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What do you mean "knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years"? Are you just saying that Magicians believe events

What do you mean "knowledge exists on a timeline parallel to popular history going back thousands of years"? Are you just saying that Magicians believe events occurred differently than popularly understood? Or are you saying that secret knowledge comes from a parallel version of reality, where the timeline is different, but somehow makes its way into our universe and is effective. To illustrate what I am asking, Did Kennedy die in our timeline from a magic bullet? Or can I put magic on a bullet in this timeline using knowledge from a different timeline where Kennedy is still alive?

sibeliuss 9y ago
This could best be described as a "Ketamine Timeline"
52-6F-62 9y ago
Nothing so fantastical as that. There were sects of Christianity that followed more ancient traditions alongside their Christian beliefs. One popular set of knowledge (Christianity) and one arcane (Gnostic/Hermetic). You had to be initiated into the knowledge by a mixture of ancient and adapted rites. There were a number of disparate groups working from a similar or similar range of corpora. The mystical timeline is parallel. There's a layer and then another layer. So what your common Catholic would have believed in 1500 was childish elementary mystical understanding to the arcane society member who knew the "real" or Gnostic truth. I'm doing a terrible job at actually explaining this well. I'm giving you the very-diluted roundabout explanation of what I meant. For a better understanding have a quick read through some Wikipedia articles. If your history of Christianity is not very thorough, then I recommend brushing up on that as well for a more rounded understanding. If you get into some of the reading, you'll understand 100% of those wacky conspiracy videos on YouTube and why people should read more, and how important context is. My references are generally western-centric, though some of these topics make inroads to China and India (which has its own gnostic traditions IIRC). --- Down the rabbit hole you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus (read many of the links) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism (read many of the links) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley And down the Judeo-Abhrahamic-Christianity path: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_mysticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_mysticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism and just keep going.
- cat199 9y ago
  > My references are generally western-centric that these strains predominantly dont exist in eastern christianity to me is indiciative that westerners were seeking to fill a spiritual void lost to 'their side of the fence' with other sources... as to the reasonings behind this, well, your 100% might come into play.
  - cobbzilla 9y ago
    iirc Gnosticism and Manichaeism were both heavily influenced by eastern thought and took root in parts of the eastern Mediterranean all the way to Persia. The early church was very effective in labeling them as heresies and stamping them out.

sibeliuss 9y ago

This could best be described as a "Ketamine Timeline"

52-6F-62 9y ago

Nothing so fantastical as that. There were sects of Christianity that followed more ancient traditions alongside their Christian beliefs. One popular set of knowledge (Christianity) and one arcane (Gnostic/Hermetic). You had to be initiated into the knowledge by a mixture of ancient and adapted rites. There were a number of disparate groups working from a similar or similar range of corpora. The mystical timeline is parallel. There's a layer and then another layer. So what your common Catholic would have believed in 1500 was childish elementary mystical understanding to the arcane society member who knew the "real" or Gnostic truth. I'm doing a terrible job at actually explaining this well. I'm giving you the very-diluted roundabout explanation of what I meant. For a better understanding have a quick read through some Wikipedia articles. If your history of Christianity is not very thorough, then I recommend brushing up on that as well for a more rounded understanding. If you get into some of the reading, you'll understand 100% of those wacky conspiracy videos on YouTube and why people should read more, and how important context is. My references are generally western-centric, though some of these topics make inroads to China and India (which has its own gnostic traditions IIRC). --- Down the rabbit hole you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic_religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus (read many of the links) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism (read many of the links) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley And down the Judeo-Abhrahamic-Christianity path: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_mysticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_mysticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism and just keep going.

cat199 9y ago
> My references are generally western-centric that these strains predominantly dont exist in eastern christianity to me is indiciative that westerners were seeking to fill a spiritual void lost to 'their side of the fence' with other sources... as to the reasonings behind this, well, your 100% might come into play.
- cobbzilla 9y ago
  iirc Gnosticism and Manichaeism were both heavily influenced by eastern thought and took root in parts of the eastern Mediterranean all the way to Persia. The early church was very effective in labeling them as heresies and stamping them out.