What does Islam say?

Deceptive commercials and cultural propaganda present an ugly practice of paganism (mushrik) as if it were some beautiful festival of love – and all the time the devil is laughing at believers who listen to his whispers.

A group of practices considered as the twin sister of bid’ah(misguided innovations). Like bid’ah these flourish on . . .

 . .  ignorance and outside influence. Like bid’ah they entail rituals. But unlike bid’ah the rituals have not been given an Islamic face. They are followed because they are considered an acceptable cultural practice or the hottest imported “in” thing.

Most of those who indulge in them do not know what they are doing. They are just blind followers of their equally blind cultural leaders. Little do they realize that what they consider as innocent fun may in fact be rooted in paganism. That the symbols they embrace may be symbols of unbelief. That the ideas they borrow may be products of superstition. That all of these may be a negation of what Islam stands for.

Consider Valentine’s Day, a day that after dying out a well deserved death in most of Europe (but surviving in Britain and United States of America) has suddenly started to emerge across a good swath of Muslim countries. Who was Valentine? Why is this day observed? Legends abound, as they do in all such cases, but this much is clear: Valentine’s Day began as a pagan ritual started by Romans in the 4th century BCE to honour the god Lupercus. T

he main attraction of this ritual was a lottery held to distribute young women to young men for “entertainment and pleasure” – until the next year’s lottery. Among other equally despicable practices associated with this day was the lashing of young women by two young men, clad only in a bit of goatskin and wielding goatskin thongs, who had been smeared with blood of sacrificial goats and dogs. A lash of the “sacred” thongs by these “holy men” was believed to make them better able to bear children.

As usual, Christianity tried, without success, to stop the evil celebration of Lupercalia. It first replaced the lottery of the names of women with a lottery of the names of the saints. The idea was that during the following year the young men would emulate the life of the saint whose name they had drawn. (The idea that you can preserve the appearance of a popular evil and yet somehow turn it to serve the purpose of virtue, has survived.

Look at all those people who are still trying, helplessly, to use the formats of popular television entertainments to promote good. They might learn something from this bit of history. It failed miserably) Christianity ended up doing in Rome, and elsewhere, as the Romans did. 

The only success it had was in changing the name from Lupercalia to St. Valentine’s Day. It was done in CE 496 by Pope Gelasius, in honour of some Saint Valentine.

There are as many as 50 different Valentines in Christian legends. Two of them are more famous, although their lives and characters are also shrouded in mystery. According to one legend, and the one more in line with the true nature of this celebration, St. Valentine was a “lovers’” saint, who had himself fallen in love with his jailer’s daughter.

Due to serious troubles that accompanied such lottery, French government banned the practice in 1776. In Italy, Austria, Hungry, and Germany also the ritual vanished over the years. Earlier, it had been banned in England during the 17th century when the Puritans were strong. However in 1660 Charles II revived it. From there it also reached the New World, where enterprising Yankees spotted a good means of making money. Esther A. Howland, who produced one of the first commercial American Valentine’s Day cards called – what else – valentines, in the 1840s, sold $5,000 worth – when $5,000 was a lot of money – the first year. The valentine industry has been booming ever since.

It is the same story with Halloween, which has otherwise normal human beings dressing like ghosts and goblins in a reenactment of an ancient pagan ritual of demon worship. Five star hotels in Muslim countries arrange Halloween parties so the rich can celebrate the superstitions of a distant period of ignorance that at one time even included the shameful practice of human sacrifice. The pagan name for that event was Samhain (pronounced sow-en). Just as in the case of Valentine’s Day, Christianity changed its name, but not the pagan moorings.

Christmas is another story. Today Muslim shopkeepers sell and shoppers buy Christmas symbols in Islamabad or Dubai or Cairo. To engage in a known religious celebration of another religion is bad enough. What is worse is the fact that here is another pagan celebration (Saturnalia) that has been changed in name – and in little else – by Christianity.

Even the celebration considered most innocent might have pagan foundations. According to one account, in pagan cultures, people feared evil spirits – especially on their birthdays. It was a common belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year older. So family and friends surrounded the person with laughter and joy on their birthdays in order to protect them from evil.

How can anyone in his right mind think that Islam would be indifferent to practices seeped in anti-Islamic ideas and beliefs? Islam came to destroy paganism in all its forms and it cannot tolerate any trace of it in the lives of its followers.

Further, Islam is very sensitive about maintaining its purity and the unique identity of its followers. Islamic laws and teachings go to extra lengths to ensure it. Salat (Prayers) is forbidden at the precise times of sunrise, transition, and sunset to eliminate the possibility of confusion with the practice of sun worship. To the voluntary recommended fast on the tenth of Muharram, Muslims are required to add another day (9th or 11th) to differentiate it from the then prevalent Jewish practice. Muslims are forbidden to emulate the appearance of non-Muslims.

A Muslim is a Muslim for life. During joys and sorrows, during celebrations and sufferings, we must follow the one straight path – not many divergent paths. It is a great tragedy that under the constant barrage of commercial and cultural propaganda from the forces of globalization and the relentless media machine, Muslims have begun to embrace the Valentines, the Halloween ghost, and even the Santa Claus. Given our terrible and increasing surrender to paganism the only day we should be observing is a day of mourning. Better yet it should be a day of repentance that could liberate us from all these days.

Please Forward it to other Muslim brothers and sisters to stop them from practicing such bid’ah… It is our duty as a Muslim and a Human being to spread the knowledge of our deen.May ALLAH forgive us for the sins we do consciously or unconsciously.. A’ameen 

Original Source: http://islamnewsroom.com/news-we-need/643-valentinesdaynoway2

I enjoyed collecting candy from the many houses and we often had contests to see who could collect the most candy.  The neighborhoods were swarming with children who were going from house to house asking for treats.  Then, as the years went on, some unscrupulous people took it upon themselves to taint the candy with razorblades or poison, causing parents to refrain from taking the children out to enjoy the holiday.

The characters which represent Halloween are remnants of a pagan religion, ancient religions, Catholicism,  folklore, and politics celebrated ages ago.  They do not represent Christianity, but rather have to do with the occult, which is a false religion.  God clearly warns against using “divination, an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer,” (Deuteronomy 18:9-13).

Halloween, as it is celebrated in the United States, encourages the children to think of these things in relation to the images which represent Halloween.  Therefore, it is not a holiday which Christians and their children should celebrate.  By engaging in following these images, Christians knowingly or unknowingly are breaking the first commandment which says, “I am the Lord thy God. Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” (Exodus 20:2,3).   

Having knowledge of and contact with the symbols of Halloween, specifically, the witches, ghost, and skeletons, encourages the children to explore these images in depth.  They often become fascinated with them as they hear stories or watch television shows about them.  It is unfortunate that the Harry Potter books have become so popular, because children who celebrate Halloween have no trouble making the transition to following Harry Potter and the tales of sorcery

The Lord spoke of these practices as an abomination and any nation which practiced these abominations were driven out of their land, defeated in battles, and suffered losses.  God told the Israelites not to intermarry with the people who worshiped these false Gods and not to do as they did.

Anyone today who engages in these practices suffers financial ruin, loses their property, loses their jobs, and never recovers, unless they turn to the Lord.  Therefore, we are putting our children at risk for becoming involved in New Age teachings, as a natural progression from celebrating Halloween and suffering other misfortunes in life.  If they are unaware of what the Bible says about engaging in these practices, they may never know what is causing their misfortune and may continue to engage in these practices.                   

New Age Guru Busker

Image by avlxyz via Flickr

The Lord says in Deuteronomy 18:12, “’…because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”  He also says that the Israelites shall posses these nations, in verse 14, “, For these nations which thou shalt possess…”  He also says that the Israelites will possess the land in Deuteronomy 19:1, “When the Lord they God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses.”

In the first commandment found in Exodus 20:5, the Lord says he will “visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of them that hate me.”  God considers practicing these abominations as an act of hatred toward him.  The third and fourth generations following us will suffer because of our actions.

These verses cannot be taken lightly as we experienced the economic crisis of 2008 and many people in the Unite States lost their homes.  It is possible that many of the people who lost their homes were involved with a New Age practice such as astrology, tarot cards, witchcraft, numerology, palm reading, spiritism or any other such practice which God calls an abomination or that their ancestors were engaged in these practices.

Therefore, as parents of Christian children, we should make it out duty to ensure that our children do not become involved in these practices.  It is not too late to break the chain of this unfortunate condition and turning our backs on it to follow Jesus Christ instead.  In doing so, we ensure that our children will have a better life.

The goal of magick is to alter the self and environment according to will. It involves the use of mental training,

concentration, and a symbol system to program the mind.

ESP stands for Extra Sensory Perception. It is the receiving of information through paranormal means.

Examples of ESP are:

Clairvoyance

Astral Projection

Psychometry

Telepathic Receiver

A Medium

Experience with a Ouija board, (Personally, I think Ouija boards are stupid, nevertheless I have used one before as a game.) Experience with a pendulum, automatic writing,

Precognition- or ability to see the future.

PK is Psychokinesis, the active or sending side of psychic phenomena. It is psychic force sent out from the individual.

Examples of Psychokinesis are:

Telepathic sender

 Psychokinesis (or telekinesis)

 Somewhat along the same lines are poltergeist

(noisy ghost) phenomena in which objects move of their own

accord or noises are heard. There is always a human agent

involved — frequently a teenage girl — who appears to be

the source of psychic energy.

Psychic healing 

Teleportation, apportation, and levitation.

The Subconscious is the idea that part of the mind normally operates below or outside of ordinary consciousness and awareness. Dreams and hypnosis are examples of this. Also subconscious are the automatic functions of the body such as respiration and digestion.

These notes have been either paraphrased by me or taken directly from the book

The Basics of Magick

By K. Amber

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The science of today from atoms, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, botany, medicinal fields, surgical procedures, architecture, and other select scientific fields have been utilized for spiritual purposes and evolved into the great sciences of today. The ancient cultures of Greece, Egypt, Rome, and other influential advanced countries proceeded to push the boundaries of the physical properities of the world and exhalt them to the spiritual consciousness; signifying the adaptations mind of man has concieved to live more comfortably. The real aspect of magick, like anything, comes from beginning roots of the experimentation, results, and conclusions. When these practices have evolved and lost the spirituality aspect (due to more knowledgeable details and theories other scientists have added over the years) the morals and values have been drawn away from very thoughts the study originated.

The argument resides into the origins of Alchemy, some say its from Greece and others say its from Egypt. I have found Alchemy being translated into “from Egypt” and “Black Earth” in Egyptian and taught by Tahuti or Hermes Trismegistus. Khem was another name for Egypt and also a God. Khem was knows as the creator of man and god of fertility, but eventually evolved into Amen Re and had a significant role in the middle kingdom. Khem was percieved with black skin too. I have found from my experiences, so far, many people accept this fact over Alchemy stemmed from Greece. Even The Greek applied the meaning to “chemistry”. There are accounts that state China made alchemy in 2500 CBE. The teachings of Alchemy took the scientific aspects of transmuitation of metal to symbolize how man connects to the Divine and betters himself. It was in The middle ages the tranformation of Gold was taken literal, when it was an esoteric practice. Then Isaac Newton, scientist and alchemist, pushed the boundaries of his works for modern science with the thoery of gravity. It has evolved into medicine and chemistry. Alchemists Jābir ibn Hayyān and Robert Boyle are known as the fathers of Alchemy.

The Art of Hermeticism was the art of trans mutation of the Self and a form of spiritual alchemy; thus making Hermeticism a form of psychology. It was the genius Charles Jung who intermixed alchemy with psychology and this transformed into a new twist on the metaphysical in general. Israel Regardie pushed Charles Jung’s theories to the next plane of study by the application of the Golden Dawn and tradition of the scientific approach these group of educated men used in the metaphysical practices.

Astrology was an art that is basic and almost every culture in the world had their own version of this study of the stars. The studies of the stars and planets in the sky, including the sun and moon, were held sacred and a way of life. The reason the stars were used in ceremony and held to religious views were for their measurements of the seasons, years, days, and hours. Time of season dictates what plants should planted and harvested, obviously when something directs when to plant and harvest your food source then it will be exalted to the spiritual by means of survival. It was the men who took this spiritual study of with the movement of the sky, which ruled time and food supply indicators, to the physical study in depth. It was men like Galileo who did experimentation to prove the earth was round and an old thoery was wrong, thus evolving the old rites of magick into a science.

Numerology started out by spiritual means in the culture of the Chaldeans, Greek, Egypt, and so on with great philosophy. Most Ancient Egyptian Capitals were in the shape of an Enneagram, or 9 sided geometrical shape. The number 9 was representative of Horus to the Ancient Egyptians, 8 was Tahuti, 3 was Osiris, 2 was Isis, and other methods of counting. The Hebrews have thie own way counting as well called Gemetria, Rome used roman numeral, and so on. These many ways of counting were a kind of measurement, ways to organize for warfare and hunt, divide tribes, and served many other functions that are primal to nature. It evolved into weight, mass, liquid measurement, and distant to an exact degree; once again lost their metaphysical meanings an values that go with it.

These are a few examples to how magick has evolved into science and are ever changing. Magick will always be ever changing, it will be made into science, and also serve for spiritual functions. For this reason we are inspired to write down our results of magical experimentation, so our thoughts can evolve and carry on. Mankind needs magick to evolve and change in a healthy way to our psychological, spiritual, and physical functions we serve in the life we live. So to walk blindly in misconcieved judgment about what magick truly is maybe considerably ignorant. Magick is all around you if you look at these spiritual practices that became a relevant science. Observe and learn from magick. Be the magician to move mankind in a positive light, every written document and magical philosophical is important.

The Origins of Easter.

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The Easter season is upon us once again. Other than Christmas Easter is the most sacred Christian holiday. It celebrates the day Jesus rose from the dead to hide little plastic eggs for all the kids to find. Wait, that doesn’t seem quite right. In fact when you think about it, as most people don’t, what does the modern celebration of Easter actually have to do with the religious event it claims to celebrate. Let us look at the celebrations and what they may actually mean.

Ask any child what Easter is about and they are sure to mention the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs. They might even bring up chocolate bunnies, and chocolate eggs. Now if you ask an adult they might mention the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but I can guarantee that 9 out of ten are going to mention eggs and bunnies as well. There’s no ducking it, eggs and bunnies are just as much a part of Easter as that dude from Nazareth.

But what exactly do eggs and bunnies have to do with Christ’s resurrection? The answer is they have nothing to do, at least as far as Christianity goes. I’m sure most adults would say it’s just a harmless activity for the kids. They would be right of course it is harmless and good fun. What are it’s origins and why is it associated with Easter though. It is a simple answer, though one most Christians would rather not talk about.

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The origins of Easter like most other Christian holidays have roots in Paganism. The early Christians sought to convert pagans by co-opting their religious holidays. Thus Samhain became All Hallows Eve, and the Winter Solstice became Christmas. Actually there is dispute as to whether it was solstice or a Roman celebration of Jupiter, but many Christmas traditions are definitely pagan in origin.

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It seems pagans really loved to party. More so than early Christians who really seem to have been quite dour and severe. What better way to convert party people than by throwing a party. Start your own holiday on or close to the pagan’s holidays and well hope they get confused about why they are partying. It actually worked pretty well. Especially when mixed with a little mass slaughter of everyone who didn’t convert. It worked so well that a couple of centuries later we are still throwing pagan parties to celebrate a Christian holiday without having a clue what the rituals mean.

So what exactly do the Easter traditions mean and what type of holiday was merged into Easter. Well it doesn’t take a brain surgeon, just a little thought. What do rabbits and eggs have in common? Well eggs are what all life springs from, the product of reproduction. Rabbits, well rabbits love to, you know. They were going at it like rabbits. That’s right Easter is the co-opting and corruption of a pagan fertility holiday. Since most pagan cultures looked as reproduction as rebirth of sorts it kind of fits with a resurrection.

If you find it hard to believe just look as the name of the holiday. With Christmas and Halloween, the early Christians at least tried. Christmas is broken down to Christ’s mass, a mass or celebration of Christ. Halloween expanded is All Hallows Eve or even All Saint’s Eve, the evening before a celebration of the Saints. Easter? What has the word Easter got to do with the resurrection of Christ. Once again, nothing.

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Easter is the name of a European goddess, actually Eostre or Eostare. Much closer than any possible Christian connection. Eostre was the goddess of the dawn and spring. Convenient that Easter happens in the spring, but dawn and spring were also connected with rebirth. When you think about it, it’s actually logical for early Christians to make a connection. Their lord was just risen, like the sun, reborn, like the earth in the spring. Awesome timing all around.

Christians may argue, but there is really no way to deny the connections. In all honesty there is no reason too. All of our modern customs and traditions are a mish mash of customs from our past. We take what we like and discard the rest. Even as we advance into a word of reason and separate ourselves more from religion and magic, we cling to the old ways. We are wary of black cats, we throw salt over our shoulder, we knock on wood. It’s our connection to by gone days.

So should a good Christian celebrate Easter? That’s up to the individual. As with most things it is what we make of it. This article was not meant to discourage anyone from enjoying Easter. It was only meant to show that most modern religious holidays have pagan roots. So may people attack Halloween as Satanic, when it is no different than Easter or Christmas.

So go out this Easter, hide an egg, eat a bunny or celebrate the rebirth of a man willing to sacrifice his life for your soul. Happy Easter everyone

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The traditions of Easter

Easter is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Did you ever wonder why?

One of the pagan goddesses of spring and fertility was Eastre and here symbols were rabbit and egg.

Pagan festival celebrating Eastre was held on the first full moon following spring equinox symbolizing Eastre entering her fertility phase.

Rabbit is one of the ancient symbols of fertility and spring for obvious reasons.

The other symbol is egg, ancient symbol of new life and birth in many ancient civilizations.

There is a saying: “All life from egg” and that is true as even human life starts with an egg.

Early Christians adapted their own celebrations of Passover to the pagan rituals celebrating Easter in an attempt to convert the Pagans to their religion peacefully.

Christians myths blended together with the Pagan myths and symbols which were already existing.

Pagan feasts continued to be celebrated in the Christian manner and from that time we have Easter.

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Lupercalia was a pagan festival celebrating fertility and marriage amongst other things. Part of the festival was Juno Februa, which is connected to Juno, goddess of marriage, and Februa which means “purification”, alluding to purification from anything which could get in the way of fertility or anything else.

The festival involved purifying away causes of infertility, including bad spirits, by whipping people lightly with goat skins! After some ceremonies of sacrificing a dog and a goat, young men would run about town with a goat skin, merrily and jokingly whipping anything in sight! It was all in very good spirits and the mood was jovial.

Another custom was a “love lottery” of sorts, where single women’s names were put in a raffle, and the single men in the community would pull out a name of the woman. Then they would spend the festival day together, and if lucky, it could be the start of a romance.

It was centuries later that the Christian church, wanting to steamroll paganism, declared that the same date as Lupercalia would now be Saint Valentine’s Day (because this was the saint that happened to be martyred on this date). They tried to make the transition from Lupercalia to St Valentine’s Day easier by trying to absorb some of the traditions into the day. For example, they suggested that instead of a love lottery there would be a lottery of saints names, and the saint that was chosen was to be their role model for the next year. This tradition didn’t really catch on, but the love-association of Lupercalia stayed with us to this day.

References

http://www.saywhydoi.com/history-of-valentines-day-why-do-we-celebrate-valentines-day/

Of all my birthdays, I think this is the most memorable one because I rarely celebrate my birthday. I was not used to that and I only give a little credit for that kind of occasion in my life.

We back on the year 2002 when I’m going about to celebrate my 18th birthday. The week before my birthday, I was so worried that all my classmates will surprise me and tease me that my birthday is fast approaching and I must prepare for a celebration. I was a working student at that time so I was so worried with the expenses for that. On 26th of August 2002, everybody were so busy. Imagine, I did not received any greeting from my relatives, friends, classmates, neighbors, instructors, high school friends, group mates, etc. And the worst of that is, I FORGOT THAT, THAT DAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!! It hurts! I only realized that my birthday already passed a day after. I can’t go back to that time, it already passed. I always think of that all over and all over again as time passed by and promised to my self that it will not happen again. Never, ever!

On the other hand, I have also heard so many times that celebrating birthdays are pagan belief. No people of GOD in the Bible celebrated his/ her birthday. That is why until today, Jesus real birthday is still unknown. But this celebration was mentioned twice in the Bible. Only once in the Old Testament (the Pharaoh’s Birthday Celebration in the book of Genesis) and only once in the New Testament (Sinful King Herod’s Birthday Celebration). These two people are unconverted/ pagans.

Nevertheless, I am not really convinced with this but I think this is the reason why I am not giving enough attention to this kind of celebration.

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Gaia is perhaps the most important goddess in Greek Mythology. Without her, none of the other great gods and goddesses – or even humans – would exist. As the first Great Goddess, and the Mother Earth, she was responsible for beginning life. The story of Gaia and her family is fascinating, and even somewhat bizarre.

From Chaos (the primordial emptiness before time began) Gaia was born along with Tartarus – who ruled the deepest, darkest region of the underworld – and Eros – whose beauty inspired the creation of many of the immortal gods yet to come. Gaia was known for her power to produce plants potent enough for enchantment. She was also known as a goddess of prophecy. Gaia is still well known throughout the world to this very day, as she is the one who nourishes all life on Earth.

Gaia was the mother of a very large and complex family. First she gave birth to Uranus (the sky), Ourea (the mountains) and Pontus (the sea). These three children did not have a father. Uranus and his own mother were later married. Their first children were the three Cyclopes; Brontes, Steropes, and Argus, and the three Hundred-Handed Giants; Cottus, Briareos, and Gyes. Their next children were the Titans. Cronus, the youngest of them became the ruler of the Titans. Many conflicts arose between the family members, as was shown in the Myth, The Creation of the Titans .  

After their first six monstrous children were born, Uranus, who hated and feared them, imprisoned them in the darkest depths of the underworld. Gaia despised him for this, but kept her feelings hidden, waiting for revenge. They then had six more sons and six daughters, who became known as the Titans. Gaia knew it was time to get even with Uranus, so she made a giant sickle and instructed her youngest son, Cronus, to emasculate his father. From Uranus’s blood that spilled into the Earth, Gaia created six more monsters, the three Furies and the three Giants. Cronus refused to free his brothers from the underworld, as he was also afraid of them, now that he took his father’s place as Sky God. Gaia, being a goddess of prophecy, warned him that he would suffer the same fate as his father someday. His youngest son, Zeus, fulfilled that prophecy.

Even though thousands of years have passed, the myths surrounding the Mother Goddess live on. Possibly it’s because of the importance Gaia played in the creation of life in Greek mythology. Possibly it’s because of the somewhat disturbing tale of the conflicts her family was involved in. Whatever the reason, one thing we can be sure of is that Gaia will forever live on in the memory and the life of man, as she is the embodiment of the Earth.

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