Kori Houghton
Restricted
Very interesting stuff there! Its an odd coincidence that this morning I was thinking much the same thing, after reading warlockasylum's blog about the Simon Necronomicon. He goes on and on about the "Tree of Death" and the "Qlipphoth", and how they represent the powers of chaos and change, etc. And that to go LHP you simply see those vessels of darkness become light, and the lights become dark, blah blah.
I found warlockasylum's blog, and read some of it.
I sat in front of my keyboard for a few moments, trying to think of a polite way to express my reaction to what I read. But I can't. So, pass.
However, one subtle thing seemed to have passed him by, and seem to pass alot of supposed "dark practitioners",...by using a system which is still based on the Judeo-Christian model of orthodoxy (like the Qabala), you are no less enslaved to it than you were had you been just a regular "RHP" mage. I mean hey, the Tree of Death and the Tree of Life are pretty much identical, just the names are changed and the images/totems, etc are all spooky-lookin.
I'm not sure enslaved is the word I would use. It seems to me that practitioners freely choose to work with what I call "Mediterranean Monotheisms". With or without polytheistic add-ons or dark-n-spooky overlays. And I wouldn't characterize magickians who choose paths called "RHP" by folks who consider themselves "LHP" as being any more (or less) enslaved or having any more or less freedom.
Its almost as if its the same product, just re-labelled to advertise for a different audience. So, yeah, the ONA has definitely got this one pegged.
I've asked Thelemites over the years how and why they feel the need to continue the connection with religions specifically cursed in Liber AL, and it seems that "Crowley used them" and "it's traditional" are the explanations.
The ONA blog entries are about why Crowley has nothing to offer them. Over the years a few very intelligent, well-read, Satanist types have suggested to me that the ONA manuscripts (virtual now) are Crowley-inspired or Crowley-derived. I never found a bit of Crowley in anything from the ONA. I have a comprehensive personal library of AC's works, and the only place Uncle Al ever comes close to grabbing me in the place where the ONA hits me hardest is in some of his fiction.
However, I would note (playing devil's advocate here), that any genuine Magus would be able to work with either system equally, or reject them equally, as he/she decides. If a Magus really is beyond duality, then he/she could choose to see the light as dark, and the dark as light, to choose to be LHP or RHP or both/neither whenever he/she wished.
Well, yeah. That would be the way a genuine Magus views the universe. And they wouldn't have a clue about where the ONA is coming from. As much as I think I understand the ONA as an outsider, that is.
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