On 24 August 2010 23:32, Morgan Leigh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I sent this yesterday but it doesn't seem to have appeared so this is a
> resend.
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Directional Symbolism in the
> Antipodes - was Golden Dawn Origins
> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:54:52 +1000
> From: Morgan Leigh <[log in to unmask]>
> To: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Hi Jake,
> I too have thought a lot about this matter...
>
>> # Seasons
>
> It depends where you live. Here in Tasmania the seasons are quite
> pronounced so it makes sense to move the seasonal festivals to match.
> This is not true however in many parts of Australia, where the
> indigenous populations have identified a greater number of seasons,
> often demarked by the kind of food that proliferates at a particular
> time, but also by rains and fire.
>
> Sun in Capricorn is summer. This is however the time of sleep for native
> plants as they conserve their energies from the hot sun. It is the time
> of old man bushfire, a time of destruction and limitation. Methinks
> these are Saturnine characteristics. In short, if we look we see meaning
> regardless of which way we arrange the year.

very acute, there is a clear two layer symbolism, Seasonal and
Stellar. Capricorn has nothing specific to do with Winter, but the
Saturnine characteristics manifest in different ways according to
location.


>> # Cross quarter days
>
> Are these celebrated because the stars are there, or are the stars
> markers of seasonal festivals?..

that's in the borderland between mythic and historic truth, I prefer
to let the latter feed the former, for obvious vocational reasons. If
a major 'Sabbat' has a constellation culminating at any period in the
history of that rite, it is significant there and then on a mythic
level. Hence we are used to speculation about the significance of the
Precession of the Equinoxes, which both may have and could now tie in
with changes in ritual.

It is significant that the Cross Quarter days were originally herders
festivals (going in and out of pasture etc.) rather than agrarian -
but as Seasonal rites they'd have to be open to adaptation to suit
local conditions and customs. On the other hand I'm reluctant to let
go of the key dates, as I imagine that would go against consensus.
'Popular tradition' is as important in determining these things as
learned interpretation or doctrine; in fact sometimes it probably
leads it (village rites become Temple and Palace rites).

>
>  > # Sun's daily positions (ie N. at Noon)
>
> This would seem a doddle, but it leads us to which way does one go
> around a circle? If your morning ritual is to the East and noon to the
> north, where the sun is, you are going anti clockwise. I have done some
> research of Southern Hemisphere practitioners and the response was split
> about 50/50. Those who moved from the Northern to the Southern
> Hemisphere were split between those who went clockwise because they had
> always done so, and those who said they tried going clockwise but it
> didn't work so they changed. Personally I go clockwise but my focus is
> not the sun but in moving thorough the elements in order.

understood and agreed - the traditions I respond to have solar
elements (example: Resh vel Helios adorations) - even then some
rethinking is required about what 'widdershins' and 'deosil' mean, or
can mean.

>
>> # Local constellations (the least considered - IMO and by my lights)
>
> The Southern Cross and Orion are probably the most noted constellations
> by Southern Practitioners. While my culture knows Orion, it has no lore
> about the Cross, other than how to use it to find true South, but it's
> movements mark the time of year.

this - I feel - is where the importance of more local astronomers
(Meso-Americans) has to come in, the Babylonians and Ptolemy's
catalogues have reached a limit, still useful but another culture has
to enter the picture. A New World culture is obviously appropriate.
Whether I'm right about their usefulness or not, the importance of
applying traditional principles - within a syncretic framework -
remains. This is the reason I find this issue or collection of issues
so appealing, the Tradition has to use its resources to progress,
rather than simply fall back on the past and stand still, even decay.
There's no reason a new geographical zone should be the only spur
towards this, but since it is one I'm all for it! ;)

> It is also interesting to note where
> the North has a pole star we have a great gaping emptiness at the pole.

agreed - on the other hand one of the most advanced, non-fluffy modern
Astrologers (Reinhold Ebertin) had some fascinating ideas about the
Fixed Stars and Constellations. He related them to the Ecliptic no
matter how distant from it, thus Acrux could feature in natal charts
in his native Germany. In the same way Polaris doesn't have to drop
out of Antipodean astrological magic, though there will likely be
esoteric speculation concerning the symbolism from one location to the
other. In short, the materials for a global rethink and comprehensive
symbolism, with room for local adaptations, is present - its down to
us to engage with it, and take the Tradition forward.

ALWays

Jake

http://www.underworld-apothecary.com/