Odor Attribution?

[hooplala]

I'm aiming this question mostly at Mangrove, LMNO, and P3nT, but anyone can answer...

Anyone know how the attributions to gods and goddesses in books like 777 are decided?

For instance, what would be an appropriate smell associated with Eris?

[Chairman Risus]

Teen spirit?

[Cain]

Probably used Gematria.

[Mangrove]

I'm aiming this question mostly at Mangrove, LMNO, and P3nT, but anyone can answer...

Anyone know how the attributions to gods and goddesses in books like 777 are decided?

For instance, what would be an appropriate smell associated with Eris?

Interesting question.

777 started out life as a list of attributions cobbled together by the Golden Dawn (probably by MacGregor Mathers). Crowley (I think) received the list from Alan Bennett (fellow GDer & roomate) and then continued to add and expand upon it. From what I can remember it was Crowley who expanded the list to include a lot of Eastern material (sanskrit, I-Ching etc).

The original source material probably came from Agrippa's Three Books Of Occult Philosophy via The Magus by Francis Barrett. Barrett's book was basically a copy pasta from various grimoires that were much harder to get hold of in 1801 than they are now.

Where Agrippa and others got their attributions from, it's hard to say. I think it's a mixture of qabalah, astrology and probably a whole lot of guessing. Some attributes are more obvious than others:

For instance: Tiphareth ---> The Sun --> Gold --> Sunflowers ---> Anything that puts you in mind of 'solar' things.

The odor for Mars for instance, is Tobacco or Pine. If you wanted an Erisian odor, then you could either:

a) Study the tree of life carefully, decide where Eris would most likely reside and then check the traditional correspondences.
b) Make something up.

Another alternative is the shamanic route. I read an interesting story about how some botanist guy heads to South America to hang out with the shamans and study their plant lore. He informs his guide that the different plants they were referring to were, in fact, all the same species of plant. The shaman tells him that was incorrect:
  "This plant grew by the river, but this one grew up on the hill, this one was harvested at a full moon etc."

Thus we see how the Western academic mode of classification did not suit the purposes of the South American shaman who felt that a single plant under different circumstances is not the same.

Along a similar theme, western botanists asked how the South American shamans knew how to combine the correct ingredients to make ayahuasca, given the sheer number and variety of plant species. They said 'we asked them.' (The puzzle was how did they find a plant that would prevent DMT being rendered inactive in the stomach.)

Anyways, the grimoires from which books like 777 were compiled are generally from the 1500-1600s though it's possible that they contain elements that go back much further, perhaps even as far back as the first century. Grimoire expert Aaron Leitch has drawn some interesting connections and suggests that the 'ye olde skool' ceremonial magic was, essentially a European shamanism overlaid with qabalah and Catholicism. So there's a chance way back when that some magic stoner dude induced an altered state and learned that 'tobacco' was suitable for Mars etc.

Beyond that, I dunno.



PS Some of the incense recipies may have been culled from the Bible. Especially fun now that 'calamus' is considered by some scholars to be a mistranslation for 'cannabis'.

[hooplala]

 

Thanks Mang... I knew I could count on you.

[hooplala]

I'm trying to remember where I read that Eris was attributed to snakes, rabbits and blackthorn??  Can't recall.

[Cain]

Robert Graves

[Mangrove]

Thanks Mang... I knew I could count on you.

Yer welcome 

[hooplala]

Robert Graves

Thanks Cain.

[Iason Ouabache]

Eris is obviously associated with either cloves or patchouli. 

[hooplala]

Are you on crack?

Those are the attributable smells of Robert Smith and Mama Cass!

[Iason Ouabache]

Are you on crack?

Those are the attributable smells of Robert Smith and Mama Cass!

I thought that Mama Cass was ham.

[wlfjstr]

I think it would be easier to determine what smells are not associated with her.

[hooplala]

[Requia ☣]

mama cass?