The Newtown Pentacle

DUE TO AN ILLNESS, THE FRIDAY NIGHT MAGIC LANTERN SHOW WILL BE POSTPONED!!!

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, also called the Smaragdine Table, offers the paraphrased occult wisdom of “As Above, So Below.”

The notion this hermetic treatise asks the reader to accept is that Heaven and Hell are mirrors of each other, virtually reversed images. An alchemical manual, the Emerald Tablet details a system of something not unlike chemistry which is hobbled by a world view which only accounted for 4 elements. It is a product of a post Roman/newly Muslim scholarly culture and at least a thousand years old, so cut it a break for the dualist world view. Seriously, anything that preoccupied Sir Isaac Newtown is worth a second look.

from wikipedia

Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 13 through 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia subsumed Februa, an earlier-origin spring cleansing ritual held on the same date, which gives the month of February (Februarius) its name.

The name Lupercalia was believed in antiquity to evince some connection with the Ancient Greek festival of the Arcadian Lykaia (from Ancient Greek: λύκος — lukos, “wolf”, Latin lupus) and the worship of Lycaean Pan, assumed to be a Greek equivalent to Faunus, as instituted by Evander.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The 16th century grimoire Pseudomonarchia Daemonum offers the name and description of Furfur, an Earl of Hell and commander of 29 legions of demons. Furfur is meant to”cause love between a man and a woman, create storms, tempests, thunder, lightning, and blasts, and teach on secret and divine things.”

Could the heavenly opposite of Furfur be, in fact, St. Valentine?

Would this mean that the Cherubs we normally see associated with Valentine’s day, decorating hearts and shooting love darts, are part of some 29 angelic legions?

Here’s St. Valentine and Furfur. As above, so below?

from wikipedia

Februalia, also Februatio, was the Roman festival of ritual purification, later incorporated into Lupercalia. The festival, which is basically one of Spring washing or cleaning (associated also with the raininess of this time of year) is old, and possibly of Sabine origin. According to Ovid, Februare as a Latin word which refers to means of purification (particularly with washing or water) derives from an earlier Etruscan word referring to purging.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Using the late Republic numbers (presuming that the term “legion” is based on Rome), a legion would include 5,120 individuals backed up by an equal number of auxiliaries. 29 legions would equate to 148,480 regular soldiers, and with auxiliaries- both Furfur and Valentine would find themselves just shy of 300,000 supernatural shock troops with whom to wage the Battle of Ragnarok and the War of Tribulation.

Demons are supposed to scare you, but Angels have always scared the hell out of me. The thought of close to 150,000 cherubs on the war path just makes my head hurt. Just imagine the noise of all those wings.

Happy Valentine’s day, don’t forget to duck and cover.

from wikipedia

St. Valentine’s Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote “from your Valentine” as a farewell to her.