Jumping Jupiter
Just in case you getting in now: some of my students asked me to comment on the statements Gordon makes about Jupiter in Chaos Protocols. Rather than just keep it in-house I made a blog post out of it. Gordon replied in short order and…. We’re on!
I agree with Gordon on a lot. I agree that we are in a declining economy due to wealth concentration. I agree that we largely need to seize our economic destiny from the powers that be. I agree about not worshiping or aligning too closely with the Gods, in fact this post bumped my next planned post titled “When the Gods Get Desperate.”
I also know well that wealth concentration, inflation, and taxation are the root cause for the fall of Rome. I just disagree that is what Jupiter represents. When talking about magic that invokes the Gods we should be looking for what their Ideal is, not necessarily how it plays out through human nature at its lowest point. If we don’t, then pretty much every god, prophet, saint, and spirit can stand accused. Gordon uses rituals that call upon the Abrahamic God and Christ – certainly beings that oversaw some shady shit.
Jupiter is accumulation of wealth for sure, but that does not mean centralization. Jupiter was not only a god of War and Wealth, but the Welfare of the people. If we want to get into tracing his cult you can actually see Rome fairing worse during many periods of Jupiters decline. When Diocletian became Emperor Rome was nearing collapse. He re-established the importance of Jupiter and made the Tax code more stable and equitable, preventing the decline of Rome for a good 100 years more. No, no one likes Taxes (like all self-employed people, I become a Republican for a few days around April 15th every year), but the system he implemented was fairer all around. It was not until Rome became Christian that it all fell to pots…
But none of that is important.
The Gods are multi-faceted. They are Gods after all, one should expect them to be huge. This is why I can work with Saturn even though he gets the “malific” label by traditional Astrology. Jupiter can indeed represent all that is wrong with rulership if you look at him that way, but he doesn’t have to.
Jupiter is not locked into a place or time. He started as an Etruscan sky god, became a War God, then a God of governance, and then accumulated traits that we associate with Jovialness: As much the Ghost of Christmas Present as Roman God.
As for the comments about the Gentlemen for Jupiter, the dressing in suits was not to emulate Kings and Princes. It was largely a nod to Gentlemens Clubs and fraternal orders. It was not an attempt to role play royalty, so much as it was putting on your best like you were attending a party. It was a ritual signal much the way a robe or any other garment is, and a good way to bind people acting all across the globe together in a single act. Though they are still around, I resigned several years back and cannot speak to what they are up to these days.
Getting back to Rome, I want to thank my friend W.H. Trumpler for pointing out this bit from the Wiki on Romanitas, the virtues and culture that Romans defined themselves by, which quotes Paul Fouracre:
“The Roman customs and principles regarding the acquisition of wealth are better than those of the Carthaginians. In the view of the latter nothing is disgraceful that makes for gain; with the former nothing is more disgraceful than to receive bribes and to make profit by improper means. For they regard wealth obtained from unlawful transactions to be as much a subject of reproach as a fair profit from reputable sources is of commendation. A proof of the fact is this: the Carthaginians obtain office by open bribery, but among the Romans the penalty is death.”
The wiki article goes on to say:
“The virtuous character of the Romans, their honesty and trustworthiness, is shown in the way they handled their finances. Polybius remarks: “Greek statesmen, if entrusted with a single talent, though protected by ten checking-clerks, as many seals and twice as many witnesses, yet cannot be induced to keep faith; whereas among the Romans, in their magistracies and embassies, men have the handling of a great amount of money, and yet from pure respect for their oath keep their faith intact.”Their cultural characteristics led to their development of “self government” by adopting a classical republic and thus this class formed the backbone of the Roman Republic.”
That last bit about self-government that is so important for Financial Magic from a Strategic Sorcery perspective. Its not about worshiping a sky god who gives you stuff, like a Pagan Prosperity Gospel. It is about taking finances seriously as an aspect of self-possession.
