I've like the deck so far very much, but I'd have to say that I'm not overly fond of this one. And I think having the conceit of the upside down pentacle isn't necessarily worth having its negative connotation clouding the coolness of the rest of the deck. Just my opinion, of course...
Ok, now. You have no issues with goetic sigils, voodoun veves, skull-headed dapper gentlemen, or skeletal succubi, but an inverse pentacle is bugging you? I mean, I'm not trying to argue with you that you shouldn't necessarily have a problem, but the rest of the deck is so stridently left-hand-path in some respects, and this is the first time that fact has bothered you?
You've got a point. Honestly, though, I think my issue is that while the other aspects are left-hand path as you say, this isn't -- it's not even a perversion of something on the right-hand -- it's taking unrelated things -- witchcraft and Christianity and tying them together when there isn't a connection. LaVey was an idiot.
Apart from my own issues -- which are mine and no one is bound by them of course -- it might rub certain people who might otherwise be interested in picking up a copy the wrong way. It'd be enough to keep me from picking up a copy, for instance, since the annoyance factor would come at me whenever I picked up the deck.
Ok, Brent, I think you may need to either do some self-examination or some more research, especially when making commentary like this, as you're coming off as either:
A: Someone who knows almost nothing about Left-Hand-Path occultism, or who has researched it only from a rather reactionary RHP source.
B: Someone with serious trigger issues regarding LHP/Satanism in general.
here's why:
1- The above pentacle is not A LaVeyan Satanist pentacle- note the lack of the Hebrew inscription "Leviathan" and the lack of a goat's head inscribed in the star portion? Also note the smaller secondary pentacles at each point.
2- There are more brands of Satanism and of the Left-hand-path in general than just LaVey.
3- Inverse pentacles were used long before modern satanism existed. See Eliphas Levi, use of the baphomet sigil, possibly (but not likely) the knights Templar, John Dee, and others- it's use as a modern Satanist symbol is a cheap grab at ownership, much like european wicca's grab of a symbol used since Mesopotamian days.
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asenathwaite
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-29 06:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-29 07:32 am (UTC)Ok, now. You have no issues with goetic sigils, voodoun veves, skull-headed dapper gentlemen, or skeletal succubi, but an inverse pentacle is bugging you? I mean, I'm not trying to argue with you that you shouldn't necessarily have a problem, but the rest of the deck is so stridently left-hand-path in some respects, and this is the first time that fact has bothered you?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-29 07:46 am (UTC)You've got a point. Honestly, though, I think my issue is that while the other aspects are left-hand path as you say, this isn't -- it's not even a perversion of something on the right-hand -- it's taking unrelated things -- witchcraft and Christianity and tying them together when there isn't a connection. LaVey was an idiot.
Apart from my own issues -- which are mine and no one is bound by them of course -- it might rub certain people who might otherwise be interested in picking up a copy the wrong way. It'd be enough to keep me from picking up a copy, for instance, since the annoyance factor would come at me whenever I picked up the deck.
your mileage may vary, of course.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-29 04:06 pm (UTC)A: Someone who knows almost nothing about Left-Hand-Path occultism, or who has researched it only from a rather reactionary RHP source.
B: Someone with serious trigger issues regarding LHP/Satanism in general.
here's why:
1- The above pentacle is not A LaVeyan Satanist pentacle- note the lack of the Hebrew inscription "Leviathan" and the lack of a goat's head inscribed in the star portion? Also note the smaller secondary pentacles at each point.
2- There are more brands of Satanism and of the Left-hand-path in general than just LaVey.
3- Inverse pentacles were used long before modern satanism existed. See Eliphas Levi, use of the baphomet sigil, possibly (but not likely) the knights Templar, John Dee, and others- it's use as a modern Satanist symbol is a cheap grab at ownership, much like european wicca's grab of a symbol used since Mesopotamian days.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-29 02:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-29 04:07 pm (UTC)