Today in History 12.05.05

Witchcraft condemned by Pope Innocent VIII

1484: Innocent VIII condemned witchcraft this day in 1484 via papal bull, and subsequently he dispatched inquisitors to Germany to try witches and persecuted a chief exponent of Renaissance Platonism, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, count di Concordia
born Feb. 24, 1463, Mirandola, duchy of Ferrara [Italy]
died Nov. 17, 1494, Florence

Italian scholar and Platonist philosopher whose De hominis dignitate oratio (“Oration on the Dignity of Man”), a characteristic Renaissance work composed in 1486, reflected his syncretistic method of taking the best elements from other philosophies and combining them in his own work.

His father, Giovanni Francesco Pico, prince of the small territory of Mirandola, provided for his precocious child's thorough humanistic education at home. Pico then studied canon law at Bologna and Aristotelian philosophy at Padua and visited Paris and Florence, where he learned Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. At Florence he met Marsilio Ficino, a leading Renaissance Platonist philosopher.

Introduced to the Hebrew Kabbala, Pico became the first Christian scholar to use Kabbalistic doctrine in support of Christian theology. In 1486, planning to defend 900 theses he had drawn from diverse Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin writers, he invited scholars from all of Europe to Rome for a public disputation. For the occasion he composed his celebrated Oratio. A papal commission, however, denounced 13 of the theses as heretical, and the assembly was prohibited by Pope Innocent VIII. Despite his ensuing Apologia for the theses, Pico thought it prudent to flee to France but was arrested there. After a brief imprisonment he settled in Florence, where he became associated with the Platonic Academy, under the protection of the Florentine prince Lorenzo de' Medici. Except for short trips to Ferrara, Pico spent the rest of his life there. He was absolved from the charge of heresy by Pope Alexander VI in 1492. Toward the end of his life he came under the influence of the strictly orthodox Girolamo Savonarola, martyr and enemy of Lorenzo.

Pico's unfinished treatise against enemies of the church includes a discussion of the deficiencies of astrology. Though this critique was religious rather than scientific in its foundation, it influenced the astronomer Johannes Kepler, whose studies of planetary movements underlie modern astronomy. Pico's other works include an exposition of Genesis under the title Heptaplus (Greek hepta, “seven”), indicating his seven points of argument, and a synoptic treatment of Plato and Aristotle, of which the completed work De ente et uno (Of Being and Unity) is a portion. Pico's works were first collected in Commentationes Joannis Pici Mirandulae (1495–96).

Reference:
"Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, Conte Di Concordia." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 5 Dec. 2005 [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9059934].

"Stay the course . . ."

The real course that should be focused on then "stayed" with is the nearly 36 million Americans who are barely existing in abject poverty, who are starving to death, and who are homeless at this very moment; and this figure probably does not include those Americans who may become impoverished due to downsizing, health issues, or the cost of medical attention.

Mayor Ray Nagin, on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, correctly summed it all up about President Bush's priority being on Iraq and not the forgotten American city of New Orleans--a city, within a state, of major historical, political, economic (oil, gas, seafood), and diverse spiritual legacy. It seems to me that Bush is dragging (not leading) all of America down that same rat hole of a war former President Johnson got us into with Southeast Asia.

Bush's multi-billion dollar, idealistic crusade in the Middle East could have be well utilized in lowering the cost of health care and pharmaceuticals, fighting poverty, and lowing taxes--just to name a few domestic ills.

Perhaps Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld need to consult Henry Kissinger's Does America Need a Foreign Policy?: Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century (2001) and Ending the Vietnam War: A History of America's Involvement in and Extrication from the Vietnam War (2003).

Now let's turn our attention to the so-called "strengthening" economy that the Fed and Wall Street economists claim to be so wonderful. What this really means is that the richer have gotten a little richer, again--and the poor have just gotten a lot poorer at exponential rates. According to recent business news reports, new jobs have sprung up all over the United States--yeah, low-wage (all work-and no pay) service jobs that seem like they require extreme amounts of indentured servitude of the days of Colonial America. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to realize that Laissez-faire economics (synonymous with Free Market economics) isn't free (price wise) or fair at all and that it takes a lot of money to play in this arena. American capitalists become very afraid when one brings up the subjects of Marxism, Socialism, the supplanting of capitalism, and the evolution toward a classless society, hehehe. Why? The pure nature and existence of capitalism means that there always has to be a winner and a loser, an upper class and a lower class, or a bourgeois class and proletariat class. There is no true middle class in the USA--just think about it. The major business periodicals surely do not list the "best of" or the "richest of" people in the middle class.

▪ Rev. Kheti

For the Aspiring . . .

"Becoming a Witch"
by Morgaine
© Morgaine 2001

"I am often asked how one becomes a witch. Do you find someone who is a witch and they make you one? Or are you a witch just by saying you are? Can you make yourself a witch?

The process of becoming a witch doesn't happen overnight. It is a life change, a new path upon the journey of your life. It takes consideration, study and work. If you have previously followed a mainstream religion, you may have things that take time to let go, and new things that take time to absorb. I have heard many people say it is often hard, coming from a life of Christianity, to feel comfortable praying to the Goddess. All new things take time, but if you are serious upon this path, you will find your way. The Gods call their own home to them.

No matter how you have came about finding the Old Religion, here you are. So where do you go? To the book store. For a novice, books are like the air you breathe. You must have them, or access to them in some way. If you cannot afford, or do not feel safe having books on the Craft, the internet is the next best place.

In both books and on the internet you will find a wealth of knowledge that will help guide you upon your new path. Of course, as with anything else, there is good information and bad information. Avoid any kind of book, or internet site, that speaks of controlling another person in any way, harming them, doing love spells on a specific person, or tells you to chant in latin, even though you have no idea what you are saying (yes, I have seen sites like that). These books/sites will not fulfill your need for knowledge in the Craft and will only serve to confuse you.

Once you have read a variety of books and feel called to this path, the next step is to find a teacher. If you have access to a teacher, in my opinion this is the best course of action. A teacher or a coven can often be found if there is a new age book store in your community. Also, the Witches Voice is a site that offers networking in every state. It has grown extremely large over the past few years and is a valuable resource in the Craft community. All of my coven members have found me on the Witches Voice.

Having a mentor can offer so much to you when you are beginning. There will be things you come across that you have a hard time understanding and need clarification. If you have a teacher, they are just a phone call or email away. If you do not, you must try to decifer things on your own, and may not come to the correct end on them. If you do not have a teacher, again, the internet is the next best place to look.

If you are only looking for a 'how to' on casting spells, then the Craft is not for you. Witchcraft is a serious spiritual path, in which magick is performed, but is secondary to the religion itself. I would suggest you look to ceremonial magick for that.

A couple of things need to be said about beginning this path, in light of recent attitudes about the Craft. Here lately it seems that you have a people who, after reading a few books, feel as if they can call themselves a master of the Art. They throw on a title like Lady/Lord, or HP/s, add some black clothes, a pentacle the size of a hubcap, and they are ready to go. This is not what the Craft is about. If you have spent years following a particular path, have worked hard for the spiritual lessons that have been presented to you, and through this have attained the title and rank, then by all means use it. But think of how you would feel if, after all that, you have a newbie with 6 months and 5 books unde their belt walking about calling themselves Lady Starry Ski or Lord Thunderbutt. It is very offensive. Just like your parents told you when you were growing up (or maybe you still are) 'don't rush things, it will all come to you in the end, and be sweeter for the waiting'. This is true with the Craft. Using titles, putting on airs, and in general acting high and mighty are not going to make you any more spiritual. And that is what this path is about. What it will do is alienate you from people whom you may actually want to meet and get to know!

All of this being said the way to become a witch is through study and dedication. Gather all of the information you can. Find the best teacher possible. Read whatever you can get your hands on. Go outside in nature and commune with the Goddess and God. Listen to the trees and the wind and the rush of the water, for this is the witch's world. "

Musings of Sifu H.A. Diop 12.02.05

The Universal Replica

"If man is the universe in miniture, then all factors in man are duplicated on a greater scale in the universe. Man is vibrantly alive, and his mind and body contain energy, and correspondingly the universe as a whole, and each individual piece of it, is vibrant and contains energy. The learned know the hidden links and connections."

▪ Moustafa Gadalla

Ancestral Tradition

Preparation of traditional ancestral medicines from plants, roots, and herbs requires a lifetime of mastery.

From the "Kuphotfulwa" song:

Khambo lekwaliwa
Khambo lekwaliwe, Mdzimba!

Wena, uyangiyena
Wena, uyangiyeng' Mdzimba!