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Post by boksmutant on Jan 6, 2011 19:18:37 GMT -6
What do fellow Cultists think some of the duties & responsibilities should be for a Priest of R'lyeh. What should be expected of them?
Awake!
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Post by boksmutant on Jan 6, 2011 22:30:32 GMT -6
Ill throw out some ideas. #1 Do monthly or quaterly you tube videos for the Cult. Or just ones for the Cult. This will do two important things. Make them more visible to the members, & encourage them to use the stage to further their own ends. It is enjoyable to see Lord Satanis out in the open, Priests should do something similar. Masks or a cover image could conceal there identity if more appropriate. But anything to further the Cults reach & communication.
Awake!
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Post by lokidreaming on Jan 7, 2011 2:58:41 GMT -6
I know for a fact that I am doing everything I can to rise through the ranks of COC and am trying to find ways to put my skills to use for the COC.
The question is are other fellow COC members doing everything they can?
Belief Is Reality Loki Dreaming
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Post by Sarak G'hash on Jan 7, 2011 5:43:53 GMT -6
I know for a fact that I am doing everything I can to rise through the ranks of COC and am trying to find ways to put will skills to use for the COC. The question is are other fellow COC members doing everything they can? Belief Is Reality Loki Dreaming I know that I am.. ;D CoC is everything to me right now! Awake!
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Post by lokidreaming on Jan 7, 2011 10:22:52 GMT -6
Maybe I am being a bit too old fashioned here as I don't really see any long term benefits discussing the progress of COC so publicly.
Form my experience from the occult there are people who join groups with the soul purpose of free information, they have told me and confided in me so, before we get the COC pumping along we must create defenses from the freeloaders.
I just don't see the point in everyone knowing the ins and outs of COC.
Belief Is Reality Loki Dreaming
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Post by raygunnz171 on Jan 7, 2011 11:08:29 GMT -6
I wish to become a Priest of R'lyeh so some things I would like to do is make youtube videos,commit my entirety to the Cult,learn ALL the Cult's principals,take on some pupils,run a grotto,and personally own all Cult literature, I already own Liber A:O but I want Cthulhu Cult but as a hardcover.
IA IA CTHULHU FHTAGN!
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Post by I AM the Way on Jan 7, 2011 13:53:30 GMT -6
I don't think the majority of CoC business needs to be secretive. The concepts and techniques of our religion frequently hide in plain sight. It is the difficulty the masses have with struggling against the world, against nature, against life, and against themselves that keeps most people away.
Awake!
Venger As'Nas Satanis Ipsissimus Cult of Cthulhu
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Post by Apsara Kamalli on Jan 7, 2011 21:45:13 GMT -6
Good to hear that some of you are working towards ascensions within the CoC organization. We need more leaders. I don't think the majority of CoC business needs to be secretive. The concepts and techniques of our religion frequently hide in plain sight. It is the difficulty the masses have with struggling against the world, against nature, against life, and against themselves that keeps most people away.
Awake!
Venger As'Nas Satanis Ipsissimus Cult of CthulhuThere are some things that the high leadership members should be discussing "behind closed doors." However, seeing that there really aren't high level leaders at this time, I think it's a moot point. Awake! Apsara Kamalli Esoteric Herald of the Old Gods Cult of Cthulhu
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Post by nyrlthtp on Jan 24, 2011 15:05:55 GMT -6
RE: "...long term benefits discussing the progress of COC so publicly." I don't think the majority of CoC business needs to be secretive. I suggest that almost none of it be so. I think that the benefits of it not being so would be a greater feeling of being 'in the know' on administrative affairs and therefore more likely to remain integral to and part of the cult. I can see exceptions being made for items of privacy concern only. I've often liked the 'inside out organization' approach and as it was described to me (with alarm!) as 'all our guts hanging outside our body' i think that this is perfectly and messily proper for a Cthulhu cult. I have admired the level of viewability of the CoC thusfar, as an interested and welcomed observer. RE: "...there are people who join groups with the soul purpose of free information, they have told me and confided in me so, before we get the COC pumping along we must create defenses from the freeloaders. I just don't see the point in everyone knowing the ins and outs of COC." The concepts and techniques of our religion frequently hide in plain sight. It is the difficulty the masses have with struggling against the world, against nature, against life, and against themselves that keeps most people away. information is endless. I am a long-time observer of mystical and occult social groups, some of these secretive (and am part of both esoteric and exoteric orgs as well as those struggling toward the exoteric). my impression is that those who secure and secret or occult information do so for the purpose of trying to make it seem more attractive to outsiders (those who have an initial interest in collecting it), thereby giving them incentive to join the org based on a 'collect the whole set' or 'I am excluded from this and want to know' motivation. by and large people who try to collect such data start off with what they can get that is more difficult to obtain, and then graduate to what is marked 'secret' which is out in the open. they don't generally attempt to apply any of it, and they hope that some of it sticks, or ignore their natural interest in acquisition as it relates to application in a long-term sense to satisfy short-term desires. I don't see that concealing 'occult'/'esoteric' data actually does either make it more valuable or preserve anything worthwhile except in an initiatic ritual sense (i.e. the texts of initiatic rites which are ordeals or revelatory of character are best kept from future initiates), and while i think that people should be able to spoil their experience if they really want to, making a low hurdle for them in Thelemic zones is reasonable, a firm barrier against their expressed interest an outrageous demonstration of administrative corruption regarding the principles of the Current as otherwise described. There are some things that the high leadership members should be discussing "behind closed doors." However, seeing that there really aren't high level leaders at this time, I think it's a moot point. as i said above, issues of (personal, member) privacy warrant some concealment. generally (and what i have noticed thusfar in CoC), priests may be representatives of the organization of which they are part, tend to function as a bridge or interface between the laity and the deity or deities toward which the ecclesiastical structure is ostensibly aimed, and conduct ceremonies for congregations. they sometimes also function in a counselling role, and may present themselves as mouthpieces for their superiors in any rank. it is my opinion that this assessment is best made at every level only by those who assume a position of authority about those who are under them. those who are at the lowest ranks, or, like me, outside the organization, have no business speculating on this essentially voluntary proportion of a person's available resources.
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Post by sin on May 7, 2011 12:06:07 GMT -6
Quote:...the duties & responsibilities should be for a Priest of R'lyeh. What should be expected of them?
generally (and what i have noticed thusfar in CoC), priests may be representatives of the organization of which they are part, tend to function as a bridge or interface between the laity and the deity or deities toward which the ecclesiastical structure is ostensibly aimed, and conduct ceremonies for congregations. they sometimes also function in a counselling role, and may present themselves as mouthpieces for their superiors in any rank.
What are your feelings on this VS?
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Post by dudetyson on May 8, 2011 22:05:33 GMT -6
I agree that priests and upward should be in communion and/or simultaneous existence with (different from dissolution into) the Old Ones as much as possible.
The priesthood of a group is often the active arm of a religious group. If you want a religious group where the *entire* group is the active arm, then the priests act as coordinators for this collective action.
This begs the question -- what does the Cult of Cthulhu do? Does it help its individual members progress in some individual or collective way? Then priests should be mentoring or leading study/ritual groups.
Does it have a collective vision? Are we like, launching a political party or something? (I hope not, for tactical nitpicks about the effectiveness of that particular path, but that kind of large-scale practical change should not be shunned.)
Are we trying to Awaken the Old Ones? Okay, how? Maybe this simply involves developing a bunch of really self-reliant and magickal people. That means we need a growth strategy. What is it? The priesthood should lead it, and figure out what kind of membership participation is necessary.
However I think our goal takes a specifically magickal form as well. We should definitely have cult-wide rituals where we attune first to ourselves, second to each other, and finally to our uniting symbols/beings. We should do it simultaneously, correcting for time zone differences, on a regular basis. Maybe biweekly? This is the kind of action required for the large-scale psychic/magickal presence, or the beginning of it, that will be necessary in order to fulfill our ultimate goals of Awakening the Old Ones, Destroying this Reality, and Opening the Gates. (Coordinated rituals were not my idea, thank Diane Vera.)
Obviously this requires that our cultists are actually strong sorcerers! So we need to make sure of that.
To this end, I have been practicing a visualization of Opening a Gateway, which by its nature begins to increase the acausal in this realm and unhinges Reality by a touch. But doing it alone, I know the global-scale effects are basically not significant at all and I need to make it work on the small scale too.
If there is no organizational direction of this kind, the Priesthood should be *thinking* and *imagining* about what the direction should be, consulting the membership, and maybe even just expanding the paradigm/philosophy.
The CoC is supposed to be a Fourth Way school. Is there really any Fourth Way-style mentoring and training going on? Priests should be doing that.
Mentoring, Fourth Way style, and also passing on rituals and techniques of achieving altered states. You can write it out of course, but sometimes a human in-person touch is required. Phone if not literal visiting. Often discipleship is not about passing on information, but about helping to induce an experience which is the true Initiation, allowing the student to evoke that experience in themselves later without the mentor's help.
Basically everyone should be encouraged to undertake the above behaviors. The priests, however, should be the best at it.
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Post by sin on May 9, 2011 16:32:39 GMT -6
Basically everyone should be encouraged to undertake the above behaviors. The priests, however, should be the best at it. I concur.
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