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To: alt.pagan,alt.magick From: tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney) Subject: Wicca and Freemasonry (9406.wiccmsn.tm) Date: 49940622 Quoting: | ipfoot@ic.ac.uk (Ian Paul Foot) and |>tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney) |> It is time for paganism to realize that its origin myth is only a myth, |> and to engage its real, documented history in the last century. I have |> to say that even among pagans who don't use the word "witch" I |> generally see very little understanding of the connections between |> paganism, Freemasonry, and ceremonial magic. |I believe that it helps greatly to have at least a |basic grasp of the history and origins of your tradition and practices. |This is partly why I get so annoyed when people present their wishful |fantasies as true history (a very easy mistake to slip into - I've been |brought back down to earth a few times and had to revise my beliefs and |opinions). One of the most unfortunate things is that even the minority of pagans who do realize the historical connection seem to think it is basically of little to no significance. The model they apply is that Gardner hunted far and wide for sources to raid and that Freemasonry, the Golden Dawn, and Thelema, were just traditions he borrowed a little bit from, and that all a pagan needs to know is that there are some quotes sprinkled here and there. As a longtime student of all these traditions, I think this is completely off base. Wicca and paganism are entirely in the mainstream of the initiatory syncretism that formed in 19th century Freemasonry and which gave rise to the Golden Dawn and Thelema. Anti-CM prejudice is so firmly established in Wicca and paganism, though, that it never seems to occur to most practitioners that they might be able to enrich their practice and understanding by studying these root traditions, or that these traditions might all have a tremendous amount in common. The main thing they know about ceremonial magic of any stripe is that "it ain't us"! But it is. It's a lot harder to find clearcut differences than it is to find important points of contact. Most of the perceptions of difference on both sides are based on ignorance. For instance, Wiccans have a completely false and insulting view of the meaning of the magical circle in ceremonial magic, while I have heard O.T.O. types say that obviously Gardnerians (whose initiations are very Masonic) would have no interest in Freemasonry! The more you look at either tradition, the less difference there seems to be.... -- Tim Maroney, Communications and User Interface Engineer {apple!sun}!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." -- John Stuart Mill, UTILITARIANISM (1863)
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