Namaste and Xαίρε!

My path of late has led me back to esoteric Christianity, but I wanted to post here because I wanted to point something out, and I think everyone exploring some derivative of Gardnerian Wicca should take note.

Don’t just leave it at Gardner.  Read up on Hermes Trismegistos.  Read up on the Rosicrucians, the Golden Dawn, OTO, and Qabbalah.  You’ll see that so much of Gardner is really derived from Judeo-Christian and Hermetic sources.  Don’t be afraid of where the path takes you; always approach it with a pure intent of knowing and understanding and never with the intent of self-aggrandizement.  

Also, read some of the darker material, but be advised that what I have seen of those who use it as their primary source material has not been pretty.  Those who invoke demons seem to weaken themselves internally, from what I’ve seen.  Incidentally, if faced by a demon that someone else summoned, do not show it fear and remember that a lesser demon will often impersonate a more powerful one to awe you.  Please, do NOT ask how I came by this knowledge.

At any rate, my readings in the esoteric have taken me in a direction more parallel to Rosicrucianism or even Catharism of late, and I have become deeply interested in the Nag Hammadi codices in particular as fragments of an authentic Gnostic past before Christianity was Romanized into a state cult by the Emperor Constantine (you know, the ugly bastard who had a colossal statue of himself built inside a church).  

I don’t much care for Nicene Christianity, as I call it, because it’s politicized and sanitized for mass consumption and serves as a legitimating myth for our increasingly irrelevant, thoroughly-Romanized meritocratic power structure.  I had looked into Gnostic Christianity years ago when the problems of Western political power became painfully obvious to me, but only briefly and I never gave it a fair chance in hindsight.  I am now though, and there is so much here to explore.

Also, in my journey I have learned more names for myself other than Three or “The One Called Three.”  I have also been called “Algiz” by a friend who has taken an interest in my esoteric ideas, and a few other names have surfaced of late.  I keep a secret to me the name that was revealed as I read of the old Celtic ways.  Also, my journey has included a gender transition in which I inadvertently gave myself a name with Gnostic connotations, which in turn brought other names to light which I discovered by way of the Zohar.

I’m not asking anyone to convert to esoteric Christianity or Jewish Mysticism, as I’m still not totally sold on it myself.  I sense that this is just one stop of many along a path to greater understanding (much like my foray into Buddhism).  That being said, I hope that all young Pagans who are just starting out read this and take note: sometimes a spiritual journey will take you far afield from where you started.  Don’t fight it.  Follow the pure white light of Dharma wherever it leads and be blessed in all you do.  If fate finds me here again, then good; if not, my other blog at http://severedejavu.blogspot.com is updated regularly and includes the most regular updates on my current spiritual journey.