“In any case, this passage of Paul’s is the principle reason for the elaborate development attributed to St. Denis or Pseudo-Dionysus, in his Celestial Hierarchy and in passing as a matter of introduction in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Conversely, the work of Pseudo-Dionysus is concerned with putting Judeo-Christian angelology in the context of Platonic metaphysics and cosmology.” [via]
“As we have noted, these terms came with a metaphysical connotation from a prior sectarian Hebrew apocalyptic context. It is also possible that these terms had similar meaning in the context of the Middle Platonic cosmology and theurgy that was familiar to Paul’s Hellenistic audience, and about the development of which we unfortunately know little, but which was to come to fruition in the Chaldean Oracles and the works of Iamblichus and Proclus.” [via]
Images of your ritual or ritual space, images of sigils or tools, showing off your own library or special volume from the restricted stacks, sacred spaces and places, esoteric artefacts and installations, inspired paintings and people — these and much more are part of the culture and practice of magick.
“St Paul’s usage of the term Thrones in this context indicates that it must have had meaning within then-current metaphysics. Though it is possible that the context of Colossians is an entirely mundane and political one, thones, and even dominions, principalities, and so on have been interpreted by subsequent Christian theologians in an almost entirely metaphysical way.” [via]
“One of the most colourful and least respectable figures of the European Renaissance was the magus, a scholar, expert in the hidden wisdom of the created world, who sought the power to manipulate it to the advantage of (depending on his degree of probity) himself, his employers or humanity.
The most familiar such character in fiction is of course Dr Faustus, but the best known in real life is John Dee, a Londoner of Welsh blood who haunted the English and other royal courts throughout the late 16th century.
Much has been written about him in modern times, though little has been produced by experts in his period. To most historians he represents a tragic waste of talent; a brilliant scientist who was diverted into a fruitless attempt to converse with angels, thereby ruining his career and reputation and falling prey to the demented or unscrupulous adventurers who posed as his mediums: above all Edward Kelley, who combined both characteristics and, at one point, even persuaded Dee to swap wives with him under angelic instruction. Modern ritual magicians, by contrast, have seen Dee as a hero who discovered an occult system of genuine validity.
But in Glyn Parry, he has at last attracted a biographer with a talent for uncovering fresh archival material, who has conducted thorough research both into his life and the circles in which he moved.
The basic argument of the resulting book is that Dee was not an anomalous figure at the court of Queen Elizabeth, because that monarch and her leading courtiers – like their counterparts on the Continent – were deeply interested in the occult arts and sciences and were prepared to invest large sums in practitioners who promised material gains from them. As a result, they tapped into an underworld of alchemists and ritual magicians who became tangled up in turn with royal policy-making, political rivalry, and conspiracy.” [via]
“Marketed only to Secret Societies, this is these masks and blindfolds take the cake for weirdnss. Sold through the DeMoulin Bros. Catalogs in the early 1910s and 20s.”
“It seems probable that this earlier genre of angelical classification is the source of Paul’s reference in Colossians.
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Colossians 1:16 (KJV)
It is from this reference by St. Paul that all subsequent Christian theological discussions on the subject base their authority.” [via]
“The Qumran community, from which the Dead Sea Scrolls emanated and who are often identified with the Essenes, had a complex angelology influenced in no small part by Enochic and other apocalyptic literature. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs betray certain clearly Qumranic predilections.” [via]
“It is not our intention to go into all of the complexities related to this document, its history and evolution, but fragments of the text are found both in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Karaite texts found in the Cairo Geniza. It has been known for some time that a relationship exists, at least textually and theologically, between the sectarians, and exegesis.” [via]
“Although scholarly opinion differs as to its date of composition and origin, the earliest form of this text can be traced to what is now referred to as that Aramaic Levi Document. And though the text of The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is clearly a compilation by an early Christian author (circa 2C C.E.), it is now known with certainty to have been derived from pre-Christian, and probably sectarian Jewish sources.” [via]
“The earliest known reference to Thrones as an angelic order is found in the text of The Testament of Levi, in the pseudopigraphic collection referred to as The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.
And in the highest of all dwelleth the Great Glory, far above all holiness. In the heaven next to it are the archangels, who minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the righteous; Offering to the Lord a sweet smelling savor, a reasonable and a bloodless offering. And in the heaven below this are the angels who bear answers to the angels of the presence of the Lord. And in the heaven next to this are thrones and dominions, in which always they offer praise to God. When, therefore, the Lord looketh upon us, all of us are shaken; yea, the heavens and the earth, and the abysses are shaken at the presence of His majesty. But the sons of men, having no perception of these things, sin and provoke the Most High.
Testament of Levi I: 21–27 (trans. R.H. Charles)” [via]
“In order to see why Dee and Kelly would have recognized a term like ‘Throne’ to be a definition of one of the Orders found in the Sigillum, it is important to understand how the concept evolved theologically.” [via]
Images of your ritual or ritual space, images of sigils or tools, showing off your own library or special volume from the restricted stacks, sacred spaces and places, esoteric artefacts and installations, inspired paintings and people — these and much more are part of the culture and practice of magick.
“It is important to understand that there was, for Dee and Kelly, a standard Renaissance view of the divine order and the place of the various echelons of angels within that hierarchy. This view was defined primarily from scripture, but drew the precise form that it did from the Celestial Hierarchy of St. Denis, the Aereopagite, so-called.” [via]
“This morning it was summer
By noon a cold front building
Where did you go?
Where did you go?
I got to find some shelter
‘Cos any minute now
it’s gonna blow
It’s gonna blow
But I don’t mind the rain
So strike me once again:
I’ve got nothing to lose
And it looks like we are in for stormy weather
with death and destruction coming through
Oh, look out there she blows
Now everybody knows:
Stormy weather always makes me think of you
And watch out ‘cos the storm is coming through
But you’re so still and silent
Whilst everything’s dissolving
Melting away, melting away
But I don’t mind the rain
So strike me once again
I got nothing to lose
Yeah, it looks like we are in for stormy weather
with death and destruction coming through
Oh, look out there she blows
Now everybody knows:
Stormy weather always makes me think of you
Oh and it looks like we are in for stormy weather
with death and destruction coming through
Oh, look out there she blows
Now everybody knows:
Stormy weather always makes me think of you
And watch out ‘cos this storm is coming through
Yeah, watch out ‘cos the storm is coming through”
