Articles on Mid-East and Radical Islam from esoteric POV?

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Meaning,

For those who would really hold down the concept - in their own lives - that everything that has ever happened or ever will is part of the perfect plan of the divine mind (whether a Rosicrucian, Martinist, or GD'er), has anyone like this written major articles on world events and expressed their opinion on what they think is happening - culturally, spiritually, alchemically, etc.?

I remember that LCdSM while living though the French Revolution seemed to have commented that he felt that it was a critical change in the order of things - even if more than a little bloody, and just downright freightening in the Salem-ish "Who's head is next?" sense. Just wondering what similar people, trying to observe God's movements, would say of the Midde East - whether ISIS will finally push decent moderate and liberal muslims to say enough is enough or whether political Islam will be the kind of disease that will be plaguing the world and no one moreso than those living under it for centuries to come and perhaps this is just the churning of a very self-fed wheel with a lot more inertia driving it than we'd hope.

I got to thinking about this with ISIS rolling Nimrud under bulldozers, totalitarian ideologies (theocratic or otherwise) have always been fond of lobotomizing history and making inconvenient things cease to exist - I really hope they don't get much farther on that path successfully.

[cyberdemon]

The general idea is that they're attempting to be the army that goes up against the evilkind of the Jews, who according to the Quran, are a race of people that have turned away from God. That's what I know, anyway, I could be wrong.. though my most recent reading's memory seems to say so. I haven't touched the Abrahamic trilogy in a long time.

Perhaps contacting the ISIS accounts on Twitter may be a good idea for you, granted, if you can withstand their professional, trained brainwashing techniques. I'm sure they have a department of religious propaganda in there, which may or may not provide some esoteric views.

For all your non-radical needs though, this page ought to be interesting.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Not quite the direction I was going in. I was thinking more along the lines of - for people who've really reasoned the ups an downs of the world into their esoteric/Hermetic faith well, who don't look at something like Islamic radicalism, nationalist socialism like USSR or China, or Hitler's Nazi Party achievements as proof that they need to throw away everything they believe and become devout materialist/atheists for a more realistic bearing on life - what human wave 'learning' context do they place something like the Middle-East conflict in?

[ultimafool]

Isis was Osiris' consort and Osiris is the dying god of the old aeon. The dead Osiris is reborn via the power of Ra-Heru-Khuti, or Ra-Heru-akhety, and becomes the djed pillar himself, or the middle pillar on the Tree of Life. Isis means "throne", equating her with unifying authority and power. She sits on the left of the reborn Osiris, connecting her with the pillar of severity. I think it's safe to say that ISIS the organisation may be acting a bit severely.

Nephthys means "house", equating her with individuality and persons with no rank or title. She sits at the right side of the djed pillar/reborn Osiris connecting her with the pillar of mercy. Nephthys is the sister of Isis and sometimes consort of Set. She nursed the infant Horus while Isis searched for the corpse of Osiris. Like Isis, she is associated with magick. She assists Ra on his journey into the dark of night. She is also associated with the phoenix or Bennu Bird. "Bennu" is likely a reference to the benben stone, the rock or mound that first rose from the primordial waters before creation. The Bennu Bird is thought to be self-created and uttered a cry when it landed on the benben stone that dictated the nature of all creation to Atum. The benben is stone is also the inspiration for the obelisk and the capstone of the pyramid. But i digress. OR DO I??? [moresarcasm]

The connections between Nephthys and the night and resurrection relates to Ra-Heru-Khuti in that he is an aspect of Horus (whom Nephthys nursed so Osiris could be resurrected) associated with both the rising and setting sun, although the Pyramid Texts refer to him specifically as a god of the east, and therefore the rising sun. Personally, I believe this aspect of Horus refers to the star Sirius which rises before the sun in the east for about a quarter of the year. It is the blazing star of freemasonry and the heat associated with the rising of Sirius before the sun shows a relation to Nephthys' magickal fiery breath used to destroy enemies of the pharoah.

Sirius is located in the constellation Canis Major which seems to be chasing after Orion. I believe Orion to be Osiris and also the Fool of the tarot, where we also see a dog at the feet of the Fool. The symbolism here meaning that Sirius, the dog star, provides guidance along the Fool's journey, aka initiation. Man's best friend? Sirius is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the current of the aeons. We must all utilize this knowledge to balance the polarities of severity and mercy in order to be reborn and play our part in the coming new aeon.

I see the rise of fundamentalism in general as the last panicked death grips (great band, btw!) of the old aeon. Last time I checked, church attendance overall was down. The old aeon was all about leaders and followers. This new aeon we're entering is about individual sovereignty and sharing knowledge and resources as equals. There will still be teachers but there will be no cults of personality. What we're witnessing is the last gasps of hierarchical authoritarianism. The old man's pushin' up daisies. Let us kids play!

[cyberdemon]

ultimafool makes a very good point. The Aeon theory of the Thelema as described by Crowley is an alternative predictive-theory to what Nebuchadnezzar's dream essentially showed, as interpreted by Daniel. Both say the same thing, though. We're at the cement-and-glass feet of the statue, the Aeon of Horus, essentially, the end-times. If you look at the Quran, it has the same indications that wars will wage before the end-times end, specifically against the Jewish race and what the Jews have created. An overall perspective of the Jews would be to notice that in their search for sheckels, they've commercialized the entire world (and I'm sorry for the bad joke)! Throw in a bit of OWO/NWO/Illuminaughty conspiracy theories in there and you have.. more than enough to chew on your plate. Brilliant.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Not really at all the answer I was either expecting or hoping for.

(temporary soapbox)

As far as my own research on this stuff - Revelations and the Platonic Cyle are kind of okay with each other if you put us at the end of Sardis (Pisces) entering Philadelphia (Aquarius). That puts out 'end times' somewhere between 4,500 and 5,700 years ago. Trying to figure Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar's statue into that and pull the end of Laodicea thousands of years tighter than the biblical pronunciations of the ages and you have as hot a mess as fundamentalist Christians with their floating week of Daniel. Accepting Crowley's Aeon of Horus at 1904 as a literal pronouncement of end times just makes the whole ball of mud spatter. You'd have to throw out the Book of Revelations, all the biblical references stamping changes of the astrological age, and use nothing more than Daniel and Crowley if you go that way. Even Revelations from the 'on the ground' standpoint sounds like nothing other than Rome sacking Jerusalem from 66-70 AD or some of the wretched things Domitian was doing with his 'Lordy Day' as the acceptance/refusal that made up the 'Mark of the Beast'.

On one hand, we've believed it was end times almost every decade since forever - mainly that it takes people up to a certain age or a certain set of being played before not to have anyone be able to grab them by that strange sense that the now hangs at the precipice of a mountain of fully formed history - a feeling that we always have had and always will. On the other the end times theories of today are mostly stuff that Rob Zombie and Quentin Tarantino would need to remake a bloodier and campier version of Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow to get right; UFO's filled with Nephilim and Nazi supermodels, the Vatican trumpeting the gospel of the new alien church doctrine, Pleiadians being Satan's fallen host coming to reap souls, a global 4th Reich that would make Hitler's 3rd Reich seem like child's play, all of this under the Nordic Reptilians and their Black Sun that lead the Thule Society in their endeavors, all the while George Kavassilas sitting on a concentration cap hut floor saying "Don't worry - the REAL high-Satanic beings who masterminded this are the ones who'll show up pretending to save us and bury us with hugs and sunshine!" (assuming the Black Sun folk of Draco hold off to show up later)..... all of that sounds like our present culture taking a big steaming shit in the astral and then saying "Ahah! It's coming!" before we've even wiped our asses. Really we're just in danger of dunking our faces in the toilet with it. Most likely case of us losing a lot of people - pandemic flue or letting loose some really bad chemicals in the environment. If we get dumbed down enough we could easily accept worse government and yeah, I'm sure WW3's doable with or without it being Apocalyptic.

(off of soapbox)

Sorry if that got colorful, possibly even flavorful, it just doesn't make any sense to me how our 'Just get this over with' impulse would be gratified with an end times. I'd think if anyone was worthy of that kind of reprieve it was Europe under the Black Plague or China under the Mongols. We've written a lot of history since them and can document a lot of very healthy progeny from their generations forward. The God/Goddess/Androgyne we have overseeing our physical universe does not seem to like abrogating the laws It's given to it and I don't see why anything of the sort should happen anywhere near our lifetimes - either philosophically or eschatologically.

[Sypheara]

End times is a whole other ball game, and I don't think it fits in here, nor do i think that ISIS is formed by or for any overt occult or supernatural reasons.

My theory is much more simple than that.
ISIS is simply another failed arab state, arising out of the arab dark ages that have come about by the complete collapse of the Ottomon Empire. Just as when rome fell, western europe went to shit, so has the middle east, with the fall of the ottomon empire in WWI.

The spiritual and mental disturbances caused by the collapse of an empire that, basically help differing tribes together, was the spark of the flame. In a search for identity that was never going to be satisifed by nations, people latched onto the only thing left to them - their individual tribal culture and religion.

And we all know where too much introspection and love for ones tribe ends up in - yours is the best, kill the outsider.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

End times is a whole other ball game, and I don't think it fits in here, nor do i think that ISIS is formed by or for any overt occult or supernatural reasons.

It sounds almost like your saying that in the world things just 'happen' - magical ontology is completely on the side.

I guess my problem is that I'm coming at this from a pantheist/panentheistic viewpoint and I'm apparently on my own with that. I'd tend to believe that everything that ever has or ever will happen has some context with the divine will or One Mind - otherwise it literally wouldn't happen.

[Sypheara]

End times is a whole other ball game, and I don't think it fits in here, nor do i think that ISIS is formed by or for any overt occult or supernatural reasons.

It sounds almost like your saying that in the world things just 'happen' - magical ontology is completely on the side.

I guess my problem is that I'm coming at this from a pantheist/panentheistic viewpoint and I'm apparently on my own with that. I'd tend to believe that everything that ever has or ever will happen has some context with the divine will or One Mind - otherwise it literally wouldn't happen.

Thats not quite it. I instead see the world as a giant sandbox, overseen by both the destructive and creative impulsive forces that in tandem keep everything in a state of balance.

I believe the Gods have given beings and spirits within the material free will to a certain degree, and that this is a nursery of sorts for souls - in mans case I believe they are studying our race to see how we turn out. As such, i believe Fate is a stream which can be altered, although will due to the limitations of the Sandbox, likely travel in one stream. And that it is for the most part, in those deviations, driven by the lesser more earthly spirits than the more distant gods who i feel would only interfere in very dire circumstances and for their own, fathomless reasons that i can't pretend to understand not interpret.

As such, from my mind, I see the creation of ISIS an entirely all to human blight and thus attempt to approach it from a more mundane approach. If that makes sense? I certainly don't see how the filth of ISIS could arise from anything but desire, hate and greed for power that comes from within the human soul itself. Of course, there could be some destructive spirits that work along side them and goad them into actions, but that would certainly not devolve them of responsibility for their crimes.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

That makes sense and I suppose that's where I was going - theodicy.

One of the problems I get into, if I take things like the Emerald Tablet, Plato, or Buddha seriously. The idea is that bad things happen to good people because those people did bad some time prior and are facing a comeuppance, though it doesn't account for coarsening of people under the face of threat, what that does to societies, at least it doesn't seem to directly, and I have to wonder how things work if a particularly bad incarnation comes back around and can't find anyone to do bad to it to rectify the karma or how all of that would work.

Really I see the ISIS thing as a huge mosh of karma, really bad karma. Can't tell whether they're a group of previously violent incarnations simply getting to 'ride again', if it's new karma they're creating, and the idea that God is behind all of the good and bad karma - BUT wants to evolve society forward - how on earth all of that ties together and even farther out, how events like this 'evolve' us, particularly those of us who would be more liberal but start taking the queue that we're getting unsafely out of sync with the world and might need a significantly more conservative sense of readiness not to get hit by one person's kind of fascism or another's. In that sense trust for God as a protector grows incredibly thin, seems like good people are just as likely to be tortured or martyred as bad, and the idea of key 15: The Devil, where unfortunate happenstance can end someone's life, seems to look a lot more plausible again than the reality of key 21 - The Universe. If I were to understand what I just said in the Hermetic context - it's a statement of my involution, not evolution, and it's one a lot of people would share even if they don't want to believe it or want to run counterclockwise from spiritual evolution.

That's where it gets messy; I'd kinda need to throw overboard Platonist and Alchemical/Great Work thinking in order to side-step that dilemma.

[ultimafool]

Epic post lost due to system malfunction! [crymore]

Sigh, don't have it in me to re-type everything again so I'll cut to the chase...

"Abrogating" laws is part of the divine plan. One only needs to take a quick glance at history to see this is obvious. Try going back to, say the 1500's dressed the way you are, behaving the way you do, thinking the way you do. Why do you think they locked up Galileo and Reich? Why do you think we use the term "ahead of their time"?

Since Dec 21st, 2012 ce, we've been in the Age of Aquarius proper. The signs in the sky dictate the flow and charge of etheric and astral energies. As it is in heaven, so shall it be on earth. As above, so below. If we look at current events in the world and in our daily lives through the lens of the current of the age, we will see the signs and hidden messages guiding us towards our part in the divine plan. As an adept or a magician it is our duty to be in tune with this flow so that we may build the world the grand architect of the universe intends. Building a roof uses completely different methods than the construction of the floor. As times change, so must our thoughts and actions.

Everything that is happening is always related to this in some way or another.

[cyberdemon]

Eh, it's said that the Admin of the Universe already abandoned us in some accounts, but the fact that we're somehow going according predictions still kind of sends shivers down my spine..

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Epic post lost due to system malfunction! [crymore]

I hate that. A habit I got into a long time ago, particularly if I'm writing something long, is copying and pasting it to notepad - as many times as would make me feel better - to make sure that a site glitch doesn't eat my thoughts.

"Abrogating" laws is part of the divine plan. One only needs to take a quick glance at history to see this is obvious. Try going back to, say the 1500's dressed the way you are, behaving the way you do, thinking the way you do. Why do you think they locked up Galileo and Reich? Why do you think we use the term "ahead of their time"?

Since Dec 21st, 2012 ce, we've been in the Age of Aquarius proper. The signs in the sky dictate the flow and charge of etheric and astral energies. As it is in heaven, so shall it be on earth. As above, so below. If we look at current events in the world and in our daily lives through the lens of the current of the age, we will see the signs and hidden messages guiding us towards our part in the divine plan. As an adept or a magician it is our duty to be in tune with this flow so that we may build the world the grand architect of the universe intends. Building a roof uses completely different methods than the construction of the floor. As times change, so must our thoughts and actions.

Everything that is happening is always related to this in some way or another.

The most common reports I keep hearing when I research the topic is that the actual Pisces/Aquarius border is around the 2600 AD mark. I'm sure there is a kaleidoscope of effect throughout these ages and that late Pisces wouldn't be much like early Pisces, but anywhere I've seen the suggestion of us now being in Aquarius it's always been the new age camp which is why I've avoided it.

[cyberdemon]

The most common reports I keep hearing when I research the topic is that the actual Pisces/Aquarius border is around the 2600 AD mark. I'm sure there is a kaleidoscope of effect throughout these ages and that late Pisces wouldn't be much like early Pisces, but anywhere I've seen the suggestion of us now being in Aquarius it's always been the new age camp which is why I've avoided it.

Do you have the length of the Aeons or the Astrological ages in a list or something? I'm rather curious.. I keep thinking that the length of each age should be significantly shorter than the previous, perhaps like an inverse exponential curve..

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

The most common reports I keep hearing when I research the topic is that the actual Pisces/Aquarius border is around the 2600 AD mark. I'm sure there is a kaleidoscope of effect throughout these ages and that late Pisces wouldn't be much like early Pisces, but anywhere I've seen the suggestion of us now being in Aquarius it's always been the new age camp which is why I've avoided it.

Do you have the length of the Aeons or the Astrological ages in a list or something? I'm rather curious.. I keep thinking that the length of each age should be significantly shorter than the previous, perhaps like an inverse exponential curve..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_age
http://earthsky.org/human-world/when-wi ... rius-begin

They breakout different ways people handle it - ie. in some cases stating it's roughly every 2000 years, some taking the calculation of 2,160 per part, others use the physical measurement of the signs.

I'll admit, it could be that I really don't get magic to try and evaluate astrology as if it were objectively real, but I'm going with the physical boundaries of where these are on equinox because it's the only thing that makes sense to me. If we have a whole bunch of other ages or the shrinking time steps of the Aztec pyramid that hit infinite in 2012 - we might then just have to say that all of this is straw because none of these ideas line up with each other.

I guess I really don't want to try proselytizing my ideas, really had no idea I was opening the door for that when I started this thread, and to tell the truth I don't even think I have anything worth prosyletizing. Just trying to make sense of a whole jumble of outlooks, a sentient universe that would have us destroy the planet and ourselves trying to figure out what it wanted from us, and then the few who could figure it out needing to keep quiet because they realize they live in a world filled with people who, like dogs, if they can't eat it or fuck it they'll piss on it. It really feels sometimes like this was meant to be a nightmare where any glimmer of hope you have will be twisted around to either destroy a person or make that person cannibalize their own soul in frustration. No wonder why so many people want to get as far away from themselves as they can and numb it all with whatever they can get their hands on.

[cyberdemon]

Oh please, don't call it numbing. It's a luxury. Had-it in the Liber AL vel Legis even said that as the Point, he could only be entreated to by luxuries - level of kings and royalty and rich and the powerful. That's a Moderator Class demon pointing you in the direction of get-rich-or-die-trying..

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Oh please, don't call it numbing. It's a luxury. Had-it in the Liber AL vel Legis even said that as the Point, he could only be entreated to by luxuries - level of kings and royalty and rich and the powerful. That's a Moderator Class demon pointing you in the direction of get-rich-or-die-trying..

I originally had that sentence as 'No wonder why so many people want to get as far away from themselves as they can and numb it all with TV, liquor, drugs, and whatever they can get their hands on' but I thought it sounded too hammy.

It looks like right now I'm not hacking basic communication skills. Better if I just let this thread set for either a week or indefinitely. I apologize for the perceived insult if it seemed I was suggesting that magical discipline was in that category of people 'numbing their minds', it seems like it's actually - to me at least - the most earnest attempt to actually act and make something of religion rather than to simply supposit our thumbs one hour a week (usually a Sunday, Saturday, or Friday in the west) and then bury ourselves in sports, reality TV, and all the other distractions people run full speed at to wash our minds clean of the experience. My thoughts are that they do it simply because any spiritual path forward has been mangled badly enough that there's next to nothing for agreement and I can't help but look to God as having a deliberate hand in things as they are today which is why I asked the OP question.

[ultimafool]

I understand, Cybernetic_Jazz. So many people today are in the dark. But you have to have some perspective and look at things from a historical POV. This is where knowledge of the processions of ages and being in tune with the currents become relevant.

So much has changed in such a short period of time. There are people living in industrialized nations today who once lived in a world without electricity and running water, never mind space stations and internet. We have so many tools at our disposal to spread knowledge and make the world a better place. It's up to individual people to make this happen.

Things like the mid-east situation are but one of many symptoms of greed, plain and simple. Greedy people with an insatiable appetite for more wealth and power. This is the natural outcome of the culmination of history at this point. The divine plan at this stage has been individuation. Spirit has been squeezed out of matter. Physical growth/evolution has ceased. Both science and philosophy has declared that god is dead. Now is time for us to take evolution and growth of both physical and spiritual nature into our own hands.

At an earlier age, our species had no sense of self and no free will. We were at the mercy of the gods who shaped us and our world. Slowly, in accord with the plan, we lost contact with each other and the gods. Now that we have free will and a separate sense of individual self-ness, it is up to each and every one of us to consciously choose to reunite with each other and the gods. This is the purpose of this stage and the current of this age.

Magick is all well and good but it's nothing but mere sorcery without a sense of purpose. Forealz, a non-occultist/magician who is living a life filled with a sense of purpose can have a more magickal life than a dedicated wizard conjuring up a host of demons for a job promotion. The fool only appears so to the uninitiated.

Everything that is going on right now is a sign, goading us to step up and do what we know needs to be done. No one is going to hold our hands at this point. In the past there have been great teachers and sages and they served their purpose at that time. Now we see what has become of their legacy. Their time is over. OUR time is now. "OUR" as in individuals setting examples and making a difference by becoming leaders of our own lives. I think Crowley said something like he'd rather have 10 leaders in his OTO or maybe it was the A.'.A.'. than 1000 followers, or maybe it was LeVay now that I think about it. Regardless, I agree with that sentiment. Enough followers! Everyone is a follower of something or someone. Let's all be true to ourselves, thereby being true to everyone else.

[cyberdemon]

Oh please, don't call it numbing. It's a luxury. Had-it in the Liber AL vel Legis even said that as the Point, he could only be entreated to by luxuries - level of kings and royalty and rich and the powerful. That's a Moderator Class demon pointing you in the direction of get-rich-or-die-trying..

I originally had that sentence as 'No wonder why so many people want to get as far away from themselves as they can and numb it all with TV, liquor, drugs, and whatever they can get their hands on' but I thought it sounded too hammy.

It looks like right now I'm not hacking basic communication skills. Better if I just let this thread set for either a week or indefinitely. I apologize for the perceived insult if it seemed I was suggesting that magical discipline was in that category of people 'numbing their minds', it seems like it's actually - to me at least - the most earnest attempt to actually act and make something of religion rather than to simply supposit our thumbs one hour a week (usually a Sunday, Saturday, or Friday in the west) and then bury ourselves in sports, reality TV, and all the other distractions people run full speed at to wash our minds clean of the experience. My thoughts are that they do it simply because any spiritual path forward has been mangled badly enough that there's next to nothing for agreement and I can't help but look to God as having a deliberate hand in things as they are today which is why I asked the OP question.

Oh dear no. It seems you missed out on my point really.

If you look at it from the point of view of self-empowerment (eg. LaVeyan Satanism) then being a "total slob" with luxuries, liquors, drugs is exactly what you should be striving for - and exactly what major religions advise against.

Either way..

[Sypheara]

I can see why they advise against it if that is your example.

Being physically weak, lazy, unengaged with your community and plied full of heroin doesnt exactly sound like a successful personal development

(yes i know im being facetious, it just made me laugh)

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Oh dear no. It seems you missed out on my point really.

If you look at it from the point of view of self-empowerment (eg. LaVeyan Satanism) then being a "total slob" with luxuries, liquors, drugs is exactly what you should be striving for - and exactly what major religions advise against.

Either way..

I kinda caught what you were saying after I posted that; two things happened at once.

Last I checked LeVeyans were actively rebelling against just that - ie. a culture that told them to sit around and be useless. At least that was the impression I got from the Josh Warren interview. It wasn't that they were against license, just that they hated the flabby out-of-shape form of it with no actively pursued aspiration as a counterbalance.