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Why do we say Holy Ghost?

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....
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The Friary: Work, Opus, Aspirations

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For the past few weeks, the Sacred Flame has been reignited in me to re-address my Friary Work. I've been writing a lot of material and emails and general musings, all about the Friary Work. And as I've been doing that, I've been thinking a lot about the language I use. As a magician, the words have meaning, and choosing them carefully affects the outcome of the process in which I'm engaged. That got me thinking about the word 'Work'. In English, the word work can have some bad connotations: Something you are doing that you must do, something that takes a great deal of effort, labor, something you do in exchange for payment or gain. And we know language shapes the way we think. The following video gives examples of that. Perhaps my efforts in the Friary realm should not be considered work, but perhaps the Latin source for the term, Opus.  We are engaged in the Magnum Opus, the Great Work, after all. And Opus has totally different connotations in ...
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Fire Wand & Golden Dawn

I have completed the construction of my fire wand, finally. I'll be consecrating it this weekend/next week, either on Sunday or Tuesday. Haven't decided which day is more auspicious, yet. I'm about to start taking Golden Dawn degrees (about = sometime this year I get my 0=0). I've gotten on a GD forum, and they're perplexed that I've started with my weapons already. I'm simply working on them as the HGA directs. Edit: Had it explained to me by a member of the forum. These are supposed to be adept's (5=6) tools, so making them early is jumping the gun a bit. I'll simply have to make others/reconsecrate them when that time comes. The Abremelin working is going well. I agree with Steven Guth that the working should take longer than not. The purification process is intensifying. I've moved from simple prayers morning and evening to an Invocation of the Archangels, Pater Noster, Heschayist practice, Pater Noster, Dismissal. I'm actuall...
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