tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post2336531502485691270..comments2024-02-20T09:54:37.105-06:00Comments on Talking About Ritual Magick: Novemberist Work - Where Did the Year Go?Frater.Barrabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689013897789072360noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-1545345898638056482011-12-01T11:38:53.112-06:002011-12-01T11:38:53.112-06:00@Jack Faust - I looked over the article abstract t...@Jack Faust - I looked over the article abstract that you posted. I found it interesting, but that aside, scholars today don't really know very much about the mysteries, and that would likely include the rest of us, too. <br /><br />Since Iamblichus was a follower and possibly an initiate of the Pythagorean mysteries, scholars (like Gregory Shaw) seem to think that his stated reversal from his established Neoplatonic tradition had more to do with that association. It would seem that Iamblichus' positive perspective on the material world was due to his involvement in the mysteries rather than just due to his own intellectual perspectives.<br /><br />So I think that it was because of his involvement and proposed engagement with traditional religious teachings and the mysteries that Iamblichus resolved the dualistic perceptions of Neoplatonism, and not that the mysteries supplied them in the first place.<br /><br />Also, in regards to the myth of Orpheus, how do we know that in the mystery cult of Orpheus a different myth was celebrated where Orpheus was successful in leading his wife from out of the underworld? Or maybe that rather dismal failure had a completely different interpretation from what was accepted by outsiders? The fact of the matter is that we don't know much about this or any other of the mystery traditions. The ancients were very faithful in keeping their oaths of secrecy, so we can only guess or imagine what the mysteries were like, since no one wrote anything down. <br /><br />FBFrater.Barrabbashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11689013897789072360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-55922859662233921582011-12-01T09:38:25.311-06:002011-12-01T09:38:25.311-06:00Watch out for that Neo-Platonic curmudgeon over th...Watch out for that Neo-Platonic curmudgeon over there coming your way!Imperator David Griffinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05569334890339311989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-16318069929063779172011-11-30T18:20:29.468-06:002011-11-30T18:20:29.468-06:00More appropriate reference point: http://www.camws...More appropriate reference point: http://www.camws.org/meeting/2010/program/abstracts/10C2.SmithAlden.pdfJack Fausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13693993943756621762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-4989172183458503482011-11-30T17:52:48.034-06:002011-11-30T17:52:48.034-06:00" This latent pessimism can also be found, al..." This latent pessimism can also be found, although ambiguously, in two of Plato’s famous dialogues, which were the “Phaedo” and the “Phaedrus.”..."<br /><br />The representations of life and death depicted in Phaedo, by Socrates, and of its meaning descend for Orphism, not from Neo-Platonism. That pessimism acts as an elevating factor for the Orphic mysteries.Jack Fausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13693993943756621762noreply@blogger.com