www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Harry Potter - Any readers here?

I didn't see any of it. I answered my own question in white font. It is a book 5 spoiler, so Anhelyna is fine.

Dear Father Deacon Lance,

I know that witchcraft came to Greece via the refugee's from Asia Minor...making me wonder if the occult being so prominent in that time and place, was the cause of their troubles. Hexes, or ties, are little bags with 'stuff' in them, and they cannot be undone unless they are found and untied.

I have also heard recently of names, undoubtably demonic, being advertised in magazines by (again undoubtably) witches. If these names are called, they will assist one in their business, or anything they endeavor to do. It is not too far a stretch, from asking for demonic assistance for help in business and love, to asking for help in having someone tormented and removed from their life. I have also heard that the most difficult spells to undo, are those from Africa and Brazil.

The evil eye, which is common in the Middle East, seems to come from extreme envy. I know it is non-existant here, and have to assume it has something to do with our culture. Since we are a more outward and freer culture, we express what we feel more readily. In the cultures of the Middle East, people contain whatever they feel within them. They are less expressive. Because of that, envy grows within their hearts. I have to assume that the harm of the evil eye, comes from evil hearts...and the heart in turn, sends out demons attacking the very quality within another that is envied.

As for Harry Potter, anything that opens a person's heart into the spirit world, can not be beneficial to their soul.

God Bless,

Zenovia

Rowling also said that she plans to rest for awhile, then write an encyclopedia based on the characters in the series. That could be interesting.

That could be interesting...but I also think it could be a waste of time and talent. I suppose it could serve as a quick reference guide for those who are reading her books and may have forgotten while reading book 5 the exact meaning of an allusion to some event or person in Book 2.

Loved Book 7, BTW. I could barely put it down. During my travels to Europe last week there were at least 5 of us in Business Class with the books in our laps!

Gordo

She said the encyclopedia's proceeds will go to charity. She has the info already and is constantly asked for it, so she is going to eventually compile it and make some money for charity from it.

Right now, she's working on two pieces, one for children and one for adults. She said she is enjoying having the time to write without the pressure of being published. She also said she knows nothing else she writes will ever measure up in popularity, so she isn't going to even try for the same type of book again.

The more I learn about her, the more I am finding that she's really a pretty good lady.

Please note that I am neither witch nor satanist, merely one who is shocked at the ignorance and vilification of other religions that appears on these pages. There is enough religious strife in this world without creating more by repeating fallacies and suppositions, many of which pre-date the Salem witch trials.

I speak from the viewpoint of a cultural anthropologist. In many of nature religions, such as Wicca, the basic tenet is "do what you will so long as you harm none," meaning that they do not cast spells to influence what happens to others, but do works to draw good to themselves. Please note that Wiccans, not being Christian, do not believe in the devil. They are completely separate from Satanists.

Voodooo and Santeria are Afro-Carribean Syncretic religions, both praciced in some regions of the US, came about when practitioners of African nature religions were enslaved and forced to follow the Roman Catholic religion of their opressors; Catholic saints were superimposed over their ancestor spirits. Over time this created a distinct and separate religion with roots in two disparate religions; for example, Erzulie is equated with the Virgin Mary. It is true however, that some syncretic religions practice binding and advocate casting a spell that will bind someone to you. This tends to backfire as it creates bad karma. One thing about syncretic religions; what you don't believe has ho power over you, so if I wave a chicken bone at you and say I'm going to turn you into a zombie*, it will only work if you believe it can work.

*I don't know how zombies are created, this is just a silly example.

With regard to crystals having power, I believe you mean that crystals are believed to have/absorb energy as do other inanimate objects; doesn't an old church feel more...churchlike than a new church? In my opinion that's because the repetitions of ritual have changed the energy of the space and objects within it.

As far as casting spells is concerned, there are those who would argue that making a wish when you blow out birthday candles is casting a spell.

Dear Nan,

A sociologist! Wonderful! May I, dear God, rise to the challenge.

I am going to leave aside all that you say about the mechanics of spells and all that. I shall make the Church's case in terms of the philosophy and the social sciences with particular reference to two sources one of them being the sociologist Richard Sennett. Wicca is not a "valid" religion because it distorts notions of reality, the human person and of love. It is a lie.

Christianity, though it has made mistakes in the past, professes the essential goodness of the person and that our response to one another must be that of love - a supernatural love which is a pure grace from God. It is the agape love from above. It is from a "life in Christ". If one doesn't believe in the supernatural life one doesn't fully understand the Christian life. (Examples from the Divine Liturgy include: the Creed "visible and invisible"; the reference to the Cherubim and the Seraphim; the prayers of exorcism in Baptism; the entire sacrament of Confession, holy water, etc.) If one doesn't love as Christ loved, one isn't living a Christian life.

In life one must make judgments upon what is good and what is evil. (C.f., Hebrews 5:14 "But solid food is for the mature, for those who by practice have their faculties trained to discern good and evil.") The life of a Christian cannot be separated from one's actions in the world. They are not morally neutral. These judgments lead us to the question of meaning.

The sociologist Richard Sennett has three new books that examine the radical changes in the world of work. There is, he says, a loss of meaning, a loss of the narrative to one's life that work provided to a person. This loss of meaning is what I think drives this explosion in New Age and alternative religions. People aren't evil. They are looking for meaning. And there is a drive to "do-it-yourself." Sometimes people are driven to this by deep trauma.

The turn to these alternative sources of meaning (the rebirth of paganism) is wrong on a philosophical level. People lose a concept of reality. Reality becomes what they make of it. People turn inward and become solipsistic.

For the Christian the source of meaning is found outside of one's self in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no alternative. As you noted, the image of Christ becomes distorted when Christians employ force or intimidation to effect belief in Him.

There is a Vatican document on the New Age which handles these questions more thoroughly entitled "Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian reflection on the �New Age�." Available on the Vatican website. You read it, you read it. You don't, you don't. You write about it, I'll read it.

Yesterday as I prayed the Divine Office I read 2 Cor 6:13-7:1. I do not see how one can read this and maintain a non-judgmental stance about paganism.

(For a really good account of the relationship between the pagan mysteries and the Christian mysteries see Liturgical Piety by Louis Bouyer, p.120-121.)

Rufinus

Are you saying that repeated words affect inanimate objects and change their nature? Isn't this what we mean by a spell?

Are you saying that priests cast spells?

As some postulate that "ghosts" and "hauntings" are manifestations of place memory, so could this be place remembering previous instances of the same ritual.

Nan,

Do you believe in the metaphysical, or is what is real only a part of this material world?

Terry

1) No. That is what the Bouyer book deals with on p.120.

2) Hauntings - I do not think that a place has being so it wouldn't have memory. Only persons have being. Beyond that I cannot go.

I'm neither theologically qualified to debate this nor familiar with Richard Sennett. I have just briefly glanced at the Vatican tome and don't have time to read/process it tonight. In essence, someone seems to have grabbed a bunch of pop culture phrases, run with them and implicated everyone but the founding fathers...who are actually implied with references to freemasonry, but like I said, brief glance.

You needn't read Sennett. I thought that you might be familiar with his work and tried to come at the question from your perspective.

The Vatican document is big. If you have time, read it and, if you wish, give your thoughts. You don't have to be a theologian to know the truth for the truth is love. The Truth is Jesus. And He is real. And He loves you.

Dear Nan,

You posted the following.


The Salem witch trials occurred with the arrival of a black creole servant from New Orleans...or so I have heard. The only problem with a witch trial is; how do you know that the one being persecuted is really the witch? I would think the witch would be the one doing the persecuting. Certainly, that person is the one with the most evil heart.
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How can one discern what is good and what is not good, if they do not have the spirit of God within them? As Christians, we believe that our heart can only open in love, in accordance to the amount of God's Grace entering it...and that again, can only be through our belief in our Lord Jesus Christ and His redemption on the cross for our sins.


My suggestion to you, 'don't try your hypothesis'.


No, it's not the repetition of ritual, but rather the extension of the holiness that has entered the area. It can affect everyone, and that is part of our faith. Our prayers can change the world. In the same way, a place where satanists have performed their rituals, is bound to have an evil essence connected to it.

That could change though with holiness. I believe at the beginning of Christianity, it was the saints that would enter the pagan temples and either the 'idol' demon god would collapse, or the temple itself.

That could be true. It would all come down again, to the extent of evil within one's heart. If one wanted something strongly enough, and their soul was at stake, then certainly I'm sure there would be some 'entity' that would be willing to accomodate it. If on the other hand the wish is harmless, it won't come true. God is not going to answer anything unless it is beneficial to one's soul, so any self indulgence is a no-no.

God Bless,

Zenovia