WHY THE WORLD NEEDS A
HERMETIC ORDER OF ARCANA

"The game that is the mind of man is driven by three engines-- the lust for
gold, the thirst for power, and a fear of the unknown..."

--The Phantom Stranger

We live in a frightening world teeming with strange, irrational horrors
behind every unsuspected door that have passed on from generation to
generation, with barely a psychic respite between encounters of random
terror. From the school hall to the dance hall, to the institutions
surrounding meaningful employment and the raising of families, each day is a
step closer to the formidable indignities of old age and infirmity--and
finally death, the greatest unknown of them all. We surround ourselves with
the trappings of civilization in a desperate attempt to counter the
paralyzing secrets of the grave, to prove to ourselves that our lives
somehow mean something, despite an almost claustrophobic, smothering
realization that we don't know who we are, what it all means, or what really
happens next--all we can truly accept with these five feeble senses is
that we really don't know! Fear of the unknown is significant in possessing
the distinction of existing as the only catalyst that really unites all
humans as one.

Pragmatists work slowly within their lives to alter their fates--believing
themselves to be masters of their own universe, gathering and dispatching
their resources to challenge an unknowable destiny; philosophers say the
world moves along an inevitable path, carrying its human passengers to
kismet beyond their control. The HERMETIC ORDER OF ARCANA strives foremost
to understand the workings of eternity, and in a sense perhaps we do--for in
the end, does not each human know his doom? To understand the machinations
that rule tomorrow's dream seems the logical progression towards changing
oneÕs role within it.

We are only too acutely aware of the dehumanizing price we pay for the
comforts, seemingly endless labor rendered for relative protection in our
ever-changing world, to participate as a free citizen within the so-called
age of information-- where, for the first time since the dawn of time,
mankind connects with one another from different ends of the world at the
touch of a button--usually to discover that we have nothing left to say
beyond the language of war and vendetta. The principle loss resulting from
what is commonly perceived as safety and security in the material world of
these times is a disconnection between humanity and the workings of the
invisible world, the dream life not easily perceived by the senses, despite
its ability to connect humanity to the natural world. The HERMETIC ORDER OF
ARCANA acknowledges the power of the natural world as supreme and actively
seeks to mend the rift between humanity and the invisible world, in order to
resume direct communication to the natural world, the world of eternal
matter, constantly fluctuating and taking new forms--to thrive within this
communion may allow humans to ACTUALLY LIVE outside of this zombie half-life
the material world forces us to reside in, merely existing.

Ancient civilizations recognized the importance of the secrets of the
invisible world in an attempt to seek control over destiny, perhaps going
through the correct motions for all the wrong reasons--the lure of material
wealth and power--tipping an unbalanced scale to another extreme; one can
possibly surmise this to be the reason why these civilizations no longer
exist. Throughout this process, perhaps an ancient, true magic was lost or
tainted; without this PURE ARCANA, the restoration of humanity to the
supreme balance of the natural world may never be--the HERMETIC ORDER OF
ARCANA yearns to restore the delicate balance--to find the PURE ARCANA, the
philosopherÕs stone, the fabric that holds it all together--that which
connects us to the eternal wonders of the universe, forever shattering the
FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN...

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