Distancing myself from Judeo-Christian BS
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
"As much as I love Crowley's works, and Thelema as a whole, I can't help but notice the Judeo-Christian undertones to some of the rituals"
Uh, no, there's no such thing, not in the way you would understand it most of the time.
"such as the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram with the Hebrew names,"
Way to lose a valuable tool.
"or the idea of the Kabbalistic (Jewish) tree of life."
Way to lose the idea on which most (effectful) ceremonial magic is based.
"Is there a way to reconcile my own lack of respect for the goody-goodness of the 10 commandments and Judaism and Thelema?"
There's no point in holding a grudge against something if you want to make progress because, at some point, whatever is you're running from, it's gonna catch up with you. What do the Ten Commandments have anything to do at all? If they weren't obsolete before, then sure as hell they were declared obsolete with the reception of the Book of the Law. Kabbalah (not Judaism) is a tool. Don't let yourself get enslaved by your feelings about something you think has anything to do with the tool.
"Or must I move on to a more truly 'pagan' tradition if I want to further develop my practices?"
To run away more effectively, yes. To further develop your practices, I give no guarantee.
Love is the law, love under will.
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It's a choice, and which is best for you right now depends on you. Which path makes you vulnerable, and which one protects your personality whims?
I will point out that every belief system has its "goody goody" or otherwise narrow minded adherents.
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@Frater Tenc said
"As much as I love Crowley's works, and Thelema as a whole, I can't help but notice the Judeo-Christian undertones to some of the rituals such as the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram with the Hebrew names, or the idea of the Kabbalistic (Jewish) tree of life. Is there a way to reconcile my own lack of respect for the goody-goodness of the 10 commandments and Judaism and Thelema? Or must I move on to a more truly 'pagan' tradition if I want to further develop my practices?"
I would lean out of the window here and guess that you are confusing the means to an end with the end or purpose, and that you are not older than say maximum 25.
Hope that helps.
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I like Simon Iff's answer very much. Going further, I'll try to focus on your specific question:
@Frater Tenc said
"Is there a way to reconcile my own lack of respect for the goody-goodness of the 10 commandments and Judaism and Thelema?"
As others have said, this is up to you; that is, your specific question deals with your own attitude, and the only answer on that is: Change your attitude.
But... since we all need some lubricant for that... some "release" of a knot that would make it seem a compromise of ourselves to make an attitude shift... maybe this will help:
The main point is: Don't confuse Hebrew with the Jewish religion, or with the broad range of Judeo-Christian concepts.
The Hebrew language is fundamental to the mysteries, the one universal archetypal framework to which all other things are relatable. (In this, I include the root principles underlying, and giving rise to, its system, which also give rise to archetypal and symbol streams in every other tradition I've ever seen.)
Or, if you consider this sort of occult perspective bullshit, then the same thing is accomplished by saying: If maybe it isn't the above, then it can be used as the above. (Functionally, the two are the same thing. It's only in theory that this paragraph differs from the previous paragraph.)
In any case, The Book of the Law is written within a Qabalistic framework. That's how Crowley's mind was wired, so that's how the message came out. It's the language of the system.
Bottom line... don't confuse the Hebrew language (which was never spoken by Jews as a native tongue until modern times) with the Judeo-Christian religious ideas. Don't assume, for example, that Y.H.V.H. is to be taken in any sense as the war and blood god of the Old Testament. (Or, for that matter, why should you object to a war and bloodf God with one old Hebrew name, substituting another war and blood god who is "in a secret fourfold word" (!). Just stuff to think about...)
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93
I am fairly sure in Liber Librae (I am too lazy to check) that it is written that if on blasphemes YHVH they are also blaspheming Jupiter, I take that as meaning the energies (or beings if you prefer) you are working with are the same its just the cultural perception which is different. My advice is to look at all religions and take what you like from them and then leave everything out you don't like.
I personally don't understand how Thelema is a goody two shoes religion and can be compared to the repressive force of judaism "The word of sin is restriction" also thelema is the father of pagan religions such as wicca their god and goddess s essentially nuit and hadit. (but then again they are everything)
I admit I avoided the qabalah for a while but once you study it you realise the beauty of the system it is the most valuable tool any magician can have. If you don't like the LBRP try the star ruby but in my opinion the LBRP has served and still does as the most adequate banishing ritual, which apparently has further secrets/uses.
Even satanists use the qabalah! the system works, you don't have to hold any values of the jewish relgion to use it, the methods don't matter its the results you should be interested in. Then again I'm only 17 years old and have only been studying high magick for two years so I have a lot of catching up to do so if anything I have sad is wrong please do correct me.
93's
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I would say that pretty much every religion has a "piece of the puzzle", but the rest of what constitutes it is superstition, lies and distraction.
Take from it that the Jews have the vibrational sounds of angels (messengers from the godhead?) and the layout of the Tree of life and the resulting correspondences. The rest of it is supersition (dont eat pork for example) and so on.
Take their nugget of truth and having analysed the rest, discard it.
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You are rebelling against the wrong thing Op. Dogma, repression, and coersion of the control systems which make up the ruling slave cults are the true nature of your aversion. Watered down shadows of truth to rule and profit...I agree it is insideous.
But for it to work at all it must be based on some kernels of truth. This is the wisdom that was lost in persecution of gnostics and mystics throughout the ages, and why mystery schools had to underground to avoid those that run the mainstream christian cults, even today.
The goal of the student is to restore these fundamental truths, and Thelema provides everything needed. The presence of Hebrew and other symbols that may be mistaken for judeo christian are fundamental, but due to the conditioning are always relegated to the mainstream mcreligions of the west at first glance. Therefore it is YOU that must deprogram yourself from that stereotype, and really look into Hebrew, the Tree of Life, Tarot, and rituals like the LBRP. Over time you will experience and understand the underlying arcana, and how it has been bastardized, obscured, and profaned by those who would use it to control others.
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If it makes you feel any better, since the discovery of the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions it has become more likely that the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet originated in Egypt. Still, whether the system was a sort of pidgin Egyptian, or commercial script, or something more from the outset, it might have been invented by either Egyptians or immigrants.
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@Ethar said
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
"As much as I love Crowley's works, and Thelema as a whole, I can't help but notice the Judeo-Christian undertones to some of the rituals"
Uh, no, there's no such thing, not in the way you would understand it most of the time.
"such as the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram with the Hebrew names,"
Way to lose a valuable tool.
"or the idea of the Kabbalistic (Jewish) tree of life."
Way to lose the idea on which most (effectful) ceremonial magic is based.
"Is there a way to reconcile my own lack of respect for the goody-goodness of the 10 commandments and Judaism and Thelema?"
There's no point in holding a grudge against something if you want to make progress because, at some point, whatever is you're running from, it's gonna catch up with you. What do the Ten Commandments have anything to do at all? If they weren't obsolete before, then sure as hell they were declared obsolete with the reception of the Book of the Law. Kabbalah (not Judaism) is a tool. Don't let yourself get enslaved by your feelings about something you think has anything to do with the tool.
"Or must I move on to a more truly 'pagan' tradition if I want to further develop my practices?"
To run away more effectively, yes. To further develop your practices, I give no guarantee.
Love is the law, love under will."
Thank you; this clarifies everything perfectly for me. I must tell you all that at the time I created this topic I was under the heavy influence of dissociatives. Dissociatives are in a sense the 'dark' counterpart to the light-hearted psychedelic. My mind was simply brooding with hatred, and I seem to have effectively tapped into the lower animal part of myself. I hardly even really hold the opinion that anything Judeo-Christian is 'BS' whilst sober. This serves as a reminder to myself how embarrassingly silly my own demeanor can become when under the influence of that liquid devil.
And, yes, I'm realizing more and more now the distinction between a tradition's core truths, and their dogma. Even to the point where I don't totally resent the way in which I was brought up Catholic, because I think the daily eucharist is both, as Crowley described it, a wonderful commemoration and consummation every day it's offered. It's just a matter of how I choose to relate to the symbol(s) of the Cross, etc, etc, etc... I could honestly go on for days. But I just want to thank everyone for tolerating my own ignorance so well. My original post really sounded inflammatory and basically stupid.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Good to know. It's not stupid or ignorant at all, considering you quickly realized all that. That's the way.
Love is the law, love under will.