Bible thumpers, old and newuaker, Catholic,

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

A good link and some good points from Mike Bailey, it is true that there are 
aspects that B.O.T.A., the Golden Dawn and the O.T.O. take from Christian 
practice. The either/or proposition isn't coming from the "occult" side of the 
equation, but from the "Republican Christer" side of the equation, the one 
that accounts for all those "excluded middles" and other bad shit that comes 
from our country's natural born elect. 

The link to a long earlier posting:

  . . . .Attacking the foolish, a component of ancient or 
         modern satire, is found in Athenian Old Comedy 
         whose sole extant representative is Aristophanes. 
         The Romans also borrowed attention-grabbing 
         techniques from the Cynic and Skeptic preachers. 
         Their extemporaneous sermons called diatribes 
         could be embellished with anecdotes, character 
         sketches, fables, obscene jokes, parodies of 
         serious poetry, and other elements also found in 
         Roman satire. . . . 

http://tinyurl.com/26msdr

Points out that there's Christian, and then there's Christian. One can believe 
in the forgiving---the sweet---aspects of Christianity and at the same time 
castigate the more "elect" aspects of Christian faith, the cetainity that one 
is superior simply due to a set of beliefs rather than the moral decisions and 
acts one actually performs. Unless my reading of the passage is totally off 
base, one can see many Christian parallels in Geli Tripping's little spell over 
Tchitcherine (GR V.733/734, P 748/749). But note that it is the Witch who is 
creating all this forgiveness and sweetness, not some force representing 
Christianity as we know it.

As for that chess set, Occultists can get mighty strange around their magical 
tools.

To go even futher off topic:

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/04/george-w-bush-barbara-bush-and.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
On Thu, 24 May 2007 robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
>
> Pynchon's Biblical references are usually in the satirical mode---he
> ain't C.S.Lewis, folks---

thank goodness

>and his style of writing, first and foremost is
> satire. I suspect that his knowledge and absorbtion of Qabalistic
> systems points to an involvement in occult practice.

I agree warmly, but of course have to add my spin: he's a brilliant
satirist, but even before I appreciated much of that, I liked his
books for a sweetness that I haven't experienced in other satirists;

and though his occult references are impressive, I'm not sure that
occult practice is the place where he stands
with his fulcrum to move the world -- not sure it isn't, though --
you gave a lot of convincing evidence that it is thoroughly
woven into the stories.

finally, Christian/occult isn't an either-or, and the Bible is a
book of occult practice.  Crowley supposedly memorized it.  I've read
at least one very sincere-seeming homage to Christ in Crowley.  (sorry,
I do not remember chapter and verse for either claim, though I think
the Bible-memorization mention was made by Grady McMurtry, 1st Caliph
of the OTO in America, who met with Crowley in London while he
(McMurtry) was serving in the artillery during WWII - he had to wangle
leave, hassle with trains and blackouts, and ate Christmas pudding with Lord
Boleskine - he also had an anecdote about approaching one of
the books on V.V.V.V.V.'s shelf and getting yelled at to divert him
just before he touched it - "You have no idea the forces you could have
set in motion!" - by touching the book, I guess...)

to go totally off-topic, Crowley had a son, Aleister Ataturk...
who at least at the time of this link's being put up
http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Aleister_Crowley
appears to have been born in 1938 and still living
(also a daughter)
--- wouldn't you know there'd be a Thelemapedia?

mike bailey