We were Chaldeans, trained from youth to read the heavens with an intensity that bordered on obsession.
Charts, calculations, invocations, interpretations – these were our daily bread. We told ourselves that what we did was science, tradition, inheritance. But in truth, much of it crossed into darkness. We sought not merely to observe creation, but to extract from it answers God had not given us permission to demand.
And yet, it was through one final calculation – an anomaly so profound that it shook even our hardened confidence – that everything changed.
Three months ago, while carrying out astrological predictions for our community, we encountered something we could not explain away. The movements did not align with known cycles. The numbers refused to resolve. The signs pointed not to a war, not to famine, not to the rise or fall of an empire, but to a birth – quiet, hidden, located not in a palace but in Bethlehem.
That night, we realised something with terrifying clarity.
If this sign was true, then it was not ours to control.
That was the last night we used the dark arts.
The charts were rolled up. The instruments laid aside. The whispered names – some of which we now suspect were not merely ancient but actively opposed to the will of God – were never spoken again. The anomaly did not invite further manipulation. It demanded response.
Not calculation, but conversion.
Solomon and the great divide
As we travelled, the contrast between what we had practised and what we were now reading grew sharper each day.
Occult knowledge promises power. It whispers that the world is a system to be mastered, that if one knows enough, speaks the right words, performs the correct actions, one can bend reality to one's will. It flatters the mind and corrodes the soul. It produces pride disguised as insight.
Solomon's wisdom is the opposite.
When Solomon stands before God at the beginning of his reign, he does not ask to see behind the veil. He does not ask for secret knowledge, dominion over forces, or insight into hidden mechanisms. He asks instead for an understanding heart.
"Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil."
(1 Kings 3:9, RSV-CE)
This prayer unsettles us still.
Solomon acknowledges limits. He recognises that wisdom is not seized but bestowed, not discovered but received. His request is relational, not technical. He asks not how to control outcomes, but how to judge rightly, how to live faithfully within God's order.
Occult practice seeks to rise above good and evil, to operate beyond moral categories. Solomon's wisdom begins by submitting to them.
We begin to see that what we once called wisdom was, at best, cleverness – and at worst, rebellion.
The cost of repentance
Turning away from the dark arts has not been easy.
Old instincts resurface, especially when danger comes. Sandstorms have slowed us, blinding and disorienting. Robbers tested us on the road, and we fought them off with fear rather than confidence.
Two camels became lame within days of each other, forcing delays and difficult choices. Some nights we wonder if we will arrive too late – if the child will already be grown, the moment passed.
In the past, we would have sought signs to reassure ourselves, rituals to guarantee success.
Now we have only prayer.
Prayer does not eliminate uncertainty. It teaches us to live within it.
And slowly, painfully, we are learning that this is wisdom.
Learning reverence
One passage returns to us often as we read together by firelight:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
(Proverbs 9:10, RSV-CE)
Fear, here, is not terror but reverence – the recognition that God is God, and we are not.
Occult knowledge erases that distinction. It tempts the practitioner to step into God's place, to command rather than obey, to manipulate rather than worship.
In the past, we would have sought signs to reassure ourselves, rituals to guarantee success.
Now we have only prayer.
Prayer does not eliminate uncertainty. It teaches us to live within it.
And slowly, painfully, we are learning that this is wisdom.
Learning reverence
One passage returns to us often as we read together by firelight:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
(Proverbs 9:10, RSV-CE)
Fear, here, is not terror but reverence – the recognition that God is God, and we are not.
Occult knowledge erases that distinction. It tempts the practitioner to step into God's place, to command rather than obey, to manipulate rather than worship.
Solomon's wisdom restores the proper order. It places God at the centre and humbles the human heart.
We begin to suspect that this is why the child we seek is born not among scholars or rulers, but among the poor. Wisdom arrives quietly, not through spectacle.
Why we continue
We are on this road not because we have solved a mystery, but because we have encountered one we refuse to dominate.
The anomaly in the heavens did not give us mastery. It stripped it away.
And in that stripping, we found something better.
We are still Chaldeans. Our past does not vanish. But our future is changing. We are learning to ask for wisdom rather than power, for understanding rather than control.
One of us joked that perhaps, if we continue this way, people might one day call us wise.
We did not laugh loudly.
We prayed instead.
A Prayer for All Who Read This Blog Post and for All Who Never Will
Lord God of light and truth,
You are the giver of all wisdom,
and You alone know the paths by which each heart is led.
We pray for all who read these words
and for all who never will –
for those seeking meaning,
for those trapped in false promises of power,
for those who have wandered into darkness believing it was light.
Turn our hearts away from pride and forbidden knowledge,
and teach us the humility of Solomon,
who asked not for mastery but for understanding.
Lead us from confusion to clarity,
from control to trust,
from fear to reverence.
Bless every journey of repentance,
every step taken toward truth,
every soul daring to leave darkness behind.
May we learn what it truly means to be wise –
to fear You,
to love You,
and to follow where You lead.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
We begin to suspect that this is why the child we seek is born not among scholars or rulers, but among the poor. Wisdom arrives quietly, not through spectacle.
Why we continue
We are on this road not because we have solved a mystery, but because we have encountered one we refuse to dominate.
The anomaly in the heavens did not give us mastery. It stripped it away.
And in that stripping, we found something better.
We are still Chaldeans. Our past does not vanish. But our future is changing. We are learning to ask for wisdom rather than power, for understanding rather than control.
One of us joked that perhaps, if we continue this way, people might one day call us wise.
We did not laugh loudly.
We prayed instead.
A Prayer for All Who Read This Blog Post and for All Who Never Will
Lord God of light and truth,
You are the giver of all wisdom,
and You alone know the paths by which each heart is led.
We pray for all who read these words
and for all who never will –
for those seeking meaning,
for those trapped in false promises of power,
for those who have wandered into darkness believing it was light.
Turn our hearts away from pride and forbidden knowledge,
and teach us the humility of Solomon,
who asked not for mastery but for understanding.
Lead us from confusion to clarity,
from control to trust,
from fear to reverence.
Bless every journey of repentance,
every step taken toward truth,
every soul daring to leave darkness behind.
May we learn what it truly means to be wise –
to fear You,
to love You,
and to follow where You lead.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Before You Go...
A Free Gift For You.
The 247 Catholic Prayer Companion -
A Year of Daily & Monthly Prayers
- A Year of Daily Prayers
- Prayers & Devotions
- Prayers For Every Month Of The Year
- Prayers For Every Day Of The Year
Plus...
Catholic poetry… Meditations…
Bible Verses… Saints’ Feast Days…
Bible Verses… Saints’ Feast Days…
Click Here to read online or download for free
No sign-up required, no email address required
No sign-up required, no email address required
Just read online or download now
************
************
Visit Our Parish Website
ourladyoflourdes.co.uk
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, New Milton
************Thank you for visiting this blog here at
the247catholic.blogspot.com************
View And / Download The Ordo
for the 2026 Liturgical Year
For The Diocese Of Portsmouth
************
Click here for the very latest
and up-to-the-minute Catholic News
from The 247 Catholic
************
Please pray for me because I'm a sinner
************