the gifts of the magi

I believe I have written before about why the Journey of the Magi (freudianly mistyped as Journal the first time round) seems like one of the more plausible elements of the birth narratives in the gospels; far easier to believe that a bunch of Zoroastrian astrologers would conclude, like latter-day Tibetan tantricists, that something strange, uncertain, but definitely significant was happening somewhere or other over there, and would then set off more or less blindly in search of it, bearing easily portable prestigious and valuable commodities of value in lieu of bulkier things that couldn't be slipped into a saddlebag.

Flawed magi have been appearing ever since, reporting on the results of purported pilgrimages, and in general it would seem that the axiom applies, By their fruits you shall know them.

Some of them, however, brought fruitful methods along with an immense amount of nonsense, and it remains unclear to me whether the nonsense was meant to be a useful instrument for bamboozling the unwary while enlightening the canny, or just the usual combination of deep insight and self-deception. Neither explanation seems to account for the evidence.

Happy Epiphany, in any case, or for the Copts and the Old Calendarists, Merry Christmas.