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Post by LorrB on Sept 17, 2012 8:35:56 GMT 9.5
Can you give instructions for this sort of exercise, here or privately? It could be a useful exercise for all of us. I am thinking you were dowsing?
Another question... would it be wise for EA's to do this exercise, especially if they are totally new to esoteric knowledge. It could frighten them off. Better left to FC stage or even MM?
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Post by paul on Sept 17, 2012 8:40:59 GMT 9.5
The first part is easy. There is a stream coming in through the pedestal for each officer - properly right through the middle. It is established by geometry and ritual. It should be easily felt as heat in the palm of the hand.
Also standing in front of the WM pedestal facing E it should be possible to feel a slight pressure on the forehead and/or a slight tendency for the body to incline to the W. Similarly when facing the other way.
The intensity that made it difficult to keep his footing involved some intent on my part.
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Post by LorrB on Sept 17, 2012 9:53:25 GMT 9.5
Okay, have it. Will try it out at our next meeting. Thanks for that.
Talking about Masonic Light, I do see beams of light connecting the various Brn from time to time and oftentime the Sacred Flame to the individual Brn. I love it when that happens.
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Post by paul on Sept 18, 2012 6:16:31 GMT 9.5
I think the NT accounts are quite tricky to interpret.
For example: "Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God,
It is likely that the concept of the Holy Spirit comes to us from the Shekinah - the consort of Jehovah. (Shekinah can be translated as: she who lives in a tent/tabernacle, the Jews set up a tent for the Lord while travelling in the desert)
Now the Lord departed and left his consort so that Shekinah would be with them just like Jesus departed and left the Holy Spirit.
Shekinah was also known as "the glory of the Lord". In modern parlance we might say: his better half.
When Shekinah also departed the priests seem to have produced an abstract concept from the glory of the lord making it a spiritual rather than physical presence. This was inherited into the Christian tradition.
Thus Stephen full of the Holy Spirit (influence of Shekinah) sees the Shekinah (glory of God). Then we get a concept from the Revelation of St John - Son of Man at right hand of God. This also seems to relate to Ezekiel. (Why would the only begotten son of God be called the son of man?)
And then Stephen being stoned to death falls asleep - from boredom?
So it looks to me a rather composite text suited to the purposes of the Christian clergy.
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Post by LorrB on Sept 18, 2012 8:23:31 GMT 9.5
He fell asleep = died The Glory of the Lord and Jesus standing at the right hand = pre death and post death vision. Quite common, ask any hospice worker or nurse anywhere. The Glory of the Lord might well have been the well know 'Light at the end of the tunnel' out or which emerges oftentimes a holy type person who is significant to the belief system of the person making the transition. Some see the Glory of the Lord without dying, whether it actually is the Glory of the Lord is another matter, naming can be a problem, now as in the past. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Apparently, once committed to passing over (not a hard choice by all accounts the pain ceases and one becomes a watcher of the scene. "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" may have been easier to think and say from that changed situation.
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Post by paul on Sept 18, 2012 9:14:30 GMT 9.5
>He fell asleep = died
That edit certainly fixes the problem. Odd though that the editors did not think of it.
>The Glory of the Lord and Jesus standing at the right hand = pre death and post death vision. Quite common, ask any hospice worker or nurse anywhere.
I wonder how much of visioning is conditioned by belief. For example Christian believers often identify as Mary one whom non-believers would call an alien.
>The Glory of the Lord might well have been the well know 'Light at the end of the tunnel'
I find it difficult to take that meaning from the OT references to the Glory of the Lord. e.g. Shekinah is derived from the Hebrew verb שכן. In Biblical Hebrew that Semitic root means literally to settle, inhabit, or dwell, and is used frequently in the Hebrew Bible. (See Exodus 40:35, "Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud rested [shakhan] upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle." (This could mean that Moses could not enter the tent because the consort of the Lord was using it)
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Post by LorrB on Sept 18, 2012 9:34:31 GMT 9.5
>The Glory of the Lord and Jesus standing at the right hand = pre death and post death vision. Quite common, ask any hospice worker or nurse anywhere. I wonder how much of visioning is conditioned by belief. For example Christian believers often identify as Mary one whom non-believers would call an alien. I guess Mary could be considered an alien if that description takes in other dimensions. With my limited experience things just felt right and proper and the information given proved useful and illuminating. (If from another planet, not solid like earth people)
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Post by LorrB on Sept 18, 2012 9:37:11 GMT 9.5
The consort of the Lord is a cloud?
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Post by paul on Sept 18, 2012 9:41:41 GMT 9.5
>The consort of the Lord is a cloud?
A confounding by later religionists.
it is possible to distinguish various cloud (& thunder) events associated with the Lord, and excessive brightness events, and the consort who was the glory of the Lord (better half).
Long after the events, in the absence of understanding it is easiest to claim that all are one.
Similarly for the wide variety of god names in the OT. All are one so now no one can ask hard questions such as why TMH gave the Lord such a small portion of the Earth people.
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Post by LorrB on Sept 18, 2012 10:32:38 GMT 9.5
The original word means the dwelling or settling, and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God, especially in the Temple in Jerusalem. The form is conveyed in a hand sign by the gesture of blessing or benediction, with the palms facing downward and the thumbs of his outspread hands touching. The four fingers on each hand are sometimes split into two sets of two fingers each, thus forming the letter Shin (ùÑ), an emblem for Shaddai.
Shekinah, Shekinah, Shechinah, Shechina, or Schechinah, (Hebrew: ùëéðäý) is the English spelling of a grammatically feminine Hebrew ancient blessing of the feminine aspect of God. The Shekinah shares some features in common with the parallel idea of Sophia (wisdom) in Christianity. Like Sofia, Shekinah has sometimes been personified and worshiped as a goddess of wisdom within contemporary pagan religions and New Age spirituality. I believe that the Shekinah could refer to the hidden aspects of God… The Holy Spirit is usually depicted by cloud or incense, which maybe indicate its ability to be infused.. or be the life of every atom. God Transcendent and God Immanent. God ‘out there’ and God ‘in here’. God/Active/masculine and God/Passive/feminine Manifestation The Shekinah is reported as being present in the acts of public prayer, ("Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekhinah rests" Talmud Sanhedrin 39a); righteous judgment ("when three sit as judges, the Shekhinah is with them." Talmud Berachot 6a), and personal need ("The Shekhinah dwells over the head side of the sick man's bed" Talmud Shabbat 12b; "Wheresoever they were exiled, the Shekhinah went with them." Megillah 29a). The Shekinah is clearly not an individual; it could not be with every exile, every sick man’s bed, every prayer meeting. We are sons of Sophia/Shekinah? Mother Nature, Binah" (split into two sets of two fingers each, thus forming the letter Shin might be a clue) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah
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Post by paul on Sept 18, 2012 10:59:51 GMT 9.5
>The Shekinah is clearly not an individual; it could not be with every exile, every sick man’s bed, every prayer meeting. It is important to separate the theology from physical events. "the Jewish God YHWH had a female consort - the goddess Asherah!" www.bibliotecapleyades.net/biblianazar/esp_biblianazar_jehovah01.htm"Asherah, (whose name means "she who walks in the sea") supposedly consort of the supreme god El, was also referred to as Elath (the goddess). According to the Ugarit tradition, whose clay tablets contain the earliest known alphabet, she was consort of El, and mother of seventy gods." It may be of interest to note that Isis was known to Egyptians as Ast (Throne).
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Post by LorrB on Sept 18, 2012 13:44:45 GMT 9.5
So YHWH and EL shared a wife who had 70 kids ... ?
It is all so confusing... and why would she 'who walks in the sea', live in a tent?
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Post by paul on Sept 18, 2012 13:48:58 GMT 9.5
>why would she 'who walks in the sea', live in a tent?
The god Ea was the god of the Apsu (abyss) the underground fresh water ocean where he had his palace. (Ea is depicted near a fall of water) If Ja is Ea (or his son) then his consort would be likewise associated with water. The tent was for visitation by the Lord when his chosen (by TMH) people were wandering in the desert.
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Post by LorrB on Sept 19, 2012 9:07:51 GMT 9.5
Back to Masonic Light In all the Degrees the candidate advances towards the East, the place of Light, but in each Degree more than in the previous one. In the first he takes three s … s - though even then they steadily increase in length - 9, 12, 15; in the second not only are there five instead of three, but they tend definitely upwards and form a staircase. In the third there are seven, and furthermore, the first three are symbolically over an o … g …, showing that, on the higher plane to which the winding staircase led him, the candidate has triumphed over death, and marches on unwaveringly along his path of progress on the other side of it. Some writers think that in taking these s … s over the o … g … the candidate should after the first s … face due north, after the second due south, and after the third due east, looking thus at the three entrances to the temple, through which H.A.B. endeavoured to escape. www.anandgholap.net/Hidden_Life_In_Freemasonry-CWL.htmAnyone like to comment on the the endeavours to escape and the three entrances to the temple?
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Post by paul on Sept 19, 2012 12:43:06 GMT 9.5
>In the first he takes three s … s - though even then they steadily increase in length - 9, 12, 15; in the second not only are there five instead of three, but they tend definitely upwards and form a staircase. In the third there are seven, and furthermore, the first three are symbolically over an o … g …, I am not sure how fundamental is this part of the ritual. The 9,12,15 may be seen as a reference to Euclid's 47th proposition - and thereby to Osiris, Isis and Horus. www.rilko.net/EZ/rilko/rilko/page07.php?PHPSESSID=h5t4r3n3bso9905t4bpvtmqlt6And the steps for the FC and MM seem as simple acting out of parts of the ritual symbolism. In some traditions the EA steps are 3 irregular, FC 2 and MM 1 with the feet heel to heel at right angle. e.g. "date of 1727, and states: .....three chalk-lines being drawn on the floor, about an equal distance, as at A, B, C,....says the Master, "Come forward"...so coming over the first line with one foot, while he sets the other square off at A;...Coming over the second line with one foot, while he sets the other square off at B;" Such a ritual contrasts the candidate's irregular steps with the WM's regular steps in approaching the candidate. >Anyone like to comment on the endeavours to escape and the three entrances to the temple? It is interesting that the 3 entrances do not correspond with the placement of the WM and WWs. I am inclined to think that several external stories are conjoined to the MM ritual so that they would not be lost. For example there is an account of James the Just (brother of Jesus) being thrown down from the walls of the temple and killed by a blow with a Fuller's club whereupon all work on the temple ceased. This account is rather similar to the traditional Hiram account and may reference another form of Christianity. Personally I would look to the raising as the essential part of the ritual and consider whether the associated drama were attached later. When I had a vision of an Egyptian raising there was no sense of such a drama - candidate escorted by deacons, into "grave" cut out of the floor of the temple and then impulsed out of the body and taken out into the solar system, thereby seeing the sun at its meridian. "about midnight I saw the sun brightly shine; I saw likewise the gods celestial and the gods infernal, before whom I presented myself and worshiped them." www.sacred-texts.com/cla/pr/pr09.htm
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