Lectures
Please note: These lectures DO NOT include a ritual component. Please see the Stand Alone Workshops page for lectures with a possible ritual component.
Apocalypse Nowish – The End is Nigh?
December 21, 2012 in the Maya’s Long Count calendar, signifies the end of a 5,126-year era and the beginning of a new one. Belief in just what this means ranges from doomsday to profound spiritual transformation. Given that extinction-level catastrophes have periodically occurred in the past and that a number of religions as well as prophets of doom predict the apocalypse, how likely is it that the end times are almost upon us? As always, rational analysis and learning lessons from the past are the keys to making sense of it all.
Curses and Hauntings in Pop Culture
What are curses? Can curses affect families and places? What are hauntings? What circumstances lead to a place being haunted? Sometimes the best way to understand the bizarre aspects of pop culture is through ancient wisdom, as belief in curses and hauntings is as old as time itself. In the ancient world, magicians could curse and bind when required, and were also skilled in laying restless ghosts as well as enlisting their aid in spell craft. This is an interactive discussion-based workshop separating myth from reality.
Cyberpaganism
For many in the mainstream community, cyberspace is an extension of existing social structures. However, given the diversity of groups under the pagan umbrella and the frequent geographical isolation of their members, for many, their only available interaction is as part of a virtual community.
Such a community is very real, typically having begun with casual meetings over long periods, resulting in personal relationships in cyberspace. Members engage in exchanges, discussions confrontations and direct influence on each other. Viewpoints can be modified as a result of such exchanges in cyberspace, which in turn can lead to modifying attitudes in society beyond cyberspace.
Cyberpaganism has contributed to the globalization of information that provides the community with its cohesiveness but has simultaneously led to association between pagans becoming increasingly abstract.
Greek Nature Deities and Gaia Consciousness
While the primary deities of the ancient Greeks were the twelve Olympians, there were numerous lesser deities, daimons and heroes also enjoying patronage. The polytheistic and animistic world of the ancient Greeks pulsed with life. The world ocean was Okeanos, the earth was the goddess Gaia, the four winds were gods, as were the rivers, and springs were divine nymphs.
The contemporary paradigm of a creator god far removed from the world makes it easy to exploit the environment. A return to a sense of being connected with nature inherent within ancient Greek religion could be the first step in repairing the damage caused by myopic greed.
Today, Gaia Consciousness is manifesting as the environmental movement, earth-based spirituality, and a trend towards seeking unity within diversity. The Gaia hypothesis proposes that all living and nonliving parts of the earth are a complex interacting system constituting a single organism. While many spiritual folk seek to transcend the earthly plane, the reality is that the Earth is humanity’s only home and it has never been more important to address the sustainability issue on both a microcosmic (personal) and macrocosmic (global) level.
Hermeticism
Hermeticism originates from a body of philosophical and religious writings popularly attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (or Thrice Great Hermes), a deity resulting from the fusion of the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth. Hermeticism, which emerged at the same time as early Christianity, profoundly influenced Greek thought. When it was rediscovered in fifteenth century, it was a driving force behind the Renaissance, inspiring many of the greatest minds in the West. Hermeticism is the basis of medieval European magick and alchemy, and much modern ceremonial magick. This workshop will overview Hermeticism, including the deities upon which it focuses.
Pagan Community: Learning From The Ancient Greeks
There is little consensus amongst sociologists as to exactly how a “community” should be defined. Before the modern age, a reasonable proposition would have been an interacting group of individuals linked by one or more common characteristics including location, social, economic, political, religious and historic factors. In the modern age, however, cheap long distance travel and the internet have minimized geographic limitations. The strength of a community comes from cohesion between the individuals.
Pagans are a diverse group encompassing the (primarily) polytheistic faiths laying outside the mainstream religions. The diversity of pagans effectively makes them a microcosm of society, which is becoming increasingly multicultural. The “unity through diversity” catchcry is appropriate. Rather than homogenizing, which would discriminate against the less popular faiths, paganism’s diversity is a developmental factor affording individuals learning opportunities. It is obviously important to ensure that such opportunities should be undertaken in a spirit of mutual respect.
As a starting point, much can be learned from the ancient Greeks, who had no primary text outlining religious practices or centrally organized church or priesthood. There were regional differences in practices and foreign gods were admitted. Regardless, religion was the glue which held the fabric of their society together.
Set: Evil or Misunderstood?
Set was the supreme deity of neolithic tribesmen in predynastic Egypt. In the Pyramid texts, Set was a helper of the dead. In the Book of Coming Forth by Day, Set defended the Solar Barque on its journey through the underworld. Eventually, Set became the personification of evil, as clearly seen in the Osiris myths. When the Greeks invaded Egypt in Classical times, Set became identified with Typhon, a monster with a hundred dragons' heads. In later times, Set became one of the prototypes for the Christian Satan. This lecture will give an insight into the real nature of Set.
The Greek Vowels in Hellenistic Magic
Hellenistic Magic is characterized by the extensive use of voces mysticae – mystical/magical names and the seven Greek vowels which often occur in long strings of various combinations. The vowels were sometimes sung and had numerous associations, including the seven Chaldean planets and musical tones. The voces mysticae were used by some theurgists to achieve Sustasis (contact) with a deity or daimon – a necessary preliminary step in the liberation of the soul from the bonds of fate.
