AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm breaking into my normal once-a-day posting routine to make an announcement regarding blog presentation. A couple of years ago when I dropped my paid WordPress subscription and agreed to tolerate third-party advertisements in my posts, I didn't think it would be too obnoxious. At first it wasn't, but then as my work … Continue reading Enough is Enough! (No More Ads)
Non-divination
Summer is Coming!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My antipodal readers will be excused for taking a pass on this post, although the day of solar turnaround (despite what AI thinks, it has nothing to do with the time required to install solar panels) is still a significant moment in their annual cycle. As a non-religious person and more specifically a … Continue reading Summer is Coming!
The Cosmos According to Aleister Crowley: Love is Not Unconditional
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Recently I was asked to specifically name what I've often alluded to as the "half-dozen nuggets of pure metaphysical brilliance" in Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law (the founding text for the religion of Thelema and a fundamental source for the Book of Thoth and the Thoth tarot), as opposed to the rest … Continue reading The Cosmos According to Aleister Crowley: Love is Not Unconditional
Rebirth of the Sun: A Solstice Meditation
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of us who are more attuned to the mystical significance of the Winter Solstice than to that of Christmas, I can think of nothing better to read on that occasion than this clever piece of poetic appropriation from the work of Clement Clarke Moore.* It doesn't take a doctorate in theology, … Continue reading Rebirth of the Sun: A Solstice Meditation
The Lover as Morality Play
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It struck me today that the image of the four characters on the Tarot de Marseille "Lover" card might be viewed as a composite of the first six cards that precede it in the series of trumps. If we lay out those cards according to the scene in the Lover, we have the … Continue reading The Lover as Morality Play
If I Were a Tree . . .
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Funny how our ears will deceive us when we're not paying close attention or when we have no immediate frame of reference. For many years I thought Eric Clapton was singing "I'll be your four-letter man" in his song Forever Man (and I came up with more than a few vulgar expressions for … Continue reading If I Were a Tree . . .
A Man of Certainty (or “I’ll Know It When I See It”)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay follows the same line-of-thought as my previous post on “mystical rationalism.” Not too long ago I read an editorial piece that presented the results of a survey in which it was reported that 37% of the adult population of the United States refers to itself as "spiritual but not religious." The … Continue reading A Man of Certainty (or “I’ll Know It When I See It”)
The “Golden Dawn Swap” – Strength and Justice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written about the relocation of Strength and Justice before, but not in terms that strayed so far from the beaten path as this essay does. I have no clue what (if any) use I will make of this, but it's an intriguing philosophical study. (The framework shown in the graphic could be … Continue reading The “Golden Dawn Swap” – Strength and Justice
Kindness as the “Coin of the Realm”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It looks like "kindness" is the new social and cultural buzzword. Suddenly I'm seeing it everywhere: on bumper stickers, on window decals, on posters, on panhandlers' placards, even spray-painted on walls. I've been expecting the entrepreneurs to catch up with the phenomenon sooner or later, and I didn't have long to wait. If … Continue reading Kindness as the “Coin of the Realm”
Numerological Oddities
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently encountered a mathematical term that is new to me (not something that happens every day), although the concept isn't: that of numerical aliquots, as in "the sum of the aliquot parts of an integer." I came across this in a discussion of the number Six as being an "aliquot sum" in … Continue reading Numerological Oddities
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 