> "Chade" newsguy.com> wrote in message
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> news:5d4ec188-4b76-4d7e-ae73-9304bbe3440d@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
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>

>> IB puts catholic mass in a similar mould, the wine becoming blood and
>> so forth. IB cautions that catholic mass isn't generally as 'powerful'
>> as it once was. Both as a result of modernisation and a reduction in
>> the ceremony, cut backs in incense costumes etc., and translation
>> which muddy the rhythms and so on of the Latin.

>
> The Roman Catholic Church was in a decline around the time Isaac wrote this.
> Membership and morale was down.  There was a powerful traditionalist
> movement shortly thereafter with the election of JP2 and which is being
> carried on by the current pope.  The hope was to get back some of the old
> supernatural excitement.  The incense and costumes are back, baby!
>
> That whole traditional pederasty thing has become a bit of a problem,
> though.
>

>> After a break, and some boozing, the magic begins.

>
> The intellectual types often need a little lubricating to lower their
> inhibitions.
>

>> "Almost every magical-religious ritual known performs the following
>> acts: Emotion is aroused, increased built to a peak. A target imagined
>> and a goal made clear. The emotional energy is focused, aimed, and
>> fired at this goal. Then there is a follow through; this encourages
>> any lingering energy to flow away and provides a safe letdown."

>
> What Isaac is saying here is that this is how *he* sees almost every
> magical-religious ritual unfolding.  Most ot the actual adherents to rituals
> in other religions don't describe it this way at all.  The worship of God is
> not a gun you use to shoot geese.  That's Isaac's paranormal thing again.
>
> Everybody thinks the thing they believe is what really happens.  Isaac is
> demonstrably no exception to this rule.
>

>> The four adorations, are they magick?

>
> They can be, but they often are just for show.
>

>> What about celebrating Sahmin?

>
> It doesn't matter what you celebrate.  The celebration itself is the point.
>

>> Do you consider the emotional release given by type of rituals
>> described by IB as cathartic?

>
> Not only cathartic but socially bonding.  Although the effects are limited
> on those who are only marginally able to focus on the experience being
> narrated by the ritual.
>

>> Do you consider the terms ritual and spell interchangeable?

>
> Their meanings sometimes overlap but they're not exactly synonyms.