This site features the full perspective of the original 1966 Gnostic Pagan Tradition—and includes updated features & formulations—small steps on the path to Jivanmukti or The Great Work.

Parallel Perspectives

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1st Rotation of January

Year of OurSELF 2012

~ Epok of Horus ~

DEAR BROTHERS & SISTERS,

COMRADES OF MOTHER EARTH:

Well, it's here: 2012! OMG! The sky is falling, or maybe it's just the Stock Market—again. Ain't it grand that those responsible got so well paid for their financial treachery? We were really worried about how they made out. Gramps may have lost his retirement fund, but at least the CEO's have been spared. We were really worried about that too. Yeah, poor ol' Gramps may be doing contracting work well into his 70's (if there's any around to do.) Of course it's kind of hard to do contractor work when your house has been foreclosed on & your teeth are falling out because you can't afford a dentist—just thank god the rich can hire the best! Where in the world would we be without them? Maybe Gramps wouldn't have to work until he dies if the wealthy elite, the Oligarchs, shared some of the cake; but that would be un-American!

Do we detect a little bitterness, maybe just a little sarcasm, reflecting on the way how this country is being run, how the world is being run—INTO THE GROUND? Naaaah...

While visiting Occupy Oakland, Suzanne met a female Probation Officer there—who was protesting. The woman said she personally knew 2 families dispossessed (no, not by an exorcism) and who pretty much lost everything. She said a million people should Occupy the Stock Exchange because that's the only way to make the Oligarchs (actually she had a more pornographic description for them) listen. Swear to god, she came up with this all on her own—hey, that's our dream too. Maybe in 2012 we can make it a reality. That would mark the end of the world for quite a few wealthy crooks. Let's do it!

NOTE: The Occupation of the Stock Exchange will be the culmination of achieving a majority anti-capitalist labor under the direction of a completely new Union leadership. OCCUPY THE UNIONS!

The Gnostic Pagan Tradition named the first month of the calendar year after the ancient

Egyptian Goddess Nuit (new-eet as in French pronunciation for “night”). An appropriate choice since Nuit is the most creative of goddesses. She holds the sky, the heavens before the Big Bang (if there was one). She represents the formless Beginning, brought into form thru intercourse with the Male God of materialization, Geb. The Thelema tradition founded by Aleister Crowley replaces Geb with Hadit. The Thelema interpretation is more complex than a mere change of name might suggest. Nuit has many forms—Isis, Hathor, Sekhmet, Bast, many, many forms, many different names. In all forms she is the primal force of material creation, representing the political ascendancy of the female role in society during what some schools of metaphysical thought call the New Aeon of The Conquering Child.

Painting: Alex Gray

The rich imagery & symbolism associated with the theological Big Bang (described by the Ancient Egyptians as an act of divine masturbation) is not so far off from the numerous recent speculations of scientists involved in astro-physics & The Theory of Everything (T.O.E.) For example, the Hindu depictions of deities showing them with multiple limbs and, in some instances even multiple heads, can be seen as ancient precursors to the contemporary speculations involving multiverse & parallel dimensions. As a matter of fact, the Hindu images convey a more vivid reality than the musings of secular professionals. People who ingest psychedelics or Awareness Enhancing Substances as ritual sacraments, have direct experience of the multidimensional layers of this great, big mystifying thing we tentatively call The Universe, or what some people simply call GOD.

The Gnostic Pagan School bridged this seeming irreconcilable gulf between secularism and religion by promoting Pantheism & positing the view that GOD IS THE PROCESS OF EXISTENCE rather than a person or personified deity.

Readers are reminded that

we’re always interested in

posting original metaphysical

& political documents, art work or links.

This also applies to CDs, DVDs & books for review.

Please submit promo first.

Regards,

Text Box: Jeff Farrow,
PARALLEL PERSPECTIVES
Suzanne Radford,
The Gnostic Pagan Project

Freddy David

WebWeaver

NUIT/January

2—Advent of Isis
7—Feast of Sekhmet
12—The Lares (household gods)

17-18--Ashera
30—Festival of the Goddess Pax (Peace)
31—Imbolc Eve (sunset)

See full calendar

– Our Favorite Sight –

Gran Ma’man, Papa Juice

Little Bubba

DVD

Phaedra

"Eagle of the Cold North, Falcon of Solitude", December 27, 2011

Like everybody else it seems, I've been trying to find even a VHS copy of PHAEDRA, even Netflix doesn't have it. This is a modern version of the classic Greek play by Euripides. It tells of a woman who has offended Aphrodite so grievously that the goddess curses Phaedra (played by a ravishingly beautiful) Melina Mercouri, causing her to go mad & fall in love with her stepson (Anthony Perkins). Raf Vallone plays the Greek shipping tycoon husband & father. NOTE: When we finished watching the film, Suzanne who's never seen it before said, "She had to be nuts to dump Raf Vallone for Tony Perkins!"

Yes, dear...

The son from a previous marriage lives with his British mom in the UK & wants to be an artist. This desire, combined with his mother's endless complaints, has turned him sour on his Greek dad. There are inner-family tensions in Greece as well as family members try to mark out their territory. Raf Vallone also wants his son to move to Greece & join the firm. Bad idea.

Phaedra goes to London to meet her stepson for the first time. They meet in the London Museum Greek Collection room (where else) near a statue of a headless Aphrodite. One thing leads to another as the tragedy unfolds.

The choice of Perkins as Phaedra's lover seems strange at first & he is passive in the film; but it makes sense when you realize that Phaedra is the aggressor--on all levels.

Director Jules Dassin keeps in key elements of the original PHAEDRA, like "the Nurse," Phaedra's sole confident--and the Greek chorus of women, local towns women, who are particularly effective near the end when the husband's flag ship, The Phaedra (naturally), goes down, killing most of the towns men on board. They beat on the office door, begging for news. Instead the door is opened and a steely-cold & sun-glassed Phaedra walks out & pushes through the crowd without saying a word.

Dassin was basically forced to leave the US during the McCarthy period and wife Mercouri was involved in the Pan-Hellenic socialist movement, even serving as the Minister of Culture at one point. These 2 facts caused many US critics to pan the film, which may also explain why it's been so hard to find.

Is it great art? Maybe not, but it's steamy, interesting and has a particularly powerful theme song by the great film composer Dimitri Tiomkin. Oh yeah, if you want to know what the quote means, ya gotta see the film.

The images that flow & are superimposed flow during the love scene are really beautiful, overlaying dark fire & Greek Orthodox icons.

It's worth it.

____________________

Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World: Volume I

By E. A. Bucchianeri

(Paperback) $50.67 from Amazon

436 pages

A Highly Specialized View of The Great Work

Product Description

A comprehensive exploration of Dr. Faust, the man who sold his soul to the devil, and those who lived to tell his tale. Volume I includes: New insights into the life and times of the historical Dr. Faustus, the notorious occultist and charlatan who reputedly declared the devil was his ´brother-in-law´. A detailed study of the first Faust books and the popular Faustian folk tales. Original discussions on Christopher Marlowe´s famous drama and his `atheistic´ rendition of the Faustian myth, including a unique and controversial analysis of the A and B texts. The days of the Faust puppet plays. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing´s unfinished Faust drama. Volume II features: A unique, in-depth account of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's masterpiece, Faust, Parts One and Two. An examination of the early sketches of his classic drama. Includes detailed explanations of Goethe's hidden symbolism in the text, his interest in history and science, the occult, alchemy, Freemasonry and his warnings to future generations.

_______________________

I have to be honest; this rather unique & highly academic examination of Faust (and by proxy The Great Work) is completely out of my literary league—and attention span. It took six weeks to complete reading just Bucchianeri’s first volume of FAUST. That may not sound like much of a complement, but to an old, retired (?) wærlock, there is a wealth of information found on every page of this amazing literary achievement. (See also, What is a Warlock?). It’s easy to get sidetracked by the many avenues of mythological & historic pursuit. It’s not easy reading & wasn’t exactly meant to be, I’m sure. It is a scholarly masterpiece. Certainly anyone professionally or otherwise interested in Faust and/or The Great Work will find this book an invaluable addition to resource or library. It’s interesting how the Faustian Legend has inspired so many other, individual examples of Great Works in their own right—books, plays, operas both of high & not so high degree. To reiterate, the fact that it took me 6 weeks to read Vol. 1 should not be held against the author. I do think that a subject index at the book’s conclusion might come in handy for researchers.

NOTE: After writing this review I had the opportunity to read Part 2 and it was Five Big Stars all the way—AND it had an index. Now both volumes fell into place, one after the other. This is truly A GREAT WORK about THE GREAT WORK. It's definitely worth the price.

Oh, yes—author Bucchianeri & I share a secret...can you guess what it is?

__________________

Darkness into Light

John Tavener

The Chilingirian Quartet

Anonymous 4

Barely of this Earth, December 27, 2011

I'm not a trained music critic, I'm one of those "but I know what I like" people. Well, that's usually OK when describing popular music, but I feel like a trespasser when in the classical realm.

Nonetheless, I'll try.

I first listed to Darkness into Light during a particularly sad time in my life--separations, partings & even death. A lot of sorrow. I was listening to the music, feeling it was really strange & very quietly wonderful--yet glad that it left room to think, or just be whatever was happening. Near the end of the program I realized that tears were slowly streaming down my face...

So, OK, I'm a wimp. I lock up emotion like a vault, and sometimes only music like this can open the door & let it flow free..

I struggled to find an adequate description for this musical "event." "Sublime?" It was much more than that. I started to open the booklet that comes with the CD. The composer John Tavener stated it perfectly when he wrote of the premier work The Bridegroom (2000): "...the music should be almost unbearable in its ecstatic light, its endless melodic arc, its intense compunction. The quartet of strings represents Christ the Bridegroom, and the female voices the people in the world, full of that longing which is a kind of Divine eros."

This music is like dew on a cobweb, fragile & disappearing as into the dawn.