Theurgy (God/guilt-based magick)

[James Palmer]

On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Kevin Mowery wrote:

> 
> 	This is all very good.  

Thank you.  :-)

> 
> > Only a tiny number of theurgists - perhaps ten in total, and all ordained
> > Catholic priests - are practising today, summoning demons and sacrificing
> > animals to gather power to use against foul sorcery. Those members of the
> > occult underground who have come up against them have generally been
> > baffled at their power, especially when they saw a ritual they knew to be
> > nonsense produce a fearsome effect.  One or two have worked it out - but
> > nobody's yet tried telling a theurgist the exact nature of where his
> > power's coming from.  If the nature of theurgy became more widely known,
> > the slang term for them would be Greenelanders.
> 
> 	I'm afraid I don't get this.  Greenelanders?

As in Graham Greene the novelist, whose books tend to feature tortured
Catholics finding redemption in odd ways.  His characters are jokingly
said to live in Greeneland.

> 
> > Generate a Significant Charge: Commit a serious sin within a ritual
> > context - human sacrifice, summoning a demon, rape.
> 
> 	Summoning a demon . . . doesn't this violate the rule against not being
> able to use magick to get charges?

They'd have to summon the demon through a *genuine* ritual, or have
someone else do it for them, rather than using theurgy.  This bends the
rules, yes.
  
> 	Also, you might consider the difference between venal and mortal sins as
> the difference between minor and significant charges.  (I'd spell that out
> a bit more, but I'd have to ask my girlfriend which sins are mortal and
> which aren't.)

I was thinking about that, but the difference between them gives me a
headache, and nobody can seem to agree on which is which.  If you can come
up with a good division, then that's great.

> 
> > Taboo:  Make sincere repentance and get absolution.  Also, if a sin ever
> > becomes 'casual' to the theurgist - i.e, if he becomes hardened enough
> > that he wouldn't take stress from it - then it generates no energy. 
> > Serious theurgists go rapidly down the wonderful chute of insanity.  Note
> > that the Catholic Church provides a lot of support to its priests, both
> > from other priests and trained psychologists, which will help to erase
> > those low-level hardened marks.  
> 
> 	Assuming, though, that the Church doesn't know of the existence of
> Theurgists (and why would they have to?), I doubt many Theurges would be
> willing to confess some of the things they do.  The Church might be willing
> to cover up some things and move a priest around, but demon-summoning,
> child murder . . . could lead to excommunication, and then what?  

I was reasoning that the support would come from them going to their
fellow priests and saying "Josh, I just can't cope with the violence in my
parish anymore" or "Bishop, forgive me, I've got into the habit of
fornication" rather than telling all.  That would be an additional source
of guilt, of course.

Would
> Theurgy still work for excommunicated priests, or would the knowledge that
> they, and therefore their sins, could no longer serve God put the kibosh on
> their spellcasting?

Depends on the priest.  I see some turning out like the Habbalites in In
Nomine - demons for god.

> 
> > Starting Charges: Newly created theurgists have four charges.
> 
> 	Minor charges, I assume?
> 

Whoops, yes.