Magic Monday
Oct. 4th, 2020 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
***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!
Random
Date: 2020-10-05 12:37 pm (UTC)1. How does one develop the mental body and why does it's development allow for choosing the next incarnation? Did some searching around and found nothing concrete. I imagine studying philosophy, occult philosophy so that one can extract meaning out of complex language would develop it. Not sure about the incarnation piece though.
2. Over the last month or so I've repeatedly heard things from celibacy communities about hair and beards acting as a subtle energy antenna/conductor/facilitator/whatever. I think they draw on Eastern religions for those ideas. Is it true? I got my haircut before I saw this idea and didn't get to watch for any energy differences. You have long hair and a beard which makes me think you've noticed something about it. What do you think and what does western occultism say on the matter?
3. More of a fun story/question - Couple weeks ago I had an out of body experience and the first thing I saw was my puppy. We both took off flying with her leading the way. It was great fun. Then last night I was still awake and trying to fall asleep and my puppy was asleep. All of a sudden I see her energetic body jumping on me trying to play. This only lasted a couple seconds before I opened my eyes to see if she was actually awake (she wasn't). When I first adopted her, I swear I was dreaming her dreams. Do all animals leave their bodies during sleep?
Re: Random
Date: 2020-10-05 06:57 pm (UTC)What spiritual work comes over with us? Will training? Magical ability? Powers developed?
How much memory and such can we bring over?
Re: Random
Date: 2020-10-06 02:14 am (UTC)2) Western occultism doesn't say anything about it, but faiths that value celibacy always shave the top of men's heads and faiths that don't typically let the hair grow. (Compare Christian and Buddhist monks to Orthodox Jews, Sikhs, and Taoists, all of whom traditionally grow their hair long and wear something to cover the crown of the head.)
3) Good question. Clearly your puppy does!