a watchtower in ceremonial magical tradition is a tutelary spirit of one of the four cardinal points or quarters (east, south, west and north).
in many magical traditions, they are understood to be enochian angels... originating with the enochian tradition of john dee, a version of it was popularized by the hermetic order of the golden dawn, which became hugely influential in modern western esotericism, including wicca.
the watchtowers are invoked during the ritual of casting a magic circle.. .
Sea Breeze:
Here is an excerpt talk by C.J. Woodworth, given in 1913, where he admits to be demon possessed.
Well if he said it, it must be true. I’m sure he gave compelling evidence about the specific operation of demonic possession or that demons exist at all, and it wasn’t just a convenient method of dismissing ‘old light’.
the latest report is now available for download on our favourite website!.
george.
joe134cd:
There are 2 conclusions:
In addition to ‘inactive’ JWs identifying as JWs in census reporting, the higher amount is also accounted for by the fact that young children are counted as JWs by their parents in census reporting but aren’t registered as ‘publishers’. This is why Memorial attendance is closer to what appears in census data, and is related to the fact that the JW method of counting members favours growth rate.
Counting ‘Bible studies’ with their own children also contributes to the illusion of higher interest in the denomination.
the latest report is now available for download on our favourite website!.
george.
As of November 2023, ordinary Jehovah’s Witness ‘publishers’ only need to tick a box each month to be counted as active members, replacing the requirement to report the number of hours spent preaching; this change along with a renewed appeal to lapsed members resulted in a reported increase of 2.4% for 2024, exceeding 2% growth for the first time since 2014. However, despite the superficially significant increase, the average annual growth rate from 2018 until 2024 was actually only 0.92%.
a watchtower in ceremonial magical tradition is a tutelary spirit of one of the four cardinal points or quarters (east, south, west and north).
in many magical traditions, they are understood to be enochian angels... originating with the enochian tradition of john dee, a version of it was popularized by the hermetic order of the golden dawn, which became hugely influential in modern western esotericism, including wicca.
the watchtowers are invoked during the ritual of casting a magic circle.. .
🤦♂️
i thought i would give my personal experience on who i am, how i came into the world of watchtower, why i left, etc.
this would explain a lot about the answers i give and why they don't directly reflect my personal convictions (like a normal person--and i do mean that literally, kinda).
i cannot put everything here, but i can start bit by bit.. when i was 17 years old, my mother was on her third marriage and kinda starting her fourth (as she was dating this surfer dude-like guy who wasn't even 5 years older than me).
🤦♂️ so now it’s victim mentality because someone dared to correct something you said in the middle of your shaggy dog story. It would be a shame to miss out on more from the author who gave us ‘fishing for poopies’.
(And then he edited his previous comment to break this comment’s context. It remains that he should grow up and learn to accept that being corrected isn’t actually an insult.)
i thought i would give my personal experience on who i am, how i came into the world of watchtower, why i left, etc.
this would explain a lot about the answers i give and why they don't directly reflect my personal convictions (like a normal person--and i do mean that literally, kinda).
i cannot put everything here, but i can start bit by bit.. when i was 17 years old, my mother was on her third marriage and kinda starting her fourth (as she was dating this surfer dude-like guy who wasn't even 5 years older than me).
Jeffro, please, take it from me. If you don't start seeing the humor in things, you are going to end up being as stuck and stupid as those two elders still are.
Thank goodness we have your poorly executed humour to set things straight. 😒 How dare someone provide factual information. Your meandering anecdote didn’t serve its stated purpose of explaining “a lot about the answers I give and why they don't directly reflect my personal convictions”. The fact is, you do usually, but not always, provide accurate information when you’re endeavouring to be accurate. I see nothing wrong with correcting errors or providing additional information when I see fit. You do the same—frequently and at length—so it’s not clear why you’re so upset when others do it.
i thought i would give my personal experience on who i am, how i came into the world of watchtower, why i left, etc.
this would explain a lot about the answers i give and why they don't directly reflect my personal convictions (like a normal person--and i do mean that literally, kinda).
i cannot put everything here, but i can start bit by bit.. when i was 17 years old, my mother was on her third marriage and kinda starting her fourth (as she was dating this surfer dude-like guy who wasn't even 5 years older than me).
🙄
i thought i would give my personal experience on who i am, how i came into the world of watchtower, why i left, etc.
this would explain a lot about the answers i give and why they don't directly reflect my personal convictions (like a normal person--and i do mean that literally, kinda).
i cannot put everything here, but i can start bit by bit.. when i was 17 years old, my mother was on her third marriage and kinda starting her fourth (as she was dating this surfer dude-like guy who wasn't even 5 years older than me).
Back then they just killed a bunny rabbit to test if you were pregnant. Back then all doctors were Jewish, and there was this ancient Jewish ritual based on Yom Kippur's scapegoat that could also tell if a woman was pregnant. But instead of using two goats and tossing one over a ledge to purge you of all sins, you merely used two bunnies--and if during this Jewish voo-doo ritual you got this "signal" from HaShem, one of the bunnies would be tossed over the ledge as well and you would tell the patient that she was expecting. Hence the old saying: "The rabbit died."
The ‘rabbit test’ was used in the 1930s to 1950s. A woman’s urine was injected into a rabbit to determine if pregnancy hormones were present - if present, the rabbit’s ovaries would respond. Whilst the practice did result in an expression ‘the rabbit died’, the rabbit was always euthanised for examination regardless of whether the woman was actually pregnant or not. The test has nothing to do with Judaism, and the claim that all doctors then were Jewish is entirely false.
jo 38:7. when the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of god shouted for joy?.
this passage and others apparently reveal a belief among some jewish communities that angels sang.
the natural corollary is that angels had a language, and that language would naturally be supposed to be a superior one.
Stands to reason that beings that live in the air needed wings.
Yes, which is why I considered the Assyrian influence more incidental, but the Persian concept of a heavenly court of angels seems more pertinent.
Have you ever investigated the Therapeutae? Sadly, what we have is limited, but provocative. Philo practically idolized them and centuries later Epiphanius claimed them as Christians.
No I haven’t but may do when time permits.
jo 38:7. when the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of god shouted for joy?.
this passage and others apparently reveal a belief among some jewish communities that angels sang.
the natural corollary is that angels had a language, and that language would naturally be supposed to be a superior one.
While some have found it too incredible that a Jewish work could include such a story and sought to dismiss it as work of Christian redaction, in fact there is no basis for that assumption.
The first Christians were Jews, so it’s not that surprising. Like many Christian doctrines, they didn’t arise in a vacuum. The winged angel motif was almost certainly from Persian influence with a heavenly court of angels, though there were earlier borrowings from the Assyrians for their depictions of cherubs and seraphs.
