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: 

 

"Discipline has long been interpreted as self-control, or as some would say, "the overcoming of the lower nature.' The difficultiy is that such words as 'conquest' and 'overcoming' suggest an entirely inconsistent aggressiveness of technique.  The true metaphysician is not a wearied man wrestling with his lower nature; rather he is poised and relaxed, achieving through realization instead of conflict.  Avoid the process of suffering your way into a spiritual state." 

 

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.

 

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With that said, have at it!

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

***AHEM. THIS POST IS CLOSED. Please quit with the political bickering!***

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

Comments

[ecosophia]

1) That's correct. Those are the foundational rituals of the system; combine that with daily discursive meditation and a simple daily divination, and you've got the basic practices that will take you where you want to go.

2) Five to seven years.

3) That's a common mistake. If you don't train relentlessly in the basics -- all the basics -- you won't be able to do the advanced work. Remember that you don't yet know which skills are needed to create an animal body of transformation and which aren't!

4) Yes, very much so.

5) If you have no prior experience, I'm going to recommend that you put Circles of Power on the shelf for a year and work through the material in Learning Ritual Magic, which is a better introduction to the work for a beginner. Once you've done that, you'll be able to hit the ground running with Circles and get further faster. Beyond Circles, by the way, is the master-level material, which you'll find in Israel Regardie's The Golden Dawn; you might want to pick up a copy of that when circumstances permit, so you have it handy when the time comes.

[(Anonymous)]

Not being quite sure how to begin, I started a year ago with the exercises in the DMH, and completed the SoP with a developing pantheon that now seems to have settled down with Shinto. I'm also doing meditation and divination.
How does all this relate to the material in Learning Ritual Magic, which I haven't ordered, because I didn't want to get confused? Are they completentary or alternative? Having come to the end of one, should I consider part, or all, of the other?
Thank you.

[ecosophia]

If you'll check the Magic Monday FAQ, which is linked in the post above, you'll find that Learning Ritual Magic belongs to a different (and incompatible) system of magical practice. Have you finished everything else in the DMH? There's a lot of work in that book.

Circles of Power study groups

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

Are there any groups that get together to discuss your Golden Dawn books like Circles of Power? It seems like there are a fair amount of us, and it would be cool to get together and talk shop sometime and share insights we've had.

If not, any tips for creating such a group? Maybe some sort of Dreamwidth discussion board we could start?

Re: Circles of Power study groups

[ecosophia]

I don't know of a group specific to Circles and my other books on Golden Dawn magic. If you want to start one, Dreamwidth is a good place to do it; you may need a paid account, but those aren't expensive and it's a good outfit to support.

Re: Circles of Power study groups

[causticus]

If I'm not mistaken, you can create communities on Dreamwidth using a free account.