Dogstar Galactica

"Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." - Saul/St. Paul, Galatians 3:23-25

A Yankee in the Court of the Crimson King

I believe that many a person has examined man with a microscope in every age of the world; has found that he did not even resemble the creature he was pretending to be; has perceived that a civilization not a proper matter for derision has always been and must always remain impossible to him--and has put away his microscope and kept his mouth shut. - Samuel Clemens, a letter to Carl Thalbitzer

The Masonic Paradox

The substance of all such paganism may be summarised thus. It is an attempt to reach the divine reality through the imagination alone; in its own field reason does not restrain it at all. It is vital to this view of all history that reason is something separate from religion even in the most rational of these civilisations. It is only as an afterthought, when such cults are decadent or on the defensive, that a few Neo-Platonists or a few Brahmins are found trying to rationalise them, and even then only by trying to allegorise them. But in reality the rivers of mythology and philosophy run parallel and do not mingle till they meet in the sea of Christendom. - G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Ethics

In the spiritual world there are three heavens, arranged according to degrees of height. In the highest heavens are angels superior in every perfection to the angels in the middle heaven; and in the middle heaven are angels superior in every perfection to the angels in the lowest heaven. The degrees of perfections are such, that angels of the lowest heaven cannot attain to the first threshold of the perfections of the angels of the middle heaven, nor these to the first threshold of the perfections of the angels of the highest heaven. This seems incredible, yet it is a truth. The reason is that they are consociated according to discrete, not according to continuous degrees. I have learned from observation that the difference between the affections and thoughts, and consequently the speech, of the angels of the higher and the lower heavens, is such that they have nothing in common; and that communication takes place only through correspondences, which have existence by immediate influx of the Lord into all the heavens, and by mediate influx through the highest heaven into the lowest. Such being the nature of these differences, they cannot be expressed in natural language, therefore not described; for the thoughts of angels, being spiritual, do not fall into natural ideas. They can be expressed and described only by angels themselves, in their own languages, words, and writings, and not in those that are human. This is why it is said that in the heavens unspeakable things are heard and seen. These differences may be in some measure comprehended when it is known that the thoughts of angels of the highest or third heaven are thoughts of ends; the thoughts of angels of the middle or second heaven thoughts of causes, and the thoughts of angels of the lowest or first heaven thoughts of effects. It must be noted, that it is one thing to think from ends, and another to think about ends; that it is one thing to think from causes, and another to think about causes; and that it is one thing to think from effects, and another to think about effects. Angels of the lower heavens think about causes and about ends, but angels of the higher heavens from causes and from ends; and to think from these is a mark of higher wisdom, but to think about these is the mark of lower wisdom. To think from ends is of wisdom, to think from causes is of intelligence, and to think from effects is of knowledge. From all this it is clear that all perfection ascends and descends along with degrees and according to them. - Emanuel Swedenborg, Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom 202

The Temple

The Temple represents the external Universe. The Magician must take it as he finds it, so that it is of no particular shape; yet we find it written, Liber VII, vi, 2: "We made us a Temple of stones in the shape of the Universe, even as thou didst wear openly and I concealed." This shape is the Vesica Piscis; but it is only the greatest of Magicians who can thus fashion a Temple. There may, however, be some choice of rooms; this refers to the power of the Magician to reincarnate in a suitable body. - Aleister Crowley, Book 4

Man, before engaging in any great or important undertaking, should always invoke the blessings of Deity.

"When the God-force of creation acts upon the thought-idea of the universe, the God-force demonstrates the principle contained in the divine Idea and the universe comes into being—forever 'creating'. The Supreme Ruler of all things can do only two things: THINK and ACT. Out of balanced thought and action, God’s creating universe appears." - Walter Russell

So Mote It Be