LUKE 18:9-14
With the most recent American government shutdown still fresh in your memory, do you hear this passage a little differently? After all, the tax collector is a government operative, and we know how Americans are feeling about the government. That old "Don't tread on me" flag has taken on new life as a symbol of certain attitudes toward taxes and government. In light of all that has been happening of late, it might be difficult for some to be sympathetic to the plight of the tax collector. He and his cronies in the government should beg for mercy!
Fortunately there is a figure of holiness in this story from Luke's gospel. Surely this person merits our admiration. He is a man of prayer and not a sinner like some other folk. Maybe you identify with this pious individual, this exemplar of holiness.
This is the second of Luke's parables that focus on prayer. In the first parable, Jesus speaks of persistence and faithfulness. We are invited to follow the example of the widow who seeks justice from a judge who doesn't fear God or humanity. Through her persistence, she is rewarded. In this parable, Jesus lays out contrasting attitudes, and in doing so addresses the appropriate demeanor. Arrogance or humility? Will we be like the Pharisee who in Luke's portrayal seems self-sufficient and self-righteous? Or, will we be like the tax collector, who recognizes his sinful state and begs for mercy?
Over the years many Christians, me included, have been indoctrinated to see the Pharisee as a villain or at the very least a symbol of hypocrisy. We all seem to know what it means to be pharisaical, and it's not a good thing. It's much the same as with being called "puritanical." But in reality the Pharisees were a lot like good church folk who are committed to their faith and to a life of holiness. They tried to follow the law to their best ability. They went to worship regularly and gave their tithes. Theologically, they would fit nicely in orthodox circles. Remember that Paul was a Pharisee, and in many ways Jesus' own theology reflects their views - but with a twist. Indeed, this was the party that helped create Post-Temple Judaism. Sometimes it's those closest to us who find it difficult to love, and so the message we hear in the gospels about Pharisees is that they were self-righteous prigs. It might be good to know that Jesus wasn't alone in his critique - it was shared by many Rabbis, who would joke of their own propensity toward self-righteousness. Ron Allen and Clark Williamson note that "Jewish humor influenced by the prophetic tradition, is at their own expense. We should develop some Christian humor that is at our expense, tell jokes on our selves. It would help keep us humble" ["Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews: A Lectionary Commentary, "p. 244].
If we focus on the Pharisees, we miss the point. They are a stand-in for all religious folk who have a propensity toward self-righteousness. It really doesn't matter where you fit on the theological spectrum, from liberal to conservative; it's easy to fall into a trap of viewing the world with narrow focus. Remember that story Jesus told about logs and splinters? What did Jesus say? Take the log out of your own eye before harping about the splinter in your neighbor's eye. As we reflect on this parable, with its focus on the attitudes we should bring to God in prayer, it behooves us to take into account the critique of the narrowness of spirit and hypocrisy many find among modern Christians. We have been charged with setting standards that we ourselves fail to abide by. In our age, to be religious is to be hypocritical and self-righteous. Thus, it is better to embrace spirituality without any religious encumbrances.
It's not easy hearing such critiques of our religiosity. And yet it is out there and can't be ignored. That may be one of the reasons why so many people have warmed up to Pope Francis is that he has cast a more humble demeanor. It's not that he's a liberal, but that he seems to recognize that the world is watching and doesn't like what it sees. Through his own life choices, he's seeking to show us a different way, a way of humility.
Yes, the world is watching, but so is God, and apparently God isn't impressed by our religiosity either. So, is there a better way?
The contrasting personage in this parable is the Tax Collector - the government employee who has the distasteful job of collecting money from the people to support a despised government. Doesn't it seem as if things have changed little with time? In our nation, the IRS is one of the most reviled entities in the government. They may not get paid through kickbacks, but I expect that IRS employees don't make a big deal about their jobs in polite company. Even clergy and funeral directors won't dampen the mood of a party as much as a tax collector. And yet it is the tax collector how offers us the righteous example.
In his prayer, the tax collector, the one despised by the person who thinks so highly of themselves, humbly asks for God's mercy, because he is a sinner. He knows that he can't expect to measure up. I am reminded of the opening lines of "Amazing Grace":"
"Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!"I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see. "
Many of us like this hymn, even if we don't buy into the charge that we are wretches. Still, the song speaks of a deep humility that recognizes that we are all dependent on God's wondrous grace. We live out of God's unconditional love. The first prayer can't accept unconditional love. It reflects the assumption of many that God's love simply must be conditional, but is that the way we expect parents to treat their own children? Now, it is true that Jesus expects that having received grace we will live differently. Remember the parable about the man forgiven much. No sooner had he received the dissolution of his debt that he went and demanded another to pay a sum much smaller. He had failed to learn the lesson - and how often do we do the same?
On the one hand there is this religious person who sees himself as righteous before God. On the other hand, there is a man who is despised by society because of his profession. In the eyes of God, however, it is the one who comes to God with humility who is heard. But, as we hear this message, it is also important that we remember that God's love is unconditional. God does hear us no matter our attitude. The value we receive from our relationship with God, however, will be influenced by our attitude. If we believe we are self-sufficient we will be less likely to be open to the blessings that come as we love both God and neighbor.
Source: wiccalessons.blogspot.com
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In the Golden Dawn tradition, it is taught that the number five represents the microcosm and that the number six represents the macrocosm. This is why the pentagram is used in magick that manipulates the microcosm, and correspondingly, the hexagram is used in magick that manipulates the macrocosm. The pentagram is used to invoke one of the four elements and spirit, and the hexagram is used to invoke one of the seven planets. It's all very neat and tidy, and it would seem that there is no room for debate if one accepts this logic, and many ritual and ceremonial magicians do indeed accept it.
I am, regrettably, an exception, because I don't accept this logic and haven't for three decades! For me, the septagram (also known as the heptagram) was the perfect representation of not so much the macrocosm, but the sphere of the seven planets, which is exalted above the mundane sphere but is not the highest level of being. This is similar to what many Neoplatonic philosophers of late antiquity believed, thus it's not so far fetched as it would seem. I believe that the planets are not actually the emblems of the Godhead as they are the spheres through which that unity engages with the material world. Above the sphere of archetypes exists the One, and it is that one through which we seek union and perfect emulation in ourselves. That one-ness within us is our individual godhead, our Atman or God/dess Within.
The seven archetypes, which are typically associated with the seven planetary intelligences, are also associated with seven of the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life (and the Seven Rays of the theosophists), but all of these qualities are the attributes of the One (the Monad), but that is not the same as saying that they are equivalent. So for me, there are layers to this model, and the stratification of these layers can be largely and generally classified as consisting of the macrocosm and the microcosm, but there is also a mesocosm between them. In other words, it's just too complex to be left to a bipolar explanation, however simple that would be.
How did I arrive at the deduction that the number of the macrocosm is seven instead of six? It was an accident! Well, maybe it was due more to my frustration with the hexagram as a tool for drawing the invoking planetary angles. When it came to drawing the invoking formulation for the sun, the magician had to invoke all of the six preceding planetary angles, and then their combination (along with the solar glyph) produced the proper invocation angle of the sun. I thought that this was kind of convoluted, and not being wedded to the Golden Dawn methodology, I instead opted to experiment with the septagram.
Of course, Aleister Crowley had already come up with the unicursal hexagram, which had a specific angle for the sun, but by the time I encountered this new form, I was already using the septagram. Another factor was that the use of the hexagram for planetary magick was quite vague in the Golden Dawn material, and the version stipulated by Aleister Crowley in Liber O wasn't much better. Since there wasn't anyone around to help me figure this out, and me being something of a revisionist dunderhead, I opted to create a whole new system. After all, I was a practicing witch, and the whole foundation of my ritual work (using the magick circle as sacred space) was quite different than that practiced by the Golden Dawn.
The first time that I attempted to make a precise drawing of this star form, I had to figure out where the points were and then connect them. That sounds simple enough, right? Well, to do that, I had to divide a circle containing 360 degrees by 7, to produce an angle of 51.42857.., or rounded to 51.43 degrees. Using a protractor and a compass, I had to mark the exact angles at the protractor points of 51.43, 102.86, 154.29, 205.72, 257.15, 308.58, and 360 or 0 degrees.
This task, of course, was not as easy as drawing a hexagram, but the resultant septagram was quite beautiful and elegant. (I must admit that it was like love at first sight when I finished drawing one for the first time. How geeky is that?) The one drawback to the septagram is that it's pretty tough to draw in the air with any degree of accuracy or consistency. So for this reason, I constructed a large talismanic septagram device painted on a rectangular piece of plywood with a black background, a device that I call a trigon. The trigon is placed in the middle of the circle after an inner circle structure is drawn and opened, and it is used to invoke or banish one or all of the planetary angles of the seven planets. Adopting the septagram seemed like just a practical endeavor on my part, but once I began to really analyze the seven pointed star, I realized that it had a lot of potent symbolic correspondences that made it a really great choice.
The most profound and dramatic of the symbolic associations with the septagram and the number seven is that they symbolize the union of heaven and earth. The mystery of the Godhead is often denoted by the number three, which is why the triskelion (three interlocking spirals) and the trinity are important aspects of the Deity. These symbols are far more antique and widespread than the later theological Christian Trinity. Thus, as the number three, the Deity represents the combined forces of creation, preservation and destruction that permeate the material and immaterial universes. The Godhead, as three, is joined to the Divine Tetrad (the number four), which symbolizes the world as Cosmos, to produce the septagram. Therefore, the number seven is an amalgam of the numbers three and four, the Godhead immersed within the manifested world - the joining of Spirit and Matter in perpetual Union. Thus the number seven is quite a powerful symbol characterizing the impact of the macrocosm upon the microcosm, fostering a kind of magickal mesocosm, which is the place of mediation and union between these two domains. Taking all of this into consideration, what symbol could better represent the invocation and manipulation of spiritual intelligences commanded by the magician (as representing the godhead) to impact the mental and material planes?
Even though I began this journey of adopting the septagram out of frustration, curiosity and creative inspiration, it's only later that I discovered how important and significant it turned out to be. I found that my adoption of this star form was quite an important feature of the kind of magick that I work, and it took me to a completely new kind of ritual magick. All of this happened because I wasn't smart or gifted enough to figure out how to work planetary magick using the Golden Dawn system. Two of my friends, Scott Stenwick and David Griffin, had to study and carefully examine the Golden Dawn documents passed down to us from Crowley and Regardie, and from these they were able to figure out how to work this kind of magick. I suppose that I wasn't shrewd enough or as dedicated to the Golden Dawn tradition to come up with the same analogous method that they came up with. Instead, I invented something completely new.
This should prove to be an interesting point of discussion, and perhaps the central point of this article. When does a student depart from tradition and invent their own method of performing some magickal operation? I guess the answer would be that whenever that technique or method is not well articulated in the legacy material, or if it seems inelegant, inefficient or just plain clumsy, then the student has every right to create something that is better or more elegant.
Using this logic doesn't give anyone the right to change everything and attempt to reinvent the wheel, as it were. Yet if that's what the student wants to do, and if they can pull it off without making a confusing mess of things, then they are fully within their rights to do it. They may upset other occultists in that tradition, or if it's a reconstruction, then they might do something that has no prior precedent. Regardless, if it works really well and can be readily taught to others, then it has progressed to the point where it has become a new practical technique. The bottom line is that most magicians who are at least worth their salt will ultimately craft their own independent system of magick, even if many parts of it are represented by an ongoing and living tradition, they will put their own unique stamp on it.
So the septagram became for me the central occult symbol of the magick of the macrocosm, representing the higher magick of the seven planetary intelligences, and the art of theurgy and evocation. I still use the hexagram in my magick, but it is used to signify the union of the archetypal masculine and feminine, and I don't articulate it to invoke specific planetary archetypes. The hexagram is just two triangles superimposed upon each other, showing that the union of the ascending and descending graces is the core of the Great Work. Therefore, I have actually elevated the meaning and use of the hexagram in my magick. I use the simple sign of the hexagram to indicate that the previously generated forces or invoked spiritual aspects are now in glorious union. Perhaps in some manner, I have found a more suitable alternative for planetary magick, and placed the hexagram in a much greater position of honor and respect.
Creativity and experimentation are critical parts of the repertoire of the ritual and ceremonial magician. Without them, the practicing magician will never learn anything new or discover another and better way of doing something. Personal growth, an awakening awareness and an evolving understanding and practice of spiritual techniques are the hallmark of the progressive aspirations of the initiate and the adept. Doing the same thing forever or maintaining a dogmatic unwillingness to try anything new or different are the signs of a failed occult practice. May we all be open minded, receptive and innovative in our practice and appreciation of magick.
Frater Barrabbas
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"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Genesis 3:1-3I wonder how often we still twist the Word of God today to try and make it say what we want it to say instead of what it really says. I'm afraid lots more often than we want to realize! In Genesis 3:1-3 Eve and Satan in the form of a serpent were having a conversation. Both of them "said" they were quoting God but in reality, neither one of them were. What God actually said is found in Genesis 2:16-17..."And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest ther thou shalt surely die." Satan claimed that God said Adam and Eve could not eat fruit from any of the trees. Eve claimed God said they could eat from all but one and that if they did eat the fruit...or even touch the tree...they would die. It's so very easy to get things mixed up even when we are trying to keep them straight! Ever play the "gossip game"? That's where you have one person whisper a statement to the next person then that person does the same and so on down the line. The person at the end of the line says what he heard. It's never ever the same as what the first person said! I used to have my 1st through 3rd grade Sunday school classes play it whenever I wanted to show them the importance of the written word. If something is written down, then you can go back to it if you forget. If you are relying only on talk then it can often times be unreliable. That's why we should be so very thankful that we have the Bible...God's written Word! But are there still many people reading the Word of God? And if so, is His Word being misquoted or twisted? According to many sources that I read or hear the answer to my last question would be yes. Let's just look at a few of the Ten Commandments. Hath God said, "Thou shalt not kill"? (Ex.20:13) Yes He did. Then should not abortion be wrong? And yet there are some who would argue that abortion is an exception to the rule. Hath God said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery"? (Ex. 20:14) Yes He did. And yet a large percent of our adult population does not see anything wrong with living together before they are married. Some couples even think they have God's blessing on such a union. Not so. Hath God said, "Thou shalt not steal"? (Ex. 20:15)Yes He did. But some would say that it's no big deal. Sort of a "take from the rich-give to the poor Robin Hood philosophy" that is beginning to be popular.Maybe you're saying, "I have never killed anyone and I have never committed adultery so I'm doing all right!" O.K. Let's move on to the New Testament. Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-28 will address this. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."...."Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt no commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." How often do we blot these verses out of our minds? Is that not akin to changing the Word of God?I know I'm guilty of not wanting to stand accountable for obeying all the do's and don'ts of the Bible. Sometimes I just want to be disobedient and self-willed. And sometimes I am. And always when that happens I wish I had not been! Just as I'm very sure that Eve often wished that she had not listened to Satan the serpent!"God hath said" so many important things in Scripture and we need to be reading and learning all we can while we can. Search the Word and find out for yourself what is true and what is a lie of Satan.God bless you!Marilyn
"I'm one with the Godand open to Her Information." 7th Day of the 6th Cosmological Cage Ruled by Kore Cosmological Tree Cage ~ Hauthe/Hawthorn 6th Day of the Celtic Tree Month ~ Hauthe/Hawthorn Moon Phase: waxing Falcate Moon sets: 12:59AM EDST Moon rises: 11:30AM EDST Moon in the Unambiguous Inspiration Affirmation of Leo Blodeuwedd's Cage of the Moon Cosmological Meditation: The complementarity of women and men. Sun in TaurusSunrise: 6:00AM EDST Sunset: 8:32PM EDST Enormous Spring for the Day: "WHAT SACRIFICES ESSENTIAL YOU MAKE TO BECOME CONSCIOUS YOUR PLANS?" Beltaine (CALAN MAI) Subject of the DayMay 19th, 2010 WODEN'S DAY - Mercury's Day - the Day of Letters and Link - and in this Leo Moon transit we may find that some state are letter in a garish way or even ourselves emergent overemotional statements. The games viewpoint of Leo's Unambiguous Inspiration energy can distress our communications. CHILI PEPPERS For this time we are burning up in a heat up Moon transit let's ponder a heat up reforest and it's fruits. Chillies spell aspiration been hand-me-down to cool the adaptation, ultra anywhere it is lethargic. A diminutive pinch of Chili in a pint of water is hand-me-down as a gargle for aching throats. Chili powder hand-me-down to be broaden to emolument in the sort of aching joints. but is assets challenging initial to see if you are indicating. Extra to fling it helps to stretch chills and is mirror image to decrease in value a heat up eccentric. Magically Chili is hand-me-down to break hexes, living located in sachets to convey, or spread verbalize the free of the land of your birth. To visit veracity, take two dried out Chilis, tie them together with crimson bind and place this under your partner's guard. Chili is more to the point hand-me-down to surge spells tied to the Sun and to Mars; associates for prosperity, defence, yank, fatness and energy. Unless you are very dedicated of hot and strapping foods you order solely bear a few Chili peppers, so why not come into flower your own? As the trees are fairly diminutive they are easy to come into flower arrived and this is the time of rendezvous to reforest a few seeds. Fasten 3 or 4 now some wet pit trash heap and enfold with their own severity of realm. Slur the pots with accommodating hand baggage to warehouse hospitability and moisture in until the seedlings spell a few foliage and subsequently remove the hand baggage and place them in good, oblique light and warehouse them fairly affectionate. In the manner of undeveloped, pinch out the tops to put up long-haired collection. If you don't shameful to use them as afterward as they widen, they can dried out, pickled in vinegar or lasting. [From Kate West's "The Actual Witches' Day"]
Origin: candle-magic.blogspot.com
Someone may ask why creation science ministries discuss theology and the historical fact of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Biblical creationists take Genesis very seriously, as it is the foundation for all major Christian doctrines. Jesus is God the Creator, the second person of the Trinity, who became a man. He suffered on the cross for our sins, reconciling those who receive him to God, rose from the dead and defeated death. Jesus is "the last Adam", not, "the latest in a chain of evolutionary processes". Jesus and the apostles referred to Genesis as literal history, not as allegorical or fictional. Biblical creationists would like to plead our case to other Christians and show them why Genesis matters.
Rembrandt, "Resurrection of Christ", 1639
Below is a short video discussing "The Resurrection and Genesis", and here is a link to the article under discussion, which has a great deal of useful information that could not be covered in this video. I wish you a blessed Easter in celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus!
