman, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the bible. the 5 elements of mind control stories

[ChiForce]

Matrix, Superman, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the bible. the 5 elements of mind control stories

I was never big on Star Wars but only recently. Lord of the Rings are OK but the Mr Frodo isn't my idea of a hero. He is too normal. Superman? I will pass. I love the X man.....super sentient beings being persecuted because of their super powers. Bible? Not a Christian. I will pass.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

missed my point entirely, or simply ignored it

Those 5 are, generally speaking, the same stories.

Frodo almost died; if not for the Mithril Mesh, and Gandalf and the Balrogg or whatever they called it. Superman gave up his powers, which is the equivalent of dying in his case. Obi Wan contacted Luke from beyond... Anakin is basically dead and lives on as Vader... But the matrix is a blatant shill. Neo is portrayed as Jesus. I cannot NOT see it. Trinity? that isnt obvious.

Matrix is the least veiled bible parody, but all 4 are parodies never the less. all 4 simply take crucial plot points right out of the bible and subtly modify them. i'd have to watch them all again, which i have no interest in doing, to note and mention every single example, but there are many.