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.

 

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!***

***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

[(Anonymous)]

For about a decade I practiced Tarot, and found that I could get reliable results if I were to meditate on the meaning of the cards as they applied to my life. What I could never quite get while working with the Tarot were straightforward "yes/no" answers.

About three years ago I went over to geomancy and have been amazed with how on point it is and how it gives straight-forward "yes/no" answers as a matter of course. I've seen folks get similar levels of "yes/no" type answers working with Ogham, and of course Horary Astrology, but not with other systems of divination as far as I can remember.

I'm curious JMG and commentariat, do you know of other divination systems that can give reliable, accurate and straightforward "yes/no" type answers as a matter of course?

[(Anonymous)]

If there is going to be a Dolmen Arch study group...how can I sign up?

Also, what system or practices goes well with the Dolmen Arch work?

Saturn Returns

[(Anonymous)]

Several Ecosophians have mentioned "Saturn returns", and my curiosity piqued, I went out yesterday and looked the term up. Then I made myself some charts at
https://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php.

These seemed to be pretty spectacular to my only-slightly-educated eye.

For one, I was born one month before the Great Conjunction of 1961. Then I had a Saturn Return in January of 1991, and another this year in March to keep the Grand Mutation company. (The Grand Mutation also happens to be a Great Conjunction.)

As advertised, change-in-life events have occurred for the couple of years before each of the Saturn Returns. My path changed significantly after the first Saturn Return in 1991, but I will have to wait to see what happens after this one. Learning all this gave me a lot of insights on my life I didn't have before.

Here are the articles I found online:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_return
https://www.astrology.com/article/how-to-survive-your-saturn-return/
https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-the-return-of-saturn-206368
and
https://www.elle.com/horoscopes/a27468618/what-is-saturn-return-astrology/

TSW. Thanks for helping me get educated.

- Cicada Grove

[(Anonymous)]

I'm reading th glass bead game by Herman Hesse.

Any recommends for reflections or study on it?

Thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

On a whim, I made a wish on the first star I saw tonight, in accordance with the old nursery rhyme. Granting that wishing is of very little efficacy as a working, it occurs to me that there may be more to the rhyme than first appears: the first "star" someone would see at dusk would most likely be either Venus or Jupiter, the benefics, which strike me as quite reasonable things to wish on.

(It was Jupiter, in my case.)

Is there some hidden meaning to the rhyme that we've all been missing out on?

[(Anonymous)]

I recently picked up a copy of Circles of Power, and have read through the full book in order to get a sense of what possibilities exist within the framework the book presents.

1) Am I correct to think the most important rituals to master for a beginner would be the Cabalistic Cross, the LBRP and the basic form of the Middle Pillar?

2) For someone with no prior experience, how long does it take to work through Circles of Power?

3) One of the more advanced rituals in particular caught my eye: the animal transformation ritual. Are there any concerns with working hard towards getting the skills needed for that and then looping back through to cover whatever I missed in that process?

4) There are quite a few points in the rituals which left me a little confused. Would I be correct to assume these points would be useful themes for meditation? More broadly, if my goal is mastery of these rituals, would it be worth my time to take apart each of the rituals in the book in mediation?

5) As mentioned above, I have no prior experience with the occult, but I've done the Cabalistic Cross (once, this morning), am looking for a Tarot deck, and plan to start learning how to meditate this week. Are there other skills which I need to work on at this point in what I hope will be a long and highly productive career in Cabalistic Magic?

Let There Be Light!

[boulderchum]

I was going through my archive and found a text file marked "pagan lightbulb jokes" that was pulled from an internet archive of an old early 2000s web 1.0 page, which I only found because it was buried in some links at the end of another obscure archived webpage that lambasted the kind of "fluffy bunny" wiccans that make normal wiccans cringe. It's a crazy blast from the past, most of the jokes deal with the dozens of offshoots and branches of wicca (who knew there was something called Erisian Wicca) but a few of them I thought might make some other commentators smile:

How many Druids does it take to change a lightbulb?
One to change the lightbulb, and five hundred to align the new stone.

How many Heathens does it take to change a lightbulb?
One to hold the bulb up, and enough to drink until the room spins.

How many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
"Well, what do you want the lightbulb changed into?"

How many Thelemites does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, because every one of them is a star.

How many members of the Golden Dawn does it take to change a lightbulb?
One to hold the ladder, one to hold the bulb, three to decipher the Light Bulb Ritual from the Secret Chiefs, one to publish it, and one to sue all the others.

How many Heathens does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, the light from the burning monastery is perfectly sufficient, thank you!

How does a ceremonial magician change a lightbulb?
He holds the bulb up to the socket and lets the universe revolve around him.

How many Kabbalists does it take to change a lightbulb?
368

How many neopagans does it take to change a lightbulb?
Six. One to change the lightbulb and five to sit around complaining that lightbulbs never burned out before those darned Christians came along!

How many New Agers does it take to change a lightbulb?
One to change the lightbulb, and four to share the experience!

How do New Agers learn to change lightbulbs?
Well, it takes many many years, unless you pay $650 US non refundable, Visa or MC accepted. Then you can do it after the weekend intensive training seminar.

How does Raymond Buckland change a light bulb?
"Refer to my book, 'Practical Light Bulb Changing' by Raymond Buckland, followed by 'The Respectful Disposal of Light Fixtures' by Raymond Buckland, although some prefer my book 'Candle Lighting for Beginners' by Raymonod Buckland..."


All this talk about lightbulbs is making me wonder about the "ever burning lamps" mentioned in occult lore (Trithemius mentioned them I think?). Knowing what we know about thermodynamics, it seems unlikely there could be any kind of non-radioactive chemical material that produces light for hundreds of years (radioactive decay tends to be fatal when it's bright enough, or dim when it's safe enough). What do you think these "magic lamps" really were?

Next steps

[esingletary]

Other notes to add: filled journals, don’t want to forget by not using,

I finished LRM this week aside from the initiation ritual and the last few pages of the last of the five supplementary books that went along with the course. One of the most profound impacts this course had for me came out of the Will exercises woven through this course, the sensation of deciding to do something and seeing it just happen with minimal waffling or procrastinating or battling with myself is almost surreal to experience. And the foundations of magical practice this course laid have made it so much simpler to navigate the seemingly opaque quagmires of esoteric practice, putting an end to over a decade of what’s felt like aimless fumbling trying to find my footing spiritually. I wanted to thank you and the other authors of this book for helping me to finally open this door.

Moving forward I’m hoping you could offer some advice regarding next steps: I’ve come out of this course with two very clear realizations, the first is that the form of Hermetic magic that LRM lays the foundations for is something I definitely want to pursue further, and you’ve laid out the course of study and practice that would involve elsewhere (Paths of Wisdom/Circles of Power, Israel Regardie’s Ceremonial Magic, then the Golden Dawn).

The other though, is that I need to finish OBOD first. Some backstory: I first started OBOD about 10 years ago, worked through the Bardic grade in 5 years, and then started floundering with the Ovate grade, including having some extremely negative spiritual experiences. At the time I asked for some advice on the Well of Galabes back when that was a thing, and you’d recommended picking up the sphere of protection, I started work on it and began working through the Druid Magic Handbook, I meditated my way through the Ogham fews and got really good at ogham divination, but for some reason the SOP just never resonated for me, I felt like I kept banging my head on it and getting nowhere, and then sometime around 2016 (partly due to some extremely difficult life experiences that cropped up around that time, partly because I never really found a groove), my entire practice fizzled and died. I picked up LRM in earnest in October of 2018, half expecting to experience the exact same frustrations... instead something about the Hermetic LBRP clicked naturally into place, feeling instantly comfortable and familiar, and the Cabalistic Symbolism was intuitive and easy to pick up. I took 2 years instead of the projected 9 months because I took the extra time to meditate on every symbol introduced in the text and close read through all of the recommended books... and during that time have not broken away from the foundations of daily meditation, divination, and ritual once (prior to this I was lucky if I could muster a week of consecutive daily practice). So... something happened during this course that had not happened before.

But OBOD was my first passion and it remains an unfinished thread... And I know now that I have tools for tackling an esoteric course and actually squeezing the juice out of it that I didn’t when I began. It’s also a potential 3 year journey compared to the minimum 10-15 years and potential lifetime heading down the Golden Dawn path would entail. So my question is this: I know you advise against practicing multiple traditions, however I don’t want to lose my grasp on the Cabala, Tarot, Hebrew Alphabet, and other symbols and various fundamentals of theory and practice in this tradition that I’ve picked up over the last two years since I know that I plan to return to that for the long haul in a few years. I also really don’t want to have to give up the LBRP since it just works for me in a way other banishing rituals I’ve tried haven’t. Is there any way to continue to move forward on that path (using either Paths of Wisdom or Circles of Power), or if not at least some way of avoiding losing ground that would be possible while finishing OBOD? And would continuing the Hermetic LBRP be compatible?

Mouni sadhu

[(Anonymous)]

Hey jmg

I’ve been doing the 1st of M. Sadhu’s concentration exercises, and I’m disappointed at how bad I am at focusing on the second hand of my wrist watch, it has really made me wonder about my smartphone use.

My question is this, could doing affirmations before doing the exercise help me improve my progress ? Maybe something like “I concentrate entirely upon the second hand of my watch”?

J.L.Mc12

The Johnny Appleseed Report

[(Anonymous)]

Hiya!
1. This week, I included reading “In Praise of Johnny Appleseed”, in my rehearsal of the grove ritual. The reading took effort, but went well. The Not for Hire gave me a little hello nudge, and I felt good when I was done.
2. So0O0o-ah… How’s the working going at your end? Anybody else wanna weigh in?
3. About the grove ritual in The Druidry Handbook – What do you think of appointing a Lady of the Lake (or Lord) to hold the sword between uses? Seems more dignified than just leaning the sword on the seat of honor…
4. Any suggestions for making Ogham staves? Stick or poker chip shape, kind of wood, that sort of thing? Tongue depressors strike me as a good idea – room for notes on the back…
Rusty... err... Orange Eldritch Platypus, that is...

The world is indeed a bigger place!

[open_space]

Good evening JMG!

Today was an interesting day for me. The last comment you gave me, on the training the will post, was about listening instead of speaking all the time and how meditation and divination are ways of listening; that set me thinking, or rather, listening! After many months of being almost just within a few blocks of my house, the bar, the cafe and the library close by where live I ventured into foreign lands. When I was in downtown, that comment of yours came to mind and I was astonished. After maybe thirty minutes of so of just being aware of my surroundings I realized just how much time I am in my head playing the same old cassette over and over: while taking a shower, walking on the streets doing my meals I am thinking all the time and never listening! It is not even something new every time, it is just the same ideas stuck there. I have been mildly aware of this habit of mine, but today while standing in the middle of busy street while a kind man was playing the saxophone and the pigeons flapping their wings above my head I swear for a moment I felt like Jenny in the middle of the quad of Miskatonic U, so weird. That is what it is! But yet, JMG, what is it and how can I go back to it? I can sit right now and try but it won’t happen, because I am trying and then I set myself off into a way of not trying to try...

I think that what happened is that journaling freed my mind from circular and recurring thoughts so that I can either address them or send them somewhere else; meditation showed me to keep track and direct my thoughts and divination showed me to listen and connect. For me it has just been an exercise, even somewhere close to homework with some day to day benefits but mostly I have been the clueless guy who thinks the occult is really cool but doesn’t even know what it really is. This however was different than what I experience during my daily practices. It felt, for as trite as it might be, it felt magical, as if lost in thought, but not all lost in a thought just, not there, but standing right there and got a sense of something huuge telling me to go and visit but I couldn’t got further because the experience by itself somewhat sends a input and my attention reacts. This S does seem to work indeed, and the world even if just for a femtosecond felt unknown, bigger and new. Thanks for the whack in the head!

CGD Greater Central Ray Invocation

[(Anonymous)]

I'm trying to adapt the Greater Middle Pillar you described in Llewellyn's Complete Book of Ceremonial Magic into a Greater Central Ray as a part of my CGD Druid grade studies. I was wondering if there is an invocation for the CGD pantheon that already has an established egregor.

If there is no egregor yet, I assume the Mabinogion is where I need to look. Are there any other sources you would recommend?

Astro-geography, and affirmations

[(Anonymous)]

1) With the help of Astrodienst I have ascertained that I could improve my prospects considerably by moving from California to Bangor, Maine. This would move my natal benefics from cadent to cardinal houses and (just barely) put Midheaven in the sign ruled by one of them. My Sun and Mercury would be in the third house.

However I do not relish the prospect of living in that climate. I've already had pneumonia once. After 60 years in Cali, I fear a single northeastern winter could do me in; and I certainly wouldn't enjoy it. Also, I have family commitments which prohibit such a move.

Perhaps it might be worth my while to visit that town or establish business contacts there? Could that conceivably be to my advantage?

2) For a good many months I've practiced affirmations. The principal phrase is "I am successful," intended in a material and financial sense. In the past week I started getting pushback from my subconscious, in the form of dreams dwelling on poverty and want. Do I guess correctly that this means I'm getting somewhere, and should push on with unremitting stubborn pertinacity?

[(Anonymous)]

Ever since quarantine, I've taken up writing a a bit of a hobby that I intend to turn into a source of income once I get more practice with it.

Recently I noticed that, as I'm writing a story down, I can be typing it out decently, then all of a sudden I can start typing really, truly horribly, making three or more mistakes on the same word even after going back and retyping it again and againa dnc onsciously recognizing my mistakes. Curiously, if I delete everything I was having trouble typing out and then rewrite it completely, taking the story in a different direction from where I was trying to take it originally, the words will then come out flowing naturally. It's as if some part of me has a very clear sense of how a plot should go and is actively resisting any attempt to steer it down any other course.

Would I be correct to assume this is caused by a phenomenon of the mental plane?
As a writer, do you have anything similar happen to you?

Trump, Miller, and COVID-19

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings Archdruid,

As you know Trump was sick last few days, over on Faceplant Miller was hinting it was his curse that did it and daily posting images of curses in progress (Images of candles, grim reaper statues, a candle in a prison of iron tridents etc.) with the caption, “thoughts and prayers.”

It got me thinking more of your raspberry jam theory wondering what the blowback will be.

It seems the spell was sabotaged successfully as not only has Trump avoided a debate stacked against him, he’s gotten a poll boost and the lefts demonic glee has pushed more people into the Trump camp.

What are your thoughts?

Umber Palpitating Wolverine

Love

[hungryghost108]

This is a question I've been meaning to ask for a long time, but haven't quite figure out how to best frame it. Which is part of the problem, I guess.

It's been clear to me for a long time that I, through various practices like meditation or just good old fashioned cognition, build up these conceptual structures in my head. They are sort of crystalline pieces of art, almost. Each concept in its proper place, usually in this symmetrical formation that makes sense to me and brings me satisfaction, for what its worth. This is just inherently the way I think about myself and my consciousness and the world.

But this crystalline/logical structure lacks the element of love. It's sort of dry and aseptic and theoretical. I feel like I need to infuse it with agape or love or life force, but can't really think of a way to do so.

Is there something you've come across that brings the element of love into ethereal or logical/theoretical though structures? Thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

This week I have a speculation and two questions about a reply you gave.

The speculation first: Einstein's relativity explains the irregularities in Mercury's orbit, but I wondered if they could be actually be treated as a planet of sorts--and mapped to Daath.

Now for the questions, in this reply:
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/53335.html?thread=3997783#cmt3997783
a "mental censor" was mentioned. Here are the questions:
1) Does it operate in the mental plane, or is this the more common meaning of "mental"?
2) Is there a low-hanging fruit that could be explored to disable it?

Thanks for the Magic Mondays!

Ohgam result assistance

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

Last week we discussed the benefit of a man invoking Mars as well as Venus when looking for love. I asked my ogham cards about it and got a negative answer. I am hoping you can give me some insight.

I asked:
what would be the result of invoking Mars with orphic hymn, candle, frankancence and prayer;
In general: (me: Muin, action: Gort reversed, result: Phagos)
Romantically: (me: Luis, action: Ngetal reversed, result: Oir)
Should I wait to start invoking Mars rather than starting tonight: Coll reversed.
Overall is it best for me to start invoking Mars tonight: Quert reversed.
Is it best for me to keep my focus on Aphrodite: Gort.
Will I need to wait long for the love that's right for me: coll
Can I ask for a time by the calendar atrbutions in the DMH: mor reversed.

In my natal chart Mars is 1st house in libra, trine MC, conjunct Jupiter and square the ruler of the 7th house. My Venus is 12th house in leo, trine my north node.

Are you able to shed some light on this.
Many thanks.

Mercury Retrograde again

[(Anonymous)]

There's an important conversation or set of conversations I need to have that I've been worried about for a long time, and it has seemed like Mercury Retrograde is in the way. I've talked about these things with the same person in the past, so I would normally classify it as banging one's head on a brick wall and to be avoided, but unfortunately it's essential and unavoidable unless some miracle happens.

But I think based on what you have said and also this page which has a similar outlook:
https://www.sagegoddess.com/what-is-mercury-retrograde/
"Mercury Retrograde is a cosmic do-over. If you want to try again – at a relationship, a project, an idea, a conversation – you get a second chance with Mercury who (from our view) stops, backs up, and gives you another shot."
that maybe Mercury Retrograde might even be a better time for it?

[(Anonymous)]

Why is spontaneous magic so ephemeral, and what can be done about it? For example, when moving around my house in the dark, I held my hand up and visualised it blazing with light, and was able to get around as if it was well lit. The next few times I tried it, it still worked, but not as well. A half dozen times in though, and it completely stopped working.

[(Anonymous)]

Iamblicus described Saturn's influence as "stability", but taken unbalanced would be manifested as "rigidity". He also described Mars as "kinetic expression" and taken as unbalanced would be "inflammation".

How would you describe the rest of the planets as ideals and their common unbalanced forms?

Thanks so much.

[(Anonymous)]

I've been reading nearly everything Gregory Shaw has published in articles after reading his book.

Who would you recommend me read next for such high quality magical scholarship for that era?

[(Anonymous)]

Do gems, without being cleaned or purified, just lose power or do they actually turn negative as they get etherically dirty?

[(Anonymous)]

What do you like and dislike about Tarot as a study for divination?

Sacred Geometry, LRM and meditation

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

Comments and a question

I practice LRM and geomancy. Tarot cards never seem to work for me. I guess I may need to meditate a bit more on their meanings. However, geomancy is powerful stuff.

(1) A few months back I did a reading for a lady friend concerning her boy friend (whom I never met). The reading was not favourable. A second reading confirmed that she wont get anything from him, like financial security. The reading was crisp and clear. Within weeks the boy friend told her that he could no longer pursue the relationship with her. I was dumbstrucked. I was sorry for her of course but awed by the power of geomancy.


(2) I try to meditate daily and right now I meditate on sacred geometric diagrams and alternate with geomantic figures. Last night I was attempting to understand a given geometric construction and I meditated upon it just before going to sleep. I dreamt about the solution and presto in the morning it turned out to be correct! I had been stuck on this diagram for weeks beforehand.

In summary, keep practising! These techniques are powerful indeed...

(3) Now for the question: I have suggested to my lady friend prayer and meditation. But at this time she really needs to find a job and with the Covid 19 crisis, jobs can be few to get. Could affirmations like: "I am a trustworthy and reliable person who brings value to a business" help her find a potential employer?

Thanks in advance!