Obama's Mother-In-Law Practices Santeria

Well there are reports. But does it matter? Not a bit. Unless this is some kind of counter spin to the Christine O'Donnell/Witchcraft craziness.

And Santeria? I belonged to one of those groups once. Not exactly traditional Santeria though. It was designed to attract American Wiccans and fans of Aleister Crowley. In Chicago. On Halsted Street. Around 1975. The group had a book/herbal store and the services featured naked dancing girls. On the appropriate holidays.

You know if more Republicans switched to that religion they would have no trouble attracting hormone addled teens to services. Or voters to political rallies. Well among the men and appropriately disposed women anyway.

And if you dig deep, Santeria is sort of a paganism based very loosely on Catholicism. Which is a sort of Christianity loosely based on paganism rather than being a Christianity true to its Jewish roots. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Well I knew some Christians once who celebrated all the major Jewish holidays and especially Passover. Those people had the right idea. Time to get back to the old time religion. These days? I’m mostly Jewish with a little Aleister Crowley thrown in for spice. It suits me. Any way the Hebrew comes in real handy when studying Crowley. Who might be considered something of a Kabbalist. The give away is the copious Hebrew in his book 777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley: Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth.Not for beginners. But very interesting. It is kind of a pagan Connections. Without all the explanatory text.

And my politics? I'm a libertarian Republican. Unless the Republicans piss me off. In such circumstances I might go so far as to vote for a Communist like Obama. In fact in 2004 I did vote for Obama.

Amazon has a few pages of books on Santeria.Should you need some more bedtime reading.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Magick

I. "DEFINITION."

MAGICK

is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in
conformity with Will.

(Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take "magical weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write "incantations" --- these sentences --- in the "magical language" i.e. that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth "spirits", such as printers, publishers, booksellers, and so forth, and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of

MAGICK

by which I cause changes to take place in conformity with my Will<>)

II. "POSTULATE."

ANY required Change may be effected by the application of the proper kind and degree of force in the proper manner through the proper medium to the proper object.

(Illustration: I wish to prepare an ounce of Chloride of Gold. I must take the right kind of acid, nitrohydrochloric and no other, in sufficient quantity and of adequate strength, and place it, in a vessel which will not break, leak, or corrode, in such a manner as will not produce undesirable results, with the necessary quantity of Gold: and so forth. Every Change has its own conditions. In the present state of our knowledge and power some changes are not possible in practice; we cannot cause eclipses, for instance, or transform lead into tin, or create men from mushrooms. But it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature; and the conditions are covered by the above postulate.)

III. "THEOREMS."
(1) Every intentional act is a Magical Act.

(Illustration: See "Definition" above.)

(2) Every successful act has conformed to the postulate.
(3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate have not been fulfilled.

(Illustrations: There may be failure to understand the case; as when a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis, and his treatment injures his patient. There may be failure to apply the right kind of force, as when a rustic tries to blow out an electric light. There may be failure to apply the right degree of force, as when a wrestler has his hold broken. There may be failure to apply the force in the right manner, as when one presents a cheque at the wrong window of the Bank. There may be failure to employ the correct medium, as when Leonardo da Vinci found his masterpiece fade away. The force may be applied to an unsuitable object, as when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.)

(4) The first requisite for causing any change is through qualitative and quantitative understanding of the conditions.

(Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one's own True Will, or of the means by which to fulfil that Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste his life trying to become one; or he may be really a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure the difficulties peculiar to that career.)

(5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability to set in right motion the necessary forces.

(Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet lack the quality of decision, or the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.)

(6) "Every man and every woman is a star." That is to say, every human being is intrinsically an independent individual with his own proper character and proper motion.

You can read the rest at Magick In Theory And Practice [pdf]

The above inspired by Eric's Why all arguments against magic fail

Cross Posted at Classical Values