Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just past 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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With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

[d_mekel]

I had a very odd experience this weekend. No magic, or intentional at least, was being done. I was in fact sleeping very deeply. Our dog starts barking at something very early in the morning. I snap out of a deep sleep and see a completely solid figure next to my wife's side of the bed. I do a double take and it is still there. Plain as day. It appears to be solid. The figure was probably 7 feet tall, featureless, and mainly the color red with gray swirled. Another odd point was my wife heard speaking in another language before the dog barked.

I didn't feel anything threatening about the figure. I was more so curious to get back to sleep to see if I could find out more since I could see it with my eyes open and closed. Could this have been something from the Astral plane? Why was it so close and what could it have been The?

The extent of my magic practices has only gone as far as pentagram and hexagram rituals as well as the middle pillar.

[ecosophia]

Interesting. These things happen, but it's often hard to tell what they are. Probably a spirit of some kind, but I can't tell you what kind.

[(Anonymous)]

Why are hoodoo baths done weekly and banishing rituals daily?

[ecosophia]

Because the material plane is slower to change than the astral plane, so the effect of the (material) hoodoo bath lasts longer. You can do it more often if conditions are bad enough to require it.

[(Anonymous)]

In the film Final Destination a group of teenagers cheat death when they get off a plane that was about to explode. From then on incresingly dangerous things happen around them as death tries to claim its due. In the real world can any forces or powers turn someone into a walking disaster area like that?

[ecosophia]

Not really. The closest equivalent is that an emotionally conflicted teenager who's going through puberty can cause destructive poltergeist effects around them. Well, and there are also people who spend so much time brooding over malicious thoughts that nasty things happen to people around them -- the word "witch," before it was borrowed by feminists around 1900, used to be used for such people.

[(Anonymous)]

- Do you have any advice if I'm the type of person who relatively easily understands knowledge intellectually, but has trouble putting it into practice when it comes to applying this knowledge to everyday life? I have been helped greatly through my studies of the occult, daily ritual and meditation. But the learnings from this fly right out the window in my social interactions, or at work, for example. Very often in the heat of the moment, all the knowledge that would help guide me seems to be forgotten, and I respond to a situation blindly.

- I had a conversation with a close relative this weekend which is a long-running conversation I've had with him for years. He is filled with great bitterness about "humanity's treatment of the environment and the dying planet", and likely has depression. It's to the point where he now thinks there should be a divide between types of people: those who are "conscious" and those who aren't. By conscious he means aware of their connectedness to the whole of nature. He also doesn't believe that he has the capacity for evil, that he doesn't have a dark side.

I gently reminded him, which I do every time we have these conversations, that very rarely do people think that they do have such a dark side, that he should look to his own lifestyle to make environmental changes (he's firmly in the upper middle class), and that in a complex universe, it is impossible for humans to understand it, and therefore claims of superior consciousness are relative, all that one can do is have a sense of humility in the face of this unknowable cosmos. I sometimes sort of poke through, but the fact that he keeps repeating the same arguments each time we meet shows that something else is at work, reasoning with him isn't working.

I'm not sure how to help him, and whether he can even be helped. He doesn't know I pursue occult studies, so I have been carefully and subtly also trying to point him in that direction, as it sounds like he could use some kind of spiritual path. Do you have any advice?

- Lastly, in the same conversation, one of the points I gently touched on was reincarnation. He dismissed the idea of reincarnation as being 'the ego's desire for continuity and perpetuation through eternity' (I paraphrase). I couldn't go on to explain that in my understanding of reincarnation, based on the Druid Revival teachings, is that the ego/personality vanishes after death, so his point is moot. However, he did make me ponder the point further. Have you run into this line of thinking before?

Thanks again!

[ecosophia]

1) This is very common. You're changing habits that you've spent a lifetime building, and that your society has spent that same lifetime pressing on you. Be patient with yourself and do what you can, when you can.

2) When you see someone getting all bent out of shape about the awful things those awful people over there are doing, while denying any evil at all in himself, you're seeing what Jung called "projection of the Shadow." Your relative doesn't want to deal with the mismatch between his behavior and his ideals, and so projects that onto other people, convincing himself that they're bad so that he can feel virtuous by comparison. People who get into Shadow projection typically have deep emotional investment in it and can't be talked out of it, since that would require them to face up to their own failure to live up to their ideals. Until and unless he's ready to grow up, there's not much you can do.

3) It's quite common. In my experience, at least, it usually covers over the ego's desire not to have to continue, and thus not to have to deal with the consequences of its actions...

[(Anonymous)]

There have been questions about whether particular banishing rituals are appropriate in natural environments, sacred spaces, places that already have a good vibe. Should you try to communicate with a ghost before banishing? Can you bring it all together and say when banishing rituals are inappropriate, and when only certain types should be used.

Also the same question for natural magic. Are there times hoodoo floor washes, salt jars, vinegar bowls, and wearing red bag amulets would be bad ideas?

[ecosophia]

That's one of those things that depends on circumstances. In my experience you can do the Sphere of Protection just about anywhere, since it only banishes those things you specifically call on it to banish. The LBRP is more potent and more "spiky," and should only be used when you know it's okay to scrub the area clean. Divination is a good way to check this.

As for hoodoo methods, well, presumably you're not going to walk into someone else's house and start mopping the floor! Mopping the ground in a forest is also not exactly an option. ;-) Use them in your own spaces and to protect your own self, and you'll be fine.

Precession of the Equinoxes

[cs2]

If I am reading the wheel correctly that you posted a few weeks ago...we are on the cusp between Pisces and Aquarius, but that means we still haven't seen the worst of it in terms of distance from the gods. The entire Aquarius age will be getting worse, and only once it switches into Capricorn will it finally peak and start getting better. Is that correct? If we're 2000 years out from Capricorn, and we've already got rampant atheism and even more rampant spiritual disconnect and blind faith, seriously, how much worse could it get?

Re: Precession of the Equinoxes

[ecosophia]

No, the cusp was back in 1879. We're more than a century into the Aquarian age, and nothing I know of suggests that it'll get worse from here on in -- just that we've got more than 4000 years to learn how to function under the harsh rule of Saturn.

As for rampant atheism, blind faith, etc., that's a normal part of this phase of the historical cycle -- check out the late classical Pagan religious scene sometime. We'll get over it.

Effects of the Devouring Mother on the subtle bodies

[cs2]

If a person (me) grew up in a hoarder house trapped with a Devouring Mother archetype, could that have lasting effects on the subtle bodies, and if so, what does that look like and how should I address them? The house definitely drained me; it was terrible! I escaped as soon as I came of age.

I've worked through the emotional hangups regarding all this. It's been many years and I've had lots of therapy, plus journaling and talking with two other friends who dealt with a similar experience. Very firm boundaries are in place: I'm on the other side of the world now and we only communicate through text messages, all on my terms. Her voice no longer lives in my head. If I've worked through all this, do you think I've solved any subtle body issues? Thank you for your time.

Re: Effects of the Devouring Mother on the subtle bodies

[ecosophia]

If you've gotten that far, you should be fine.

Tamanous Spirits and Jesii

[brenainn]

I continue to ponder many of the things you wrote in “The King in Orange.” One thing that has been on my mind quite a bit is the tamanous spirit that you discussed. I now wonder what connection there might be between this general spirit in the North American continent and the many Jesii that seem to make themselves known to American Christians and non-Christians. As I reflect on my personal spiritual journey, I’m certain that my tamanous is one of the Jesii.

I’m considering suspending, for an indefinite period, my dulia-worship of other divine and spiritual powers (including the Saints at this time) and focusing on trying to understand my personal Jesus a bit better. I’ve become concerned by a pattern that I’ve discerned in my life: one is the presence of a loving, compassionate Jesus that brings me peace and joy; the other is the presence of a Jesus that causes anxiety, fear, and depression. The theory of Jesii seems to explain this: I am in contact with a divine Jesus and a demonic entity that goes by the same name. Right now, I’m working on expelling this demonic presence from my life.

1. I plan to use discursive meditation and Biblical stichomancy to begin to understand my personal Jesus better. In both cases, I’ll focus on the four canonical gospels for my practices. Do you think this is a worthwhile approach and what, if anything, might you add to it?

2. My attempts to banish this demonic influence from my life will mostly focus on the LBRP, Hoodoo mopping my house, cold showers, burning incense, and leaving shallow dishes of vinegar in each room of my house. As a last ditch effort, if all else fails, I’ll burn some asafoetida and make a formal request to the Church for an exorcism. Is there anything else you might recommend?

3. Do you think the Gods that I’ve been offering prayer and incense to will be offended if I suspend those actions as part of my discernment process?

Re: Tamanous Spirits and Jesii

[ecosophia]

1) I'm hardly a specialist in Christianity, but it sounds good to me.

2) That sounds pretty robust to me. Does your church make holy water available? That might be worth adding.

3) Talk to them. Explain the situation to them. If it's not done casually it shouldn't be a problem.

Christian "Lord's Prayer"

[(Anonymous)]

I've noticed that the Lord's Prayer doesn't name any divinity. Does that mean it's like talking into the telephone without having dialed a number? My family used to say a brief table grace before meals, always ending in "In Jesus' name we pray, Amen." I've gone back to saying the table grace, but haven't been able to bring myself to add "In Jesus' name...."

Thanks,
Perplexed

Re: Christian "Lord's Prayer"

[ecosophia]

It does indeed name a divinity -- or, rather, use a title for one: "Our Father." Jesus constantly referred to God as Abba, "father." It's quite common in traditional religions to refer to gods by titles rather than by names, so when you say those first two words, you're connecting to the divine energy Jesus invoked. (Not least because he wrote the prayer.)

Mage v. Mystic

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG. For awhile now I have been pondering a question that has appeared on this forum before—the difference between a mage and a mystic. The last time I recall seeing this topic discussed here, there was no definitive answer to the question. Perhaps I missed it. Anyway, after thinking more about it since then, the conclusion I have come to is that a mage is one who, through various practices, attempts to change consciousness according to the self’s (i.e., mage’s own) will, whereas a mystic, through various practices, attempts to change consciousness in accordance with a deity’s (i.e., divine) will. Am I on the right track here? Thanks.

Re: Mage v. Mystic

[ecosophia]

No, not really. Many mages work very closely with deities.

The difference between the mage and the mystic is the direction in which energy moves. In all things there's a current of energy that descends from the divine into manifestation, and a current of energy that ascends from manifestation toward the divine. The mage works with the descending current, bringing forces down from the divine into manifestation, and if he knows what's he's doing, he uses divination and other means to do so in harmony with the divine purpose. The mystic works with the ascending current, aspiring upwards toward a personal union with the divine and carrying part of the karma of humanity with him.

Recurring Tarot card

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

Do you have suggestions for what one can do when having difficulty figuring out the meaning of a recurring Tarot card?

For the past few weeks, in my daily 2-card reading I've drawn the Knight of Wands multiple times, always the first card, usually with a Pentacles card. After taking a one-week Tarot break to "clear the air," I again pulled the Knight of Wands on successive days.

I'm aware of the traditional interpretations, I've spent time contemplating the card, I've pulled clarifying cards, but I'm not getting how it relates to my life--and I'm feeling quite dense about my inability to figure this out.

Any suggestions on what I could do to clarify this? FWIW, my spiritual practice consists of daily devotions to the planetary archangels.

-Thank you

Re: Recurring Tarot card

[open_space]

Have you tried using the Knight of Wands as a significator? That's what I do and seems to be work in order to zoom in into a reading.

Inner Guide Meditation

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I am wondering if you are familiar with Edwin C. Steinbrecher and his book 'The Inner Guide Meditation' and the technique he describes for doing inner pathworking as a way of working toward self-improvement? His method of using one's horoscope along with the Tarot archetypes to identify areas of the self to work with seems interesting. If you are familiar with his work, do you believe it to be a safe method?

As always, thanks so much for everything you do:)

Re: Inner Guide Meditation

[ecosophia]

I've never worked with it, though I know people who have, and they seem to have gotten good results from it.

restrictions at work

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

Last week I asked you about doing a magical working to help make it so I wouldn't have to wear a mask or get frequently tested at my teaching job if I don't get the jab. Thanks for your suggestion to make a talisman of Jupiter.

I have one more question--about how to best formulate my intention statement. My understanding is that magical intents should be phrased as positives, but what I am thinking is the following: I do not want to be mandated to wear a mask or take regular covid tests at my job even if I don't get the vaccine. I am wondering if you could help me find a way to phrase/articulate this intention more positively (or if you think it's fine as it is).

Also, due to scale, I plan to focus on my small school district as opposed to the state policy as a whole.

Thank you,
Desiree

Re: restrictions at work

[ecosophia]

What you want can be framed positively, and in a manner appropriate to Jupiter, as freedom. You might ask something like this: "my intention is that I shall be free from mask requirements, covid tests, and all other restrictions due to my unvaccinated status, without receiving the vaccine or giving up my job and without causing harm to any being."

How does that work for you?

More newbie questions

[joyfullyuseless]

Good morning, dear JMG,

First of all, many happy returns of the day! I'm enormously grateful for the light and wisdom you have brought into this world, and would like to raise a toast to your health. Viva!

My first question concerns LRM. I've been stuck on week five for a while for a variety of reasons (although I'm quite regular with the daily exercises), but my question pertains to the books we're supposed to read during the course: do we need to perform the exercises in those books as well? I've started with Butler's The Magician: His Training and Work, and have reached the point at which he starts prescribing exercises. I'm assuming we don't need to do those exercises, but I'd like to be sure that this is indeed the case.

My second question relates to the metaphysics of sex. Like many men of my generation, I've been a consumer of pornography and a somewhat regular masturbator. All of this changed at the start of this year, when I gave up masturbation and pornography entirely (I credit the LRM course for this, among other things). However, I also haven't had a sexual partner for more than a year now, and am wondering whether this lack of release (almost exactly six months now) will at some time begin to have an adverse effect, either physical or otherwise. I saved one of your comments from the other site about an exercise to release pent-up sexual energy:

"... sit down on a chair far enough forward that your back doesn’t touch the chair back, hands on knees, spine straight but not stiff. Breathe slowly and rhythmically for a while. Then imagine a channel that runs up the midline of your body, forward of the spine, from your perineum (the area between your genitals and your anus) straight up to the crown of your head. Spend a while relaxing that channel. Then imagine the excess sexual energy as golden light, rising up the channel until it fountains out through the top of your head and streams out and down through your aura, energizing and invigorating it. Keep up the visualization as long as it seems helpful, being sure to keep the channel relaxed — this helps keep blockages from happening."

I wonder whether this would be enough to keep me from developing physical or other problems.

Thank you once again, and please accept my blessings.

Re: More newbie questions

[ecosophia]

1) No, you don't have to do the exercises in the books you read! Start lesson 6 today. Don't let yourself get stuck -- that's a choice, and you can choose otherwise.

2) Yes, that's exactly that that exercise is for.

Magic discipline and physical disablities

[(Anonymous)]

I bought "Learning Ritual Magic" with the hope of catching up on the disciplines that were not a large part of my decades-ago training, and have a question about the relaxation exercise.

I can lie down on the floor, if next to a frame I can haul myself back up on, but it's difficult and chancy. The bed is a perfect height, but, of course, soft. I've thought of buying the sort of mat that you used to see in every kindergarten, to put on top of the bed for a firmer surface. Would that work? I'm sure a massage table would also work, but have no room for one.

I also have a badly curved spine, with a classic "dowager's hump" that essentially comes to what feels like a single vertebra at its peak. Having rested my back against it in some chairs, I know that would be painful. Is this a deal-killer, or should one go one with it anyway? I know - my massage therapist has repeatedly pointed out - that I carry a lot of tension in my back, neck, and shoulders - which I hope might yield to this exercise as well as it being good for me in other ways.

Thanks,

A crone's crone

Re: Magic discipline and physical disablities

[ecosophia]

The instructions in the book were written for people without physical difficulties or the ordinary problems of old age, and should be modified accordingly if you've got a disability like a curved spine. (If I were writing it now I'd include something to that effect.) The point of lying on the floor is to make you aware of where you're tense, and I doubt you have any trouble figuring that out! You can simply do the exercise on your bed.

Divination

[(Anonymous)]

I've been at it w/ daily tarot divination for a few months now. I'm *definitely* still getting the hang of it, but it's starting to be insightful. There's life questions I want to divine (sp?) for, but it seems premature to do that :D. What's the correct progression here? Start with small questions that are of little consequence? And just keep up the daily divination?

Thank you, as always JMG!

Phosphorescent Flummoxed Yak

Re: Divination

[ecosophia]

Certainly keep up the daily divination, but yes, if you're feeling like doing other divinations, go for it. Small questions are probably wisest at first.

-- Lavender Pestilent Griffin

Expired orders

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone know of an active branch of the Fraternity of the Magi? They no longer seem to have a web presence. Also was wondering if anyone was still involved with the Ordo Arcanorum Gradalis which, IMS, was started in the 90's. Also no web presence to speak of and I vaguely remember hearing that Shadwynn went back to being Catholic... but was wondering if anyone carried on with it personally and figured this would be a good place to ask. Thanks.

Happy Birthday to our kind host! I'll lift a tankard of Russian imperial stout in your honor-as soon as I can get my hands on one...

Re: Expired orders

[ecosophia]

The only organization I know of that's descended from the Fraternity of the Magi is the International Association of Cardology, which teaches Olney Richmond's system of divination and philosophy. If there's anything left of the OAG I haven't heard of it. Sorry!

[mrwhite105]

Happy birthday JMG! I hope you're having a blessed day.

I was wondering what rituals/practices I should do once I'm confident in the LRP, SoP and Middle Pillar Exercise and have been practicing them for a few weeks. In your opinion, what's the best thing to move onto next? In the books I've been reading, it doesn't seem clear if there's a particular sequence of rituals I should follow.

Thanks.

[ecosophia]

The next thing to learn is how to open and close a temple. Once you can do that, start learning the more advanced pentagram and hexagram rituals, and then move on to the basics of practical magic.

[cutekitten]

Happy birthday! 🎂

[ecosophia]

Thank you.

Maybe can't be answered in the "Now"

[degringolade]

I have been spending time over at Hermitix, I kinda blame you because I originally went over there due to your prompting. Thank you.

The most interesting one I have heard lately is this one:

https://hermitix.podiant.co/e/the-myth-of-disenchantment-with-jason-josephson-storm-398f15384f97c6/

If you have a chance in the next month or so, I would love to hear your take on it. I don't think he is completely correct, but he has some "thinkable" points. Sure got me a pondering.

Thanks again

Re: Maybe can't be answered in the "Now"

[ecosophia]

Storm does indeed have some interesting ideas; I've addressed some of them here.

[(Anonymous)]

If I remember correctly it’s your birthday today, in which case Happy Magic Monday Birthday!

I had wanted to congratulate you for surviving your second Saturn return, but I see that he’s got a couple more passes before he’s finally done with you in December. So, whatever’s going on in your life, I hope it’s not causing you too much trouble.

Stephen Arroyo in his books says it’s the proximity of the station that determines how strongly you will notice the return and that has been my experience, too. Saturn’s next station will be on October 10, at about five degrees from your Saturn and so not so strong, still maybe you should avoid walking under any ladders on that day ;)

[ecosophia]

Thank you. Saturn and I get along very well, as he's well dignified in my natal chart and trine my natal Sun and Mercury; both my Saturn returns so far have been preceded by a sharp disappointment, due to other Saturn transits, but once Saturn settles into the vicinity of his place in my natal chart, things stabilize and clarify, and I spend a lot of time assessing my life so far and preparing to launch in new and interesting directions. So I'm not too worried!

Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

[casmith]

JMG:

I am working with "Learning Ritual Magic" and am on lesson 3. The LBRP does not feel right to me, I think because of the Christian symbolism. So,

(1) is there a version that uses the Hellenic gods? I am praying and making offerings to Athena and sense that the gods I follow are the ones I should be calling upon. Conversely, it feels weird to invoke the Christian god and his angels for protection when I do not pray and make offerings to them.

(2) But I also want to stick with the lessons as written until I have a far better idea of what I am doing (i.e. at least completing the whole course).

What is your advice? Should I continue with the LBRP as written during the course, or should I use a version that calls upon the Hellenic gods? And if I should switch, is there a Hellenic LBRP you recommend?

Re: Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

[ecosophia]

I'd encourage you to finish the course as written -- treat it as an opportunity to develop strength of will by doing something you don't especially like. Once you've finished it, assess your options and consider doing a Hellenic version of the rituals instead.

[violetcabra]

Happy birthday, JMG!

Is it so?

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks Violet, did not know.

Congratulations JMG. Best wishes to you and yours!!!

Thank you and...

[(Anonymous)]

...happy birthday!

May it be magical in the very best sense of the word you can imagine.

Markéta

[robertmathiesen]

Happy Birthday, John Michael, and best wishes to you and Sara for the coming year! Elva and I will drink to good health for the both of you tonight at dinner.

[ecosophia]

Thank you all!