Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Swastika Rehabilitation Day?! Really?!


Here something that you do not want to see on the beach...even a New Jersey beach.
Last Saturday was the third annual Swastika Rehabilation Day...seriously, there is an organization that is trying to rehabilitate the image of the swastika. The International Raelian Movement (a Las Vegas based group) is trying to restore the Swastika as "a symbol of peace and good luck."

Personally, I think that this might be a lost cause. For the last twenty years, I have been searching for a symbol to replace the Hermetic Cross found in the Zelator (1=10) ritual...that says how much I think that the symbol, which original meaning was more positive, can be rescued from the dragging through the mud that a certain group of 20th century politicians subjected it to.

This is one of those times that I must say that the silly ideas that arise in Las Vegas should stay in Las Vegas.

2 comments:

Andrew B. Watt said...

In one of John Michael Greer's books, he went so far as to take one of the elemental salutes — which is also the Nazi salute — and alter it to include a bent wrist, so the palm is facing forward instead of down.

My group experimented with that. It didn't fly. We use a different sign instead, not the original salute, nor the Nazi one, nor Greer's alteration. The one we settled on doesn't work very well, either, but at least we're not calling upon forces and symbolism we loathe.

I agree that the Zelator sign or Hermetic cross needs replacing. No, I can't think of a replacement either.

Scott Stenwick said...

The idea of rehabilitation the swastika strikes me as pretty silly as well. But then, these are the Raelians - they speak for the space brothers. Make of that what you will.

As far as the elemental sign for Earth goes, I like Aleister Crowley's version published in Magick - the right arm remains straight, but the left arm points down and back so that both arms form a diagonal line. You also take a small step forward with the right foot when giving it. It looks a lot more like "Set fighting" than the straight-arm salute does.