Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt00630)

Recently the Golden Dawn was in the TV they were heavily accused of Satanism. Masonry one week ago included a DVD inside the larger newspaper of Greece, so every Greek would get it. In the DVD they try to proof they are not making any conspiracy against the church or the government. The books of Dan Brown brought up themes related to secret societies in a very intense way. 

 

In Greece there is not a crematorium, it is forbidden to be cremated here because the Orthodox Church does not accept it. Have a look in the news from one month ago:

 

“For half a year now the conservatives have been in government. Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis, an influential conservative politician, is a strong supporter of a crematorium being opened.  

"We fully support the building of a crematorium in Athens," she said. "It would help ease overcrowding in the cemeteries and it would meet the wishes of many people who would prefer to be cremated." 

But the most conservatives have a different opinion or choose not to go against the views of the Greek Orthodox Church. So, as with the last government, there seems to be little chance of new legislation in the immediate future.”

 

Also I am starting the procedures to create the first vegetarian society here, life for vegetarians in Greece is very difficult. First time I was hereI went to see some friends and they had all this appetizers on the table. I could not eat because most of it were derived from meat. “But not even a little lamb…” someone asked me. Well whoever saw the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” will remember what happened with the vegetarian family. 

 

Anyway something funny is that Greeks, specially the ones with advanced agehave the habit to 'spit' on other person. So if they see someone beautifulor someone with something that may cause jealous on others they 'spit' three on the person. First time that happened to me I was shocked but they explain me that was a tradition to protect the other against evil eye… AlsoGreece is a matriarchal country , (for more paradox that may sound) is always the big Mama which decides the future of the family. "If you love mama,mama will love you, if you be good to mama, mama will be good to you..." :) Anyway just remembering the nice performance of Queen Latifah in the musical Chicago.

 




Erica

 
 

Jerry Hejka-Ekins <jjhe@charter.net> wrote:

Anand,

If I may step into this conversation--I attended a New Religions 
conference in Salt Lake City, Utah a couple of years ago. There was a 
very interesting presentation about the deep suspicion and distrust some 
European governments have concerning minority religions and so-called 
new age groups. The Theosophical Society is on this list of suspicious 
groups. The speaker specifically mentioned France and Greece as two 
countries which are particularly problematic in this matter. As for 
Greece, the Greek Orthodox church is very much part of their national 
identity. To be anything else, would make you, well, different. To not 
be Christian at all, would make you VERY different. The speaker 
mentioned that the Islamic population in Greece fought for years to 
build a Mosque in Athens. Because Athens is an international city, they 
finally got permission, but only to build one mosque in Athens. 

In France, the situation is in some ways even worse. Groups such as 
Eckankar and ISKCON try to rent conference halls for pubic conventions, 
and the Government steps in, contacts the owner of the conference hall 
and asks: "Do you realized that your conference hall is scheduled to 
host a subversive sect?" The conferences are immediately canceled. 

The Theosophical Society in France has a main building in the Camps de 
Mars, a short walk from the Eiffel tower. That building has been there 
since 1914, but still there is a great deal of suspicion concerning it. 
The first time I approached that building, a young man ran across the 
road to warned me (in French, of course) not to go near that building 
because "they perform human sacrifices in there." There is a threatre 
in that building where Annie Besant and Krishnamurti used to lecture. 
In the 1920s the French Section was about 10,000 members. It is now 
much less than half that membership. 

Even in the US, there is a very significant number of people who regard 
the Theosophical Society, Besant, Leadbeater, and Blavatsky as parts of 
an over all Satanist conspiracy. The word "Occult" is almost synonymous 
with Satanism for most people. There is a local radio show here where 
an evangelist regularly talks about different "cults" such as Theosophy, 
Krishna Consciousness, Alice Bailey etc., and denounces them all as very 
dangerous organizations, and one would risk eternal damnation if one 
were to associate with them.

In Los Angeles, during the 1970s, about once or twice a year, someone 
would storm into a Lodge meeting in progress and warn everyone that they 
were going to Hell. For awhile a group of fundamentalist Christians 
picketed our Theosophical Lodge with signs warning people to stay away. 

In the town where I live, the Animal Control, around Halloween, used to 
routinely capture and put to death all black cats they found on the 
streets in order to protect them from being captured and used by 
Satanists for sacrifices. Fortunately, a couple of years ago, saner 
heads prevailed, and the practice was stopped. But only because someone 
truthfully argued that no one has ever been identified or arrested as 
being a Satanist in this town, and in spite of the many compalints, the 
local Police have never found any evidence of cats of any color being 
ritually sacrificed by anyone. 

What I am saying Anand, is that Christian Europe is very different from 
Hindu-Muslim India. I doubt if any Hindu would care if their neighbor 
made a yearly pilgrimage to the Adyar Headquarters. In this country, 
and particularly in the town where I live, I must be very selective 
about what and to whom I speak concerning what I may or may not believe. 

Jerry





Anand Gholap wrote:

>Erica, 
>I calculated percentage and that showed very low membership as 
>percentage of total population, as compared to many other countries.
> If you have numbers it will be interesting to see percentage in 
>various countries.
>Anand Gholap
>
>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Erica Letzerich 
>wrote:
> 
>
>>Anand,
>>
>> 
>>
>>Membership here is low indeed. Greece has 10 million population and 
>> 
>>
>around 80 members, Brazil has 180 million population and around 800 
>or 700 hundred members. In terms of % there is not much difference 
>between the membership of the T.S. in Greece and membership in the 
>T.S. in other countries. Generally membership in the T.S. is very low 
>all over the world. Or do you consider a society with 35 or 40 
>thousand members all over the world a great number? 
> 
>
>> 
>>
>> In India how many members are there? 18 thousand or a little more? 
>> 
>>
>The population of India has passed the number of one billion, do you 
>think in a country with 1 billion people the T.S. to have 18 thousand 
>members is this a great number? I know I am not referring here to 
>the exact numbers, but they are very close. If you think that such 
>numbers are all right, it is your opinion. In my opinion such numbers 
>are not all right and low membership in the T.S. is a reality not 
>only in Greece but all over the world!
> 
>
>> 
>>
>>Erica
>>
>>
>>Anand Gholap wrote:
>>
>>
>>Erica,
>>Membership in Greece is ridiculously low as compared to other 
>>countries, if I got correct figure. If you are new there then other 
>>leaders might be Blavatskians. Church may be strong but Greece is 
>> 
>>
>not 
> 
>
>>a fundamentalist country. So there must be reasons for failure. 
>>People don't become members of TS by reading SD. Most come to 
>>Theosophy after reading books by Leadbeater. Afterwords few unlucky 
>>among them become diehard Blavatskians. Most others read CWL, AB 
>> 
>>
>etc. 
> 
>
>>and some don't read anything. 
>>Anand Gholap
>>
>>
>>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Erica Letzerich 
>>wrote:
>> 
>>
>>>Anand,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>First of all the Theosophical Society in Greece did not fail. 
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Second the Greek reality is very different from many countries, 
>>> 
>>>
>the 
> 
>
>>church here is very, but very strong. For a child to join a public 
>>school has to be baptized in the church otherwise cannot join it. 
>>Because of the strength of the church, orthodoxy here condemns not 
>>only the Theosophical Society but Masonry, and any other movement.
>> 
>>
>>>
>>>Third this is not a matter of people accepting or not Blavatsky, 
>>> 
>>>
>>because they do not only call Blavatsky Satanist but say much worst 
>>things about Leadbeater. Nobody is trying to impose Blavatsky or 
>> 
>>
>any 
> 
>
>>other kind of teachings here.
>> 
>>
>>>
>>>I am now only one year and three months an active member in the 
>>> 
>>>
>>Theosophical Society in Greece (but I am a member of the T.S. 15 
>>years) so it is still too early to attribute anything related to 
>> 
>>
>the 
> 
>
>>Theosophical Society here to me. 
>> 
>>
>>>
>>>By the way my personal preferences I try do not impose it on 
>>> 
>>>
>others 
> 
>
>>and they are exclusively mine. If you conclude that I am a 
>>Blavatskyan it is your own conclusion I never said so. By the way 
>>Blavatsky was not a vegetarian, and many people are not vegetarian 
>>also,so is this a reason to judge them? Buddha's last meal was pork 
>>he was less enlightened for that? I don't think so.
>> 
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Erica 
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Anand Gholap wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>Erica,
>>>Why do people in Greece call Theosophy satanic ? I found that 
>>>Theosophical movement failed in Greece despite favorable 
>>> 
>>>
>conditions 
> 
>
>>>there. In my opinion this is due to bad direction. I know you are 
>>>diehard Blavatskian but why do you punish whole movement in 
>>> 
>>>
>Greece 
> 
>
>>for 
>> 
>>
>>>that. People don't accept Blavatsky in many parts of the world 
>>> 
>>>
>and 
> 
>
>>>still you insist on her writing. Result is Theosophical movement 
>>>failed in Greece.
>>>
>>>Anand Gholap
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Erica Letzerich .'.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>---------------------------------
>>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>>Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! 
>>>
>>>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>> 
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Erica Letzerich .'.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 
>>---------------------------------
>>Do you Yahoo!?
>> Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! 
>>
>>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>> 
>>
>
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> 
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> 
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>




Yahoo! Groups Links









Erica Letzerich .'.






		
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