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Killing in the name of religious beliefs is the result of egoic attachments and cognitive dissonance.

Many Christians use Luke 22:36, in which Jesus says, “Let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.” as a proof-text advocating the use of deadly force by Christians in self-defense.

The problem with this is that this interpretation is inconsistent with Jesus's teachings and the rest of that very story. Additionally, many people blur the lines between defense and aggression as is the case right now with current geopolitical strife. Is a pre-emptive strike of a burgeoning nuclear power an act of aggression or an act of defense? The answer is obvious but many mental gymnasts will argue for the alternative as the alternative satisfies their egoic lust for blood.

After Jesus tells the disciples to sell their cloaks and buy swords, he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and a group of Roman soldiers came to arrest him. When the disciples saw that Jesus was about to be arrested, they asked "Lord, shall we strike with the sword? (vs 49). Without waiting for an answer, one apostle drew a sword and blood was spilled.

As the servant of the high priest whose ear has been cut off by the sword strike stood there bleeding, Jesus said "No more of this! And he touched his ear and healed him."

Read that again, "Christians". He said "No more of this!".

Thirst for blood is not Christian so stop pretending like Holy War is somehow consistent with "love your neighbor" and "turn the other cheek." Maybe go drink some holy wine instead.

🪶

Comte de Sats Germain 6mo ago

That verse is cryptic at first, but has a clear meaning, if you look for it.

A sword, the Hebrew letter Zayin, is the seventh letter and so is associated with the sabbath, the seventh day. "Keep the sabbath holy." The sword/zayin symbolism also applies to your rational faculty - like, keep it sharp.

Cloaks are repeatedly a symbol for glory, treasure, wealth, etc. The prodigal son returned and got that nice cloak. Things were "cloaked in glory."

Buying and selling is the root of "god." Economics, from Greek, was originally a theological term, and that's because the movement of Spirit is the movement of value, or at least can be mirrored as such. Money is an imitation of God - that's why the love of money is the root of evil - its a love of an imitation, which makes it idolatry. Satan imitates God - that's, again, symbolic meaning, pointing to the measurement of the thing not being the real thing.

Thus, it is a commandment to value God above all else, discard your ego, and keep the Sabbath. If you have to literally sell your cloak to do it, then do it.

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RedTailHawk 6mo ago

Interesting info. Looked it up in my library. As you said, Zayin, also spelled Zain is the 7th letter which also corresponds to the 6th tarot card called "the lovers" traditionally (mystical title= Children of the Voice Divine").

As you said it means sword. It also may mean armor, spear, arrow, weapon, and whistling.

We know Jesus was about to be arrested when they had the sword conversation. We know that Jesus condemned the violence of the sword that took place immediately after the sword conversation.

You offer an interesting interpretation. I can't say I know for sure what Jesus was talking about there but it's definitely not a command that aligns with bloodthirst. We know that much for sure.

Comte de Sats Germain 6mo ago

Definitely. Somehow I totally forgot to look for a connection in tarot... But I can rectify that, got my trumps right here

Comte de Sats Germain 6mo ago

Hmm. I'm not sure this works in tarot. Idk. I can always find patterns if I look.

RedTailHawk 6mo ago

The most recent mind blower from tarot is the relationship between the opening letters of the word "Christ" in Greek, i.e. Chi and Rho, and their connection to tarot key 5 and 7.

Hierophant

= hie ro pha nt

= hi(e) ro phə nt

=chi rho phi nt

Chariot

= cha riot

= chə rəo(t)

= chi rho

Taking some liberties with schwas, silent letters, phlegmy alternative pronunciations, etc. you can see how Chi and Rho are tied up in those cards.

I believe we talked Chi and Rho recently.

The hierophant was the leader of the Eleusinian mysteries and generally means "teacher".

Chariot is a reference to the Merkabah...Ezekiel's chariot...Demeter's chariot...same Demeter from the Eleusinian mysteries...same chariot as Ezekiels...enlightenment...the phi (golden ratio) aura(aurum...gold).

Comte de Sats Germain 6mo ago

Yeah, its always a good talk, talking with you. Great observations.

I like how tarot seems to always work, if you get your imaginative juices flowing - it'll answer any question. I'm not sure which version of tarot history I believe, though. There's the version in which its a reformulation of the book of Thoth, and that resonates because it works, it just works. And then there's the version where the Visconti deck, which is still kept in a Milan museum iirc, is much simpler and then AE Waite comes along and makes all the cool symbolic pictures. He was a Freemason, btw - that alone lends a lot of credence to their claims. I mention that mostly because I've been seeing that anti-masonic rhetoric on nostr recently.

For what its worth, when I was just looking for a tarot connection, I felt like the chariot was more applicable. Idk of that's right... But it seemed more fitting. The two sphinxes mirror Jakin and Boaz, which seem to fit with the trading of value for value. And I like to look at the three cards in the whole column, when you make rows of seven cards, with the Fool off to the side. Below the chariot is Temperance, pouring water from cup to cup and one foot in water. Water is symbolic of Spirit, so its like another formulation of "the map is not the territory." And the angel with a foot in water kinda makes it the same symbol as Hecate - moving between the worlds, and having gotten a peak behind the veil in previous card symbolism. And below that, the World - awakening to a new reality. It all **_might_** (cuz idk) point to the same idea as "sell your cloak and buy a sword" because the sword/sabbath represents the real world, where reality is out of teach for us on this side of the veil, but you still have to orient your value system to a concrete and unchanging principle - the sabbath, the covenant, God.

But like I said, I can find a pattern in anything. This could be all wrong.

RedTailHawk 6mo ago

Thank you, and likewise. It is a pleasure talking with you.

Oh, wow. You're way deeper into studying tarot than me. I'm very new to it.

I have a few sources for tarot and all are generally perennialist teachings in some form.

In The Law of One, they cover tarot quite a bit. I'll leave a link to the search results of the Law of One material for the word "tarot" but you can probably find some more hits if you search for "key", "card", "archetype", etc. using the integrated search engine on the site:

https://www.lawofone.info/results.php?q=tarot

76.6 Questioner: Sorry we have had such a long delay between the last session and this one. It couldn’t be helped I guess. Could you please tell me the origin of the tarot?

Ra: I am Ra. The origin of this system of study and divination is twofold: firstly, there is that influence which, coming in a distorted fashion from those who were priests attempting to teach the Law of One in Egypt, gave form to the understanding, if you will pardon the misnomer, which they had received. These forms were then made a regular portion of the learn/teachings of an initiate. The second influence is that of those entities in the lands you call Ur, Chaldea, and Mesopotamia who, from old, had received the, shall we say, data for which they called having to do with the heavens. Thusly we find two methods of divination being melded into one with uneven results; the, as you call it, astrology and the form being combined to suggest what you might call the correspondences which are typical of the distortions you may see as attempts to view archetypes.

According to Ra, the tarot was received by inspired Egyptian priests. It seems that the Ur/Chalea/Mesopotamian influence became somewhat distorted, merging astrology with tarot. Astrology and tarot both are valid but blending them likely leads to some confusion and inaccuracy.

Kabbalah Unveiled by Imre Vallyon is my other main tarot source. 200/350 pages of that book are about tarot cards. I don't agree with 100% of what he has in that book but unlike the Law of One, this book is structured like a textbook. Like the Law of One, it acknowledges the, at least partial, legitimacy of many religious traditions.

Comte de Sats Germain 6mo ago

Oh I wouldn't say I'm deep into tarot - I've only read one book on it and watched a lot of videos from a guy on YouTube who unfortunately passed right before I found him. Patischi (probably spelled wrong) was his name. Great reader, and gave the best presentations at the Theosophical Institute (also could be misremembering that name...) The book is 72 Degrees of Wisdom, by Rachel Pollack. Very easy read, and has great explanations. Beyond that, I just look at the nice pictures. Never done a reading on a person. I'm a little scared to try, tbh.

Hey, I recognize that excerpt from the Book of Ra. I guess I've seen it. Hmm. That's basically how I'd summarize the creation of Judaism - a Chaldean and Egyptian framework melded together. And then that kinda repeats with Christianity. Everything syncretizes.

A lot of esotericists like to map astrology to tarot. That's literally all I know about it, lol. I don't know astrology. Sometimes I take a stab at it but then just forget about it. I'm sure the writers of the Gospels were quite fluent in astrology, though, and that makes it more interesting IMO. The story of Jesus multiplying bread and fish is about astrological procession from one house to another. There's also a connection with the name of John and how he grew up in the wilderness, a wildman, which echoes Enki or Ea or both, and if it echoes Ea, then John is the fish that makes way for... Something. Idk astrology. He prepares the way for Jesus, though.

I'm gonna search that Kabbalah Unveiled book I'm a sec. I like it when stuff is laid out, textbook style.