ZOMG, I'm writing a blog -- Not-entirely-shameless self-promotion

I don't know what the hell has gotten into me, but I've decided to start a blog on esoteric topics. I'm not entirely convinced it's a good idea for me, but what the hell, I'm gonna see how it goes. "Nis" is a transliteration of an Ancient Egyptian word meaning to "call out, summon". If anyone is interested in having a look, I've only had two posts so far, both on pretty basic topics. It's mostly a surface-level mind-dump about where my mind has been with some esoteric topics at the time of writing:

http://nis-esoterica.blogspot.com/

Feel free to leave comments here or there.

As far as I can tell, the reliance on Banishing Rituals goes back to The Golden Dawn.

The Golden Dawn invented exorcism? No.

No doubt there were rituals with similar functions before then, but in terms of widespread use, the GD seems to have really popularized the idea that a Banishing Ritual should...

The Golden Dawn, a secret society, really popularized this? No.

Fair enough on both counts, I suppose. I should say that it seems to have been popularized alongside the GD. Not by the GD itself. Oh, well.

I didn't mean to dissuade you from blogging. Keep going, and I'll keep my face out of your blog.

amandachen wrote:I didn't mean to dissuade you from blogging. Keep going, and I'll keep my face out of your blog.

Do what you like. I tried to be careful about my words when making the GD claims at the beginning, so it's good at least that you made the second point. I'm not too worried about being dissuaded, so you shouldn't be too worried about dissuading me if you feel like it.

Might you give us snips here when you make new posts

BTW - In pretty much any domain you'll probably find having a thick skin can be an invaluable quality.

ankh_f_n_khonsu wrote:Might you give us snips here when you make new posts

Hmm... Suppose I could. Something about that feels a bit pushy, though. We'll see.

Nah. I wish more people were willing to share their thoughts/practices here.

ankh_f_n_khonsu wrote:Might you give us snips here when you make new posts

BTW - In pretty much any domain you'll probably find having a thick skin can be an invaluable quality.

please do. Its not pushy at all its 'without shame' infact

Please keep us updated on your blog. I enjoyed reading through your thoughts and enjoy exposing my mind to new interpretations and thoughts.

amandachen wrote:

As far as I can tell, the reliance on Banishing Rituals goes back to The Golden Dawn.

The Golden Dawn invented exorcism? No.

An exorcism and a banishing are two VERY different things.

No doubt there were rituals with similar functions before then, but in terms of widespread use, the GD seems to have really popularized the idea that a Banishing Ritual should...

The Golden Dawn, a secret society, really popularized this? No.

Yes, they did. The GD promoted the idea of banishing from the moment an individual entered the order. As point of fact the qabbalistic cross along with the lesser ritual of the pentagram (a GD invention) was the first ritual a member learned, many individuals were even given the ritual prior to even being initiated. Many, many individuals joined the various temples who had the idea of banishing ingrained into their practices who then went on to pass this way of thinking onto their own students and incorporate the practice into their own orders.

Oh, and lastly, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was in no way, shape, or form a "Secret Society." Maybe the RRetAC could be classified as such, but the GD was not. It's whole purpose was to be the public branch of the order proper, so as to recruit members and train initiates for the higher work.

worlock93 wrote:
An exorcism and a banishing are two VERY different things.

Yes, very different. Because you say so.

Warlock93:

Hmm...Maybe we're tripping over words already. I would consider exorcism a type of banishing, maybe I'm misunderstanding something. In any case, Regardie does point out at some stage that he believes that Eliphas Levi hints at precedents to the LBRP... Anyway, I think it's a fair enough point, it's just that my next sentence makes it an irrelevant criticsm.

Also, it may seem a bit pedantic, but in the way I meant it, the GD didn't popularize the LBRP and their attitude toward banishing, but rather their teachings did when they were published. The outer order was at least secret enough to not want their material to escape their organization. It was sorta Crowley and Regardie who bore most of the responsibility, and in both cases this was despite the resistance of GD (or active organizations claiming to be legitimate heirs in the case of Regardie). That said, I think your argument is also a good one. Had there not been so many GD initiates with this attitude ingrained, it wouldn't have been around to be popularized.

Anyway, I guess maybe I'll post here about new blog posts. In the future, should I make a separate forum post for each blog entry?
My follow-up treatment of the LBRP can be found here:
http://nis-esoterica.blogspot.com/2009/12/banishing-rituals-lbrp.html

neutralrobotboy wrote:Anyway, I guess maybe I'll post here about new blog posts. In the future, should I make a separate forum post for each blog entry?

I vote for new threads for each topic. And kudos to you for the effort and sharing.