The Pokey Finger of God

Turcan starts by providing an exquisite view of the private religious expressions of the Roman patricians. The gods of the house, the gods of the family, and the patron deities of individuals, all became part of a complex of divinity – a web which each Roman had to carefully traverse daily. Any mistake resulted in obligatory compensation to the gods in order to salvage the future welfare of the house.

The strength of the ancestors was keenly felt by the Ancient Romans. There was not a clear distinction between gods and the honored dead, and both were frequently called upon and celebrated. The spirit of the family, which had kept it continuing as a potent force, was honored as a distinct figure. The spirits of the house were also recognized and respected. In short, everything in every part of the Roman’s life was connected to divinity, and the Romans actively sought out knowledge for how to satisfy every god.

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I have been dwelling further on Venus, the planet specifically, in its passage from Morning Star to Evening Star. I sense a deep pattern here, and placing myself within it may be the best way to quickly understand it.
On Sunday, June 8th, Venus-Solar conjunction will occur. There are three significant points to make about this [...]

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My recent flirting with a regular weight-training regimen has begun to produce noticeable results, almost despite my inability to keep to a schedule. My body feels better and my yoga is better when I keep the discipline of practice.
It reminds me of the benefits I would get with regular meditation practice. Again, discipline with regular [...]

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I haven’t given myself the time to really study anything in a while. Riding on airplanes provides a lot of time to read, and it’s really sparked a further round of heretical research better than anything I’ve really done in a while. I had to go back to my original notes, but now I’m hip [...]

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The nature of death is tied to the structure of life: two concepts with which modern science continues to struggle. While we know ourselves to be alive and know that those who are dead are lost to us, we also know our knowledge is incomplete, if not suspect.
I have had the opportunity on a number [...]

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In the process of studying Biblical history, I’ve also studied a little bit of Greek, Hebrew, theology, philosophy, anthropology (physical and cultural), archeology, literary analysis, linguistics, economics, politics, military theory, and even (yes) basket weaving. The Bible, itself, is pretty sparse, so all these other techniques are used to illuminate this ancient and hoary document.
My [...]

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i. Magic is the art of transforming imagination into reality. [Hail Hekate!]
ii. The axis of manifestation begins with imagination and it ends with reality. Simple rules dictate how objects, relationships, and events are manipulated across this axis into reality from the imagination. Most of these rules are institutionalized, in one form or another, into the [...]

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Few characters in the Bible loom as large or stand as central throughout the Bible as Moses. If it wasn’t for Moses stories, I don’t know that there would be Jews or Christians or Muslems. The Hebrew Moses is similar in many respects to another hero in the Greek tradition: Heracles. Stories wild and amazing [...]

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A long time ago, before folks had popes or corporate arbiters of faith to consult on matters of the spirit, they were a little more cavalier about seeking personal gnosis. We do ourselves few favors today to assume that the patriarchs and heroes of the Bible would have suffered the same circumscription of their spiritual [...]

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Human mental and sensory facilities are rarely developed to their natural limits of complexity and depth. People today normally use only a small percentage of their total mental capacity: often only in a simple, blunt way; all but isolated from their own perceptions. While we may flatter ourselves that we are the apex of human [...]

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