Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's almost midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Let's start things out with a bit of alchemical text: 

 

"Where there are hills and dales, there the earth has been matured and most perfectly mixed with heat and cold, moisture and dryness, and there the best ores may be found.  But where the earth is flat there has been no such accumulation of fumes and vapors, and there no ores will be found." 

 

The image is the fifth illustration from Splendor Solis, the most gorgeously illustrated of all the old alchemical texts. It shows miners digging inside a mountain, while below, a queen greets a king. 

Ask me anything ***about occultism*** (ahem) 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)]

a) I've had an issue over the past few weeks where sometimes when I do a ritual (I do the Middle Pillar and Rose Cross, if that matters) I'll end up with a sensation as if something on my back is trying to flow or crawl down. Does this sound like an energy blockage issue to you?

b) With the Rose Cross, how do you safely hold incense for the ritual? I have sticks, but they tend to drop bits off the edge. I have a holder as well, but found it unwieldy to use during the ritual. What is the appropriate way to handle it?

c) I lit some incense for the first time tonight for the Rose Cross Ritual, and suddenly it feels like my room is far cleaner, in some hard to describe subtle fashion. Does incense clear away things on the etheric plane? Is this what etheric cleanliness feels like?

d) I'm a little disturbed by the fact apparently Rod Dreher is posting multiple examples of things which relate potentially to polarity magic: the newest one is the Jericho March. If I'm reading his summary correctly, it almost looks like an example of polarity magic using consumerism on the one hand (complete with advertising!) and fantasies of destruction on the other in support of Trump.

If this read is correct, what kind of consequences could this have? I don't see any way this doesn't end very very badly.....

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, I should have provided a link. Here it is now: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/what-i-saw-at-the-jericho-march/

Counter-Intuitive Outcomes

[(Anonymous)]

Do you have a book to recommend on the care and support of Etheric Organs?

I ask because of what I have seen, and heard. Some people who engage in strenuous exertion cripple themselves and die early, and others who are exercise adverse live till 90. (This is not a life-length equals value statement.) I care about this because I have seen it in my family, and because as a molecular biologist I am aware of the limitations of medical reductionism. Without integration of knowledge groups, expert advice has catastrophic consequences.

Thank you for this forum, and a thank you to the commentariat, your thoughts have enriched my perception,
-Archaic

Re: Counter-Intuitive Outcomes

[ecosophia]

No, I don't have a book to recommend, but I do have advice. Strenuous exercise doesn't do your lifespan any good, quite the contrary -- in Chinese martial arts circles, the wai-chia (hard style) methods are considered great for young men but not at all for middle-aged and older ones. Gentle exercise with a strong etheric component is the standard recommendation once you're past youth. Tai chi is excellent, and so are related exercise systems such as Tai Chi Chih; plenty of deep, slow diaphragmatic breathing is good all by itself, but better if you incorporate it with an exercise of this kind.

Myths n Stuff

[(Anonymous)]

Regarding your wish for lynch mob insurance before considering origin myths again: The song “At the Hundredth Meridian” by the Tragically Hip begins, “Me debunk an American myth? / And take my life in my hands?”
Anyway – the idea of myth as a spell of meaning cast upon the cosmos has been bouncing around in my head. Any tips for aspiring myth-casters? (I’m giving this the same eyeball as gets a fresh box of DuPont AAA…)

Re: Myths n Stuff

[ecosophia]

Sure. Find comparable myths in history and study how their casters cast them and what the results were, then copy the example of those who succeeded and avoid the example of those who failed.

Divination

[(Anonymous)]

Asking “What will this day bring?” to my Ogham staves and Gypsy Witch cards have for several days returned variations of not enough information, secrets, false friends, revelations, and events influenced by inertia. This seems far above the usual good advice and weather predictions I usually get. Am I in the realm of US politics or something similar? Is there any way to tell? Is anybody else hitting this stratum? (It does feel like I’ve hit a layer in the soil.)

Re: Divination

[ecosophia]

Interesting. That's not what I'm getting, certainly, but you might be picking up on something political.

[(Anonymous)]

a) A doctor I know has told me that MRNA vaccines could theoretically change human DNA. I looked it up and found dozens of articles on the topic, including tonnes from the NYTtimes, CNN, Washington Post, etc. The establishment has talked about this as a potential benefit to this type of vaccine.

Now they're shrieking at the top of their lungs about how anyone who says this is a conspiracy theorist. Is it possible for an egregor to get schizophrenia? That's one of the few explanations I have at the moment.....

b) In Paths of Wisdom one of the things you suggest doing is looking at how each sphere looks from the perspective of each other sphere. Could you use the same process on the planets?

[ecosophia]

1) Giambattista Vico called this the barbarism of reflection -- the point at which a society becomes so caught up in abstractions that it no longer cares whether they make any sense at all. We're deep in it, and the vaccine has become one focus of it. If it turns out to be less than perfectly safe -- and of course it's an experimental vaccine of a type never before tried on human beings, rushed through the approval process so quickly that no one in the world has any idea what the long term effects might be -- I expect mass insanity on the grand scale.

2) Indeed you can!

Aquarian Music

[tunesmyth]

Based on what you’ve mentioned about the Age of Aquarius before— started in the late 19th century, will usher in an age of idiosyncrasy (if I’m distilling correctly)— then might jazz have possibly been the first Aquarian musical movement? With its emphasis on individuality — until it got ossified by higher education and so on, at least— improvising artists of any meaningful renown were expected to have their own unique sound, both tonally and improvisationally. (Incidentally, in my own view this is one thing you got wrong in Retrotopia; jazz’s self definition is predominantly about individual exploration, and if one sounds like previous great masters, they’re not actually doing it right, at least according to the classic ethos.) Likewise, might rap (particularly the freestyle end of it) be a different manifestation of the same Aquarian impulse?

Re: Aquarian Music

[ecosophia]

The classic ethos in jazz only worked because there was still a lot of unexplored space within the jazz idiom; by the 1960s that was mined out, and since then -- like any other mature art form -- jazz has been original or it's been good, but almost never both. I see jazz and rap both as foreshocks of the Aquarian energy, not yet fully embodying it, but beginning to catch some of its possibilities while still remaining within a basically Piscean framework.

Lovers Tarot Card

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

I have some difficulty in interpreting the lovers tarot card No 6.

I have tried meditating on it, but it has not yielded much yet.

What else can I do?

Many thanks.

Re: Lovers Tarot Card

[ecosophia]

Go on to other cards. Notice when they have patterns that echo the Lovers -- for example, the two figures standing before the Hierophant and the Devil echo the position of the figures of the Lovers. Also, go back over your divinations and see if you can figure out what events they were talking about -- that will give you another way to see the meaning of each card in action.

Setting up am occult lodge

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!
A few years back, you had a post about how to set up and manage an occult reading room for interested members of the public. I cannot find the post any more.
Can you direct me to it, assuming the post exists beyond my imagination?

Thank you.

Re: Setting up am occult lodge

[ecosophia]

It came up instantly when I did a search on the blog for "reading room." Here you go. The material on reading rooms is down a ways, after the discussion of subscription libraries.

Enochian magic vs GD

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, bonjour, Have been reading a few of your books and I am now starting LRM. While trying to figure out what extra books to read per page 7, other than Paths of Wisdom, I stumbled on discourses on Enochian magic, it's use in GD, it's supposed dangers (Paul Foster Case and al.). Having been using natural magic for a while and after reading your Monsters book and Natural magic book decided to study ritual magic, but wish to avoid creating situations that my encourage unwanted, misguided or dangerous entities from creating havoc with my life and those I live with.

So what is it with this Enochian magic, I have read quite a bit on the subject on the web but would like your take on the subject (I am also reading A treatise on Angel Magic).

I find your books interesting and well written, easy to comprehend, most of the time ! Plan on purchasing Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah as supplementary reading, but as for the third do you have any particular suggestion ?

Your posts make for fascinating reading. Thanks, merci,

Sapienter si sincere

Re: Enochian magic vs GD

[ecosophia]

1) People get into trouble with Enochian magic if they try to do it without adequate preparation; it's the most challenging and potentially dangerous end of the Golden Dawn system. If you've done all the training leading up to it, on the other hand, it can be very potent and effective.

2) If you can get Butler's The Magician: His Training and Work, that's one I particularly recommend.

[(Anonymous)]

Is it normal for someone who never remembers dreams to start remembering them after picking up occult practices? If so, is this one of those weird effects where the fact it happens is all that's known or is there a known reason?

[ecosophia]

It's very common, and the reason is known. Once you start doing occult practices, you become more aware of the astral plane, and even in the very earliest stages of that process it makes you more aware of your dreams (which take place on the astral).

[(Anonymous)]

I've noticed a truly atrocious decline in the quality of the astral over the past year or so: do you think it might be related to the forced closure of most houses of worship?

[ecosophia]

I've noticed it as well. I'm sure that's one of many factors involved.

emeralds

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG and fellow readers,
I bought a nice emerald pendant a few days ago and wear it next to my skin. It felt very pleasant when I put it on in town.

As soon as I put the emerald on, I started to think of some incidents, clues, about my health, and had an urge to look up the clues. I swiftly found the answer was that I had a possibly deadly physical condition. My point is, the emerald made me much smarter and guided my thoughts.

I will be treating this jewel as a friend and regularly bathe it in cold water and will put it out to get the light of the moon. Is there anything else I should be doing to be kind to this jewel? Is there any magic to increase my connection to the jewel? I have studied up to scrying the Ogham fews in the Druid Magic handbook.

Re: emeralds

[(Anonymous)]

Are you sure you actually have the condition? I'd be really wary of that in your place....

Shoes Full of Candy for Krampus...?

[(Anonymous)]

I just finished reading Brom's "Krampus: The Yule Lord", which was a great romp, and thought I'd leave a pair of shoes containing candy out for Krampus on Yule (as described in the book). However, a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for Krampus indicates that Brom may have made up this particular ritual; especially as another website has St. Nicholas leaving the candy in the children's shoes, versus the children leaving candy in their shoes for Krampus.

Hmm. Brom's Krampus ritual nevertheless has a kind of "magical truthiness" to it. Is it something worth doing? And if I do so, should I get a new pair of shoes, just for this purpose, rather than leaving the candy in my grungy old daily-use shoes?

:D Only place on the Web I could ask such a question.

- Cicada Grove

Re: Shoes Full of Candy for Krampus...?

[ecosophia]

It may be an invention of Brom, but it's a traditional kind of rite, and with all the people who've read that very good novel, it could work. By all means give it a try! You shouldn't use new shoes -- they don't have a magical connection to you -- but a pair you don't use too often would be fine.

Raspberry Jam

[(Anonymous)]

Wondering about if you can use the raspberry jam principle to your benefit when it aligns with the intent of the working.

E. g. I saw this amusing thread on r/occult where a guy found a Lilith sigil under his mattress after he’d (presumably platonically) spent time together with a female friend. Assuming that this was a cack-handed attempt on her part to get him to lust after her, it seems that the residue of the working would align with the overall intent. So at least from her perspective (again speculatively) there’s no problem with jam since it’s what she wants anyway.

But I really feeling that I’m missing something since my instincts are telling me this was a really bad idea on her part (other than that he’d found the sigil) But I cant articulate why. Why is this a bad idea from a practical vice ethical perspective?

P.s. link for the terminally curious. https://www.reddit.com/r/occult/comments/ka1y7i/i_just_found_this_under_my_mattress_after_my/

Re: Raspberry Jam

[ecosophia]

That kind of working on her part will make her more vulnerable to having her desires and emotions manipulated by other people. I doubt that's what she had in mind!

Dolmen Arch, Elemental Cross and Energy Flows

[realmscryer]

Good Evening JMG,

This past week I started the daily SOP and journaling aspects of The Dolmen Arch. Tomorrow I will begin the meditations. I spent many more hours than I expected researching which Gods and Goddesses to connect with in the SOP. Feels like time well spent. I did not anticipate such strong connections. Wow!

I am curious about something as I navigate my prior experiences and how they might impact my learning.

During the Elemental Cross, is energy flowing into me interfering with the intent of the ritual? I am guessing not but didn’t want to inadvertently derail myself either. Or maybe I haven’t read far enough in the book, yet?

Thanks!

Re: Dolmen Arch, Elemental Cross and Energy Flows

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it. I found the Dolmen Arch material very powerful when I worked through it.

No, the Elemental Cross doesn't bring energy into you. It sets up a balanced pattern in your aura, so that later on -- when you begin bringing energy in -- the energy has a form to flow into.

[emmanuelg]

There are a lot of people in the Tr**p Administration who have given their all for him (to the point of making fools of themselves)--The unreasonable degree of loyalty to a politician seems to me to have the look and feel of magic.

Do you think that Tr**p is a mage, knowingly or unknowingly?

Or are these effects possibly due to magical interventions by some of his followers?

He seems to have the same command over his very loyal followers as Napoleon. I have two brothers with that sort of support for him, and at this point, even trying to have a conversation with them only gets them shrieking...

Thanks in advance for any reply that you care to give, and also for the opinions of the commentariat. It's also fine to choose not to reply, if you'd rather not "mention the name of Vol**mort" -- Talking about Tr**p seems to make him more powerful ;-)

--Ecru Apopleptic Peacock

[ecosophia]

As far as I know, Trump isn't a mage; he has some background in New Thought techniques -- he went to Norman Vincent Peale's church while growing up -- but that's about it. What you're seeing is quite normal -- it's just that we've had so many bland, vacuous, tepid politicians of late. FDR and JFK attracted the same kind of hero worship; so, though to a lesser degree, did Ronald Reagan; so have a lot of charismatic leaders throughout history.

Jung's concept of projection explains what's going on very well. Jung held that the archetypes, which are primal images linked to instincts, work by projecting themselves onto other people; you fall in love because the lover-archetype projects itself onto some person who attracts you, you end up hating someone because the enemy-archetype (the Shadow, in Jung's terminology) projects itself onto an enemy. Trump has attracted a more focused archetype onto himself, the one that kings and generals usually end up with, the Sun-King:

[neonvincent]

When I enrolled in health insurance through my employer over the weekend, I had to complete an "HR Task" first, which was to complete an online wellness course. At first, it seemed pretty conventional, beginning with a science-based discussion of the spine and limbs and how office work had deleterious effects on health that included instructions on proper posture, both standing and seated. The latter reminded me of your instructions on the proper posture for discursive meditation. That foreshadowed the rest of the course, which discussed yoga techniques and meditation. That part surprised me, as the meditation module included a description of the subtle bodies that looked a lot like the inner planes you've written a lot about in your posts about "The Cosmic Doctrine" and elsewhere — energy body, emotional self or body, and mental body (they skipped over the astral body, which fits with a response to a comment you made in a previous Magic Monday post about how people confuse astral plane activity with mental plane activity), a spiritual plane, and "pure consciousness," which they identified with the higher self. The instructors said that getting in touch with each of these was the goal of meditation. If I hadn't been reading you, I would have been utterly confused and astonished at these concepts. Instead, I was merely surprised that my employer was promoting this material. I was also wondering if this model of the subtle bodies was part of yoga and meditation was part of both when they were imported from India or were added to it from Western occult traditions afterwards. Do you know?

By the way, when the course described different types of meditation, three things struck me. First, they warned about the effects of kundalini meditation, saying that it could result in kundalini syndrome and was not for beginners. Second, that meditation was a good technique for business. Third, even though they instructed the viewers (this was a video course) in the proper sitting posture for working at a desk, they never mentioned discursive meditation.* I was disappointed, but not surprised. You have mentioned that the kind of meditation promoted by the professional middle class is what's good for business as usual, but not for encouraging developing independent thought. So, what do you think of the particular elements of occult thought and their uses that I described as well as their being promoted by business and the public sector to their employees?

*The stress management instructor described a technique for managing anxiety that amounted to a focused use of discursive meditation. She called it a "brain dump" of things to worry about that resulted in a to-do list after 20 minutes. Again, that's a form of meditation that's good for business as usual, but not encouraging independent thought.

[ecosophia]

This is quite common these days. Watered-down spiritual practices used as nonchemical tranquilizers are all the rage. Discursive meditation will never be popular in such circles, precisely because they teach people to think independently. As for the sources, that's a good question I can't answer without a lot of research; my first guess would be that it's from New Age sources, which means basically warmed-over Theosophy.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I am quite sure there is some kind of 'glamour' or something going on around the Orange One. I've sensed it since he started running in 2015 or 2016. I have no idea if it's deliberate on his part.

- Cicada Grove

[ecosophia]

Of course there is. I suspect he's doing some of it using New Thought methods, but most of it is that he's become a major target for the projection of archetypes.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG ! I have a few astrology related questions
1) My natal saturn is in the tenth house. Does that mean that I will have to overcome challenges throughout my life that will be related with the affairs of the tenth house (enterprise, authority, etc) ? Do you have a general idea of anything I should watch out/strive for regarding that placement ?

2)There is a lot of pisces and Aquarius in my chart and I often feel drawn to intense flows of images and ideas. It's often pleasurable but it also takes me away from the present moment. It also makes it easy for me to rationalize unhelpful habits and to isolate myself in thought when I feel uncomfortable. Do you have some advice for being connected more strongly to the earth aspects of life ? I thought about making an habit of focusing on the sensations in my body and to breathe lower and deeper throughout the day. A more excentric idea I had was to draw a symbol of the earth element on a piece of paper, making a short consecration ritual, and folding it into the insole of my shoes.

3)Do you think that the ressources and capacities develloped in past incarnations are somewhat accessible in unconscious ways ?
Thank you for the mondays !

[ecosophia]

1 and 2) I'm not a professional natal astrologer, but I do know that details like this need to be integrated with the whole chart to be understood in context. You can't just pull bits out of the chart and interpret them by themselves! This is one of the reasons I recommend that everyone should at least once pay for a thorough natal chart delineation from a competent astrologer.

As for methods for connecting to the element of Earth, there are quite literally hundreds of ways to do that. The two you've suggested are among them.

3) They're not always, or often, unconscious. The talents you have in this life are skills that you learned in previous lives. That's why Mozart was able to play the violin professionally when he was still a child -- he'd obviously spent many lives developing his musical skills. If you don't have talent for something and want to develop it, get practicing -- you'll have that talent the next time around.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

My wife and I made an offer on a house here in Canada and it was accepted. We don't know that much about the previous owner yet except that she died, and the house was sold as part of an estate sale. I don't know whether she died in the house or not, but it looks like she may have been a Catholic, as evidenced by a cross hung above one of the doors inside the house.

1. I am working with the DMH with the Druid gods, so if the cross is left in the house when we get it, then I'm wondering about the most respectful way to remove and deal with the cross. Do you have a suggestion?

2. Is there a way to 'clean' a house when you move into a new home? Perhaps a modified SOP working?

3. My last question is concerned with your other recent posts about the banks. As you say, there may be a completely mundane explanation for the bank closures, etc. The house we bought (pending inspection) is well within our means to afford; we looked for an inexpensive house where we could make further preparations for the long descent, we have savings because we are renting and spending little, and so we are able to pay for almost half of the cost of the house outright, with a mortgage to cover the rest. But if there is the potential for turmoil in the banks, I'm starting to worry about the mortgage. Are you seeing signs that should be giving us pause?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

1) The best thing to do with the cross is to find a Catholic friend or neighbor who will take it and treat it respectfully.

2) Lots of ways. If it's got uncarpeted floors, do a floor wash -- a bucket of water with half a cup of vinegar, a quarter cup of salt, and a tablespoon or so of hot red pepper is good for this. Mop the whole house with it using a brand new mop, beginning in the kitchen and ending at the front door. If you've got carpets, sprinkle them with a mixture of salt and red pepper, leave it for an hour or so, vacuum up the mixture and empty the vacuum bag into your outside garbage can at once.

3) No, nothing I've seen so far suggests that kind of problem.

[(Anonymous)]

There’s so much dirty magic going on in the world right now that I think most of it is just cancelling itself out. Too many aspirants to power are casting conflicting thaumaturgical spells on each other and the populace, leading to very low signal with lots of static — like a propaganda blizzard that reduces clear vision to near zero. This chaos of competing visions is destroying so much so quickly that it cannot hold sway for much longer (certainly not long enough to deliver any Great Reset!) How do you picture this destabilized transitional period coalescing back into some kind of temporary magical rebalancing?

So many people seem to be waking up to the realization that narratives are never given by the “facts”. They are fashioned to serve some purpose, or someone’s purpose. Collapsing status quos keep attempting to work the same old degraded magic that only ever worked due to the populace’s collaboration in selling its loyalties for ever-increasing goodies. Decreasing goodies has changed the populace’s purposes, and loyalties, and narratives.

Yet, everywhere I look I see spoiled leaders trying to get things to go back to working the way they used to — from China’s social-credit-surveillance state to America’s censorship of election debate to Europe’s playing chicken with a member’s departure. No one’s willing to admit that the old magic spells no longer produce the same results. They have forgotten how to craft new narratives, so they settle for regurgitating dead ones. Hopey-change just ain’t selling like it used to. Panic peddling manages to seed newfound bravery, while vaccine cheerleading manges to seed distrust. Contrived media consensus is now goading independent thought, rather than suppressing it. Where are we headed as the people pick up and begin wielding for themselves the magical tool of narrative creation, which the elite so foolishly discarded?

— Christophe

[ecosophia]

Where are we headed? That's not the question to ask. What do you propose to do to help determine where we will be headed? That's the way mages think. The future is not settled in advance. The implosion of old narratives leaves the field open to new ones. What new stories do you want to tell?

Sexual Energy in Christianity

[cs2]

If I am understanding things correctly and sexual energy is deliberately used in Christianity to power ritual, do you have any idea why this type of energy was specifically chosen?

Upon reflection, the most obvious reason to me would be that sexual energy was all but guaranteed to exist anywhere the church needed it to. With true asexuality being a statistical minority, sexual energy was something every congregation would have. But I also don't know what other types of energy the church could have chosen instead, so I might be off the mark. Thanks for your time.

Re: Sexual Energy in Christianity

[ecosophia]

Energy is energy; the energy that expresses itself in sexuality isn't something set apart, it's simply one of the most readily accessible ways to get at the life force. As for why that turned into the center of a whole system of congregational ritual in the religions of the Piscean age -- for it's not just Christianity that uses it -- that's a complex question. I suspect an important part of it was that the mystery cults, evolving their ritual workings over time, figured out how to turn temporary celibacy into a power source, and that became a template on which various religions founded their own ceremonies.

energy vampires again

[(Anonymous)]

A couple of years ago, I asked about protection from an elderly relative who had by excessive, unethical medical intervention escaped what had seemed like his appointed death, and after his recovery had picked up the trick of draining energy from others, including at a distance. This particular relative died today, what do I need to do between now and cremation to protect my family?

Re: energy vampires again

[ecosophia]

If you've learned how to do banishing rituals, do them daily from now until three days after the cremation. If you and your family like garlic, include more than usual in your diet -- yes, that actually does work.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I'm getting ready to begin the second grade of the Dolmen Arch course. When I started the course, I already had nearly three years of daily practice of the Sphere of Protection, so I've continued to do the full SoP, with the calling/banishing of the seven gates, as part of my daily work.

I see that the second grade of the DA work invites me to recapitulate the three-month introduction to the seven gates, one at a time for 2-3 weeks each, which I already did when I first learned the SoP. It was definitely a potent initiation the first time around.

Is there anything in particular that you would suggest I do, to make the most of this "re-introduction" here in the DA work?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Nope! Just do the work and see what it teaches you this time around.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Motivated by your blog posts, I started thinking some time ago that I would like to start elementary magic training. I hesitated for some time between the DMH approach and the LRM approach, and chose the former basically because, at the time, it was difficult for me to get hold of physical books, and the DMH could be downloaded. I have worked through the first half of it, finally settling on the Egyptian pantheon for the SoP after several false starts. But I find I respond less well to the second half of the book. As well as the SoP, I do divination (mainly I Ching but also Geomancy) and meditation (both Buddhist and Discursive). And I became stuck at that point.

I then became interested, partly through your writings, in Cabalistic traditions, and in Greek and Egyptian antiquity and neoplatonism. I started to read about the Cabala, and to do very simple (but highly effective) meditations just breathing energy between the spheres of different colours. I’d like to pursue this further.

You said recently that the SoP could be combined with energetic breathing exercises, but in your FAQ you also warn about combining elements of the Druid path with LRM. I would like to pursue the Cabala through your books, but I wonder if I would then be falling into this trap. Could you advise? (I should say that there is nothing explicitly druidical about the practice I have at the moment).

[ecosophia]

You really might want to consider setting it aside, getting a copy of LRM, and taking that path instead, leaving the Druid material behind. It sounds as though that might be better suited to you.