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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.

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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!***

Current Mood: okay

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From: (Anonymous)

Talking with people I know who are into occultism, I’ve seen a weird pattern emerge in the past few months: a lot of people who claim to be into magic and the occult also claim to basically never read books and often lack anything approaching a full liberal arts education. This has struck me every time I’ve heard it as truly bizarre. I'm heavily informed by Dion Fortune, who writes in _The Training and Work of the Initiate_: "The good occult student should have a sound general knowledge of natural science, history, mathematics and philosophy," and goes on to explain that in order to successfully undertake esoteric studies one benefits from a good grounding in the exoteric. All of that said, I like to keep my snobbery closely in check and I value open-mindedness and flexibility. What’s your opinion on the degree of importance for aspiring occultists having or attaining a broad base of general knowledge?

From:

It's absolutely essential. My essay "A Magical Education" (in the book of the same name) goes into this in some detail. An ignorant mage is an ineffective mage; because the powers of magic are subtle, they need to be aimed skillfully at their targets, and a good general education is essential to provide you with the background that makes that skill possible. I specifically recommend that students of magic study mythology, philosophy, and at least one natural science, as a good basic framework for their work. As for snobbery, just don't parade around that requirement; smile and nod when you encounter ignorant mages, and save your advice for those who ask for it, and you'll do fine.

From: (Anonymous)

Wait a minute... you mean I finally picked up on magic last year because I'd gotten the last bits of the foundation in place...
(Edison light bulb flickering on...)
R
Really?

From:

Heh heh heh.

From:

neptunesdolphins

That seems to be how many Neo-Pagans are - they read a book or just work off other people's blogs. Then there are a few whole I label "snobs (replace b with t)" They discuss how they know better and how idiotic the others are to the point of calling them "fluffy bunnies."

I would agree that you need a broad range of knowledge to understand how things work.

From:

The #1 problem is that the vast majority of people today who claim they are doing 'magic' get almost all of their knowledge and insight on spirituality and occultism from pop culture rather than from traditional sources and competent-experienced practitioners.

From: (Anonymous)

If magic is the art and science of causing changes in accordance with consciousness, then I suddenly see that it can be used to address quite a few things which I was missing until now. These questions unfold from this.

1) Can it be used to address an addiction? If so, what would you recommend? My addiction is a porn addiction, if that matters.

2) Do you have advice for dealing with the aftermath of growing up with parents who strongly expressed the devouring mother archetype? I'll be moving out in a little over a month, and intend to cut ties as much as possible; I'm doing some journaling, but I'm also hoping there's more I can do, since it's currently a very slow and painful process.

3) My parents are filthy rich and have used money as a way to control me; and one result is that they left me with a pathological fear of being poor. I'm quite sure that it will go away on its own once I'm living on my own and clearly able to get by on a fraction of what I currently subconsciously think I need, but do you have any advice on how to get over this fear?

From:

1) Yes, but not immediately. You need to build strength of will and self-knowledge before you can tackle a well-entrenched addiction. Concentrate on other things first.

2) The essential trick is to remember that your parents are not the archetype. They're just a couple of aging people with psychological hangups. The archetype, the thing that gives them power in your emotional life, is internal to you and you can confront it in yourself without having to mess with them.

3) The only cure I know of for that fear is to become poor and discover that it's not a problem. It's like losing a job -- everyone I know who was terrified about losing a job got over it once that happened and they found another one. "Plunge thee into the maelstrom of life!" That's Thor's advice, and it's worth taking. ;-)

From:

michaeliangray

To add to point 3. I grew up poor and I suspect I will die poor - this middle bit with a little bit more money but a passing phase.

I don't want to glamorize being poor, but it can be a very good teacher on how to be a strong individual that knows how to work their way out of a tough situation. A calm sea never made good sailors. You can usually tell when someone has come from a poor background, they are interesting people. They aren't just another identical person that comes out of a little box, or plastic people as Frank Zappa called them. They have had to face adverse times and have also figure out how to overcome them. In over coming issues of lacking they become stronger people. It is like building muscle, you have to damage it and then repair it better.

From:

I grew up middle class -- never once in my childhood did I have to worry about where my next meal was coming from -- but I had the great advantage of deciding on a career as a writer. If you do that, you're going to be poor for a while, and that gave me plenty of experience at how you can be poor but comfortable and happy. It's a crucial skill!

From: (Anonymous)

If I may ask then, do you have any practical advice to offer?

From:

No matter how little money you have, spend less than you make. If that means you need to live on rice and beans, learn to like them. (At this point they're one of my comfort foods.) Get a cheaper place than you have to, get your entertainment for free from the public library, and so on. The more wiggle room you can open up, the happier you'll be, partly because you'll have extra money when you need it, and partly because you'll know you can do just fine if your income drops even further, and that will decrease your stress considerably. When a $25 check from a magazine publisher feels like a gargantuan windfall, and you spend $10 on something nice and stash the rest, you're getting the hang of it.

From: (Anonymous)

It sounds to me like this means unlearning nearly everything I learned about finances in my middle class upbringing....

From:

Yes, it does. What you learn about finances in a middle class upbringing is intended to keep you enslaved to the system. Treat it as enemy propaganda and you won't go wrong.

From: (Anonymous)

One of the best decisions I made in my 20s was quit my telecom job and go into landscaping, then start a carpentry apprenticeship. Not just for the practical skills, but you meet so many different kinds of people and see how they live which gives a much broader perspective that put my dysfunctional background and generational baggage in context. If you find the right trade school with something you are interested in then it can be really fun, not to mention it will horrify your parents. Going against their wishes, having a good time, and being successful really helped me break my psychological dependence on their approval. I also have friends who got on a plane and never looked back.

From: (Anonymous)

1a) Would this be a good thing to start to journal about, or should I start elsewhere?

b) I'm currently working through the CGD's Ovate Grade. I'll keep up with the practices, and tackle the addiction later then!

From:

1a) You can certainly start by journaling, and see what comes up.

1b) That's a good plan.

From: (Anonymous)

I've been practicing DMH for a little while now, and was hoping to learn more about the higher self, and bringing about an awakening. Hopefully this list isn't too obnoxious: Are there any books you can recommend on the subject? Are there any practices you can recommend for awakening/contacting the higher self? Is Druidry well suited to this sort of thing or is there another path that is more appropriate to such an aim?

From:

I'll take those in reverse order. (1) The style of Druidry taught in the DMH is as effective at doing that as any other system of magical training. (2) Daily meditation is the essential practice for this -- it's not fast but it does the job. (3) I don't know of any, and there's a reason for that. One of the very common problems in magical training is that people confuse their egos with their higher selves, and the more details about the higher self they get from books, the more likely their egos are to dress up in the mental equivalent of drag and prance around pretending to be their higher selves. It's much more useful simply to do the practices, concentrate on other goals, and let the opening of contact with the higher self unfold in a natural way, as it will.

From: (Anonymous)

This is excellent news. Daily meditation I can handle. I guess its a lingering trace of consumerism that I was hoping I could get it faster, since it seems over-ridingly important now. Thank you.

From: (Anonymous)

Astrology question: given how lots of people make a big deal out of a lot of things and blow stuff out of proportion, how significant is the presence of a grand cross in a natal chart?

From:

Depends on the natal chart. A grand cross where the four planets aren't especially strongly placed, essentially or accidentally, needn't mean a great deal. A grand cross where they're strong is another matter. The crucial thing to remember is that squares and oppositions (which is of course what a grand cross is made of) are sources of strength to the personality; a chart that's all trines and sextiles often results in one of those vague ineffectual personalities that drift through life in a warm blur. Look in the charts of people who accomplished great things in the world and you'll usually find squares and oppositions, and quite often a grand cross.

From: (Anonymous)

In my chart I have Mercury and Venus in Gemini, Mars in Virgo, Jupiter in Sagittarius, and Saturn in Pisces in a grand cross, with all but Saturn angular, and Saturn ruling the chart. Does this sound like it could become a source of intense strength?

How do you go about making hostile aspects into a source of strength?

From:

Nice. With Mercury in Gemini and Jupiter in Sagittarius you've got two of the planets in their rulerships, so strong and positive, and nobody in their detriment or fall. That could be a very strong chart. You'll need to work on controlling your enthusiasm with clear thinking and careful attention to the details, but that should be doable. More generally, you make hostile aspects into sources of strength by learning to balance the forces they represent, holding them in equilibrium in your life and going to one side or the other only when you choose to do so, to the degree that you choose to do so.

From: (Anonymous)

Oh, also, Neptune is in Capricorn, which I think means there's mutual reception, but I'm not sure what that means exactly. Does that matter?

From:

Mutual reception is when two planets are in each other's rulership. They act as though they've swapped places and each is in its own rulership. So you've got the equivalent of Saturn and Neptune in their own signs, thus strong and balanced. Go do something spectacular with your life.

From: (Anonymous)

"Go do something spectacular with your life."

Does my younger sister then have the kind of chart which suggests a world changing individual? Sun in Leo, squaring Jupiter, Moon, and Saturn in Taurus; Mars in Scorpio squaring all of the above; and Uranus in Aquarius finishing a grand cross with Saturn and the Moon. And all of them are angular....

From:

What a fine topic for meditation!

From: (Anonymous)

Does this also mean I have the equivalent of Neptune in the Grand Cross as well? Reading Neptune opposite Mars, or square Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter I always found those would fit really well.

From:

Yes. You literally swap the planets, giving each the other's aspects.

From: (Anonymous)

How does that work if you have two planets in mutual reception forming different aspects to the same planet?

From:

All those aspects affect the final result. Chart synthesis is always complex!

From: (Anonymous)

Would meditating on each of the aspects they form be a good idea?

From:

If you're going to meditate on your chart, start with general meditations on each of the planets, signs, and houses. Then meditate on each planet in your chart, considering it in its sign and house. Then meditate on the aspects they form. Reflect on how each of these expresses itself in your personality and the circumstances of your life. You can learn an extraordinary amount about yourself that way.

From:

To piggy back off an astrology question, what is a good starter how to astrology book that you would suggest

From:

Parker's Astrology by Derek and Julia Parker is a good intro.

From: (Anonymous)

Is that another name for Eyewitness Companions: Astrology by the same authors, or a different book?
What do you think about Sepharial's Manual of Astrology?

From:

It's a different book. I haven't read Sepharial's book, but you might give it a try; he has a decent reputation.

From:

booklover1973

JMG, do you happen to know what it means when someone has in his or her natal chart quite a few conjunctions between planets, but no squares and oppositions?

From:

Planets that are conjunct in a natal chart indicate that the energies they represent are hard for you to keep separate in your life, because they're so thoroughly blended together.

From: (Anonymous)

Two questions:

Is there a difference between hypnosis and trance?

Are they connected to meditation?

From:

Hypnosis is one of the ways of getting into trance.

Meditation is the opposite of trance. Trance is a lowering of the level of consciousness; meditation raises the level of consciousness. It makes you more awake, aware, and reflective, where trance makes you less of each of these things.

From:

I don’t really have a question at the moment but wanted to make an observation and to offer my thanks. I really enjoyed your book, “A King in Orange.” Among other very helpful aspects, I found especially helpful the part on the tamanous spirit. As I consider this spiritual quality of North America, I’ve found that it acts almost like a decoder ring and makes sense of data as diverse as “spiritual but not religious” and Jesus as one’s personal savior.

I was even amazed to see it reflected in the homily I heard on Sunday morning. Even in a sacramental, liturgical church like the Catholic Church, the priest’s homily was about our individual relationship with the Holy Trinity and how we can develop it as individuals. I wouldn’t be surprised if many thousands of other liturgical Christians were hearing similar “tamanousian-influenced” homilies about the same time as me.

I can even apply it to myself, and can now see how I’ve been working on my own “Christian vision quest” for the past 20 years or so. And this is probably the most helpful part for me. Ever since accepting a basic polytheism and learning about the occult, I’ve felt pulled in multiple directions. It was disorienting at first but now I realize that it has been part of this tamanousian process of developing a very individualized personal spiritual relationship.

So, I want to offer a heartfelt thanks for your book! For many reasons, I got a lot out of it. It was very helpful in understanding the current political situation and how things might play out in the coming years. But perhaps the most lasting impact your book will have on me is how its given me an unexpected direction as I walk my spiritual path. Thank you!

From:

You're most welcome, and I'm delighted to hear it.

From:

methylethyl

"I wouldn’t be surprised if many thousands of other liturgical Christians were hearing similar “tamanousian-influenced” homilies about the same time as me."

Our priest preached on that this past weekend also. About how *even though we're Orthodox* and we have the sacraments and we approach things differently... everybody needs to have that personal-relationship-with-Christ, and be individually "born again" (in this context "No, you can't just rely on your baptism and then ignore everything else for the rest of your life").

Perhaps there was something particularly in the air this week...

From: (Anonymous)

1. Since Alban Heruin is three weeks away, might you be persuaded to give an introduction to the lore of Beli for we beginners? (I’m on my first trip through The Druidry Handbook.) Everything that isn’t in his description in The Druid Magic Handbook seems a bit… jumbled…
2. Boy, howdy, I’ve just found a very big hole in my religious education – I don’t know much of anything about prayer. When a Pagan Prays by Nimue Brown looks hopeful, but I just started it. Might you say a few words about prayer for Druids, and/or suggest a title or two?
3. Did you pen anything about the well or fountain of Galabes and why it is important, or could you point me to a good start? Aside from our good friend Geoffrey, it seems largely overlooked… though The Holy Wells of Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1954) is still available…
Many thanks.
Rhydlyd

From:

1) We don't know much about him, or any of the gods of the Druid Revival tradition. Invoke him and find out for yourself.

2) Prayer is simple. Talk to a god the way you would talk to a wise and powerful elder. Then listen. Don't do the cringing, on-your-knees, I'm-so-pathetic sort of thing -- I suspect a lot of gods sympathize with God in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "Oh, don't grovel! If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people groveling."

3) Have you read The Quest for Merlin by Nikolai Tolstoy?

From: (Anonymous)

1. Thank you.
2. OK, and chortle.
3. Nope. Duly noted
Thanks!
R

From: (Anonymous)

2) "And stop apologizing. Every time I try to talk to someone it's 'sorry this' and 'forgive me that' and 'I'm not worthy'. What are you doing now?" [Arthur: I'm averting my eyes, O Lord.] "Well, don't!"

A wise and powerful elder generally doesn't like people making a big deal of "Look at ME! I'm so HUMBLE!" instead of listening to what they have to say.

--Taupe O. Raccoon

From:

Yeah, the famous No-Ego Ego Trip. "Look at me! I'm more egoless than you are!"

From: (Anonymous)

Nickel tour of the Fludd illustration, please!
And... Is there similarity to the cosmology of The Cosmic Doctrine, or am I seeing a face on Barsoom?
R

From:

Okay, this diagram is the structure of the human individual. A is the nous, the "simple breath of God" at the core of the self. B is the intellectus -- what we'd call the higher, intuitive mind -- and C is the mens, the thinking and reflective mind. D is the spiritus, what we'd call the astral body, and E is the anima, what we'd call the etheric body or body of life force. F is the corpus or material body.

Maybe you're seeing Dion Fortune's face on Barsoom!

From:

barefootwisdom

If you've been enjoying these nickel tours, you might also appreciate Joscelyn Godwin's book, The Greater and Lesser Worlds of Robert Fludd (Inner Traditions, 2019). After about two dozen pages introducing Fludd's life and work, the next 200 pages or so are just image after image from Fludd, each with anywhere from a few sentences to a few short paragraphs to provide a starting point for studying the image. And those pages are big: roughly 8½ x 11".

For those already familiar with Fludd, or who are comfortable enough with Fludd's Latin to get your own start, there's probably not a lot here, apart from exceptionally crisp reproductions of the plates. But for everyone else, it might be worth considering.

From:

robertmathiesen

If you've got enough Latin to read Fludd, you can download PDFs of his major works from www.archive.org.

There's also Joscelyn Godwin's Robert Fludd: Hermetic Philosopher and Surveyor of Two Worlds published by Phanes Press in 1991. I don't know whether this is just an earlier edition of the book barefootwisdom mentioned, or a different work altogether.

From:

Hi JMG
I have a friend contemplating starting the SOP who has done tai chi for a while, though not in the last 14 months. I know they don't mix, so is it safe for him to start the SOP without the tai chi, and are there any warning signs to look out for?

Thanks

From:

A year's gap is quite adequate. He should be fine. It's doing them at the same time that can be problematic.

From: (Anonymous)

Do you have any thoughts on a banishing ritual for tai chi practitioners? What might be appropriate or how one would go about developing one?

From:

Have you looked into traditional Taoist magic? There's a lot of it.

From:

Good evening!

While I was meditating I stumbled into a thread that took me a little bit too far and got some intense visuals, I got spooked and jolted back to the awareness of my body. I felt I was loosing it in a way, not that I would slip and die accidentally but it felt I would, or something would happen. Do you know what happened? I am not even sure on the last links that I was meditating on.

From:

You probably started to perceive the astral plane more clearly than you usually do. Not to worry -- you'll gradually get comfortable with it, and thereafter you'll be able to see things, and do things, that you can't yet.

From:

That actually sounds quite fun! Is that what happens to people that do hallucinogenics? Their minds get torn a little because of the substance and get in contact with the astral plane intensely? If so, technically they would not be hallucinating but from what I've heard you are kind of not in control of what parts of the astral you are attuning with, you are just tripping out where it happens to take you, and apparently it can be very little fun if it goes wrong.

Did you see that The Black Vault released a lot of declassified documents on UFO's just recently? Since you've written about the phenomenon I thought you'd find it interesting.

From:

1) In an unstable and unhelpful way, yes.

2) Yep. It's going to take some serious study and assessment.

From: (Anonymous)

When I was a kid I asked my priest about the confusing visions that I had and he shouted at me to never mind that nonsense and stop wasting his time. So I did. It took another 30 years to find my way back.

From:

He was probably jealous because you were having visions and he wasn't. A great many religious professionals have that issue.

From:

robertmathiesen

Jealous for sure ... and maybe also scared shaleless by the possibility that such things might be real.

From:

That too!

From:

Thank you!

What sort of things can be done when one gets used to perceiving the astral plane clearly?

I've been giving free Tarot readings on my journal with good results, but doing them at a distance I can tell there is a slight difference so it occurred to me to do something similar to the method you gave in your book Atlantis but instead of visiting a place in the distant past people would visit my imaginal divining room, shuffle the cards there and record the time they did for me to go and pick up later. Do you see any problem with doing something like that? I tried it once with someone that does a regular banishing ritual but I am not sure if there are some other astral cleanliness considerations that I should take.

I've realized that my generation has been systematically prevented from growing up for the interests of other people. Do you know of some sort of old-fashioned manual or similar on how to become an adult?

Edited Date: 2021-06-01 01:30 am (UTC)

From:

robertmathiesen

"Do you know of some sort of old-fashioned manual or similar on how to become an adult?"

I don't know of any such book. Most of the real adults whom I know got there by never avoiding the hard work they had to do in order to meet whatever hard challenges--there are always hard challenges!--life happened to throw at them. It's OK to fear hard challenges, but not to run away from them or ignore them. Being an adult is a highly active and foresightful kind of life, not a passive one or a lazy one. A life without hard challenges keeps one from becoming an adult. You can get tired of challenges, and rest from the labor of meeting them for a while; but then it's always "back to the kitchen sink and wash up the dirty dishes"!

For whatever it may be worth, I'm a member of the so-called Silent Generation. Lots and lots of my generation never really became adults, either, though I have the distinct impression that the percentage of such people has somewhat increased.

From:

Many thanks Robert! I will take your advise and face whatever comes my way. I think you are right in what you say, and I've avoided way too many things in life, because I've had the opportunity to do it. The trick then seems to be to remove those supports and face life raw and square.

Believe me, the percentage has increased dramatically, at least in my circles and my generation (I'm 27) and I think it is due in part because big corp benefits from keeping them that way. Have you ever been or seen a tech company? It's like a playground, and those are the people in charge of a big part of our society.

From:

robertmathiesen

I have, and it struck me the same way -- a factory-sized elaborate playground, with overtones of a nursery school for privileged toddlers and a luxury resort for the super-rich! Razor scooters everywhere, used to get from one part of the very large building to another--walking was much too un-hip!

My wife and I were given a full behind-the-scenes tour of Pixar by a friend of hers, back in the days when "Finding Nemo" was being put together, i.e., when Pixar still occupied the old Heinz factory in Emeryville. I just thought, at the time, that it was simply an off-beat environment designed to foster artistic creativity. In retrospect, it was much more than that. The most interesting feature was Steve Jobs' office, which was austere to the point of being a monk's cell, all done "down" (not "up"!) in black, and which stood in very striking contrast to everything else in the building.

From: (Anonymous)

Are there any occult explanations and/or treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder? In particular, a compulsion to repeatedly check one's actions for accuracy and correctness.

From:

As far as I know it's psychological in nature, not occult, though it can involve psychological burdens from previous lives. Most often, though, it's a function of unresolved childhood anxieties and traumas.

From: (Anonymous)

The four occult pathways to enlightenment correspond to four fundamental energetic alignments in life. Everything everywhere, including ourselves, has an affinity for one of those pathways. Each of the four different paths tends to express balance and imbalance in its own unique ways. In humans, the four enlightenments reflect the four paths’ different ways of expressing a very high level of balance. Various pathologies reflect the four paths’ different ways of expressing a high level of imbalance. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is one of those pathologies.

The hero path, so deeply grounded in body and experience, tends to express itself along a spectrum that includes both heroism and compulsive craving. Those are both expressions of deep grounding, presence, and longing to make manifest in the physical plane. Their profound difference in how they affect our lives comes from whether their expression of the hero path is balanced or imbalanced. Oddly, obsessive-compulsive disorder is a good indicator that one is very much traveling along the hero path, although I know that it feels much more like stumbling in place.

Resolving the imbalances within ourselves is not the easiest of challenges, regardless of which path you find yourself to be on, but it is extraordinarily rewarding. Contemplating those imbalances, their causes, their protective roles, how they alter the rhythm of our lives and why, and their often amusing effects is the miraculous solvent that can unexpectedly resolve imbalance. Of course, approaching contemplation obsessively is unlikely to ever weaken obsession’s hold! Letting yourself feel and experience and imagine and even create the condition, in other words playing with it, has more of the real flavor of contemplation about it.

Whichever parents, teachers, siblings, karma etc. helped to plant and nurture the imbalances within you were giving you a mighty thrust block to play with. Who knows what direction exploring them could launch you in? Or, perhaps, if you yourself take up caring for and nurturing those discarded imbalances that were planted within you, they may one night grow up into a mighty beanstalk, leading you to treasures and adventures as yet unimagined.

Until we can learn to look directly in the eye of the thing we have been resisting and fighting against, appreciating every nuance and facet of it, all its strengths and weaknesses, we are unlikely to be freed of its controlling influence. Once we can truly befriend our nemesis, laughing with it at its unpredictable absurdity and weeping with it at its pain and grief, often we no longer want to be rid of it. Somehow, embracing all that imbalanced, destabilizing disorder we find within ourselves transforms it into an irreplaceable gift we had so-long been overlooking.

John Michael seems to dance along miraculously gracefully with his Asperger’s, despite its reputation for having two left feet. Be gentle with yourself and your "disorder" — you two are traveling together along this path for some reason. I wonder what that might be?

— Christophe

From: (Anonymous)

Hi JMG!

The conversation the last two weeks about not doing the LBRP in a forest got me thinking about the practical ethics of daily practice. (I'm just finishing up LRM, and as the world opens back up I'll presumably find myself staying places other than home from time to time.) Are there other situations you would avoid doing a daily practice that involved the LBRP? I assume hotels are fine? What about a friend's house? (Ask them first?)

If you're in a situation where the LBRP is inappropriate (say, camping in a forest), what would you do for daily practice during that time?

Thanks!
-Peter

From:

Generally the LBRP is fine in any human environment, though it's polite to ask a friend first before doing magical work in his home. As for practice while camping, where the energies are clean, you might try using the LIRP instead.

From: (Anonymous)

Makes sense, thanks.

From: (Anonymous)

Is it an explanation or concern for the etheric body to be weaker at some points of the body? My feet are always cold, and I get poor circulation there. Nothing physically medically wrong with me, afaik, so to be clear for legal purposes I'm not asking you for medical advice; but on the etheric level do I need to address something here?

From:

It's fairly common. Breathing exercises, and other forms of etheric practice, will take care of it.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks. Any specific practice you can recommend?

From: (Anonymous)

Seconded. I have had poor circulation for years, in spite of doing first Tai Chi and more recently MP breathing exercises. All advice gratefully received.

From:

Sure. Sit down and begin breathing slowly and calmly. Now imagine that when you breathe in, you're not just breathing through your nose or your lungs, but through every pore in your skin. Breathing out, ditto -- feel the air flowing out through each pore. If there's a part of your body that's unusually cold or weak, pay special attention to the breath flowing in and out through it Do this for five minutes a day. Once you can do it without a special effort, concentrate on the idea that when you're breathing in, you're breathing etheric energy into your body, and when you're breathing out, you're expelling blockages and toxins. (Imagine the blockages and toxins sinking downward once they're out of you, so you can breathe in fresh energy uncontaminated by them.)

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks. That's coming easily.

From: (Anonymous)

Many of the imbalances that we know beyond any shadow of a doubt we are experiencing but the medical establishment is blind to are disorders of our subtle bodies. Two of the most common types that end up manifesting in physical symptoms (like pain that moves around or poor circulation) are subtle parasites that attach to the astral and etheric bodies. We're all likely to have both types once we've made it out of childhood.

Typical astral parasites feed on imbalance and excrete even more imbalance. Given how balanced we start out, they would be terribly self-limiting if they couldn't sneak in other critters which feed on our natural balance while excreting imbalance for the astral parasites to feed on. Those other critters are your typical etheric parasites.

Most etheric parasites get dragged in by a hungry astral parasite and don't tend to stick around long after their protector gets booted out. So, working on either kind of parasite will end up resolving most of the etheric ones, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, if you leave the astral ones in place, they will attract new etheric ones to satisfy their craving for imbalance. Naturally, resolving the astral ones is more challenging than removing the etheric ones, but much more rebalancing in the long run.

The etheric and astral bodies overlay closely to the physical body in most waking states, so working out their imbalances will usually occur close to where the physical symptoms are in your physical body. But sometimes they just throw you for a loop! Like medical diagnosis, etheric diagnosis is more an art than a science. Always seek out a gifted practitioner with happy, healthy clients.

All parasites feed on one of your chakras (the points where your various bodies pass energy back and forth,) but they can on occasion do that from pretty far by using feeding tubes, just as they can deposit imbalance far from their actual attachment site. With cold feet, looking to the minor chakras of the thymus or the feet or to the major chakra of the heart seems reasonable. Once you know where the parasites are feeding from, you'll be that much closer to chasing them out the door. Before you go to bed, you can ask your etheric body to tell you through dream which chakra the parasite is feeding on. Writing your dreams in a journal can seriously help you to make sense of the imbalance and why you have it.

There are also other, rarer astral and etheric entities as well, but they don't tend to cause specific physical symptoms. Instead, their imbalances tend to manifest as personality, disposition, or energy disorders. So, count your blessings, because those are much harder to deal with than run-of-the-mill parasites!

— Christophe

From: (Anonymous)

Hello!

Over the years you made several comments about an ancient tradition that consisted of arranging marriages so as to increase the psychic powers of the offsprings. It appears that the timing of the marriage and the period of birth of the offsprings were also of importance in that respect.

(1) If the above is more or less correct, could it be that the birth of Jesus Christ was arranged in such a manner?

(2) And could it be that the persistent rumours of Jesus having offsprings that subsequently intermarried within european nobility with similar aims also be based on historical facts?

(3) Do you happen to know of any valid works on the above?

(4) Finally, some time ago, I came across a TV documentary that described an ancient Indian tradtition that went along very similar lines. Any thoughts?

I thank you in advance for your comments.

Regards

From:

1) That theory has been in circulation in some alternative-culture circles for about a century and a half. The claim that he was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier has been around a lot longer -- that's the story in the Toledot Yeshu, which was certainly around by the 9th century and may go back much further.

2) Those persistent rumors were manufactured in the very late 20th century by specific, readily identifiable people, who were riffing off Pierre Plantard's notorious "Prieure de Sion" hoax. (There's a nice summary of the hoax here.)

3) None that I'd consider reliable.

4) You'd have to ask someone with a background in Indian spirituality, which I don't have. The claim in some British occult circles is that there was such a tradition in very ancient times in a land area that drowned at the end of the last ice age, that survivors of the Sacred Clan (the group thus inbred) reached safety in Britain, and that's why the Celts have family lines in which "second sight" is common. Several attempts to do the same thing in modern times have taken place, without noticeable results; if that approach works, it probably takes centuries of careful breeding of precisely chosen bloodlines.

Edited (typos) Date: 2021-05-31 05:56 pm (UTC)

From:

Garth Ennis, a comics writer did a series called _Preacher_ which featured an organization (The Grail) that had been inbreeding the Jesus bloodline for generations. Their current product was an idiot-as one character says, roughly, "Holy blood or not, no good comes of marrying your sister." The main character is trying to locate God and call him to account for having messed up His creation and then deserted it and there are riffs on Western film tropes, including visions of John Wayne. Not for kids--much violence, irreverence and sex. But interesting. Did I mention there is also a blue collar Irish vampire? A lot of thoughts about redemption, revenge, regret.

Rita

From:

A thought occurred to me: perhaps the tales of a married Jesus and his continuing bloodline are what you get when you wed the common ancient myth of married divine siblings and the idea of gods incarnating as human beings?

From: (Anonymous)

3) I would take this a step further than JMG; you are essentially asking for one of the inner secrets to royal bloodlines... not the sort of thing that is going to end up in print. What you may notice is oblique references to it in other places that assume you are already familiar with the idea.

From:

robertmathiesen

Hmmm ... As a Medievalist, actual Royal "bloodlines" are a hot mess, and most Royal genealogies have far more to do with claims of legitimacy than with any real genetic inheritance. Those myths are powerful, but they lack any foundation in the material plane.

I suppose that this is the usual situation in any lineage that has amassed a lot of wealth and status over the centuries: it soon becomes a lineage of rogues, scoundrels and poltroons, and loses whatever nobility and wisdom its founder may once have had. Lord Acton's dictum and all that ...

From:

A not so secret fact about these royal bloodlines is just how inbred they are. Things like the Habsburg Jaw come to mind. Whatever occult powers, or other secrets, the original founders of these dynasties might have had, I'm guessing the genetics of these families isn't so healthy and powerful these days. That actually brings up a sort of bizarre question: could the frequent intermarriage between these European royal families be a factor in how many were eventually toppled? There must be an occult aspect to inbreeding, or so I would assume. In fact, I'm now rather curious about what occult aspects there are to reproduction, passing along occult traits to descendants, etc.

From:

Riffing off Robert's and Brenainn's replies, it occurs to me that if the royal and aristocratic houses of Europe had psychic powers, how come they walked face first into the buzzsaw of the First World War and its aftermath? Lots of people saw that coming, but the royal houses of Germany, Austria, Russia, and half a dozen other smaller countries, to say nothing of a vast number of aristocratic houses with royal blood in them, did precisely nothing to stave off a catastrophe that resulted in most of them losing their thrones, their wealth and (in a good many cases) their lives.

Edited (typo) Date: 2021-05-31 09:18 pm (UTC)

From:

To play devil's advocate here, the proposed theory is that these psychic powers were created by deliberate inbreeding. Since that tends to also interfere with brain function, with extensive inbreeding leading to some of the most spectacularly idiotic people in history (with many being European royalty), it's possible they managed to attain psychic powers at the cost of horrific stupidity. In other words, those of them who could see it coming were too stupid to know what do about it. Which actually fits really well with the universe's warped sense of humour: sure, your program to breed for psychic abilities worked, but at the cost of making those who can sense what's coming too dumb to do anything about it....

From:

Maybe that's what happened to Atlantis!

From:

goatgodschild

1) I have been told that the most important thing to do in meditation, what you should be working towards most of all, is to wholly clear your mind and to remove all thought and feeling. Once you clear your mind as instructed, however, I've never found any instruction of what to do after that -- mostly because there's an implication that no "lazy" Western mind will be able to achieve it, despite the fact I can. I've always been told that meditation is good because it's calming, but all that mind-clearing usually just leaves me tired and a bit confused why I did it in the first place. Are other ways to meditate available and/or preferable?

2) I do not know if I should engage with the Neopagan (Magic Resistance-y) circles I run in when they send off another list of things that we shouldn't say, do, or work with. For instance, they refer to ceremonial magic, particularly that of Crowley, as "ceremonial magickkk". Also that the Golden Dawn system shouldn't be used because it's racist, anti-Semitic, and created by rich people. Do I argue with them, or let them go into their own tailspins?

3) I hear the warning a lot that magic users, and people in general, should remember that they aren't special, and they should watch out for feeling like they're too capable or special, because if we're not careful, we'll become...disgusting, entitled, useless. While I understand that there is certainly the possibility of overestimating one's abilities, isn't it possible to go the other direction?

4) Can one have guides in different parts of traveling? For instance, when I put myself into the Tunnels, there is a weasel who guides me, while in other places, I am aided and guided by Pete (a grey horse), or the EarthThark.

5) What are preferable books to use in order to interpret one's natal chart? Most online sources seem to be extremely frothy in nature, and I am unsure how much to take seriously from them.

From:

1) That approach to meditation is far from the only one, and I don't recommend it to Western people. Discursive meditation, the standard approach in trad Western occultism, is more effective for most of us -- you can find instructions here (start from the bottom).

2) Oh, how special. ;-P The people who make those claims are either ignorant or lying, and I don't recommend engaging with them; those claims are good examplez of one of the less edifying traits of today's popular culture, the seething hatred of the lazy and incompetent for those who are willing to go their own way, work hard, and accomplish something significant with their lives. That said, there's a silver lining -- if they shun ceremonial magic, that leaves the potent traditional lore for those who have a clue.

3) Of course. The opposite of one bad idea is almost always another bad idea.

4) That's quite normal.

5) If you can get an old (pre-1980) copy of Llewellyn George's A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator, that's the one I recommend. (It's long out of copyright, btw, so some enterprising publisher could do worse than to reissue it...)

From:

randomactsofkarmasc

I found a copy of "A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator", 1969 edition, on Internet Archive: https://ia801602.us.archive.org/9/items/Book1969LiewellynAToZHoroscopeMakerAndDelineatorKPRedIt/Book_1969_Liewellyn_A%20To%20Z%20Horoscope%20Maker%20And%20Delineator_KP%20red%20it.pdf

Teal Comatose Kumquat

From:

Hi JMG

I found a scanned copy of the A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator online but there's a question that's been bothering me. Given the planets that have been discovered since it was written and are now active, how do we account for those differences?

Are the old ways still effective and accurate?

Is it a case of lean it as given and then learn to include the newer planets?

Thanks

From:

The old ways are still effective and accurate. The dwarf planets Pluto, Ceres, and Eris are minor factors in the horoscope.

From: (Anonymous)

Regarding the discursive meditation posts - https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/tag/discursive+meditation:

1. In the first post you say to put a chair in the area of the Sphere of Protection and the reason will be returned to later, but it's not mentioned again. What did you mean to say about that?

2. Does it make any difference what direction you face to meditate?

3. I learned a controlle breathing pattern that is six seconds in, six seconds out, with no breath hold. Would that have a different effect to fourfold breath?

4. How spcific is the palms on thighs position? For example would resting the outside of the forearms and hands on the thighs, or letting the hands overhang beween the legs make a difference?

5. Would it matter if the seat was a bit low so your knees were slightly above your hips? I can raise it up with pillows easily enough, but am curious whether it would matter.

6. What were some of the first subjects you meditated on? Are there any you particularly recommend as places to start? Conversely are there some subjects that won't make much sense until you've done other things first?

From:

1) Simply that your meditations will be clearer and less burdened with intrusive chatter if you do them in a banished space.

2) Some people find facing east useful.

3) Yes, it's different. Try the fourfold breath and see what results you get.

4) Yes, it makes a difference. Try it the way the instructions tell you.

5) Yes, it matters. I really don't put in those details on a whim, you know!

6) My first meditations were on the knowledge lectures of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as given in Regardie's book The Golden Dawn. As for where you should start, why, it depends on what interests you.

From: (Anonymous)

I'm looking over the CGD druid grade pathworking lecture. In the initial description of the ascent from Naf to Ner to Muner, it states that previous work has prepared the reader to make the ascent without a description of the path above Ner or the grove of Spirit. I know I have some meditation in my future, but was wondering whether the expectation is for the reader to meditate and build up an image of how such a path is "supposed" to look or whether the reader should instead focus meditation on the underlying concepts, colors, symbols, etc of Muner and allow the path and grove of Spirit to be stumbled across as they turn up in the pathworking itself without prior explicit expectation?

Is there something I should be looking for experientially when I finally get to the grove of Spirit? I'm realizing I picked up the bad habit towards the end of the Bardic grade of following the path until something like "It's been awhile, I feel like finding the grove now" popped up in the back of my head and near instantly there would be the gate into the grove. I'm afraid I'm going to dutifully wander about on the path a bit the first time and then second time decide it's time to check the box and get to Spirit without knowing whether or not I made the connection to Spirit which the book says is the point of the pathworking.

For that matter, should I have noticed something connecting during the bardic pathworkings? I did all of them as assigned, but I can't point to anything in particular clicking. Not sure if I'm focusing too much on checking the boxes, or if I just have the magical senses of a brick.

Also, if one is interested in exploring pathworking further, how does the CGD handle pathworkings on concepts other than the Tree of Life or Elements? Should that involve the groves or would it be more prudent to just imagine a trilithon above my physical altar with a drape of appropriate color and symbol call/test a guide and step through? Is the calling of an element integral to CGD pathworking in general or only done to relate to the groves? Just trying to figure out where the wires are and which not to cross.

From:

1) The latter is what I'd recommend.

2) And if you do that, you may be surprised at the results. I mean that quite seriously. Pathworking is as much a way of creating patterns on the astral as it is of experiencing patterns that already exist.

3) Don't worry about it. A lot of times it takes months or years before you can look back and see the effect such things have.

4) At that point you're on your own. Experiment and see what works for you!

From:

Hi JMG,
I’ve seen you say to others in a few posts that serious magical practice will bring up unresolved karmic issues rather quickly. If there’s a particular instance of unresolved karma you’re aware you have from a past life, and nothing in your present life seems to be pushing you (or even allowing you) to resolve it, is magical practice the only way to make sure it does become available to deal with? And if so, which magical practices would they be (even if I have to gradually work up to them)?

Thanks.

Edited Date: 2021-05-31 01:46 pm (UTC)

From: (Anonymous)

Not JMG, but from a buddhist perspective: if you become aware of something but can't resolve it, one of three things is happening. First possibility is that it isn't the biggest problem but it is relevant to what you should be working on. This basically means the unresolvable karma is connected to something that is either hidden or you aren't able to bring up to yourself. You may wish to meditate on it, and possibly consider what other work could be done that is only related to it. Second possibility is that it is actually severe enough that it will "hang" until you are able to deal with it. This usually means the karma will be intense enough that it will be highly disruptive or isn't easy to deal with without outside help. Third possibility, and this is an exercise for your own judgement, is that a delusion has set in and the mind has fixed upon some imagined past sin to avoid doing real initiatic work. In the second case, you can deal with it whenever is feels appropriate. The easiest way to set it off is to simply put your attention on it and try to communicate with it. Basically, "I am ready to attend to this now." Magic would force the issue sooner rather than later, but it isn't necessary to deal with suspended karma.

From:

Thanks for your reply.

It definitely feels like the second option, because I've felt the presence of this karma for the best part of a decade (and I'm young, so that's almost half my life so far), but it feels like circumstances have kept me trapped in a place where I can't resolve it. Like you said, it's not easy to deal with without outside help - in fact, I don't actually think that would be possible at all, considering the karma in question is specifically to do with another person.

From:

My take is that your higher self knows when it's appropriate for you to deal with a given piece of karma, and you don't. If it's not coming up in your life at this time, this may well not be the time for you to deal with it. Accept that, and go on with your life.

From:

True enough, but alternatively, it could be time to deal with it in the not too distant future, and perhaps my higher self is nudging me towards magical practice and occultism with this in mind - which is why I'm wondering what sort of magical practices are best suited to deal with this.

From:

Depends on the nature of the karma and the specific way it manifests in your life. Most karma can't be dealt with by magic -- you just have to face the experience, and cope.

From:

Okay, point taken. Perhaps coping and moving on is the karmic experience itself, in which case, do you think meditation would be helpful or might it just make it worse by dwelling on it?

Edited Date: 2021-05-31 07:32 pm (UTC)

From:

I'd suggest moving on. Again, if you're meant to tackle it, your higher self will make sure you do so.

From: (Anonymous)

Hi JMG !
I noticed over time that I was pretty sensitive to people's energy. If I spend some time with someone, their image and the feeling they give off crops up in my mind later and that can happen for some time. It can be annoying if there's a living arrangement involved, with, for instance, the arrival of a new roomate... Do you know of anything that could help to manage that kind of sensitivity to people ?

From:

Some people find that regular practice of a banishing ritual such as the Sphere of Protection helps that kind of oversensitivity. (You can find instructions here.) But one way or another, if you're a sensitive, you'll have to deal with some level of that for the rest of this incarnation.

From: (Anonymous)

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of spiritual background/practices do you have? That would heavily shape the available tools.

When their image-feeling (This is sometimes called a Persona) appears in your mind, try putting your attention on it, then consciously allow it to fade. This same technique is used in the SoP, so that should be good practice.

From: (Anonymous)

Hi JMG,

When I am doing the Cabbalistic Cross and am imagining myself growing to the immense size of Adam Kadmon am I engaging in a form of astral projection?

Should I be expecting to eventually be able to see into the apartments upstairs and should I be literally seeing the surface of the moon etc? I have been doing it for 6 months now and it still feels mostly like it is “just” in my imagination...

Many thanks

From:

Not really. Just imagine it, and don't worry about seeing the apartment above yours.

From: (Anonymous)

Do you know of any reason why some people advocate pronouncing AGLA in full as Attah Gibbor Le-Olam Adonai when doing the LBRP?. Are their any benfits/detrimental effects on the ritual from doing it this way? Also, do we actually know what the original members of the Golden Dawn did?

From:

As Robert Heinlein has one of his characters say, some people insist on pissing in their coffee because they think it improves the flavor. There are all kinds of people ringing all kinds of changes on the LBRP or, well, any other magical practice you can think of, since our culture fetishizes originality and making little tinkering motions like that is a way of pretending to be original. It doesn't seem to do a lot of harm, but it doesn't do any good. Yes, we know what the original members of the Golden Dawn did; here's an online copy of the first knowledge lecture, word for word as it appears in copies given to the original members. (I've checked.) The LBRP instructions are toward the bottom.

From: (Anonymous)

I would add one thing to our esteemed host's assessment.

While I am not a proper ceremonial magician, I did spend some time studying the Cabala and spent some time discussing something similar to this with a Rabbi. The acronyms were chosen as much for sound as for their meaning. Secondly, many of the expansions are more theoretical than actual; they usually encapsulate parts of the meaning but aren't identical, and sometimes not even comparable.

Most of the formulae feel very different when used alone versus expanded. ARARITA is the only one I know of that seems to benefit from the expansion. AMEN & AGLA most emphatically aren't.

To quote Rabbi Weisse: When somebody says that a certain word actually stands for this or that, smile and walk away slowly; at least if their tongue isn't firmly in their cheek.

From: (Anonymous)

These are probably the same kind of people that put "Répondez s'il vous plaît" on their invitations, and usually misspell the first word as "Respondez". :D

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that a Word of Power like AGLA that has been used in that form for centuries is a meaningful word in and of itself. It's nice to know where it comes from, but actually using the full phrase in practice strikes me as silly as insisting on saying "radio detecting and ranging" instead of "radar", or "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus diver" for "scuba diver".

Taupe O. Raccoon

From:

stcathalexandria

Good morning and happy Magic Monday!

Thank you again for reassuring me that if I stuck with the MP exercise, I'd deal with the waves of heat I was experiencing. They got worse for3-4 days after I posted two weeks ago, and then gradually better. What I finally remembered is the comments here about polyester fleece trapping in the etheric body and I was wearing a fleece jacket while doing the MP. I switched to all cotton clothing and not only had better results during the practice but also one night of relief from the heat wave. (It came back again but less severe each night and last night it was gone again.)

I'm so conditioned by a world that hits me over the head with actions and results that its been interesting have to really pay attention to subtle changes during this whole period. Recording the experience has been so essential too.

This experience has also made me wonder about the impact of coffee on magical practices. I feel like I'm getting the message to cut back on it. What kind of impact does coffee have in this work? Is it considering a mind-altering substance?

From:

1) Hmm! Interesting. I dislike polyester -- it always feels like I'm smearing myself with crude oil when I wear it -- so I didn't think of that.

2) Coffee is indeed a mind-altering substance. It's fairly mild as such things go, but if you get the sense that you're using too much of it, consider cutting back. If you've become accustomed to the caffeine, you might try tea -- that's very widely used among people and cultures that do a lot of meditation and spiritual practice. One magical lodge ritual from the mid-20th century I have assigns the officer in charge of the element of water the task of making tea for everyone after the lodge meeting's over! Yes, it's from England -- why do you ask? ;-)

From:

stcathalexandria

1) I was at the point of trying anything and maybe its just a coincidence that the energy balanced out at the same time I switched my clothing.
2) Over the last month of doing the MP first expansion I've become more and more awake/aware. Hard to describe but I have a feeling you know what I mean ;-)

I've been noting in my journal that one of my habitual ways of being is to get myself revved up with a certain level of anxiety in order to take action. I can tell this is a remnant of public schooling and the constant atmosphere of both boredom and anxiety occurring at the same time. Being aware of this state of being I can choose to drop it and see what is like to be with what and who is around me instead.

It's been an interesting journey the past 8 months doing LRM. I'm experiencing things in my internal world that I've never heard described anywhere out in the common self improvement literature. I'm curious for what comes next.

From: (Anonymous)

One way I cut back on coffee was to get an aeropress, a hand grinder, and only buy the good stuff. Grinding beans actually helps me prepare for meditation, as the circular motion reminds me of the Cosmic Doctrine. Of course I live in part of the world where excellent coffee is grown so that definitely helps.

From: (Anonymous)

1. Can experienced practitioners in magic sense events happen on the astral plane? Kind of like sensing 'a disturbance in the Force' as in Star Wars? Say there is a natural disaster, or a plane crash - is this something that can be sensed?

2. Do you, or anyone else, know where I might be able to buy large prints or posters of the types of images you use for Magic Mondays, like the Robert Fludd images? I'd love to have some of these for the walls of my room.

From:

1) Sometimes, yes. I know a number of people who had precognitive dreams and visions in advance of 9/11.

2) I wish I did. Anyone else?

From:

sdi

Last year, Magic Mondays were headed with J. A. Knapp's paintings for The Secret Teachings of All Ages. The Philosophical Research Society sells prints of these in their online store.

From: (Anonymous)

Oh, wonderful, thank you for that!!

From: (Anonymous)

I know there is a Dover book on Robert Fludd's images. It's an oversized book. I know this because I procrastinated from getting it at Half Priced Books and when I went back it was gone.

Jon
tangerine tangential cactus

From: (Anonymous)

First, i would like to thank you for your Archdruid Report blog, without it i would never have the respect for you and your idea that i do and i would never have follow you to ecosophia.

Couple years back if someone would have suggest to me to draw figure mid-air and imagine color i would have suggest they wear a straight-jacket. Now i'm doing it everyday and i'm glad i do.

Many thanks for the magical concept you have introduced to me and for this space, they have changed my life in very unexpected way.

I've been praticing SoP, the version presented on this site, for about 7 months now, i bought DMH and just started praticing ogham and discursive meditation. For my first question, i've had pain in my left leg right below the knee while doing SoP, i eliminate all others options i can think of, it really seem SoP is the cause of it somehow. Flare up during the exercise and slowly disappear to nothing half an hour or so after. The stronger the SoP, the stronger the pain to the point i stop doing it for the last couple days. I try to think my way through this one but im stuck on what it's mean or what i should do.

For my next question, i realize that doing SoP in a forest is very different that from my appartement. The last stage i can't push the light very far, its stay close to my body and walled from going further. My reflection on it seem to point to the facts that i expect SoP to be stronger in the forest. I try it at home
and SoP seem to be lot stronger when i expect it to be, but there is more to it than that, but i can't seem to figure out what is it.

Forgive my english as its not my native language and if these question has been asked and answer before i couldn't find them.
Thanks for any advice.

From:

1) You might see if a massage therapist or an acupuncturist can help you. That sounds like an energy blockage in the leg.

2) Good! Keep practicing and pay attention to the differences in how strong the energies feel and how far they reach. That's part of the process of awakening your inner senses.

From: (Anonymous)

Do you have an opinion on the work of Jean Dubuis? I'm specifically thinking about the study courses (notably the one on Qabalah) that he created for the Philosophers of Nature. Are they worth studying?

From:

I worked through his Fundamentals of Esoteric Knowledge and Spagyrics courses with very good results and I would recommend Dubuis' work to anyone. Under the terms of his will, they're now avaiable free of charge here, which I thought was very generous of him.

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