hehe, just got through arguing with Xxxx about this very point. As a
Brit I can't judge how strong or - conversely - how over emphasised
such European and Jewish elements really are in Hoodoo. The fact that
they are linked at all is what interests me, as it provides avenues
for present and future cross fertilisation. Some folks just don't want
to consider such exchanges valid, and imagine an agenda behind any
mention of them. perhaps on occasion there is, but cultural exchanges
do occur, and are often the most potent drivers of magical traditions.
As someone nearby said, Owen Davies 'Grimoires' is an eye opener for
those who imagine the conjure books to be the exclusive preserve of
straight white male bibliophiles.
ALWays
Jake
On 2 July 2010 21:54, Khem Caigan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Jake Stratton-Kent doth schreibble :
>>
>> My point was that in a discussion of Western occultism, the finer
>> points of historical Kabbalah proper might not be as relevant as the
>> practices of contemporary NY witches. I thought my point was clear
>> enough but allow me to restate: for various reasons contemporary
>> Western Occultism has no well developed eschatology or hierarchy of
>> the dead. Authentic historical Jewish belief - where such is present
>> - has little relevance to this, since it is not part of contemporary
>> Western occultism, except among a minority, it has no bearing on any
>> likely source of folk religion in the present day either.
>
> If you are referring to the NY Wiccans, who are largely
> inheritors of the car-wreck known as the Golden Dawn, I
> don't see the point of looking for a well-developed or
> coherent account of anything /whatsoever/.
>
> It is only among the minority that you can hope to find the
> sort of praxis you appear to be interested in, and that is
> precisely where you will find enormous overlaps with the
> historical Kabbalah. That was certainly the case with the
> Hoodooing and Powwowing and 'Seancing' in the Ramapos, and
> it looks to hold true here in the Kaatskills.
>
> Texts like the *Sword of Moses* and the *Sixth and Seventh
> Books of Moses* enjoy a widespread and passionate interest
> among the Native- and African- American communities here,
> along with Apocrypha like *Enoch* and the Essene/Qumran
> texts. I sometimes refer to the old "Borscht Belt" as
> 'Safed on the Hudson' ;)
>
> Cors in Manu Domine,
>
>
> ~ Khem Caigan
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
> "Heat and Moisture are Active to Generation;
> Cold and Dryness are Passive, in and to each Thing;
> Fire and Air, Active by Elementation;
> Water and Earth, Passive to Generation."
>
> *Of the Division of Chaos*
> -Dr. Simon Forman
>
--
Jake
http://www.underworld-apothecary.com/
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