Reading 1: From Liber Arcanorum (CCXXXI), by Saint Aleister Crowley
0. A, the heart of IAO, dwelleth in ecstasy in the secret place of the
thunders. Between Asar and Asi he abideth in joy.
1. The lightnings increased and the Lord Tahuti stood forth. The Voice came from the Silence. Then the One ran and returned.
2. Now hath Nuit veiled herself, that she may open the gate of her sister.
3. The Virgin of God is enthroned upon an oyster-shell; she is like a pearl, and seeketh Seventy to her Four. In her heart is Hadit the invisible glory.
4. Now riseth Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and dominion is established in the Star of the Flame.
5. Also is the Star of the Flame exalted, bringing benediction to the universe.
6. Here then beneath the winged Eros is youth, delighting in the one and the other.
7. He is Asar between Asi and Nepthi; he cometh forth from the veil. He rideth upon the chariot of eternity; the white and the black are harnessed to his car. Therefore he reflecteth the Fool, and the sevenfold veil is reveiled.
8. Also came forth mother Earth with her lion, even Sekhet, the lady of Asi.
9. Also the Priest veiled himself, lest his glory be profaned, lest his word be lost in the multitude.
10. Now then the Father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the Sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and Typhon, were bound on his circumference.
11. Also the lady Maat with her feather and her sword abode to judge the righteous.
For Fate was already established.
12. Then the holy one appeared in the great water of the North; as a golden dawn did he appear, bringing benediction to the fallen universe.
13. Also Asar was hidden in Amennti; and the Lords of Time swept over him with the sickle of death.
14. And a mighty angel appeared as a woman, pouring vials of woe upon the flames, lighting the pure stream with her brand of cursing. And the iniquity was very great.
15. Then the Lord Khem arose, He who is holy among the highest, and set up his crowned staff for to redeem the universe.
16. He smote the towers of wailing; he brake them in pieces in the fire of his anger, so that he alone did escape from the ruin ther.
17. Transformed, the holy virgin appeared as a fluidic fire, making her beauty into a thunderbolt.
18. By her spells she invoked the Scarab, the Lord Kheph-Ra, so that the waters were cloven and the illusion of the towers was destroyed.
19. Then the sun did appear unclouded, and the mouth of Asi was on the mouth of Asar.
20. Then also the Pyramid was builded so that the Initiation might be complete.
21. And in the heart of the Sphinx danced the Lord Adonai, in His garlands of roses and pearls making glad the concourse of things; yea, making glad the concourse of things.
Reading 2: Liber Aleph (CXI), Chapters -, by Saint Aleister Crowley
de morte.
Thou hast made Question of me concerning Death, and this is my Opinion, of which I say not: this is the Truth. First in the Temple called Man is the God, his Soul, or Star, individual and eternal, but also inherent in the Body of Our Lady Nuith. Now this Soul, as an Officer in the High Mass of the Cosmos, taketh on the Vesture of his Office, that is, inhabiteth a Tabernacle of Illusion, a Body and Mind. And this Tabernacle is Subject to the Law of Change, for it is complex, and diffuse reacting to every Stimulus or Impression. If then the mind be attached constantly to the Body, Death hath no Power to decompose it wholly, but a decaying Shell of the dead Man, his Mind holding together for a little his Body of Light, haunteth the Earth, seeking a new Tabernacle (in its Error that feareth Change) in some other Body. These Shells are broken away utterly from the Star that did enlighten them, and they are Vampires, obsessing them that adventure themselves into the Astral World without Magical Protection, or invoke them, as do the Spiritists. For by Death is Man released only from the Gross Body, at the first, and is complete otherwise upon the Astral Plane, as he was in his Life. But this Wholeness suffereth Stress, and its Girders are loosened, the weaker first and after that the stronger.
de adeptis r.c. escatologia.
Consider now in this Light what shall come to the Adept, to him that hath aspired constantly and firmly to his Star, attuning the Mind unto the Musick of its Will. In him, if his Mind be knit perfectly together is itself, and conjoined with the Star, is so strong a Confection that it breaketh away easily not only from the Gross Body, but the fine. It is this Fine Body which bindeth it to the Astral, as did the Gross to the Material World so then it accomplisheth willingly the Sacrament of a second Death and leaveth the Body of Light. But the Mind, cleaveth closely, by Right of its Harmony, and Might of its Love, to its Star, resisteth the Ministers of Disruption, for a Season, according to its Strength. Now, if this Star be of those that are bound by the Great Oath, incarnating without Remission because of Delight in the Cosmic Sacrament, it seeketh a new Vehicle in the appointed Way, and indwelleth the Foetus of a Child, and quickeneth it. And if at this Time the mind of its Former Tabernacle yet cling to it, then is there Continuity Character, and it may be Memory between the two Vehicles. This is, briefly and without Elaboration, the Way of Asar in Amenti, according to mine Opinion, of which I say not: This is the Truth.
de nuptiis summis.
Now then to this Doctrine, o my Son, add thou that which thou hast learned in The Book of the Law, that Death is the Dissolution in the Kiss of Our Lady Nuith. This is a true Consonance as of Bass with Treble for here is the Impulse that setteth us to Magick, the Pain of the Conscious Mind. Having then Wit to find the Cause of this Pain in the Sense of Separation, and its Cessation by the Union of Love, it is the Summit of our Holy Art to present the whole Being of our Star to Our Lady in the Nuptial of our Bodily Death. We are then to make our whole Engine the true and real Appurtenance of our Force, without Leak, or Friction, or any other Waste or Hindrance to its Action. Thou knowest well how an Horse, or even a Machine propelled by a Man's feet, becometh as it were as Extension of the Rider, though his Skill and Custom. Thus let thy Star have profit of thy Vehicle, assimilating it, and sustaining it, so that it be healed of its Separation, and this even in Life, but most especially in Death. Also thou oughtest to increase thy Vehicle in Mass by true Growth in Balance, that thou be a Bridegroom comely and wellfavoured, a Man of might, and a Warrior worthy of the Bed of so divine a Dissolution.
Credit: magick-keys.blogspot.com
Revivalists, in the early 1800s, such as Asa Mahan (president of Oberlin College) and evangelist Charles Finney advanced Wesley's theology. They taught "that sinners had the natural ability to believe, and that evangelistic methods could overcome their 'moral' inability through the persuasive power of the Gospel. Finney and Mahan applied this same understanding to the Christian's growth toward spiritual maturity. To be sanctified, they insisted, required only the same kind of simple, instantaneous faith one exercised to be converted." In 1836 both men experienced what they called "baptisms of the Holy Ghost" which they believed not only freed them from committing sin but also removed their tendency toward sin. Contributing to the spread of this "Holiness" doctrine were the popular camp meeting revivals of the first half of the 1800s, the ministry of Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) (who taught that sanctification could be reached instantaneously by an act of faith) and the "Prayer Revival" of 1857-1858 (sometimes called the Third Great Awakening). There was also much unrest in Methodist circles as many felt the denomination had lost its fervor. The Wesleyan Methodist (in 1843) and the Free Methodist (in 1860) left the denomination to form the first Holiness denominations. Until the 1890s the Holiness Movement was largely a Methodist phenomenon, but as the Methodists settled more into mainstream Christianity tensions escalated into a schism which resulted in new, non-Methodist, Holiness denominations. These included the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana (1880), Church of the Nazarene (1908) and Pilgrim Holiness Church (1897). The Holiness adherents saw themselves as the true descendents of the Wesleys and practiced strict moral ethics, abstinence from worldly pleasures and amusements and a strong belief in entire sanctification (also known as the "second blessing" and the baptism of the Holy Spirit). More importantly "Holiness teaching offered 19th-century evangelicals a means of overcoming their sectarian conflicts. Doctrine might divide, but the experience of a pure heart would unite all true believers against the threats posed by religious formalism, atheism, and Roman Catholicism." This Holiness emphasis would continue to be spread throughout the 19th century by individuals and groups as diverse as the Salvation Army, Quakers, D. L. Moody, Hannah Whitall Smith, the Y.M.C.A., the Keswick Movement and Oswald Chambers. A brief explanation concerning some of those might prove helpful.... Maturity in Christ is expected of every believer; freedom from spiritual battle with the world, the flesh and the devil is attained only in the next life. At the same time, we must be careful that we do not over react to Holiness philosophy and believe that godliness is attained through our own self-determined efforts of obedience. We are certainly called to obedience, but it is not a self-energized, self-motivated or self-obtaining obedience. It is an obedience made possible only because of the power of God in our lives. This is the consistent teaching of the New Testament, but we will direct our attention to Romans 8:12-13. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Peterson, once again, summarizes things well, "Holiness of life is not simply attained by moral effort nor even by striving to keep the law of God. It is not even a matter of 'letting go and letting God.' Practical holiness involves 'putting to death' in our lives what God has already sentenced to death on the cross ('mortification') and living out the new life given to us by the indwelling Christ. Human effort is required, but not apart from, nor distinct from the activity of God's Spirit, who subdues the flesh as we mortify it in His power, and as we set our minds upon the things of the Spirit." -- Holiness of life should be the heart-felt desire of every Christian. But that holiness is not found in either short-cuts or self effort. **It is found as we pursue righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22) laying aside the deeds of the flesh (Colossians 3:5-10) through the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16) and as we behold the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Holiness Movement was in many ways a reaction to the dead orthodoxy and lifeless spirituality that infiltrated so much of Christianity during the nineteenth-century. However, its [explicit] remedy, a second blessing [based more on human ability] resulting in the eradication of sinful tendencies and a higher life not available to the unbaptized, went beyond the teaching of Scripture. As is often the case in reactionary movements, the cure [i.e. a cultural salvation, human based rules salvation] may be as bad as the [original sin] disease.
Reference: just-wicca.blogspot.com
Take your God with you. Bear him down to your dark land where people live who rub their eyes each morning and yet always see only the same thing and never anything else. Bring your God down to the haze pregnant with poison, but not like those blinded ones who try to illuminate the darkness with lanterns which it does not comprehend. Instead, secretly carry your God to a hospitable roof. The huts of men are small and they cannot welcome theGod despite their hospitality and willingness. Hence do not wait until rawly bungling hands of men hack your God to pieces, but embrace him again, lovingly, until he has talcen on the form of his first beginning. Let no human eye see. the much loved, terribly splendid one in the state of his illness and lack of power. Consider that your fellow men are animals without knowing it. So long as they go to pasture, or lie in the sun, or suckle their young, or mate with each other, they are beautiful and harmless creatures of dark Mother Earth. But if the God appears, they begin to rave, since the nearness of God makes people rave. They tremble with fear and fury and suddenly attack one another in fratricidal struggles, since one senses the approaching God in the other. So conceal the God that you have taken with you. Let them rave and maul each other. Your voice is too weak for those raging to be able to hear. Thus do not speak and do not show the God, but sit in a solitary place and sing incantations in the ancient manner:Set the egg before you, the God in his beginning.And behold it.And incubate it with the magical warmth of your gaze.HERE THE INCANTATIONS BEGIN.Christmas has come. The God is in the egg.I have prepared a rug for my God, an expensive red the landOf morning.He shall be surrounded by the shimmer of magnificence of hisEastern land.I am the mother, the simple maiden, who gave birth and did notknow how.I am the careful father, who protected the maiden.I am the shepherd, who received the message as he guarded his herd atnight on the dark fields.I am the holy animal that stood astonished and cannot grasp thebecoming of the God..I am the wise man who came from the East, suspecting the miraclefrom afar.And I am the egg that surrounds and nurtures the seed of the Godin me.The solemn hours lengthen.And my humanity is wretched and suffers torment.Since I am a giver of birth.Whence do you delight me, 0h God!'He is the eternal emptiness and the eternal fullness.Nothing resembles him and he resembles everything.Eternal darkness and eternal brightness.Eternal below and eternal above.Double nature in one.Simple in the manifold.Meaning in absurdity.Freedom in bondage.Subjugated when victorious.old in youth.Yes in no.Ohlight of the middle way,enclosed in the egg,embryonic,full or ardor, oppressed.Fully expectant,dreamlike, awaiting lost memories.As heavy as stone, hardened.Molten, transparent.Streaming bright, coiled on itself.Amen, you are the lord of the beginning.Amen, you are the star of the East.Amen, you are the flower that blooms over everything.Amen, you are the deer that breaks out of the forest.Amen, you are the song that sounds far over the water.Amen, you are the beginning and the end.One word that was never spoken.One light that was never lit up.An unparalleled confusion.And a road without end.I forgive myself these words, as you also forgive me for wanting yourblazing light.Rise up, you gracious fire of old night.I kiss the threshold of your beginning.Myhand prepares the rug and spreads abundant red jfowers before you.Rise up my friend, you who lay sick, break through the shell.We have prepared a meal for you.Gifts have been prepared for you.Dancers await you.We have built a house for you.Your servants stand ready.We drove herds together for you on green fields.We filled your cup with red wine.We set out fragrant fruit on golden dishes.We knock at your prison and lay our ears against it.The hours lengthen, tarry no longer.We are wretched without you and our song is worn out.We are miserable without you and wear out our songs.We spoke all the words that our heart gave us.What else do you want?What else shall we fulfill for yourWe open every door for you.We bend our knees where you want us to.We go to all points oj the compass according to your wish.We carry up what is below, and we turn what is above into what is below,as you command.We give and take according to your wish.We wanted to turn right, but go left, obedient to your sign. We rise and wefall, we sway and we remain still, we see and we are blind, we hear and weare deaf, we say yes and no, always hearing your word.We do not comprehend and we live the incomprehensible.We do not love and we live the unloved.And we evolve around ourselves again and comprehendand live the understandable.We love and live the loved, true to your law. /Come to us, we who are willing from our own will.Come to us, we who understand you from our own spirit.Come to us, we who will warm you at our own fire.Come to us, we who will heal you with our own art.Come to us, we who will produce you out oj our own body.Come, child, to father and mother.We asked earth.We asked Heaven.We asked the sea.We asked the wind.We asked the fire.We looked for you with all the peoples.We looked for you with all the kings.We looked for you with all the wise.We looked for you in our own heads and hearts.And we found you in the egg.I have slain a precious human sacrifice for you,a youth and old man.I have cut my skin with a knife.I have sprinkled your altar with my own blood.I have banished my father and mother so that you can live with me.I have turned my night into day and went about at middaylike a sleepwalker.I have overthrown all the Gods, broken the laws, eaten the impure.I have thrown down my sword and dressed in women's clothing.I shattered my firm castle and played like a child in the sand.I saw warriors form into line of battle and I destroyed my suit of armorwith a hammer.I planted my field and let the fruit decay.I made small everything that was great and made everything greatthat was small.I exchanged my furthest goal for the nearest, and so I am ready.
Source: healing-magic.blogspot.com
I read a very interesting statement on a website the other day:
"The "Devil" *not* the Judeo/Christian "God" was the creator of humanity."
Its a very interesting statement because it shows what some Christian Satanists, and Diabolists are willing to believe when it comes to Religion. They believe the opposite of what the bible teaches, that god created humans and that Satan is the enemy of man.
This is a very simple reversal of the christian tale of creation, that the 'devil' created us, instead of the Christian god. What is often times ridiculous is that this statement is expressed without any supplemental proof. It requires faith to believe and accept something like this, just like the belief that the Christian god created the earth, requires faith to accept.
The story of creation as told in the bible, is similar to many other creation tales that can be found in religions around the world, so why should a creation tale in Satanism be any different?
I have two things that i want you to consider.
First of all, if all of these creationist tales are true, according to the words of their religion, including paganism, Wicca and christianity, then which one is right?
Secondly, why do people have a need to believe that this earth was created by some divine force? Is it because they want the gods of their religion to be recognized for the creation and ownership of this earth? Does this so-called 'ownership' give them some kind of divine power and social authority?
Which one is True?
Lets look at the first question. There are many, many religions that are found all over the world. Each one of them has their own version of how the earth was created. Which one is true? Which religious myth is real? is it the one that is the most convincing or believable? Does the ancientness of a religious idea make it more reliable as a truth?
it does not make any logical sense to believe that they are all right. If any god had created this earth, what created that god? The Greeks and the Romans believed just as much in their own creation tales two-thousand years ago, as Christians and pagans believe in their own stories today.
The idea of creation through divine forces does not make sense to me. I feel that Satan is a *god of this earth* a god that represents earthly things, but I would never claim that he created this earth. The idea is ludicrous to me. What created this earth, nobody can answer. No one was there in the beginning to see it, to witness it. However, science may have some ideas on how planets are created, through their research..but much of this is theory for now.
In reality, no one has the final answer as to what created this earth. If we had the final answer it would be as obvious and as accepted as the fact that the earth is flat, or that the earth revolves around the sun.
It is more evident, however, that religions and the creation stories that accompany them, have developed over many centuries, each with their own story to tell. This is an obvious fact that can be proven through historical, archeological, and sociological research.
Ownership or Posession of the Earth
And that brings me to the second question, Ownership of the Earth. Religious Satanists, like the members of other religions, want to claim that their god owns this earth. By believing this, they can fit in with he other religions that make this same claim, therefore making themselves seem legitimate.
The most popular creation story of satanism is found in the Al-Jilwah. Through research, it has been proven that this document was created by a person who had little knowledge of the document's origins and meanings. It was written by a man who like others of his era, had strong religious prejudices against the peoples who first wrote the al-jilwah. Regardless of this fact, the story of the Al-Jilwah is accepted as a creation story in Satanism, only because LaVey introduced the story and made it popular to Satanists in the Satanic Rituals.
However, Satanists do not have to accept the same basic ideas that Christians, pagans, and all other religions preach, that their god[s] created the Earth and/or the universe. Satan is a *god of this earth* a god that represents earthly things, one of many gods of this earth that represent human needs and desires on a divine level.
You are not loosing anything by abandoning the religious idea that Satan created the earth. In fact, you are freeing yourself from the same trap that all religions try to teach, and that can be really liberating.
This is also why I gladly accept the fact that all gods were created by humans, as a means of religious and spiritual expression. This idea makes more sense to me than the self righteous, and faith-based ideas of the religious who, for many centuries, have tried to claim ownership of the earth and sometimes the entire universe, through their ideas of what their god represents.
What appeals to me is the recognition of Satan as a god of humans, reflecting our nature and our desires, and moving through the forces of nature itself, by means of Satanic expression.
Venus Satanas
As the good cardinal said, let us thank God and Qatar for this great gift.Thousands of Catholics attend first mass at Qatari churchby Wissam Keyrouz DOHA, March 15, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of Christians took part on Saturday in the first mass at Qatar's only church, opened this week despite threats from Islamists. Vatican envoy Cardinal Ivan Dias presided over the eucharist attended by around 15,000 worshippers at Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic church in Doha, thanking "God and Qatar for this great gift." The church, which has no bells or crosses on its exterior, opened on Friday ahead of western Christianity's celebration of Easter, which this year falls on March 23. It is the first of five to be constructed in the gas-rich Gulf state. From early morning, Catholics began arriving at the church, which accommodates around 5,000. Big screens were erected in the grounds to allow the overflow to follow the mass, celebrated during the consecration of the building. The mass was conducted in English, but prayers were also said in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Tagalog, Spanish and French in honour of the many nationalities that would be worshipping in the church. Dozens of police were deployed around the church, which cost some 20 million dollars (13 million euros), and female officers searched the handbags of women worshippers. Western embassies, particularly from the United States and Britain warned nationals living in Qatar to be extra vigilant after an Islamic militants on the Internet made threats linked to the opening of the church. The US embassy on Thursday released a warning that the new church might be targeted. "Extremists may elect to use conventional or non-conventional weapons and target both official and private interests. Examples of such targets include... the new Christian Church complex in Doha," it said. Worshippers said they were not concerned by the threats and were delighted to attend the "historic day." "It is a day without precedent. I am very happy. The threats were made but I didn't pay them much attention. I trust the country's authorities," Filipino Catholic Shato Mawude told AFP. Fellow Filipino Ariel Almyede added: "We are believers and we are not afraid... This church is a sign of a possible dialogue between the different faiths." Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah added: "The church sends a positive message to the world. "It is a strong message that will help Islam. At the moment we are enjoying the construction of mosques and Islamic centres in the West, so we must be fair" towards Christians in the region and allow them places of worship. Qatar is a close ally of Washington and hosts the command headquarters for US forces in the Middle East. Eventually, the Catholic church will be joined by others to be built by the Anglicans, the Coptic, Greek and Syrian Orthodox and India's Mar Thoma church. Most Gulf Arab states have long allowed Christians to worship in churches. Saudi Arabia, which adheres to a rigorous doctrine of Islam known as Wahhabism and is home to Islam's holiest sites, bans all non-Muslim religious rituals and materials. But the papal nuncio in the Gulf, Archbishop Paul-Munjed al-Hashem, said on the sidelines of the mass that talks had begun with Saudi Arabia to convince it to become the final Gulf Arab state to allow the building of churches. He said "discussions are underway with Saudi Arabia to allow the construction of churches in the kingdom," adding that "we cannot forecast the outcome." "There are around three or four million Christians in Saudi Arabia, and we hope they will have churches" in which to worship, he said. He also expressed hope in the eventual establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia and Oman, saying he expected an announcement soon on ties with Muscat.
Temple does not match to natural forms much(prenominal) as plants or trees since the basic assumption was to nurture a merciful rationale and reasoning as contradictory to monumentalism. The masterpiece of Greek architecture continued to evolve into Hellenic designs (500-323 BC ) and Hellenistical designs (323-27 BC and it was evidenced by improve engineering skills use in constructing towers (Ibid, 20083. Describe the sensory palpate of the Panathenaic emission that would widen you to the Acropolis and up into the complexIt is quite evident that when cardinal takes a juxtaposed savor in the historical books of superannuated Greek and during the Hellenic time issue that there was a place relationship in the midst of religion, politics, and graphics or architecture Historians exult established that first tabernacles were created to put forward cults and in kick downstairsicular to hold dear sacred practices in the familiarity. Parthenon as a synagogue was spectacularly placed in the `Holy City of Acropolis and wherefore acted as a agency with which people could link the synagogue to their past. A noted feature is the Panathenaic Procession as it represented the religious and affable lifestyles of the Athenians. Besides, the Procession was decompose and parcel of festivities that honored genus genus Athene, panathenaea which was commemorated annually. The procession comprised of religious rite show of new-fangled cloaks or peplum to the observation Athena statue (Neils, 1992After every quaternary years, a presentation of a huge peplus was made to the Grand Panathenaea inwardly the Parthenon. after, every separate successive year, Panathenaic Procession was attach by peplos presentation to Athena inwardly the Erechtheum. As a formality, the Panathenaic Procession was started at Diployn inlet and traversed square with the final reference being in Acropolis. The body process of more or slight importance to the women as during the period they performed a lot of activities such(prenominal) as weaving and presenting...If you fatality to get a measure essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.comIf you want to get a full essay, wisit our page: write my paper
Bad enough that Our Public Schools are full of secular humanists and evolution and even socialist fruits and vegetables - now the teachers are recruiting students into weird death cults! A family from Avon, Connecticut, an affluent suburb of Hartford, accuses three Spanish teachers and a guidance counselor at Avon High School of recruiting two of their three daughters into a bizarre "religious cult that promotes martyrdom, and celebrates death," and by that they apparently mean one other than Christianity. The family is suing the four faculty members, the high school, and Wellesley College for not noticing that the daughters were being brainwashed by the "cult."
The news reports on the case are fairly vague as to the nature of this supposed cult, and so, for that matter is the complaint (pdf link). How's this for weird evidence of cult membership? UPI reports:
The parents say they noticed changes in their daughters' behavior. But they said they only discovered what had caused them when the younger daughter "broke free" of her ties to the teachers.
In court papers, the parents said the girls "began speaking a bizarre new language." Their behavior allegedly became girls "flat and distant, reclusive, secretive, and non-communicative."
My god... they sound like... TEENAGED GIRLS! CBS's reporting isn't much better, though it refers to a "coven" and, more helpfully, includes links to the parents' complaint and the school's response, which is just three lines, saying only that no previous allegations of the sort had ever been made and that the district's legal counsel is handling it. Wow, looks like the entire district is infected with very secretive, non-communicative language!
As for the complaint, we've given it a decidedly non-lawyerly read, and while it looks like the three Spanish teachers weren't especially good teachers, we aren't sure that there's much proof of a weird death cult at work, either. For instance, the parents allege that one of the teachers "frequently gave the students busy work, or showed them movies with no educational value, during which the students would spend the entire period talking to each other." You know, just like in the Salem witch trials. Worse, the teacher showed the class "The Lion King" in Spanish instead of reviewing for a test! Another section gets more to the meat of something that maybe was shocking, though who knows if any of it adds up to "cult recruiting":
Defendant Mastoloni was not just teaching her students Spanish. She taught her students religion and pseudoscience. Specifically, she taught her students to believe in superstition, magic, and a non-scientific, anti-intellectual worldview. She would discuss spirituality, numerology, astrology, dreams, mysticism, looking for "signs," angels, symbols, "synchronicity, negativity, seeking the truth," and death. All of those topics are religious in nature, and none of those topics are included in the Avon School District curriculum.
A lot depends on context here - if she was teaching about something like Dia de los Muertos, for instance, some of that may very well have been appropriate.
What really suggested to us that there may be less to this conspiracy than the parents want there to be was this bit:
Likewise, Defendant Kessler was also teaching religious material which is not included in the Avon School District curriculum. She once assigned her students a project on "magical realism."
Shocking! Round up the novels of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garc'ia M'arquez as material witnesses! The suit made no mention of whether, many years later, as they faced the firing squad, the girls tried to remember that distant afternoon when the teachers took them to discover ice.
We also aren't sure what this has to do with the alleged death cult, but we would agree that it's a novel teaching method:
Defendant Mastoloni once spent about 60-70 minutes of class time discussing her dermoid cyst of the ovary which she described as having hair and teeth, and then proceeded to show the students a series of videos depicting such cysts. Neither the discussion nor the videos were in Spanish. Defendant Mastoloni ate her lunch during the videos.
It's a hell of a story, but unless she named the thing "Dennis" and kept it in a jar to pray to, we're not quite seeing the cult connection.
The suit alleges that the "indoctrination" somehow got worse after the two older daughters graduated and went to Wellesley; somehow, the cultish influence is supposed to have increased after the girls went away? As evidence, though, it's hard to take seriously stuff like this:
185....E.D. [the oldest daughter] suddenly declared that her major would be philosophy, instead of political science or international relations like she originally decided.
186. E.D. also announced that she wanted to seek a masters in Divinity following graduation from Wellesley.
187. E.D. was unable to offer any real explanation for her sudden interest in religion. [...]
194. All of E.D.'s conversations involved Defendant Mastoloni.
195. E.D. no longer engaged in ordinary verbal banter or back-and-forth discussion.
196. Rather, E.D. would make statements that did not make sense to anyone else, and she would get angry at anyone who asked for clarity.
197. E.D. no longer appreciated anyone else's opinion.
198. E.D. also lacked humor.
Ye gods, your kid went away to college and came back sullen and noncommunicative? That's a hell of a cult! But that's not all!
210. E.D. behaved rudely towards her friends, often calling them "superficial" and accusing them of not following their "passions."
211. When confronted by her family about her disturbing behavior, she gave a pat answer, "You don't understand the person I have become."
212. When asked what that meant, E.D. was unable or unwilling to offer any explanations, nor would she engage in any dialogue, which was out of character for her.
Pretty wild, unbelievable stuff! Had to be a cult! And then there's this, from the section on the middle daughter:
228....L.D. was initially reluctant to go to the same college as her sister.
229. However, Defendant Sullivan urged L.D. to go to Wellesley to be with her sister, presumably because it would make it easier for Defendants Mastoloni, Kessler, Esposito, and Sullivan to keep the two girls indoctrinated if they were together
230. As a result of Defendant Sullivan's urging, L.D. ultimately decided to attend Wellesley.
231. When E.D. and L.D. both came home for Christmas break in 2012, they were closer to each other than they had previously been, and they began isolating the rest of the family.
There's just NO EXPLAINING IT! Culty, culty, culty!
And so on. It looks like maybe these are not terribly good teachers who like to spout New Agey nonsense to their students - and that alone would probably make for a pretty fair First Amendment case - but the cult stuff seems like a hell of a stretch. There is a very warped part of Yr. Doktor Zoom that hopes this case becomes a wingnut cause celebre, even though the parents don't quite seem to be wingnuts themselves. We bet Common Core did it.
On the other hand, this MAGICAL REALISM madness has got to be nipped in the bud. Before you know it, innocent children could be encouraged to read metafiction and try breaking the fourth wall themselves, and we can't have THAT in our schools.
[CBS News via UPI via Wonkette operative Badkitty / Complaint (pdf link) / illustration adapted from "Dia De Los Ponies" by "violetmagician"]
Follow Doktor Zoom on Twitter. He has been known to dabble in postmodernism and even to commit new historicism.
SF: http://wonkette.com/550043/are-your-teens-sullen-time-to-sue-their-death-cult-teachers-for-magical-realism-assignment
