Re: Lily

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

Robert Henderson (robh@cyberspace.org) wrote:
>                ...  A while ago, I was planning on posting a detailed
> description of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, with
> annotations as to what each part meant, and the magic(k)al symbolism
> in the other parts of the song "Lily".  "Sure," I thought, "everyone will
> be interested in this sort of thing, getting a new insight into the
> song, etc."
> 
> I decided against it.  Why?  Because everyone on the newsgroup/list
> was copping an attitude about the whole thing.  "Oh no, Kate doesn't
> really believe that bullsh*t, and if you do, you're an idiot."  Or words
> to that effect.  Okay, not everyone on the list, but enough people.

Post it!  I, for one, would definitely be interested in it--as would several 
others who asked about it when the topic first came up.  The only proviso I 
would suggest is that from the comments of those who have seen the film, 
details about traditional forms of the ceremony may be even more relevant to 
understanding the dramatization of "Lily" in the film, and its apparently 
pivotal role there.  So it might be worth waiting until the film has been 
seen more widely.

Sure, there's the hazard that a topic like this, which tends to smoke out 
'attitudes' on several sides, could lead to some noisy debate.  I wasn't here 
at the time, but I understand that the discussion of Wilhelm Reich that set 
in around 1986 because of the role of Peter Reich's  A Book of Dreams  in 
"Cloudbusting" had its raucous, even rancorous phases.  So?  I say it's to 
Kate's credit that she deals with themes about which people have deeply 
committed attitudes.

In a related post, kirke (smc@gandalf.rutgers.edu) wrote:
> If you want detailed info on the pentagram ritual as well as an analysis of 
> the differences between the Golden Dawn ritual and Kate'version of it jump 
> on to alt.magick where it has been the subject of a detailed scrutiny by 
> ceremonial magicians who are familiar with the ritual.  You can also look 
> in alt.pagan.  The discussion is generally quite good and accessable to 
> non-magicians.

The reason that this isn't the answer for the curiosity of myself and others 
is that I and many others here (IED among them) do not have access to Usenet, 
but read the group through subscription to the Internet love-hounds digest.

............................................................................
                                                            Peter Manchester
       "Eat the Music!"                        pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu
                                                    72020.366@compuserve.com