At 09:23 PM 5/8/97 -0700, Damon Casale wrote:

On Thu, 8 May 1997, Matt Posner wrote:

I've done some reading in hermetics/western occultism, connected with
fantasy novel research, and the most common opinion I see among people
who call themselves magicians in that tradition is that the world has
various powers in it that a magician can access (as opposed to
generating power himself). Powers include astrological influences,
angels, demons, elementals, etc. For these people, God is the strongest
power, and in texts that are readily accessible, the power you respect
and the name (Yahweh, Jehovah, Cabalistic Hebrew names, whatever) you
are very likely to use in spells.

[rest snipped]

Yep.  The Jews were well known for engaging in this sort of thing when
they weren't worshipping the God of the bible.  ;)  Matter of fact, some
still *are* known for doing it.  Take a look at the Qabbalah.  (sp?)

  I hate to step into a pointless debate, but Damon is displaying a
fundamental ignorance of Kabbalah.  Kabbalah is a text that seeks to
provide a greater understanding of the the mystical aspects G-d's actions
in the world, such as creation in Genesis or the chariot passage of
Ezekiel.  Its intended audience was scholars who already possessed a
thorough knowledge of Bible and Talmud, men who were devout and G-dfearing.
 Let's drop this subject now. 

                                                                         dml