Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00917)

At 08:45 PM 5/15/96 -0400, you wrote:

>>
>I am in the process of looking for a personal experience account :-)
>"Initiation" is, in my terms, a beginning, and in occult parlance, a new
>beginning, sometimes a "rebirth" in *this* life - different people
>experiencing the same thing will use different language to try to
>describe it.

I've come up with a term for "initiation" that offers less semantic
temptation. It's called
"A Rheostat adjustment" and, unlike the word "Initiation" carries no
dramatic overtones. It's also a good description of what really happens, or
so I think......A.D.
>
>I have had a number of astral projection experiences, but cannot say
>that they are a means to any end, at least, not the kind I had (cf.
>Muldoon & Carrington).  However, I certainly learnt a great deal just
>from having them!  My personal view of Magic is that it is a way of
>working that can - *can* not *does* - lead to greatly inflated egos
>(vide Crowley) and could delay development rather than promote it.
>Others I know would not agree.  I have mentioned before, though you may
>have missed it, that although I am a kabalist, I am more in the 'hasidic
>than the magical tradition.  A kind of non-jewish pharisee :-)
>
>Alan
>---------
>THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL:
>Ancient Wisdom for a New Age
>TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk
>http://www.garlic.com/~rdon/TI.html

Alan: In Crowley's case I wonder if we don't have a "chicken and egg
situation"....which came first the ego or the magick? But you are
intrinsically correct in your reservations vis a vis "Magick" there's just
too much ego gratification possible (not unavoidable but Possible) in it
with it's very strong reiteration of personal power and control. That's why
I switched to Shamanism there's no possible pretense of control there. But
it's also why I am currently working on a synthesis that may be more
accessible to a wider spectrum of humans than either. Alan, there are a lot
of Non-Jewish Pharisees especially in the sense that J.C. used the term. You
are one of the least pharisaical folks I've met if one uses Jesus's
definition of the word.

alexis