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Persephone29
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14 Mar 2020, 7:37 am

Why the need to ask? Just curious...

Very few Christians I know would openly say, "yes, be a Wiccan."

This may shock you, but as a young woman I was very interested in Witchcraft, anything Occult in nature really. I was raised by a Christian family on both sides and imo, things God related took too long for my taste. Not sure why I thought being a witch would hasten anything, perhaps it was the illusion that if nothing happened at least I was in control of the nothing that happened.
For years I dabbled with different aspects: outright witchcraft, tarot, I-ching, dowsing, crystals and I forget what else. Guess what happened? Nothing... and nothing good. As I hopelessly sunk into drug addiction.
During a particularly troubling period I experienced what I consider to be a miracle. It was long after I'd given up the occult studies. Since then, it's been Christianity for me. God often takes a long time to accomplish an aim in a person, but when it happens it makes what came before illustrious.

I never asked permission. I just did it. It was a pointless endeavor, but apparently one I felt I needed to undertake. I don't think I could've moved on had I not. It served a purpose, just not the one I had intended. Nothing is ever wasted...


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vaguelyhumanoid
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25 Mar 2020, 4:20 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
I still say look at Hermeticism or at least familiarize yourself with what it is and how it works to understand that it's part of the arc of beliefs between the two idea pools you mentioned.


This is good advice. Western ceremonial magic (Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, Thelema etc) is kind of like the missing link between these two seemingly opposite belief systems. And it also overlaps with Eastern/Dharmic teachings a great deal.



CockneyRebel
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03 Apr 2020, 8:17 pm

I choose Christianity any day.


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funeralxempire
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03 Apr 2020, 10:07 pm

Neither.
If you're offered two s**t sandwiches, doesn't matter which one looks nicer - just skip the meal.


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04 Apr 2020, 6:34 am

For God so loved the world that He gave His Son,
that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but recieve eternal life.


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AnneOleson
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04 Apr 2020, 9:32 pm

Mountain Goat wrote:
For God so loved the world that He gave His Son,
that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but recieve eternal life.

:thumright:



Tw1ggy
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09 Apr 2020, 11:06 pm

Fnord wrote:
"Better"? In what way?

If you're a Christian, then Wiccans are evil, devil-worshipping sinners whose souls are going straight to Hell when they die.

If you're a Wiccan, then Christians are stuck-up, self-righteous hypocrites whose souls are doomed to repeat their mistakes in their next lives.

Both are hypocritical belief systems.

At least Wiccans don't have a long forgotten history of putting innocent people to death for not having the same beliefs. Btw to the OP you can be what's called a Christo-pagan.Basically a practicing witch who works with Christ as a deity. It is a real thing.



Callafiriel
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10 Apr 2020, 3:18 am

scotty667 wrote:
i am interested in Wicca but I am also in to Jesus Christ im am trying to understand which region is better I know some people are both


If I understand your question correctly, you are asking what religion you should be.

If you are asking the question you asked, it means that you are priviliged: You are able to choose what religion you want to follow. No one forces or manipulates you into one.

So keep and honour that privilege, do not give it up! Do allow others to manipulate you into one or the other (or any believe or non-believe system for that matter). Find out for yourself. Educate yourself. Study them thoroughly. Think. And find out for yourself what makes sense, what you can believe in. (Because believing is not a voluntary and conscious act. You cannot force yourself to believe something that makes no sense to you.)



VAL.M.MILES
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14 Apr 2020, 4:19 pm

If you ask me its best to just trust your gut. What sounds right to you? I kind of follow a religious amalgamation of my own design. A lot of Wicca, Paganism and also some Omnism.



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17 Apr 2020, 8:24 am

Quote:
Pico Della Mirandola exposing Christiandom to Kabbalah, which was Christianized in Europe and used both by the alchemists and ceremonial magicians of the time.


Kabbalah was (I believe) formulated with Neo-Platonic documents preserved and transcribed by Catholic Priest and later iterations of Shekhina started to closely resemble Catholic conceptions of Mary (particularly with the idea of merging with God becoming a part of Kabbalah). Some of it was "Christianized" from the beginning.

(Others can correct me on this if I turn out wrong.)


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techstepgenr8tion
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17 Apr 2020, 9:07 am

Whale_Tuune wrote:
Kabbalah was (I believe) formulated with Neo-Platonic documents preserved and transcribed by Catholic Priest and later iterations of Shekhina started to closely resemble Catholic conceptions of Mary (particularly with the idea of merging with God becoming a part of Kabbalah). Some of it was "Christianized" from the beginning.

(Others can correct me on this if I turn out wrong.)

It seems to have at least foundational existence as far back as the Sefer Yetzirah (potentially 2nd century AD with some debate as late as 9th) although I'd completely agree that it's something like Judaism meeting Pythagoras's theory of number.

The story I've read in most places is that it really sprang into being of it's own with Sefer ha-zohar which was written by Moshe de Leon in 13th century Spain. It's true in that sense it sprung up earlier than the Di Medici's run on the translation of Platonist and Hermetic documents from Lebanese monasteries, by the time the later was happening kabbalah was being fused with the Hermetic philosophy that was being found in that way (which is why you have such a strong triangulation in western esotericism between astrology, alchemy, and kabbalah).


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Whale_Tuune
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17 Apr 2020, 9:11 am

That's interesting. When would you say "Kabbalah" became "Kabbalah" then? (Also, is it just me or is some of what I've read about Kabbalah echoed in the writings of the BeShT and the beliefs of the Hasidic community?)


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techstepgenr8tion
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17 Apr 2020, 9:54 am

Whale_Tuune wrote:
That's interesting. When would you say "Kabbalah" became "Kabbalah" then? (Also, is it just me or is some of what I've read about Kabbalah echoed in the writings of the BeShT and the beliefs of the Hasidic community?)

For most people somewhere between Sefer ha-Zohar and Isaac Luria.

As far as Jewish Platonism that seems to go back as far as Alexandria, Egypt under the Ptolemies. Philo Judeaus was considered to have influenced the author of the Johnian gospels hence you have a lot of Platonist/Neoplatonist concepts present in those books of the Christian new testament.


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17 Apr 2020, 10:55 am

Ahhh I know of Philo (Greek Jewish philosopher, right?)

I know Plato obviously precedes the NT but I was under the impression that the Neo-Platonic school of thought came with Plotinus in the 3rd century or so (contemporary to Origen).


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techstepgenr8tion
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17 Apr 2020, 11:10 am

Correct. What I'm getting at with that is a lot was happening in Alexandria Egypt with respect to the blending and rethinking of different systems between 200BC and 200AD, it was a hot spot for philosophy. I don't have a complete understanding for when every individual step landed on the gradation between Platonism and Neoplatonism in the proper sense (eg. Plotinus) but you had Platonism, Hermeticism, Judaism, etc. along with all kinds of mathematics and geometry, etc. in Egypt at that time. The Christian NT was under construction between 1st and 3rd century AD.


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