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Ah, careful not to discount 'mythology' too much. Many of the origins of those so called 'misconceptions' were observed originally in direct experiences. Only after they were seen first hand were they coded into stories that became oral traditions. There is often a great deal of information in old myths and traditions about the spiritual realm that we in our instant-gratification scientific age overlook because we aren't used to having to look deeper at what we're experiencing. People in the old world valued such oral traditions more than we do now because they recognized that they were packets of valuable information, that came from people who were spiritually advanced. If you wanted to explore the same things they did, you had to listen to those stories and think about them as more than just a series of so called 'facts' but as a symbol of something more complex.
As we've talked about on other threads, there are fewer entities than there are names for them. So I would say look into mythology about volcano spirits, sea monsters, etc., and take a very close look at the stories, think about them as more than black and white text - think about the symbols used, what they could mean, etc. Those stories can give clues about how to deal with the spirits, how to combat them if necessary, and how to engender their help. Again, think of it in energetic, astral terms rather than literally.
It's not my intention to jump on you, kouya, but it helps every magician to realize that he isn't the first person in human history to be able to look at reality in a more abstracted way than the average Joe. Those human derived legends contain wisdom passed down since the dawn of time, and while some of the information in them may seem to be misleading, overall they are an invaluable tool to the occultist in understanding not just the entities themselves, but their context to humanity, and their place in the overall scheme of things. When you can look at those old stories and compare them with your own experiences, the knowledge you can derive from those experiences is magnified a great deal and more importantly, you're able to gauge a degree of relevancy - you may even find yourself living out some of those old legends; many of which are more than just descriptions of phenomenon, but maps of experience and journey work left behind by ancient seers to guide others in the future. Take advantage of that, the accumulation of those bits and pieces of mystical knowledge is part of what helps us all evolve more quickly over time.
It's a bit of a tangent, but take the kabbalistic tree of life for instance. It's easy to turn one's nose up at it as a needlessly complex and structured network of symbolism that ultimately doesn't reflect the fluid, chaotic nature of the spiritual world - however, look past the literal structure and you can find that there is indeed a great deal of verifiable spiritual and mystical truth in it's philosophy. At first I found it outdated and not nearly as direct and fascinating as my own direct experience. Then I realized my own experiences fit that frame perfectly, even though I barely knew anything about it. It's the same deal as many old myths and legends - a group of people wanted their complex knowledge base to be available to others in the future, so they created a network of symbols that would be able to transcend time and last beyond their own lifespans. Since the symbols are simplified from the original complex knowledge, they're unlikely to be changed as much as the information itself, in it's pure form, will likely be as authors agree or disagree with what's written, and add their own experiences, etc. Symbols become a simple tradition. Like Myths and Legends - we don't change them too much, because their traditional stories. Clever, no?
peace
edit: Also, the term 'Demon' or 'Daemon' seems perfectly legitimate here, those being spirits associated with the 'lower' more 'gross' aspects of reality and consciousness, spirits which interact with or govern the destructive elements of the various mechanics of the universe. An elemental is more like the intelligence of the element itself, the guiding force. The angelic force of the element, then, directs those elementals, that intelligence, towards beneficent ends, while the demonic element guides it towards its more destructive ends. Good and Evil do exist, it's just that we assign them a sense of morality - energetically, they're just the opposing currents and tendancies of energy. In other words, call it positive and negative and it's the same thing with less morality. it's the sense of morality that's misplaced in those matters, not the concepts themselves, but rather the context and application we give them.
This post has been edited by Vagrant Dreamer: May 6 2007, 01:43 AM
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The world is complicated - that which makes it up is elegantly simplistic, but infinitely versatile.
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Demon Indentification, A small favor for me.
May 5 2007, 02:23 PM
