Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just getting on for 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.

With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

Researching a Secret Society

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulation upon your elevation to the sublime and exalted rank of Grand Panjandrum of the New Independent Order of Anti-Poke-Noses!
Would you happen to have any material on the original organization that you could share? I suspect my grandmother might have been an Anti-Poke Nose, so even a scrap of information would be welcome.
The usual commercial and scholarly search engines netted image, one journal footnote, and a reference in a speech on economic development from 1857. ( http://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca/da/pdfs/37131055386775d.pdf Page 11)
And – Many thanks for opening the NIOAPN. I look forward to upholding the family tradition of impudent subversion of the self-anointed keepers of the status quo.
Rhydlyd… er… rather, Aquamarine Radiant Opossum

Re: Researching a Secret Society

[ecosophia]

All I know about them is a few sentences I read in a book about the Klan in the 1920s. I suspect somebody will have to go to Searcy County, Arkansas to do some documentary research.

I'm not sure if this is connected or not:

[(Anonymous)]

Where’s the place in the picture and why is it decorated that way?

Also, can you describe to me the texture and taste of fried grasshoppers so I can add them to the details in my book? I’ve tried looking it up but found nothing I could use other than that they’re crunchy and not disgusting.

—Lady Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

My cousin’s husband described them as nearly identical to crisp French fries in both taste and texture. He doused them in salt and vinegar.

[mollari]

I just discovered another actor who played a role on the show Babylon 5 has died. A surprisingly large number of them have died young, to the point there's a meme “Cause of death: acted on Babylon 5”. This seems to relate to the series' heavy emphasis on sacrifice, but this is only a guess.

I'm in the process of rewatching it and am noticing an awful lot of quiet occultism references, which I doubt would be obvious to anyone who hasn't studied occult philosophy and practices. The show also has a lot of meanings, to the extent it's one of the only TV shows I've ever seen which seems to function on the mental; I've also, very bizarrely, caught a glimpse of the spiritual plane while watching one of the episodes.

This seems to me to suggest that something is manifesting through the series, descending from the spiritual through the TV series. This seems to me to play a role in creativity in general, but it seems like it's unusually strong here. The writer and creator of the series is an atheist, so it doesn't seem likely this is intentional, but I wonder: is it possible that by drawing on occultism to a fairly heavy degree he accidentally opened a wider door, so to speak, for whatever is descending from the spiritual through the show?

(Oddly, I first discovered occultism while watching the show for the first time; I wonder now if there's a connection)

[ecosophia]

It's entirely possible. It doesn't matter at all if the creator is an atheist; all that happens if you don't believe in gods is that they have an even easier time manipulating you. He may have been guided, without his knowledge, to put patterns into the show that certain gods/archetypal forces wanted there.

New Edition?

[(Anonymous)]

Inside a Magical Lodge (https://bookshop.org/books/inside-a-magical-lodge-traditional-lodge-methods-for-modern-mages/9781913504755?aid=16751&listref=jmg-new-and-forthcoming-books)

Are there any differences in this new version of Inside a Magical Lodge?
Just curious. I have the other edition and was wondering if you had added content or not. Thanks.

Re: New Edition?

[ecosophia]

I'll be announcing it, and offering a discount deal for readers, later this week. I've revised it extensively based on a lot more experience with lodges; there are some completely new items, and a lot of details that needed correction in the light of further experience have been corrected. I'd say 10% to 15% of the text is new.

Damion Echols' books

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
I got together with a few friends today and a woman I like very much says she has been getting a lot of benefit from studying Damion Echols' books. Have you read any of his work and how do you rake his magical scholarship?

Re: Damion Echols' books

[ecosophia]

I'm quite familiar with Damien's work. He used a couple of my books as textbooks while he was in prison, and thanked me in print for them in his first book on magic; I found out about it and contacted him; we've never met in person but we've exchanged quite a few emails. I consider him a very capable mage and teacher, and your friend could do a lot worse.

Spring equinox

[(Anonymous)]

A seasonal Q for you JMG!

In “Priestess,” Alan Richardson’s biography of Dion Fortune , he references her writing somewhere that the spring equinox is “always a difficult time for occultists.” Dion further describes an attack that occured during a very difficult astral travel experience during this time.

1. Do you subscribe to the same view? If so could you explain what is behind it?

2. I had a run of bad luck running into the equinox and today while doing 4fold breath prior to my dawn practice of lbrp and MP today I felt an ambiguous presence behind my left shoulder. It felt like all the hairs on my body were standing on end. I rushed to perform lbrp which seemed to calm things.

3. Could this be related to the equinox? Maybe I am just imputing back from what I read or it’s simply a Watcher on threshold thing. Any other folks out there experiencing similar?

4. Either way I assume the best thing to do is just plow on with my regular practice?

Thanks in advance

Re: Spring equinox

[ecosophia]

1) Okay, let's start by summarizing the magical concept of the equinoxes. At each equinox, the Sun and Earth come into a mutual relationship that allows a jolt of energy to descend from the Sun to the Earth. The spring equinox (in either hemisphere) jolts the etheric body of the earth out of the stagnation of winter, so it's always a rough and tumble time. (The autumn equinox is much milder.)

2-3) Might be that, might be something else.

4) Once you get to the point that you can do a solo equinox ritual, that'll help a great deal. Until then, plow on with your regular practice.

[mollari]

Watching the past few years, I've realized that a good way to sum up how life in major cities is evolving is that its heading in the direction of "cyberpunk": decaying infrastructure, ubiquitous access to a severely restricted and dangerous internet mixed with legal and social barriers to in person interactions, governments which are corrupt and extremely totalitarian, and an incredibly artificial environment.

The thing I find fascinating is that cyberpunk burst onto the scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s almost fully formed, at the same time our extended vacation from reality began, and it tends to focus exclusively on urban areas, almost to the extent of ignoring rural areas exist. This always struck me as odd, but now I'm wondering if certain sensitive souls picked up on the future and cyberpunk is a reflection of this. Do you think this is possible?

[ecosophia]

That's possible. It's also possible that cyberpunk was popular enough that people who read it obsessively are behaving, in an unthinking fashion, in a way that's bringing it about.

Personally, I loathed cyberpunk -- that's when I gafiated from science fiction fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

A few weeks ago I asked here about a modified SOP working to buy a new house, which I'm happy to report was successful. I also did some planetary charity to Saturn as well.

Before I started the working, very little was coming on the housing market, and after I started doing it, several houses popped up, and one of them looked uncannily like the house in my visualizations. We put an offer in, but didn't get it, but put another on the next house that fit our criteria and it was accepted. A whole bunch of positive synchronicities came up afterwards along with some further sheer good luck, and nothing major came up in the home inspection.

Part of my intention was to fairly purchase the house - well, the bank sent an appraiser to value the house, and interestingly the house is worth exactly what we are going to pay for it. TS does indeed W!

We have until tomorrow (the 22nd) to rescind our offer, and so to be sure, I cast another Ogham divination to ask 'knowing what we know now, what do we most need to know about moving into and living in the new house?' To my great surprise, I got:

Current situation: Tinne,
Action: Reverse Ngetal,
Outcome: Reverse Straif

So that's not great. I interpreted that to mean that we successfully got the house through decisiveness after competition with other buyers, but now we're going to get stuck in this place, resulting in unhappiness and great difficulty.

I don't know what I overlooked, earlier divination before I did the working and before we offered on the house gave either favorable or mixed results. With such a negative reading, I'm even wondering whether we should rescind our offer. How would you interpret that?

Yet, my intention for the working was 'we fairly purchase a house which best allows us to follow our paths, with positive results for all involved'. Perhaps Reversed Straif is saying 'now you've got the house, it's time to follow the path, and it's going to be really difficult.'

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Hmm. In your place I'd do a reading asking if it would be wise to rescind the offer. There may be a serious problem with the house you don't yet know about.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

1) Is is normal to experience a short lag (perhaps 5-15 minutes) between performing the LBRP and feeling like it's "caught up"?

2) Does performing the LBRP affect the efficacy of nearby Tarot decks, either positively or negatively (I've heard of people covering their deck decks in black cloth for this reason), or does the power of the deck lie more so in the knowledge and ability of its user?

Much thanks.

[ecosophia]

1) It sometimes takes relative beginners that long to notice the effects.

2) It's a bit of both. I recommend wrapping your cards in silk or linen, which are good etheric insulators, or keeping them in another room.

[(Anonymous)]

Lately I'm paying more attention to my thinking habits and since then I noticed how many unhelpful thoughts I have. There's usually a burst of annoyance following and the unhelpful thoughts are increasing in frequency. I realized I'm feeding into this when I get aggravated over them and that I should probably journal about it but I don't know if it would be better to journal about what's causing the thoughts or what's causing the emotional response to the thoughts.

[ecosophia]

Both! You're dealing with one of the most common sources of human failure and misery, and plenty of time spent exploring it and tracing it to its roots will be well spent.

Magically Delicious...Bugs?

[(Anonymous)]

This is Listverse, so take it with a large grain of grasshopper seasoning. but it certainly turned up at the appropriate time! With our host’s indulgence, I’m putting it here, since it would be way at the bottom on its actual topic.

https://listverse.com/2018/11/14/10-worldwide-insect-delicacies/

—Lady Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

The civil defence logo is a blue triangle in an orange circle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_defense. According to sacred geometry and colour correspondence, what would that symbolise? Is it a good match for the goals of civil defence?

[ecosophia]

Depends on which school of sacred geometry and color correspondence you're using. Those are like languages -- a great deal of habit and convention goes into their meanings.

Bioplasma

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

For the cell salts bioplasma experiment, I’m having trouble finding bioplasma pills for sale locally. Are you by any chance familiar with the Martin & Pleasance brand? They have various combinations of cell salts in their range including combination 12 (https://www.chemistwarehouse.co.nz/buy/62749/martin-amp-pleasance-tissue-salts-comb-12-general-tonic-125-tablets)
which clams to be a mixture equal quantities of all 12 cell salts.
Could I use that one for the bioplasma? If not would you or any other commenters happen to know a good source for any of us in New Zealand?

Thank you

Re: Bioplasma

[ecosophia]

A mix of equal amounts isn't optimal, but if that's what you can get, it's much better than nothing. I did a quick check online and Martin & Pleasance seems to be the only NZ brand; readers who are actually in NZ, feel free to correct me!

Ye Gods

[boulderchum]

Salutations JMG!

My spirituality is still evolving, but I'm finally ready to start dipping my toes in the waters of traditional polytheist worship. I've selected a one of the Roman gods whose planet is well placed in my chart and whose essential character seems in line with values I cherish, and I'm going to follow the traditional statue-candles-incense-bow-meditate process you've recommended in your Weird of Hali novels and in posts here. But I have some questions. I won't say which god I'm going to approach, so let's just use Mercury as a placeholder.

1) Are Mercury the planet and Mercury the god one and the same, or is there a difference? And if so, what?

2) Would bad chart placements mean I'd have difficulty forming a relationship with Mercury?

3) Where did the traditional neoplatonist devotional practice you put in your novels come from, and where can I read more about it?

4) Considering all the taboos about types of offerings to the Greek gods, where can I read more about the exact offerings and devotional practices for all the Roman gods and goddesses (especially the smaller offerings that individuals were capable of, such as pieces of beef rather than snow white bulls).

5) Are the Roman gods their own distinct entities compared to their Greek predecessors, or are the differences purely Roman civic propaganda pasted over the Greek gods? For example, Venus has almost no myths of her own and absorbed most of her myths from Aphrodite with minimal modification, yet Venus in her Verticordia form presided over virginity and the sanctity of marriage, something which seems very unlike Aphrodite. It's the same or even more puzzling with some of the others I'm most interested in.

6) This question seems a bit silly but...how do I approach the gods? I've always been a bit awkward with meeting new people. Do I start with "Do you like jazz?" or what?

Re: Ye Gods

[ecosophia]

1) That's a very good question to which I don't know a definite answer. The old Neoplatonists used to teach that the planet is the body of the god.

2) Probably not. Religion is not the same thing as magic.

3) It's not actually that traditional. I made it up out of a combination of scraps of lore from writings on classical Greek religion, on the one hand, and my own experiences on the other.

4) Start with Ovid's Fasti and go from there to scholarly books on Roman religion. One thing to keep in mind is that the Neoplatonists found that all the gods are okay with offerings of frankincense and libations of wine.

5) Even within Greece, Aphrodite had many different forms and powers and manifestations -- Pausanius is a good source for this. Nobody knows why this is.

6) Don't worry about it. The gods already know what you're thinking and feeling. That's why it's a standard practice simply to burn some incense and recite the relevant Orphic hymn; it's a polite and effective way of saying "Hi, I'm interested in a relationship."

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

from the point of view of a practicing magician what are the technical differences (in function and outcome) between a banishing ritual and such prayers of protection as the Sub tuum praesidium, the Lorica of Saint Patrick or the prayer to Saint Michael?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Okay, let's start from the core occult teaching that there are different planes of existence. Prayers work on the upper end of the astral plane (the plane of concrete thoughts and feelings) and call down influences from the mental and spiritual planes. Banishing rituals do the same thing, but they take those influences further down the planes, through the lower astral to the etheric and physical planes, using movements of the body and figures traced in the air. Thus the rituals tend to be more effective in dealing with forces on the lower astral, etheric, and (in some cases) material planes.

The sacraments of the church do the same thing for their own purposes -- that's why you have to have water for baptism, bread and wine for communion, and so on, rather than just doing a lot of praying.

[(Anonymous)]

I'll about to start a new job (something bookish) on a Thursday. I have the option to start during the hour of Mars or a bit later, which would land me in the hour of the Sun.

I should go for Sun, correct?

[ecosophia]

Yes. Jupiter and the Sun get along a lot better than Jupiter and Mars.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
A small piece of advice if you would be so kind.
What planet or planets govern success in intellectual/academic work such as lecturing, writing and consulting, with the hope of also earning a small amount of money from doing it? Would contributing money to support independent academics and their projects count as charity in this case?

[ecosophia]

Those have Mercury's wingéd footprints all over them. Yes, you could do that as planetary charity for Mercury, though I've had the best results myself with donations to charities that provide free help for children with language and reading problems.

Retributive magic

[(Anonymous)]

Would there ever be a case wgere one should perform retributive magic? Or what is the best way to use magic to help yourself out of a problem someone lured you into?

For context, my mother was was recently a victim of a scam/hacking event which has turned into a nightmare for us. Her financial and personal information was compromised, and the entire family is reeling over the possibility of identity theft. We are taking steps to try to protect ourselves from further loss, but it has gotten pretty concerning.

What would you recommend magically in a case like this to help us come out the other end in tact? Is there ever a case where you would recommend a reversal type of ritual/spell against the hacker? I worry about having to just keep trying to patch things up otherwise, particularly when several family members suffer from health conditions with medical bills they are struggling to pay.

My magical background is standard GD ritual work from your books. I've made a couple of talismans in the past, and can open and close a temple, etc.

Re: Retributive magic

[ecosophia]

Always figure out exactly what your intention is. Do you want to end the difficulty, or do you want to hurt the perpetrator? Those are different intentions; choose the one you want most.

In your place I would make and consecrate a talisman of Saturn, the Lord of Limits, and call upon YHVH ALHIM and the hierarchies of Saturn to put a stop to the problems you've been facing, impose hard limits on the ability of hackers to harm you, and see to it that perfect justice is done. Then make a donation in a Saturnine amount (say, $333) to a Saturnine charity -- any charity that helps the elderly is well suited to this. That ought to take care of the matter.

Picactrix and Neoplatonism

[(Anonymous)]

Salve, JMG, and thanks as ever for hosting these Luna-day Q&As.

Less a question than an observation: Was rereading Picatrix and struck by its early discussion on the nature of God and how similar it is to Neoplatonism (i.e. the first God being "The One," fundamentally good, its principle feature unity in which everything participates, etc.) This is a pretty remarkable chain of transmission: Iamblichus, Proclus (3rd-4th century) --> Picatrix (10-11th century) --> Ficino, etc. (15th century) and beyond.

I related this back to one reader last week who asked about theurgy, and, while I'm no scholar and this may have been patently obvious to others, it was notable to me given the winding paths of history. Although we don't have 4th century theurgic practices per se, the Neoplatonic framework for how these things operate would seem to remain the same, suggesting that the fundamentals of the operations remain consistent across the centuries.

Axé,
Fra' Lupo

Re: Picactrix and Neoplatonism

[ecosophia]

Exactly. Neoplatonism is the theoretical basis for all traditional Western magic, full stop, end of sentence. The Picatrix is a deeply Neoplatonic book, based entirely on the same late classican Neoplatonic synthesis you find in Iamblichus and Proclus -- and yes, that same synthesis can be found just as well in Ficino, Agrippa, and from there onward to the Golden Dawn and beyond.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

You may recall that last week I asked you about a divination I undertook regardng asking Saturn to reduce the influence of the left-wing intelligentsia:

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/124039.html?thread=14296199#cmt14296199

You suggested that I conduct further divinations to understand why the first card (Ailm reversed) indicated that I was not seeing the bigger picture. Well, strap yourself in, because when I did this, I was taken on one hell of a ride! The original divination was as follows:

1st Card (me): Ailm (Rev)
2nd Card (action): Mor
3rd Card (result): Ur

I then recalled that prior to the divination above, I had asked Ogham what would happen if I asked Saturn to end the Left-wing intelligentia's contempt for the nation and its people. For this the result was:

1st Card (me): Fearn
2nd Card (action): Ioho
3rd Card (result): Onn (Rev)

This suggested that the Left's attitude could not be changed (Ioho) and that my desires were out of touch with the reality of the situation (Onn). As the Left obviously can't be reformed, I therefore re-phrased the intention to reduce their influence, and so I thought that the Ailm reversed (first card) of the second divination was a restatement of the Onn reversed (third card) of the first one. So the two divinations in fact flowed together.

This seemed to satisfactorily resolve the issue for me. However, I thought I would check this by asking Ogham with a single card yes/no divinaton if indeed the first card (Ailm Rev) of the second divination was related to the last card (Onn Rev) of the first divination. I got Nuin (Rev), which indicated "no" and that I was isolated and self-contained for good or ill. This suggested I was very far indeed from understanding what was going on. I meditated on this, and the thought arose that I may not be seeing the bigger picture, because the left-wing intelligentsia had a bigger power behind it that was hidden from view.

I therefore asked Ogham in another single card yes/no divinaton if indeed there was a bigger power behind the left-wing intelligentsia and got Duir - success forward movement - which suggested I was on the right lines. I then asked if this bigger power was a coordinated operation by a foreign government or their agents and got Straif (Rev) - which indicated a "no" as well as pain, difficulty, retribution, a difficult path that must be taken. The "retribution" element of Straif reversed is particularly worth noting, as you will see. I further asked if this power was karmic or spiritual in nature, and got Koad (Rev), which suggested a "no" but that there were possibly too many factors involved to allow successful prediction.

I then asked whether the power involved was a human one and got Huath, which indicated a "yes", and from there whether these humans were foreign and got Nuin, which strongly suggested that I was now in the right ballpark, this nicely contrasting wth the reversed Nuin which indicated that I was isolated and self-contained. I thought for a while about who or what this hidden power could be, and I wondered if the culprit was a globalist organisation such as the World Economic Forum, or one of George Soros' foundations i.e. classic conspiracy territory. I therefore asked whether this power was located in, or based in, the West and got Ailm (Rev) which indicated a "no", and unrealistic ideas yet again.

As this power was obviously non-Western, I then went for the most obvious culprit, and asked if it was in China and got Ailm - expanded awareness, the ability to see things in perspective. This indicated I was bang on target, and contrasted nicely with the original Ailm reversed that had troubled me so. Ailm was a particularly important card in this series of divinations as you will see. This answer was obviously extremely disturbing, as it suggested that phenomena such as critical race theory and "wokeism" may have been deliberately seeded, possibly over decades, by elements in China. I then vaguely recalled that during the Korean War, the Chinese proved particularly adept at brainwashing and "turning" American POW's. I then looked this up on the internet, and the very first link I found was about how this brainwashing was similar to the current strife on the internet. This article is well worth a read on the subtlety of Chinese persuasion techniques:

https://eu.indystar.com/story/opinion/2021/02/02/what-interrogation-american-pows-can-teach-us-social-media-polarization/4334685001/

In fact the US Army were so impressed with Chinese brainwashing techniques that they initiated a plethora of studies on them. Many of these reports are available on the internet, such as this one:

https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1222&context=etd-project

It should be noted how much the Chinese brainwashing relied on double binds and the systematic evasion of cognitive dissonance - just like wokeism! In concert with this, it should be recalled that during the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese would have learnt how easy it was to overturn a society by radicalising university students with simple but memetic political concepts. If you put these two factors together - the ease with which Americans can be brainwashed, and the ability to overturn society via the universities, you basically have a template for wokeism. It's also worth noting how wokeism even appears very Chinese in its characteristics, with students lambasting professors, struggle sessions and confessions of ideological impurity etc.

Anyway, I then decided to see if I could pinpoint what exactly in China this power was. Further divination yielded the information that it was not ideologically Maoist (Nuin Rev), was not connected to the Security Services (Ruis Rev) or People's Liberation Army (Beith Rev) but that it was connected to (though not necessarily part of) the Chinese State (Duir). This had me flummoxed, but then I wondered that if my suspicion that the Chinese had been acting through the universites was correct then the Education Ministry might be involved. When I asked Ogham about this I got Gort, which suggested that it was in a round about way. I then asked if the power behind the left-wing intelligentsia was connected to a scholarship program, and got Ailm. Bullseye. Wikipedia has a list of scholarships connected to the Education Ministry, and this particular one stuck out like a sore thumb:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzman_Scholars

Notice all the Western luminaries associated with them! If you read the third paragraph of this Wiki article, you will see that this scholarship "maintains ties" to this particularly unlovely organisation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department

I then asked Ogham whether this was the ultimate power behind the left-wing intellegentsia and their contempt for their nation and people, and I got:

AILM

So if Ogham, or at least my interpretation of it, is correct, then this is the organisation that is ultimately behind the domestic political ferment in the USA and the West generally. Note that this does not contradict the previous Straif reversed reading that indicated that a foreign government was not involved in this issue, as the above agency is not connected to the state, but answers directly to the inner circle of the CCP. Again, if this is correct, then it fits in with a general pattern of the Chinese quietly and gradually corrupting the USA from within, for example by co-opting its political class:

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-thirty-tyrants

Or by subtly interfering with its military procurement:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/americas-monopoly-crisis-hits-the-military/

This suggests that all the time that China has been pretending to be a passive trade partner to America, it has in fact been waging an all-out, but extremely subtle and gradualist, war against it.

Now all that being said, I cannot be sure that I haven't been leading myself up the garden path with all this, as China is pretty much the least "woke" country in the world, and I am not sure what they have to gain by implanting the opposite ideology in their main rival. One possibility is that the Chinese started this decades ago to exploit America's racial divisions, and at that time they did not countenance the accelaration that would be made possible by the internet and social media. This would explain why they were so quick to isolate their own internet from the rest of the world, and why they are now desperately trying to homogenise their own ethnic minorities such as the Uighurs and Tibetans, in order to avoid blowback from what is happening in the US. At the extreme edge of speculation, this might also explain tbe sudden emergence of Covid.

Nonetheless I would treat all the above with a due measure of scepticism, but it does indicate at least a possibility of what might have been going on under all our noses.

[ecosophia]

Fascinating. I find nothing implausible in that, though of course it should be taken as a theory rather than proven fact.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG !
1) Do you (or anyone listening) have a recommandation for a specific daily physical discipline that stretches the body and make it more flexible ? I have heard that this aspect becomes very useful if you are moving a lot of energy during ritual, and that you don't want your body to be stiff and rusted if a lot of power is moving through you...
2) The course I'm following uses tarot as one of its bases. However I have a hard time really trusting tarot and the result I get. I always have doubt as to wether the inner mental work I have done has worked and even the physical work of shuffling the cards properly so that the deck can really speak properly with the right cards in the right order. Do you have any advice on making it easier to trust a reading ? (I also tend to be skeptical of it even though I should know better by now)
Thanks !

[open_space]

I do a simple yoga of the stretching kind in the morning that helps me to stay fit.

This I do when I don’t have enough time for my full physical exercise practice and for the time it takes it is very optimal. It is particularly good because it stretches your spine and strengthens the muscles that support it, something very useful when our daily lives don’t involve a lot of movement, preventing pinching of the nerves among other things; helps to have a good posture and exercise the whole body. I personally know a 70 yr old that couldn’t walk up the stairs nor walk too far that can do whatever she wants now after a few months of practice.

Do follow the instructions exactly as given and don’t skip a step, specially the resting part in the end.

Yoga Namaskar

[abrahamjpalma]

Hello.

I'm stepping into ritual magic, just the very basic training techniques. So far, visualization works well, and I even got some feeling about energy manipulation being right. Verbalization, on the other hand, has taken me a while since I don't often enjoy privacy. Here a doubt arised.

It's is my thinking that since I don't speak hebrew at all, so translating the words into my language is necessary for me to make sense of them, and since it is through my mind that the words are thrown into the Universe and they must be charged with meaning, the better I understand them, the better they are streamed.
However, yesterday I had a vision in my scrying: A white five point star turned into a much brighter and nitid golden six point David star. I don't know if this is just an expression of my doubts or something else, but I didn't asked for anything, so it may be just something that is worrying me. (This vision was followed by very clear human-like faces taking interest one after the other and I have the feeling these are the spiritual minor fauna).
Once I'm comfortable speaking the words in my language, I'll try the hebrew version to check if that makes a difference, but I'd like to know your thoughts on the issue of foreign languages as original spells.

As a side question, I'm having sometimes a strange feeling. It might be a result of my recent physical exercising or maybe the magical practicing, but sometimes I have the impression that I am looking at things from slightly above my physical size. This cannot be, of course, since the images are received by my eyes and their position haven't changed, but my mind is interpreting the images as if I were taller. In other times, I feel like I am very lightweighted. Actually, I'm losing weight (part as diet, part as exercising), but it feels as if I was just half my weight, not just a few kilograms less.
Can this be an effect of visualizing energies through my body?

Disclaimer: I confess I am not being very diligent in the study/ritual/divination daily aspect; I'm doing them when I have some spare time and privacy, and that does not happen daily. But the effects of the practice are looking nice in my mind and body, so I want to keep practicing even if I don't manage to be a proficient mage.
Thanks.

[ecosophia]

1) It's a common mistake to think that the words of ritual should be translated into whatever language you usually use. Not so! "Change not the barbarous words of evocation, for they have in the sacred rites a power ineffable," says the Chaldean Oracles. You will not get results of the same quality or intensity with translated words as you will with the originals. Your mind is not the only mind involved in all this, you know...

2) It's fairly common. You're starting to become aware of your subtle bodies.

Runic Alphabets

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

Belated blessings for Alban Eiler to you and Sarah. I know that the Heathen Golden Dawn Book projected is not happening at this time, and maybe not ever. I am doing my own research based on what you have publicly published on your blog. I was wondering which runic alphabet was being used for your project? Were you using the Elder or Younger Futhark? What I am working on is for my own personal practice and will not be published.

Yours in the OIW,

Ian

Re: Runic Alphabets

[ecosophia]

My coauthor was using the Elder Futhark, while I did some work with the Old English Futhorc.

[d_mekel]

Just finished LRM, and I have started circles/paths. I am continuing the lesser middle pillar(one from cop), meditation on whichever sphere or path, divination, and daily recollection every day. I will be also reading various books on the subject. Is once or twice a week a safe number to perform the more advanced greater ritual of the pentagram? Is there anything I should add to my repertoire?

[ecosophia]

Learn and practice the greater ritual of the pentagram and the rituals of the hexagram, then learn the ritual for opening and closing a temple and move on, as soon as you feel ready, to the practical magic discussed in later chapters. Once a week is a good frequency for more advanced rituals, at least at first.

[booklover1973]

Hello, JMG!

I find it interesting that there are some who speculate that Planet Nine may be a planetary-mass black hole instead of a planet. Have you any idea what that might mean, astrologically speaking? (Obviously it is not clear what exactly Planet Nine is, except it has probably 5-10 Earth masses, or if it exists at all.)

[ecosophia]

None at all. Astrology is an empirical science, so we'll have to wait until the latest Planet X is discovered, if it ever is, to see what influence it has.