Religion, Philosophy, and/or Science?
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Introduction: the exercise or invocation of alleged supernatural powers to control people or events, practices typically involving sorcery or magic. Although defined differently in disparate historical and cultural contexts, witchcraft has often been seen, especially in the West, as the work of crones who meet secretly at night, indulge in cannibalism and orgiastic rites with the Devil, and perform black magic. Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world. The intensity of these beliefs is best represented by the European witch-hunts of the 14th to 18th century, but witchcraft and its associated ideas are never far from the surface of popular consciousness and—sustained by folk tales—find explicit focus from time to time in popular television and films and in fiction.
Meanings
The modern English word witchcraft has three principal connotations:
- The practice of magic or sorcery worldwide.
- The beliefs associated with the Western witch-hunts of the 14th to the 18th century.
- Varieties of the modern movement called Wicca, frequently mispronounced "wikka."
The terms witchcraft and witch derive from Old English wiccecraeft: from wicca (masculine) or wicce (feminine), pronounced "witchah" and "witchuh," respectively, denoting someone who practices sorcery; and from craeft meaning "craft" or "skill." Roughly equivalent words in other European languages—such as sorcellerie (French), Hexerei (German), stregoneria (Italian), and brujería (Spanish)—have different connotations, and none precisely translates another. The difficulty is even greater with the relevant words in African, Asian, and other languages. The problem of defining witchcraft is made more difficult because the concepts underlying these words also change according to time and place, sometimes radically. Moreover, different cultures do not share a coherent pattern of witchcraft beliefs, which often blend other concepts such as magic, sorcery, religion, folklore, theology, technology, and diabolism. Some societies regard a witch as a person with inherent supernatural powers, but in the West witchcraft has been more commonly believed to be an ordinary person's free choice to learn and practice magic with the help of the supernatural. (The terms West and Western in this article refer to European societies themselves and to post-Columbian societies influenced by European concepts.) The answer to the old question "Are there such things as witches?" therefore depends upon individual belief and upon definition, and no single definition exists. One thing is certain: the emphasis on the witch in art, literature, theatre, and film has little relation to external reality.
False ideas about witchcraft and the witch-hunts persist today. First, the witch-hunts did not occur in the Middle Ages but in what historians call the "early modern" period (the late 14th to the early 18th century), the era of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. There was neither a witch-cult nor any cult, either organized or disorganized, of a "Horned God" or of any "Goddess"; Western "witches" were not members of an ancient pagan religion; and they were not healers or midwives. Moreover, not all persons accused of witchcraft were women, let alone old women; indeed, there were "witches" of all ages and sexes. Witches were not a persecuted minority, because witches did not exist: the people hurt or killed in the hunts were not witches but victims forced by their persecutors into a category that in reality included no one. The witch-hunts did not prosecute, let alone execute, millions; they were not a conspiracy by males, priests, judges, doctors, or inquisitors against members of an old religion or any other real group. "Black masses" are almost entirely a fantasy of modern writers. "Witch doctors," whose job it was to release people from evil spells, seldom existed in the West, largely because even helpful magic was attributed to demons.
Sorcery
A sorcerer, magician, or "witch" attempts to influence the surrounding world through occult (i.e., hidden, as opposed to open and observable) means. In Western society until the 14th century, "witchcraft" had more in common with sorcery in other cultures—such as those of India or Africa—than it did with the witchcraft of the witch-hunts. Before the 14th century, witchcraft was much alike in villages from Ireland to Russia and from Sweden to Sicily; however, the similarities derived neither from cultural diffusion nor from any secret cult but from the age-old human desire to achieve one's purposes whether by open or occult means. In many ways, like their counterparts worldwide, early Western sorcerers and witches worked secretly for private ends, as contrasted with the public practice of religion. Witches or sorcerers were usually feared as well as respected, and they used a variety of means to attempt to achieve their goals, including incantations (formulas or chants invoking evil spirits), divination and oracles (to predict the future), amulets and charms (to ward off hostile spirits and harmful events), potions or salves, and dolls or other figures (to represent their enemies). Witches sought to gain or preserve health, to acquire or retain property, to protect against natural disasters or evil spirits, to help friends, and to seek revenge. Sometimes this magic was believed to work through simple causation as a form of technology. For example, it was believed that a field's fertility could be increased by ritually slaughtering an animal. Often the magic was instead an effort to construct symbolic reality. Sorcery was sometimes believed to rely on the power of gods or other spirits, leading to the belief that witches used demons in their work.
Author: Jeffrey Burton Russell, Professor of History, the University of California, Santa Barbara. Author of A History of Heaven; Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. ("witchcraft." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Ancient witchcraft in terms of attempting to understand nature's forces and elements was practiced by both men and women, but women were more often persecuted then were men because men could easily conceal their activities under the guise of some respectable practice and call it a business, whereas the idea of a woman having a "business" was often times as ludicrous as having their own property of being permitted to vote. However, hypocritically, while men were forcing women to adopt the view that their place was at the hearth and being a baby factory, the adoption of the idea of a fertility goddess was then viewed as a threat to the male dominant view of a male (father) god. In many cases, a woman is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. In a more modern take of the old treatment women were subjected to, the following illustration succinctly describes the situation which persists unto this day:
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The sequence of drawings show (using a Dichotomous analysis) that it is absurd to consider that a person can become the victim of their biography. However, using a Trichotomous analysis approach which recognizes a 1-2-3 maturational development sequence, these drawings do in fact illustrate the mindset of an individual with a predominant two-patterned perspective of polarized views: Inside/Outside; In front of bars/Behind bars; Here/There; etc... A three-patterned predominant individual can have similar social experiences but choose to visualize an alternative path. In other words, with this rendering, a new school of Psychology has just been born. Another example of some people viewing their world in a particular (but not necessarily predominant) polarized fashion is illustrated by the following "Language and Sexism" comparison:
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Source: BTR column 7
The point in providing the foregoing is to illustrate the presence of an active dichotomy not only in the mind of men, but of women also. If you look at the published views Witch, Wiccan, and Pagan practices, the use of dichotomies is rampant, and the practicing members may not even be aware they are relying on such a mindset to develop their views. This two-patterned mental activity is one of the few continuities which has been retain from ancient to modern ideas of Witchen-Wiccan-Pagan themes, which at times appear to be those similar to the hippie generation of the 1960s that has somehow been left over. Many of them appear as happy-go-lucky kids high on a drug called life, and yet even though they claim to have a core comprehension of fundamental patterns exercised by Nature, they actually don't have.
None of the practices have an appreciation of fundamental patterns be exhibited and exerted by the Sun and Moon in relation to the Earth, and how this plays out in terms of developmental biology and later human psychology and philosophy. Much of their ideology is based on the views of other religions and philosophies mixed in with their own misapprehensions. On the two previous pages initially referenced, an examination of the Sun, Moon, and Earth needs to be undertaken before a New Age system of belief can be undertaken in the tradition of true witchcraft, alchemy, and various other practices which later became mainstream intellectual traditions and practices such as pharmacology out of herbalism, Astronomy out of Astrology, Chemistry out of Alchemy, Mathematics out of Numerology, Philosophy out of mysticism, etc... Unfortunately, as already described, there is little continuity between today's practices of the tripartite Witchen-Wiccan-Pagan orientations, and those of the past. The practitioners of today are not serious students of seeking out the Mysteries of Natures powers and elements as were their forbearers. There is no real experimentation for seeking out the truth of a mystery. Instead, we find a pseudo-substitute of this in practicing the same mixtures of ideas an elements in garments which are would-be substitute lab coats. In short, practitioners of today are like children play-acting, albeit with a serious demeanor. It is not even a good exercise of imagination because they routinely use the same ideology which may be created as an on-the-fly perspective if their is some prevailing ulterior motive acting as the incentive.
If you were to confront any member of a sect and ask them to stop play-acting and be serious, they may have no idea what you are talking about; though some are fully cognizant they are participating in a game that all others may actually think they are participating in some individually important exercise, however it may be defined. For those who think they are open-minded, receptive to alternative ideas, they are particularly closed-minded and are actually only receptive to ideas which are defined in accordance with a close-minded system of labeling open-mindedness. I have never met so many tunnel-visioned, absolutely naive people in one setting as a gathering of those claiming to be Witches, or Wiccans, or Pagans. Now don't get me wrong, there are those who are particularly astute, but they act like any mainstream church-attendee who would swear that the way they view something is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Again, they are only open-minded in a closed-minded frame of reference.
For those readers who are not blind-sighted by one or another Witch, Wiccan, Pagan orientation, you might be interest in the use of a more basic fundamental symbolism for understanding Natural phenomena, recurring thought patterns, and this relates to your life. In this view, the Sun is seen as the original god of humanity, though metaphysically speaking, one can argue that the Sun is not the Universe and therefore it too as a god. Nonetheless, the god, the force, the energy which has directly influenced the life of humanity is the Sun. Because humans like to project human-related labels directly onto objects or reference some attribute as being human-like, the term anthropomorphism comes into play. Hence, the Sun becomes the original source for the idea of a Father god. And as things are, because of an inclination to see things in complementary pairs, opposites, contrasts and the like; humans came to reference the moon as a female goddess, or mother, with the alternative approach of identifying the Earth as a Mother. Hence, we seen frequent ideas referencing the idea of a Father god and Mother goddess; however quite interestingly, because of the pairing of the Moon's cyclicity of patterning to female menstruation, it was never referred to as a male, either as a god or son. The moon was often viewed as a goddess it's own right, quite possibility because of its diminutive scale of brightness and supposed warmth in contrast to that of the Sun. However, the present view is to seen the Moon as either a lady in waiting or mistress.
The Sun as a singular presence can be easily understood, just as we might want to count the Moon. However, the triple connection between the Sun, Earth and Moon is a frequent acknowledgement, even if the effects of the Sun beyond its singular presence are not easily acknowledged as an enumerated pattern. I order to pay witness to the effects of the Sun on humans and all of life, it is of need to imaginatively venture back in time to the earliest moments when the Earth and Moon came into being. At such a time the Moon loomed larger in the sky because it was closer to Earth and the Earth's rotation was greatly accelerated. Not only did such an accelerated rotation rate cause an accelerated two-patterned night/day strobe light effect, but the passage of the Sun exhibited a triangular image which the building blocks of life were subjected to, just as we are today, albeit with a different exposure rate of occurrence and intensity. The triangular image was created by a "pulsing" of the three solar events known as dawn- noon- dusk, that would act like a strobe-light and may well be that which influenced the origination for a triplet code in DNA. In short, both the Sun and Moon, coupled to the spinning rate of the Earth, create life effecting patterns largely known as biological or physiological rhythms, but their effects on psychological rhythms has gone almost completely unacknowledged.
The patterns of nature can be seen in the most basic of life's developmental processes extending backward in time to the very inception of life in the so-called primordial stew or broth. While we may not as yet have direct evidence of such a presence of patterns, later expressions of life present us with either direct models or composites, though some are no doubt lost to time because they were not preserved in the fossil record and may never be replicatable. Nonetheless, the various ideas of humanity exhibit the same underlying numerical code that we can likewise see in human ideology, religion and otherwise. However, as a Witch, Wiccan or Pagan practitioner of ideas based on Natural themes of occurrence, whether or not it is easy for you to make the psychic connection as I have, you do understand how important the Sun, Moon and Earth have played pivotal roles in the development of physiology and ideology; irrespective of language or symbology used in describing them as important features, forces and formative influences.
Yet, there is a serious problem with keeping to the old ways of interpretation that may well be chained to the old labels once employed in describing interconnecting themes of Nature. By so doing, there is an almost intractable inclination to retain a mindset that is detrimental to the human species because it is not only like wearing blinders as one might put on a horse, but also tying a horse to an automatic walker in which the horse traverses a circular path.
It is not so much the idea of worshipping the Sun, and/or Moon, and/or Earth, etc., which is the problem, but the ignorant level of oversight being applied as to the course of events that these three planetary entities have played not only in developmental biology but developmental psychology, philosophy, and overall ideological traditions which have taken bits and pieces of information from one perspective or another and have convoluted them into an institutionalize enterprise considered as a foolproof interpretation of Natural forces, despite the authentic integrity of some observers, investigators and experimenters under which further explorations into supposed new territories for furthering the advancement of knowledge are continuing in a believed-in realistic model of stone-stepping out of the present quagmire of ignorance humanity persists in. Whereas you may actually find the idea that these three have an influence of life is an understatement, and thus be dismissive of any other comment concerning them, except that their influence by way of patterns, is changing and human ideas relating to them are not. While they are being convoluted, mixed, matched and subjected to various dichotomous dissections, the overall ideas are not being updated in accordance with the changes taking place... perhaps mainly because as an alternative religion, they take their lead from the behavior of more mainstream religions who are further removed from appreciating how the planetary phenomena have affected life.
There are Three events taking place in Nature that every single Witch, Wiccan and Pagan should be aware of:
- The Sun is on a course for burning out, and during this course it is said to expand to the point of engulfing the innermost three planets.
- The Mood is receding (moving further away).
- The Earth's rotation is slowing.
- The Sun, Moon, and Earth are Singular entities in their own right.
- The Sun, Moon, and Earth are a triple entity in their own right which can be viewed as a 3 -in- 1 formula.
- The Triple entity of Nature each has an accompanying single nature, dual nature, and triple nature, all of which may be interpreted at times as a 3 -in- 1 ratio
- The linear, the circular, and triangular geometries are basic to the 3 entities.
- Ancient Pythagorean tradition held the view that 1 was not a number, and that (like the Yin/Yang perspective) "2" was associated with the Female and 3 with the male. Hence, the "5" symbolized life and when coupled with the idea of five Platonic solids (tetrahedron [or pyramid], cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron.)
Number Symbolism: "5"
The sum of the first even and odd numbers (2 + 3) is 5. (To the Pythagoreans 1 was not a number and was not odd.) It therefore symbolizes human life and—in the Platonic and Pythagorean traditions—marriage, as the sum of the female 2 and the male 3. The Pythagoreans discovered the five regular solids (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron; now known as the Platonic solids). Early Pythagoreanism acknowledged only four of these, so the discovery of the fifth (the dodecahedron, with 12 pentagonal faces) was something of an embarrassment. Perhaps for this reason 5 was often considered exotic and rebellious.
The number 5 was associated with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar and her Roman parallel, Venus, and the symbol for both was the five-pointed star, or pentagram. In England a knot tied in the form of the pentagram is called a lover's knot because of this association with the goddess of love. In Manichaeism 5 has a central position: the first man had five sons; there are five elements of light (ether, wind, water, light, and fire) and a further five of darkness. The body has five parts; there are five virtues and five vices.
The number 5 was also important to the Maya, who placed a fifth point at the centre of the four points of the compass. The five fingers of the human hand lent a certain mystery to 5, as did the five extremities of the body (two arms, two legs, head). A human placed in a circle with outspread arms and legs approximates the five points of a pentagon, and if each point is joined to its second-nearest neighbour a pentagram results. This geometric figure is central to occultism, and it plays a prominent role in summoning spells whereby it is supposed to trap a demon, or devil, who can then be compelled to do the sorcerer's bidding. The belief that 5 was sacred led to an extra element, augmenting the traditional four that made a human being. This fifth essence, or quintessence, is the origin of the word quintessential.
In Islam 5 is a sacred number. Foremost are the five Pillars of Islam: declaration of faith (shaha-dah), prayer (sala-t), fasting during Ramadan, giving alms (zaka-t), and making the pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj). Prayers are said five times every day. There are five categories of Islamic law and five law-giving prophets (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad). ("number symbolism." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Platonic Solid:
Any of the five geometric solids whose faces are all identical, regular polygons meeting at the same three-dimensional angles. Also known as the five regular polyhedra, they consist of the tetrahedron (or pyramid), cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron. Pythagoras (c. 580–c. 500 BC) probably knew the tetrahedron, cube, and dodecahedron. According to Euclid (fl. c. 300 BC), the octahedron and icosahedron were first discussed by the Athenian mathematician Theaetetus (c. 417–369 BC). However, the entire group of regular polyhedra owes its popular name to the great Athenian philosopher Plato (428/427–348/347 BC), who in his dialogue Timaeus associated them with the four basic elements—fire, air, water, and earth—that he supposed to form all matter through their combinations. Plato assigned the tetrahedron, with its sharp points and edges, to the element fire; the cube, with its four-square regularity, to earth; and the other solids concocted from triangles (the octahedron and the icosahedron) to air and water, respectively. The one remaining regular polyhedra, the dodecahedron, with 12 pentagonal faces, Plato assigned to the heavens with its 12 constellations. Because of Plato's systematic development of a theory of the universe based on the five regular polyhedra, they became known as the Platonic solids.
Euclid devoted the last book of the Elements to the regular polyhedra, which thus serve as so many capstones to his geometry. In particular, his is the first known proof that exactly five regular polyhedra exist. Almost 2,000 years later the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) resuscitated the idea of using the Platonic solids to explain the geometry of the universe in his first model of the cosmos. The symmetry, structural integrity, and beauty of these solids have inspired architects, artists, and artisans from ancient Egypt to the present. ("Platonic solid." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
- Neither the Pentagram nor Swastika are symbols with any extent power other than by way of individualized attributions. Symbols must be seen for what they are when used in the Witch, Wiccan, Pagan context: 1)As references directly to Natural phenomena, 2) As references about Natural phenomena exhibiting such illustrations easily recognizable, or 3) As an imaginatively concocted representation of an idea seeking some desired evaluation that might not otherwise be attached, such as is found in the use of props for many theatrical staging events.
- Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy was a pseudo-mathematical attempt to define the traditions of religion which current models of Witches, Wiccans, Pagans have elected to include themselves in; but Huxley's view contains only one variable (HCF: Highest common factor) of a larger equation containing unrealized enumerations that the current 3 models of "alternative ideological practices" can not make use of because the more descriptive practitioners of the deepest and oldest traditions have fallen victim to too much of the recycled echoing of modern-day dead-ends which have degenerated into simplistic theatrical performances like children acting out characterizations of a personal (sub- average- super-) consciousness having been disconnected from a communal integration with Natural forces.
- There are those in the Witch, Wiccan, Pagan communities who have an advanced sensitivity to and sensibility of subtle energies, and/or subtle perceptions, and/or uncommon susceptibility to (perhaps) unnamed phenomena which lingers at the outskirts of humanity's present conscious-ability for which they were born with, stumbled upon serendipitously, or followed a path of makeshift crumbs in or outside an institutionalized setting where there mayor may not have existed a working exercise for indulging in a practice of seeking one or another externality as defined by an institution, but does not readily lend itself to either a definitive architecture thereof, explanation thereof, or any currency of thought being presented to the person (or group) perceiving such.
- Being Conscientiously Sensitive to the idea of existing persons with heightened sensibilities is not the same as someone who is not aware that they have them and within some context the ability is triggered from either a dormant or idling state, into an active one which the person may not be prepared for and become overwhelmed by... perhaps thinking they are losing their mind and attempting to reconnect their wits to some former equilibrium by way of some personally described method or that suggested by a close confidant whose assessment of the situation may be ill-founded because the person experiencing the perceptions may be caught... stuck in the realm which might be termed a stage or realm or way-station between worlds because such a situation can present them with desirable pleasantries they are unable to distinguish as Enlightenment "hitching posts" that they remained tethered to in some respect even upon returning to some measurable equilibrium of a former self. Some are dramatically changed forever, while others are able to inter-mesh the experience in new found knowledge and appreciation which propels them into a state of preparedness for the next encounter.
- Metaphorically speaking, Witch, Wiccan, Pagan practices are like dials on a radio that are tuned into a given frequency, depending on if they are
channeled through crystals with high resonating properties, or other items used for attempting to boost the signals of subtle energies or the undulations of
vibrations which may or may not emit a recognizable or even viewable aura. Some practitioners stumble upon a combination of people and/or accompanying
materials used in a procedure which opens a portal (or if you prefer the word gateway, passageway, channel, etc.,), that they not only are not expecting, but
do not know how to determine if it is viably good, viably bad or creates a loop they unwittingly become caught up in. While some partitioners participate for
the fun of it, much like kids playing dress-up and role playing, others take their activities entirely seriously... both of which can make mistakes. The old
Shakespearean adage remains not only as a signpost for some, but as a warning for others: There is more in Heaven and on Earth than are dreamt of in
your philosophy. (Hamlet: Act 1 Scene 5)
- Some practices of Witchism, Wiccanism, Paganism, may in fact uncover the presence of (for want of a better word) "entity" that takes the person or person by surprise and leaves them with a conceptual framework which they seem unable to dispense with in their common life style (when not practicing their model of communion with Nature). This "entity' or "thing" or "presence" or "state of mind" or..., may or may not at times be able to exert a force whereby the direction and tenor of the typical communions takes on a thematic representation difficult to comprehend, and thus creates a level of fear, or panic, or uncertainty, or apprehension, or concern, etc., which causes the members to disunite for awhile or forever... thinking that a given membership undertaking a given model of communion is a pathway, a gateway into a realm which the typical ideologies of Witches, Wiccans, Pagans are either unaware of, or have been kept secret so as not to cause a hysteria out of which a social condemnation of one or more of the Trio are subjected to socialized forms of ostracism... if not extermination if the reality of such experiences are permitted to be exercised within a larger communal gathering.
- The landscapes of an entered-into vista where the "presence" exists may be so serene and physiologically "quiet" (no pain, no aches, no sorrows, no regrets, no sounds, no tastes... yet one is fully conscious) as to suggest a state of higher consciousness has been achieved, but the "impressions" received are in a language not understood in common-sense terms of interpretation; not due to the message, but the participants lack of knowledge and the lack of anyone in their social group who has a familiarity with such.
- There are those who may join a Witch, Wiccan, Pagan group for fun (though they may claim a serious interest to members), who is highly receptive to any subtle pattern that others in the group are not, and may either discount an observation or perception, or attempt to redefine it in accordance with their own values, and not the values intended by the process under which a particular communion is practiced. (Unidentified Old and Ancient souls have unrecognized perceptual abilities, but if placed into a setting where they receive a unique impression, those in the group of the setting may be unable to likewise perceive it or make sense of it, and be dismissive thereof in some fashion so as to cover up jealousy of one's ability or conceal their inadequacy of being a leader, and may want them to take lead... all the while keeping a tight rein on them so as to remain in control.)
- A major developmental shift into a presently unfathomable sector of potential consciousness expansion can be effected, but the responses to such by those who are not prepared will have different degrees of life-altering positions of perceptual attainment.
If you don't accept the patterns I have outlined, then take a look at your own and configure them in accordance with an incremental deterioration of patterning effects. Because humanity has been developed during a period in which the rate of the Earth's rotation was in a 23 hour period, it can be suggested that the human species is rotation rate specific. This means that any physical or mental process that is tied to this pattern may not be able to adapt to a period of rotation which slows. If this is the case, then saying the incremental deteriorations of the Sun, Moon, and Earth taking billions of years may not be the equation we should be using. The Time variable may be considerably less, meaning humanity must take steps to remove itself from the environment or recreate itself anew, with a different rotation rate patterning to which its processes can identify.
As mentioned on a previous page, one effect of the Sun on the Earth as the Earth's rotation slows, is that the three-pattern strobe-light effect of the dawn-noon-dusk trio is undergoing a fusion, and any idea or process or form that was created by such an impression, may necessarily be inclined to follow suit and fuse. An example of this is the idea of the Trinity, which was a product of ancient solar worship, that is currently referred to as a 3-in-one godhead or three persons in one god. This 3 -in- 1 clearly is a representative idea of fusion, though you may prefer any number of similar terms such as blending, coalescence, merging, intertwining, etc...
Date of Origination: Wednesday 15th February, 2023... 2:15 AM
Initial Posting Date: Friday 12th May, 2023... 4:40 AM