Pular para o conteúdo principal

Both Sides of Heaven



BOOKREVIEW

Sorita d’Este (ed.): Both Sides of Heaven (Avalonia Books 2009)
The hierarchies of celestial denizens, they be fallen or close to the throne of God pulls and mesmerize people more and more as times strides on. It appears that the interest for ‘fallen angels’ in particular is growing rapidly and results in a vast field of opinions and sentiments of both the theological implications of the fall as well as personal encounters with these emissaries of secrecy and light. In the collection ‘Both Sides of Heaven’ 18 essays are presented, most of them have in common presentations of highly personal insights into this common field of experience. Unfortunately the more personal essays are also the more weak ones as they focus on revealing a world of sentiments and not real insights. The planes seems to have been confounded so to speak. This has resulted in a cluster of texts highly varied and of uneven quality. Some essays stand out greatly, such as Kim Huggens ‘Between Gods and Men’ and Emily Cardings’s ‘The Salvation of the Sidhe’. Overall the collection is rich in perspectives, albeit somewhat lacking in depth. This lack is most likely caused by the focus on anchoring most of the essays in personal experience which lead to a dismissal of unleashing the spirit as guide for the experience.  
The collection presents a wide array of opinions that all contribute to formulate a contemporary concept of fallen angels and Lucifer’s role within this mystery. This is interesting in itself as the book takes the pulse of the time and measure the common consensus on this particular mystery.  
This aside, it must also be added that personal experience is perhaps not very interesting in itself, unless being mediated by something more transcendent than the mundane field of spiritual experience. I do miss in all articles of a personal nature a solid anchoring in traditional doctrine, but this again is a personal preference perhaps…
In addition to the mentioned essays, there are several good articles about John Dee that are well worth reading, so even being an uneven collection; it does come with its rewards.

Postagens mais visitadas deste blog

The ‘firmeza’ of Quimbanda

Quimbanda is a cult centred on the direct and head on interaction with spirit, hence developing mediumistic skills and capability in spirit trafficking is integral and vital to working Quimbanda. Possession is a phenomenon that intrigues and also scares. After all we have all seen movies like The Exorcist and other horror thrillers giving visual spectacles to how hostile spirits can take over the human body, mind and soul in intrusive and fatal ways. But possessions do find a counterpart in the shamanic rapture as much as in the prophet whose soul is filled with angelic light that makes him or her prophetic. Possession is not only about the full given over of your material vessel to a spirit that in turn uses the faculties of the medium to engage various forms of work. Inspiration, dream and to be ‘under the influence’ are potentially valid and worthy avenues for connecting with spirit. Yet another avenue for good spirit trafficking is the communion, or what Jake Stratton-Kent ca

A Quimbanda FAQ

In this article I will try to answer some questions concerning Quimbanda that surfaces with frequency. Questions concerning how to work this cult solitary and somehow dislocated from the cultural climate of understanding here in Brazil are frequently asked as are questions concerning the magical tools, such as guias, patuás and statues, available to the general public. I want to be initiated in Quimbanda, how do I proceed with that? When we speak of initiation in the perspective of Quimbanda we are speaking of a true and intense merging with spirit that involves a pact/agreement, a spirit vessel (assentamento), ordeal and oath. There are elements used in this process that are common to every house/terreiro/cabula/lineage of Quimbanda that reveals a common origin. There are different varieties of Quimbanda in Brazil, and the expression of the common root, will always depend of the constellation of spirits we find in the tronco. In other words, a ‘Casa de Exu’ that is dominated

Luxuria: The Seven Sins - part II of VII

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." - James 1: 14 - 15 -      Luxuria , or better known as lust is by John Cassian understood to be the very womb of sin and death in accordance with James 1. Whereas pride/hubris is the seed of sin, lust is the womb of the sinful seed. Today the word ‘lust’ carry an overtly sexual and hedonist flavor and in truth one of the predecessors of ‘luxuria’ is found in the activity related to porneia or prostitution, but more than this, luxuria is a thymus , an appetite. Perhaps the most proper idea that still carries on the inherent idea of ‘luxuria’ is actually luxury – in other words, an excess. In Antiquity as in galenic medicine all disease was caused by excess of something, in the cause of ‘luxuria’, we are speaking of an excess of pleasing oneself. This self pleasing is of a nature tha