More More Tony Kline on Mephistopheles“Worded as it is, the pact makes Mephistopheles the agent of finding Faust a reason to rest, without which he, Mephistopheles, could not win, and yet his true role is the opposite, to make sure Faust never rests. “Pasted from <http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/TheRestlessSpiritPartII.htm>
More Tony Kline on Mephistopheles
More Tony Kline on Mephistopheles“(Goethe’s) Faust turns away from unnatural learning, and from the pursuit of intellectual Truth. Rejected by the overpowering Earth-Spirit, he makes his pact with Mephistopheles. Mephisto will provoke him to activity in order to find what will content Faust, and make him desire the Moment to continue, winning the wager if Faust finds that contentment. Mephisto is therefore, as the Creative Spirit, God, proclaims, the agent planted on Earth within man to stir him to activity, and as Mephisto himself says forces him to work the good while attempting to work evil. “Pasted from <http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/TheRestlessSpiritPartII.htm>
Tony Kline on Mephistopheles
Tony Kline on Mephistopheles“Mephistopheles can be regarded legitimately as that aspect of Faust that denies: the aspect that undermines human activity, and declares it worthless, since the results of all human effort are doomed to vanish. Gretchen, Galatea, Helen, and the Virgin represent the aspect of Faust that aspires and is drawn towards the higher. God in the Prologue in Heaven is a mock-serious personification of the Creative forces of the universe that Goethe identifies with Love. Nature is a backcloth throughout representing the fundamentally beneficent aspects of reality. “Pasted from <http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/TheRestlessSpiritPartII.htm>
Magic – necromancy in Astrology
Magic – necromancy in Astrology:Goethe’s Faust:Astrologer. Receive with reverent awe star-granted hoursBy magic’s spells enthralled be Reason’s powers,And in its stead, arising far and free,Reign glorious, daring Phantasy!What you desired so boldly, be it now perceived;It is impossible, therefore to be believed.
Goethe’s Faust: Mephistopheles. Perhaps you think I’m trying to betray you
From Goethe’s Faust:
“Mephistopheles. Perhaps you think I’m trying to betray you;Well, here’s the astrologer; ask him, I pray you.Circle on circle, hour and house he knows.Tell us then what the heavenly aspect shows.Murmurs.Two rogues- each to the other known-Dreamer and Fool- so near the throne-An ancient ditty- worn and weak-The Fool will prompt- the Sage will speak-Astrologer [MEPHISTOPHELES prompting him].The Sun himself is gold of purest ray,The herald Mercury serves for love and pay;Dame Venus has bewitched you all, for she,In youth and age, looks on you lovingly.Chaste Luna has her humours whimsical;The strength of Mars, though striking not, threats all;And Jupiter is still the fairest star.Saturn is great, small to our eyes and far;Him as a metal we don’t venerate,Little in worth but heavy in his weight.Ah, when with Sol chaste Luna doth unite,Silver with gold, the world is glad and bright.It’s easy then to get all that one seeks:Parks, palaces, and breasts and rosy cheeks.All these procures the highly learned manWho can perform what one of us never can.Emperor. All that he says I hear twice o’er,And yet I’m not convinced the more.Murmurs.What’s all this smoke- a worn-out joke-Astrology- or alchemy-An oft-heard strain- hope stirred in vain-If he appear- a rogue is here-“
A few references to potions from Goethe’s Faust
[A few references to potions from Goethe’s Faust:]Goethe’s Witch’s Kitchen:
“With this drink in your body, soon you’ll greetA Helena in every girl you meet.”
[A potion is given to Gretch to give to her mom. But the difference between a medicine and a poison, they say (Paracelsus said), is in the dose ( target=”_blank”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dose_makes_the_poison). It doesn’t go well. It kills her:]
Margaret. Ah, if I only slept apart!For you I’d gladly leave the bolt undrawn tonight,But then my mother’s sleep is light;And were we found by her, dear heart,I would fall dead upon the spot!Faust. No need of that! You angel, fear it not!Here is a little phial Only threeDrops in her drink, and pleasantlyDeep slumber will enfold her like a charm!Margaret. For your sake what would I not do?I hope it will not do her harm!Faust. If so, my love, would I thus counsel you?
The historical Faust was not (known to be) accused of
The historical Faust was not (known to be) accused of signing a pact with the devil. See p 96 of Leo Ruickbie’s:Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance MagicianPasted from <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0750950900>
The most dangerous form of black magic is the scientific
While only in his late twenties, Manly Palmer Hall published his The Secret Teachings of All Ages – An Encyclopedia Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolic Philosophy in 1928. It was a remarkable effort for such a young man, and The Secret Teachings of All Ages remains a remarkable book.
“The most dangerous form of black magic is the scientific perversion of occult power for the gratification of personal desire. Its less complex and more universal form is human selfishness, for selfishness is the fundamental cause of all worldly evil. A man will barter his eternal soul for temporal power, and down through the ages a mysterious process has been evolved which actually enables him to make this exchange. In its various branches the black art includes nearly all forms of ceremonial magic, necromancy, witchcraft, sorcery, and vampirism. Under the same general heading are also included mesmerism and hypnotism, except when used solely for medical purposes, and even then there is an element of risk for all concerned.”
Pasted from <http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta24.htm> THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGESby Manly P. HallAt <http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/>
The ancient and revered emblem of the Mysteries….
[This is from Manley-Hall’s famous 1928 book, The Secret Teachings Of All Ages:
“Among the ancient Egyptians and Jews the acacia, or tamarisk, was held in the highest religious esteem; and among modern Masons, branches of acacia, cypress, cedar, or evergreen are still regarded as most significant emblems. The shittim-wood used by the children of Israel in the construction of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant was a species of acacia. In describing this sacred tree, Albert Pike has written: “The genuine acacia, also, is the thorny tamarisk, the same tree which grew around the body of Osiris. It was a sacred tree among the Arabs, who made of it the idol Al-Uzza, which Mohammed destroyed. It is abundant as a bush in the desert of Thur; and of it the ‘crown of thorns’ was composed, which was set on the forehead of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a fit type of immortality on account of its tenacity of life; for it has been known, when planted as a door-post, to take root again and shoot out budding boughs above the threshold.” (See Morals and Dogma.)It is quite possible that much of the veneration accorded the acacia is due to the peculiar attributes of the mimosa, or sensitive plant, with which it was often identified by the ancients. There is a Coptic legend to the effect that the sensitive plant was the first of all trees or shrubs to worship Christ. The rapid growth of the acacia and its beauty have also caused it to be regarded as emblematic of fecundity and generation.The symbolism of the acacia is susceptible of four distinct interpretations: (1) it is the emblem of the vernal equinox–the annual resurrection of the solar deity; (2) under the form of the sensitive plant which shrinks from human touch, the acacia signifies purity and innocence, as one of the Greek meanings of its name implies; (3) it fittingly typifies human immortality and regeneration, and under the form of the evergreen represents that immortal part of man which survives the destruction of his visible nature; (4) it is the ancient and revered emblem of the Mysteries, and candidates entering the tortuous passageways in which the ceremonials were given carried in their hands branches of these sacred plants or small clusters of sanctified flowers.”The Secret Teachings Of All AgesBy Manly P. Hall[1928]Pasted from <http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta22.htm>
[This was written in 1928… some Acacia/Mimosa/etc. species contain highly psychoactive DMT. We wonder what Manley-Hall might have made of that.]
A Disputatio, or Inquiry Concerning the Art of Astronomia, or Astrologia
From the original Faust Book manuscript of 1580(?):
A Disputatio, or Inquiry Concerningthe Art of Astronomia, or AstrologiaXIII:
“One time after Doctor Faustus had been contriving and producing such horoscopes and almanacs for about two years he did ask his spirit about the nature of astronomia or astrologia as practiced by the mathematici. The spirit gave answer, saying: My Lord Fauste, it is so ordained that the ancient haruspices and modern stargazers are unable to forecast anything particularly certain, for these are deep mysteries of God which mortals cannot plumb as we spirits can, who hover in the air beneath Heaven where we can see and mark what God bath predestined. Yes, we are ancient spirits, experienced in the Heavenly movements. Why, Lord Fauste, I could make thee a perpetual calendar for the setting of horoscopes and almanacs or for nativity investigations one year after the other. –Thou hast seen that I have never lied to thee. Now it is true that the Patriarchs, who lived for five and six hundred years, did comprehend the fundamentals of this art and became very adept. For when such a great number of years elapse a lunisolar period is completed, and the older generation can apprise the younger of it. Except for that, all green, inexperienced astrologi have to set up their horoscopes arbitrarily according to conjecture.”
Pasted from <http://lettersfromthedustbowl.com/Fbk2.html>