Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. (Any question received after then will not get an answer, and will likely just be deleted.) If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here.

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button 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 here's the 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

[ecosophia]

I've never had that luxury. Anyone else?

Re: Journaling, Ogham, and Path

[ecosophia]

1) This is normal. You released a lot of negative energy, and the book picked it up. It'll dissipate over the next few days -- paper isn't good at holding magical energies for long.

2) Suck it up. Learning to get good results from an oracle you don't feel connected to is a very useful bit of training.

3) That's a very common way that people keep themselves from beginning or continuing serious spiritual work. The only way out of the trap is to choose one and stick with it all the way through, knowing that you can choose another one once you've finished the first one. You can pick it at random, because the big secret here is that it doesn't matter which one you choose -- just that you choose one and do the work.

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen some people try to draw connections between Nietzsche's philosophy and his mental collapse. You have said before that certain beliefs or worldviews can lead to madness. Do you think there is any connection?

Re: Journaling, Ogham, and Path

[(Anonymous)]

This has been immensely helpful. Thank you so much.

[ecosophia]

Yes, but in Nietzsche's case the connection is a little complex. He was gay -- it's astonishing how much effort his biographers have had to put into obscuring that very obvious point -- and he never got over the crisis early in his college years when he discovered his sexuality. It used to be a very common story: a sensitive and devoutly Christian young person, who's been taught that same-sex relationships are always and only the most debased form of lust, falling head over heels in love with a person of the same sex and having to deal with the conflict between the nasty moral slanders of his religious background and the discovery that romantic love, in the highest and richest sense of the word, also happens between people of the same sex. Such people usually become atheists of an unusually bitter type. (I'm pretty sure that's what happened with James Randi, for example.) Nietzsche's problem is that he remained powerfully attracted to his former Christian faith; he turned his life into a war against God as a reaction against that attraction, and the internal conflict finally shattered his mind. Read his late books, as his tone gets more and more shrill, and you can see the conflict build to the breaking point.

[(Anonymous)]

"You would not enjoy Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound." -- Jeeves

Interesting take, I'd not considered that. Thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

Might you expand a bit on the real story of using coated lenses to see auras?

[(Anonymous)]

I'm new to all this... will using things you already own work?

[(Anonymous)]

Have you heard of the Inner Garden Foundation (innergarden.org)?
Their website looks nice, but I don't know enough about alchemy to judge the quality of it or the organization.

[(Anonymous)]

I remember him too. That story was one of the most amazing things I ever read here. I hope he recovers fully.

-Morfran

[tamanous2020]

Hi JMG,

Hope you're doing well!

1. Did you notice a big change in your magical/spiritual life when you moved over to the east coast?

2. A youtuber I follow recently had weird paranormal activity live on video while continuing his jungian discussion work with a depth psychologist (weird noises and books flying off shelves). In their discussion that followed, they talked how Jung himself had significant poltergeist activity when going through certain phases of his red book. Is there something about the emotional intensity of depth work, or its incorporation of imagination into its workings, that draws in spiritual activity?

3. You've discussed how the use of an iron knife can be used to clean parasites off the etheric body by the use of stabbing motions. Could this also be done with scraping motions as well?

4. One of the interesting meditations I've been thinking on is why for the Revival Druid tradition you face south while beginning and ending the SoP. That direction is associated with the element of fire, and in the dolmen arch its associated with Mars both of which don't immediately strike me as related to druidry (as compared to their abrahamic tradition facing east which is associated with wind and the sun).
My instinct would say it would make sense to face north, towards earth and venus, given the focus in druidry on the land and the natural world. The one potential answer I have was through the upward triangle symbol of fire. Given that the DA course is attempting to move along the development of strong etheric/astral bodies and to help with the development of the mental body, it would make some sense that druidry would be associated with a symbol of upward movement.

Anyways thanks for letting me ramble. I'm sure this is one of those digressions that will get your patented "that's interesting, you should meditate on that" :p.

5. And one of the things I couldn't help but notice was that you seem to follow in the same track as the ole american William James, what with both your emphasis on accepting the wide expanse of spiritually on its face, without collapsing it all to be slightly tweeked versions of the same thing like perrenialist or new agers do. Were you influenced by his works at all?

Tamanous

Astrology question

[jruss]

Greetings JMG and all you wonderful people.

I have an Astrology Question, was looking over my chart and trying to figure out what it would mean for my financial, love life, and my going into art and writing.



Having trouble with the image so here is the link https://imgur.com/a/5tE02Fu

If this is asking too much can you point me to someone who could help?

[(Anonymous)]

Would you say that during eclipses these are generally times to avoid doing anything major or unusual (for you)?

For instance, my wife is getting her second Pfizer shot during the coming lunar eclipse. Would she be wise to change the appointment? After all, there will be thousands getting a shot at the same time and they can’t all be unlucky.

On Buying and Selling Souls

[(Anonymous)]

On the subject of soul-selling, you may or may not have heard about how, some weeks ago, Liminal Warmth bought some atheists' souls (https://liminalwarmth.com/the-questionable-ethics-of-buying-and-selling-souls/). And it wasn't just a joke: there was a contract and exchange of money and everything.

My guess is that nothing terribly dramatic will come of it: Lim strikes me as too good-natured to abuse any power the deed to the souls might grant her over their previous owners. That said, I imagine there will be some karmic blowback all around. If nothing else, some raspberry jam: Lim has now defined herself as a dealer in souls, and her sellers have defined themselves as people willing to sell over their souls.

If I understood your response to the other guy right, they've all now tied themselves into an Abrahamic worldview, since that's the only one in which the selling of souls is a thing. And my guess is that the sellers will become just a bit more avaricious and amoral -- if you'd sell your own soul for money, what isn't for sale?

[booklover1973]

What would be the karmic consequences in the afterlife and his next incarnation for that person who sold his soul to the devil?

[(Anonymous)]

You've repeated that when doing political magic you should always build up your own side and not target the opposition. However in The Magical Battle of Britain, Fortune not only has angels patrolling the British Isles but also throwing lightning bolts to break up storm clouds over Germany. That seems to be something of a loophole. By branding something your enemy is doing as a malign outside influence you can say you're doing them a favour by removing it. Even if it's true, it feels like getting as close as possible to directly affecting the enemy without getting the blowback.

Ghosts, Slime, and Schizophrenia

[goatgodschild]

Mr. Greer --

This is going to be a long one, unfortunately.

In Fall 2019, I moved into my college dorm. This college is built on the grounds (and using the buildings) of an asylum that began in 1933. Most of the old buildings have been updated and renovated into classrooms and offices, except for four. One is next to the bus stop, and I thought it was still in use for offices.

When I came up towards the entrance, black tendrils appeared from the door in my secondary vision. It was as though there was this black slime coming out of it, and I finally got close enough to read the sign on the door, CHILDREN'S PSYCHIATRIC WARD. I backed up, bowing and apologizing, because I could feel so much energy coming off of it, angry and hungry, and I ran off. I thought I could cut through a courtyard, but it was a dead end, and the children's ward was on all sides. It felt like there were hundreds of eyes watching me from the windows. I could feel what they wanted, for me to come into the building with them, and just as surely, I knew that if I went in, I would never come out.

I already had my statuette of Pan in my pocket and my silver amulet around my neck, but there was a piece of rebar at my feet, and I grabbed that too. I said I didn't want any trouble, I would never come back, or bring anybody, that I just wanted to get out of there. I backed out of the courtyard, and left the rebar at the entrance in case it was needed by anyone else.

I started carrying a chain of additional amulets around as the semester wore on. There were other incidents like this, and eventually it was decided my medication should be increased. I wasn't scared so much after that. I've been on antipsychotics and other medications for years, but I've often wondered whether the incident in the courtyard could be classified as something occult in nature. If so, what happened? Is there a better way to handle this sort of thing in the future? Besides remembering where the courtyard entrances are, of course.

Tarot Book Opinions

[(Anonymous)]

JMG and others,

With the upcoming book club study of The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic and the recommendation to gets Tarot deck such as the Wirth Deck, I started looking for works that provide detailed descriptions of the Tarot cards and the associated symbolism. I first found Wirth’s book, but while searching I saw recommendations for a few others. I’m looking for opinions on any of these 3 books regarding if they are recommended:

1. Tarot of the Magicians: The Occult Symbols of the Major Arcana that Inspired Modern Tarot by: Oswald Wirth
2. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness by: Rachel Pollack
3. Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism by: Valentin Tomberg (trans. Robert Powell)

For book number 3: It seems to be more of a book of the author’s philosophy and worldview using the Major Arcana as an organizational framework rather than a book about Tarot. I’m still curious to know if it is recommended?

Re: Journaling, Ogham, and Path

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
You said : "paper isn't good at holding magical energies for long."
This was almost like a mule kick to the groin. Up until this moment I would affirm the opposite.
I used a Liber Spiritus, paper amulets (similar to Fu talismans), and held in my hand a very lively Sword Sutra (a book infused with protective magic that strikes like a sword whoever menaces it's owner).
Now I have to think hard and consider if it was the paper that was holding the charge for long, If it was the regular use of the books that kept them energized through out the years, or if the consecration ritual (that was repeated regularly) created a permanent flow of energy.
Blessed Be, you never cease to teach me, amaze me and challenge my assumptions.
Whispers

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, and thank you again for these Q&As.

1. Venus charities: what are suitable ones, other than for the performing arts?
Are women's domestic violence shelters Moon charities, Venus charities, or both?

2. Mars charities: do sports charities count as well as veterans' organizations? What others?
I was reading Christopher Warnock's pages on William Lilly, and of course the subjects are all very 16th century and don't take account of what exists now.
I've read plenty of times on here about literacy charities for Mercury, but less so about some of the other planets.

3. I would like to learn about runes as an alphabet and in their basic occult meanings. I am not planning to use them for divination myself, but, for example, when I see sets of runes on jewelry in a pagan store, or on someone's t-shirt, I would like to have a reasonable idea when they are a meaningful arrangement and when they are a pattern of random letters - or if I see a divination spread to have a rough idea about it as I would about tarot. I would like to learn about both Elder and Younger Futhark, and other common variations. Maybe also to recognize the most famous historical inscriptions? I have known a few of the letters for a long time, but really not the whole set(s).

What books or online documents would you, or other community members, recommend for this?

[autpaxautbellum]

I’ve started doing the Judson exercise a couple times a day. So far it seems to agree with me, so many thanks for sharing. I was just curious about your reasoning in eliminating the grasping element in the first and fourth stages. Were you looking to alter the effect of the exercise? Or did it just seem to work better for you without the grasping?

Mundane Astrology/Lunar Eclipse

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, you have been speculating about some possible blowback with the covid mess. Are you at all familiar with the work of Geert Vanden Bossche?
He is an independent Vaccine Research Consultant. He has a website, twitter, you tube for those who would like to investigate.
To try and summarise very briefly, his hypothesis is, that vaccinating during a pandemic is part of the reason why we are seeing all these variants crop up. Basically we are making evolution happen at warp speed and as he says making the variants fitter and stronger and therefore more dangerous, including to age groups that up to now have had enough natural immunity. He's very worried and believes mass vaccination should be stopped.
There's more to it than my brief summary, but the gist is it's got me thinking about what you have mentioned in your astrology reports.
as well as this, for the longest time something else has been at the back of my mind. Before you went on your break, somebody mentioned Martin Armstrong. For many years I have perused his website and so much of what he has calculated has come to pass, often to the day. I don't necessarily agree with his politics, but that is bye the bye. He gets stuff right. Anyway he has been predicting for many years that 2022 is the big pandemic year.
Putting together what you have shown in the charts, the info from Dr Bossche and Mr Armstrong, I'm kind of getting a bit worried myself.
I would encourage any readers who have read JMG's astrology reports, to perhaps look into the websites of these other two men. In the case of Armstrong, maybe do a search for his pandemic cycle.
Anyway, I must go as one of my dogs is getting restless. Molly, the one with Congestive Heart Failure - all prayers for her gratefully accepted!

Regards, Helen in Oz

Human Limitations

[laflamme]

Greetings Archdruid,

In your discussion on the Hermitix Podcast titled ‘Religion, Progress, and the Future with John Michael Greer’ you state that the range of human possibility is not unlimited.

Yet in the conceptual framework of the Three Circles of Manifestation described in your book The Druidry Handbook, the outer limit of the circle of Abred, where a soul achieves humanity, is not a final limit: there is the possibility that the human soul might continue its journey into the second circle, that of Gwynfydd. This framework suggests that there is no final limit.

My question is: is the human range of spiritual possibility limited?

From under the acacias,

Gunnar

A Muslim Druid

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!

I am sorry to intrude but from the above it seems that you (the original poster) are a muslim who could also be following the Celtic Golden Dawn Tradition. Unless your query is for a non-muslim third party, that is seriously cool! In effect you are working to become a Muslim Druid! I really think that is wonderful! No irony intended. I truly mean that with the greatest of respect.

Please, if ever possible, inform us how you mesh muslim worship with druidic traditions. I always thought that a combination of druidic magic and Islam would be quite interesting, even explosive, in a positive sense! But I always hesitated and even feared enquiring about such a possibility. I can be a bit shy and reserved at times.

After all, if christian druids exist, why not muslim ones!

Indeed, one meets very interesting people around here!

Regards

[(Anonymous)]

How do I help my toddler with the monsters that have recently started terrifying her, without participating in the mainstream culture of stamping out the child's subtle senses?