The Eighth Sermon to the Dead

I went down a bit of a linguistic rabbit hole today. One of the FB groups I’m on posted “Why do we say Holy Ghost? Is it a ghost?” After the first minute of smacking my head, I started really looking into the question. Ghost is an English word of Germanic origin, which is used to translate spiritus from latin into old English. It’s first used in Old English as such: sē hālga gāst is Old English for “The Holy Ghost”. Spirit didn’t enter English as a translation for spiritus until the Middle English Period (after the Norman Conquest, when the Normans brought more French and Latinate words into English). Ghost and geist are direct cognates, from English and German respectively. Geist has a meaning of spirit in the supernatural sense, as well as the meaning of apparition and of something having a frightening appearance. It also has a sense of furor or agitation, a sort of ecstasy. Thus, a sense of being filled ‘with the Holy Ghost’ carries a sense of ecstatic experience....

Lately, the real world has kept me very busy, and I have not been documenting it. So, let's document some stuff.  1) Portland and environs:  I love Portland. It's quirky and weird and filled with lovely people. However, I don't like living there. The spaces are too small, and the fact that I've had 4-5 things stolen that I had great affection for, made me want to move. I'm basically a small town boy who likes being near a larger city.  I'm now setting up in the little nearby town of Newberg with my new girlfriend, Paddy. She has three kids which I'm helping out with, and it's a lot of fun.  This fall, I hope to open a branch of the Hermetic Society in Newberg, at the Masonic Lodge there. 2) I've been doing a bit of speaking, both online and in person. I try to give one talk a semester to the Hermetics Society, I've spoken for Esoterika lodge for their lecture series, and of course I speak at the Johannite Conclaves and TalkGnosis has be...

One of the difficulties I have when talking about gnosis is trying to translate the experiences I have into some form of Communication.  English is wonderful at getting across certain concepts, but sometimes you just need to use another language. Dépaysement French – The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country. This word, to me, explains my base state of existence.  As a gnostic, I am not in my home country.  I am lost, confused, I don't understand the customs, the familiar things I use as touchstones are all strange here.  I'm never quite comfortable.  Enjoyable as things may be, they're never quite right.  I have this feeling of dépaysement, of not being in my home country. Saudade Portuguese – One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” The liturgy of the Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum contains the line "Whe...

Yesterday being 9/9/9, I decided to do a bit of working with Yesod. I did the standard opening I've been taught, and called upon Gabriel to take me up and show me what I needed to make the desires of my heart become reality. Gabriel showed me the baseness, the elementary nature, and confusion which were the desires of my heart. I'd been all hyped on the luck aspects of the day. I wanted things to change, but wasn't willing to make changes. I was totally unwilling to risk in in order to improve. I was and am consumed with fear. I am disillusioned with my fellows and those I have trusted (I found out through an source I can't divulge that one I thought was sincere and have recommended has been false, either to me or the source. Either way, they've been false.) It was food for thought, and I kicked myself back to Malkuth. I can say unequivocally that it worked, and I'm happy it did. It showed me what I needed to see. It was as if Gabriel held up a big mirro...