Thanks for this Rebekah. I've been listening to Bart Erhman's podcast and his courses. I truly love anything that brings reality and context to Jesus, the Bible and the characters therein. I looked up the book Jesus the Magician, and there is Bart giving the intro! I'm glad to know about it (though based on the reviews not sure I'll buy). A fascinating concept through and through. I'm also reading Hillman, and Jung's Red Book for my dream tending course; they both weave so much magic. I'm here for all of this!
Yeah, I don't know that it's worth reading for most people- it's kind of niche, and for me it's research for a bigger project. But definitely some interesting ideas! The edition I have (from a university library) is older and has an intro by Russell Shorto. I'd love to read Ehrman's take though!
Hi Rebekah, I found your substack after appreciating some of the comments in Abbey of Misrule. Love the topics you write about!
I am a student tantric buddhist (Tibetan) tradition, but I left it for a year to explore shamanism. In tantric buddhism we pray to the bodhisattvas to grant us liberation, but also sometimes for other things. For example, I’m studying the traditional Tibetan medical tradition now, and in one prayer we pray for siddhis or unusual abilities to help us become better healers.
When I did two retreats with a shaman (an African shaman who worked mainly with westerners) the goal instead was to work with nature spirits and ancestors. During one of the retreats, I was having recurring nightmares about families breaking down (divorces, kids being abandoned) and reported this, and one of the assistants at the retreat suggested I may have a block or wound around family. I admitted that I had been single for 8 years, and really wanted to get married and have children, but believed it wasn’t possible for me. She told me it wasn’t selfish for me to ask the ancestors for help with finding a partner, because having unfulfilled dreams of wanting a family may have be causing a block in my ability to give the world “my medicine” (in this shaman’s belief system, everyone incarnates with a gift or a “medicine” to give or the world and finding and implementing this gift is a huge purpose of the spiritual work). I did a ritual where I wrote down everything I wanted jn a partner and asked my ancestors to help me find a partner with these qualities, and then put the paper in a fire that was ritually consecrated as a portal to the ancestors. 3 weeks after this ritual, I started talking with my now husband-to-be.
Is there a difference in praying to bodhisattvas for liberation vs ritually working with the ancestors to find a partner in terms of spiritual integrity? I’m not sure in this case, as the overall intention behind the shamanic work was something more than just fulfilling my desires, but getting certain material things taken care of to free up energy for my higher purpose. Just one perspective!
I really love that story. My own path has been very much one of working *with* my desire rather than against it. I do believe that we are given desires at birth that help to guide us on our path and purpose. And there always mimetic desires that we are picking up that are distractions- and it's hard to know the difference! So my own approach, when I find there is something I really want and can't let go of, is to cast a spell for it, giving that spell up to god for the highest good.. I find this way I can burn through desires that aren't really authentic, and root into those that are.
Just one approach. I know there is a Tantric practice in Tibetan Buddhism of feeding your demons, and I don't know that much about it, just that some (more yogic) tantric ideas have helped me make sense of my own desires.
Yes I think you have a point there! According to some theories of reincarnation, we are here on the material realm because of desire. So realizing there is some importance to being here (assuming your practice isn't about wanting to get the hell out immediately) it seems useful to discern between desires that may lead us to higher ways of being vs one's that keep us stuck. Wanting to follow a spiritual path or wishing for enlightenment etc. is also a desire! And one that will change and morph as one continues to pursue it (at least for me).
I was also going to suggest the book "Magdalene Mysteries: The Left-Hand Path of the Feminine Christ" by Bertrand and Bertrand. It's some history with some personal revelation through mystic experience (so not sure if it's everyone's cup of tea), but they do talk about "Jesus The Magician" in that book and get into similar ideas.
Oh, I am a great lover of MM (have her tattooed on my right shoulder blade) and thought I knew all the books, but not that one! I will have to check it out, it sounds very much like my cup of tea.
I don’t know if it’s really all that relevant. I enjoyed your essay! But what I was just saying to myself as I sweep the floors is, I will humbly assume everyone else is operating from their soul while I am operating from my ego
I think we need spirit and ego. The ego is just the mindbody interface our spirit puts on to interact in the material world. Ego in service to spirit. Although sometimes I find I have to tell my spirit to listen to my ego.
A definition of magic by a John Michael Greer, author of ceremonial magic books and practitioner thereof. “The mage or practitioner of magic, uses rituals, symbolism, meditation and other methods to enter into unusual stages of consciousness in which, according to occult teachings, subtle powers can be directed and disembodied entities (though Jesus did take his body with him) contacted to cause changes in the world.”
I am a type of Pentecostal Christian and by definitions of magic I have encountered I could classify myself as a type of magician. By those definitions I am invoking the Triune God or Spirit and over the years have encountered and even accomplished feats of “magic” performed by the power of the Deity. We are in the realm of semantics in this area. Actually the New Testament as is, with support from the Old Testament is an effective manual of magic and the other books mentioned here are quite unnecessary. The key is a childlikeness and a simplicity of approach - just go to the Resurrected Jesus as Lord and God, Savior and Friend and Brother like the woman with the issue of blood and the Spirit rises in you. He says in John 6 “I will never drive away any who come to me”
Thanks for this Rebekah. I've been listening to Bart Erhman's podcast and his courses. I truly love anything that brings reality and context to Jesus, the Bible and the characters therein. I looked up the book Jesus the Magician, and there is Bart giving the intro! I'm glad to know about it (though based on the reviews not sure I'll buy). A fascinating concept through and through. I'm also reading Hillman, and Jung's Red Book for my dream tending course; they both weave so much magic. I'm here for all of this!
Yeah, I don't know that it's worth reading for most people- it's kind of niche, and for me it's research for a bigger project. But definitely some interesting ideas! The edition I have (from a university library) is older and has an intro by Russell Shorto. I'd love to read Ehrman's take though!
Hi Rebekah, I found your substack after appreciating some of the comments in Abbey of Misrule. Love the topics you write about!
I am a student tantric buddhist (Tibetan) tradition, but I left it for a year to explore shamanism. In tantric buddhism we pray to the bodhisattvas to grant us liberation, but also sometimes for other things. For example, I’m studying the traditional Tibetan medical tradition now, and in one prayer we pray for siddhis or unusual abilities to help us become better healers.
When I did two retreats with a shaman (an African shaman who worked mainly with westerners) the goal instead was to work with nature spirits and ancestors. During one of the retreats, I was having recurring nightmares about families breaking down (divorces, kids being abandoned) and reported this, and one of the assistants at the retreat suggested I may have a block or wound around family. I admitted that I had been single for 8 years, and really wanted to get married and have children, but believed it wasn’t possible for me. She told me it wasn’t selfish for me to ask the ancestors for help with finding a partner, because having unfulfilled dreams of wanting a family may have be causing a block in my ability to give the world “my medicine” (in this shaman’s belief system, everyone incarnates with a gift or a “medicine” to give or the world and finding and implementing this gift is a huge purpose of the spiritual work). I did a ritual where I wrote down everything I wanted jn a partner and asked my ancestors to help me find a partner with these qualities, and then put the paper in a fire that was ritually consecrated as a portal to the ancestors. 3 weeks after this ritual, I started talking with my now husband-to-be.
Is there a difference in praying to bodhisattvas for liberation vs ritually working with the ancestors to find a partner in terms of spiritual integrity? I’m not sure in this case, as the overall intention behind the shamanic work was something more than just fulfilling my desires, but getting certain material things taken care of to free up energy for my higher purpose. Just one perspective!
I really love that story. My own path has been very much one of working *with* my desire rather than against it. I do believe that we are given desires at birth that help to guide us on our path and purpose. And there always mimetic desires that we are picking up that are distractions- and it's hard to know the difference! So my own approach, when I find there is something I really want and can't let go of, is to cast a spell for it, giving that spell up to god for the highest good.. I find this way I can burn through desires that aren't really authentic, and root into those that are.
Just one approach. I know there is a Tantric practice in Tibetan Buddhism of feeding your demons, and I don't know that much about it, just that some (more yogic) tantric ideas have helped me make sense of my own desires.
Yes I think you have a point there! According to some theories of reincarnation, we are here on the material realm because of desire. So realizing there is some importance to being here (assuming your practice isn't about wanting to get the hell out immediately) it seems useful to discern between desires that may lead us to higher ways of being vs one's that keep us stuck. Wanting to follow a spiritual path or wishing for enlightenment etc. is also a desire! And one that will change and morph as one continues to pursue it (at least for me).
I was also going to suggest the book "Magdalene Mysteries: The Left-Hand Path of the Feminine Christ" by Bertrand and Bertrand. It's some history with some personal revelation through mystic experience (so not sure if it's everyone's cup of tea), but they do talk about "Jesus The Magician" in that book and get into similar ideas.
Oh, I am a great lover of MM (have her tattooed on my right shoulder blade) and thought I knew all the books, but not that one! I will have to check it out, it sounds very much like my cup of tea.
This is super interesting to me. Have you written more around this elsewhere?
I don’t know if it’s really all that relevant. I enjoyed your essay! But what I was just saying to myself as I sweep the floors is, I will humbly assume everyone else is operating from their soul while I am operating from my ego
I think we need spirit and ego. The ego is just the mindbody interface our spirit puts on to interact in the material world. Ego in service to spirit. Although sometimes I find I have to tell my spirit to listen to my ego.
A definition of magic by a John Michael Greer, author of ceremonial magic books and practitioner thereof. “The mage or practitioner of magic, uses rituals, symbolism, meditation and other methods to enter into unusual stages of consciousness in which, according to occult teachings, subtle powers can be directed and disembodied entities (though Jesus did take his body with him) contacted to cause changes in the world.”
I am a type of Pentecostal Christian and by definitions of magic I have encountered I could classify myself as a type of magician. By those definitions I am invoking the Triune God or Spirit and over the years have encountered and even accomplished feats of “magic” performed by the power of the Deity. We are in the realm of semantics in this area. Actually the New Testament as is, with support from the Old Testament is an effective manual of magic and the other books mentioned here are quite unnecessary. The key is a childlikeness and a simplicity of approach - just go to the Resurrected Jesus as Lord and God, Savior and Friend and Brother like the woman with the issue of blood and the Spirit rises in you. He says in John 6 “I will never drive away any who come to me”