Dear all
i'd refer you to the excellent article on these terms in JSM2 -
the author writes that magic is a persian loan word -
later he discussed sanskrit maya - but sees no etymological connection with
above -
i think i'm correct to say that 'maya' famously changed its meaning,
following the philosophical reforms of Shankararcharya -
its original meaning of 'uncanny power' switching to the more familiar
- and i believe Buddhist influenced 'maya' as 'illusion'
'love and do what you will'
mogg
ps: went to an excellent lecture by Colin Washington - who is a lukumi
priest but with a lot of experience of western occultism (see blurb) he
mentioned his appearance on C4 to discuss the issue of Adam as a supposed
'muti' killing blamed on the 'babalou?' - he explained how there was a
specific piece of mythology to do with Ori - that contains an interdiction
on human sacrifice with its 'historiola' - so he thought the whole thing was
a bit of a put up job - i'm trying to get him to write some of this up for
the next issue of our newletter mandrake speaks - but can i also recommend
that he be invited to speak at future events - as he is v informative.
'Saturday 10th December: "Santeria: A Magical Perspective"
Odebitola is a practical Qabalistic Adept with nearly 30 years experience
who is also a priest in the Cuban religion of Lukumi. Tonight he will look
at the Cuban Yoruba religion of Santeria from a magician's perspective,
concentrating on the role of divination, dead, the role of the Orisha and
the iwin, the stages in initiation and the grade structure and the
differences between the practices of Nigeria, Miami and New York. He will
also tell us why he dislikes Santeria!'
pps: on cannibalism - perhaps there has been some element of denial or just
overfamiliarity - cannibalism, in terms of myth, seems to underpin a great
many religions. I like to remind people that some modern thelemites
practice cannibalism that does not involve death or suffering. It also is
the defining characteristic of sabbatic witchcraft.
Mark,
As I understand it (not being a philologist or a Sanskritist), it rather
depends on what you mean by "derived from." There are so many other
words and languages along the way, and no easy causality or the like.
But even supposing this were the case, why does it matter? As an
example, both "divine" and "devil" ultimately stem back to the same
linguistic root, by way of at least one striking reversal of meaning
among Zoroastrians (the Sanskrit _devas_ become _divs_ and switch sides,
just as _asuras_ switch sides to become _ahuras_ in this new
cosmological binarism).
The origins of a word may be interesting, but they hardly tell us much
about how we ought to use them as scholarly analytical categories.
Chris Lehrich
Mark Shekoyan wrote:
>Isn't Magic derived from the sanskrit word maya? Magic
>as the manipulation of maya???
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Christopher I. Lehrich
Boston University
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