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3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

openculture.com

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Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#41

Post by copperx »

floren wrote: post #6
IntronExon wrote: post #4

I was totally unaware that this Ritmam library existed. I can’t pretend to be into the occult, but I like the idea of studying people who are/we’re, and this seems like a terrific resource. Only downside... You want Great Old Ones? Because this is how you get Great Old Ones.

I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a c…

Occultist texts fall into a unique fiction genre, which, not unlike magical realism, has the constraint of having to reconcile with the mundane laws of reality. That makes it so fascinating.

Depending on your faith, you could perhaps place religious texts into the same genre. The permanence power of this kind of storytelling throughout time and cultures cannot be overstated. I think humans crave it. That also explains why I felt so giddy when I read the announcement, even as someone who hasn't read much outside of tech stuff lately.

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#42

Post by vivekd »

> “pre-1900 texts on alchemy, astrology, magic, and theosophy,

I don't understand, what's really the use of any of this stuff except for their insight into history and as precursors to science. There's no way any of this stuff has any meaningful application today.

I also don't understand how anyone can find this stuff interesting, they're often boring, hard to read, and filled with obviously erroneous information

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#43

Post by andrepd »

krapp wrote: post #39
52-6F-62 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're interested in the study of religion at all (at least as a human affectation), it can get pretty interesting to get into the Hermetic and Gnostic texts. Some of the traditions and proposed knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years. It's really quite something. It combined with other mystic traditions ultimately informed the theosophical movement of the 19th and…

>His sex magick informs a lot of the modern incel, red-pill, and proud boy ideas that you must refrain from "spilling your seed"—that your reproductive emissions contain some of your essential energy. The result being that you have to abstain or otherwise be reduced to a plodding pile of unenlightened goo (to give the idea some imagery). As someone who appreciates occult and pagan symbolism for the aesthetic and narr…

Tolkien agrees with you:

"No one ever calls on me to "broadcast" or do a postscript. Yet I suppose I know better than most what is the truth about this "Nordic" nonsense. Anyway, I have in this war a burning private grudge... against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler ... Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light. Nowhere, incidentally, was it nobler than in England, nor more early sanctified and Christianized."

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#44

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #9
floren wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a c…

If you're interested in the study of religion at all (at least as a human affectation), it can get pretty interesting to get into the Hermetic and Gnostic texts. Some of the traditions and proposed knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years. It's really quite something. It combined with other mystic traditions ultimately informed the theosophical movement of the 19th and…

What do you mean "knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years"?

Are you just saying that Magicians believe events occurred differently than popularly understood?

Or are you saying that secret knowledge comes from a parallel version of reality, where the timeline is different, but somehow makes its way into our universe and is effective.

To illustrate what I am asking, Did Kennedy die in our timeline from a magic bullet? Or can I put magic on a bullet in this timeline using knowledge from a different timeline where Kennedy is still alive?

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#45

Post by krylon »

indigochill wrote: post #35
floren wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a c…

There's a parser text game called Hadean Lands in which you're on board a "spaceship" fueled by alchemy. You start the game by learning some basic rituals, then progressively you have more and more components missing for what you have to do next and have to hack together something based on concepts you learn progressively like planetary or elemental associations. As weird as it is, everything makes perfect sense as y…

That sounds absolutely fascinating! By your description I had thought it must be an old game from the early 1980s, but it is pretty recent.

Thanks!

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#46

Post by TillE »

vivekd wrote: post #42

> “pre-1900 texts on alchemy, astrology, magic, and theosophy, I don't understand, what's really the use of any of this stuff except for their insight into history and as precursors to science. There's no way any of this stuff has any meaningful application today. I also don't understand how anyone can find this stuff interesting, they're often boring, hard to read, and filled with obviously erroneous information

It's all part of understanding the culture of the time. Manuscripts generally are quite hard to read: the language, the script, etc.

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#47

Post by crankylinuxuser »

floren wrote: post #6
IntronExon wrote: post #4

I was totally unaware that this Ritmam library existed. I can’t pretend to be into the occult, but I like the idea of studying people who are/we’re, and this seems like a terrific resource. Only downside... You want Great Old Ones? Because this is how you get Great Old Ones.

I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a c…

So true. And with more and more devices we use have computers in them (as small as the ATtiny85), then we'll head somewhat back to it. 'Magic' incantations will fix whatever nearly permanent firmware bugs or hardware bugs exist. Because, yes, these computers are deterministic IFF you have the software, logic, and its variables. And hope the sensors aren't malfunctioning.

My wife had a car that a temp sensor somewhere thought the car was always much colder outside. And it then set the cold/heat as a differential of what it measured. There was no way to say "Hot air, blower medium speed". It was a song and dance to get the "right" set of temps and blower speed.

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#48

Post by cmrdporcupine »

andrepd wrote: post #43
krapp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>His sex magick informs a lot of the modern incel, red-pill, and proud boy ideas that you must refrain from "spilling your seed"—that your reproductive emissions contain some of your essential energy. The result being that you have to abstain or otherwise be reduced to a plodding pile of unenlightened goo (to give the idea some imagery). As someone who appreciates occult and pagan symbolism for the aesthetic and narr…

Tolkien agrees with you: "No one ever calls on me to "broadcast" or do a postscript. Yet I suppose I know better than most what is the truth about this "Nordic" nonsense. Anyway, I have in this war a burning private grudge... against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler ... Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ev…

Nice quote, but "nor more early sanctified and Christianized" is technically incorrect. The Goths and Franks and Lombards etc. were Christianized before Angles and Saxons.

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#49

Post by poisonarena »

vivekd wrote: post #42

> “pre-1900 texts on alchemy, astrology, magic, and theosophy, I don't understand, what's really the use of any of this stuff except for their insight into history and as precursors to science. There's no way any of this stuff has any meaningful application today. I also don't understand how anyone can find this stuff interesting, they're often boring, hard to read, and filled with obviously erroneous information

this is the first time I have ever seen someone hate on medieval manuscripts

Re: 3,500 Occult Manuscripts Will Be Digitized and Made Freely Available Online

#50

Post by o_____________o »

floren wrote: post #6
IntronExon wrote: post #4

I was totally unaware that this Ritmam library existed. I can’t pretend to be into the occult, but I like the idea of studying people who are/we’re, and this seems like a terrific resource. Only downside... You want Great Old Ones? Because this is how you get Great Old Ones.

I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a c…

If you would like to read a brilliant but rambling and unsubstantiated account of comparative proto-religions, shamanistic psychology and the creation of metaphor, check out a classic called The Golden Bough. You'll walk away with a deeper understanding toward the rational origins of irrational rituals.
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