Why do we say Holy Ghost?

I went down a bit of a linguistic rabbit hole today. One of the FB groups I’m on posted “Why do we say Holy Ghost? Is it a ghost?” After the first minute of smacking my head, I started really looking into the question. Ghost is an English word of Germanic origin, which is used to translate spiritus from latin into old English. It’s first used in Old English as such: sē hālga gāst is Old English for “The Holy Ghost”. Spirit didn’t enter English as a translation for spiritus until the Middle English Period (after the Norman Conquest, when the Normans brought more French and Latinate words into English). Ghost and geist are direct cognates, from English and German respectively. Geist has a meaning of spirit in the supernatural sense, as well as the meaning of apparition and of something having a frightening appearance. It also has a sense of furor or agitation, a sort of ecstasy. Thus, a sense of being filled ‘with the Holy Ghost’ carries a sense of ecstatic experience.

The Friary: Work, Opus, Aspirations

For the past few weeks, the Sacred Flame has been reignited in me to re-address my Friary Work. I've been writing a lot of material and emails and general musings, all about the Friary Work. And as I've been doing that, I've been thinking a lot about the language I use. As a magician, the words have meaning, and choosing them carefully affects the outcome of the process in which I'm engaged. That got me thinking about the word 'Work'. In English, the word work can have some bad connotations: Something you are doing that you must do, something that takes a great deal of effort, labor, something you do in exchange for payment or gain. And we know language shapes the way we think. The following video gives examples of that. Perhaps my efforts in the Friary realm should not be considered work, but perhaps the Latin source for the term, Opus.  We are engaged in the Magnum Opus, the Great Work, after all. And Opus has totally different connotations in


Logos is a fantastically complicated word. It is derived from a Greek word meaning "ground", "plea", "opinion", “law”, "expectation", "word", "speech", "account", "reason", "proportion", "discourse". To me, as we use it in the AJC, it has all of those meanings and more. It is the Ground of all being, the Word spoken when God at creation said “Let there be light” יְהִי אוֹר It is the plea of the Divine to remember from whence we came. It is the opinion of the Gnostics, that they know the unknowable, and approach the unapproachable; that they make effable the ineffable. It is the Law laid out for the conduct of morality, whether to be observed or broken. It is the expectation that although now we see through a glass darkly, then we shall see clear. It is the Word of God: Written, spoken, experienced, living. It is the Speech of God: The great Metatron and all of continual creation formed t

What is a Johannite: Spiritually Decisive

"And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." -Matthew 4:21-22 As the Director of Communications for the Apostolic Johannite Church, I am the first point of contact for many people seeking a spiritual home that can accept eccentric ideas, yet has a strong tradition. I tend to encounter people who've been wandering from tradition to tradition. These people, their first experience is generally a very narrow version of Christianity, where if you don't toe the line, you are ostracized. So they reject Christianity altogether, and they look at Buddhism, or paganism, or nothing. Then, when they begin to heal, the Church calls them back, but they cannot accept the narrowness of the version of which they were raises. And so they find us. For some people, they've studied a l

Reading material

I am reading a ridiculous amount of books at the moment. I should really pick one and finish it. The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin Complicity by Iain Banks Driftless Spirits by Dennis Boyer Northern Frights by Dennis Boyer Sword of the Legion by Jason Anspach, Nick Cole Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer  I really should finish one or more of these.

Holst: Jupiter

I am a fan of all of Holst's planet series, but nothing speaks to me like Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity. Anyone who's read my blog for any period of time knows I like Jupiter in all his aspects: King, Bringer of Jollity and plenty, Expander of boundaries and limits. The music is so upbeat! It fills one with joy, with granduer, with expansion, at least in the first movement. Then it quiets, but even it's quiet is joyous, and then it comes back in grand and sweeping, like a mountain vista in New Zealand. One can almost see a procession of gifts and brightly colored courtiers coming to pay homage to the king on the day of his coronation, or the day of his victory. A stately procession follows a flurry of preparation. Just when you think the grandeur of the second movement will come to it's end, the small trilling notes of fairies and servants and swirling dance comes back in, and then Jupiter is there, proclaiming his good will and beneficence to all. It makes me hap

Clothes Horse

There is nothing quite like wearing a good tailored suit. The cut simply falls correctly on the body, and the figure you cut, with a neatly tied tie and a pressed shirt, makes you think you can take on the world. A set of shiny dress shoes and some socks that speak to my personality, and I feel like a man about town, a captain of industry, a go-getter ready to take on the world. I can dream in a suit. That style of dress is out of place on the farm. On the farm, I like my Romeo boots with no laces that just slip on. A pair of old jeans, a flannel shirt if it's cold, a t-shirt if it's warm. A ball cap to keep the sun from my eyes. It's relaxed, it allows for work, and it makes me feel, well, like a man of the land. Someone who works hard to accomplish their goals. It grounds me. Even more removed is the vestments of the priest. Designed at the height of the Roman empire, the alb, stole, chausible, and cincture put me in a sacred role, a role that is outside of my ev


Great balls of fire, I am feeling ill. Grievous wails of despair come from my mouth Groaning, sweating, swearing, failing of will. Gone down a bad path, my health has gone south. Give me release, succor, a cooling cloth Growing is my unease that this illness Growls and rolls in my belly, ceaseless froth. Green mucus, bane color of un-wellness Government healthcare does not cover me Great witch doctors have no elixir cure Good faith healers' prayers do not set me free. Gross fluids flowing to make body pure. Greeting the morning of my discontent Going to find where my superb health went Writing Prompt: October 1 Fearful symmetry Pick a letter, any letter. Now, write a story, poem, or post in which every line starts with that letter.