Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Let's start things out with a bit of alchemical text from the Splendor Solis, the most gorgeously illustrated of all the old alchemical texts: 

 

"They further saw the King of the Earth sink, and heard him cry out in an eager voice, 'Whoever saves me shall live and reign with me forever in my brightness on my royal throne,'  and night enveloped all things. [...] Meaning, in this masterly art:  'Deprive the thing of its destructive moisture, and renew it with its own essential one which will become its perfection and life.'" 

 

The image is the seventh illustration from Splendor Solis. It shows, in the distance, an old king in the water, struggling and crying out to be saved. In the foreground stands a young king in a golden robe bathed in the light of the sun and a brilliant star. 

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 above 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. 

 

I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and I have a new answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain other gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I now have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online. 

Please note also that this is the last Magic Monday until February 1, 2021, as I will be taking the month of January off as usual. 

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you in February!***

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

Comments

The Celtic Cabala

[ganeshling]

Hi JMG,

Thank you for another year of Magic Mondays, articles, and discussions - I'll be eagerly waiting for them to come back in February. I wish you and Sara a pleasant and relaxing break and more breathing (and productive!) room for your other projects!

For the question, if it's OK to ask, I was wandering what stage is The Celtic Cabala in and how soon is it likely to be published?

Re: The Celtic Cabala

[ecosophia]

It's been on the back burner for a while because of other things needing to take precedence. i hope to get back to it in the new year.

Appearances of the Deceased

[brenainn]

Can you recommend any books or other resources on postmorterm appearances of loved ones? I've had no such experiences myself but my mother has had several (her father, my father). I'm interested in how the dead can manifest themselves to the living and, especially, how that might relate to the resurrection appearances of my God. I'm hoping a good introduction to the phenomenon in general might be a good start for my study.

Re: Appearances of the Deceased

[ecosophia]

There's a huge literature on this subject, which I haven't read since the days I was writing the original edition of Monsters. One of the things that makes it complex is that this kind of apparition is literally the most common of all ghostly phenomena! (Thus I think it's an excellent idea to factor it into the theological issue you're exploring.) If you have or can get a copy of Monsters, the annotated bibliography of monster lore in back should have some resources to get you started.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I asked Ogham what would happen if I asked Jupiter to imbue me with generosity of spirit. I got:

1st Card (me): Onn
2nd Card (action): Coll
3rd Card (result): Mor (Rev)

I interpret this as being a successful reading, although Mor reversed suggests the change will be very sudden and unpredictable. I'm a bit cautious about going ahead with this, and so I wondered if you have any further insights as to what the reading suggests.

[ecosophia]

It seems to me that it's saying, "Be sure you want what you're asking for."

Blessing magic for Europe

[cs2]

I have been performing a blessing candle this year for my loved ones in high-exposure jobs (prison guards etc).

I was planning to ask whether blessing candle magic could become something viably potent if I put decades into it (I'm also working through DMH & DA). My reasoning being that if ever things got super bad when I was old, I could cast some huge blessing and fire all of my guns at once and explode into space.

Then I read that any country that has Mars in the tenth house will be at war within twenty years, which includes a large swath of Europe (could someone list the specific countries?).

So my question is: could European Ecosophians start blessing magic now, build it for several years, then if something pops off in 2038, say, that magic could actually accomplish something?

We would ground that magic in the material plane by taking measures in our own communities along a certain theme. We could choose a word, a positive one, so we're not contemplating war: say it's Stability. This could involve Green Wizardry things, learning a skill or supporting craftsmen (in my case it's economic relocalization: I've moved my shopping to small local businesses). Thus Ecosophians could work toward Stability even if we don't agree on political issues, like if two British people are on opposite sides of the Brexit debate, etc.

This would keep the egregores separate because it would span many traditions and be an individual effort (dare I say, a standalone complex). That weakens it compared to what Dion Fortune did in The Magical Battle for Britain, but things are so astrally toxic I think it might be necessary. If Betsy in Belgium goes septic and starts worshiping demons, we don't want it to taint the whole sphere.

It would be "come as you are": if you've got a flat full of kids and all you can do is plug in an electric candle and pray every few days, fine. Do it. Those of us with more time and space in our lives will carry more weight.

It wouldn't even need central communication, in case we lose access to the internet. If something happens to where you wonder whether the other Ecosophians in Europe have switched their blessing magic from daily concerns to praying for Europe, you're probably right! Thank you for your time.

Re: Blessing magic for Europe

[ecosophia]

Candle magic is quite a robust technique, which is why it's so popular. For those who don't have the training to do serious ceremonial magic, it's one of the best options. So, yes, you can do that, but be very careful and do plenty of divination before you settle on a theme. One of the most common causes of Stability in history, for example, is a really big war -- afterward, things tend to be stable for a long time!

SOP - see the light move

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for hosting this space and being generous with your knowledge and time.

I have been doing the opening and closing of SOP daily for a couple months but have not moved beyond that. One aspect I am having trouble with is visualising/imagining the light moving when circulating the light. When standing at the centre of a sphere of bright light, how would you actually see it move? What would that look like? Without a reference point (like light interspersed with shadow) the sphere of light appears to me like it would if you were enclosed in a circulating sphere of a single colour, i.e. you do not see any movement.

If any of the commentariat have run into this difficulty, I would appreciate hearing the solutions you found to overcome it.

Re: SOP - see the light move

[ecosophia]

Try feeling it move. Visualization is more powerful if you bring in as many senses as you can. Can you feel it spinning it around you?

[(Anonymous)]

I hope you have both a restful but also productive break, and I appreciate very much all the time you spend answering questions here!

My project for the next month or two is to scry the elements as described in the DMH. Because it's of course going to be February before I can ask any questions which may come up, I was thinking about what questions I should ask in advance, and the one that comes up are these:

1. When you are meditating on the results of scrying, what are you trying to get out of the meditations? In other words, what does a successful meditation look like in this regard?

2. What are the dangers involved in scrying, and how does one recognize them? I understand how the Grove Ceremony acts as a protective field for scrying, but wanted to check if that's enough to cover all dangers.

Thanks again!

[ecosophia]

1) Your goal is to understand the meaning of each of the images you encountered in the scrying.

2) The one significant danger in scrying is that you might take the symbols literally. Say a spirit puts a crown on your head; that means something, and you should meditate on it until you understand what it symbolizes. If you treat it literally and decide that it means that you now get to tell everyone else what to do -- well, that way lies madness. Just remember that it's all a waking dream, which needs to be interpreted rather than believed, and you'll be fine.

Magical timing for an album release date

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG!

My band has labored on a debut album for several years now. It appears DIY is a time-consuming process of epic proportions when undertaken by perfectionists learning as they go. Who would've thunk it!

The musical landscape being what it is this endeavour has odds stacked against it, but even still, it'd be nice to give it the biggest possible push to reach an audience since we're pleased with the result of all the hard work. The concept of magical timing would appear to be key. Since the natal chart of the project is tricky to pinpoint, what are some less involved considerations to keep in mind? Going with what I've learned here: first and foremost, dodge the Mercury Retrograde of early 2021 and then pick an auspicious planetary day and hour during a waxing moon to release it into the world. Am I on the right track here?

Many thanks for providing this forum!

Re: Magical timing for an album release date

[ecosophia]

Do you have a natal chart for your band? That is, can you work out the time and place at which you decided to form it? That would be one thing to work with if you want to do the more complex kinds of astrology. If not, choose a Friday during the hour of Venus with the Moon waxing for your release.

Neopagans, Wiccans and messy lives: a theory

[(Anonymous)]

It's come up a few times over the years in JMG's blogs that there seem to be a disproportionate number of neopagans, and especially Wiccans, who have a lot of problems in their lives.

My theory (which makes a number of assumptions. It would need some sociology research to test!)
Firstly, to be attracted to paganism in the first place, people are usually dissatisfied with Christianity, and they feel a spiritual impulse, which means they aren't content to be atheists, agnostics or 'nones', as a lot of other modern people do when they leave the faith they were brought up in, if they even grew up in one.

I reckon that most of these people had problems in life which predate their involvement in neopaganism, for example they experienced childhood abuse or other traumatic disruption, and/or they are chronically ill etc. (Abuse predisposes to health problems in later life too.) Having problems like these, and finding that there isn't enough support in the world, can make it more likely a person searches for supernatural explanations and especially solutions.

The other 'alternative' religion a dissatisfied Westerner with hippie tendencies is most likely to turn to is Buddhism. However, depending what type of buddhism the seeker encounters, it might seem overly stringent and unsympathetic, when the person is looking for comfort and support. Buddhism can be about denial of the world, about someone getting the impression they are supposed to be in pain. Depending what type of Christianity the person left, this might sound altogether too much like their family's religion. Austerity and endurance might look like important parts of Buddhism, and this type of person is already less able to deal with an extra helping of those, on top of their daily life, than the average person. The younger ones (I don't know if this also applied in the 1960s) may have already heard criticisms of the doctrine of karma as demeaning to disabled people, another reason to write it off.

Having a lot of problems to deal with in life may mean that the person has less time for types of philosophy that seem far away from practical experience, like it's said that women were traditionally less interested in pondering the nature of reality because they had to feed the kids and do the chores, and those were real enough. The problems of reality may intrude too much for Buddhism to connect with this type of seeker, who may be dealing with illness, practical problems, difficult people and other drama.

All this is of course happening in a society where rationalist materialism is so pervasive most of us barely think about it, like fish in water. It seems normal and right to think that this world and experience in it matters a lot, very different from serious Buddhism or some types of Christianity.

Pagan religions can seem to be more about getting needs met and getting stuff, considering accounts of transactional worship and interactions with gods in mythology. They often celebrate life in this world as a matter of course, and certainly more than the harder doctrines of other major religions do.

The increase in left-wing wicca and neopaganism during the Trump presidency was another way of trying to get needs met and get some control back, because rationalist avenues didn't seem to be doing enough, and they felt the administration was so uniquely dreadful (as had actually been said about the Bushes and Reagan before) that they needed something more. The modern left has a very external locus of control and with magic and witchcraft they are trying to harness that and gain some sense of control back. Whilst they talk of self-care, and there are passing mentions of therapy, it's conservatives who currently emphasise working on yourself and the internal locus of control, like Jordan Peterson, "do you even lift bro", and young men who call themselves Stoics.

For women who have difficult lives and who trace back many of their problems to men, a grouping of alternative women and a mother goddess makes sense, with its rejection of patriarchy in both its mystical forms as Abrahamic religion, of the historic witch-hunts, and modern rationalist forms such as those who expect science to explain everything.

I don't think this explains why Neopaganism and Wicca don't help more people improve their lives (aside from a lot of people with problems gathering and generating the drama that was already normal to them) but may explain why these people are drawn to it.

From what I've seen of books on Wicca, there is a lot of emphasis on rituals and magic, and romantic stuff about being a witch, and not nearly as much on working on yourself, compared to what you put on this blog. Some posters here report improvements from regular practices like will training, meditation and journaling, which resemble different forms of therapy but aren't as expensive. I suspect that as well as the idea of the witch as negative and marginal, the lack of emphasis on practices like these (among people who could really do with it, and often actual therapy) has something to do with it.

This might be a 'take it to your own blog' sort of post, but as it responds to something that comes up in this community from time to time I thought it would be of interest to some here.

Re: Neopagans, Wiccans and messy lives: a theory

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for your thoughtful work in parsing out a possible explanation for the troubles others experience and why their religious leanings might lead to some amelioration of distress, yet not address underlying issues.

As you say, people whose early life is marred by childhood experiences and-or historical social bias in favor of men, money, or racially motivated malice might very well be seeking the nurturing of a mother-goddess and validation of their own feelings of injustice. Cultural cults’ blatant disrespect and marginalization of certain class interests can be psychically damaging.

Without heroine tales to match hero tales, how would a girl recognize herself as someone who is brave? Cinderella only tells her to have small feet and pretty dresses to succeed. When all deities are depicted as white, it would be a rare child whose spiritual growth is informed by inner visions of a black Mary or Jesus, although these certainly exist.

On the other hand, people who endure prolonged episodes of helplessness as children may not be able (without guidance) to progress beyond the stage of needing psychic nurture——their babyhood in the spirit. Their stature, mind, and emotional ‘muscles’ do not grow unless they are exercised.

Perhaps, unknown to me, secret Wiccan esoteric principles may offer such strengthening exercises, but few people commit to a path long enough to attain character growth.

So, there ought to be an exoteric component to a religion that fosters sustained effort so that such ‘lay people’ have a means to improve themselves even if they do not ‘join up’ fully. Maybe Wicca has fallen short in this area. External measures can serve as a touchstone for proof of internal attainment.

Charity to the poor, for instance: Calvinism in Christianity slid all too easily from the stance of self-improvement to the stance of despising the poor as unworthy. Likewise, the unwise use of cursing in Wicca. People who have been long powerless are seldom skilled at handing the reins of power.

Calvinists who are hard and grasping and Wiccans who fling curses about freely are not practicing religion but self-indulgence. As the Bible says: by their fruits, ye shall know them.

I appreciate your conciliatory attitude and willingness to suspend harsh critical judgment of facts that may look like personal failure, but could instead be a partial success. Falling short of an ideal is not uncommon for human beings.

As a mass of leaves sustains a tree, though each is imperfect in form and genetic expression, so can a mass of people sustain a Tree of Life in our material midst. Even those whose expression of the Goddess is weak may be contributing to the future. By helping to revivify the feminine in religion, a great work may have been begun, even if it is far from finished.

Geomancy

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Happy solstice and return of the light to you and your loved ones.

I’m asking for guidance on a throw I did about a contentious issue in my marriage which is moving house. We’ve both agreed it’s a good idea to move, but I want to stay in the area and my wife wants to go elsewhere. We both have a history of feeling like an outsider so we are struggling to separate our own conditioning from the current needs. So I was wondering if I could get your insight on both my question (trying to understand my role in the tension) and the interpretation of the throw?

Question: what do I most need to understand about my response to moving out of the village?

Result:
1st M: Bendith Fawr
2nd M: Bendith Fawr
3rd M: Pen y Ddraig
4th M: Merch (also way of points)
1st D: Tristwych
2nd D: Gwyn
3rd D: Ffordd
4th D: Ffordd
1st N: Pobl
2nd N: Bendith Fach
3rd N: Bendith Fawr
4th N: Pobl
RW: Bendith Fach
LW: Bendith Fawr
J: Ffordd

Two things I’m aware of:
First I asked about my response (which is easily on edge!) not just about moving, so that puts twist in the read. Which leads to the second about looking at what the left witness represents - my response, or moving?
What would your experience tell you about this question and result?

The Judge is hardly surprising, but the prominence of Bendith Fawr would suggest things are good (or at least my response is).

The Way of Points that leads to Merch suggests this is a charged issue, but I am struggling with how it connects to the larger world. Any further insights from you would be much appreciated!

Citrine Apopleptic Earwig

Re: Geomancy

[ecosophia]

I always shy away from trying to interpret something like this for another person, since the nature of the question guarantees that most of the information needed for an interpretation is internal to the client! The one thing I would point out is that the judge and witnesses suggest very strongly that moving out of the village actually is a good idea that will have excellent results for you, and since the way of points goes up the right side of the chart, your resistance to this has to do with internal psychological issues rather than being a reflection of the situation as it actually is.

[(Anonymous)]

Just wondering if anyone had any more updates on how the fellow who cast a spell on himself to 'collapse now and avoid the rush', or similar, for a year - was doing?

In geomancy questions concerning motor vehicles I'm guessing the second house - for movable property - would be most appropriate? I only ask because I read a book years ago, that had a section on the astrological houses more generally, and it assigned motor vehicles to the fifth house; but I can't remember the reasoning exactly.

Thank you for all your work this year!

[ecosophia]

If you own it and it's not real estate, yes, it's 2nd house.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I let my usual SOP practice of 2-3 years lapse for a few weeks before Christmas. A few days before Christmas I noticed that my emotions felt somehow flatlined. No discernible feeling of affection, anger, or anything else.

I assumed something like a beginning depression (a first for me but in these times anything is possible) until I - for unrelated reasons - restarted the daily SOP. Three days after, I noticed my emotions returning.

Is this common? Does the SOP work on the level of emotions and can it affect them like that?

Thanks, Bendith

[ecosophia]

Fascinating. That's not common, but it does happen. Typically what it indicates is that there's some external energetic factor depressing your emotional life, which the ritual banishes. Is there anyone you know of in your vicinity who suffers from depression?

[(Anonymous)]

A Jovial (Jovian?) Yuletide Tale

More an amusing anecdote, but: Last week, I had made my customary tribute to Zeus (a portion of beef offered up under the open sky) along with the usual invocation, but, unusually for me, I also petitioned for some hospitable weather on Christmas Eve. We were having our regular celebration outside because of the pandemic, and severe storms were forecast for the area. I was hoping things would go forward for the sake of my mom, who is Christian and had been very desirous of seeing the family on the holiday.

As it turns out, the storms held until late evening and a good time was had. While most of my family was congregating in the front yard, waiting for the annual arrival of Santa aboard a fire truck, I felt compelled to offer thanks to the Aegis-bearer for the reprieve. As there was no beef around, and against my better judgement, I used a portion of pork for the offering, casting it into the fire we had going.

Two things then happened. The Santa surrogate and the fire apparatus rolled onto our street, sirens blazing. At the same time, a giant gust of wind lifted up the tent we had and sent it into the fire pit, knocking said pit over and sending embers everywhere.

In my mind, a peal of raucous laughter--definitely not "ho ho ho."

Fortunately, no fires were set to any structures and no one was injured.

Roberto Calasso said, paraphrasing: "there is nothing sadder than a prayer to the wrong god." I would add, there is nothing scarier than the wrong offering to the right god.

My takeaway: Lesson learned and message received--we will stick with the usual offering, no substitutes. I realize I will need to do some work on that front, and it's a mess of my own making.

But, per your Santa post yesterday, I have to wonder (and here's the question): Given the concurrence of the appearance of the Santa surrogate, is there some sort of correlation with the entity known as Santa? Is he working on behalf of some other henad, or...?

Axé,
Fra' Lupo

[ecosophia]

1) Oof. Never offer pork to one of the Olympians. Pork is always and only given to the chthonic deities.

2) Santa is Kronos/Saturn -- didn't you know that? The lord of Saturnalia and the midwinter revels, who dwells at what our culture traditionally imagined as the uttermost end of the world (our equivalent of Ogygia) and brings back a faint echo of the Golden Age with him -- who else could he be? So it's no wonder -- given what happened in the heavens -- that you experienced a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, or that it it brought a certain degree of disruption...

[(Anonymous)]

How worried do you think pagans should be about this uptick in Jericho Marches seeking to cast out witches and remove spirits from the land (most recently the altercation with tribal leaders at Serpent Mount)? Assuming they too have the ability to raise energy and do their own kind of magick, should the rest of us be practicing more defensive work right now?

[ecosophia]

This sort of thing gets going among Christian fundamentalists at intervals. It usually means that they're trying harder than usual to ignore the beams in their own eyes by fixating on the motes in their brothers' eyes. I wouldn't worry about it; soon enough they'll lose interest and go off on some other tangent.

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

When you were starting off in writing, working in low-end jobs to make a living, what was your vision for how your writing career would pan out? In hindsight, you’ve been successful in the niches of nonfiction occult writing, nonfiction “post-apocalypse” social commentary (collapse of industrial civilization, criticism of the myth of progress, etc.) with some fiction thrown in, but did you always plan to make a name for yourself in these specific genres? It seems that you could have easily ended up as a researcher on topics like UFOs and Atlantis, had the market trends been different.

And how did your magical practice at the time complement your vision? Were there specific rituals you did to enhance your skills as a writer?

[ecosophia]

1) I wanted to be a writer of science fiction and fantasy. My nonfiction career is what happened when my earlier novels couldn't find a market, and most of the specific genres I ended up doing well in were things I stumbled across by accident. You know those stories about the talented person who knew exactly what they wanted to do, and then did it? Mine is the other kind of story.

2) I ended up becoming successful as a writer of occult nonfiction because I practice magic -- lots of it, every day, with the kind of obsessive focus that comes easy if you have Aspergers syndrome -- and so could write about it with some degree of authority. Daily meditation also helped give me certain kinds of mental clarity that are very useful for writing clearly -- if you can't write clearly, it's usually because you don't think clearly -- and scrying and pathworking are excellent training for the creative imagination. Those are the main contributions occultism made to my success as a writer.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

Everyone experiences doubt from time to time about their most deeply held convictions and beliefs. We sometimes feel that the path we invested so much time and energy on is a dead end. Even fanaticism can be conceived as an overcompensation for a crippling feeling of insecurity. In my own life, I’ve completely revamped my worldview several times in response to new information. However, I’ve never been in the position of making an income from promoting a certain philosophy or world view, which has allowed me to transition relatively seamlessly from one to another, without having to justify myself to an audience and facing a potential loss of income. As the famous Upton Sinclair quote goes: ““It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

In this respect, have you ever experienced any doubt about your own convictions, regarding the occult world view, and the social theories you’ve promoted about the collapse of industrial civilization or the myth of progress? Have you ever felt out of your element or unqualified to make the sweeping conclusions that you’ve made over the years, and if you were ever to feel in such a way, would you consider recanting?

[ecosophia]

Questions like this are a reliable source of amusement for me, because they assume as a matter of course that the occult worldview, say, can't possibly be grounded in practical experience. I've practiced magic since 1975; at this point I have a very good idea, based on a vast amount of direct personal experience, of what it can and cannot do; I use it constantly and get reliable results from it. You might as well walk up to someone on the street and say in an earnest tone, "Excuse me, ma'am, have you ever considered the possibility that you don't have a nose?" The person you're addressing knows perfectly well that she has a nose, because she dabbed makeup on it earlier that day!

In the same way, my discussions in print and elsewhere of the decline (ahem; not, please notice, "collapse") of industrial society are based on the fact that I've been watching it happen for decades. Do you remember when the mainstream was awash with confident claims that by now we'd have cities on the Moon, human bootprints on Mars, cheap abundant electricity from fusion reactors, cures for cancer and the common cold, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseam? I do. I also know that anyone back in 1970, say, who predicted that in 2020 we would be where in fact we are this year, in terms of technological progress and its consequences, would have been shouted down as a hopeless pessimist awash in misanthropic gloom. And yet here we are, well down the initial slope of decline, while true believers in progress still insist that we're on our way to the stars.

I reached my conclusions about the nature of reality and the future of industrial civilization gradually, over the course of many years of study and observation and, in the case of magic, daily practice. I have continued to develop and refine them over the years. I'm quite aware of my own limitations as a student of occultism on the one hand, and a student of history on the other, but I'm also aware that my take on things quite consistently results in accurate predictions, while those who embrace blind faith in materialism and progress, and draw sweeping conclusions on the basis of those beliefs, just as consistently make predictions that bellyflop. That being the case, we might want to talk about exactly who should consider recanting their beliefs...

[(Anonymous)]

This is a question about paradigms, in the vein of Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. For those who aren’t familiar, according to Kuhn, human beings always live in a paradigm, which is like an all-encompassing world view or theory of the world that attempts to explain the totality of lived experience. When it comes to paradigms, it seems that there is always an opposition between what I’ll call the “center” and the “fringe.” The center represents established thought, the conventional opinion and theories about the world that dominate a certain era and give its ‘flavor.’ The fringe represents the unorthodox thinkers, those who are sufficiently detached from the center to offer alternatives to the dominant theories. The fringe abounds with heretics and conspiracy theorists.

As I see it, the center is mostly right in offering satisfactory explanations about the world, until they’re proven catastrophically wrong and the paradigm is overthrown. However, the latter event occurs only very infrequently, in epochal transitions from one paradigm to another. In normal times, the center is able to integrate or explain away anomalies and thus maintain the paradigm. For most people, most of the time, the center represents the safe option, and the guardians of the paradigm usually do a pretty good job of filtering what doesn’t belong and making sure people stay on the straight and narrow path.
By contrast, the fringe is mostly wrong until they’re proven catastrophically right, and they replace the center. However, at any given time, the fringe is filled with a wild cacophony of different theories with no mainstream credibility (by definition, otherwise they wouldn’t be on the fringe). Most of those theories will die before reaching the status of an accepted paradigm, and the thinkers promoting them will fade away into obscurity without ever reaching the iconoclastic status of a Galileo.

In our own age, the scientific establishment obviously represents the center, the safe, accepted opinion with mainstream credibility and institutional support, just as Roman Catholicism filled the same role in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, the occult philosophy is on the fringe, along with many other unorthodox systems of belief. I would obviously consider JMG himself to be a figure of the fringe, in this model, given that he has no accepted role in the center: no academic position, no institutional support, no publications in mainstream scientific journals (the litmus test of modern epistemic authority), and so on.

Given the above, isn’t the safest option for most people, at any given time, to go along with the center and ignore the fringe? What I’m proposing here is a kind of epistemic Pascal’s Wager: We cannot help but live in a paradigm, and the center provides numerous social and economic advantages. In addition, it has the benefit of stability, while the fringe is insecure and uncertain. Moreover, human beings are not omniscient, and the only certainty in history seems to be change itself. The certainties of one age are the laughing stock of another. Given that absolute knowledge is out of reach, the sensible thing for the majority is to go with what’s convenient.

[ecosophia]

Too funny. I am indeed a figure of the fringe, and in fact have discussed that fact here and on my blog at some length. What your analysis neglects is that the consensus model of reality produced by every society is always flawed; there are always plenty of facts, as Kuhn points out, that it does not make room for, and some of those are inevitably of great importance to at least some people. Furthermore, the consensus model of reality inevitably turns into a support for the social status quo, and thus a way of limiting access to the social and economic advantages you mention to those who are already "on the inside" for one reason or another, be it social class or success in climbing the ranks of a hierarchical institution such as the Catholic Church or the Communist party in a socialist nation.

That's where the fringe becomes a lively and necessary part of the equation. On the fringe, it's possible to discuss the inconvenient facts that are excluded by the consensus model; on the fringe, it's possible for people of talent who don't happen to have whatever factors make for success within the establishment to establish self-supporting scenes of their own. Nor is the consensus model as stable or permanent as you've suggested; au contraire, it's always shifting and flowing, so that what is acceptable in one decade may be flung out to the fringes in the next, or vice versa. Thus the fringe is where new ideas are born and tested, and where old ideas that still have value can be salvaged. It's an exciting, challenging place to be, the fringes; it's where the action is.

Of course if you're more comfortable sitting in the cozy center, with every threatening reality excluded from your view by blind faith in the current paradigm, hey, by all means enjoy your life. Some of us prefer a different option.

[(Anonymous)]

John--

I've been trying to figure out how best to phrase this question (which I hope is sufficiently occultism-related to pass muster). I'll try not to garble it too much.

The philosophy of occultism (the Esoteric Philosophy, as HPB, et al. term it) has always struck me as having a wu wei aspect to it, particularly relative to the themes of modern industrial civilization. The grand sweeps of time, the long process of development over countless lifetimes, the over-all insignificance of human effort, and other elements of the teachings are a marked contrast to many components of the Enlightenment, with its celebration of human understanding, logic, Progress, and most significant to my question here, striving and achievement.

How do you, in your view, reconcile these aspects of the occult philosophy (or philosophies) with the values of the Enlightenment, some of which many of us hold dear (e.g. human freedom, equality, democratic governance, learning, knowledge)? Just to give one example, one set of values tells me I should be an engaged citizen, participating in my local government and trying to improve my community through the tools and processes of representative democracy; the other set of values (plus an awareness from my experience) tells me to step away from that maelstrom and to focus my energies on more important (in the broader view) things--my spiritual development, the unfolding of my sequence of lives and the work before me in this particular round--work which would be impeded by the aforementioned participation in local government. I know (in that sense of deep knowing) that I'm making the better choice by declining to engage (I've been asked by a number of people to consider getting back on city council), but I do wrestle with a sense of betrayal of those other values.

Is it simply a matter of scale (Enlightenment values with respect to human civilization, for example, but inapplicable to the universe a a whole)? Or is there some other form of integration which marries these conflicting ideals? Or are they just not reconcilable at all?

--David BTL

[(Anonymous)]

Not JMG, and I hope it's OK to stick my nose in here: in terms of your example, why can't you do both - ie, use civic engagement as an outlet for, and application of, spiritual development?

I do think the differences you describe are indeed a matter of scale. Just because in the grand scheme of things human effort is insignificant, it doesn't mean that in the smaller scheme of things that one's efforts are insignificant. Maybe it's because I have some experience making music, but I can learn a great deal about spiritual truths in the act of composition, and the music that results from my act of composition, which may never reach a wider audience, can still move and delight some people I know in the here and now. I imagine that if you shift this example to the domain of civic engagement, the same thing would apply.

[(Anonymous)]

Is there a saint or a classical god who can be petitioned for loosening screw threads?

screw threads

[ritaer]

I don't think the Greeks had screws that held things together--but Hephaestus is the god of craftsmanship of metal in particular, so "Mighty Hephaestus, craftsman to the Gods, aid me in this work" would seem appropriate. If you call on a regular basis equally regular offerings of a stick of incense would be appropriate.

Rita

Making prayer feel powerful

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG.

Hermetic GD rituals make me feel powerful, like I’m starting to take control of my destiny, which I believe is their point.

Prayer, on the other hand, makes me feel weak, like I’m supplicating. I think this is because of my Christian background.

I have a pagan deity with a statue, candles, but it still feels like supplicating. Do you have any tips for making me feel more powerful during prayer, like I do with hermetic rituals?

Thank you very much for these Q&A’s, it’s amazing how much effort you put into bringing sanity into this field!

Re: Making prayer feel powerful

[ecosophia]

Prayer doesn't make you feel powerful. Prayer is about acknowledging that there are beings in the cosmos far greater than you are. You don't have to grovel and beg -- in fact, most gods dislike that sort of behavior -- but it's worth remembering that in the great chain of being, gods are as far above us as we are above pond scum. You might consider doing some meditation and journaling to explore your emotions around that, and help you sort out the issues involved in living in a cosmos in which we're roughly halfway between the lowest and the highest orders of being.

[(Anonymous)]

Should be finished with lrm early spring and I just received a copy of circles of power to start next. I have a copy of paths of wisdom Ive read. Lrm is very cut and dry how it is to be completed. What is the best way to take on cop/pow?

[ecosophia]

With Circles, read it from beginning to end, then start learning the advanced Pentagram rituals in Chapter Six and proceed from there, chapter by chapter. With Paths, read Parts I and III thoroughly, then begin meditating your way up the Tree from Malkuth, taking the spheres and paths in the order given.

Repelling unwanted attention

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you so much for continuing to offer this space and so generously answering questions.

After more than a decade of silence, a long-troubled family member of mine has reached out with emotional appeals to get in contact. I was not raised with this person (in fact, we have never met) and this person has an extensive history of crime and drug addiction. I wish my relative well but have no desire to be in touch and I assume the motives right now are financial or otherwise self-interested. I would prefer to not engage at all. So far I've ignored the phone calls, prayed for this person's health and well-being, and practiced the Christian banishing ritual you posted here last year. I also did a hoodoo bath.

Is there anything else you suggest to encourage their attention to move away from me?

Complicating matters, this person comes from the side of my family with an extensive history of occult practice going back several generations (heavy involvement in Theosophy during its early heyday, and much more), and is probably a practitioner to some degree though I doubt very organized or focused. I was raised in a very "new age" environment but have become a practicing liturgical Christian as an adult.

One more note: I have a toddler, and in November unfortunately miscarried a pregnancy. So I am hesitant and cautious about how much to do. And also, I just feel quite vulnerable.

Thank you so much!

Re: Repelling unwanted attention

[ecosophia]

First, please accept my condolences about your miscarriage. My wife and I went through the same experience, and it's not easy.

Second, as a practicing liturgical Christian, you've got potent sources of help at your disposal. I would encourage you to consider doing some kind of special devotional work daily with St. Michael the Archangel, who is the great protector against evil. There are various prayers and other practices working with him that you might consider -- the specific branch of Christianity you're involved in will doubtless have its own. That's what I'd encourage you to work with. Also, if your tradition is comfortable working with the Virgin Mary, she's always worth invoking in this as in most other contexts.

More American History

[(Anonymous)]

A datapoint for your alternative American history -
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/lord-of-misrule-thomas-mortons-american-subversions

Thomas Morton attempted to found an explicitly "pagan" colony in Massachusetts in 1626. He was rounded up and sent back to England by Myles Standish only a couple of years later. Standish was not impressed by the Maypole, nor by the fact that Morton encouraged intermarriage between the colonists and the native Algonquins.

That Public Domain website actually has a lot of really interesting things in it!

Squirrelly Jen

Re: More American History

[robertmathiesen]

Actually, this account somewhat whitewashes Myles Standish and Plymouth Colony. They didn't send Morton back to England in fetters, but marooned him on the (mostly barren) Isles of Shoals to starve to death. His Native American friends brought him food and kept him alive until a boat from England happened to arrive on which he could return to England. The Colonists probably thought about killing Morton outright, but if so, they were deterred by the extent of his connections with the rich and powerful in England.

Morton came back to New England twice, in each case with the help of an ancestor of mine, Isaac Allerton. He allied himself with the Royalist, Church-of-England--very much anti-Puritan!--colonial ventures of Sir Fernando Gorges in what is now Maine. He died and was buried somewhere in Agomenticus (now York), but the whereabouts of his grave have been lost for centuries.

Astrological aspects, planets and musical intervalls

[(Anonymous)]

While studying your mundane horoscope interpretations, I came to notice that there are much more "negative" than positive aspects. Traditionally, only trine and sextile aspects, and sometimes conjunctions count as positive, don't they?

IIRC, correspondences with planets and intervals are as follows:

Conjunction | Mercury? | Prim
Opposition | Saturn | Octave
Trine | Jupiter | 5th
Square | Mars | 4th
Sextile | Venus | (Major?) 3rd

So, positive aspects are associated with benefic planets and with harmonious intervals (according to ancient musical theory), negative aspects with malefic planets and dissonant intervals. But - since then, more planets have been discovered, and the musical sensibility of the general public has changed to accept more intervals as harmonious. Even before, the 6th interval should nearly feel as harmonious as the corresponding 3rd, being its invertion.

My concern is that with expansion of the system, including semisextiles (Uranus | 2nd?), inconjuncts (Neptune | 7th?), semisquares (minor 3rd?) and sesquisquares (some kind of 6th?), there are more aspects in the negative range of things than in the positive. Am I mistaken in that readings are getting more pessimistic than in the ancient world?

Re: Astrological aspects, planets and musical intervalls

[ecosophia]

Yes, because you're leaving out quintiles, biquintiles, and septiles, all of which are favorable aspects. (They don't fit into your musical metaphor, granted.) So you have the following:

Favorable aspects --
Major:
Trine
Sextile
Minor:
quintile
biquintile
septile

Unfavorable aspects --
Major:
Square
Opposition
Minor:
semisquare
sesquisquare
inconjunct

Variable aspects --
Major:
Conjunction
Minor:
semisextile

Geomancy house chart for US

[andrew_b]

Hi there JMG,

So, something I started doing about 2 years ago was casting a yearly house chart for myself using Geomancy, with each of the houses representing the various areas of my life. I have to say, I’ve been pretty impressed with the results, as the Oracle has been fairly spot on.

Now given the current state of affairs in the ole’ US of A, I figured it would be, ahem, fun to do a similar kind of chart for the country. So, I asked the question, “How will the United States fare in 2021?”. I wanted to share the results here, and see what yourself and the commentators here think of it.

1st house: Albus
2nd house: Tristitia
3rd house: Caput Draconis
4th house: Conjunctio
5th house: Populus
6th house: Fortuna Major
7th house: Puella
8th house: Conjunctio
9th house: Fortuna Major
10th house: Tristitia
11th house: Fortuna Major
12th house: Puer

Right Witness: Albus
Left Witness: Cauda Draconis
Judge: Fortuna Minor

and just for fun, the Reconciler (made from 1st house and Judge): Cauda Draconis

My observations? Well, I was surprised, and a little relieved, that Rubeus didn’t make an appearance anywhere in the chart. I see some things that appear to be in line with what you and other astrologers have been predicting, particularly Tristitia in the 2nd and 10th. I read that as the economy will continue to deteriorate, dragging the legitimacy and status of the government with it, as well as the fact that poor government decisions will feed that economic contraction in a vicious cycle. At the same time, I wonder if areas of the economy ruled by Saturn might fare alright.

Puer in the 12th...I read that as our establishment does the only thing they know how to do: blindly charge ahead, printing money and taking the national debt to absurd new levels.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this chart, and I would love to hear others input in this area particularly, is the triple play of Fortuna Major in the 6th, 9th, and 11th. My first thought was that we’ll (hopefully) move on from all the virus nonsense (6th), and that maybe Americans will start to turn inwards, looking to themselves and their own inner lives (9th) and their communities and friends (11th) for strength and guidance, as it obviously isn’t coming from any of our failing national institutions.

Judge and Witnesses: I read them as the nation is still reeling from a tough year, craving a return to stability and peace (Albus). And while in the year ahead there may be some successes in that direction, they’ll be fleeting (Fortuna Minor), and were are in for some major disruptions and the end of the status quo (Cauda Draconis).

Interesting times!

Best,
Andrew B

Re: Geomancy house chart for US

[ecosophia]

Fascinating. Well, I hope you're right!

[youngelephant]

In your 7 Deaths Cos. Doc. post, you mention that the personality often does not remember the individuality's trips to the higher planes during sleep. To me, it seems like there's an implication that this is the case even if the individuality in question is preparing to move beyond the human level. Is that true? If so, is the personality being conscious of the higher planes during sleep just a siddhi/power that isn't necessarily needed in the arc of human individuality evolution?

Does one need to achieve the 7th Death, in the context of the Cosmic Doctrine, in order to move on to Gwynfydd? If not, does one just need to achieve objective consciousness of the individuality after death?

[ecosophia]

The personality is simply a vehicle for the individuality, and whether or not it happens to remember certain inner experiences doesn't matter that much in the great scheme of things. As for the seventh death, it can happen in the body or out of it.