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Author Topic: Christo-paganism  (Read 6078 times)

RecycledBenedict

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Re: Christo-paganism
« Reply #15 on: July 28, 2015, 08:34:33 am »
Quote from: Demophon;177853
It is interesting, and I've often wondered if Gardner was influenced at all by the Oxford Movement, which started in the mid-nineteenth century as a revival of the Catholic style of worship within the Church of England, and was becoming more prominent by the early 20th century. Anglican churches that follow this movement (also called Tractarian or Anglo-Catholic) have a much stronger medieval flavour than even Roman Catholic churches post-Vatican II, and if they use the Book of Common Prayer, the services are in Elizabethan English that BTW witches seem to like so much, too. there are usually lots of candles and incense in these kinds of churches, as well as ornately decorated altars and statues of the Madonna and other saints.


Gardner was a friend of JSM Ward. Ward was a bishop of a very small denomination, Orthodox Catholic Church, the members of which were mostly former Anglo-Catholics. OCC got its apostolic succession from a Syriac Orthodox lineage, and worship was very ritualistic. If I remember correctly, Ward even ordained Gardner a priest in OCC, but I might be wrong in this regard.

Quote from: Demophon;177853
I've always found Wiccan ritual in general to be very similar to Catholicism, maybe because it is the most accessible form of mysticism and borderline "magical" ritual in western society, so it could have been a source of inspiration for occultists.


The following prayer by Luigi Felici (1797) was very popular among Anglo-Catholics at the time of Gardner and Ward.

Quote
Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints. Amen


I leave each user to draw their own conclusions.

Otherwise, many of those, who compare currents within British magic with Anglican Christians, tend to put Wicca in the Low Church end of the spectrum, in contrast to the more High Church ceremonial magicians.

RecycledBenedict

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Re: Christo-paganism
« Reply #16 on: July 28, 2015, 09:18:40 am »
Quote from: Demophon;177853
I've always found Wiccan ritual in general to be very similar to Catholicism, maybe because it is the most accessible form of mysticism and borderline "magical" ritual in western society, so it could have been a source of inspiration for occultists.


Not Wicca as much as ceremonial magic as it was practiced before Eliphas Levi and Golden Dawn. There are several examples out there of ceremonial magicians of the 16th century who used the standard Roman Catholic blessing of holy water and asperging in order to purify and consecrated the circle they had drawn in mud (outdoors) or written in chalk (indoors). For this, take a look at Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) or Book of Oberon (edited by Daniel Harms 2015).

Some late mediaeval or renaissance grimoires are very Catholic in tone. John of Morigny prayed the office proper for Christmas over talismans in order to achieve knowledge of the seven liberal arts.

Hail Mary and the Athanasian Creed (among many other prayers) were used in Liber Juratus in order to achieve a vision of God.

The talismans in The Enchiridion (erroneously ascribed to Leo III) depict the Chi-Rho Christ Labarum, the pierced side of Christ and the Franciscan Tau-cross.

It was once an entire genre, but since these grimoires weren't in the taste of Westcott and Mathers, English speaking ceremonial magic have to a great extent forgotten these books since the 1880's.

Demophon

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Re: Christo-paganism
« Reply #17 on: July 28, 2015, 04:26:00 pm »
Quote from: FraterBenedict;177873
Gardner was a friend of JSM Ward. Ward was a bishop of a very small denomination, Orthodox Catholic Church, the members of which were mostly former Anglo-Catholics. OCC got its apostolic succession from a Syriac Orthodox lineage, and worship was very ritualistic. If I remember correctly, Ward even ordained Gardner a priest in OCC, but I might be wrong in this regard.


Oh wow, that's really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Quote from: FraterBenedict;177873
The following prayer by Luigi Felici (1797) was very popular among Anglo-Catholics at the time of Gardner and Ward.

I leave each user to draw their own conclusions.


Yes, the Divine Praises, which are usually recited during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Anglo-Catholics who follow the Alcuin tradition don't use them, since they were written after the English reformation, but those who look to the modern Roman Church for liturgical authority do. The church I go to inserts a few more for their patron saints.

The Divine Praises do resemble a certain part of Wiccan liturgy.

Quote from: FraterBenedict;177873
Otherwise, many of those, who compare currents within British magic with Anglican Christians, tend to put Wicca in the Low Church end of the spectrum, in contrast to the more High Church ceremonial magicians.


That makes sense. I think Vivianne Crowley wrote something similar in her book on Wicca, or at least that Gardnerian Witchcraft was "Low Church" and Alexandrian Witchcraft was "High Church" because they have more influence from ceremonial magic.

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