Thanks for reeling me back in. I must have lost sight of the whole point of why I was reading these books.
sleepingbeauty11
Posts
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A.:. A.:. Student Reading List Books -
A.:. A.:. Student Reading List BooksHello all. I am in the process of getting through the books on the reading list and was wondering if others ran into some of the same "belief" issues I have.
Before I began on the reading list, I read several books by Regardie, Dion fortune, and a lot of the Golden Dawn material. I wanted a foundation in Qabalah and ceremonial magic in general so I would not be so confused.
I've finished Raja Yoga and The Book of Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (the new version) and have started on Transcendental Magick and The Goetia.
My main concern is, there are a lot of claims of what I would call superstitions and downright fantasy. In Raja Yoga, there is talk about flying through the air, healing the sick, entering other peoples bodies and all sorts of powers that seem impossible. The same goes for Abremelin when he describes having conversations with the "unredeemed spirits" in physical form and other unbelievable powers. It reminds me of the faith healers today walking around spouting about how all of Jesus' miracles are still working today. Why is it it is always in the past when all these miracles happen? It takes a whole lot of faith to believe in what these books claim and I am not a fan of faith.
I am not letting this hinder my pursuit of the A.:.A.:. at all however. Most of what I have read from Crowley seems spot on and what I don't understand, I sum up to lack of experience. I do have faith that if I follow the plan laid out in the A.:.A.:. I will attain K&C and see things in a different way. in other words, I am doing this because I am driven to personal evolution and in all the religions I have studied/practiced, the A.:.A.:. is a prefect blend.
On a side note tangent, I come from a Tibetan buddist background and my perspective is the Yoga part of the A.:.A.:. is close to the Buddhist teachings on meditation, both coming from the same place, but the Tantra part is replaced by the magick. In other words, it is magick that speeds up the transformation as Tantra does in Buddhism. This is just how I see it now. I'm sure my outlook will change. I hope so!
I'm just curious how others, having read these older texts deal with issues of lack of belief.
Thanks,
~SB
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Eras in the Aeon of HorusSince this thread was brought back from the dead, I am wondering, why was 1968 the worst year for America? i pressume it has something to do with the Vietnam war.
~SB
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Tao Te Ching recommended translationThanks for the quick response. Ordered!
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Tao Te Ching recommended translationI was browsing Amazon and was a little overwhelmed by the number of translations of this text. My initial thought is just to buy the cheapest one and that will probably do fine. Is there any consensus on THE best, from a Thelemic point of view, version to read?
Thanks,
Jim C.
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sleepingbeauty11Hello all. I just bought The Magical & Mystical System of the A.:.A.:., 776&1/2 and Pearls of Wisdom. I figured I would join this forum for advice and further insights into my studies. I am at the student phase. I am 43 years old and am in a place in my life where I can begin the Great Work.
I am not new to Magick, Crowley or Thelema, as I spent my 30's reading and practicing the Golden Dawn type magic via Regardie books, and I read a lot of Crowley as well. During that time period I was also practicing Tibetan Buddhism. I have also been to a couple of EGC masses at my local OTO in Michigan.
I took a few years off exploring Asatru and reading a lot of Saga's, the Edda's and history books.
Then something clicked when my son asked for Magic (the blue brick) for Christmas this year. I bought it for him and started reading it and all of a sudden, the material made a lot more sense to me. I guess I needed to go through other life experiences first.
There is much more but I will just stick to why I am here now.
Jim