Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!hamblin.math.byu.edu!news.byu.edu!nntp.et.byu.edu!news.kei.com!intac!lilith.necronomi.com!Cthulhu From: Clifford Low Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.pagan,alt.satanism Subject: Re: CHLow: Dark/Light Neopaganism (Was Re: Dark roygbiv Light) Date: 7 Jan 1996 04:05:46 GMT Organization: Dragonglory Enterprises Lines: 34 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4cngqq$qsh@uucp.intac.com> References: <81430@toad.com> <4clnpv$if6@uucp.intac.com> <820925706snz@jamr4.demon.co.uk> <4cnaug$49m@News1.mcs.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: lilith.necronomi.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Newsreader: Nuntius 2.0.4_68K X-XXMessage-ID: X-XXDate: Sat, 6 Jan 1996 03:44:14 GMT Xref: shell.portal.com alt.magick.tyagi:6096 alt.pagan:140149 alt.satanism:31923 In article <4cnaug$49m@News1.mcs.net> Dean, deanm@mcs.com writes: >Sacrifice was to give, and the gift reflective of the giver. The more >you wanted, the better the gift needed to be. Yet there is a heirarchy of gifts offered in most of these cultures, and blood sacrifice is usually at the top. This does not reflect the inherent value of the calf, when in many cultures, calves were common but swords and money were not (and thus, more valuable). If we try to analyse blood sacrifice using a symbol system, holes also peer through. There is a pervasive cross cultural belief that the sacrifice of a living thing is the only suitable sacrifice, or the best sacrifice of all. There is something inherently superior about this kind of rite. Also, more times than not, the sacrifice is not reflective of the giver, but that the kind of sacrifice was extremely ritualized. If it was an offering of penance, six goats beheaded on the new moon. For rejoicing, a dove is burned alive with a cat. Yes, in many cultures, refined gifts composed of flowers and weavings are expressions of personal devotion, but such was considered a trivial sacrifice in comparison to the fairly non-expressive hacking up of livestock. Even in the Bible it says God notably preferred the offering of Abel's livestock, over Cain's grain and plants. What kind of message is that trying to send? Both were symbols of devotion; but ya see, blood simply beats everything else. -CHL +----------Clifford Hartleigh Low-----------+--------------------+ | Email: Cthulhu@tfs.necronomi.com |.love..hate..wire...| | luckydevil@tfs.necronomi.com |.steel..rust..blood.| | familiar@intac.com |.rain..lust.&.fire..| +-------------------------------------------+--------------------+ | WWW: http://tfs.necronomi.com/u/cthulhu/ | * VIOLET SHADOWS * | | Finger/Talk: Cthulhu@lilith.necronomi.com | TAINTED BUT HUNGRY | +-------------------------------------------+--------------------+