Vengeance Article

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HREF="http://all.at/arcane" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://all.at/arcane"><U><B><U>ARCANE Images</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="51d69660.gif" border=0 width="105" height="102" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="30558323.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF3333" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" ><B>Tannim's Religion</B></FONT>     </div> <div> <IMG SRC="03ef4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Vengeance Article</div> <div> <IMG SRC="27087360.gif" border=0 width="391" height="54" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Editorial Issue #1: The Quest for Vengeance.</B></div> <div> <B>A note to novice and adept</B></div> <div> There is an old-age question regarding what it means to be "heathen". Being a Heathen, or Pagan, as we prefer today, is very different from being a Heathen in the old days. Furthermore, it is a lot different than being a Christian at all times. There have been many articles and discussions regarding the beginning of Paganism, one of which is included here, in this site, at the Magick section. But there haven't been any articles regarding a much delicate issue, that of choosing to be a Heathen, rather than continuing to be a Christian. During the old times, ranging from the Roman Empire backwards, being a Heathen wasn't a matter of choice, but a simple matter of fact. There was no other choice. And there was no intention of not being a Heathen in any case. I will start this article, called "The quest for Vengeance" at those times, and then I will try to explain and resolve this quest moving in time to the present day. </div> <div> For the ancients, the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and all the way back to the rise of Homo Sapiens, religion was the personification of Nature. Playing that role, it took the shape and figure of Nature, in all its many and complex forms. Moving in time, Nature ceased to provide the intellectual food for humanity, which sought to deify other attributes, human attributes like creativity, thought, marriage, law and justice, even commerce and war. The existent Gods and Goddesses took on these attributes, and became more human-like. And then, moving further into time, as humanity developed even more its intellect, man needed to precede God in intellect, and he became as God. The Roman emperors and Egyptian Pharaohs are famous for this practice, with but a few exceptions to the rule. By then, Nature had been already forgotten at its most part. The Gods had become religion, which is a totally different thing. Men worshipped the Gods of the seas and rivers (Neptune or Sebek), of commerce and knowledge (Hermes or Osiris), of love and hate (Venus or Set), but their true Gods, the ones they feared and obeyed, were their ruler-kings, the Great Emperors of antiquity.</div> <div> Then came a breakthrough. An idea rose, and it spread like fire. It was the idea of Freedom. With this idea came a man, a great and wise man, who preached for freedom, equality and love in a small area in Judea. This man was Jesus of Nazareth, whose name was meant to be tarnished and his preaching corrupted in the greatest travesty of all times, called the Christian faith. Jesus' preaching appealed to the hearts and minds of all the enslaved, and many of the intellectual people of his time. His teaching on the One god, the single being who was beyond and above all else was the solution for these men and women who saw emptiness in the anthropomorphic gods of their time. And they embraced that teaching, followed it and died for it as well. Humanity was ripe to take that next step. There were cases of preaching of the one god before, in ancient Greece and in Ancient Egypt by the Pharaoh Akhenaton, but humanity was not ready for that notion yet and they were bound to fail. Jesus of Nazareth was the one who lead humanity into that next stage of religious belief. His disciples however were another thing. From them and on, Jesus' preaching was slowly set aside, or was used as a shield and cover up to promote many peoples' own values and ethics. </div> <div> And so, moving into time again, we come to a stalemate: the fairly new and well established religion of the church of Christ, and the very old, and deep rooted in tradition, religion of the Pagan Gods. I'm no historian fit to mention dates, but this stalemate came to be around 600 to 700 after the birth of Jesus. It was around that time that politics took the upper hand in all matters. The old religion had no "headquarters" or centre of faith etc, etc. It was about everything that existed all around men and inside of them, and so, man was viewed as the temple to honouring the Gods and Goddesses. Special people, like priests and priestesses, dedicated to performing the Mysteries did exist, and they were considered the most appropriate representatives of the Gods, but that came from their deep knowledge and training as servants to the Gods. Every human was considered to have a part of the Gods in them, and thus with respect to themselves, men showed respect to the Gods. On the other hand, the new religion was centred around the One god and its unique representatives, the "men of the cloth" and the "headquarters" of the faith. Man was considered as subject to redemption, as a sinner and a perpetuator of lust and temptation. The new religion however, was not handling the traditions very nicely, and people continued to practice according to tradition and contrary to the dogma of the church. So, the new religion decided that monopoly was the answer to all problems. And its avaricious representatives declared the old gods and old practices evil. They were able to transform the Goddess into the Mother of God, and so she did not become the target of their loath so much. But, they couldn't incorporate the Horned God of procreation into anything, much more so due to the fact that procreation was seen as the necessary means of perpetuating the species and brought upon man by woman through the Sin of Eve. I don't blame them for it entirely. Considering the way of life at those times, the misery and destitution of the people, it was but necessary to stop people from breeding like rabbits without thinking of the consequences. However, by making procreation an act of sin and cause of penance, the Christian religion got hold of the souls of men in one more way, guilt, but we'll come to that in time. Therefore, the Horned God of sun and light became the breeder of lust and sin. He became the adversary to the chaste Jesus and thus became the Headman of Hell. Later on he got embellished with all kinds of things, but he retained the horns nonetheless. And thus the old religion became the instrument of evil. </div> <div> By the Middle Ages fanaticism had occupied the minds of the men of cloth and Jesus was but an idol for hanging on the wall. From here an on, we all know the story. If you don't, well, read the "Burning Times" article. </div> <div> And thus we come to the present day. The marvellous and ingenious 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century, when the globe is revealed and the continents are merging to become as one once again. Eastern beliefs have been revealed to western minds, and non-industrial countries have provided slaves to most of the western world, merging their traditions into the Christian faith to create new religions of their own, like Santeria and Voudoun. The Pope recently apologised for the crimes against humanity (the Heathens) and so did our esteemed Head of the Orthodox Church here in Greece. That act was seen as pure hypocrisy by many levels of the Pagan faith, including myself. But when you come to think of it, is it really?</div> <div>  </div> <div> Anger and rage follow the discovery (or should I say re-discovery) of Paganism in all novices' hearts. And these feelings are well justified. You are taught that only one true faith exists and none other. You are taught that only Good and Evil exists and the middle way is sin (which means there is no middle way). And you are taught that the only hope you have is the afterlife, in heaven. </div> <div> Pagans refute the first argument by their mere existence. I will stay with the other two. In order to have hope of being good and pure, you have to go to heaven. And in order to do that, you must be good and pure in this life. Catch 22? Yes, it is, and this is the power of the Christian faith. Sin is everything: making love, being angry, saying a tiny lie, killing a fly, wearing two-coloured clothes, eating oysters. Sin is everything the Christ is not. What is the Christ? No one knows. So, sin is what his "representatives" have claimed, in the last 2000 years. Sin is everything man is, because man is tempted daily by the Devil and the devil puts sin into man's heart the day he's born (and so man needs to by baptized to prevent further damage like possession by a thousand legions of demons or two hundred women and an Australian named Bruce, etc& ). So, how does man redeem himself? By getting near to God. And how does man get near to God? By not being sinful. Well, then, if man is not being sinful in the first place, then why does he need to be redeemed? Blasphemy! Ten rosaries and fast for two days child! If man needs to do what the Christ does in order to be redeemed, and the Christ is God, how can a man become as God? Another blasphemy, rosaries etc. Never ending sin. And we come to the argument that there is only Good and Evil and no middle way. So, Good is the Christ and we can't get there cause we're not gods. Evil in within us because Eve committed the original sin (for women) and Cain killed his brother (for men) and the Christ died at the cross because of us, so the hell with humankind, and the conclusion is that we are <I>de facto</I> in the evil path unless we do extraordinary things so as to reach the point of God. This is outrageous, but it's not the real issue. The real issue is that because of this ideology, men grow <B><U>guilt</U></B> in them for everything they do, and everything they are. The <B><U>fear</U></B> of god upgrades this guilt to panic, which is also a sin, so back to where we started. </div> <div> What I hate about Christianity is not Jesus, is not the Christians; it's that polarity that imbues everything. The polarity that tells me that since I can't be god either way, I'm condemned to be a sinner for eternity. The state of polarity of the powerful super beings that leaves no room for mere mortals. No room for me to be wrong, to be sorry, and, heck, not to be sorry if I wish. No room for mortal men to accept that darkness is within our very nature. The dark side that tempts, rises and falls, like the lion in the hunt, or the rhino in frenzy. And while all creatures are blessed for what they are, man is condemned for what he is, eternally, with no actual chance of redemption. The exceptional power of the Dark side, the Devil, is also the cause of <B><U>despair</U></B> in mortal men. We cannot escape the Dark One's claws whatever we do. We keep being tempted every day, and even commit sins every day. Mortal men walk on a stretched rope. A slight slip guarantees damnation, one that you cannot escape from. Because, tell me really, if you do sleep with someone you shouldn't and go to confess, does your CONSCIOUSNESS let you unpunished? Free of guilt? The Christian faith has a hold of the souls of men through fear, guilt and despair. The anxiety of a thinking soul trapped within this endless coil is unbearable. That's what I hate about it. That's my quest for vengeance, and not considering the apology of the Pope as hypocrisy, not the avenging of the burnt ones of the Dark Ages or the avenging of the men and women in Salem and elsewhere. Not even the defilement of my Gods and Goddesses by the Christian church. My vengeance and wrath does not fall upon those who are innocent of any crime but placing faith in the fangs of cruelty and greed, but it does fall upon these men who manipulate and use the souls of innocents for their own interests with fear, guilt and despair. And that should be your quest for vengeance too. Christian people are as good people as any. The Christian cloth should be all Heathens' target of vengeance, for these exact reasons I mentioned above because they take away men's freedom. </div> <div> The line of thought is long, I know. But thought tends to do that you know. As a novice I had all these feelings in me, burdening me, telling me that what I do is wrong. It's not wrong. It can never be wrong. As long as I do what I want without causing any harm to anyone including myself, whatever I do is blessed. Because it exists in me, a gift from the Goddess and Her Many Faces and of the Horned Lord. That makes me free. And that's why I choose to be a Heathen.</div> <bR> <div> <B>By Dreamthorn, 2000.</B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><I>This article can be circulated, so long as its contents remain unchanged and there is a link to it like this </I></FONT><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/dreamthorn" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.geocities.com/dreamthorn"><U><U>Dreamthorn's Pagan</U></U></A><U> </U><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><I>or contact author: </I></FONT><A HREF="mailto:dreamthorn@yahoo.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:dreamthorn@yahoo.com"><U><U>mailto:dreamthorn@yahoo.com</U></U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><I><U>.</U></I></FONT></div> <div> <IMG SRC="27187360.gif" border=0 width="391" height="54" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>