Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

Honoring Bast

Page: 1(2)

20:09 / 11.10.04

um, isnt he supposed to be chained to a rock with venom dripping on him until ragnarok at the moment? or is that in Sandman?

Unconditional Love

04:07 / 12.10.04

research research research, one problem, it will tell you fuck all about the diety itself and alot about the devotee or researcher, an unpopular opinion, the books will not help you at all, sell them all on amazon or ebay, get an idol of bast place it before you and meditate on it.

after a time, however long you deem nessecary(in terms of daily meditation) then the books may be useful, cross reference your experience with the experience of others, otherwise its easy to conform to others research or expectation once consumed, if you are in contact with a diety your experience will probably have commonality to another devotees and there writings but not always.

is my experience authentic? worthwhile? only you are the judge of that, not somebody elses ramblings, they make good reference points later in practice, but to begin with they load the devotion in certain directions.

being an information junky i hardly ever take my own advice.

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:16 / 12.10.04

Hmmm. My NVQ in carpentry *did* involve a lot of staring at walls, certainly. I guess you're talking about a "receptive" meditation, Wolfangel - trance state?

trouser the trouserian

08:25 / 12.10.04

Fair point Wolfangel, though I do feel research has its place. It's entirely possible - and I've done this on more than one occasion with obscure deities - to just start working with an image of a deity (or even just a name) and record what emerges from meditation or ritual directed towards them. Creative-exploratory techniques, such as painting, sculpture, automatic writing or attempting to meet the deity in dreams can be useful here.

...they make good reference points later in practice, but to begin with they load the devotion in certain directions.

Again, a valid point, but isn't this always going to be a factor anyway - i.e. that we tend to approach deities with which we want to enter into a magical relationship - with particular preconceptions and assumptions about them anyway? Doing research into a deity can uncover subtle nuances and complexities about them that we otherwise might not be aware of. In one sense, doing 'research' around a deity is akin to reading the biographies of someone you admire, which, useful though it may be, still doesn't quite lessen the impact of actually meeting them in the flesh.

15:06 / 12.10.04

Rodents, but also serpents - the first attested feline deity, Mafdet (?), is killing a serpent on a pyramid wall painting, I think.

Funny you should mention that, Haus. I read awhile back that Bast was a warrior for Ra, slaying the serpent Apep in his defence. I also recall a passage from Burroughs (The Place of Dead Roads, I believe...correct me if I'm wrong) in which there is a description of a tapestry featuring a blood-soaked Bast wielding a scythe.

Could Mafdet be Bast by another name? Or is the warrior goddess aspect just the result of some researcher's confusion?

trouser the trouserian

15:27 / 12.10.04

As I understand it Mafdet predates both Bast and Sekhmet historically - I've seen references to her as being either a cheetah or panther-headed goddess. Whilst she is generally considered to be feline, she's not to my knowledge associated with domestic cats.

20:34 / 12.10.04

Yes, Mafdet was a very old goddess whose worship was more or less supplanted by Bast and Sekhmet, who absorbed many of her attributes. Bast became the serpent-killer, the defender of Ra and slayer of Apep. Thus, even though Mafdet was identified with a panther, Bast with a cat, and Sekhmet with a lion, some consider them all to be aspects or versions of each other... and of course, there's also some confounding with Tefnut, Mut and Hathor. It's all very confusing.

(And Loki can apparently still cause plenty of trouble, even though he is supposedly bound. Gods, you know. Space and time aren't as much of an issue...)

20:54 / 12.10.04

In that case I suppose you have to wonder what the point of binding him was in the first place.

02:21 / 13.10.04

Call up Odin and Thor and that lot. Ask them.

As nebulous as the subject of "time" is in the Norse material - consider that every detail of Ragnarok is already spelled out, though presumably that hasn't yet occurred - I don't find it that surprising that someone as clever and tricky as the son of Laufey might slip through it.

Or, if it helps, consider that when invoking a godform, one might be working with an archetype, or a type of energy, characterized as a deity, rather than with an actual entity. In Loki's case, that energy would be extremely volatile, I should think. And it wouldn't be held back by mythological wolf guts.

Unconditional Love

05:31 / 13.10.04

yes, thats what i am getting at trance induced knowledge, intuitive knowledge, and meaning.

if you were sculpting wood you may actually contemplate it for a long time, and let what was in the wood make itself known.ever read the passage by chuang tzu about the butchers knife and the carving of meat, the tao of butchery, the art of the butcher. the art of the gardener, or the art of a cleaner or bartender.

academia is also very good at stripping common people of there dignity and devotional practice.the authority of academia is something i have issue with it perpetuates a class structure that has basically shit on my family for a few generations, education that teaches us to be slaves,great.

theres no freedom in information freedom is an action.

excuse the rant.

i can see the benefit of books and have gained alot from them but, theres a point where i felt i was little more than a book collector, more reading majik than actually being involved in a practice, which probably accounts for a strong reaction in me to the idea that book led research is a must.

perhaps it is for the first 17 years or so, then perhaps its not so nessecary, still a fall back,but not as important as it was to begin with. i think the actual practice becomes important, i guess i am trying to emphasise that to myself more than anybody else.

its not my absolute lack of respect for institutionalised information or my desire to see it burnt to the ground.

honest guv.

burns soap box waves it above head.

Unconditional Love

10:48 / 14.10.04

erm, the above post was a bit flippant of me, sorry about that.

Page: 1(2)