AletheiaRivers said:
Um, I have always been thrown by the "Esoteric" section. It seems to me that crystals et al, should be in magick. It just seems an unnecessary seperation and that the two sections could be combined.
My .02$
Aletheia, I think you raise a valid point here, and I'm smacking myself in the forehead and wondering why didn't this hit me before! Except that I think the forum we're talking about,
which is conspicuous by its absence, should be called
New Age.
Forgive me if I've missed prior discussions about this exact wording. But I fail to see how
anyone could dispute or disagree with the importance of including this forum, or sub-forum. And what a fine place it
would be/should be to discuss "crystals," and presumedly the "et al" you refer to. Just look up `New Age' on Wikipedia, and there's your
crystal (image) right there front & center. Below, a crop circle, and both of these are definitely `New Age' topics.
Yes, we could babble on for days about just whether or not "New Age" is a religion, and how this is to be distinguished from
The Perennial Philosophy, and esoteric aspects of the various religions. But I believe a
`New Age' section is the forum that's been missing. I'm very curious to know about re-org, Brian - and hope this post isn't too late for consideration ...
I would like to say, once more, that Esoteric is very important to me, for several reasons, although I will add that I think the name should be changed to
`Esotericism.' This change would better reflect the existence of many, many thousands (tens, even hundreds of thousands) of individuals who identify themselves variously as
Occultists, Esotericists, Theosophists, Rosicrucians, students of the Ageless Wisdom, Perennialists, students of the Mystery Teachings, and
neophytes/aspirants/disciples/Initiates. True, no actual Initiate would say, "I am an Initiate," but still, we can all be forgiving.
My preference for
esotericism over
esoterism comes from the popularity of the former, with twice as many hits on Google, and no existence in Webster's Collegiate at all for `esoterism,' only in the
unabridged. And yes, this is a very inclusive term (the above categories are not exhaustive), while still remaining selective enough that I think many people (past, present
and future) would feel at home there.
As a person who most closely
tries to identify as an
esotericist in my better moments ... I would be happy to do whatever is necessary & useful (as time permits) to help maintain & build an Esotericism forum. My contributions thus far - have been somewhat scarce, and I regret it!
This said, I think the
New Age forum/sub-forum is sorely missing, and would engender/allow a much different range, and focus of dialogue & discovery than
Esotericism. Both forums need to exist, it seems to me.
I cannot comment as strongly on
`Magick,' yet from what I understand & believe, this forum, too, deserves its own independence. It might not be a forum that I would feel inclined to post on all that often, but then, this is true for all of us, for
many of the forums!
Respectfully,
taijasi
