His name in the ancient language is Yw.

He was a god of great power, whose only recording in history/myth is from a damaged tablet so much of his history is hard to translate, his name may have been YHWH.

This god was cast down out of fear,

he represents primordial chaos, the sea, and rivers, and is an enemy of the gods of light, especially Ba'al. Worshipped in ancient times as a god of the valleys and water ways. while the Babylonian gods were of the mountains and skies.

enemies also with Hadad and other gods, he was betrayed and vowed vengence upon all the gods, he desired and vowed to become THE GOD, above all others and the only one to be worshiped.

Mostly Jesus' early days stuff. Which was apparently left out because the church felt it confused the message, gave contradicting messages, and because it painted Jesus as a less than (PERFECT BEING)

apparently the live as a human with human faults thing didn't appeal to them, like it would today. Heck I think keeping the Jesus superhero origin story would make him more appealing to modern audiences *basically as a child he abused his powers abit till it dawned on him/was revealed to him, what his role was and became the savior*

included stuff like Jesus as a baby with dragons bowing to the infant (church hated dragons as symbols of evil and pagan gods so that got left out for obvious reasons)

and stuff like kid Jesus killing two people, and making a snake explode kind of stuff. But also stuff like bringing clay birds to life.

 I'm pleased to have gotten the blessing of the forum founder here to share my IRC network with those of you who are so inclined.    

OccultMinds IRC network started as a group of friends in various occult chatrooms across IRC, when we began to see the need for a server dedicated as a whole to the occult and it's associated topics.  OccultMinds was then born and we have as yet to reach out and invite people en masse.  We have a webchat client available at www.occultminds.com under "Chat Now", for those among us familiar with IRC the address and ports are irc.occultminds.com 6667/6697SSL

It is welcome that whoever so will, may create their own rooms and branch out on the server and fill it to it's brim with life, so that we are truly uniting the occultists, the paranormal enthusiasts, the otherkin, the trod upon and the forgotten.  All are welcome amongst us, no topic is too taboo, our rules are simple.

We are the seekers searching the annals of truth within that which is hidden. The Watchers and the Scribes, the Magicians and the Fools.  Come all that will.

Thank you and I hope to see some you around soon.

               Azariel

I'm hoping this place is as virbrant as it seems on the outside, and again, Hello.

http://theoccult.bz/

http://www.cracked.com/article_20248_5-miracles-deleted-from-bible-being-too-awesome.html

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will resign. There's probably going to be a new Pope elected before Easter. A Pope hasn't resigned since the fifteenth century - Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TOR1Hershman

Well, @ least slightly amusing parody songs and whatnots from me wee mind

but.....I truly enjoy them. 

If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know? Physicist Silas Beaneof the University of Bonn, Germany, thinks he has the answer.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2012/12/simulated_universe_testing_the_laws_of_physics_to_determine_whether_we_re.html

This discussion is related to "We are the Sims"

http://forum.darkness.com/topic/117935-we-are-the-sims/

The interesting thing about this to me is how we might react or feel about some of our most important concepts of religion or philosophy if we discover that we are indeed living in a simulation.  It could be hard to break free of existing religious beliefs, so I'm guessing they would just explain it in the contexts of their religion.

The rebirth/resurrection of Egyptian god Horus lasted twelve days. The Sumerian god Marduk also had a twelve day celebration where He conquered the demons of darkness! The Sumerians included in their celebrations the tradition of gift giving which later Pagan Rome (my favorite Roman period) adopted it as Saturnalia and included jingling bells to drive away evil daimons away as well as candles to welcome back the Sun.

The Greeks noticed the immortality in the varieties of Evergreens, that they had the power over death unlike the other trees during the winter and wreaths and limbs were brought inside. Mistletoes were used for fertility, abundance, and protection from evil.

The Norse Freyja had a kissing ritual which bestowed luck, love, fertility and protection from disease.

During Persephone’s descent into the Underworld, her God Demeter cries tears that form the first snowflakes. The same story is found earlier with the Sumerian Goddess Inanna and Her descent into the Underworld (Akkadian version is Ishtar).

I am new to this forum but have been a member of many others and have seen them come and go.  This forum though, seems to have been around a while and that is wonderful to see.

I am probably a bit older than many of you on this site but to look at me everyone guesses me 10 years younger. This is due to good genes, exercise, no smoking and vitamins.  So, I have something I really want to say, a bit of advice, if you will:

First of all, I did go through an awakening process many years ago, and it was frightening, exhausting and it led me to some VERY dark places. But even in my darkest hour I was not alone. I was promised help and delivery from the evil that seemed to want me dead IF I left the darkness behind... which I gladly did.  I have not returned to it since.

In the years since I have grown and learned a lot.  I always read how people hate their life and feel that there is more and that they need to know and, and, and... so many reasons as to why they desire the life of a vampire or such.  YES people, kids and young adults there is more and it is called life!  That emptiness that most of you feel is a true feeling and it is sad but it can be so easily filled with GIVING.  Give to the world... save a life... help another soul.  Do something that makes a difference and you will soon see how that hole you were wanting to fill with darkness will be full of love and light.

Since I left my old ways behind, I have had the opportunity to deliver a baby to a drug mother and thus help save the life of the baby and mom (and not in a hospital) and my job allows to me help save lives and make a difference every day.

Plus many of you have not actually seen death... it is not even a bit glamorous.  Plus, the people left behind... there are not words for that.

If immortal vampires do exist (and I believe that there may be one that I have spoken to on the net YEARS ago)... why would you want that?  To outlive your loved ones... ALL of them... how lonely.  And they must live in such privacy and secrecy... even more loneliness!

I love the night... I get more energy as the sun sets, and there are plenty of opprotunities to give, even at night.

So before you go falling for someone here (or anywhere) that seems all wise and smart because they can use big names and words from old and ancient religions, think about what is really eating at you... maybe talk to someone who has gone through the same thing, maybe get some professional help and then try even just one small act of kindness... see what it gets you.  I mean, isn't it worth a try?

I know that life is not a bucket of roses and it is not always sunny... and of course I have thought about what I would do if I could live forever and I realized that I would continue to learn and learn... and with knowledge and education what change I could make over the long haul.  But I am content to do what I can in this lifetime.  Hopefully you can get there too!

Blessings~

LandL

p.s.

Sorry, I hate grammar... tis not my best subject!

Telestike is apparently a Greek(Hellenic or Neoplatonic) mystic art that was practiced and involved the "animation" of statues or other spiritual implements..

The theurgical practice called τελεστικὴ (telestikê) is a means of ἐμψύχωσις, ensoulment or “animation,” of a sacred image (ἄγαλμα), such as a statue.  It is accomplished by placing in or on the image appropriate sunthêmata, including stones, plants, animals, scents, and figures.  These material sunthêmata are supplemented by immaterial sunthêmata, such as invocations, chants, and prayers intended to “persuade” the god or daimôn to descend into the image.

Of course, as Iamblichus explains (De myst. 47, 6), theurgy does not compel a deity or daimôn; rather it prepares a suitable δοχή (receptacle or receiver).  This is like preparing an object to better reflect a particular color of light; a golden object does not “compel” yellow light to appear, but it allows the presence of the yellow in white light to become manifest.  Similarly, although the archetype is ever present, it is not normally manifest to consciousness.  Therefore appropriate sunthêmata (i.e., symbols linked to a complex or archetype) invite projection of the daimôn or god onto the image, which becomes numinous.  In this way, the theurgist is in a conscious archetypal relation with the divinity, and the image becomes a medium for interaction, that is, for exploring specific archetypes and complexes residing in the unconscious. http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/papers/EJT/VB.html

Also in Plotinus "Problems of the Soul"

I think, therefore, that those ancient sages, who sought to secure the presence of divine beings by the erection of shrines and statues, showed insight into the nature of the All; they perceived that, though this Soul is everywhere tractable, its presence will be secured all the more readily when an appropriate receptacle is elaborated, a place especially capable of receiving some portion or phase of it, something reproducing it, or representing it, and serving like a mirror to catch an image of it.

It belongs to the nature of the All to make its entire content reproduce, most felicitously, the Reason-Principles in which it participates; every particular thing is the image within matter of a Reason-Principle which itself images a pre-material Reason-Principle: thus every particular entity is linked to that Divine Being in whose likeness it is made, the divine principle which the soul contemplated and contained in the act of each creation. Such mediation and representation there must have been since it was equally impossible for the created to be without share in the Supreme, and for the Supreme to descend into the created.

Telestike is a reinforcement of my beleif that emanation(emittance-from a source in this case) is a common component in heathen or european pagan practice, and is something relatably divine. The beleif that a statue can be "ensouled" can be taken a little too literally though.

Root this practice to heathen theology.

To me, gods can be undestood through emanations in nature and life. The emanation exists before the name. The emittance of "Freyr" should be felt before the name is heard, then the connection with the god is established.Communicating this connection through using scents or visual manipulations to create a certain presence, and then furthering the effect with more religious or ritualistic consecration is simply bringing the intimate god connection a more physical component.

In heathen Anglo-Saxon times, there were things called "frithyards" which were either hofs or places that were beleived to belong to certain land spirits. These temples were often kept and maintained, and pilgrimaged to(depending on it's purpose). They were considered places of peace, and there were legal implications for disturbing them. This important to understanding that despite the scientific or philosophic discoveries made in the gap between the more primitive anglo-saxon spirituality and the theurgic mysticism that encompassed a lot of the greek religions, the spirituality and regard behind the practices had a similar core.

So, without getting to deep into the actual theurgic practice, Telestike tells us a lot about what a pagan temple was, and why it was upkept. It should be noted many temples were outdoors and open as well.

I wonder what key components of a heathen or pagan place of worship seperate from a more scripture-focal religion's place of worship.

1. The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline.
2. A set of views and theories of a particular philosopher concerning such study or an aspect of it.

things not in the bible that people think are in there

http://www.cracked.com/article_18757_5-things-you-wont-believe-arent-in-bible.html?wa_user1=5&wa_user2=History&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=yesincite

Mostly thanks to artists and poets and many generations of people who don't know the difference.

*I wander if anyone thinks there was a talking panther with big tits thanks to the movie El Arka

LoL

Anywho, it got me thinking. Because it reminded me of when I told my mother about the army of the dead in the bible and she had never read it.

She like many has "tried" to read the whole damned thing. But no matter how "good" a christian you are, chances are you only read a handful of pages, (and for many those red highlighted passages that some bibles have like some fucker said, this is good but only this less than one percent is really important)

Mostly because despite what you may believe that is was seriously boring book. I know I actually read the whole damned thing, and I still missed shit because I couldn't help but start to skim with all the begots of the old testaments and the amens of the new making it really annoying to read (like telegrams that would have the word "stop" in place of a period).

The preternatural or praeternatural is that which appears outside or beside (Latin præter) the natural. In contrast to the supernatural, preternatural phenomena are presumed to have rational explanations that are unknown.[1]

The term is often used to distinguish from the divine (supernatural) while maintaining a distinction from what is known and understood. For example, in fiction, vampires are often portrayed as having preternatural qualities and capacities that greatly exceed those of normal people, apart from unnatural powers that no creature could hope to possess.[2]

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

As a man of Asatru, the faith of ancient Scandinavia and the Germanic lands, I was intrigued by a story in the news...

The site was old; dating from the fifth century. A circle of stones, 15 meters across and each stone standing a meter high, provided a central focal point. Leading up to the circle was a processional road that had not felt a human foot for a thousand years. To one side there had been a wooden structure supported by strong wooden pillars resting on firm stone footings,but the wood had disappeared long ago. The whole array had been carefully, lovingly buried in peat, preserved from plow and weather, deliberately hidden from those who would harm it, awaiting the day it would be safe to once again acknowledge the old Gods. Surely, those who covered it must have thought, the Christian madness will someday pass and our descendants will be glad that we have saved this for them...

When an intact pre-Christian temple was unearthed in Norway, archeologists were overwhelmed. Comments like "Unique!" and "Unprecedented!" splashed across Internet news pages.

But now, it has been demolished - bulldozed to make way for a housing development.

Could the pagans of old, as they tenderly buried the holiest place they knew, have imagined a world where gold was more important than Gods? Where their own descendants would raze their temple so that the profane houses of thralls would forever crush that which they loved? When the steel blade of the bulldozer bit into the sacred earth, the present spat on the past. The clear intentions of the ancestors were ruthlessly betrayed...for money.

What would I have done, had I been magically transported to the site at that crucial moment? Had I been the bulldozer driver, would I have refused, and lost my job? Yes, I think so. Had I been a bystander, would I have risked prison, injury, even death to stop the machine? I hope so. I am only a man, no hero. But sometimes, being a man is enough - if he is doing the right thing. As the poet wrote,

"And how can man die better than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods?"

Money has carried the day. The site was presumably private property,being developed by a corporation, for profit. I have no objection to profit. But who owns the past? Who owns the ancestors? Who owns the Gods? Is there a "right" to bulldoze an ancient holy site in Norway or, as has been done, to level an ancient stone circle in Ireland...for profit? The most important things cannot be owned by anyone: I do not "own" my family name. I merely borrow it to pass on, with added honor, to my sons. I do not "own" the genetic and cultural inheritance left me by my forefathers and foremothers; this too I have only borrowed from my ancestors. They are not mine to destroy.

As  I  was  writing  this  I  had  a  conversation  with  an  elderly  gentleman
who had spent a good portion of his life studying theology and the true
meaning of words.  When I talked to him about this book I was writing
about  narcissism  he  went  to  his  materials  and  did  a  bit  of  research.
He told me that in Greek mythology, Echo actually meant conscience.
When Narcissus turned away from Echo he was turning away from his
conscience.  He was choosing to get absorbed in his own image until it
pulled him in so deeply he drowned in it.

The  Christian  origin  of  the  word  Narcissism  means  “separation  from
God” or Conscience.  Conscience means “the voice of God.”

The correlation between the Greek and the Christian Mythology is that
narcissus represents “separation from conscience or the voice of God.”
My  theology  friend  told  me  the  word  “evil”  also  means  “separation
from conscience.”  So when analyzing the meaning of words I found it
fascinating that narcissism and evil had the same original meaning.