Nightside of Eden

http://crossingthethresholds.wordp…
Crossing the Thresholds 8 Registration is now open! An otherkin and pagan gathering held at Four Quarters Farm, a beautiful interfaith sanctuary, complete with altars scattered around the woodsy site to many different deities, a labyrinth, stone circle, and sand filled drum circle.

Can any of you recommend any good factual books dealing specifically with the subject of the Yezidis and Yezidi beliefs?

Heads up. I'm compiling an anthology to be published (I assume, at this point) through a self-publishing service such as Lulu. I am looking for articles, illustrations, short stories and poetry that treats of queer sex magick and sex mysticism. I don't care whether you're Thelemic, Wiccan, Discordian, whatever. I have a feeling that I will get a lot of material from gay males, which is fine, but I also need as much stuff as possible from lesbian, genderqueer/transgender etc. perspectives. Personally I will be writing about magick involving the manipulation of gender. If anyone is interested, send me an email at gregory.esteven@selu.edu.

Thank you.

Hey all.
NO!! not intending to spam!
But I would rather offer such selected items to selected magicians and trained officials first (as we MAY or might find them on this discussion board) before any other Wiccans or perhaps dabblers get their hands on them first!

I am offering my hand painted Triangle of Art, a brass vessel, 4 elemental tools and other Magical goodies up for aucion on Ebay.(With more wonders to come!) If your curious, have yourself a look!

Best pursuits on the Ascending path, or wherever you may be destined..


http://cgi.ebay.com/Goetia-Triangl…


http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZa…

http://www.babalon.net/jwp/jwp_ind…

Many of you may already know this site, but if not, enjoy!

Nameless and Damned, a literary zine in the technological style of the 1990s and the aesthetic of the 1890s, respectfully requests submissions for its fourth issue. We publish articles, prose, and poetry on a wide array of subjects. Our zine traditionally runs themed issues, and in honor of the number of magick, our fourth issue is dedicated to all things mystical and magical. We therefore request submissions relating to mysticism and magic – be they poems of evocation, stories about magi, or even articles about magic. For this issue, we are especially interested in first-hand accounts of magic, mysticism, or the occult -- occult journalism, if you will. Ever summoned a demon to corporal form and lived to tell the tale? Tell your story to our readers. For more information or to download our zine, please visit our website (Nameless and Damned), or our livejournal. I hope to read your submissions in the next issue!

I have some questions relating to the Inverse Tree of Death and how it relates to the Underworld. I've been an Underworld Magician (ie, I work mainly with the Cthonic Deities and the energy associated with Death and the Underworld) for a few years now, and I've just now begun to read Kenneth Grant's "Nightside of Eden", which is like stepping into the Underworld and looking around before going back to your safe bedroom, lights on. It's intense.

My question is: what do you all think about the similarities between the Inverse Tree and the Underworld? What do you think about Grant's hypothesis? I'm going to write about it for my website and would love some commentary from those in the know.

Thanks!

The Taoist belief, as far as I can interpret it, is that we* are all here for a reason.  This naturally leads to a belief in fate and destiny - something I have great faith in. 

What I am interested in is breaking this down.  The greatest destiny, obviously, in any of our existences as humans is being born and dying.  Between these two occurances we have the power, the ability and arguably the fate, to affect the lives and the existences of others.  And so it follows that the next greatest destiny is procration (assuming that we are not out to kill people for whatever reason).  I would then assume that sex must be a necessary marker in our destiny, as it is the most natural way to procreate, though admittedly not the only way.  To retreat in this vein even more, it follows that it is necessary for us to meet the person with whom we are to have sex and create a new life. 

My first question is this:  What if we meet someone, have sex, and DON'T make a baby.  Is this still fate?  Is it still our destiny?  How much of our lives are destiny and how much is simply occurance.  I have heard it said many times that 'nothing happens by accident', and that there is a reason for everything.  What is it about our experiences that make some life-altering and some common?  Is it a matter of interpretation?   A matter of perception?

I suppose what a common occurance for me may be life-altering for another person with whom the experience occurred.  Take, for instance, a car accident.  My bumper may be dented whereas the person who's car slid into mine when I wasn't even in it could be crippled for life.  I have not even the slightest guilt...I was nowhere near the accident though I need a touchup on my paint job.    And then there is the lucky shop owner who makes profit for painting my bumper.  It all balances, it is all connected, right down to the taxes paid to the government on the paint job which go toward the medical bill of the person who was crippled in the accident.

Sometimes I think the life-altering experiences are long in the discovery that they are such.  When I trace back the decisions I have made in my life which lead me to meeting the person who gave me the gift of my children I realize only now how they changed my life.  Back then it was simply, in my case, a matter of applying for a job.  The appearance of my first child didn't come for another seven years.

So my second question would be this:  How much of our destiny has to do with our choices in life?  All of it?  None of it?  The very concept of destiny is that it is inescapable.  Do we really have the choice to make the choices we make?  Or are they predestined also?

Another very stong belief I have is that when we are going to die, we are going to die.  So even if I make the choice not to get on the bus that is going to explode tomorrow, I will fall down the stairs at home and break my neck.  It was bound to happen.  Do all things happen with this type of inescapability?   Or is it just the 'big' things in life?  Which leads back to my first question, how much is fate? 

*'we' includes people, animals, trees, blades of grass, grains of sand, etc etc.

(x-posted)

I'm currently writing a short piece on Enoch as he is mentioned in the canonical Bible of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. I've been ransacking lists of books recognized by each of the Orthodox Churches, reading them all, and putting together my notes on how Enoch is envisioned in each. I've also been looking at where each of these texts fits in time, including looking at what the documentary hypothesis has to say about the documents that the Biblical authors were drawing on. I want it to be especially useful for those in the hermetic and broader occult communities. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should include in this article, or who might be interested in publishing a print edition when it's done?

X-posted a couple of places; sorry.

as received by Michael A. Aquino

***note from book_of_lies777: the few illustrations included in this 'received book' have not been included here, but are described within parentheses(__) at the appropriate places in the text***

The Equinox has succumbed to my Solstice, and I, Set, am revealed in my Majesty.

The time of the Purification is past.

The fate of my Gifted race rests in balance, and I shall not recant my Word, spoken to my
High Priest MehenPetTha in old Khem and now again to you.

Proclaim the nineteen Parts of the Word, and vanquish thus the feeble and corrupt Keys of Enoch, which were but a shadow of my true Word and now are an affront to me.

I am the ageless Intelligence of this Universe. I created HarWer that I might define my Self. All other gods of all other times and nations have been created by men. This you know from the first Part of my Word, and from my manifest semblance, which alone is not of Earth.( Read more...Collapse )