The Return of Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just past midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. 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. 

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

***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next Monday!***  

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Is there any simple working or practice you would recommend for people without any relationship to a deity or any established magical practice who are concerned with the state of the world and wish to help bring positive energy to bear?

[ecosophia]

Well, are you willing to enter into a relationship with a deity or take up a magical practice? Because those are basically your two options.

Favorable for an event?

[(Anonymous)]

A friend of mine wants to have an event called a Lincoln Linkin’ on the 12th of Feb. The event is not in person, but remote: to celebrate by sharing quotes from Lincoln with others. I see that the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter & Saturn are all in Aquarius. That seems favorable. Sun is conjunct Moon, Mercury conjunct Venus & Jupiter, and (loosely) Saturn. Does Saturn put a damper on the event by being on the fringes of the mix? Or does he bring gravitas and ballast to all that ballooning about? However, Mars is square to that four-planet conjunction and Uranus (also in Taurus), loosely conjunct, supports him w/o being square to the others. Do the fiery shock & awe malefics outgun the airy confederation of the others? Oh, and the North Node is in Gemini (benefic), trining Mercury and, I think, sextile to Mars.

Re: Favorable for an event?

[ecosophia]

The favorability or lack of same depends on the start time of the event, since that determines which houses those planets are in. Choose a time that puts Mars in a house that doesn't have anything to do with online events or working with others, and you should be fine. If the host also reminds everyone to keep it positive and avoid quarrels, that will also help -- "the stars incline, they do not compel."

GameStop Stock's Stars?

[(Anonymous)]

There was some discussion in the comments on the other blog about the astrology of the GameStop short squeeze. I realize you're not a finanical astrologer, but you are a mundane astrologer, and it's the political ramifications of this that interest me most.

Two questions:

1) What timing would you use for a horoscope for the squeeze? Or would it be better to look at the aspects formed last week?

2) Is there any chance you'll be analyzing this for your subscribers?

Re: GameStop Stock's Stars?

[ecosophia]

Stock market astrology is a thing unto itself, and it's not one that I've studied. When J.P. Morgan said "Millionaires don't use astrology, but billionaires do," he was speaking from experience -- he was a client of Evangeline Adams, one of the most gifted American astrologers of the era -- and there are a great many books on the subject which, again, I haven't read yet. I've been rooting for the r/wallstreetbets community -- it's been an absolute delight to watch them reducing Wall Street to hysterical meltdowns by doing to a coupole of hedge funds what hedge funds routinely do to everyone else -- but I don't have the necessary background in financial astrology to offer an informed opinion on the subject.

Wow. Just. Wow.

[(Anonymous)]

Hiya, John. Glad you’re back.
So-0-O-0-o-ah… Ya know how my merry band of misfits is named Tower 440 of the Green Wizards’ Benevolent and Protective Association? Well… I finally ordered The Dolmen Arch after a cosmic nudge-nudge-nudge. Getting number 440 of 550 was a bit too unlikely, so I emailed the publisher to see if those copies were picked out for me. Nope. Just the next one in the pile.
Wow. Just. Wow.
Might you or the assembled wizardren have any suggestions for interpretation?
Rusty

Re: Wow. Just. Wow.

[ecosophia]

It's called synchronicity, and it's a massive reality. Carl Jung wrote a book about it, which is worth reading.

Thanking the gods

[(Anonymous)]

Happy new year!

I have recently experienced something amazing and life-transforming which I had thought impossible, so I had hardly dared pray for it - but it goes a long way to solving or improving most other problems which I did. I want to thank all the gods I have prayed to or invoked over the last 18 months, this is quite a lot.

It is also Imbolc tomorrow and though I mostly follow Greek gods, I do feel an affinity with the wheel of the year, and this seems like a good time to start on more of the thanking. However, I almost don't know where to start. I also live in an area with a strict lockdown and with getting advice at such short notice (ie. here), I only have access to a small supermarket and if doing any offerings outside in the garden have to be very discreet because it's that kind of curtain-twitching neighbourhood. Last week for example I offered some beer to Odin (one of the non-Greek gods I have prayed to and invoked) at the hour and day of Mercury. I opened the beer and did the speaking part indoors and then poured it in a casual way that hopefully looked, if anyone noticed, like I was just shaking out a bottle to empty it before putting it in the recycling bin.

I plan to do more thanking later when I can get to places such as sacred sites, but feel I must make a start as that could be months away.

Re: Thanking the gods

[(Anonymous)]

Astrologically, in timing and nature it fits with the Uranus opposition, an aspect I'd not thought about much before. (Nor had I prayed to or invoked Uranus.) One site I looked at described the Uranus opposition as like the tarot card showing the Tower blasted by lightning. For me, it was a horrible tower, and blasting it out of the way is very good indeed.

[(Anonymous)]

Welcome back, Your Druidship.

—Lady Cutekitten

[ecosophia]

Thank you, Your Kittenship!

[(Anonymous)]

1) I've found another 538 synchronicity: the Aries ingress for 2021 is at 5:38 am. I can't help but wonder now if we missed the meaning of the 538 synchronicites earlier: they weren't about the electoral college, but screaming at us to pay attention to this ingress (and it looks like it's quite a doozy!)

2) Do you have advice for how to stay sane when it seems like basically everyone around you has lost your mind? (I'm stuck living with my family, who are full blown PMC types; also, even many of our working class and poor here in Canada have fully bought into the current virus panic; I will be able to get started on trades training in May, but until then I'm stuck here with no income and no chance of getting my own place until then) Banishing, prayer, avoiding people with breaks as much as possible are all part of my life right now; are there other steps I can take to keep my sanity?

3a) Do you have advice for learning how to pray? I've started a relationship with Pele, but I'm finding it hard to tell when I pray what is her speaking to me, and what is coming from my own mind. I've gotten divination done to see if she's happy with my offerings, and she's happy with it so far. Is this just something which will improve with practice?

4) Do you have any idea why so many people are having complete mental breakdowns right now? Is it just the collapse of the Myth of Progress, or do you think there's more going on? It really feels like there's something very creepy moving in there....

[ecosophia]

1) Clearly we misunderstood it. The question is what it was trying to communicate, and I'm far from sure I know what that is. My favorite gematria site gives, for 538, a Hebrew word meaning "he who snorts and pants" -- make of that what you will...

2) Read a lot. Choose books that make you feel sane and happy -- I tend to use old fantasy novels for that purpose, but your mileage may vary. When you read, you're literally running a sequence of thoughts through your mind, and it's a great way to keep your thoughts in a good place.

3) Prayer is a relationship, and the only way to learn it is to do it, a lot. Don't worry about trying to decide who's saying what -- your mind is an interface; let it function as one.

4) That's a question I've been mulling over quite a bit of late. I notice with a certain bleak amusement that the outcome of the election doesn't seem to have changed the popular mood one iota. Beyond that -- well, it's going to take at least one post to discuss.

The God and Goddess in Magic

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, Mr. Greer, It’s great to see you back. My question refers to an experience I had that resulted in a surprising, and unexpected “magical” outcome. At the time I was referencing the God Shiva, along with his consort at different levels. I know little about magical theory, and was piecing my knowledge of Shiva and Parvati from a tiny bit of reading.
Could you please tell me a little about the Divine masculine and feminine in magical theory, especially as actual pairs of beings?
Also, I agree totally with you that the higher beings are actual entities, rather than individual mental constructs.
Thank You in advance for your efforts.

Re: The God and Goddess in Magic

[ecosophia]

The categories "masculine" and "feminine" are not restricted to the human level, or even to the realm of matter. Remember that we are made in the image of the gods, and our genders thus reflect theirs, though of course imperfectly and incompletely. What do you need to know? The magical theory of gender is extensive and complex.

[(Anonymous)]

You've mentioned before that it's important to get in the right mindset for prayer: it's one way to make sure you actually contact a god, and not a demonic entity. For Druids, would reciting the Druid Prayer before doing an open ended prayer be a good way to do that?

[ecosophia]

That's certainly a way to do it. What I tend to suggest first, especially in times as tangled as these, is to do a banishing or protective ritual such as the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram or the Sphere of Protection, and then pray.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG, hope you had a good break. A number of a years ago a friend who had a habit of stealing books sometimes gave me a certain book of yours. I don't know if it was stolen or not. I never actually read it or worked with the material either, I also don't even know if I still have it and may have lost it in a move. I would however like to start working with that material. What is the correct thing to do, besides buying a new book? What should I do with the old one if I find it?

[ecosophia]

Buy a new book and don't worry about it. If you find the other copy, donate it to a charity so that someone else can buy it.

Deities from different pantheons

[brenainn]

Since embracing a polytheistic view while remaining a practicing Catholic, I've felt a growing call from Deities that belong to different cultural pantheons. Primarily, Gods and Goddesses from Roman, Celtic, and Canaanite pantheons. After wrestling with what to do, I've recently decided to offer dulia to these different Deities and try to form relationships with Them. I am wondering if I should maintain a separate, smaller shrine for each culture or if using a single, larger shrine would be okay? For example, would a single shrine with statues of Christ, Minerva, Danu, and Anat be a good idea or do such different Deities and cultures generally prefer separate shrines? And would rituals that offer something to each Deity, say an act of latria to Christ and acts of dulia to other Deities, be an acceptable ritual? I've encountered conflicting information (especially when adding my Patron God, Jesus Christ) into the mix.

Re: Deities from different pantheons

[ecosophia]

You can put them in one big shrine, but if you have an image of Christ, it should go above the others to symbolize the difference in your approach. Rituals of the sort you've described have been quite common in some contexts -- I'm thinking here among others of Alexander Severus, one of the good Roman emperors, who had an image of Christ on his personal altar along with other deities, and offered prayer and incense to all of them.

Synchronicity

[(Anonymous)]

I read an interesting post on Dana O’Driscoll's blog (https://druidgarden.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/visioning-the-future-through-magical-arts/) recently where she talked about dystopian fiction possibly manifesting the futures they warned about. This got me wondering about optimism and visualization and mental 'hygiene'. As somebody who has always enjoyed immersing myself in dystopian fiction, collapse and doomerism I was wondering; are these things that are best avoided (with the aim of some form of mental purity) or can one partake in them with an aim towards balance with more hopeful pursuits?
I'm not sure if I should treat these 'negative' things like toxic waste (deadly) or more like mud (just dirty and can wash off). Any thoughts would be appreciated.


A shorter second question. Do you think that 'The Seal of Yueh Lao' had anything to do with the current resurgence in the popularity of sea shanties? I thought the timing was interesting.

Re: Synchronicity

[ecosophia]

1) Wallowing in doom from time to time won't harm you if you balance it with other things. If you spend all your time brooding over dystopia, you can help bring that about -- though it's worth noting that spending all your time brooding over utopias won't necessarily do anything to bring them about, and may simply result in you walking face first into a disastrous future. Treat your favorite doom fiction as over-the-top chocolate cake -- something to enjoy from time to time, but not as a steady diet!

2) I'm guessing you mean A Voyage to Hyperborea, which is where the pirates sing sea shanties. I have no idea if that's involved -- if it is, my tentacle fiction is being much more influential than I had any reason to suspect!

Automatic banishing and etheric nudges

[open_space]

Good evening, JMG!

I hope your time off was refreshing and that you had the opportunity to do some of the things that your busy schedule usually doesn’t allow. Is there something particular you like to do while not on the keyboard (as much)?

I had a couple of interesting experiences which have made me rethink some things about the how I perceive the world and myself.

The first is that I was having a terrible day not long ago and while walking up to my bedroom a blue, flaming banishing pentagram was traced before me and all of the nasty feelings went away instantly. I thought that was pretty cool but was puzzled as to what happened. Was it me? It certainly was not intentionally triggered, I just stood there watching while it was being traced. It didn’t feel as some sort of reflex either, it felt as if an intelligence within (or from outside) was offering a helping hand. If it was me, then I am much more of what I think I am, not in the self-flattering way but in that there seems to be much more in a human being, the gods creation after all, than what we have been shown we are. The second one is sort of similar, but instead of my mind it was what I’d assume was my etheric body. It kind of nudged me into walking in a particular direction and I found some interesting things were I think it took me. Does this seem right? Are our own bodies and minds “intelligent’ in that kind of way or was it something else? If yes it has some interesting implications because seen that way, I am not as important in this game at all but rather it would seem that listening has a bigger role than what I would have to say about things and that is just my body, what would be left to say about the whole cosmos! Oddly enough, I would find that kind of relaxing and also humbling about this intricate design...

Re: Automatic banishing and etheric nudges

[ecosophia]

Both of those sound like manifestations of your higher self, which can take action through your astral and etheric bodies when that's useful. The more you work with standard occult practices, the more this tends to happen.

As for what I do when I've got time off the keyboard, long walks and many hours spent reading are at the top of the list, and yes, I managed both of those.

[(Anonymous)]

Does the fact Joe Biden was inaugurated earlier than noon, and that the ceremony started early have any effect on the chart?

[brenainn]

I'll let JMG answer the astrological aspect but from a legal sense, even if Biden took the oath of office a bit early, his term did not legally begin until noon on January 20th.

Mundane and Natal Astrologies

[tunesmyth]

Welcome back, JMG!

I have a kind of bunny slope question about astrology. Would you, *in general* (understanding that case by case specifics depend largely on a variety of factors involving location and exact time), expect that children born in a rough patch of astral weather (e.g. within 3 days of the malefic mundane chart you cast for the inauguration) would have an unusual amount of challenges in their lives?

Edit: actually, I think my real question is, simply, is any child born within days of that malefic chart you cast likely to have been born to a difficult chart?

Re: Mundane and Natal Astrologies

[ecosophia]

Yes. How the difficulties will work out will depend on the time of birth and thus on the houses in which the planets are located, but that many squares unrelieved by favorable aspects will make for a difficult chart and a lot of challenges.

The novice druid report

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings and welcome back,

Happy to report I have started my second yearly druid diary, which I got as a Christmas present from my partner <3.
I must admit I am struggling along slowly. I have the sop and daily meditation down, currently I am meditating trough the meanings and divinatory meanings of the fews, one by one. But I am still stuck at the fews themself and have been so for almost 3/4 of a year. Is there an efficient or better way to learn the fews? I have been white knuckling it.

I recently stumbled on a term that I do not quite understand and there is precious little in the way of explanation.
a) What is a sage? As opposed to a saint.
b) what would a life of a sage look like? Are there any known examples in history?

Thank you and once again welcome back.

Re: The novice druid report

[ecosophia]

1) Don't white knuckle it. Just start practicing divination with them, looking them up as needed, and let yourself absorb their meanings that way. "Take it easy" is always good Druidical advice!

2) Saints are characterized by love, while sages are characterized by wisdom. Yes, there have been a lot of them in history. Sages devote their lives to the quest for wisdom, traveling to distant lands if that's necessary, setting aside the usual human desires as needed, because what matters to them is to know.

[(Anonymous)]

Welcome back JMG. Hope your break was refreshing and enlightening.

1. Do you have any thoughts on G.I. Gurdjieff and his teachings, particularly the enneagram? Do you consider his teachings to be legitimate?

2. What are your thoughts on personality tests? Not many people are aware that frameworks like the MBTI are based on the work of Carl Jung, who was himself almost certainly inspired by occultism and classical philosophy. For example, the four functions in the MBTI (thinking, feeling, sensing, intuition) are very close to the meaning of the four elements (air, water, earth, fire) interpreted psychologically. Have you personally ever taken an MBTI test, and if so, what's your type?

3. In the history of the Golden Dawn and successor orders, did any documented person ever actually reach the higher grades of initiation like Ipsissimus, Magus or Magister Tempi? If so, what would such individuals have been like? Saints? Adepts? And if I may ask, what’s the highest grade that you’ve personally achieved?

4. What’s your personal stance on reversals in Tarot divination? Back when you were working with the Tarot (if you aren't still), did you find it useful to incorporate them into your practice?

[ecosophia]

1) "Legitimate" is one of those awkward words that mean either too much or too little. I know people who've benefited greatly from Fourth Way work, if that's what you mean.

2) It's not a field I've looked into, and I've never taken the MBTI text. I prefer natal astrology as a source of self-knowledge!

3) The Golden Dawn in its heyday never conferred any grade higher than Adeptus Minor, and for good reason -- all the further stages of the Path must be achieved by the individual working with his or her Higher and Divine Genius. It was, and by and large still is, considered tacky to claim any particular grade of initiation in public; that's one of the reasons that so many people in the GD scene rolled their eyes at Aleister Crowley's antics.

4) I learned Tarot with reversals -- every source I knew about back in the 1970s used them as a matter of course. Tarot divination without reversals, to me, is like trying to write an essay with only half the letters in the alphabet.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

1) One thing that’s been worrying me lately, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, is the growing power of tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon. I’d like to hear your thoughts on them. Is their rise and degree of power unprecedented? Do you think they might have anyone with occult expertise on staff?

2) In your books and elsewhere, you've talked about models of the cosmos that include a multiplicity of conscious beings, not all of which are embodied, and many of which are far superior to human beings in knowledge, power and insight. Do you have any opinion on the consciousness of sacred plants, such as tobacco, coca, poppies, cannabis, and the classical psychedelics like mushrooms, ayahuasca, and so on? Wouldn’t it make sense, from an occult perspective, to model them as forms of plant consciousness that communicate with humans?

[ecosophia]

1) It's not unprecedented at all. The big press barons of the late 19th and early 20th century had the same degree of power, and used it just as unethically; look up the career of William Randolph Hearst sometime. If they have occultists on staff, and the occultists are any good, they'll be frantically trying to find some way to dodge the blowback...

2) In Western occult teachings all plants have their own consciousness, which is somewhat less complex than ours, and they also have guardian spirits (sometimes called devas), who are above our level. Drugs, which is of course what you're talking about, have a wide range of relations with human consciousness; I'm personally very partial to Camellia sinensis, aka tea, and its effects on my consciousness are mild enough to be convenient to work with. Classic Western occultism doesn't mix well with more potent drugs, however, and the best advice seems to be that you need to choose between occult practice and drugs.

[(Anonymous)]

Glad to see you back, JMG. Hopefully the holiday season was a joyous one for you.

1. In Circles of Power, you describe how the hexagram is a symbol for the ruach, the planetary powers within human consciousness, while the pentagram symbolizes the elemental powers of the nephesh and guph. The overlap between these two models is causing me some confusion. How does one tell the difference between, for example, the operation of Air on the pentagram level and Hod/Mercury in the ruach? What would be the effects of invoking/banishing air with the pentagram ritual vs. invoking/banishing Hod/Mercury using the hexagram ritual? I’m currently experimenting with this, but I’m not nearly advanced enough in my practice to tell the difference, so I’m hoping your answer will point me in the right direction.

2. I’ve been doing the LBRP and MP daily for over a year, ever since I picked up LRM in late 2019. I think I finally have an understanding of what these rituals actually accomplish, based on personal experience. After a year of the LBRP, I feel a sense of inner cleanliness, a blank space, like a clean room. I feel less of a pull towards destructive and addicting habits. In particular, advertising now seems incredibly transparent and manipulative. After the MP, I feel energized, full of light and power, in high spirits. There's a distinctive before-and-after effect, like drinking a strong cup of coffee, but without the crash. It’s like the psyche has been put into contact with a battery and that a current flows through it like an electrical device. There’s also specific activation of the spheres along the Middle Pillar corresponding to areas on the physical body, like the scalp and the heart, which feels like an internal pressure or tingling.

However, and this gets to my question, I feel that I don’t have an intuitive understanding of what the Qabalistic Cross is accomplishing, even though I’ve been doing it systematically at the beginning and end of every ritual. Are there supposed to be any effects, similar to the LBRP or MP, but more subtle?

[ecosophia]

1) That really is an excellent theme for meditation. More generally, the relationship between the three realms of Renaissance magic -- the elemental realm, the planetary realm, and the realm of the sephiroth -- is something you should meditate on repeatedly. It's also a good idea to practice rituals in each of those realms -- to use your own example, invoking Air in one ritual, invoking Mercury in another, and invoking Hod in a third -- because that's how you learn to sense and understand the differences among them.

2) The Cabalistic Cross is very subtle and very deep. Regardie points out somewhere that it contains a vast range of potentials that very few people grasp. The fact that you haven't begun to get a good sense of them is not a problem -- it's precisely because it's simple that it takes a long time to understand.

Mithras

[brenainn]

I've also been feeling a strong pull toward Mithras. When I try to learn more about Him, I find very little of good quality, outside of some recent academic material. And the academic books don't have much information. It seems a lot about Mithraism was taken to the grave with the last initiates. Do you have any advice on how to approach/start a relationship with a God about whom so little is actually known? I'm not interested in trying to reconstruct the ancient Mysteries of Mithras. I'd just like to "get to know Him" in a devotional sense.

Re: Mithras

[ecosophia]

Get an image, burn incense, pray to him regularly, and ask for his help in learning about him and making a deeper contact with him. That's how those original initiates got started, you know!

Non-Tentacular SF

[(Anonymous)]

Since a movie version of Dune is coming out this October, might you consider penning a few lines about the novel’s esoteric and occult aspects? “Dune for Druids,” maybe?
Rusty

Re: Non-Tentacular SF

[ecosophia]

Another movie version of Dune? Sheesh. I'll consider it.

A data point

[kimberlysteele]

A professional managerial class contemporary of mine (and once bosom buddy) has spent the last five years in abject Trump derangement. He ex-patriated to Europe two decades ago and comes back a few times a year thanks to his extremely lenient employer and his family's money. He is solidly upper-middle class, but like many of my friends from back in the day, he perceives himself as poor because he doesn't have hedge funder level financial reserves.

At any rate, his latest virtue signal on social media is a large banner of a graffiti that says "Make the rich pay for Covid-19".

This seems to me like he's begging for misfortune, because when we look at the statistics, he's technically one of the richest people on the planet.

Re: A data point

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this. It's central to the ideology of the privileged 20% in the industrial world these days that everything that's wrong with the world is the fault either of the top 1%, whom they envy, or the more deplorable elements of the bottom 80%, whom they hate and despise. Of course you're quite correct: globally, he's part of the villainous 1%, and yes, he's begging for a very harsh comeuppance.

Egore of permaculture

[sea_spray]

Hi and Welcome back JMG. I hope you're keeping well in these "interesting" times.

I was hoping that you could comment on the egore (I hope I spelled that right) of permaculture. I vaguely remember you commenting on the pattern that there would be one big guy running a project and many workers in bad living conditions toiling away.

As a toolkit of methods is it good to use in your opinion or is there a tainted egore.

thank you

Re: Egore of permaculture

[ecosophia]

You were close! The word is "egregor," pronounced EGG-re-gore. (Some people spell it "egregore" with the final e.)

I think there's much to be learned from permaculture but I don't recommend that people do the official permaculture trainings -- they remind me uncomfortably of Amway and other cult-ish pyramid schemes. By all means borrow what seems useful from the techniques, but blend them with something else, such as biodynamic gardening, so you don't get caught up in the less helpful aspects of the egregor.

[booklover1973]

Are the active workings of Spirit Above and Spirit Below to be performed a certain amount of time, or indefinitely? The Druid Magic Handbook doesn't specify this.

When asking for a guide during a scrying, does one ask or speak in the imagination or aloud?

[ecosophia]

1) It varies based on personal factors. That's why I recommend using divination to determine when you're ready to do them, and how often to do them afterwards.

2) I usually do it in the imagination.

Unfavorable astral conditions

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid and commentariat, your opinion about the following would be very appreciated: 10 days ago, I started a ritual along the lines of „Transforming Myself“ from DMH. Several rounds of preparative meditation and divination and came out positive, and the first 3 days (of the minimum of 7 you’re supposed to do) felt very rewarding. My accompanying meditations included inspiration from the deities invoked in my SOP, about the first time that happened.

Around last week’s full moon, the exterior (etheric? astral?) conditions became very unpleasant, almost sickening. It was hardly possible to continue my daily practice. I knew that the full moon had several difficult aspects, similar to those you described for the Inauguration chart, and the weather was shifting around rapidly.

I haven’t experienced such difficulties in years of practice with the SOP etc. It felt as if nasty forces from outside would render all my spiritual efforts impossible. I’m quite sure that this is not due to me developing schizophrenia or the like, as I am in normal contact with my family and friends and nothing unexpected happened outside of this.

Have you Archdruid, or other commenters made similar experiences lately? Anything that can be done about it on top of the regular protective practices you have taught us? Is it best to suspend a series of rituals in such a case and restart later, or would the effects of the first repetitions be lost?

Thank you as always for your time and wisdom!

Re: Unfavorable astral conditions

[booklover1973]

I didn't have this kind of difficulties lately. Since I live in Germany, I have come to the conclusions that the malefic astral conditions described by commenters are a specifically US-American thing with only occasionally spillovers into other parts of the world. I specifically mean the things to do with the Coronavirus pandemic and with Trump Derangement Syndrome.