The Religion That Is Not A Religion
There has been talk for a while now about what a “Religion That Is Not A Religion” might be, primarily by the philosopher Dr. John Vervaeki begun 5 years ago with Jordan Hall. Despite their best intentions and work, among others, this endeavor came to not. For Vervaeki this project has moved on to an embrace of Neoplatonism and Theurgy as a “religion of the future,” while for Hall it has been to embrace of Religion, becoming an Evangelic Trinitarian.
But was this a failure of the seekers or the impossibility of finding that which was sought?
I would suggest that it is the failure of the seekers, in the case of Vervaeki (an apostate Fundamentalist Christian) yoking himself to science he has shown a distinct antipathy towards what is loosely called ‘Woo,’ thus most of the esoteric, occult, or spiritual are rejected.
‘Woo’ essentially being anything that science states is fantasy and impossible according to the strict accounting of a Materialist reductionism e.g. magic, ghosts, spiritualism, ‘energy’, fortune tellers, healers, psychics, etc. - pretty much everything that one could consider part of a Religion of the People (not Empire), or Paganism, and the “Occult” of the Bourgeoisie.
So, then what exactly were they looking for, who is this for, people in general or materialists? Why a ‘religion’ that is not a “Religion”?
What is it about Religion that they want to replace, is it faith, is it Dogmatic Universal World Religion, the institutional corruption in organized religion, the folk superstitions, or is it like those that say they are “spiritual but not religious” where the practices, functions, and personal experience of spirituality is desired but simply not the organization? Or is it just the “Woo” that they are against? And what is there that is left after ridding oneself from this “woo”?
At the same time, we have the “meaning crisis” discussed in relation to the nihilistic scientific rational modernity. Here we have people lacking the social aspects of religion or the means to experience and relate to their emotional and ‘spiritual’ life who are left to find meaning on their own.
Scientism though does not seem to fill this void having reduced experience to data, declaring consciousness to be an illusion, and rejecting out of hand the experiences of spirituality (‘woo’) that defy science. This however does not respond to the emotional qualities of humanity that spirituality has occupied.
And of course, neither does religious dogma which constrains in ways that have been challenged, or religious wars and racism bleeding the world which leaves people in despair. People rightly ask, “How can an all-powerful god allow suffering?”
Or from a scientific perspective with criticism of a personal god, revelation, virgin birth, miracles that cannot be tested only believed in, how do rationalists of the Enlightenment not scoff at and reject these aspects? Do not their constraints guaranty failure at finding this and who is this for?
How do you accommodate both the rationalism of science with the experience of “woo” and without the dogmatic rulership? Is this even remotely possible? I think not.
So just what then is the Religion that is not a Religion, is it perhaps that which both Christianity and Scientism have rejected?
For both of these dogmas that which is rejected comes in three forms: the Esoteric or Occult (‘woo’), the Pagan, and Nature.
Magic, Alchemy, Astrology, and TAROT
(Inquisition edicts, claims of Demonology and Satanism, ‘Woo’)
Mystery Schools, Initiatic Orders, Spiritualism, and Theosophy
(Inquisition edicts, claims of Demonology and Satanism, ‘Woo’)
Classical Symbols, and Sacred Geometry
(Incorporated throughout Catholic and Orthodox Church, as well as Masonry and other Orders)
The Jewish Kabbala
(Antisemitism, Taboo, ‘Woo’)
The Pagan Holidays, feasts
See AlsoThe Yule Log: History and Modern PracticeHow to watch King Charles's Christmas speech 2024: When is it on, what channels and is it pre-recorded?The 13 Days of Yule: A Complete CelebrationYule: The Winter Solstice Celebration of Hope. - Crystal Vaults(Converted into Christian Holidays with claims to the contrary by Apologists.)
Pagan rites, symbolism, and myths
(Though incorporated into Catholicism in many ways: the Jesus myth largely being a combination of Mithra, Dionysus, Osiris, Paganism is disparaged, ‘Woo’)
Pagan sacred sites
(Destroyed shrines then built atop with churches, ‘Woo’.)
Nature and the Feminine
(The Fall of Man, Original Sin of Woman, the World seen as evil and impure; for science it being simple matter, dead, ‘Woo’)
With Christianity these are all seen as works of the Devil. Along with this position held by Christianity (and Islam) we can add the doctrines of Original Sin, the Gnostic Eschatology, the conception of a Heaven and a Hell, and the Evil which is the World, Nature, and Woman. These negative positions being then tied to the belief and desire to ascend to Heaven through faith alone becomes a transaction by a sorcerer, the Priest. One could even go so far as to claim a form of Satanism, as divinity and “the good” are pulled away from the creation (Universe) as in Gnosticism with a Demiurge as an agent of darkness. All of this clearly the reason for their antipathy towards Religion.
Here “Jesus Christ” becomes an icon, instead of a goal as in Theurgy where through purification and intent one brings the ‘god’ into one’s mind as an act of attainment of Gnosis, and Divine inspiration in experiential practices and the imagination of mind. So not only does Christianity and Islam attempt to dispense with the Gods and life of local Pagan religious practice, the personal agency of the individual is removed to a possession of the Church, and what I would call a Heresy.
With Scientism the Esoteric and the Pagan are all ‘WOO’ and have no meaningful use or basis, both Theism and Spirituality are fully rejected by this materialism.
Whereas Nature is seen as simply material substance, to be measured, understood, and to be dominated and controlled by MAN (Women having no place in the Patriarchy of the Enlightenment) the Master of his Realm. This becomes a radical Materialist Monism, where all is just matter, with no Spirit, no Soul, no Free Will, and consciousness is constrained to being simply an epiphenomenon of the Brain. Thus, we have the denunciation all of Esotericism as being superstitious ‘Woo’ and fantasy on the level of Harry Potter.
Or we have the Cartesian Dualism, accepting both Heaven & Hell and the Big Bang Standard Model, a fully Creationist Eschatological Mythology of Science, i.e. Deism, and Christian Science.
So here we are now with Western Esotericism being attacked from two sides, Fundamentalist Religion declaring it Evil and the work of the Devil, and Consensus Scientism declaring it the play of childish fools and quackery (‘woo’).
Despite this, ever since the Renaissance Humanists interest in all that the Holy Roman Empire banned in the 6th century, Esotericism and the Occult has been the subject of intense interest and debate, and despite the Inquisition and the threat of being burnt at the stake. This culminates in the 17th c Rosicrucian Enlightenment, the formation of Freemasonry, and the promulgation of Christian Hermetic Cabala, Theosophy, TAROT, and Spiritualism.
It is ironic that it is these very Alchemists, Astrologers, Rosicrucian, and Masonic brothers who would forge the Enlightenment, found the Royal Society, and the Academy of Science that we know today.
Despite the attacks from both sides these interests and studies have only increased in popularity with ever greater access to esoteric writings going back 5500 years. The Western calendar is filled with Pagan Holidays dressed up as Christian, the Pagan names of the days of the week, a Pagan Zodiac, and Sun Sign Astrology. Easter egg hunts, May Day poles, bonfires, Harvest fairs, Halloween, Santa Claus and Christmas all filling a very Pagan Calendar.
Popular culture has accepted the TAROT, Cabala, Numerology, ritual Magic, Symbolism, Pagan Gods, Pagan Rites, and Nature Worship - some call this “New Age”.
These three – Gnosis and esoteric knowledge; the cycles of time and the Rites of family and society; and the spiritual and mystical experiential Practices of the individual persist in popular culture despite Religion and Science.
Largely the “Religion that is not a Religion” is Western esoteric practice and Woo, but without universal Christianity and Islam with their Dogmatic Empire of Slavery and Sovereign Authority op Pope and King, or its Anti-Nature/Feminine brutality and consumptive materialism; it is the Love of Nature and Life on this Light filled World by those seeking personal development, knowledge, and increased agency though personal experience.
The Religion That Is Not A Religion
Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Neo-Pythagorism
The Light Bringer, Prometheus, Lucifer, “Horus On The Horizon,” the Logos, and Thoth-Hermes
The Seven in color, form, tone, the demi-gods (daemons) of Embodiment and Invocation, the Seven Days of Worship
The Tree of Life, the 10 Spheres, and the Twenty-Two pathways of the TAROT.
The Theurgic Neoplatonism of Iamblichus, the embodiment of the ‘gods’, and the “Body Of Light”
The Sun Sign Zodiac of 12 Archetypes (from the Sabaeans of Harran), of three principles (cardinal, fixed, mutable), and 4 elements (earth, water, air, fire)
The Western Symbolic Canon, Freemasonry, Crowley’s 777 & Sympathetic Magic of Associations, and Sacred Geometry of Sumer and Egypt.
The Chaldean Rules of Ceremonial Magic, Church Rituals and Rites
The 3 (5) Stations of Prayer and Meditation
The Pagan Calendar of 8 Holy Days of Feasting, Pageantry, and Mystery Plays
Folk Tales, Parables and Mythology of Laurasia
The Mysteries: Orion, Osiris, Orpheus, Odysseus, Mithras, and Hiram
The Divine Feminine and the cults of Isis, Mary, Ishtar, Venus
The Alchemical Wedding and Tantric Transformation
Masonic Corner Stone setting and Sacred Geometry (Masonic, Gothic Churches, Classical temple design)
Initiate Orders of Freemasonry and the like
The Fertility Rites of Easter and May
Witchcraft and traditional medicine, energy work, and Sex Magic
Spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, Christian Science, Astral Projection
Alters, Shrines, Talismans, ornaments, decorations, dress, and tattoos
Ritual Fasting, Prayer, Ablutions, Offerings, Song, Dance, Mystery Plays
The One
Monism
Nous (mind)
“God” is One, “God” is All
Universe
The Two
“As Above, So Below.”
inner(self) and outer (other)
Yin and Yang
The Three
Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable (male, female, hermaphrodite)
The Divine Family: Osiris, Isis, Horus
Channels of Psychic Body: (Pingala-right-solar-masculine, Ida-left-lunar-feminine, Sushumna-center-hermaphrodite)
The Four
Elementals: Fire, Water, Air, Earth
Worlds of Creation: Atziluth/emanation, Beriah/creation, Yetzirah/formation, Assiah/action
Directions
The Five
Platonic Solids: 4-Tetrahedron, 6-Cube, 8-Octahedron, 12-Dodecahedron, 20-Icosahedron
The Seven
Planets (Gods)
Metaphysical Principles of Theosophy
Colors of the Rainbow, Notes of the Musical Scale of whole ratios
Chakras of the Body: root, sex, solar plexus, heart, throat, third-eye, crown
The Eight
Pagan Holy Days: Imbolic – Feb 1 or 2, Ostara – V.E. Mar 20-23, Beltane – May 1, Litha – S.S. Jun 20-23, Lughnasadh/Lammas – Aug 1, Mabon – AE Sep 21-23, Samhain, Oct 31-Nov1, Yule – W.S. Dec 21-25 (17-25)
The Twelve
Archetypes or Zodiac Signs of the Solar Year: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
The 22
Tarot, Pathways of Transformation (3 + 7 +12): Fool, Magician, Popess, Empress, Emperor, Pope, Lovers, Chariot, Justice, Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Strength, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower (House of God), Star, Moon, Sun, Judgement, The World
Letters of Cabala, Pathways of Transformation (3 + 7 +12)
