Still Running Off at the Keyboard

OBAMA AND THE ANARCHIST ?

A reader sent in a link to this National Review Online story:

While the Obama coronation proceeds apace in Denver, it is in Chicago that Americans are getting a disturbing demonstration of his thuggish methods of stifling criticism.

Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Harvard-educated social anthropologist and frequent contributor to National Review, among other publications. He is widely respected for his meticulous research and measured commentary. For months, he has been doing the job the mainstream media refuses to do: examining the background and public record of Barack Obama, the first-term senator Democrats are about to make their nominee for president despite the shallowness of his experience and achievement.

Kurtz has written extensively, and with characteristic attention to factual detail, about Obama’s early career as a “community organizer,” his cultivation of benefactors in the most radical cauldrons of Chicago politics, his long-time pastor’s immersion in Black Liberation Theology, his ties to anti-American zealots, and the years in the Illinois state legislature this self-styled agent of change spent practicing the by-the-numbers left-wing politics of redistribution and race-consciousness, remaining soft on crime and extreme on abortion.

This has led Kurtz, naturally, to scrutinize the relationship between Obama and one of his early political sponsors, William Ayers. Ayers, as we have previously detailed, is a confessed terrorist who, having escaped prosecution due to surveillance violations that came to light during his decade on the lam after a bombing spree, landed an influential professorship in education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). As he has made clear several times before and after helping to launch Obama’s political career, Ayers remains defiantly proud of bombing the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, and other targets. He expresses regret only that he didn’t do more. Far from abandoning his radical politics, he has simply changed methods: the classroom, rather than the detonator, is now his instrument for campaigning against an America he portrays as racist and imperialist.

Obama supporters risibly complain that shining a light on the Obama/Ayers relationship is a “smear” and smacks of “guilt by association.” A presidential candidate’s choice to associate himself with an unrepentant terrorist would be highly relevant in any event — does anyone think the Obamedia would keep mum if John McCain had a long-standing relationship with David Duke or an abortion-clinic bomber?

Read the rest..., and remember that birds of a feather flock.

"DECODING THE PAST: SECRETS OF KABBALAH"

That is the title of a DVD produced in 2006 by the History Channel. I brought it home from the library and watched it the other day. Interesting. It not only provides the history of Jewish mysticism that led to the Kabbalah, it also has interviews with several representatives of the Jewish faith including Boaz Huss.

Huss's curriculum vitae indicates he is Associate Professor, Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University in Israel. He has been an Assistant Professor at Yale University and spent his 2002 sabbatical at Harvard. His Ph.D. was done under Moshe Idel at Hebrew University, Jerusalem on the history of Jewish thought--all of which indicates that he speaks with authority.

Huss is not a polished speaker. He stops, restarts, rewords and backtracks his ideas. However, in the DVD Huss tells us roughly:

Destructing [sic] the ego is turning the will to receive into the will and destroying it is becoming divine...This is actually an idea of a Kabbalistic theme, but that fits very well New Age ideas of constructing, fighting, combatting the ego seen as something superficial and finding the inner self--inner divine self-- is a New Age interpretation of Kabbalah but it's based on a Kabbalistic theme that is previous to this New Age interpretation.

Kabbalah is perceived as sacred to many Orthodox Jews who perceive Kabbalah in a very different way (from that which is presented by the Kabbalah Center). For them teaching Kabbalah to Gentiles for instance is a red line that should not be crossed.

It wasn't entirely clear what he was trying to say, but I thought I heard that New Age came out of the teachings of the Kabbalah. I went searching online for clarification, and found a three-part paper by Huss, "The New Age of Kabbalah and Postmodern Spirituality".

Huss writes:

The contemporary revival of Kabbalah in Israel is a wide ranging phenomenon. The interest in and practice of Kabbalah appear in all segments of Israeli Jewish society – Ashkenzim and Mizrachim, Ultra orthodox, National Religious, and Secular, native Israelis as well as new immigrants, low income sectors as well as the rich and the famous.

So much for exempting various sectors of non-monolithic Judaism from the embrace of the Kabbalah, at least in Israel.

In Part 2 Huss writes:

Many of the leaders and clients of the new Kabbalah movements belonged previously to New Age movements, and many still participate in New Age activities....

Rabbi Michael Leitman, the leader of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah movement, who immigrated to Israel from Russia in the 70's, and studied with R. Yehuda Ashlag's son, Rabbi Baruch, recently sponsored public screenings of the recent New Age Movie, `What the Blip Do We Know`

I believe this is the same Rabbi Michael Leitman who recently had a U.S. tour promoting Kabbalah.

Several New Kabbalah movements integrate explicit New Age terminology and themes in their doctrines and practices.

Among these practices Huss lists astrology, soul energy, channeling mystical energy, and a combining of science and Kabbalah.

New Age themes appear also in the cultural productions of R. Michael Leitman and Bnei Baruch group[7], who concentrate on the study and dispersion of R. Yehuda Ashlag`s Kabbalah. The belief in consciousness` power to change reality, a typical New Age idea, is central to teaching of Bnei Baruch (as well as to the Kabbalah Center). Like many New Age authors, Leitman (similar to Aricha and Berg) uses scientific vocabulary extensively, and claims that his Kabbalistic teachings are compatible with contemporary science.

This compatibility between spirituality and science is the foundation for the Templeton Prize.

The use of modern scientific vocabulary and the claim that Kabbalah and modern science are compatible is also characteristic to the teaching of R. Isaac Ginsburg, the ultra National-Hasidic Kabbalist[8], notorious for the book he edited in praise of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. Although Ginsburg rejects Yoga, Reiki and Tai Chi[9], he develops typical New Age meditative and healing practices, and one of his recent books is entitled `Body, Mind, Soul – Kabbalah on Human Physiology, Disease and Healing (2004). The struggle against one's Ego, and the aspiration to connect with one's inner, sanctified self – typical of what Paul Heelas called New Age `self spirituality`[10] - are central themes in the teaching of Ginsburg, as well as of other contemporary Kabbalists. The psychological emphasis of Ginsburg's Kabbalah (which comes to the fore in the title of his book, `Transforming Darkness into Light: Kabbalah and Psychology` 2002), is not derived only from his Hasidic sources, and reflects a typical New Age tendency.

Integration of New Age themes appears also in the teachings of the Ashlagian Kabbalists of Or Ha-Ganuz.

In Part 3 Huss writes:

I believe that the resemblance between the New Age and contemporary Kabbalah is dependent not only on the adoption of New Age themes by contemporary Kabbalists, but also on the postmodern nature of both these phenomena. New Age culture, Contemporary Kabbalah, as well as various other contemporary New Religious Movements, are, as I will turn to argue now, an expression of what Wouter Hanegraaff termed `Postmodern Spirituality`....

...postmodern spirituality is primarily practical knowledge. New Age, as well as Contemporary Kabbalah concentrates mostly on practices, such as meditations, spiritual and physical exercises, proper nutrition, and healing. Postmodern spirituality offers its consumers techniques and spiritual experience rather than articles of faith, myths, or grand narratives....

The legitimacy and value of practices in postmodern spirituality is dependent on their perception as efficient rather than on their belonging to a compelling and authoritative religious or ideological system.

Observers of the postmodern condition describe a major feature of postmodern culture by the terms `pastiche`, the imitation without irony of previous styles,[3] and `bricolage`, the combination of previous cultural productions without concealing their origin. These features comes to the fore in the eclectic and syncretistic nature of New Age and Contemporary Kabbalah, that re-cycles and re-combines signifiers and practices taken from a wider variety of sources, without concealing their origin, or trying to integrate them into a melting pot of a unified grand narrative. The blurring of distinction between `high` and popular culture, which is a distinct feature of postmodern culture is expressed in the integration of scientific terminology with popular practices, as well as in the blurring of distinctions between religion and show business which are typical to New Age and contemporary Kabbalah. Thus, we find in postmodern spiritual culture productions a combination of diverse themes such as Tarot cards and Quantums, Sefirot and Chakras, Pop star celebrities and Noble laureates....

The spiritual practices and production of the New Age and of contemporary Kabbalah are marketable commodities, integrated into global Capitalism’s general commodity production...
...this negative attitude is dependent on the modernist perspective that aspires to separate the `religious` and `the spiritual` from the economic and political arena. The cultural logic of late capitalism, which is expressed in postmodern spirituality, defies this division, and does not see a contradiction between economic and spiritual value.

This last claim seems to be reflected in the tendency of New Age spiritual leaders to heavily market their spiritual teaching. I think it is also reflected in the activities of churches such as New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine's concerts. Here in the Akron area, St. Bernard's Church in downtown Akron is also used for concerts. Also we know how much of a bone of contention liturgical dance has become. That, too, would appear to be on the cutting edge of the invasion of postmodern spirituality into traditional Catholicism.

This brings up that Biblical claim that we can't serve God and Mammon.

In any case reading Huss's essay confirmed in my mind that New Age has borrowed heavily from Jewish mysticism, and that this New Age theology finds a comfortable home in Judaism in Israel, and elsewhere. It does not have a comfortable home in Catholicism which rejects New Age beliefs and practices according to the Vatican document "Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life". It is this conflict in concepts that makes the history of Opus Angelorum, and their teaching which was originally based in the Kabbalah problematic to a much greater degree than just the ordinary shenanigans of left-leaning liberals.

Without understanding the nature of Kabbalah with its use of channeling, one cannot easily discern the dangers in the teachings of Opus Angelorum and its use of contact with guardian angels. It is the angels--fallen angels--that Catholic theology claims are contacted when engaging in the activity of channeling. For this reason the stubborn resistence of Opus Angelorum to the changes required by the CDF, and their continued reference to Gabriele Bitterlich and her automatic writing on their website is a red flag of danger that this group may not be teaching authentic Catholic spirituality.

OBAMA'S CITIZENSHIP

The matter is not yet dead according to The Times Herald. He might be a citizen of Kenya, which would make him ineligible for the Presidency.

MORE DENNIS KUCINICH

Libertarian Presidential candidate Ron Paul says that if he were not running, his choice for President would be Dennis Kucinich. Paul says Kucinich is a good friend of his.

Turn about is fair play says the old cliche. Kucinich picks Ron Paul for his running mate.

So the question becomes, do birds of a New Age feather flock together?

CONTINUING YESTERDAY'S KUCINICH INVESTIGATION

Yesterday I posted links tying Kucinich to Shirley MacLain and indicating that he considered Chris Griscom of the Light Institute to be a "teacher" and "friend".

Here is a page in Griscom's The Light Institute website. There is little doubt about its New Age theme.

I found a description of the psychic event that MacLain experienced with Chris Griscom in which MacLain was taught how to talk to trees. You can read it in a cached version here of a book titled THE NEW EARTH: THE ASCENSION OF PLANET EARTH, BOOK I: THE HIGHER SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.

MacLain describes her "meeting for the first time with her own Higher Self":

I saw the form of a very tall, overpoweringly confident, almost androgynous Human Being. A graceful, folded cream-colored garment flowed over a figure seven feet tall, with long arms resting calmly at its side. Even longer fingers extended from the arms. The energy of the form seemed more masculine than feminine to me. The skin of the Being was ruddy and its hair was long to the shoulders and auburn colored. The face had high cheekbones and a straight, chiseled nose. The eyes were deep, deep blue and the expression was supremely kind, yet strong. It raised its arms in outstretched welcome. I got an Oriental feeling from it, more Oriental than Western. And I had the intuitive feeling that it was extremely protective, full of patience, yet capable of great wrath. It was simple, but so powerful that it seemed to 'know' all there was to know. I was flabbergasted at what I saw, and what I felt about it.

"Who are you?" I asked, hardly daring to hear what it would say, nor what to make of this kind of dimensional experience. The Being smiled at me and embraced me!

"I am your Higher Unlimited Self," it said.

I also found a FoxNews.com article about Dennis Kucinich's third wife--the one he married when Shirley MacLain attended the wedding. The article headline describes her as a "New Age, Tongue-Pierced Brit." There is a 31-year age difference between them:

A British girl from Essex, in southern England, may be the first lady with a tongue stud to have set her sights on the White House.

The wife of Dennis Kucinich, a left-wing Democratic congressman and 2008 presidential candidate, is a 29-year-old hippie chick from Upminster at the end of the London Underground’s District line.

Elizabeth Kucinich, née Harper, has been on the stump with her husband, a 60-year-old anti-war campaigner from Cleveland, mingling with the likes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama backstage at the Democratic presidential debates.

The article quotes her: "Can you imagine what it would be like to have real love in the White House and a true union between the masculine and the feminine?" Yes, unfortunately I can.

We are also told that "Her mother runs a healing and therapy center and passed on her love of new age philosophy to her daughter."

She met Kucinich while volunteering for the American Monetary Institute, "an offbeat group dedicated to reforming the "unjust monetary system" according to FOX.

I have to wonder whether the "mingling" of Kucinich, Obama, and Clinton backstage at the presidential debates produced a meeting of minds?

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

NEW AGE, UFOs AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY - DENNIS KUCINICH

A discussion about the Rapture on Constance Cumbey's blog yesterday reminded me that I had seen discussion of a rapture in New Age/UFO websites, and I went looking for that information. One of the websites, UFO Digest, happened to mention Dennis Kucinich. Since he was (still is on an independent ticket?) a candidate for President, this looked worth pursuing. From the website:

The ETs may go on Larry King and be praised by the likes of Shirley MacLain or Dennis Kucinich or the National Press Club but do not be fooled. They are masters of deception. They may tell you that they are peaceful and have your best interests at heart but do not be deceived.

All that they have ever wanted was to keep you from the truth of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Well!

Dennis Kucinich was mayor of Cleveland at one time. During his term of office a recall was attempted and failed. He stirred Cleveland politics like no one else ever has. It was nightly entertainment to turn on the evening news and see what Dennis had done today. I'm still not sure how he was elected to Congress. In any case, this merited further investigation.

Next I found a Crunchy Con article about Dennis, Shirley, and the UFO. It seems that Rod Dreher took this seriously. He wrote:

The Wall Street Journal sussed out two people who saw the UFO with Dennis Kucinich back in the day, and got them to talk about it. Excerpt:

"The day was strange from the start. For hours, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Costanzo and his companion noticed a high-pitched sound. "There was a sense that something extraordinary was happening all day," says the girlfriend. She and Mr. Costanzo say that none of the three consumed alcohol or took drugs.

As they sat down to a dinner, Mr. Kucinich spotted a light in the distance, to the left of Mount Rainier. Mr. Costanzo thought it was a helicopter.

But Mr. Kucinich walked outside to the deck to look through the telescope that he had bought Ms. MacLaine as a house gift. After a few minutes, Mr. Kucinich summoned the other two: "Guys, come on out here and look at this."

Dennis Kucinich is supposed to be Catholic. What was he doing at Shirley MacLaine's house?

An article from nearly a year ago that appeared in the Cleveland.com website adds a little more information:

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has seen a UFO, writes Shirley MacLaine in her new book, "Sage-Ing While Age-Ing."

Kucinich, she writes on page143-144 of the book, "had a close sighting over my home in Graham, Washington, when I lived there. Dennis found his encounter extremely moving. The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him. It hovered, soundless, for ten minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind."

He smelled roses from this object?? The article adds a little more detail about Dennis and Shirley:

MacLaine is a well-known believer of UFOs and reincarnation. And she's been close to Kucinich for decades. MacLaine is the godmother of Kucinich's daughter and attended Kucinich's 2005 Cleveland wedding to third wife, Elizabeth, who's often campaigning by his side.

Godmother in what sort of baptism ceremony? Surely not a Catholic one. Third wife? Two annulments? Two died?

MacLaine also mentions Dennis's "spiritual advisor", Chris Griscom, who lives in New Mexico. Griscom, she tells us, "helped her communicate with trees". Dennis denies that Griscom is his spiritual advisor but rather is a "teacher and a very good friend".

Next I found Kucinich's Praxis Peace Institute Conference speech in Dubrovnik, Croatia, June 9, 2002. After reading this speech, I had little doubt that Dennis is entrenched in the New Age Movement. All of the jargon is there. A few examples:

** Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends to return to spirit. The interchangeability of matter and spirit means the starlit magic of the outermost life of our universe becomes the soul-light magic of the innermost life of our self. The energy of the stars becomes us. We become the energy of the stars. Stardust and spirit unite and we begin: One with the universe.

** A universe of plenty flows to us, through us. It is in us. We become filled with endless possibilities. We need to remember where we came from; to know that we are one. To understand that we are of an undivided whole: race, color, nationality, creed, gender are beams of light, refracted through one great prism.

** We hear the music of peace, we hear the music of cooperation, we hear music of love. We hear harmony, a celestial symphony. In our soul’s forgetting, we become unconscious ! of our cosmic birthright, plighted with disharmony, disunity, torn asunder from the stars in a disaster...

** As we aspire to universal brotherhood and sisterhood, we harken to the cry from the heart of the world and respond affirmatively to address through thought, word and deed conditions which give rise to conflict: Economic exploitation, empire building, political oppression, religious intolerance, poverty, disease, famine, homelessness, struggles over control of water, land, minerals, and oil. We realize that what affects anyone, anywhere affects everyone, everywhere. As we help others to heal, we heal ourselves.

Our vision of interconnectedness resonates with new networks of world citizens in nongovernmental organizations linking from numberless centers of energy, expressing the emergence of a new organic whole, seeking unity within and across national lines. New transnational web-based email and telecommunications systems transcend governments and carry within them the power of qualitative transformation of social and political structures and a new sense of creative intelligence.

There's more where that came from, but why be redundant. Dennis is a voice for peace that we listen to at our peril.

Denis took part in the Department of Peace Conference in Washington, D.C. in February 2007--the Annual Conference of The Peace Alliance. So did Marianne Williamson and Depak Chopra. The Speaker's bio webpaage reveals that the program also included Michael Bernard Beckwith, "a world leader and teacher in the New Thought--Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality" and a co-founder of the Association for Global New Thought". James O'Dea is also listed as a speaker. He is President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

Quite an interesting line-up!

The top question for a Catholic considering a politician these days is where does he stand on abortion?

A website offers several Kucinich quotes on the topic, like these:

I've always worked to make abortions less necessary, through sex education and birth control. But the direction that Congress has taken, increasingly, is to make it impossible for women to be able to have an abortion if they need to protect their health. So when I saw the direction taken, it finally came to the point where I understood that women will not be truly free unless they have the right to choose
Source: Democratic 2004 Primary Presidential Debate in Durham NH Dec 9, 2003

I support Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose, and will select Supreme Court justices who affirm this Constitutional right. Because I know that the right to choose is under attack -- as President, I will only support someone for the Supreme Court if he or she agrees to uphold Roe v. Wade.
Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.org, "On The Issues" Apr 1, 2003

I've had a journey on the issue [of reproductive rights]. A year ago, before I became a candidate for President, I broke from a voting record that had not been pro-choice. After hearing from many women in my own life, and from women and men in my community and across the country, I began a more intensive dialogue on the issue. A lot of women opened their hearts to me. That dialogue led me to wholeheartedly support a woman's right to choose.
Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.org, "On The Issues" Apr 1, 2003

There are more quotes at the website.

----------------------------------------------

UPDATE

The Peace Alliane, founded by Marianne Williamson, is working for the passage of H.R. 808, legislation created by Dennis Kucinich.

INFANTICIDE

I spent the day with my grandson. He's been gone an hour and already I miss him. I came to the computer and found an email from my husband with the subject "blog this link." Checking the link I found a YouTube video of nurse Jill Stanick testifying about Barak Obama's vote to leave live aborted babies to die in the hospital utility room where bio-hazardous material and soiled linen is left, and her experience with holding such an aborted baby until he died. She says that both birth and death certificates are issued for such infants.

If Obama would do such a thing to a newborn baby, what would he be willing to do to the rest of us? Surely no life will be safe if this man is elected president.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

FORMER BAPTIST MINISTER BECOMES CATHOLIC PRIEST

David Harris never considered his conversion to Catholicism six years ago to be a rejection of the Baptist faith that nourished him from childhood in Eastern Kentucky.

But as a married man, Harris did think the switch meant he would leave one thing behind -- his status as an ordained minister.

He was wrong.

Early next month, he'll make history as the first married, former Baptist minister to become a Roman Catholic priest in the United States.

He'll also be only the second married man from any former denomination to become a priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville.

Harris, 53, is scheduled to be ordained Sept. 6 at the Cathedral of the Assumption.

He is the only priest being ordained in the archdiocese this year.

His ordination is allowed under a seldom-used exception to the church's requirement that priests be celibate.

Read it here...

This is the first time I recall seeing a Baptist minister become a Catholic priest. He did receive a master's in theological studies from St. Meinrad School of Theology in Southern Indiana according to the article. I am assuming that is a Catholic school. If this trend continues, it will be interesting to see what these married priests will bring to the priesthood and the Church.

THEY'VE GOT ONE DOWN UNDER TOO

San Francisco's Holy Redeemer Parish has nothing over Brisbane's St. Mary's, and Catholics from both dioceses are requesting the Vatican to shut them down.

[Archbishop John] Bathersby raised a number of practices at St. Mary's that have sufficiently angered some conservative Catholics so as to spark complaints direct to The Vatican.

The issues include the presence of a Buiddhist statue, use of unorthodox liturgy and a "congregational" leadership style more democratic than authoritarian.

"In reality St. Mary's South Brisbane has taken a Roman Catholic parish and established its own brand of religion," Bathersby wrote.

The church has previously angered conservatives in the church by welcoming gay couples and allowing the Brisbane Gay and Lesbian Choir to perform there in June 2003 as part of Brisbane Pride Festival celebrations. Bathersby opposed the performance and said it was "inappropriate".

Tony Robertson, a gay Catholic activist and member of the parish, says "The response and support from across all social justice networks has been overwhelming". Interesting linking between this parish and "social justice networks".

Read the article here

UPDATE

Five hundred parishioners, many wearing stickers reading "I love the Vatican II", crammed St Mary's Church in Brisbane last night to respond to a letter from Archbishop John Bathersby while a Sunshine Coast priest has backed the parish.

The crowd sang the anthemic "We are Called" to close the emotion charged meeting, the Brisbane Times reports.

The group had come together to debate a challenge from Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby, who this week called on the popular church, with a parish of more than 700, to toe the Catholic line or close.

It is the second time in four years Archbishop Bathersby has questioned the church’s behaviour.

St Mary's champions social justice issues, embraces homosexual couples and allows women to preach, the online news site says....

"We are a Catholic Church, ministered by two catholic priests, from a community which has many leaders in the Catholic Church," one speaker said.

However others acknowledged that the church had some controversial areas which needed examination.

"We do have a radical point of view in terms of Christian prayer," one said.

"And we have to confront the issues that the Archbishop has raised." ...

"The church should be about inclusion not exclusion.

Read the article...

Indeed, the Church is about inclusion. However, that isn't the issue here. The issue is conformity to that in which you wish to be included. This Church is not in conformity, and the claim of exclusion is a straw man.

CHANNELING UNPACKED

In addition to the article blogged below this one, another paper turned up while I researched channelers. It was a Google request for Sri Aurobindo that brought this one up. The paper was written by Traditionalist Dr. Rama Coomaraswamy. I'll give you some quotes, and you can read the rest of it if you're interested. The paper discusses how Theosophy came to be part of the New Age Movement and the fact that it began as a Western product, moved East where it produced some gurus who created a synthesis of Eastern and Western spirituality and imported it back to the West. He discusses three seers: Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and his English financial backers, and Bhagavan Rajneesh. From the article:

TM:

The advanced practitioners of TM introduce us to the existence of spirit guides. David Hunt (The Cult Explosion) documents the association between TM "rounding" (i.e., 8 to 10 sessions a day in conjunction with others) and the presence of such guides in the form of Hindu deities and former Ascended Masters. The importance of these "angels of light" will become clear later....

SRI AUROBINDO:

...the spread of these gnostic communities which base themselves on Aurobindo's ideas has received considerable support from, among other organizations, the United Nations. Funding the French architect Roger Anger, the first city to be developed was Auroville, “a model city for the whole planet,” where a utopian and cultist One World Brotherhood is fostered whose purpose is said to be “service to mankind.” The ideas developed here have been adopted by the HEW and the National Training Labs of the National Educational Association as well as a host of other international and national organizations....

Now there is another interesting tie_in with Aurobindo and the New Age Religions. Michael Murphy, founder of Esalen, received his inspiration from Aurobindo or the Mother while living in the Ashram in Pondicherry between 1948 and 49. The Esalen Institute is one of the granddaddies of so-called “sensitivity training” - the application of non_directive group therapy as applied to normal people for the purpose' of expanding the human potential....from the beginning the Esatln [sic] Institute supported its own inter-house “channeler” named jenny O'Connor, who received messages from a group of nine nonhuman entities allegedly living on the star Sirius. These “spirit guides,”...were the ultimate gurus of Murphy and his band of Aurobindians.

Now what many people do not know is that the techniques used by these groups are essentially brainwashing and mind-bending techniques. A group of people gather around on the floor and embrace each other, telling each other their deepest feelings and experiences. Locked into a closed system, separated from their families, often for days at a time, those who do not accept the norm for the group _ usually the lowest common denominator - and usually established by a “facilitator” and assistant whose function the other members of the group are unaware of_are browbeaten until they do. Now strictly speaking, brainwashing was developed in groups under external control such as prisoners. What is new is that Americans by the millions are rushing to accept this type of experience voluntarily. Est, Forum, Silva Mind Control, Scientology, Synenon, their name is legion. Corporations are insisting that their executives go through this type of experience. Interestingly, the fundamentals of this technique were developed by Pavlov at the request of Lenin, and were first effectively applied in the show, trials of Stalin. When Lenin read the result of Pavlov's research in this field, he said to him “you have saved the revolution.”"

One last spin_off of interest is Father Bede Griffiths, the Benedictine Monk who lived near Auroville in South India. He_lived like a Hindu sadhu, supposedly achieving a blend of Eastern and Catholic mysticism. His guru and source of inspiration was also Aurobindo. In his book, A New Vision of Reality, he informs us that the world “is on the verge of a new age and a new culture.” The advertisement tells us he is a “spokes_ man of the New Age, speaking for it from his Christian_Hindu Ashram ... He concludes his radical vision of a new society and a universal religion in which the essential values of Christianity will be preserved in living relationship with the other religious traditions of the world. Here once again, we have the export of evolutionary and Marxist thought to India, its adoption by a supposed Swami, and its reintroduction to the West, both by Murphy and the Esalen Institute, and also by Father Griffiths within the Catholic Church.

RAJNEESH

In the dynamic form of meditation pupils were encouraged to shed their clothes while performing all sorts of antics, often in the dark. Above all, the hangup of sexual morality had to be eliminated and group sex became acceptable...

Moving on to a general overview, Coomaraswamy writes:

Another component of this counter religion is openly satanic. During Alister Crowley's early experiments with the psychic world he visited Cairo, Egypt. There having placed his wife into a trance, she informed him that the spirits "are waiting for you." Crowley followed this up by repeating magical invocations over several days, which led to his contact with "Aiwass" who commanded him to write down The Book of Law, a kind of pseudo-esoteric scripture. In this text Aiwass spoke of a "new religion" that would be distinguished by complete self-fulfillment and the unleashing of private volition and desire....

...this brings us to the cultivation of spirit masters, which is very much part of the New Age religion, and to my mind, one of the most frightening aspects. One individual, Mr. Silva, claims that he can teach anyone in forty-eight hours by a process of "mind control" to find his spirit master. Such spirit masters are clearly nothing else than fallen angels or demons....It will be argued that the whole idea of demons is a Western and Christian one. While Scriptural condemnations abound, it is good to recognize that Eastern religions also share the same point of view....

The leaders of the Theosophical Society believed they were under the supervision and leadership of “Adepts” and “initiates” belonging to a branch of “The Great 'White Brotherhood”. They moved to India in 1875 and were told by their spirit guides to keep their teachings secret for 100 years, until about 1975. In India Blavatsky was joined by an English clergyman named Leadbetter who was under the guidance of “Master KH (Koot Hoomi)” and by Colonel Olcott.. Interestingly, Leadbetter was the first person who recommended changing the Latin Mass in order to make it an ecumenically acceptable ritual [emphasis mine]. Olcott propagated a heretical form of Hinayana Buddhism which has had devastating effects on the Sri Lankans, as this form of Buddhism was introduced into their educational curricula. As for Blavatsky, and especially her understudy Annie Besant, they concentrated on creating a new brand of Hinduism. It is these forms of Hinduism and Buddhism that have frequently been brought back to the West.

After Helena Blavatsky's death the organization fell under the direction of Annie Besant who made an abortive attempt to bring forth the antichrist in the person of Krishnamurti who they meticulously prepared for the role. However Krishnamurti, under the influence of his Hindu father, dissolved the Order of the Star in 1929 and abandoned the movement. Annie Besant remains an important influence in modern India as she was influential in founding Benares Hindu University and various heterodox Hindu movements such as the Aryo and Brahmo Samaj. What few of her Indian admirers are aware of is that she was, according to Rene Guenon (Le Theosophisme), well paid by British Intelligence which wished to see the strength of orthodox Hinduism undermined and destroyed. As a result of Krishnamurti's defection, the Masters became angry with Annie Besant and passed the torch to a certain Alice Ann Baily, a beautiful young woman born to position in England who eventually married an Episcopalian clergyman in America. She was a prolific Writer and organized the Arcane school, the New Group of World Servers, Triangles, World Good Will, and a host of other early New Age groups. She also established the Lucifer Publishing House which incidentally publishes the Aurobindo material [emphasis mine] _ later changed for obvious reason to the Lucis Publishing House.

1962 was another landmark year, for this was when the Scottish community of Findhorn was established by Peter and Eileen Caddy, who meticulously followed the Baily writings and were under the influence of their own spirit guides. They were joined by David Spangler who was said to have the “Christ energies,” and who became their spiritual advisor. He of course received frequent transmissions from his many spirit guides.

Coomaraswamy closes with "A Note on Channeling and Spirit Guides", using for reference a paperback written by Cathryn Rydall of whom he says "Her spirit guide [was] named Diya [who] told her when she asked him who he was that she should believe in angels."

NEW BOOK BY LON MILO DUQUETTE

In researching historic channelers for a blog post that never made it, I ran into a story of Lon Milo DuQuette at Market Wire.

First, in case you don't know, DuQuette, according to Wikipedia is

Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, American writer, lecturer, and occultist best known as an author who applies humor in the field of Western Hermeticism.

Since 1975 he has been a National and International governing officer of Ordo Templi Orientis, a magical and fraternal organization founded some time around 1900. Since 1996 he has been the O.T.O.'s United States Deputy Grand Master and one of the most visible members of the secret society.

Market Watch reported on a Coast to Coast with George Noory radio broadcast featuring DuQuette and his new book, ENOCHIAN VISION MAGICK. From the website:

"It's a true story of war, politics, espionage, and magick and wizardry in
the days of Queen Elizabeth I," DuQuette recently told an audience in
London. "In order for the Virgin Queen to secure her throne, defeat the
Spanish, and establish the British Empire, she enlisted the aid of a real
live magician, Dr. John Dee. His first task was to astrologically
determine the date of the Queen's coronation. He then went on to become
her most trusted secret agent (who signed his secret dispatches 007). He
was also her wizard, and was credited with raising the storm that sank
the Spanish Armada in 1588. So famous was he in his day that Shakespeare
used Dee as the model for his storm-raising magician Prospero in his
famous play, 'The Tempest.'"

DuQuette's new book, "Enochian Vision Magick," reveals in exacting detail
the magical ceremonies performed by Dr. John Dee and his assistant Edward
Kelley, who for over three years had almost daily discussions with
'angels' in order to spy on the enemies of the Virgin Queen.

Perhaps when Opus Angelorum gets through with the members of my parish they can turn to Lon Milo DuQuette to discover the rituals needed for their angel encounter.

REPORT FROM THE LA CATHEDRAL

A reader sent in this story posted at Free Republic by NYer: "Devil Worship Promoted at the Front Lines of the LA Cathedral". It's an on-the-scene report from a Cathedral visitor who found more than he was bargaining for among the angels in the gift shop in Los Angeles:

The problem came when I began talking with a man who worked there. His customer service couldn't have been better. His shiny jewelry and over-the-top attitude was a bit off-putting, but it was California, after all. My friend was looking for a rosary for his girlfriend, and the store worker started asking him about her favorite colors, what kind of clothes she wore, what sort of textures she liked, etc., in order to help him pick a rosary that best agreed with her fashion sense. So far, very Californian, but not a big problem. Kind of HGTV: Rosary Edition.

Then he asked what I did for a living and I told him that I teach architecture and theology, and he said with a casual smile: "oh, that's great, my partner would love that. He was a monk for 4 years." Again, this was California, and maybe even the cathedral shop has legal issues about who it can hire and who it can't. Then I started talking to my friend about one of the architects who was a finalist for the cathedral design a few years back, whose architectural philosophy is radically anti-Incarnational and anti-Catholic, and the salesman said "well, everyone is welcome in this cathedral." Being cheeky, I said "how about Satanists?" He responded: "Satanists aren't devil worshipers, you know. I know some Satanists and they aren't devil worshipers." So, following up, I said: "OK, then what about devil worshipers? Are they welcome here at the cathedral?" He replied: "Well, devil worshipers are actually Christians, because God made the devil." Another woman in line chimed in with a smile: "that's right, God made the devil." I decided it was best to leave at that point.

The devil is an angel, after all--a fallen angel. That's what I think about when I read stories about the snake in the landscaping at the L. A. cathedral. Perhaps he has slithered inside? As this Freeper put it:

Honestly, I couldn't have made this up. A staff member of the cathedral gift shop might be the first and only person a visitor might talk to who represents the cathedral, as it was in my case. And what do we get? A person who gladly flaunts his open defiance of the Church's moral teaching and has a positive view of devil worship.

FUMING IN AKRON

I said I was going to let the blog rest today. Well, maybe I lied. I am much too angry to wait until tomorrow to blog.

Nearly walked out of Mass this morning. Again. Here's why.

Before Mass we were expected to applaud the couple celebrating their 65th anniversary. Yes, being married for 65 years is significant and worthy of congratulations. No argument there. But I don't go to Mass to worship my fellow man. Same ole problem.

Next Mass began with a Yahweh hymn--you know the ones we are not supposed to sing anymore according to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. I guess I was the only person in church who knew that what we were singing was forbidden.

Next came the homily. The priest giving it is one I have always liked--a retired priest who is very intelligent and always interesting. His topic was roses. He began with Saint Rose of Lima. Good beginning for a homily, starting off with a saint. But he wanted to stay with the roses theme, and the next rose he talked about was the one in "Romeo and Juliet". He mentioned that the two young people in Shakspeare's play "gave up their lives to bring their families together". Uhm yeah, they committed suicide if I remember the play correctly. Last time I checked that was considered a sin.

Then came the Angus Dei. Father ad libbed this in his usual style, but this time he went even further to add his own thoughts. I forget his exact words.

Then there was the notice in the bulletin. It seems that Father Titus Kieninger, ORC is coming back to "celebrate Mass and conduct an evening of reflection". Here he is. And if you read the text at that website you'll see that he is a member of Opus Angelorum. Wonder if he plans to bring along his Kabbalah?

In case you need a refresher on what I object to about Opus Angelorum, check out what Rick Salbato has written in his article titled "Satanism and Disobedience." And just to be clear about things, here is an OA website that still talks about their favorite spook. I don't need the O.T.O. to learn how to channel guardian angels. I don't need to go to a channeler to learn about New Age. All I have to do is go to my local Catholic Church. The one that is supposed to still be orthodox.

The first round of Opus Angelorum was what caused me to cut my Sunday contribution by three-quarters. There's little more I can do to protest this travesty other than vote with my feet. I'm giving it very serious consideration, and my husband is encouraging me. By the time communion rolled around, I was much too angry to receive. We left after the final blessing, skipping the final hymn.

Is my disgust, contempt, and bitterness coming through? If it isn't, you weren't paying attention. If the priests set examples of disobedience, why should the faithful take the rules of the Church seriously?

I no longer have anything in common with these people I'm attempting to worship with, so why in the world am I still doing it?