Saturday, April 29, 2006

Black Star


star-tattoo-design-1
Originally uploaded by babajiwotan.
O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee. O Lord God Almighty, who has reigned before the beginning of the Ages, and who by thine infinite wisdom, hast created the heavens, the earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, all that is visible, and all that is invisible by a single word; I praise thee, I bless thee, I adore thee, I glorify thee, and I pray thee now at the present time to be merciful unto me, a miserable sinner, for I am the work of thine hands. Save me, and direct me by thy holy name, thou to whom nothing is difficult, nothing is impossible; and deliver me from the night of mine ignorance, and enable me to go forth therefrom. Enlighten me with a spark of thine infinite wisdom. Take away from my senses the desire of covetousness, and the iniquity of mine idle words. Give unto me, thy servant, a wise understanding, penetrating and subtle heart, to acquire and comprehend all sciences and arts; give unto me capacity to hear, and strength of memory to retain them, so that I may be able to accomplish my desires, and understand and learn all difficult and desirable sciences; and also that I may be able to comprehend the hidden secrets of the holy writings. Give me the virtue to conceive them, so that I may be able to bring forth and pronounce my words with patience and humility, for the instruction of others, as thou hast ordered me.

O God, the Father, all powerful and all merciful, who hast created all things, who knowest and conceivest them universally, and to whom nothing is hidden, nothing is impossible; I entreat thy grace for me and for thy servants, because thou seest and knowest well that we perform not this work to tempt thy strength and thy power as if in doubt thereof, but rather that we may know and understand the truth of all hidden things. I beseech thee to have the kindness to be favorable unto us; by thy splendour, thy magnificence, and thy holiness, and by thy holy, terrible, and ineffable name IAH,at which the whole world doth tremble, and by the fear with which all creatures obey thee. Grant, O Lord, that we may become responsive unto thy grace, so that through it we may have a full confidence in and knowledge of thee, and that the spirits may discover themselves here in our presence, and that those which are gentle and peaceable may come unto us, so that they may be obedient unto thy commands, through thee, O most holy ADONAI, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and whose empire endureth unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

O LORD of Heaven and of Earth, before thee do I confess my sins, and lament them, cast down and humbled in thy presence. For I have sinned before thee by pride, avarice, and boundless desire of honours and riches; by idleness, gluttony, greed, debauchery, and drunkenness; because I have offended thee by all kinds of sins of the flesh, adulteries, and pollutions, which I have committed myself, and consented that others should commit; by sacrilege, thefts, rapine, violation, and homicide; by the evil use I have made of my possessions, by my prodigality, by the sins which I have committed against Hope and Charity, by my evil advice, flatteries, bribes, and the ill distribution which I have made of the goods of which I have been possessed; by repulsing and maltreating the poor, in the distribution which I have made of the goods committed to my charge, by afflicting those over whom I have been set in authority, by not visiting the prisoners, by depriving the dead of burial, by not receiving the poor, by neither feeding the hungry nor giving drink to the thirsty, by never keeping the Sabbath and the other feasts, by not living chastely and piously on those days, by the easy consent which I have given to those who incited me to evil deeds, by injuring instead of aiding those who demanded help from me, by refusing to give ear unto the cry of the poor, by not respecting the aged, by not keeping my word, by disobedience to my parents, by ingratitude towards those from whom I have received kindness, by indulgence in sensual pleasures, by irreverent behaviour in the Temple of God, by unseemly gestures thereat, by entering therein without reverence, by vain and unprofitable discourse when there, by despising the sacred vessels of the temple, by turning the holy Ceremonies into ridicule, by touching and eating the sacred bread with impure lips and with profane hands, and by the neglect of my prayers and adorations.

I detest also the crimes which I have committed by evil thoughts, vain and impure meditations, false suspicions, and rash judgments; by the evil consent which I have readily given unto the advice of the wicked, by lust of impure and sensual pleasures; by my idle words, my lies, and my deceit; by my false vows in various ways; and by my continual slander and calumny.

I detest also the crimes which I have committed within; the treachery and discord which I have incited; my curiosity, greed, false speaking, violence, malediction, murmurs, blasphemies, vain words, insults, dissimulations; my sins against God by the transgression of the ten commandments, by neglect of my duties and obligations, and by want of love towards God and towards my neighbour.

Furthermore I hate the sins which I have committed in all my senses, by sight, by hearing, by taste, by smell, and by touch, in every way that human weakness can offend the creator; by my carnal thoughts, deeds, and meditations.

In which I humbly confess that I have sinned, and recognise myself as being in the sight of God the most criminal of all men.

I accuse myself before thee, O God, and I adore thee with all humility. O ye, holy angels, and ye, children of God, in your presence I publish my sins, so that mine enemy may have no advantage over me, and may not be able to reproach me at the last day; that he may not be able to say that I have concealed my sins, and that I be not then accused in the presence of the Lord; but, on the contrary, that on my account there may be joy in Heaven, as over the just who have confessed their sins in thy presence.

O most mighty and all powerful Father, grant through thine unbounded mercy that I may both see and know all the spirits which I invoke, so that by their means I may see my will and desire accomplished, by the sovereign grandeur, and by thine ineffable and eternal glory, thou who art and who wilt

I conjure ye by the name TETRAGRAMMATON ELOHIM,4 which expresseth and signifieth the grandeur of so lofty a majesty, that Noah having pronounced it, saved himself, and protected himself with his whole household from the waters of the deluge.

10 Comments:

Blogger Anita said...

Religion built on guilt and shame.

2:39 PM  
Blogger CaptainGoldStar said...

No it's not a religion. Just sometimes it's good to repent. Especially when you're talking to a God or Godess.

8:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shame can be a productive emotion, but it shouldn't act as any sort of base, I definitely agree with that.

8:17 AM  
Blogger Anita said...

Yeah I just realized after I wrote that comment that it was a silly thing to say because of course all of Jesus's teachings aren't based on shame and guilt. I actually have alot of respect for the guy.

I suppose we're all sinners in one way or another, but the concept of seeing all of our mistakes and shortcomings, along with pleasurable experiences as a dirty and evil sin is such a foreign concept to me. Funny being raised without religion.

I actually don't really understand the function of repentance.

8:42 AM  
Blogger Quitmoanez said...

Raised Catholic, guilt and repentence are all I know, and that's not cool in a way.

Yet these do have a function for me, as they do for everyone else, I think.

YOU KNOW when you've been bad, and you don't need religion for that, so coming to understand when one has been bad and how to make reperations is a human thing, no?

I guess that's how I would rationalise repentence.

OK, now to my penance... I'm dirty, I'm dirty, I'm dirty, I'm dirty, so please save me, save me, save me.... I'm dirty, I'm dirty, I'm dirty, I'm dirty, so please save me, save me, save me.... I'm dirty, I'm dirty, I'm dirty, I'm dirty, so please save me, save me, save me....

:)

11:04 AM  
Blogger Anita said...

I guess when you're alright with God, nothing else matters. And that is probably the same thing as being alright with yourself.

2:35 PM  
Blogger D.Macri said...

Did you ever see the movie "Magnolia" ? In it, an old dieing man says something like, '...use the shame, use the guilt...' (as in using it to better yourself and make better decisions next time). I think it is very healthy to come to terms with what we feel we have done wrong. I figure the alternative is simply denial, and as Jung said 'all mental illness is the avoidance of legitimate suffering'. After reading this post I felt proud of Andrew, and saw it as a possible leap in ideals. I also want to shed the numbness of everyday, feel the pain, and strive to not set myself up the following time around. Please forgive me too!

Although have you ever read "batter my heart three person'd god"? It's an old poem where a man asks god to take him forcefully in despite of himself. This is a scary thing to ask for.

2:28 AM  
Blogger CaptainGoldStar said...

"It's an old poem where a man asks god to take him forcefully in despite of himself."

What does that mean?

12:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear tiger and macro and others,

That "old" poem is by John Donne. Almost all of his "Holy Sonnets" contain sexual imagery and requests for God to rape him. These poems are quite wonderful.

9:03 AM  
Blogger Anita said...

Sounds wonderful...

(??)

7:04 PM  

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