Sorcerers & Hallucinogens | A Biblical Perspective On Carlos Castaneda's Legacy
If you would like to understand sorcery at a deep level then I have also created a complementary guide Autobiography of a Sorcerer: A Study of Toltec Shamanism, Castaneda's Sorcery, Yoga & Zen Philosophy, click the above button for details.
SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT IN THE LAST DAYS | THE SHOCKING TRUTH
A Sorcerer is one who has the ability to follow oneself, to stalk ones every move and to become self-aware. It is a removing of cultural bias and not indulging in senseless self-denial. One could even say that it is a recapitulation of ones own beliefs, to investigate them, and to ask oneself, how did I come to believe this or that and how do I escape my own self-deception.
Of course some may assume that this better describes a philosopher or maybe even a psychologist, but the truth is that these type of people only talk, they never actually do, and this is what distinguishes a sorcerer from a philosopher. Sorcerers do rather than simply talk, and are the living embodiment of spirituality. Whereas the philosopher and psychologist only talk, but they never do. But it is these people that call themselves the authority, an authority that simply talks, but having no practical experience, they should more rightly be called the intellectual armchair generals of spirituality.
Hello, and welcome to the Ancient wisdom modern mind podcast and this podcast may literally blow your mind and that is because when most people use the term sorcery, they are thinking of the dictionary definition, which says that a sorcerer is one that has supernatural power or the ability to use supernatural powers, such as in witchcraft or magic.
So in this podcast we will explore the term sorcery from a biblical perspective, and I will try to convince you that the word sorcery is a commonly misunderstood term in Christian scriptures, and of course pop culture doesn't help us understand this word much better. So we will discuss the original Hebrew and Greek words that have been incorrectly translated as sorcery, and what is the real context and meaning of this word in both the Old and New Testaments. Also, I will explore how sorcery is used in biblical verse in the context of the last days.
And before we start I would like to let you know that you can find free meditation tips, meditation audios and of course podcasts and blogs on sorcery, yoga, zen and mysticism from a metaphysical perspective that you can download on my web site, and you will find the link in the description.
So let’s go right ahead and get started.
The word sorcerer often conjures up ideas of black magic which is used for evil purposes, or if you have grown up with Harry Potter, sorcery might conjure up images formed from pop culture references. Such as Hogwarts or Lord of the rings and countless other movies and books where magic exists and is used by both good and evil sorcerers.
In Christian scripture the sorcerers fate is to be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone along with the unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, and idolaters.
And I think that most of us would have some pretty solid assumptions of what terms such as unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, and idolaters is describing, but in this podcast I will try to convince you that the term sorcerer has a different meaning today than it did in Ancient times.
Sorcery is mentioned in 11 verses of the Old and New Testaments and in this podcast I will explore the context in which sorcery is used in the bible. And as you can see sorcery isn’t mentioned that often, which is good because it allows me to analyze the mentions in some detail. In fact, I will be able to cover both the old and New Testament verses, which also allows me to look at the original language and their meanings. So stick with me here until the end because it will be worth your time.
And I think you will be surprised to find that sorcery in the book of revelation is not what most people think. And we will look at its real meaning through the eyes of the modern world.
But let's understand the basics first as It can get confusing if you just go to the word sorcery in the Bible dictionary, which has a singular definition of a sorcerer “as one who foretells events by casting lots”, but that isn't the whole story. As there are a bunch of scriptures that don't use the word sorcery, and when we look at other corrected interpretations of the original Hebrew and Greek, including the term false prophets, magicians, superstitions, familiar spirit enchanters, divination, soothsayers astrologers and others, the definitions are not what is expected.
The root words in Hebrew and Greek certainly can mean those things, but these are words that highly depend upon the context of the verse, which means it is up to the interpretation of the translator. And while sometimes they were spot on, at other times they missed the mark with terms like sorcery, as its translation may be meaningfully different as you will see in a moment.
For example, In Genesis 41, verse 8, when Pharaoh calls the magicians to his court to interpret his dream, the original Hebrew word for magician means an engraver or writer, so when we look deeper we learn that these engravers or writers where used as diviners to interpret omens or seek signs in the stars to foresee or foretell future events often with the aid of spirits, so we can see that the word magician really meant a diviner. And diviner was later confused with sorcerer, and this is very different to the modern definition of a magician or a sorcerer, and this will make even more sense when you understand how the context matters.
Exodus 7 verse 11 is the first time the word sorcerer is used in the Bible, and in this verse it means nearly the same as in Genesis and other places. Although in this context, something is added. A sorcerer uses, spells and witchcraft to assist in their divination and other verses such as Micah, 5:12, the word is translated as witchcrafts, and yet in kashaph 3785, it is translated as sorceries.
So you see all of these words are related in many ways but with subtle differences, and it is one of those differences that is important in relation to the sorcerer. Going back to the verses that specifically translated sorcery, over 25% of them are in the book of revelations and referrer to the last days.
Also, the verse in Malakai is speaking of the last day specifically. So most of the verses that use the term sorcery are speaking of the last days, for example in revelation 9 verse 21. The word sorceries comes from the Greek word pharmakos and the definition is that of a poisoner, sorcerer or magician, but additional depth shows that the words original meaning was drug.
The context of the meaning is that a sorcerer is one that uses drugs. Yet this term also broadly means medicine, drugs, or poison. And I am sure most of you have already put it together that it is also the origin of the English word pharmaceuticals. Now, perhaps this verse makes more sense in a modern contexts.
In revelation 21 verse 8 we have the same Greek word, as does revelation 22 verse 15, which also now makes more sense. Revelation 18 verse 23 has a similar word pharmakeia which means drug-related sorcery. Which comes from the original word pharmaco, which means to administer drugs. Specifically meaning the use or the administration of drugs.
Paul's letters to the Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 and 20 refers to witchcraft. However, the original Greek word is pharmacopoeia again, meaning to use or administer drugs. So the list of things like magic, witchcraft, astrology, divination, and, such all were done with and through the use of drugs. In other words, the common element between all of them is the use of drugs. For example, the term familiar spirits is associated with speaking with the dead, the person performing this would often rely on the help of drugs, whether that be to allow the spirit to possess their body temporarily or to be a medium to communicate.
And the root word seems to indicate direct drug use as part of these actions, and with this added understanding of sorcery, versus in the book of revelations may come to have more meaning for our modern era.
But in ancient times according to both the Old and New testaments, it appears that ancient sorcerers were using drugs for a few different purposes. And according to Thayer’s Greek lexicon for pharmacopoeia, it says that there are three primary uses of sorcery.
The first is the use of administering of drugs. Second for poison. Lastly magical arts for the use of deceptions and seductions. So with an understanding that drugs were used for deceptions and seductions, I'd like to go back to some of those verses in revelation and talk about sorcery.
Revelation 18 verse 23 says, “and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth”.
Now context is important here, John is saying this after the saints have been called back to Missouri, after there have been great calamities, wars and many saints have been persecuted and killed. The wicked have been destroyed and countless people slain. And then John comments on the plan that brought all of this about, “by thy sorceries were all nations deceived”.
It would appear from these verses that there will be a time in the latter days when evil people will conspire to use pharmaceuticals to deceive the nations, and it may be that these pharmaceuticals start out as medicine. But then the pharmaceuticals play a part in deceiving and seducing the world. Now I'm sure that some consider that this could be the vaccines for the pandemic while others might believe that the pandemic is the pharmaceutical weapons itself, and I would not discount this. But we should also consider the modern spiritual movement and its use of hallucinogens as what revelations could be alluding to also.
Seekers who take spiritual trips into the jungle where a shaman will guide them on an ayahuasca journey or the hallucinogens adventures of Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert who looked at LSD and psilocybin.
Hallucinogens and spiritual rituals have been around for thousands of years and the modern spiritual movement’s use of Hallucinogens to achieve out of the body experiences is really no different than the divinations of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.
Of course one cannot say with conviction what the biblical revelations really mean, but I would suggest that instead of seeing this as a map of humanities fate, we instead see revelations as a map of consciousness, and as a warning about the use of drugs. But of course only time will tell and I can’t draw any firm conclusions about the outcome of things.
John in revelation 9 verse 21, describes the fate and final destination of these people in revelation 21, verse 9, “but the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers, and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
And at this point it’s worth remembering that the word pharmakeia was substituted with the word sorcerers, but the real meaning should be pharmaceuticals or drug dealers.
Revelation 13 seems to be describing these same individuals and similar circumstances, except in these verses, it is describing the mark of the beast. And in verse 14, it talks about the world being deceived. So could the mark of the beast be tied to the vaccine and the pharmaceuticals, since the false Christ is also listed as a similar topic to sorcery?
When you read Matthew 24 verse 24, “for their shall arise, false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect”. And although this could appear to be in conjunction with the use of pharmaceuticals today. It could equally be a warning to the modern spiritual seeker of the dangers consciousness will face in its final defeat of ego-self and its deceptions or even the danger we face from false gurus which have and still do deceive millions.
If we consider that what is meant by these false Christs as the ones that deceive the very elect, we could also consider the elect as meaning modern day spiritual seekers who are deceived by false gurus or if we stretched our minds a little more we could even include modern environmentalist as being deceived by their politicians. And as it says in revelation, 19 verse 20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."
Even the words “last day’s” can also be looked at from the context of ones awakening, instead of difficult end times for humanity, “in consequence of evils and designs, which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last day. Then at the end, the Lord gives us the promises of health that will attend us if we obey”. And yes you can interpret this as the last days of humanity or as the last days of ego-self’s deception or what sorcerers call the stage of clarity for the spiritual seeker.
Even the passage “evils and designs, which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last day” you could equally point to what I call the enlightenment trap and now the fake guru is trapped in a self-centric state, falling into either nihilism or they suffer the Messiah complex. Even the idea of the Beast could equally be seen as the matrix that imprisons us in our cultural syntax. So if you are in the process of overcoming Clarity, be aware that your cultural syntax print; your very mind will be working very hard to pull you back into the matrix of your beliefs and ideals.
Drugs seem to be the secret weapon in the last days, and the use of drugs which perhaps begins as a spiritual journey and later becomes commonly used for recreational purposes may lead one to trip and fall. And at some point either now, or in the future, according to revelations, evil will conspire to use pharmaceuticals in some way to deceive and kill, well at least that is what revelations seem to be implying when they speak of sorcery.
Now this is all my opinion, and I do apologize if sometimes I jumped between the personal development of the ego-self, and the cyclical sociological developments within human civilizational collapse, and this may have confused the idea I was trying to express. So I will summarize the basic idea; which is that sorceries original meaning in the Judeo-Christian context was pharmakeia which is different to the modern meaning, so the original word for sorcerer was pharmakeia, “one that uses drugs” and not one that preforms magic or any of the modern ideas that surround the word sorcery. So I believe that the true spiritual message or warning is that pharmakeia and those that sell or push drugs, no matter whether it is for divination or medical, they are the corrupt and lost souls that will try to pull you from your path.
Also in the context of the word “evil”, I would suggest that what biblical revelations was implying is what we now term the “cultural syntax,” and this is the root of our delusions, and if you want you could even say that the “cultural syntax” is the “corrupt heart of man,” and that is from the religious perspective, and from the perspective of modern sorcery this syntax is “Fear and Clarity,” 2 of the 4 enemies of a Man of knowledge.
The other idea I tried to define in this podcast was that the biblical revelations from the development of the ego-self’s perspective, is in actuality a guide for the spiritual seekers growth and a warning of the dangers that the seeker will face on their journey. And thus the Christian biblical revelations can be seen as just one of many manifestations of a teaching that stretches back through many cultures and is simply re-expressed again and again in different forms but with a different sociological syntax.
So, do be careful not to be drawn into a singular religious conclusion as this podcast is not meant to be used as evidence for the end times of humanity, but as a warning about the last days of ego-self as we break down our cultural assumptions and preconceived ideas, and also of course to offer a new awareness of sorcery, a term that I believe is often misunderstood.
So I will reiterate that a Sorcerer is one who has the ability to follow oneself, to stalk ones every move and to become self-aware. It is a removing of cultural bias and not indulging in senseless self-denial. It is a recapitulation of one’s own beliefs, to investigate them, and to ask oneself, how did I come to believe this or that and how do I escape my own self-deception.
So with that, I conclude this blog. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and I sincerely hope this was helpful. Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of this podcast or if you have any questions and If you’re new to this site, make sure you like, comment, subscribe.
Thank you for reading the Ancient Wisdom Modern Mind podcast.
I’m Jason your host signing off. Take care.
And if you would like to understand sorcery at a deep level then I have also created a complementary guide Autobiography of a Sorcerer: A Study of Toltec Shamanism, Castaneda's Sorcery, Yoga & Zen Philosophy, follow the link for details.
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