Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

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

 

"There are many metaphysicians who can look a fact in the face and they deny it with a series of affirmations. [...] There are many pseudo-metaphysicians who could live a thousand years without experiencing anything because their philosophy has taken away the privilege of experience.  When metaphysics teaches you that divine law pervades all things, you must be extremely careful not to resolve this fact into a platitude. Do not start affirming that everything is all right when it evidently is not." 

 

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)]

Recently I early-voted for Trump after many years of associating with nihilist Antifa characters. Since doing so, the creeping sense of having become the political enemies of my former comrades has tormented me. As a group at least, they would now consider me to have earned my nine grams of lead to the back of the skull, as the old Soviets liked to joke.

None of these people are now part of my life, but since casting my fateful ballot and joining the ranks of the deplorables I've been depressed to think of what my former friends would likely wish to do with me, if they knew and if they could. Currently, I'm journaling many hours a day working to resolve my spiritual problems. I've practiced a daily banishing ritual, daily meditation, and more than daily divination for several years now and have an active religious life. The operative magic I work is natural magic, strongly influenced by Hoodoo transposed to the polytheistic religious tradition in which I pray. I've got a lot of herbs on hand, know how to make petition papers, anoint candles, and pray over all of the above!

Is it possible that the egregore that I once participated might now torment me since I've "changed sides"? The past few days since voting have proved emotionally taxing and I've had a series of vaguely menacing dreams. Do you know of a magical method --- appropriate to the magic I practice --- to get an egregore you no longer want anything to do with to leave you alone?

[ecosophia]

The most effective way I know of to do this is to get involved with a new set of friends. Fortunately this is easy in the present case, as Trump supporters tend to be gregarious and are by and large not worried about the virus. See if you can find a pro-Trump demonstration, parade, or what have you in your area, get a sign or flag or at least a red MAGA hat, and go hang out with them -- that will plop you neatly from one egregor to another that will be much more supportive.

[allenlincoln]

1) I recently watched Vivarium, a truly awful horror film, and somewhat bizarrely enough, it raises a few occult related questions: The bulk of the film takes place in a weird alien suburb, Yonder. The sky is an off shade, the sun is slightly aritifical looking, and the clouds look fake, being too perfect; all the houses, stretching for miles, look exactly the same, painted a weird sickly green, with perfectly maintained fake-grass lawns; and there is no evidence anyone lives there; nor are any other living beings there, with the environment appearing to be wholly sterile and artificial.

I was somewhat unsettled to realize I recognized the area: I’ve had dreams of being there more or less my entire life. The film is a new one, so it can’t be that I’ve tapped into something, but it seems the film and I have both tapped into something, which suggests to me that Yonder is some sort of astral location.

a) How do I avoid having dreams where I end up being stuck there? I’m able to avoid entering it if I start a dream elsewhere, but I still sometimes end up starting a dream there; these are unpleasant in the extreme due to the remarkably unpleasant nature of the area. I’ve just started LRM, so I have basically no magical skills as of yet.

b) If this is an astral location other people have been to and are influenced by, does that imply suburbia an attempt to manifest it as much as possible on the physical plane?

c) I stumbled on the film by accident the same day I began efforts at self-improvement, and I then immediately felt a powerful need to watch the film. This was bizarre since I’m usually not much of a movie person; nor am I interested in horror; and nothing about the film seemed like something I’d normally have any interest in. In fact, in a lot of ways Vivarium seemed like the kind of film I would go out of my way to avoid watching. I watched it, found it horrific and deeply unpleasant as I had expected, especially because it opened up old wounds: I grew up in suburbia, and had not let myself process just how miserable an experience that was.

I feel essentially as if by watching the movie I’ve yanked a bandage off a festering wound: it hurt, but now I can get to work cleaning it up, rather than spending weeks or months trying to get to the root of the numerous issues which unfold from this. Is it possible a spirit/god/my higher self/something else guided me to the film for that reason? How common is that sort of thing?

3) I also just started LRM, and have a couple questions here:

a) The daily recollection exercise is proving incredibly difficult. So far, each time I’ve done it, I’ve gotten a terrible stress response from it, enough it disrupts my sleep. I’ve taken to doing it a couple hours before I plan to go to bed, then doing some relaxation, and it seems to work. However, I’m a surprised to find it so stressful. Is this normal?

b) Are there things I can do to make it easier? I’m assuming that part of it is just keep at it until I get used to it, but are there other steps I can take?

c) I was quite surprised when I read the first chapter of LRM that there was not a single ritual in there. When I thought about it, I realized that this makes sense: ritual work requires intense focus, and a lot of people (including me!) have trouble with that; the first lesson doesn’t include any rituals since most people lack key skills to be able to do it when they start, and the lesson focuses on building those before introducing any ritual. Am I on the right track with this?

d) I’ve built the tree off life a couple times, and am curious about one point: there is a gap between Tiphareth and Kether, where it feels like an additional sphere. Is this something which will be explored later in the course?

4) I’ve started looking into the weird Kek thing, partially inspired by Feels Good Man, and something I find fascinating is just how much effort people are putting into arguing that no one actually takes Kek seriously; that it’s all an elaborate joke on the part of 4chan, or to avoid talking about it at all. Do you have any idea what’s going on here? It seems absolutely bizarre to me how much effort is being spent to pretend nothing is happening….

[ecosophia]

1) That's really strange. Still, these things happen; you may need to face the ugly memories of your time in suburbia so you can let go of the emotional burden. (I certainly did.) Don't try to suppress the dreams; journaling about them may be helpful.

3) Many people find it stressful, yes. Doing it well before bed is a good way around that; other than that, just keep at it. As for your insight into the first lesson, square on target -- and now you have a better idea of what you need to do. As for the gap between Kether and Tiphareth, that'll be filled in later on, though not in that very basic course.

4) The two ultimate dogmas of the age of reason are that gods don't exist and magic doesn't work. The Kek Wars demonstrate that both of these dogmas are false. No wonder people are freaking out!

[allenlincoln]

"When metaphysics teaches you that divine law pervades all things, you must be extremely careful not to resolve this fact into a platitude. Do not start affirming that everything is all right when it evidently is not."

This seems to tie into a lot of the discussions here about karma. The argument that believing in karma means believing people deserve what they get, while true on one level, obscures another important one: you have the choice on what to do when you see people suffering. You can try to help, or you can do nothing. Either way, sure, karma partially determines what happens, but it's not the be all and end all of it.

Another important part of this, to my mind, is that just because the traditional teachings say that the universe is the way it is for a reason, doesn't mean that we have to put up with things as they are: sometimes, the lesson we need to learn is that some things need to change!

[ecosophia]

Exactly. Everything is there for a reason, but the reason may be to encourage you to get off your rump and change things!

The Johnny Appleseed Report

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John
Well… I was hoping for a second report of nothing to report… but… Friday, I started to read “In Praise of Johnny Appleseed” as usual after opening the grove, asking blessings, &c. As I was reading, the Not for Hire faded in – very clearly this time as an ordinary side-wheeler on the Ohio. Yeaa, no drama this time… I thought.
Then – Teddy Roosevelt rode by on a giant sturgeon. Interpretations welcome.
Interestingly, as soon as I thought of the Rough Riders, I started gasping for air. So, I stopped, thought of TR’s diplomatic skill in avoiding a range war and brokering the end of the Russo-Japanese war. (Yankees like me mend fences, right?) Able to breathe again, I finished the poem without further incident. Hard to pray for peace while screaming for war, no?
All this makes me wonder what the curse-hurlers are doing to themselves. And HOW? I can't get a few lines out with the wrong attitude.
Might you comment on progress of the rite at your end?
And – Anybody else having as wild an experience as I am?
Rusty
In other news – the last Presidential debate was watched widely among my blue-collar co-workers. The NASCAR fans again applied their love of complicated rules and metrics to their commentary – which ended up being as good as policy level discussions I’ve heard at university cocktail parties.
And, following a suggestion to add cayenne to the salt and nail in a protective red bag – I didn’t have any, so crushed red pepper went into a sewn bag instead of my usual tied one. Will report next month. Not sure if starting today was a good idea… on the other hand, the work was routine… and the components sort of assembled themselves… as usual. Over to you.

Re: The Johnny Appleseed Report

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this. Things do seem to be going quite well. As for people who get into negative magic, they have to numb themselves to that sort of thing -- and inevitably that makes it harder for them to notice and counter other forms of blowback.

Energy Mystery

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

In the early morning hours last week my husband got out of bed, as he often does when he can’t sleep, and walked about the house in the dark for a bit.

In the kitchen, he felt a shiver up his spine, heard a series of creaks on the floor, and then saw bands of grayish, shimmering energy. It flowed toward him. He’s unclear on whether or not it moved through him. It lasted about 10 seconds, and was gone.

Any idea what that was?

Thanks as always!
OtterGirl

Re: Energy Mystery

[ecosophia]

There are many spooky things in the world. That was one of them. No, I don't know exactly what it was.

Druid blogging

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG and Fellow Readers,

A number of Mondays ago, I mentioned my writing and someone asked where it could be found. I write articles for an obscure monthly newspaper on a tiny island in the Pacific. Until a few days ago when a young friend came to visit and made me a blog in about ten minutes.

So, if you would like to see photos of my farm, read my essays about gardening, cooking, or meditation, please give it a look. https://druidapprentice.wordpress.com/.

I have a question about euthanasia because we have medically-assisted death in Canada for people who have terminal illnesses. What would the karmic outcome of such a procedure be? Would a person have to go back and die of cancer unassisted? Also, I have noticed that people who die either very drunk or hallucinating on pain eds tend to be pretty confused afterwards. Would a medically assisted death have a similar result?

Maxine

Re: Druid blogging

[ecosophia]

Many thanks for the blog info! As for euthanasia, the karmic consequences would depend on personal issues -- you don't generally have to go back and have a tooth pulled without novocaine, after all. As for postmortem confusion, it would depend on what drug was used to kill them.

Hygromanteia prayers

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I have been taking an online course on sigils which recommends saying planetary prayers from the Hygromanteia daily. I tried this for a couple weeks but have stopped as am concerned at the tone (seem to be ordering the planets around?) and the unknown names used.

I include one of the prayers below. Has my saying these done damage do you think? If so how might I go about repairing it?

many thanks

THE PRAYER OF MONDAY Lord Almighty, supreme, creator, King of kings and Lord of lords, who created and fashioned man, who embellished the heavens with stars and adorned to the earth with flowers and animals, before the site of whose power every creature, visible or invisible, shivers and trembles, I, your unworthy servant, beg you and I entreat you to hear me and subdue to me the virtue of this planet. Lady Luna, the order and the knowledge of the world, the figure of the heaven, the consolation of the night and the Queen of the constrained spirits; lady Luna, the indication of time, the sign of all celebrations and festivals; I conjure you, Luna, by the high throne of God, by the solar rays, by the rest of God, by the Cherubim and the Seraphim, by all the orders of the holy angels, and in the following names: Khariomo, Gallagil, Benouel, Agramouel, Adekael, Thyeloel, Rhaphael, Zygothoel, Galael. [For your above names, do not disobey me, but to grant your grace, power and virtue in the work I am going to attempt.] Turn back your foul fortune from me. Bring me only good fortune. Amen.

Re: Hygromanteia prayers

[ecosophia]

I find that sort of prayer distasteful, and won't use it. Nor is it necessary -- the planetary intelligences can be approached in a courteous and respectful fashion with much better results. They are vastly more intelligent and knowledgeable than we are, after all!

Pronunciation of "egregor"?

[(Anonymous)]

Does "egregor" begin with emphasis on the first syllable as though saying "egg," or is it pronounced so as to rhyme with "MacGregor"?

Re: Pronunciation of "egregor"?

[ecosophia]

I've always heard it pronounced EGG-re-gore, to rhyme with "Elsinore."

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG and everyone ! I have a few questions (I hope that's not too many)
1) Im picking a bunch of astral crud at my job and the company has an eggregor that doesn't sit well with me. Are there other practices than a daily banishing ritual to avoid carrying all that stuff with me after punching out ? I have been doing it for only a month so the effect in still subtle for now. Any advice ?

2)I want to make good karma, does anyone have recommendations for that ? I have been thinking about being a kinder person in general, helping whenever the opportunity arises, giving or working with a local charity, having a blood donation. Are there discernable signs that your karma is improving, like a subtle change in personality or worldview ?

3)Any advice on keeping good faith and trust in strangers and people when one or more people you trusted (maybe naively) has let you down, or god forbid, betrayed you ? I have seen some people turn noticeably colder, more bitter and cynical after it happened to them, and I felt a small push toward that in bad times also.

4)JMG, is there a practice involving the equivalent of a guardian angel or a similar being in the CGD at large ? I have seen mentions of the bornless in thelema and other systems but I might be way off...
Thank you also for those mondays

[ecosophia]

1) You might consider the amulet described in the Magic Monday FAQ.

2) The best way to build up good karma is to pay attention as you go about your day, and whenever you can do it without being noticed, do things that help people. (Avoid being noticed so it doesn't turn into an ego thing; I don't quote Jesus of Nazareth a lot, but he had some very good advice about that.) Just be a little kinder, a little more supportive, a little less abrasive, or whatever change will tone down your less admirable characteristics a bit. Take it a little at a time, and don't worry about signs -- they vary from person to person.

3) Being good is not the same thing as being a chump. It takes time and practice to learn how to be generous and kind without becoming a victim; treat each interaction as a chance to work on that skill set.

4) Not in the system as it's written. It's my experience that when you get to the higher reaches of spiritual development, what works for one person rarely works well for another, so the goal of the system is to teach you all the tools you need to create your own rituals of spiritual development, and then let you go for it.

[allenlincoln]

One of my friends just sent me a video he took of a snowy owl ripping a beaver to shreds. Given the snowy owl is a symbol of Quebec, and the beaver a symbol of Canada, does this sound like yet another omen that Canada will break apart soon?

[ecosophia]

Might be that, might just be a hungry owl. Do they normally eat beavers?

[hungryghost108]

Whenever I’m outside my house, I feel so much clearer than when I come home. My home environment engenders this muddy fugue state that totally nullifies the plans and ideas I come up with outside.

I’m sure some part of this effect is pure habit, but I also feel like there are other maleficent forces at work. Do you have any good cleansing rituals for my home? Would SOP work?

Thanks.

[ecosophia]

You certainly need some kind of banishing, and yes, the SoP would be a good start. If you have floors you can mop, you can also do a hoodoo floor wash: in a bucket of hot water, put half a cup of ammonia, a quarter cup of kosher salt, and a tablespoon of hot red pepper. Stir to dissolve, and then, with a brand new mop, mop the entire floor, starting in the kitchen and finishing at the front door. (You can do the rooms in between in whatever order you like.) That'll strip off a lot of negative energy.

[(Anonymous)]

I asked last week about negative emotions due to events at work, and your response was helpful, thank you!

A further question, if I may. Due to my past choices, I now find myself working as a low-level manager of a team of software developers involved in developing software products for an industry in which I have no interest.

I am sure this relates greatly to the ongoing will training series you're doing, but it seems that for decades I have stumbled into a number of jobs within my field while only being partially conscious, at best, of the habits of will that were behind my decisions.

But I took up DMH practices about a year and a half ago, and it has finally given me an aim that I deeply want to pursue. These practices, along with reading occult literature (many of Dion Fortune's books and Manly Hall's Self-Unfoldment in particular) and Hesse's novels have anchored the importance of going down the path.

What I would like to do is, at some point in the future, is leave my job, take a lower paid part-time job, and then focus much more time on the DMH, after that the DA, and continue with my AODA studies (I am a new Candidate). This is complicated a little in that my wife doesn't yet have a stable job herself, my job provides a foundation for the both of us, so if do quit, we'd both have to be on the same page about this goal.

She is not on the same path as I am, a bit of a skeptic when it comes to magic, and although she sees that I am benefitting from it, I'm not sure if she would accept my taking of a part-time job at the present time, though perhaps she would if she had a stable job herself. We have talked about this openly, and I am not trying to play the Transactional Analysis game of 'If it weren't for her...', the fact of the situation is that I am choosing to stay at my job for the good of the two of us until such time as I can quit, and in preparation for that, we have been reducing our expenses together and trying to leave on less. I won't deny that in both of us, though, there are still attachments to the middle-class lifestyles we are both used to, and it will continue to take quite some effort to downscale.

Yet my duties at the job are such that I am constantly thinking about events and problems at work in my off-hours, it is very often the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to bed.

After this long-winded preamble, I'll finally get to my question: right now I keep my DMH practice and my work life separate. Of course lessons from my magical practice seep into my habits at work, but I'm wondering whether it's possible to more consciously apply my studies to my job. I would not do magical workings, but probably more journalling, a bit more study of Jung and the Shadow, a bit of study at trying to put the lessons of the DMH (as they seem to connect to Stoic ethics in a sense) into practice at work.

I'm thinking of setting a point, a year or two max, in the future as a non-negotiable deadline by which I will have quit my job, and before then, treat it as a laboratory for my occult practices in order to benefit my team and my duties, but with the broader goal of using them as a way to grow spiritually.

My question: is this a good idea? What I worry about is that 'what you contemplate, you imitate' that I may end up internalizing my role at work so much that I end up brainwashing myself into a corporate drone. Do you see any dangers here?

[ecosophia]

First, you can certainly use your work life as an opportunity to work on magical skills. That's one of the classic ways of dealing with an unpleasant task: figure out how to use it to achieve something you want.

Before you set a hard date, though, make sure your wife will be okay with it. Once you commit to marriage, that has to be included in every choice you make.

Tarot cards - cards that fall out while shuffling

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, when I shuffle tarot cards I sometimes have a card fall from the pack. I have thus far just picked the card up, put it back in the pack and shuffled some more. But I wondered if I should be paying more attention to those cards. What do you think?

Re: Tarot cards - cards that fall out while shuffling

[ecosophia]

Some people do one, some do the other. Experiment and see what works for you!

Monday in MM

[vitranc]

Hi JMG,

it is very fitting for the MM to have a Monday in it. I have a question and this one is loaded.I was dreading this for some time now, ever since this covid19 panic started and the borders went up. It was perfectly foreseeable that this will have an effect on the economy and this can have consequences. So first thing I see on Monday morning in my company e-mail is a meeting request from my boss and his boss. Yaiks!
I did an OGHM question: What does this meeting with the bosses mean?:
(Ullied reversed; Koad; Ioho)
The situation is not what it seems, you don't know everything about what is going on. There are many factors at play and you are in a balanced position. The future will be set by what you decide here.
Second question: Will I get fired?
(ailm reversed)
No, your perspective on the situation is lacking, reevaluate.

1. Could I ask for a second opinion on my interpretations?

Best regards,
V

Re: Monday in MM

[ecosophia]

That's how I would interpret both those readings.

[(Anonymous)]

There's a couple of questions above about work following people home. One thing to try is as soon as you get home, have a cold shower. As well as the etheric effect, it has a physical, psychological, and symbolic shock effect. It jolts you out of whatever state you were in and has a cleansing and 'reset' effect. It can make the transition cleaner and easier.

[ecosophia]

That would certainly help!

[pikko]

Outside of hypnosis, what style of speaking holds power but still ethical to study?

[ecosophia]

I'm not sure I understand your question. What kind of power are you interested in? What are you hoping to accomplish with it?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
You may find this interesting:
http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/4/expulsions_and_impostures_1204664.html

[(Anonymous)]

Not JMG,

Gino Sandri's faction formed another Priory of Sion ("Rectified") this year. Here is their website: https://www.theprioryofsion.org/

They seem more interested in occult studies and practices, rather than "Jesus Bloodline" business and monarchist politics.

Affirmations

[(Anonymous)]

I formulated two affirmations. I will modify the exact phrasing I used here to "keep silent" but I'm just wondering if this is alright:

1. I'm awesome at knowing what's crucial to do and doing it with concentration.

2. I have a six pack, bench press 1.5x my bodyweight, and have great flexibility and endurance.

Thanks!

Re: Affirmations

[ecosophia]

The first one isn't the way I'd phrase it -- I'd leave out "awesome" and just say something like "I know what must be done and do it with perfect concentration." But the basic idea is good.

The second, though, is a bit of a mess. To say "I have a six pack" could be satisfied by beer in the fridge -- always make your affirmations so they point to one thing only! Bench pressing 1.5x your body weight is a fine goal, but the other two are vague. What I'd suggest here is to combine affirmation and imagination. Use something very simple: "I am strong," or better still, "I am mighty!" (Exaggeration is not a problem in this kind of work.) Then, as you repeat it, imagine your body as you want it to be -- ripped abs and the rest of it -- and see yourself picking up a barbell loaded to the breaking point and doing a perfect clean and jerk with it, with ease. (That specific lift tends to be hardwired into most people's imaginations as the proof of outrageous strength.) Work with that for a while, following it up with plenty of hard workouts, and I think you'll be satisfied with the results.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John!

First, thank you for the "Training the Will" series of posts. This short question actually ties together with that theme.

Can you recommend a spell or ritual I can cast on myself to build a compulsion or obsession?

I would have thought that was what a "binding" spell would be, but was surprised to read that binding spells only seem to be about keeping a specific *person* away? Sounds like a serious waste of a spell-category to me! (Seriously, any comment on this?)

Is there a form of attractive binding ... or is that called something else? Specifically, I would like to build a healthy compulsion to keep my environment clean, ordered, and esthetic as I go. Some people have that - I would like it. I detest dirt and clutter and I find it very draining and painful and costly. In a way, you could say I am compelled to feel bad about my clutter and dirt -- it would be way better if I got more from it than feeling bad. Yet I keep cluttering up my life and work space, having to ultimately beat myself into cleaning up.

It would be much, much, much better if I could just make the ordering automatic and ongoing - compulsive cleanliness would be immeasurably more sensible and rewarding than what I have now! I've tried to build a neatness habit with conscious will -- including journaling, self talk, counselling, and leaving reminder notes for myself to keep areas immaculate. I've had very little success for an enormous investment.

Do you have any specific advice or insight to what I would regard as a whole area of (neglected) magic: constructive "binding" or constructive obsession?

[ecosophia]

That's called creating a habit, and we'll be getting to that in the series of posts. If you've been doing the exercises so far, you're already building the skill set you need. In the meantime, you might consider doing some journaling about cleaning chores, to see if you have any conflicting emotions around doing those -- that's very often the case when someone hates clutter and dirt but can't manage to clean them up.

Experience of the Inner Worlds

[(Anonymous)]

I have a question to the Commentariat (and maybe JMG):

Did someone here manage to finish Gareth Knight's "Experience of the Inner Worlds" and could tell me something about the experience, the effects and results?

I've read it several times and can't make heads or tails of it. It seems to prepare people for doing visualization-workings (for example the "Healing Exercise" on page 224) and Inner Plane contacts. Does this work for you as a steady practice? What is the "shrine cupboard" used for?

I'm reluctant to go full ahead with the practices from the book without knowing what the final result is supposed to be. Are there any commentaries to the book that you know of? Maybe there is another book that gives some more context?

Thank you all!

Re: Experience of the Inner Worlds

[ecosophia]

No, there are no commentaries. The book is quite straightforward about what it offers: a way to relate to what Knight calls the Inner Creation, and other occultists of the same period called the Inner Planes, from within a Christian religious orientation. As for making sense of it, you won't be able to do that until you do the practices, just as you'd have a heck of a time making sense of a manual on how to drive if you'd never been inside a car!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John,

I'd like to increase my sexual confidence, and I thought I might try an adaptation of the Sphere of Protection to accomplish this. I did an Ogham divination to see what might happen if I did this, and I got the following reading:

First Card - Coll
Second Card - Fearn
Third Card - Ioho

I interpreted this as me wanting to transform myself (Coll), that this action would provide an effective route to change (Fearn), and that the resulting change would be enduring and probably irreversible (Ioho).

Do you think this interpretation is a reasonable one?

[ecosophia]

That's how I would interpret it.

Seduction followup etc

[(Anonymous)]

JMG

I am the poster who asked a week or two ago in MM about a man who claimed to have near miraculous abilities in seduction. Couple of quick followups:

1. “Sex is mostly etheric” - presumably this is where you see the “novelty” stories in tabloids sometimes about women (it’s always women for some reason) marrying or having sex with ghosts etc? Leaving aside the question of whether they are actually having sex with a ghost (or fae or some other kind of spirit etc), presumably they are in fact having some kind of genuine etheric sexual experience which gives them most of the benefits of the real thing (except for the friction and baby conception possibilities of doing it with a material partner)?

2. Thank you to both JMG and the Anonymous poster who validated that what this guy claimed to do was plausible. Particularly thanks to the Anonymous poster and the comparison to how Edward Bernays connected propaganda to suppressed desires etc to make people do something. It’s an entirely new mental model for me to apply to this seduction question and it actually makes a lot of sense and explains his method surprisingly well.

In fact, the more you know about his system, the more the Bernays mental model makes sense - for example, one of the core principles of this guy’s system is that you always want to feed the woman the emotions she is most lacking in her life and her personality and explicitly connect them to yourself.

This concept has an incredible depth and nuance but the simplest versions of it are pretty obvious - if you are (for example) seducing a bored married woman (or a woman who is recently divorced because her children don’t need her constantly anymore and her husband is boring), then that woman probably has a surfeit of stability and predictability and safety in her life - and what she is lacking are emotions around being wild and free and spontaneous and exciting and unpredictable - things that remind her of being in college. On the other hand, if it is a 22 year old college senior who parties a lot and has a lot of student debt and is not sure about getting a job or what she’s doing with herself in a crazy world - it’s the opposite - lots of strength and stability and being the rock and a calming influence.

It’s not *one thing* - it really depends a lot on the woman and finding out what it is for any individual woman and giving her the emotions she craves is the heart of the system. This is essentially what you are saying about associating products (the man in this case) with the symbolic fulfilment of repressed desires. He used very different words and mental frameworks but it’s the same thing.

You’re also right about how men in Western society have been conditioned today - which is why that guy recommended that the “default” setting should be slightly on the dominant, assertive “old school man” side because statistically that is more likely to resonate, but you should be very careful to observe the results (ie, the woman’s responses) and adjust the approach and emotions based on them.

It’s kind of like ranging shots with artillery - you start with some basic emotions based on the woman’s demographic profile as a rule of thumb, and constantly adjust as you get closer to the target. Once you’ve found the range, you just keep “hitting the target” - keep feeding the emotion until she jumps on you...

Re: Seduction followup etc

[(Anonymous)]

Would it be possible to link to this fellows system? I would like to read more about it

Thanks

Materialist struggling with impossible things...

[(Anonymous)]

I'll try to keep this short. I've been trying to muddle along by myself as I'm not the type to ask for help but I don't think I'm heading in a great direction at the moment.

Quick version... during pathworking in the grove of earth I felt like I was not alone so simply asked "who's here?" I got a very clear answer. A female name. I did some divination and got some pretty clear answers that indeed this entity is a god and I am good to engage with them.

After a small breakdown in which my mind told me that's impossible and that brains are random word generators I decided to take it seriously as there seemed no reason not to.

I had a couple interactions that were more real than any I had ever had during my childhood in the Baptist world. That was quite interesting. I did divinations to make sure I was still between the guard rails and did my best to ignore that part my brain that kept telling me how deluded I had become.

Questions:
1. The name I was given for this goddess is not one I can come up with any mythology for so I'm at a loss for help to gain any sense of personality or established practice. How to proceed? I have asked for insights but my antenna is not well tuned and I feel like there is some validity to the random word generator accusation. I feel weird using her name here for some reason. Suffice to say it's very similar to a certain priestess of Troy who was well known for telling the truth and being ignored.
2. Right on cue I seem to have already stuck my foot in it. I suspect that it's due to my irregular schedule and the fact that I don't always make time to do my usual morning routine which has included prayer (for the first time in 20 years!) There is also the fact that I've spent a good while mocking gods. That probably hasn't helped. Regardless I have made my apologies for skipping prayer and made a promise to take the few minutes to pray even if I don't have time to meditate and do any divination. From here what else would you recommend?

Anyway, thank you for the time you dedicate to we hapless former materialists!

Re: Materialist struggling with impossible things...

[ecosophia]

Welcome to the real world. ;-)

This sort of thing is happening quite often just now. Remember that we've recently made the transition from one astrological age to another, and that typically involves the fading out of one set of divine influences and the emergence of another.

1) You don't have those crutches to rely on. What you'll have to do is talk to the goddess and ask her to show you what you need to know. As for the name, if it's Cassilda I'm going to have my own very modest TSW moment; in any case, go with it. That's how deities get names, you know.

2) That happens all the time, and you can be sure that she knew it was going to happen; deities are, after all, deities, and they see and know things we can't. As for what else to do, again, there's one expert on that subject and you've started talking to her. More of the same approach is your best bet.

Magic attack

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I’d like to go back to a question I posted last Magic Monday.
I think I misread the chart when I saw “no perfection”.

It was a House Chart the question being
“Is someone attacking me magically?
(In a sexual way)

1st House: Fortuna Major
2nd House: Conjunctio
3rd House: Laetitia
4th House: Laetitia
5th House: Fortuna Major
6th House: Rubeus
7th House: Fortuna Minor
8th House: Laetitia
9th House: Acquisitio
10th House: Populus
11th House: Caput Draconis
12th House: Rubeus

Right Witness : Acquisitio
Left Witness : Fortuna Major
Judge: Conjunctio
Reconciler: Acquisitio

There is in fact perfection as Querent (1st house) and Quesited (12th house)
pass to neighboring houses (5th and 6th, respectively).
That is Mutation, right? So the answer is yes.
In your book The Art and Practice of Geomancy you say:

“...Mutation typically implies that the goal the querent has in mind needs to be sought along unexpected paths, and the house to which the quesited passes is often a guide to where those paths are to be found...”

Well, the goal I had in mind was to know whether someone was (is) attacking me magically and this has been answered, but it looks as if the chart is trying to tell me something else which I’m finding difficult to grasp.

The significator of the quesited passes to the sixth house ( health, pets, practitioners of magic and occultism, querent’s employees, servants...)

So my questions are:
1-In your opinion what path, guidance does the sixth house point to?
2-The Querent’s significator also shows up as Left Witness. Could this mean the whole thing might be his own doing (a self inflicted spell so to say)?

Thank you

Re: Magic attack

[ecosophia]

No, I was the one who misinterpreted it, because I was reading it too quickly.

1) Since the 6th house governs paid practitioners of magic, and employees, one very real possibility is that someone is being paid to cast the spell.

2) I wouldn't read it that way. I'd read it as saying that the querent will be fine in the long run, since the left witness represents the future.

[ecosophian]

I want to share a curious experience. Last week I was in my house when I was seized first by a feeling of sickness then by an all consuming blind rage. It was so sudden and acute that I took note of it. I did a full Sphere of Protection, it was harder than usual, I was shaking with anger. The Fire part I had to stop and restart three times before I could do it. After I finished the ritual however, the rage disappeared almost immediately. The feeling of being sick went away in a few hours.

I'm still not sure what it was. Some sort of astral parasite or a chunk of astral crud hit me? I'll keep up the banishing rituals.

[ecosophia]

Interesting. Did anything else unusual happen before or during the experience?