While researching the shift from paganism in Rome to Christianity, I came across a book called "Woman Who Rides the Beast." The summary of the book stated that there is a mention of a female Anti-Christ in the book of Revelation. Anyone heard of this? Just curious...
Oh, that's the thing about the Scarlet Woman in Revelation chapter 17, probably a reference to the pagan city of Rome. Nope, none of the fantastic women in Revelation is a female Anti-Christ, as far as I know, except maybe metaphorically. Of course, most of the book of Revelation refers to the current events of that time, written allegorically so as not to arouse the suspicion of the censors. Naturally, I am speaking of the text of the Bible itself, not the end-of-the-world fantasies of Tim LaHaye and his disciples.
Exiting mythology and entering the bizzare world of the occult we find great interest in this Scarlet Lady. A rocket scientist (yes! a rocket scientist), named Jack Parsons was a disciple of the infamous Aleister Crowley. Using sexual magical techniques and the help of another man and a willing woman, they performed something called a "Babalon working" (Babylon is purposely misspelled). If this working was a success then the woman would give birth to a "moonchild", which is supposed to be the Scarlet Woman. She would usher in a new age that would end Christianity and start a new religion with Crowley as its prophet. Parsons said it was a success, but to this day there is no sign of a moonchild, which was supposed to have been conceived in the early part of the 20th C. Crowley died alone in poverty addicted to heroin, and Parsons died young in a lab explosion that to this day is still not fully understood (he was an explosives expert.) Oh and by the way, that other man used in the Babalon Working was L. Ron Hubbard, something Scientologist today still deny. This stuff can be read in two books: Strange Angel and Sex and Rockets. Fascinating reading for anyone interested.
Interesting thread hijack. A few additional points.... Crowley may indeed have been addicted to heroin, but he had a serious form of asthma and was initially prescribed heroin for that condition. Back then they didn't have less toxic anti-asthma agents such as prednisone. Also, Frieda Harris stayed in close contact with Crowley all through his final illness and death. She, the artist for his Thoth Tarot, practically idolized him. Crowley wrote a novel entitled Moonchild, which is actually a good read. Partly as a protest to his repressive upbringing in a Plymouth Brethren household, Crowley promoted himself as the Beast 666 (another reference to Revelation) and relished his reputation of being extremely wicked. It is hard to tell how much of this bravado reflects the truth about his life. There is an interesting BBC documentary, Crowley, the Other Loch Ness Monster, about one of his magical experiments.
Hi RLynn Nice to find someone else interested in the slightly twisted! I am familiar with the above points; with the exceptions of 2 and 5. I have to check out the BBC documentary. Crowley did try very hard to kick the heroin addiction. I have a copy of Moonchild, but have not read it as of late. Several other occult fictions are on my list: La Bas by Huysman The Monk by Lewis Zanoni by Lytton The Club Dumas by Perez
I read them a long time ago. I liked La Bas the best. Zanoni is typical Bulwer-Lytton, a little boring in places, but a good tale overall. The Monk was a little hard to connect with, but it was okay. They are available as free ebooks at Project Gutenberg.
