I’m going through every Hebrew entry in Crowley’s Sepher Sephiroth (“book of emanations”, or simplified, “book of numbers”) and looking at what each Hebrew word actually means by comparing it to Hebrew Biblical dictionaries, and sometimes looking at modern Hebrew ones too for a backup (being aware of linguistic change, of course). There are lots of typos. This will … Read more
Continuing to work on fixing Crowley’s gematria entries, I find the Hebrew word אשת. Crowley doesn’t define it; he simply says “Deut. xxiii. 1.” Deuteronomy 23:1 does not contain this Hebrew word. But it translates to: He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation … Read more
In the central ritual of Zoroastrianism, the Yasna, while the priests are reciting their professions of faith and the hymns of Zarathushtra, thanking God for his blessings, opposing the forces of evil, asking that all people have freedom to follow their consciences (yup, that’s in there too), there’s a few other things they are doing … Read more
I’ve noticed some remarkable similarities between a classic of pulp space opera and a classic of ancient religion. If you don’t want spoilers for either Zoroastrianism or the Lensman series by “Doc” Smith, you should stop reading now. Not every Zoroastrian would agree with every single point herein (the non-omnipotence of the Wise Lord, as … Read more
Yesterday’s tragic shooting in Tucson has given me much pause for thought. See, I’m part of the problem in some sense. I don’t carry a gun to political rallies (or anywhere else). I don’t publicly call for the “targeting” of politicians or the use of “Second Amendment remedies”. But in private? In private, with my … Read more
Sir: Recent events of a medical nature notwithstanding, your humble Correspondent wishes to make known his renewed Will to transform the course of events in his Local Universe, or in the Parlance of the day, to “shake things up a bit”. Operations to this end have already commenced, and additional ones are planned, upon the … Read more
In my capacity as a priest I have told people that rebirth is not a one-time process, but an iterative one. I use one Planck time, a very small span of time indeed, as my way of reminding people of this. The universe can undergo so many changes in a second. Even granting how slowly … Read more
“Soul Care and the Roots of Clergy Burnout” If we wonder why Temple 31 kinda flamed out, this is definitely one of the reasons I hadn’t thought much about. The need to plan, prep, organize, clean, email, devise lessons, etc. just took a lot out of me (already had a full-time job, after all) and … Read more
The two major religions which figure so prominently in the current so-called “clash of civilizations” have many things in common; but most of these, good and bad, are well-known and I shall not recount them here. They have one thing in common peculiar to me, however: if I am ever to be converted to either … Read more