On 05/09/2011 10:08, D G Mattichak jr wrote:
It's fine as a personal view of _your own practice_ and I respect it.
But you are just one practitioner and to form a bigger picture you have
to survey the whole field, which is very diverse, and especially
those traditions that stem from the Egyptian stream, which is a heck of
a lot of modern practitioners
if you include Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, grimoires and of
course Thelema.
I added the Thelemic "manifesto" as an example of the religious
sentiments of the founder of Thelema -
completely up to you whether you are into that current .
Senebty
mogg morgan
> Perhaps it is outmoded but as a very experienced practioner of magick I see it as separate to any religious beliefs that I hold. Having said that I appreciate that often the practice of magick does cross over into religious observance. Egypt is the most obvious example of this but it was by no means the norm, nor is it now. I just think that it is useful to define magick that is focused on self development as secular and distinct from magickal rites performed as part of a religious observance.
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> As to the Gnostic Mass, I find that I am unable to agree with using so much of Crowley's personal spiritual interpretation in my own beliefs. Neither Chaos, Baphomet nor Babalon appear in the text of the Book of the Law and my own investigations of the Holy Books leaves me unconvinced of their veracity. They are inspired works of literature but I do not feel that they are the inspired words of a prophet.
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> When I first began to study magick I was told by more experienced occultists to beware of Crowley's works and my own experience is that that was good advice. I hold no taboos about the title religion but I don't think magick has been about religion, for myself anyway. That said I cannot understand why it is such an emotive issue among magicians and Thelemites generally.
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