12 ms·

I was totally unaware that this Ritmam library existed. I can’t pretend to be into the occult, but I like the idea of studying people who are/we’re, and this se

I was totally unaware that this Ritmam library existed. I can’t pretend to be into the occult, but I like the idea of studying people who are/we’re, and this seems like a terrific resource. Only downside... You want Great Old Ones? Because this is how you get Great Old Ones.

floren 9y ago
I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a completely different way of looking at things, it's very strange to our modern sensibilities but it's also surprisingly developed and just fascinating.
- empath75 9y ago
  That's also how I troubleshoot kubernetes problems.
  - Xeoncross 9y ago
    [Angry manager stomps in] "WHY DID WE GO DOWN??? WHAT HAPPENED!??" "Nothing much we could do boss, Saturn ascended"
    - mcguire 9y ago
      Beats "sunspots."
      - jerkstate 9y ago
        flips through excuse-of-the-day calendar
    - mindcrime 9y ago
      DUMMY-MODE ON
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - mcguire 9y ago
    You may think you're kidding, but modern technology stacks have gotten so complicated and entangled that mystical troubleshooting is the routine solution. Not working? Reboot it. For all I know, the phase of Saturn (as calculated by some library down in the framework) does affect Kubernetes.
    - booleandilemma 9y ago
      Fix your PC with a crystal pendulum https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-MM0Z_jCrGo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-MM0Z_jCrGo
    - jerf 9y ago
      http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/P/phase-of-the-moon.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/P/phase-of-the-moon.html
      - yesbabyyes 9y ago
        Also: A Story About 'Magic' http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html
- 52-6F-62 9y ago
  If you're interested in the study of religion at all (at least as a human affectation), it can get pretty interesting to get into the Hermetic and Gnostic texts. Some of the traditions and proposed knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years. It's really quite something. It combined with other mystic traditions ultimately informed the theosophical movement of the 19th and 20th century through to the magick of Aleister Crowley. His sex magick informs a lot of the modern incel, red-pill, and proud boy ideas that you must refrain from "spilling your seed"—that your reproductive emissions contain some of your essential energy. The result being that you have to abstain or otherwise be reduced to a plodding pile of unenlightened goo (to give the idea some imagery). So it's especially interesting, and a little funny, how in spite of the larger mysticism having fallen out of popular favour as a way to understand the world, they still influence a great part of it in a variety of outcomes as a result of lingering practices and beliefs finding their way into new systems.
  - floren 9y ago
    > It combined with other mystic traditions ultimately informed the theosophical movement of the 19th and 20th century through to the magick of Aleister Crowley. His sex magick informs a lot of the modern incel, red-pill, and proud boy ideas that you must refrain from "spilling your seed"—that your reproductive emissions contain some of your essential energy. The result being that you have to abstain or otherwise be reduced to a plodding pile of unenlightened goo (to give the idea some imagery). Those seem to have been relatively widely-held beliefs based on the humour system of medicine, see https://aeon.co/essays/getting-down-and-medieval-the-sex-lives-of-the-middle-ages https://aeon.co/essays/getting-down-and-medieval-the-sex-liv... posted here on HN a few days ago. Taoists had similar ideas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_sexual_practices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_sexual_practices Edit: also I'll never spell it "magick" because Crowley was a toolbag Edit 2: There's also the current meme that (humorously) claims a man who remains a virgin to the age of 30 will become a wizard, which is presumably drawing on all these historical beliefs.
    - 52-6F-62 9y ago
      > Edit: also I'll never spell it "magick" because Crowley was a toolbag You're right about that one. I did it only for the continuity being that I was specifically commenting on his circle. The humour medicine was a little different. That article was speaking more to the fact that it was believed people had to release sexual energy for fear of death. The Taoists were the opposite of that. They thought you should preserve fluids to preserve and prolong life. Crowley's version was closer to your comment on the meme, which sidles with the red-pill version I mentioned above: that conserving your sexual energy essential bestows you with powers, or at least advantage over the "wasteful" ignorant masses.
- indigochill 9y ago
  There's a parser text game called Hadean Lands in which you're on board a "spaceship" fueled by alchemy. You start the game by learning some basic rituals, then progressively you have more and more components missing for what you have to do next and have to hack together something based on concepts you learn progressively like planetary or elemental associations. As weird as it is, everything makes perfect sense as you internalize the connections between things like planets, scents, classical elements, and other concepts. Within the world of the game, strange alchemical connections are as much a science as physics is in ours. It's definitely a different experience to dip into that mindset, even just within a game.
  - krylon 9y ago
    That sounds absolutely fascinating! By your description I had thought it must be an old game from the early 1980s, but it is pretty recent. Thanks!
  - samiru 9y ago
    Just thought about this game when I read the first comment, scrolled and here I was! But I concur.
- copperx 9y ago
  Occultist texts fall into a unique fiction genre, which, not unlike magical realism, has the constraint of having to reconcile with the mundane laws of reality. That makes it so fascinating. Depending on your faith, you could perhaps place religious texts into the same genre. The permanence power of this kind of storytelling throughout time and cultures cannot be overstated. I think humans crave it. That also explains why I felt so giddy when I read the announcement, even as someone who hasn't read much outside of tech stuff lately.
- crankylinuxuser 9y ago
  So true. And with more and more devices we use have computers in them (as small as the ATtiny85), then we'll head somewhat back to it. 'Magic' incantations will fix whatever nearly permanent firmware bugs or hardware bugs exist. Because, yes, these computers are deterministic IFF you have the software, logic, and its variables. And hope the sensors aren't malfunctioning. My wife had a car that a temp sensor somewhere thought the car was always much colder outside. And it then set the cold/heat as a differential of what it measured. There was no way to say "Hot air, blower medium speed". It was a song and dance to get the "right" set of temps and blower speed.
- o_____________o 9y ago
  If you would like to read a brilliant but rambling and unsubstantiated account of comparative proto-religions, shamanistic psychology and the creation of metaphor, check out a classic called The Golden Bough. You'll walk away with a deeper understanding toward the rational origins of irrational rituals.
- CobrastanJorji 9y ago
  > it's very strange to our modern sensibilities... My mom buys things because they help remove 'toxins.' It's not that strange.
  - floren 9y ago
    At least she hasn't yet learned of the foetid influence which seeps through the aether and will destroy the balance of your body's humours: wifi.
0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
It's just not exciting without Lovecraft. What I mean is, the word "occult" in this context may be a boring label invented by boring people, kind of like "off topic" on stackoverflow.
Kostchei 9y ago
yewp, lol, Laundry Files OPSEC vs Great Old Ones. 1. Don't scan and upload random occult manuscripts to computational devices

floren 9y ago

I really like these old texts because it's interesting to try and get into the mindset of the authors. To the medieval occultist, that plant over there is growing well because Saturn is ascending or whatever, and if a rabid dog bites you, you should apply the plant to the wound because the melancholic nature of Saturn will counteract the mania of the rabies, etc. Why did such-and-such happen? A demon did it. It's a completely different way of looking at things, it's very strange to our modern sensibilities but it's also surprisingly developed and just fascinating.

empath75 9y ago
That's also how I troubleshoot kubernetes problems.
- Xeoncross 9y ago
  [Angry manager stomps in] "WHY DID WE GO DOWN??? WHAT HAPPENED!??" "Nothing much we could do boss, Saturn ascended"
  - mcguire 9y ago
    Beats "sunspots."
    - jerkstate 9y ago
      flips through excuse-of-the-day calendar
  - mindcrime 9y ago
    DUMMY-MODE ON
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mcguire 9y ago
  You may think you're kidding, but modern technology stacks have gotten so complicated and entangled that mystical troubleshooting is the routine solution. Not working? Reboot it. For all I know, the phase of Saturn (as calculated by some library down in the framework) does affect Kubernetes.
  - booleandilemma 9y ago
    Fix your PC with a crystal pendulum https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-MM0Z_jCrGo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-MM0Z_jCrGo
  - jerf 9y ago
    http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/P/phase-of-the-moon.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/P/phase-of-the-moon.html
    - yesbabyyes 9y ago
      Also: A Story About 'Magic' http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html
52-6F-62 9y ago
If you're interested in the study of religion at all (at least as a human affectation), it can get pretty interesting to get into the Hermetic and Gnostic texts. Some of the traditions and proposed knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years. It's really quite something. It combined with other mystic traditions ultimately informed the theosophical movement of the 19th and 20th century through to the magick of Aleister Crowley. His sex magick informs a lot of the modern incel, red-pill, and proud boy ideas that you must refrain from "spilling your seed"—that your reproductive emissions contain some of your essential energy. The result being that you have to abstain or otherwise be reduced to a plodding pile of unenlightened goo (to give the idea some imagery). So it's especially interesting, and a little funny, how in spite of the larger mysticism having fallen out of popular favour as a way to understand the world, they still influence a great part of it in a variety of outcomes as a result of lingering practices and beliefs finding their way into new systems.
- floren 9y ago
  > It combined with other mystic traditions ultimately informed the theosophical movement of the 19th and 20th century through to the magick of Aleister Crowley. His sex magick informs a lot of the modern incel, red-pill, and proud boy ideas that you must refrain from "spilling your seed"—that your reproductive emissions contain some of your essential energy. The result being that you have to abstain or otherwise be reduced to a plodding pile of unenlightened goo (to give the idea some imagery). Those seem to have been relatively widely-held beliefs based on the humour system of medicine, see https://aeon.co/essays/getting-down-and-medieval-the-sex-lives-of-the-middle-ages https://aeon.co/essays/getting-down-and-medieval-the-sex-liv... posted here on HN a few days ago. Taoists had similar ideas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_sexual_practices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_sexual_practices Edit: also I'll never spell it "magick" because Crowley was a toolbag Edit 2: There's also the current meme that (humorously) claims a man who remains a virgin to the age of 30 will become a wizard, which is presumably drawing on all these historical beliefs.
  - 52-6F-62 9y ago
    > Edit: also I'll never spell it "magick" because Crowley was a toolbag You're right about that one. I did it only for the continuity being that I was specifically commenting on his circle. The humour medicine was a little different. That article was speaking more to the fact that it was believed people had to release sexual energy for fear of death. The Taoists were the opposite of that. They thought you should preserve fluids to preserve and prolong life. Crowley's version was closer to your comment on the meme, which sidles with the red-pill version I mentioned above: that conserving your sexual energy essential bestows you with powers, or at least advantage over the "wasteful" ignorant masses.
indigochill 9y ago
There's a parser text game called Hadean Lands in which you're on board a "spaceship" fueled by alchemy. You start the game by learning some basic rituals, then progressively you have more and more components missing for what you have to do next and have to hack together something based on concepts you learn progressively like planetary or elemental associations. As weird as it is, everything makes perfect sense as you internalize the connections between things like planets, scents, classical elements, and other concepts. Within the world of the game, strange alchemical connections are as much a science as physics is in ours. It's definitely a different experience to dip into that mindset, even just within a game.
- krylon 9y ago
  That sounds absolutely fascinating! By your description I had thought it must be an old game from the early 1980s, but it is pretty recent. Thanks!
- samiru 9y ago
  Just thought about this game when I read the first comment, scrolled and here I was! But I concur.
copperx 9y ago
Occultist texts fall into a unique fiction genre, which, not unlike magical realism, has the constraint of having to reconcile with the mundane laws of reality. That makes it so fascinating. Depending on your faith, you could perhaps place religious texts into the same genre. The permanence power of this kind of storytelling throughout time and cultures cannot be overstated. I think humans crave it. That also explains why I felt so giddy when I read the announcement, even as someone who hasn't read much outside of tech stuff lately.
crankylinuxuser 9y ago
So true. And with more and more devices we use have computers in them (as small as the ATtiny85), then we'll head somewhat back to it. 'Magic' incantations will fix whatever nearly permanent firmware bugs or hardware bugs exist. Because, yes, these computers are deterministic IFF you have the software, logic, and its variables. And hope the sensors aren't malfunctioning. My wife had a car that a temp sensor somewhere thought the car was always much colder outside. And it then set the cold/heat as a differential of what it measured. There was no way to say "Hot air, blower medium speed". It was a song and dance to get the "right" set of temps and blower speed.
o_____________o 9y ago
If you would like to read a brilliant but rambling and unsubstantiated account of comparative proto-religions, shamanistic psychology and the creation of metaphor, check out a classic called The Golden Bough. You'll walk away with a deeper understanding toward the rational origins of irrational rituals.
CobrastanJorji 9y ago
> it's very strange to our modern sensibilities... My mom buys things because they help remove 'toxins.' It's not that strange.
- floren 9y ago
  At least she hasn't yet learned of the foetid influence which seeps through the aether and will destroy the balance of your body's humours: wifi.

0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago

It's just not exciting without Lovecraft. What I mean is, the word "occult" in this context may be a boring label invented by boring people, kind of like "off topic" on stackoverflow.

Kostchei 9y ago

yewp, lol, Laundry Files OPSEC vs Great Old Ones. 1. Don't scan and upload random occult manuscripts to computational devices