WatchTower: an occult name origin?

by cameo-d 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • cameo-d
    cameo-d

    It seems the occult origins of the word "Watchtower" has been around for a very long time. Did the founders of the WatchTower BTS choose that banner name to reveal the origins of their spirit guides?

    A Watchtower is a spirit guardian of one of the four cardinal points in both ceremonial magic and the neopagan religion of Wicca.

    Alternately, the Watchtowers are the abodes of the guardians.

    Often believed to represent the four elements, the Watchtowers are invoked during ritual to cast the magic circle.

    In many Wicca and Witchcraft systems the Watchtowers are evocational symbols of spiritual beings known as the Watchers or the Grigori

    In archaic Roman religion, small towers were built at the crossroads, and an altar was set before them upon which offerings were given to nature spirits. Guardian spirits known as Lares were associated with these towers and with demarcation in general, as well as seasonal themes related to agriculture [1] . Here we may find a connection between the Lares and the Grigori of Italian Witchcraft. These towers may be the foundation of the "Watchtowers" appearing in the ritual circles of Wiccans and other modern witches.

    In the Enochian system of magic, brought to public attention by Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century, we find the inclusion of Watchtowers as complex evocational designs.

    According to Dee’s diaries, the two men summoned an angel, which Kelley saw in a magic stone; Dee recorded the revelations which Kelley narrated to him. Among the surviving records of the Angelic Operations is A Book of Supplications and Invocations which "deals with the Invocation of the Angels who preside over the Four Quarters of the Terrestrial sphere."

    The Watchtowers were among the Golden Dawn concepts introduced into Wicca (modern witchcraft) by its founder Gerald Gardner. The complicated tablets and Enochian names were largely abandoned, but Wicca retained the Watchtowers as "the four cardinal points, regarded as guardians of the Magic Circle". [7] They are usually mentioned during the casting of the circle.

    (Doesn't the Pope wear the Magic Circle with the four points as insignia on his robe?)

    The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888, combined ideas from many different sources including Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, the angelic system of 16th-century magician John Dee and his assistant Edward Kelley, Hermetic Qabalah, and recent archaeological discoveries of Egyptian and Greco-Roman magic and religion.

    Could Watchtower be intertwined with these other "angelic systems" listed above?

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    Dear cameo:

    The research I've done so far on watchtowers, merlons, crenels and battlements has been interesting. I've had no success, however, narrowing it down to your questions. Type in watchtower and you get - guess what? 3,400,000 entries, in large part, for the WTB&TS and/or All Along the Watchtower ...

    I got tired after the first 60 or so pages.

    Are those sun worshipers 'pon the tower below?

    CoCo

  • possible-san
    possible-san

    Hi, cameo-d.

    The word itself, the "Watchtower", is taken from the Scriptures.
    http://www.watchtower.org/e/bible/ge/chapter_031.htm#bk49
    http://bible.cc/genesis/31-49.htm

    Any word which Russell chose is not necessarily connected with the occult.

    Although such talk may be interesting for a certain people, I think that earnest people regard it as absurd.

    But I think that the topic which you offer is always interesting.
    This is also an interesting talk if we do not take it into consideration seriously.

    possible
    http://godpresencewithin.web.fc2.com/

  • fjtoth
    fjtoth

    Other Second Advent denominations have used a watchtower as their symbol, believing they are "God's watchman." In the 1850's, C. T. Russell's friend George Storrs published a book called The Watch Tower: Or, Man in Death; and the Hope for a Future Life. An out of print edition of this book is available at Amazon.com. (See here.) Herbert W. Armstrong often spoke of the Worldwide Church of God as God's "Watchman to the House of Israel."

  • possible-san
    possible-san
    *** jv chap. 5 p. 48 Proclaiming the Lord’s Return (1870-1914) ***

    The expression “Watch Tower” is not unique to Russell’s writings or to Jehovah’s Witnesses. George Storrs published a book in the 1850’s called The Watch Tower: Or, Man in Death; and the Hope for a Future Life. The name was also incorporated in the title of various religious periodicals. It stems from the idea of keeping on the watch for the outworking of God’s purposes.—Isa. 21:8, 11, 12; Ezek. 3:17; Hab. 2:1.
  • PrimateDave
    PrimateDave

    Also, as a side note the tetragrammaton and "adonai" are used in ceremonial magick, much of which is based on the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. I have a book on ceremonial magick. The author claims that common pronunciations of the tetragrammaton result from an incorrect understanding of Hebrew. The book is interesting, if not objectively practical. I think simple meditation techniques can accomplish as much if not more in one's life than ceremonial magick. There is nothing in any of this that leads me to believe in the existence of "spirit creatures," angels, gods, or demons, however.

    Dave

  • White Dove
    White Dove

    This is interesting. I would have thought that the WT would want to remove any vestiges of "false religion" from their own religion. Why get rid of birthday celebrations when their own symbol and name has other associations that are pagan? Wouldn't they want to steer clear of such things? It's a double standard in my book.

  • V
    V

    One interesting thing is that the current Watchtower logo shows a castle archecture not used in Biblical times. IMO the current "Watchtower" is more Norman than anything else. I'll let an expert take that over.

    Current "Study" Watchtowers amplified the logo by printing the tower on every cover. Compare, its an obvious nod to the original Watchtower cover (the old watchtower looks more like a light house).

    New Watchtower Study Format

    The closest connection to 'pagan' I can find is the tarot for Tower Card, strikingly like the original Watchtower:

    Note the clouds, lightening, the cliff edge and crown shaped roof. The style of this tarot image would have been common at the time of the original Watchtower.

    Card meaning Source: http://www.tarotexperts.com/cards/thetower.html

    It is the card number 16 and is ruled by the planet mars. The positive aspects associated with this card are disguised blessing and a change which is necessary. On the other hand the negative aspects associated with this card are any kind of disaster, downfall and disruptions. It is a very hard issue to associate with the positive aspect of this card as it mainly symbolizes matters which are to be felt afraid or feared off. It reflects unreasonable suffering and a person with this card in appearance can get accused without being guilty.

  • kurtbethel
    kurtbethel

    "Hello! I am from the Watchtower and I am here to save you!"

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