Religion, Philosophy, and/or Science?
pg. 4
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Visitors as of 05/11/2023
The Western tradition of occultism, as popularly conceived, is of an ancient "secret philosophy" underlying all occult practices. This secret philosophy derives ultimately from Hellenistic magic and alchemy on the one hand and from Jewish mysticism on the other. The principal Hellenistic source is the Corpus Hermeticum (Hermetic writings), the texts associated with Hermes Trismegistos, which are concerned with astrology and other occult sciences and with spiritual regeneration. ("occultism." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Hermetic Writings also called Hermetica:
Works of revelation on occult, theological, and philosophical subjects ascribed to the Egyptian god Thoth (Greek Hermes Trismegistos [Hermes the Thrice-Greatest]), who was believed to be the inventor of writing and the patron of all the arts dependent on writing. The collection, written in Greek and Latin, probably dates from the middle of the 1st to the end of the 3rd century AD. It was written in the form of Platonic dialogues and falls into two main classes: "popular" Hermetism, which deals with astrology and the other occult sciences; and "learned" Hermetism, which is concerned with theology and philosophy. Both seem to have arisen in the complex Greco-Egyptian culture of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
From the Renaissance until the end of the 19th century, popular Hermetic literature received little scholarly attention. More recent study, however, has shown that its development preceded that of learned Hermetism and that it reflects ideas and beliefs that were widely held in the early Roman Empire and are therefore significant for the religious and intellectual history of the time.
In the Hellenistic age there was a growing distrust of traditional Greek rationalism and a breaking down of the distinction between science and religion. Hermes-Thoth was but one of the gods and prophets (chiefly Oriental) to whom people turned for a divinely revealed wisdom.
In this period the works ascribed to Hermes Trismegistos were primarily on astrology; to these were later added treatises on medicine, alchemy (Tabula Smaragdina ["Emerald Tablet"], a favourite source for medieval alchemists), and magic. The underlying concept of astrology—that the cosmos constituted a unity and that all parts of it were interdependent—was basic also to the other occult sciences. To make this principle effective in practice (and Hermetic "science" was intensely utilitarian), it was necessary to know the laws of sympathy and antipathy by which the parts of the universe were related. But because these assumed affinities did not, in fact, exist and hence could not be discovered by ordinary scientific methods, recourse had to be made to divine revelation. The aim of Hermetism, like that of Gnosticism (a contemporary religious-philosophical movement), was the deification or rebirth of mortals through the knowledge (gnosis) of the one transcendent God, the world, and humankind.
The theological writings are represented chiefly by the 17 treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum, by extensive fragments in the Anthologion (Anthology) of Stobaeus, and by a Latin translation of the Asclepius, preserved among the works of Apuleius. Though the setting of these is Egyptian, the philosophy is Greek. The Hermetic writings, in fact, present a fusion of Eastern religious elements with Platonic, Stoic, and Neo-Pythagorean philosophies. It is unlikely, however, that there was any well-defined Hermetic community, or "church."
Hermetism was extensively cultivated by the Arabs, and through them it reached and influenced the West. There are frequent allusions to Hermes Trismegistos in late medieval and in Renaissance literature. ("Hermetic writings." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2013.)
Interestingly, we can find a reference to the idea that the halo was at one time viewed as an item of Pagans, and thus rejected by the Christian church:
Halo, also called nimbus:
In art, radiant circle or disk surrounding the head of a holy person, a representation of spiritual character through the symbolism of light. In Hellenistic and Roman art the sun-god Helios and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of rays. Because of its pagan origin, the form was avoided in Early Christian art, but a simple circular nimbus was adopted by Christian emperors for their official portraits. From the middle of the 4th century, Christ was also shown with this imperial attribute, as was his symbol, the Lamb of God, from the end of the 4th century. In the 5th century it was sometimes given to angels, but it was not until the 6th century that the halo became customary for the Virgin Mary and other saints. For a period during the 5th century, living persons of eminence were depicted with a square nimbus.
The halo was used regularly in representations of Christ, the angels, and the saints throughout the Middle Ages. Often Christ's halo is quartered by the lines of a cross or inscribed with three bands, interpreted to signify his position in the Trinity. From the 15th century, however, with the growth of naturalism in Renaissance art, the nimbus created problems in representation. At first it was treated by some Florentine artists as a solid object seen in perspective, a disk fixed to the back of a saint's head. The inadequacy of this solution led to its decline in Italian art in the 16th century and to its abandonment by Michelangelo and Titian. In Flemish painting of the 15th century, it began to be represented as rays of light; under the influence of the Counter-Reformation, which sought to restore a glorious conception to religious art, this form was adopted by Italian artists of the late 16th century, notably Tintoretto, as a realistically rendered light emanating from the holy person's head. This new interpretation was the standard one in the Baroque period and in most subsequent religious works.
The halo is also found in Buddhist art of India, appearing from the late 3rd century AD. It is believed that the motif was brought to the East by Greek invaders. See also mandorla. ("halo." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013. )
It should be understood by the reader that many of the "WW3" practices are acts if parroting, of mimicry, and not due to some concerted enterprising effort based on creativity, originality, inventiveness, scholarship, genius, controlled experimentation, etc., including an attempt to reach beyond that which was discovered by their fore-bearing practitioners in terms of personal enlightenment, if not undiscovered "powers", the Philosopher's Stone notwithstanding.
First of all let us begin with a new definition of the word "Occult" so as to bring it into the present day era. This requires acknowledging that the first two letters "OC" are an acronym for the 3 words "Over the Counter", generally understood as something that can be bought by anyone, without needing a prescription from a professional, which is the case for most of the Witch, Wicca, and Pagan practices. The remaining 4 letters retain their characteristic reference to a "cult":
Cult: A great devotion (exaggerated zeal) to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book). [Sources: Merriam Webster and Wordweb dictionaries].
In Brief, an "Over the Counter Cult", referencing various adopted ideas subjected to a practice that may be short, medium, or long term, just alike any fad.
Let us presage this introduction by providing a familiar rule-of-thumb theme amongst Wiccans, which appears at the bottom of this page: Wicca Rede (full version):
The expression has been around in one another form for a much longer time than that which some people might care to appreciate, and thus speaks of a mental tradition going from one culture and time period to the next. What it doesn't describe is that because it has remained around for so long a time, it bespeaks of a problematic situation involving human circumstances in what may at first appear to be relatively unchanging circumstances. In other words, because it has been long enduring, or at least appears to be clinging to the psyche of humanity, some readers will take this to mean it has great value. To me it suggests that the mind of humans gets into a rut and thus sets themselves up for becoming over-whelmed when circumstances change requiring a major shift in ideological considerations. The foregoing Wiccan creed, as a rule-of-thumb is likely taken from a Judeo-Christian idea called the The Golden Rule:
The Golden rule's corollary is The Silver Rule:
Another variation on the same theme is an old Dutch expression Live-and-let-live:
In other words, the Wiccan rule-of-thumb is a copycat theme, just as is much of their practices. There is no deep thought with what they are doing, just mimicry like some parrot, or dog that has been trained to fetch a person's slippers, a tossed frisbee, or thrown rubber ball... and similar to that seen in main-stream religions and other social institutions as well as criminal behavior called an "MO" (Modus Operendi: Mode of Operation or SOP: Standard Operating Procedure).
With respect to the Golden rule, one might also come across and cite:
Golden Rule:
Precept in the Gospel of Matthew (7:12): "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you... " This rule of conduct is a summary of the Christian's duty to his neighbor and states a fundamental ethical principle. In its negative form, "Do not do to others what you would not like done to yourselves," it occurs in the 2nd-century documents Didache– and the Apology of Aristides and may well have formed part of an early catechism. It recalls the command to "love the stranger (sojourner)" as found in Deuteronomy. It is not, however, peculiar to Christianity. Its negative form is to be found in Tob. 4:15, in the writings of the two great Jewish scholars Hillel (1st century BC) and Philo of Alexandria (1st centuries BC and AD), and in the Analects of Confucius (6th and 5th centuries BC). It also appears in one form or another in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, and Seneca. ("Golden Rule." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
To me, again... the retention of such an idea is not the revelation of a universal good or righteous perspective, but that humanity is intellectually stuck in the Muck, and referenced by the notion that "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it"... which is another recurring mental theme one can find being used in modern contexts. Repetition does not automatically qualify something as being good, right and the best. Particularly when we note the repetitious usage of warfare to settle disputes, increasing taxes, increasing homelessness, practicing of a false democracy, etc...
The usage of old ideas and old ritualized performances (called ceremony or worshipping) is particularly ignorant when there exists enough information to discount many of the practices in the "WW3" (Witch, Wiccan, Pagan) communities as well as mainstream religions. One of these practices is the idea of claiming oneself to be an Atheist, when in actuality a person may disbelieve in another's belief about a Creator that is being viewed in context with the associated religious practices. God as an entity or god as a process needs to be distinguished from a Catholic defined god, or an Islam defined god, or a Jewish defined god, or a Buddhist defined god, or a Lutheran defined god, or a Baptist defined god, or a Mormon defined god, or a Jehovah's Witness defined god, or a Bahai faith defined god, or a Hinduist defined god, etc... Most often I find that someone is not a true atheist, they simply use different labels to suggest this is the case to themselves, and come to be persuade by their own arguments which frequently are not scrutinized by anyone conversant in variations of rhetoric one might not realize they are subjecting themselves to so as to give themselves the impression the "me, myself, I" descriptives are three persons who agree with them, for a 3 -to- 1 ratio. They have some way of explaining or describing how existence came to be, even if they say it's always been. Yet, they may well confuse the Existence with the Universe and the Existence of humanity. Just because one does not like the term "god" because it somehow suggests an affinity with a mainstream religion that has give a person a sour taste, doesn't mean someone can't create a single word for their own variation of a philosophy about how existence arose and appears to be maintained by purpose or process. Believing in a creator doesn't mean someone has to apply attributive human qualities to them or it. Whether or not a person believes in a god or gods, is all dependent on how you define and use the term "god"... as a he, she, or it.
I had begun writing about the three "alternative ideologies" as they might be described instead of as oc-cult groups or religions ("oc" in occult is a reference to the current models of "over-the-counter", everyday, run-of-the-mill, production line, generic brands of Witches, Wiccan, Pagans the public is being subjected to; which in most cases appears to be the typical quality of ideological goods being put on public display as a consumable). Those attempting to peddle one or another of the signs, symbols, arte-factual goods (candles, crystals, cauldrons, cisterns, carvings, criteria), etc., are like the merchants selling their wares in the designated sacred place of old in which it is told that Jesus got mad because they were defiling a holy place... but also made the greedy Jewish merchants mad who wanted to exact some revenge against him for disrupting their livelihood. I have lumped the three alternative orientations together even though apparently... group and individual practices vary widely, and I am a little reticent about describing what they do as "crafts" because this typically refers to the creation of something by way of a sequence of steps such as is expressed in the old crafts guilds with its defined levels of:
- Apprentice (novice, beginner, rookie, trainee)
- Journeyman (skilled)
- Master (perfected skill)
Let us look upon the Witch, Wiccan, Pagan (WWP, or WW3) practices as separate, inclusive and inter-meshed ideological preferences and apply a commonly known academic assignment as a means of making some graduational (like a graded scale) model of differentiation as a generalized profile:
- (Bachelor) There are some who practice (WW3) as a playful past-time because they lack the sensibilities and sensitivities of those who share an underlying psychic inter-connectivity.
- (Master) There are those who practice WW3 as a respected Religion because they believe they embrace the sensibilities and sensitivities of an expressed communally shared and religiously-guided natural spirituality.
- (PhD) There are only a few people practicing (full or part-time) WW3 as a Science, as a Mathematical-Philosophy (involving medicine, psychology/psychiatry, biology, comparative anatomy, physics, chemistry, sociology, linguistics, metaphysics, anthropology, cognitive science, etc...) because they harbor a non-religious "spirituality" from a deeper past which can manifest its presence into their consciousness at any time, as an individuality seeking to express itself in some corporeal manner... which others of their ilk may see as creativity, originality, talent, insight, or even genius; while outside-others frequently misinterpret and negatively label as a peculiarity, oddity, strangeness...
One might say that a later... more present-day variation can be found in the 3-part sequence of "Manager, Assistant Manager, and 3rd man", or "White collar- Blue collar- No collar" workers, or Crone- Mother- Virgin, or Rich man- Poor man- Beggar man, etc... But the point is, the use of the word "craft" in the context of perfecting a ritual or ceremony or stream of thought is quite different from perfecting a trade from which an item for practical application or usage is developed such as a tool for repairing, chair for sitting on, medicine for illness, or a pair of shoes. Using the word craft in the present day sense as described by the activities engaged in by some Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans, is like calling someone who boils water a chef. However it should be recognized that the three groups are yet another Indo-European triple idea. See for example: Trifunctional Hypothesis of Georges Dumezil, involving the 3 social divisions:
- Priestly class
- Warrior class
- Producers class
Wiccans form the latest edition of the trio and the Pagans the Earliest tradition as referenced as country folk; leaving the early Witches as those who were interested in the practice of an actual "craft" in terms of tying to devise a mechanism by which some personal power over others or nature could be achieved. Yet, where is the spark of originality from which the fundamental transitional theme of a Pagan-craft into Witch-craft arose, and now suffers from an embellished re-creationist and re-visionist ideology has been brought into the fore called Wiccannism? Is the spark of originality which ushered in the first Witch, the first Pagan, the first Wiccan as a transition from the person they were into that which came to be consciously recognized as a unique individual representative of a New Consciousness, something which can be fanned into a flame and transferred to others to increase the luminosity of a candle wattage that may be better understood if I were to use the phrase "increased energy flow"? Is the spark an energy which can be harnessed because it is a sustainable ember from which a flame can be ignited, despite the idea that it is customary to think of a spark in terms of an individual talent that is not easily taught and for which an inflamed version one might call genius, too rare an occurrence and exists at a distance not readily reached by most?
For example, let us say that everyone in a Witches community recognizes a person who is viewed as a lighted flame because of some embraced empowerment that the person themselves nor anyone else may not know how they came to shine so brightly, but they are recognized as a person who, for whatever reason(s), appear to embody a large or the largest personal aura of a Witch's "divine spark". If everyone does what she does and claims to believe as she does, why do they not also come be realized as having the same or similar intensity of "sparkiness"? Is one person born with the spark while another is a token share? And if others are mere mirror reflections (so to speak), are they unable to actually increase the intensity and are merely relegated to being a small candle flame? Why then do so many attempt to seduce themselves into thinking they can shine more brightly, with more intensity, by claiming themselves a leader of a given practice, if the overall practice is little more than a sustained reflection of a former intensity? Why aren't their more practitioners seeking a means and method to establish an increased brilliance, thereby propelling their Witch, Wiccan, Pagan practice into the next stage of expressed development instead of merely mimicking some past variation that they themselves are a variant of? Why aren't they becoming an originating spark of their particular community to take their practice into a New Age?
It is a rather curious feature of those wanting to provide readers with an understanding of what takes place in a WE3 community to report on what is told to them by one or more members which may include the participation of the story writer in an actual ceremony. A very basic level of appreciation is undertaken because that is the limit of the depth that most investigators and reviewers can go. In the case of practitioners they may delve a little deeper than most, but they too are able to make only the simplest historical connections, much less make a report of their findings to others who may not have any readily available cognitive means to grasp ideas which may require a cross-cultural in depth review. Most are simply not interest in originations other than those which are thought to be fundamental tools of their trade. In other words, they will make use of those tools a blacksmith of their art(s) created but do not want to know how, why, when, where and by whom the tools were made, or even if they are accurate and based upon sound practices... metaphorically speaking. Similarly, they want to ride the horse if it is described in some ancient manuscript of a previous practitioner, instead of riding a bicycle, driving a car, or even walking. If some ancient practitioner used a certain item or engaged in a given language and dress code as well as scenery, then this is what is adopted as a "true" practice, without gaining any understanding of why a practice was undertaken... or whether the practitioner(s) was/were mistaken or dead wrong. If modern practitioners can do away with animal and human sacrifices, they can do away with other nonsense as well.
It appears to be particularly naive for someone to claim they have a grasp of the esoteric ideologies of the past and feel they have acquired some great knowledge and superior position amongst mortals for doing so, and yet in knowing what they know the whole of the Occult domain is not advanced. All they are doing is repeating it from their perspective in a later age but not engaging in the discovery of Natural mysteries as the first practitioners might well have thought they were doing. There is the discovery of rediscovery of old perspective, but there is no step forward because this would admit to the fact that the old ideas were based on fundamentals arranged according to some usage thought to have a practical value in a previous age, but have no realistic value in the present setting, unless one attempts to create an aura, an atmosphere of social discourse in which the ideas once again have merit; yet again show themselves to be stuck in the muck. Repetition of old ideas which do not lead to further advancement in the assumed mysteries of life is like spinning one's wheels in mud, snow or some other slick pavement. The only thing being sought as a goal is to engage in repetition whereby oneself and perhaps others are delude into thinking their thoughts and actions have purpose... other than playing a role and committing themselves to some practiced script in a given setting like some old itinerate troupe of actors who convince themselves of some accomplishment when they have mastered an artificiality... a make-believe scenario... like so many children, teenagers and adults often do in various settings. The present era keeps alive a world in which humans invest themselves towards hypocrisy and the make-believe, mixed with degrees of realism as a condiment to entice them to indulge in more of the same, as a singularity, duality, triplicity, or plurality.
It is rather curious, if not as assay of a practiced hypocrisy for the members of the WW3 to extend an invitation to the public to revise its opinion about Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans regarding the misperceptions about animal and human sacrifice and worship of the Devil (Satan), while at the same time claim that it is of importance for them to keep their individualized ceremonialisms and doctrines a secret. On the one hand they want to invite membership by presenting an openness, but on the other hand they want to ensure that potential members are aware that they will be required to join what amounts to being a cult, though it is easily argued that all of human civilization is a cult with very many cults called cultures, such as business cultures, corporate cultures, military cultures, sports cultures, music cultures, gambling cultures, gun ownership cultures, Academic cultures, political cultures, religious cultures, night club cultures, rodeo cultures, gardening cultures, etc...
Let us look upon the Witch, Wiccan, Pagan (WWP, or WW3) practices as separate, inclusive and inter-meshed ideological preferences and apply a commonly known academic assignment as a means of making some graduational (like a graded scale) model of differentiation as a generalized profile:
- (Bachelor) There are some who practice (WW3) as a playful past-time because they may lack the sensibilities and sensitivities of those who share an underlying psychic inter-connectivity.
- (Master) There are those who practice WW3 as a respected Religion/Philosophy because they believe they embrace the sensibilities and sensitivities of an expressed communally shared and religiously-guided natural spirituality and immersed philosophy.
- (PhD) There are only a few people practicing (full or part-time) WW3 as a Science, as a Mathematical-Philosophy (involving medicine, psychology/psychiatry, biology, comparative anatomy, physics, chemistry, sociology, linguistics, metaphysics, anthropology, cognitive science, etc...) because they harbor a non-religious "spirituality" from a deeper past which can manifest its presence into their consciousness at any time, as an individuality seeking to express itself in some corporeal manner... which others of their ilk may see as creativity, originality, talent, insight, or even genius; while outside-others frequently misinterpret and negatively label as a peculiarity, oddity, strangeness...
One might say that a later... more present-day variation can be found in the 3-part sequence of "Manager, Assistant Manager, and 3rd man", or "White collar- Blue collar- No collar" workers, or Crone- Mother- Virgin, or Rich man- Poor man- Beggar man, etc... But the point is, the use of the word "craft" in the context of perfecting a ritual or ceremony or stream of thought is quite different from perfecting a trade from which an item for practical application or usage is developed such as a tool for repairing, chair for sitting on, medicine for illness, or a pair of shoes. Using the word craft in the present day sense as described by the activities engaged in by some Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans, is like calling someone who boils water a chef. However it should be recognized that the three groups are yet another Indo-European triple idea. See for example: Trifunctional Hypothesis of Georges Dumezil, involving the 3 social divisions:
- Priestly class
- Warrior class
- Producers class
Wiccans form the latest edition of the trio and the Pagans the Earliest tradition as referenced as country folk; leaving the early Witches as those who were interested in the practice of an actual "craft" in terms of tying to devise a mechanism by which some personal power over others or nature could be achieved. Yet, where is the spark of originality from which the fundamental transitional theme of a Pagan-craft into Witch-craft arose, and now suffers from an embellished re-creationist and re-visionist ideology has been brought into the fore called Wiccannism? Is the spark of originality which ushered in the first Witch, the first Pagan, the first Wiccan as a transition from the person they were into that which came to be consciously recognized as a unique individual representative of a New Consciousness, something which can be fanned into a flame and transferred to others to increase the luminosity of a candle wattage that may be better understood if I were to use the phrase "increased energy flow"? Is the spark an energy which can be harnessed because it is a sustainable ember from which a flame can be ignited, despite the idea that it is customary to think of a spark in terms of an individual talent that is not easily taught and for which an inflamed version one might call genius, too rare an occurrence and exists at a distance not readily reached by most?
For example, let us say that everyone in a Witches community recognizes a person who is viewed as a lighted flame because of some embraced empowerment that the person themselves nor anyone else may not know how they came to shine so brightly, but they are recognized as a person who, for whatever reason(s), appear to embody a large or the largest personal aura of a Witch's "divine spark". If everyone does what she does and claims to believe as she does, why do they not also come be realized as having the same or similar intensity of "sparkiness"? Is one person born with the spark while another is a token share? And if others are mere mirror reflections (so to speak), are they unable to actually increase the intensity and are merely relegated to being a small candle flame? Why then do so many attempt to seduce themselves into thinking they can shine more brightly, with more intensity, by claiming themselves a leader of a given practice, if the overall practice is little more than a sustained reflection of a former intensity? Why aren't their more practitioners seeking a means and method to establish an increased brilliance, thereby propelling their Witch, Wiccan, Pagan practice into the next stage of expressed development instead of merely mimicking some past variation that they themselves are a variant of? Why aren't they becoming an originating spark of their particular community to take their practice into a New Age?
Date of Origination: Wednesday 15th February, 2023... 2:15 AM
Initial Posting Date: Thursday 11th May, 2023... 8:22 AM