Raiders of the Lost Spark - Spiritual Blogging » Historical http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:57:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 The Hermetic Philosophy http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/2009/11/the-hermetic-philosophy/ http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/2009/11/the-hermetic-philosophy/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:00:19 +0000 admin http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/?p=293 Over the past week, I’ve been working on my final exam for my Sound Healing course. During my undergrad, I was always fascinated with ancient mythology – Egyptian, Greek, Roman.

According to the Greeks, the master of occult wisdom and scribe of the gods was Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice Great Hermes), and the sacred writings of the Mystery Schools were attributed to him. The relationship between occult wisdom and sound is intricately connected as the knowledge of sound was a highly refined science. This was based upon the understanding of vibration as the primary causative form of the universe.

The entire Hermetic Philosophy was based upon 7 principles, as outlined in The Kyballion: a Study of Hermetic Philosophy:

  1. Mentalism: All is mind
  2. Correspondence: As above, so below
  3. Vibration: All is in vibration
  4. Polarity: Everything is dual
  5. Rhythm: Everything flows
  6. Cause and Effect: Everything happens according to law
  7. Gender: Everything has its masculine and feminine principles
]]> http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/2009/11/the-hermetic-philosophy/feed/ 0 The Augers of Ancient Rome http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/2009/05/the-augers-of-ancient-rome/ http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/2009/05/the-augers-of-ancient-rome/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 14:31:16 +0000 admin http://www.raidersofthelostspark.org/?p=127 This week, while surfing the couch and working through my post root canal pain, I finally discovered Rome, the HBO series. I am rather shocked at myself that it took me so long to finally watch – being both a Classical Studies major and a fan of HBO, one would think I would have rented season 1 sooner.

One of the things that fascinates me about all ancient cultures is their belief in superstition and magic. However, I should point out that our modern culture is certainly full of it as well, although I suspect that we shroud it slightly behind centuries of religious tradition. Before monotheistic faith became prevalent, the world was full of esoteric secrets, beliefs and practices – both fascinating and profane.

In ancient Rome, the augur was a member of the Roman “priestly” class, tasked with interpreting divine purpose or plan from the songs and flight patterns of birds[*] – known as the taking of the auspices. Looking at this practice from the year 2009, it seems… ridiculous. But I ask myself: is it any more “ridiculous” than anything else? The fact is, in the year 2009, we still have a massive proliferation of beliefs, practices, ideas, and visions that sustain themselves from well over 2000 years ago – and a great deal of the world finds something in them worth believing. At a very base level, I would think that making decisions based on the flight pattern of birds would be similar to making decisions based on the use of dowsing rods…

Once again, I find myself circled back to my new favourite quote (and yes, I am quoting myself): “I believe in the possibility of everything, and the probability of nothing.”

[*] – Also by examining the entrails of birds or other animals for omens

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