Thoughts on the Solstice

Christ is in our midst! He is and ever shall be! 

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my

Savior.

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:46-48).

Today is the Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the longest night, and a few days before the Nativity of Christ.

I was thinking about Charles Allan Bennett, a sort of teacher and friend to Aleister Crowley when both men were in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. I attribute a lot of my direction to the man, Bennett, who left magick to pursue Buddhism as an ordained monk and would later speak in regard to magick as saying, “No Buddhist would consider it worthwhile to pass from the crystalline clearness of his own religion to this involved obscurity.”

Bennett’s motto as an adept magician was “Let There Be Light.” A reference to Genesis 1:3 in which God speaks, “γενηθήτω φῶς.” 

Fiat Lux. 

As we continue on into the days of Winter ahead, the days will be growing longer and the light with it–today we might also join Bennett in speaking the Word of God into existence, the first Divine words spoken by God to His Son the Word, through whom He made the light. 

Crowley notes about Bennett in his later years, “Allan, strangely enough it seems to me, lost interest rather than gained it as we acquired proficiency in the White Art… He didn’t really care for Magic at all; he thought that it led nowhere. He only cared for yoga.”

And the same can be said for me, as I only care for prayer–the yoga in Christian practice, to yoke or to unite. Bennett became a Buddhist and because of the influence of both these men I find myself practicing an Orthodox Christianity. 

I am a practicing Christian. 

This means I am less concerned with theory over practice. Theory is good, but it does not build up the Orthodox φρόνημα. 

For instance, someone close to me the other day asked if I really believed in all this Christian business. We discussed faith and logic, how they are–at times–at odds with one another, and how blind logic as well as blind faith can lead one over the edge into rigidness and theoretical abstractions. The virgin birth was brought up with the question of whether or not I actually believe in this miraculous event. 

Now, if one does not believe Mary the virgin, the blessed Theotokos, giving birth by the Spirit, to Jesus the Christ then I think that is perfectly reasonable; furthermore, it is downright logical to reject this as having happened at all! Now, if someone rejects religion due to this reasoning, I would not blame them, however I am afraid they have missed the point altogether and this is not a judgment on them because it is easy to miss. I will say, though, getting stuck here is worth about as much as a dogmatic Christian who believes everything in the Bible as fact, but never digs in any deeper to understand what the facts mean. The virgin Mary gave birth to Christ, alright, but the Bible is not simply a history book, it’s a practice. 

Belief is only half the coin where works completes the fullness of the faith’s expression, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Theory over practice creates an imbalance, stagnation, and ultimately a dead faith–much the same as reading the Bible as if it were just some piece of literature from long ago. The loudest voices come from the sidelines, however the practitioners of the faith, playing the field, have no use for such armchair theorists. 

This might sound harsh, but if you do not want to play then, please, sit quietly in your involved obscurity. 

One who will never be obscured or forgotten is the Blessed Theotokos, the first apostle given this place because she was the first to say “Yes” to the Will of God, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She is the prototype for us to follow. She gives birth to God the Word by God, that is–it is Divine grace through the Spirit that allowed for her to become the Theotokos, whom we do magnify. 

There is nothing we need outside ourselves to become Godbearers; we say “Yes” to Divinity where He meets us, humbly submitting to His will, and growing as Christ from within. 

Mary’s virginity points directly at the assumption that it is through God, and God alone, that we become more like Him–there are no laws of man that will bring us closer to union with Him, God needs only us to be open to receive Him with sincerity, reverence, and humility. 

Magical theory talks about the “magical child,” a manifestation of a generally larger importance requiring a lot of energy and time put into it, roughly taking nine months to take shape and bloom. Theoretically, it is similar to those who seek to become Godbearers with this time of year being significant due to the dark days, with the light growing and growing until, in only a few days, the virgin gives birth to the Light. 

The True Light. 

Fiat Lux.