...then did you out-trick the tricks of the tricksters."
-Calvert Watkins
"...overcame with your own magic the magic of the magicians." -Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
"...these things bind up your life, and yet you rise above them, unbound." -Mustafa
Jungle-Magi Fellowship named for the native Magian community, which influenced evolution of thought during the violent rise and fall of empires throughout the ancient Indo-Iranian and Roma-Graeco worlds, Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Asia Minor.
Magus means “one adorned with grace and wisdom..."
Originally a distinct indigenous tribe scattered throughout the region, the Magi were able to silently infiltrate the priestly caste overseeing the Zoroastrian religion, which was embraced and endorsed by the royal house of the Persian Empire while it was reaching its zenith.
As political power subsequently shifted from ruler to ruler, the Magi remained indispensably the administrators of cultural and scientific knowledge, serving as philosophers and physicians.They were the teachers of kings, and they carried out anthropology and diplomacy among the vast diversity of peoples and traditions forced to merge in this region.
When a fanatical High Priest took control of the imperial religion to violently persecute Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and followers of any other tradition, the Magi were branded as heretics and apostates for resisting the uniformity of belief.
Yet, their influence persisted as the hegemonic government was repossessed by Cyrus the Great, Muslims, Greeks, and even when this power block dissipated entirely. Under each of these authorities, the philosophy of the Magi remained distinct from any of the religions they intersected with while translating the writings of domestic and foreign scholars among Sanskrit, Persian, Greek, and other languages.
A wide variety of outlandish beliefs and customs have been attributed to the Magi by outsiders and those who resented their authority over ritual practice, to the point that any misunderstood thought, behavior, or ability is still often accused of being “magical” to this day, but there are several important ideas these wise people are most commonly credited with:
-The perception of the entire universe as a single unity of space and time.
-The promotion of a rational approach to the anarchy of religions.
-The synthesis of revelation and reason.
The Magi sought to understand divinity by observing life, the sun, moon, earth, fire, water, winds, plants, and animals, just as their indigenous ancestors had before religion was nationalized. Closely associated with the rites and teachings of Ayurveda and Yoga, they were known to consume the sacred Haoma plant formula, possibly Soma in India, or Duraosha, meaning "from whom death flees."
The order of Magi was not limited to ethnicity, and members migrated in every direction from original homelands, passing in and out of the histories of empires and religions, known in the Bible and other archives as "wise-men" and self-initiated kings. ...Searching for God.
Plato wrote that, anywhere a Magus lives to oversee a temple, the flame which burns ...will never die.
There are many types of kings and kingdoms, some legendary for benevolently empowering their subjects so much as to become each individual as a king or queen unto oneself. Prester John and others, maybe fictional or not, believed to reside in Ethiopia, the Himalayas, or many obscure realms recorded by travelers throughout history.
Along the silk road, near Xanadu, Zanzibar, Samarkand, Kathmandu, Kailasa, Timbuktu, Benin and its enemies, Bhutan, Alexandria, in Byzantium and Eastern Christendom, many luxurious paradises, citadels, libraries, palaces, and estates have existed before being trampled and burned by illiterate hoards, zealots, or empires too proud or afraid to ever befriend them but instead covet them, crush them, and absorb their wealth into fewer hands.
And here we have three philosopher kings, astrologer magicians, millionaires, maybe even billionaires of their time, who apparently used their privilege to study the sciences, languages, and occult traditions available to them, and who all reached the same conclusion with the same destination. Caspar, Melkior, and Balthazar were originally from India, Persia, and Arabia, respectively, in the legacy of the Magi, allegedly in league with Druids since pre-Rome, since pre-Babylon, to keep the fire of truth burning deep and hidden within the heart of every temple, as Plato saluted them openly, and many other authors have hinted at.
They arrived with the most precious mineral and two of the most precious plants known to our species to crown and empower a peasant child as the true King over all Kings forever.
And this child would go on to be brutally murdered by the will of the masses, enforced by the empire, for what crime? For claiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and that the most powerful act of secret magic in all the world is to love your neighbor unconditionally. He taught that you can initiate yourself into this kingdom by practicing agape, and that rich people will never be able to. He told the wealthiest of us to give away their belongings for the sick and poor...
Pick up a staff, and follow Him.
He said to let animals out of their cages, and to stop taxing and imprisoning poor people for victimless crimes. He said to drown anyone in the ocean if they exploit or mislead children, but to bless anyone else who disagrees with you. He said food is stupid easy, and that there is no excuse for anyone to ever go hungry. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus even says things like your family and government will turn on you the more you actively pursue the truth.
His death story symbolizes sacrificial love, agape, the willingness to die and steal the keys of hell, so that the way we live our lives cannot determine a fate of eternal suffering. Agape is unconditional, meaning regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, substance use, political opinions, individuals can be forgiven.
Rome’s client-king Herod tried to stomp it out in Israel before the Magi could empower it, and the church has tried to steal it back from Christians through censorship and false propaganda ever after.
Paintings: The Adoration of the Magi, Edward Burnes Jones
Along the silk road, near Xanadu, Zanzibar, Samarkand, Kathmandu, Kailasa, Timbuktu, Benin and its enemies, Bhutan, Alexandria, in Byzantium and Eastern Christendom, many luxurious paradises, citadels, libraries, palaces, and estates have existed before being trampled and burned by illiterate hoards, zealots, or empires too proud or afraid to ever befriend them but instead covet them, crush them, and absorb their wealth into fewer hands.
And here we have three philosopher kings, astrologer magicians, millionaires, maybe even billionaires of their time, who apparently used their privilege to study the sciences, languages, and occult traditions available to them, and who all reached the same conclusion with the same destination. Caspar, Melkior, and Balthazar were originally from India, Persia, and Arabia, respectively, in the legacy of the Magi, allegedly in league with Druids since pre-Rome, since pre-Babylon, to keep the fire of truth burning deep and hidden within the heart of every temple, as Plato saluted them openly, and many other authors have hinted at.
They arrived with the most precious mineral and two of the most precious plants known to our species to crown and empower a peasant child as the true King over all Kings forever.
And this child would go on to be brutally murdered by the will of the masses, enforced by the empire, for what crime? For claiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and that the most powerful act of secret magic in all the world is to love your neighbor unconditionally. He taught that you can initiate yourself into this kingdom by practicing agape, and that rich people will never be able to. He told the wealthiest of us to give away their belongings for the sick and poor...
Pick up a staff, and follow Him.
He said to let animals out of their cages, and to stop taxing and imprisoning poor people for victimless crimes. He said to drown anyone in the ocean if they exploit or mislead children, but to bless anyone else who disagrees with you. He said food is stupid easy, and that there is no excuse for anyone to ever go hungry. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus even says things like your family and government will turn on you the more you actively pursue the truth.
His death story symbolizes sacrificial love, agape, the willingness to die and steal the keys of hell, so that the way we live our lives cannot determine a fate of eternal suffering. Agape is unconditional, meaning regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, substance use, political opinions, individuals can be forgiven.
Rome’s client-king Herod tried to stomp it out in Israel before the Magi could empower it, and the church has tried to steal it back from Christians through censorship and false propaganda ever after.
Paintings: The Adoration of the Magi, Edward Burnes Jones
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