[UA] While talking about religion and magick

[David M Jacobs]

At 04:43 PM 7/04/02 -0400, Michael Dinowitz wrote:

>A little more research shows that the subject is stage magic, not occult 
>magic. Interesting none the less.

If the Catholic Church _were_ to have a patron saint of occult magick, 
perhaps Pope Sylvester II would be a good choice.  He studied mathematics 
and natural sciences under Arabic teachers in Cordoba and Seville and wrote 
several books on philosophy and mathematics; legend holds him to have 
introduced Arabic numbers to western Europe.  He was also widely believed 
to be a sorcerer of some sort.

If we're talking postmodern magick, though, then Pope John XV might be 
better.  With all the confusion around the numbering of popes at this 
point, he'd make an ideal patron saint of cliomancers and 
cryptomancers.  John XV is recorded as having reigned for four months in 
985 by some, but most historians believe that he never existed.

And then there's the whole Popess Joan thing for the Mystic Hermaphrodites 
out there...



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

"'Kevin,' David interrupted, 'what the Germans should have done
was show the Russians a dead cat and ask them to explain it.'

"'That would have stopped the Soviet offensive right there,' I said.
"Zhukov would still be trying to account for the cat's death.'"

— from Valis, by Philip K Dick


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