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Meditation is the first and--in my opinion--the
most basic,
because you
use it to get to or enhance some of the other Paths.
Trance work
is the second, which includes astral projection exercises.
Perhaps it's
the most important, because it gets us where we go
to
exercise the
power or obtain the wisdom that we want to.
Dancing is a
Path that I personal can't use because I'm lame; but I've
been told
by able-bodied Pagan friends that it's great because
it
engages
the whole self--and especially it helps you be grounded AND
Elsewhere at
the same time. Binding with cords and other forms of
sensory
deprivation are good for helping the mind travel beyond the
body's limits
because one wishes to escape the tedium and discomfort
of them.
(I'm sorry, but even a flotation tank gets uncomfortable
eventually!)
Scourging and other repetitive acts also use tedium as a
release but
are more stimulating than being bound or floating in
a
tank.
(They do NOT use pain. If they're being done THAT intensely,
they're being
done incorrectly... )
Chanting and
mantras use repetitive sound and the inherent nature of
some sounds
to produce altered states of consciousness.
Drugs (which
normally means incense and MAYBE alcohol
but NOT
hallucinogens
and such) variously stimulate, relax, disinhibit
or
otherwise change
one's mental state.
And that
brings us back to the Great Rite and other forms
of sex
magick, which
attempt to involve all levels from the physical to the
Divine Within
at one time. That's VERY thumbnail; but if anyone wants
to know more,
I'll be glad to elaborate on the ones I use or have seen
used.
Oh, and I can--and should--add that the various Paths can be
used in combination
as well as separately, that there's some variation
from one tradition
to another as to what the Eight Paths are, and that
not ALL traditions
have Eight Paths per se!
Dogs in the Temple:
The "dogs" were MALE Canaanite temple prostitutes
(normally eunuchs,
as I understand it), with whom male worshippers had
intercourse
in order to obtain various boons from the gods, of which
the fertility
of themselves, their herds and their crops were
the
chief.
A "dog"'s earnings couldn't be contributed
to Yaweh's
treasury.
(Nor could that of a FEMALE temple prostitute!)
Now if
they were doing
the Great Rite with male priests way back when TO make
things
more fertility, why should Stewart Farrar have a cat over gay
men and lesbians
being involved in the Craft now?!? (Although, in
fairness
to him, I'll bet he's never thought of it that
way! He
strikes me as
a reasonable man, all in all... )
Bright blessings! Granny Spider
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