Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight as I write this, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Let's start things out with a quote again: 

 

"As a student of metaphysics, you may expect very little encouragement from those about you; be prepared to resist the encroachment of circumstances. The true mystic is sustained by his own spiritual understanding. The source of all truth and inspiration is within.  When you have developed this inner realization you will have gained a strength and peace which the material world can never take from you.  Spiritual knowledge bestows security under any and all conditions." 

 

That's from Manly P. Hall's Self-Unfoldment by Disciplines of Realization, arguably Hall's best book and one of the classics of the Golden Age of American occultism. (The image to the left, on the other hand, is one of Augustus Knapp's splendid illustrations for Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages.)     

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. (Any question received after then will not get an answer, and will likely just be deleted.) If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here.

 

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button below to access my online tip jar. If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here.

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed -- see you next week.***

And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
A huge THANKYOU for recommending Joscelyn Godwin’s book The Theosophical Enlightenment to me as a source of information about the occult scene in England in the early 19th century.

It gave me more juicy info than I imagined was available, and then went on to rumple up my world-view but good. That “provocation theory” is a wowzer!

One form of “provocation” mentioned is the production of poltergeist phenomena, such as Charles Fort documented. Observers usually note that such phenomena occur around individuals in processes of hormonal changes and/or heightened emotional states, but Emma Hardinge-Britten’s informant testifies that he was party to creating it by some form of etheric or astral projection. Do you have any insights into poltergeist phenomena?

KKA

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome! Godwin is far and away the most scholarly and well-informed of current Traditionalist writers, not to mention the most enjoyable to read. As for poltergeist phenomena, they're etheric in nature, which is why they can be caused either by a ghost who has not passed through the second death, or a human being who (accidentally or deliberately) has a lot of etheric force.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG, thanks for this opportunity. I recently watched a video of a person with advanced Tourette's Syndrome, and it seemed like there were multiple entities in there. What is your metaphysical take on Tourette's? Is it related to demon posession? I have noticed tendencies towarsa Tourette's in myself, with some tics, but my mind is mostly under my control. I can also see the tendencies for nearly any disorder within myself.

In general, how common do you think demon possession is? Or astral parasitism?

[ecosophia]

Demon possession is very, very rare. Obsession -- when the malign spirit can influence the mind but does not take over ownership of the body -- is more common, and astral parasitism is more common still. As for Tourette's, I've never actually studied it so don't have an opinion on the subject.

[(Anonymous)]

How long did you practice the Dolman Arch tradition for?

[ecosophia]

It took me about three years to complete the course, but I came to it with a lot of prior training and practice. It takes most people five to seven years.

[(Anonymous)]

What are your thoughts on the Akashic Records? What are they, how are they accessed, and what can we learn from them?

[ecosophia]

The Akashic Records were a notion circulated by Theosophical writers and practitioners in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the idea that everything that has ever happened down here in the world of matter has been imperishably engraved in the akasha, the fifth element of Hindu cosmology, more or less corresponding to the element of Spirit, and the follow-on idea that if you developed the skills of seership you could tap into the Akashic Records and see the truth about what happened in any past era you care to name. That was the theory. In practice, the people who cultivated astral seership (which is what they were talking about, though they didn't know it) got a mix of actual glimpses of the past, their own preconceptions, and the popular notions of their era all jumbled up together, and ended up writing a great deal of very colorful nonsense as a result -- I'm thinking here among many others of the Theosophical writer who talked earnestly about 12-foot-tall hermaphroditic Lemurians walking tame plesiosaurs on leashes. If there are levels of being where the objective truth about the past is infallibly engraved, they seem to be above the normal reach of the human soul at this stage of our evolution.

Uranus & Neptune, Grimoires, Olympian Spirits, Pacts With Satan

[joshuarout]

Dear J.M. Greer

1a) In your reply to my question last week about possible kamea of Uranus and Neptune, you said that they would have to be assigned squares of orders 2 and 1, which of course is a dead end for kamea. But can we then definitely say that Uranus would be assigned the number 2, and Neptune assigned 1? That seems to be progress of a sort.
1b) As another line of investigation: For the seven classical planets we have traditional metal assignments - lead, tin, iron, gold, copper, mercury, silver. Could Uranus and Neptune have corresponding metals, and if so, have any of these been established yet?

2) Of the Medieval, Renaissance, and early modern grimoires, what are some of the most worthwhile for the mage in training or occultist in training to study and meditate about?

3) Are the Olympian spirits (as in the Arbatel) a different class of being from the planetary Intelligences, Spirits, angels and so on? What in their nature distinguishes them from those other classes of beings?

4) In certain grimoires that describe pacts with Satan, Lucifer, or Lucifuge Rofocale, and so on, what sort of being would in fact be involved?

Thank you for hosting this forum and for your replies,
Regards,
Josh Rout

Re: Uranus & Neptune, Grimoires, Olympian Spirits, Pacts With Satan

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, we can definitely say that. As for corresponding metals, aluminum has been suggested as a metal for Uranus and of course uranium as well; beyond that, I'm not familiar with anything.

2) I'm not the person to ask. The grimoire literature never interested me much.

3) They appear to be a different class of being. That's about as much as can be said for certain. You can always summon them and ask!

4) Predatory malign beings. You never actually sell your soul to a malign spirit -- you hand it over for free, under the delusion that you're getting something in exchange.

[(Anonymous)]

I now have the three cauldrons in my SOP.

I previously had Zeus for "spirit above" but since it is a prayer to a solar father I think I should change it to helios or apollo.

Do you have a recommendation for how the Greek gods could be switched up to for that?

Thanks a bunch.

[ecosophia]

Pray to the gods, burn some frankincense to them, and ask for their guidance and their permission to make the change.

[(Anonymous)]

A while back I noticed I had a bad habit that was a potential source of a curse, so I formulated the curse myself and gave up the habit... for a bit. Then I went back to my old ways, and now I think I've been hit square in the face by my own curse.

What would you recommend to get out from under my own curse?

[ecosophia]

Um, you can't. You invoked it, you chose it, you did the thing that brought it on you, and now it's yours. The only options you have are (a) give up the habit, or (b) learn to live witn the curse.

[(Anonymous)]

What are your thoughts on alcohol?

[ecosophia]

Like most human pleasures, it's harmless in moderation when subject to the discipline of will, but can be far from harmless in excess or when it becomes a crutch rather than an occasional enjoyment.

[(Anonymous)]

What is a good introductory method to explore lucid dreaming or day dreaming?

[ecosophia]

Dreamwork isn't something I've explored more than very tentatively, so you'll have to find someone with more experience in that field.

[causticus]

Good evening JMG and the best commentariat in the known universe:

So I’m going to start this off with a little bit of humor based on a very extensive back-and-forth discussion from last Wednesday’s open post on the main blog. Lo and behold, a grand revelation from the heavens of innumerable quantity (but not quality, obviously):

1. Existence is inebriation
2. The cause of inebriation is the consumption of intoxicating beverages.
3. The cessation of consuming intoxicating beverages is the way to eliminate inebriation.
4. The Noble 12-step path is the finest method in all the horrible hell worlds of cruddy existence to go about systematically ceasing the consumption of intoxicating beverages.

Seriously, (and this is a thank-you, not an angrypost), the way you framed these “truths” as being a simple formula open to countless ad-lib combos, was pretty much a direct-hit torpedo to my serious interest in possibly pursuing Buddhism as a “legit religion” to accessorize my occult studies. I realized I was more attracted to the exterior aesthetics of specific sub-traditions and the institutional legacy of Buddhism being a world religion that has survived to this day after being around for many centuries. And now I’m back at my original feeling that none of the great religious traditions are really suitable for spiritual needs of the age we’re now in. Basically, I’d feel like a total phony affiliating myself with a religion I don’t actually believe in, in terms of its core tenets. I’d be participating in bad faith, and doing so either for opportunistic or superficial reasons. Yuck.

You mentioned the idea that emerging Aquarian religions and pre-existing religions that manage to adapt to Aquarian energies are going to be a lot more focused on this world. (1) Might something like a “Path of Enchantment” emerge as a spiritual path a lot of seekers take up in this age. The idea behind this is taking of spirituality not just for the purpose of self-maturation or purification, but to bring the divine energies from above down here to Earth? (and not in some kind of far-fetched, otherwordly utopian kind of way, a la Pisces). This would mean individuals each doing this in their own little way, each according to their own peculiar inclinations, tastes, and aptitudes. In other words, each doing their own thing, but it all (in theory) adding up for an overall, collective greater purpose. We each work to enchant the world in our own little way. This also sounds like something that would work well in the probable Tamanous culture that might emerge here in the US in several centuries. (2) Could some kind of individualistic-yet-collective effort help work to chip away at the “disenchantment” spell we’ve all been under for quite some time? (I’m eagerly awaiting your upcoming post on this topic)

BTW, for anyone reading who also was participating in the open post last week, I was the one who brought up the fact that some forms of Buddhism don’t deny the existence of the Soul. Click my name and there’s a recent blog of mine where I archived the original comment; I made this to serve as a discussion space for anyone who wants to continue talking about Buddhism as it relates to the debate on the Soul and how Buddhism in general might intersect with our occultism studies.

[ecosophia]

Yes and yes. Both of those are ways of thinking about the classic occultism of the Anglo-American world's occult golden age.

Celebrants

[(Anonymous)]

A question for which it would be great to hear from other community members:

It isn't needed imminently, so this is more of a general "how to" than a request for specific names, but how would one go about finding a UK pagan celebrant who would be a reasonable fit for the values of someone who posts regularly here? I have a, perhaps unfair, assumption that many celebrants might be either wishy-washy and deal in platitudes about the state of the world, especially older ones from a New Age background, and that among younger pagan clergy there would be a lot of SJWs and a fringe of white nationalists, with fewer in the middle.

Re: Celebrants

[ecosophia]

By "celebrant" do you mean someone who fills roughly the same role as a Christian minister or priest?

[(Anonymous)]

Recently I messed around with astrology, I say messed around because I can only narrow my time of birth down to a three hour timeframe, but even with that admittedly large disadvantage there were interesting consistencies.

Saturn is the strongest planet, in rulership, in Aquarius. Saturn ruling Aquarius took me aback but then I was like "Ahhh!".

1. I take it that Saturn in Aquarius means a person is drawn to unorthodox heirarchies and leadership structures?

Saturn is in opposition to Chiron though so I winced at that.

2. Saturn's association with ancestors got me wondering if ancestor work would help or exacerbate the opposition with Chiron?

From a little reading, I have a few nice conjunctions, but those are nerfed. Sun conjunct Mercury, Venus conjunct Jupiter, Moon conjunct Venus. The Sun and Jupiter are in fall.

The worst is Mars which is detrimented but that's unsurprising. I suck at sports, have ridiculously bad luck in fights, and am as far from a man of action as it gets. Mars also squares Saturn.

3. Is planetary charity to Mars still a good idea when it's squared Saturn?

[ecosophia]

First, spend a lot more time studying your chart, and use several different books to get you started. A little knowledge of astrology is very misleading; it's like the guy in the comic novel by Jerome K. Jerome who spent a rainy weekend reading a physician's manual, and ended up convincing himself that he had every illness in it except housemaid's knee!

Saturn in Aquarius, for example, can mean a great many things depending on which house it's in and how it relates to other planets. As for Chiron, it's a minor body and packs very little punch; it's the sort of thing you don't even bother worrying about until you've understood how all your planets relate to one another. As for planetary charity, it's the one thing you can do no matter how your planets are afflicted.

Finally, you may be able to narrow down your birth time a bit. Cast a chart for the beginning of the three hour period, and another for the end. Notice which planets are in which houses, and see if one placement makes more sense than another. If Mercury is in the second house at the beginning of the window and the third at its end, for example, and you hate small talk and don't like to write letters but are good at buying and selling, your Mercury is probably in the second house...

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1) I asked you a couple weeks ago about a blockage in my womb center and in the spine area just behind the womb center, and you suggested trying a extended SOP working to free it. I meditated quite a bit on the telluric current, what it corresponds to, and came to the conclusion that the source of the blockage was old fear and shame (I am the commenter who asked about fear and shame on the open post). After more meditation and divination, I arrived at a working with the intention of invoking courage and serenity, and banishing old fears and shame, which an Ogham reading endorsed.

I've been doing the working daily after starting it at Alban Elued in a Grove ceremony, and so far so good. I have noticed quite some emotional intensity during the invocations and banishing of Water and Earth in particular, and this morning after invoking Spirit Below, I had a pleasant tingling in my spine at the exact area where I had pain (at the area of the womb center but in my back). I suddenly stopped, though, because I remembered in the moment that I should avoid a kundalini awakening, which I don't know much about aside from your warnings about it. This didn't start at the root of the spine nor travel up my spine, but to be safe I just moved on to Spirit Above and finished the SOP. Do you think that might have been the start of a kundalini awakening, or just my womb center responding well to the working?

2) Completely unrelated: over the past few months, I occasionally (2 to 3 times a month at most) have trouble sleeping, because my mind suddenly races from image to image without coherence as I am laying in bed. I have too much energy to sleep, and my mind flits from image to image, all out of sequence, with my mind being almost unable to control it. I have to concentrate on my breathing to stop it. I can't tell if this has always happened to me, and now after meditating almost daily, I am better at observing when my mind jumps around, or whether this is an unpleasant side effect of my DMH practice. Does this sound like the latter to you?

Many thanks!

[ecosophia]

1) No, you don't need to avoid spontaneous stirrings of the spinal energy! What you need to avoid is deliberate attempts to waken the kundalini, and you're not doing one of those. The womb center is responding well to the practice, and I'd encourage you to resume it.

2) That sometimes happens in the early stages of magical practice. When it does, sit up, put your feet flat on the floor, and let the excess energy drain out through the soles of your feet. Imagine it flowing down from your head all the way through your body to your feet, and down from there deep into the earth, where it will be absorbed and recycled. Combine that with slow, steady breathing, and see if it helps.

Was Robespierre possessed by a demon/demons?

[kimberlysteele]

Dear JMG, do you think Maximilien Robespierre was possessed by demons? I think it seems very odd that he went from "incorruptible" and upholding the Declaration of the Rights of Man to catching guillotine fever and the forcing Cult of the Supreme Being upon the French people.

Re: Was Robespierre possessed by a demon/demons?

[ecosophia]

No, not at all. The cult of reason almost always ends in a heap of corpses, because people who are intoxicated with their own supposed rationality are unable to assess their own beliefs critically. When the world fails to behave according to the "self-evident truth" of their preconceptions, all they can do is turn to force. That's why Marxist regimes so reliably end up killing people on an industrial scale. Marxist economics inevitably fail -- as you'd expect from a scheme cooked up by an intellectual -- but Marxists can't assess their own beliefs critically, so they turn to violence, and more violence, and still more violence, until you've got Pol Pot's Cambodia, Stalin's purges and prison camps, or the tens of millions of corpses left by Maoism in China.

Titles telling tales

[(Anonymous)]

John Michael, what deep spell has your writing cast over me? Once, I could glide blithely through life reveling in the trite pablum on offer all about me. But now, I can hardly scan the headlines of even the alternative press or the titles on the library's shelves without seeing a whole history of ideas embedded in the very words employed to compel me. As for watching modern movies, it has become almost painful to be subjected to the exceptionally limited plot lines repeated ad nauseum, driving home preferred propaganda points. What did you do with that naive fool I so well remember, who enjoyed watching rom-coms and fantasizing about his life progressing... always progressing...

Today I stopped into a local thrift shop and browsed through the books. I could barely get past the title Making Globalism Work! It was one of those business improvement books promising to put the reader at the front of the pack in terms of looting wealth out of the global economy. But I couldn't help reading it as a desperate plea for everyone to pretend that an unworkable disaster might somehow not be so bad -- like Making Fascism Work, or Making Child Abuse Work. Then there was the 1960's title "Today's Isms". Good Lord, how long have they been trying to peddle their drivel? What similar guides to right-think and Newspeak were being published when the enclosure laws were getting implemented? Don't these "experts" ever get tired of playing the endless apologist for their failed theories?

What are your unsuspecting readers to do when we wake up one day surprised to find ourselves in minds that can think for themselves? Awareness has become a decidedly mixed blessing just now when craziness and disconnection are cynically being turned up to their highest volumes. No wonder so many Hippies wanted to just "drop out" during the stressful protest years!

-Christophe

Re: Titles telling tales

[ecosophia]

Christophe, my work is to help people wake up. The scenery they see around them when their eyes blink open is unfortunately not something I can do much about.

Ham radio

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG and any hams in the group.

I've just got my licence and would be interested in gauging interest and feasibility for a MM like net sometime. Would anyone who is interested like to comment with your callsign, maidenhead location and bands you can transmit on.

I'm ZL3MDG, RE66IK, I can transmit on 2m and 70cm currently though once I acquire some valves and build a few antennas I should be able to do 10,11,15,20,40,80 and 160m (that may take a while though).

I'm planning to use echolink for an international net once I work it out. Let's see where this goes then, thanks to all. 73

[booklover1973]

Is the shift from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius something which affects the whole world? How would that shift, for example, affect Eastern Asia, since Eastern Asian culture is more collectivist than Western culture?

[ecosophia]

It affects the whole world. I've noted in researching the Grand Mutations, which are the minute hand on the clock of time (precession being the hour hand), that its effects can be seen in Asia, Africa, and the Americas just as clearly as in Europe.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Mr Greer,

I want to start learning the art of geomancy. You wrote two books about the subject: "Earth Divination, Earth Magic" and "Art and Practice of Geomancy". Which one is better to start?

[ecosophia]

Either one! They both cover the same divinatory techniques. The difference is that the first is oriented more toward the Golden Dawn magical tradition and the second is oriented more toward traditional Renaissance magic; the divination methods in them are the same.

[hungryghost108]

You've said that magic is a set of techniques for altering consciousness. Well, I would like my consciousness severely altered. :)

It seems that my default frame of mind when not using my brain for any specific purpose is arguing with people in my head. Doing dishes? Arguing. Driving? Arguing. Standing in line? Arguing. People I know, people I don't know...it's all the same. I'm either attacking their imaginary positions or defending my own.

Once in a while, this will stop, and I will feel actually sane, and it's like taking a breath of air after holding it for a long time. I will realize anew how unpleasant and insane my default mental state is. But I seem powerless to change the default state.

I've tried various forms of meditation, breath techniques, drugs...Just can't seem to nudge my default thought patterns in the direction of clarity/sanity.

Any magical ideas?

Thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

Do you have Mercury in Aries or a Mercury-Mars conjunction? If so, perhaps you could shift your awareness now and then to a Jovian perspective or a Venusian one as a change of pace? That is, to consciously adopt the god-form of Jupiter (genial, warm, expansive) or Venus (mild, flirty, attractive, a gentle beauty smiling at everyone) and do dishes or queue-standing from within their personas instead. If you adopt the postures of generosity or beauty, your thoughts tend to flow along another channel altogether than the well-worn path of argue-mentation.

Or, you could go the Scorpio route and strive to think like a general rather than a foot soldier: using secret intelligence and penetrating observation to discover what makes your enemies tick over. You start by analyzing your own motivations. What is the payoff for the behavior? A feeling of righteous triumph? Justified anger? The sheer joy of battle? A fascination with the flashing swords of wit in intricate interplay? The fun of setting off fireworks just to see people jump?

If not astro-logical, maybe prayer to be shown how the other side thinks could break the dynamic.

Or learn to play chess games entirely in your head, taking both sides of the board and defeating or stalemating yourself time after time. Lawyers spend a good deal of time striving to understand what the other side could do to damage one’s own case. Maybe playing devil’s advocate would sharpen your understanding of other people’s point of view and blunt the force of your own habits of constant conflict.

Walking the paths

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG and all,

It has been an interesting time in the woods this year and there has been a good deal of footfall around the paths and labyrinth.

https://vimeo.com/461174989

Am experimenting with ways to interact with the labyrinth and have currently avoided too much reading etc (to avoid getting pre-conceptions) and instead have been exploring to see what comes to mind using different exercises.

The disorientating track is reminiscent of some of the effects from Tai Chi style calisthenics and in the rotations of walking a meditation spiral. Plus a delightful synchronicity was just recently discovering some of the rotations mirrored in The Dolmen Arch circulation of light!

Visualisations prompted by working in/with the labyrinth are looking promising and I've managed to obtain copies of resources to study at some point (Lawler: Sacred Geometry & Conty: The Genesis and Geometry of the Labyrinth).

I think it was you who recommended the Lawler book a year or so ago, but do you know of any other texts to consider? Ideally towards practical application than purely academic treatment; but, any ideas gratefully received whatever their approach.

Thank you

[earthworm]

Re: Walking the paths

[ecosophia]

There's a substantial literature on sacred geometry these days, but very little of it deals with labyrinths. If you can give me a clearer idea of what you're looking for I may be able to help.

[ecosophian]

What is the term (that I think you coined) for the method of using metaphors to train the mind rather than inform it, as employed by Dion Fortune, Manly P. Hall et al.?

[ecosophia]

Do you mean "legominism"? I didn't coin it -- G.I. Gurdjieff did.

[(Anonymous)]

1. How does karma work over time for an action? As an example, an invention or a product that continues to help people through multiple generations or the teaching of a spiritual teacher that continues to help people even after a millennia. Does the soul continue to see positive karma or is it momentary?

2. I had a specific incident that I was curious on it's karmic effects. I was volunteering at a food bank and there was a really old man who wanted the food given to him over the fence skipping the massive line that had people like him waiting. If I had helped him what would karma look like that? (I didn't eventually since the rules were strict)

Hope the questions made sense, I'm clueless on the subject. Also, is there a book I can study to learn about karma?

Couple of questions on entities

3. Is it known for ascended entities to seek guidance from people in an incarnation in the material plane?

4. Hindu mythology has lots of stories around gods incarnating into the material plane on their own will for tasks. Is this a possibility in the occult view?

- Nomad

[ecosophia]

1) Karma works through character. Your actions shape who you are, and that shapes what you encounter. It's not a point-based system -- your action helps 53 people, therefore you get that many points, blah blah blah.

2) In that case you would have gotten the karma of helping someone else cheat. I don't recommend it.

3) Nope. An entity who does that is no wiser or better than you are, and may be considerably worse.

4) You'll have to ask the gods about that!

Planetary charity to Pluto

[morgen_lugh]

I have Pluto conjunct my natal Sun in Scorpio. After years of reflection and some recent study, I’ve worked out that this placement is responsible for most of what I have found frustrating and difficult about life. The dark Sun is fine if you like festering in futile rebellion against everything, orbiting like a small, dark lonely planet at the edge of social happenings and constantly obsessing over power relations with others, and who needs a stable personality anyway?

I know there has been value in all my suffering, but it is time for things to settle down a bit. Divination has indicated planetary charity to Pluto would be an absolute winner, and I thought I would run the following by you to ensure it is optimal.

1. Invoke using orphic hymn 18 to Pluton (perhaps with black candles?) on Tuesday in the first hour of Mars in the evening
2. Vow to make 13 donations of $13.00 to a charity that rehabilitates criminals or terrorists
3. Make said donations on Tuesday in the first hour of Mars in the evening

How does that look JMG?

Thanks again for Magic Mondays!

Re: Planetary charity to Pluto

[ecosophia]

That sounds entirely appropriate.

[(Anonymous)]

What is the difference between asking Venus and Mars to help you find a partner? There is a woman I am strongly attracted to, and I asked Ogham what would happen if I asked Venus to help to bring us together, if this is what the woman in question also wanted. I got Beith reversed, which implies blind alleys, wasted effort, and longing for the impossible. I took this as confirmation that I am wasting my time and should give the whole thing up. However, I then remembered that Mars governs male sexuality, and I asked Ogham what would happen if I asked Mars the same question. I got Onn right side up, which is obviously much more promising.

Would I be correct in surmising that any relationship engendered by Mars would be more sexual and physical, and less loving and intimate, than one promoted by Venus?

[ecosophia]

I can tell you what's going on. A great many women these days are desperately sick of squashy, soft, overemotional guys; they would like to see a guy that actually has some masculine energy and virility, who doesn't need constant emotional coddling. If you embrace the Mars dimension of your masculinity in its positive and balanced form, you're likely to find something considerably more loving and intimate than if you go all squashy and Venerean!

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG ! I was listening to a podcast where a member from the kosmic gnosis (david beth) argued that western esoteric systems were in majority Logocentric and that they tended to make their practitioners project their own mental images in the world instead of directly connecting with it, often making of spiritual practice an intellectual exercice. I worry sometimes that those two path are directly opposed in that sometimes I think after a ritual "Either I strengthen my own conscious thinking mind to go to farther levels of abstractions, either I work to weaken it in order to shorten the distance between me and the divine spontaneous life that is right there in front of me". He also argued that systems using the tree of life and neoplatonism tended to eventually make people disregard and disengage with the material world in favour of some abstract ideals disconnected from it. What are your thoughts on that ?

Also, do you think the affirmation "I am powerful, proud and in perfect control of my capacities" could backfire or be improved ? Another one is "free, powerful and sincere, I live my desires".

[ecosophia]

1) This is why it helps to have some philosophical training before you start making grand statements about spiritual systems. The human mind can't make direct contact with the world. What you think of as the world "right there in front of you" is being constructed by your mind, moment by moment according to unconscious patterns that are partly hardwired into your nervous system by evolution, partially structured by your culture, and partly a result of your own life experience. When people decide to turn away from conscious thought and embrace life "as it is," they're simply embracing the productions of their own unconscious mental processes in an uncritical manner. The reason paths like Cabalism and Neoplatonism work with abstract concepts is not to flee from material existence -- it's a way of understanding your own role in creating what you call "material existence" so you can engage with it, and with all the other planes of being, in a way that's more richly conscious and less constrained by your own presuppositions.

2) Why do you want to encourage yourself in feeling proud? Why do you think it's a good idea to live your desires? These aren't rhetorical questions.