I just started the Path of Ceremonial Magick (CM), read a few books and blogs and been doing some Work. Most of the time, I have no clue what I'm doing except for following the instructions in the books with a little bit of guidance from more skilled Pagans. I live in Wiccan-land so, as far as that goes, I'm working the Work alone with alot of help from my friends.
What also twists my perceptions of CM is that I have a solid mathmatics/science background and a working single mom of two kids. I'm not some strange guy who has way too much time on his hands. It's hard to accept and not be skeptical of the material when one has had the first and second law of thermodynamics drilled into their head. Hey, I took 3 years of Calculus! I know! Newton only created it as a symbol set for Physics. Maybe, he got the idea from CM? Sir Newton sitting under his apple tree:
"Let's create a complex set of laws and symbols so esoteric that most average students will flunk it their first quarter of it and become business majors"
At least the physicists can truly say that they're are more than human because they can provide evidentiary support that there were truly conducive to the astral travel of humankind.
I truely have to find the magickal in the mundane between stinky shoes/socks, lighting pilot lights, cooking, unclogging toilets, vacuuming the dirt from the carpet, and mowing the lawn. Nobody can tell me that I don't work with air, fire, water and earth. I do it daily, both pleasant and repulsive forms of it and I DONT have to call a single spirit. It just manifests within my daily life
So I'm at the end of my very first post and I will leave it with a little insight that I came up with after meditating on the Fool card so here it goes:
Magick according to the engineer/mathematician
Tarot ==> Complex, yet capitivating, symbol set of pictorial statements of life and spirit
Fool is less than or equal to 0 less than equal to 1
Fool<=>Self) Fool is equivalent to self
QED
So how's that for esoteric!
5 comments:
You mention Newton. I thought I'd point out that he was an occultist. In fact according to wikipidia..."Newton was also highly religious, though an unorthodox Christian, writing more on Biblical hermeneutics and occult studies than the natural science for which he is remembered today"
I had to read the wikipedia to get a understanding of his background but it really doesnt surprise me that a great thinker was able to cross disciplinary boundaries. I looked him up further and he was described with the quote, "Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians."
The trouble with (the differential and integral) calculus is that it took about 2 centuries to get the mathematical foundations right. See, e.g.,
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Analyst
That didn't stop it from being a useful tool, though!
i'm always glad to see a fellow mathematician / engineer / scientist in these circles! Best wishes with blogging!
Thanks HilbertAstronaut for the best wishes. Your note is encouraging to me!
:-) Your response reminded me to link up the esoteric blog to the main blog (which deals with computer science topics), so folks can get to it. The esoteric blog isn't so esoteric yet but will get there as time allows. Best wishes!
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