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.

The illustration? One of the famous Rosicrucian emblems of Daniel Cramer. The Latin word on top means "I increase," and the heart -- there is always a heart at the center of Cramer's emblems -- bears three stalks of wheat and is surrounded by flourishing vegetables.  The idea is that the heart made soft through the experiences of stage 1 (shown in last week's Magic Monday) now becomes nourishing and productive. 

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!***


***Update: It's Tuesday afternoon and I have people still trying to post questions. Any time after midnight Monday, IT'S TOO LATE. Please pay attention!***

Comments

[gullindagan]

Hello JMG,
I've decided to make another dreamwidth account to talk about the Heathen Golden Dawn, as I'd still like to be relatively anonymous for the moment, and it can be a little confusing with multiple anonymous posters.
1. So, in regards to the Heathen Temple Opening and Closing, as I've been practicing the basic Polytheist one you've already published, I've only amended that slightly.
I can write it up step by step if you approve, but it starts by saying "in the name of the Aesir and Vanir", when I purify with water I say "Let this temple and all within it be purified with the blood of Ymir" and when I consecrate with fire I say "Let this temple and all within it be consecrated by the sparks of Muspell." And with the water, I sprinkle it in the sign of the hammer, and I make the sign of the hammer with the incense too. I originally wanted to invoke the waters of Hvergelmir and the fire of Muspellheim, but got a negative reading from the runes. The blood of Ymir and the sparks of Muspell are what the Gods used to create this world, but the primal spring and the primal fire themselves are probably too much for the human world. 

Then, I only circumambulate 3 times instead of 4. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.
Does that sound alright?
2. So I found out that, even though the copy of Havamal that I saw the word was spelled "Ginregin", it's actually more appropriately spelled "Ginnregin", which has 9 letters. Yeah, "Ginregin" has 8. I counted it several times when I was working on the hexagram ritual, but somehow missed that. I felt very very stupid for a while, then asked the gods and the runes what to do, and the runes said basically that I should stick with the hexagram ritual,  and use "Ginnregin", at least for the time being-  In heathenry, 9 letters is not insignificant, and the way the word sounds is also very powerful. What is your advice? I asked a friend who is a old norse specialist about possible 7 letter words for all the gods and found one or two, but they don't have the ring.

3. In general, how much would you use divination in working on a system like this? Would you run everything by divination, or more just use reason to see how things fit together? What if something fits together really well on many levels but the divination wasn't favorable? How often is divination wrong?
4. I have been thinking alot about an Enneagram ritual, for the obvious 9 symbolism, do you think that could be a useful addition to this system?

5. I also realized that this is kind of a huge project, and got a little overwhelmed, realizing that I need to get more serious than I have been about studying. I feel a little daunted, but also feel like I am capable of doing this. I'm also really excited and have lots and lots of ideas.

[ecosophia]

1) This sounds great.

2) Use it. It has a good sound and vibrates well, and since the original spelling didn't have seven letters either, nine isn't that big a deal.

3) I tend to use divination only when I really need it -- say, when I have two alternatives and can't choose between them. A combination of intuition and systematic field testing does just as well.

4) What are the nine powers you would invoke with it?

5) Excellent. Go for it.

Rain Appreciation

[(Anonymous)]

What is your opinion on burnt offerings? I am not inclined to the practice… but perhaps I am missing something.

We have some spare ram lambs, which has me thinking about a sacrificial pyre. The Gods I want to thank most right now are the ones promoting the current rain. It seems to me a burnt offering would be offensive, and instead I should plant some broad-leafs with an Exuberant “Thank You” to the Spirits.

Anyway, Thank You for this space and your thoughts,
- Teal Ludicrous Aardvark

Re: Rain Appreciation

[ecosophia]

Burnt offerings were appropriate in the astrological Age of Aries, which was ruled by fire. They're not appropriate now. Plant those broad-leafs and thank the gods and spirits, and you'll be fine. Meanwhile, one of those ram lambs would make a nice barbecue...

Lamp Update, Affirmation vs Prayer, Cross-Checking Divination, Iron Watch, Tinne

[jprussell]

Hello and thank you as always for sharing your knowledge and providing this forum.

A quick update, especially for open_space: I found a lovely ceramic oil lamp and am going to give it a try this week in place of candles for daily prayer. I'll be experimenting with different oils, using tissue paper to tint the color of the light, and possibly with adding essential oils to the lamp oil, and I'll share how it goes here.

Questions:
1. A question on affirmations vs prayer, with a bit of set up to make clear: some time back, I distilled various sources meaningful to me into 9 virtues. Recently, with some very helpful guidance from Pagan Prayer Beads, I made a pocket set of prayer beads to call on a different deity for each virtue, with the goal of better living up to these virtues day-to-day. Here's the question: for writing the prayer, should I follow the advice for affirmations (short, simple, present-tense)? As an example to make things clearer, would it be better to pray something like "Heimdall, Watchful Warder, please teach me to have Grit" or "Heimdall, Watchful Warder, from you I learn Grit"?
2. Does it mess up learning one divination method to "cross-check" an answer by asking the same question of a better-understood method?
3. Is it helpful or appropriate to use discursive meditation to think through non-spiritual matters, or might that foul up the channels being opened for spiritual work?
4. I usually wear a watch with a stainless steel body and band - should I take it off when doing magic due to iron's etheric "shorting" qualities?
5. Over the course of one week (the Wednesday before last to last Wednesday), I drew Tinne four times in various positions for my daily divination (3 times reversed, once upright). Other than that I should be meditating more on conflict/challenge/balance/building skill, is there a wider trend than the daily significance I should be understanding here?

Thanks much,
Jeff

Re: Lamp Update, Affirmation vs Prayer, Cross-Checking Divination, Iron Watch, Tinne

[ecosophia]

1) Prayers and affirmations are not the same thing. In a prayer you're speaking to an actual conscious being; phrase it accordingly.

2) It can. It also shows distrust, which is not helpful.

3) Now and again it's not harmful, but it's not a good idea to make a habit of it -- one of the goals of meditation is to shift the focus of your mind to the spiritual.

4) Yes.

5) Just that it was something you really needed to pay attention to last week!

[reid_pnw]

JMG,

Thank you for the advice on cleansing that old sample deck that I got last week. I went into work on my day off to get some frankincense, and then sat with the cards for about an hour working them through the smoke after they got some solid sunbathing time. The smoke started wafting towards me in the strangest way right when I got to card that corresponds to my zodiac sign, and I immediately felt a really good connection with them.

I just have a kinda vague situation to ask about this week:

About a month ago you recommended me some planetary charity to work out some karmic debt, specifically for Saturn. My paycheque was still a few weeks off at the time, so I planned on starting yesterday. So, Saturn’s hour came along, and before starting I decided to do quick divination. The spread was very negative and I read it as “yes, you still have to do this, but do NOT start it now”.

Being that the deity chooses on their own terms how to give the benefit to whoever is on the receiving end, I don’t know if I quite understand how it could be that negative. Unless it’s meaning that some sort of misfortune that would befall me personally if I sent the money at that time.

Any thoughts here? Apologies if this is one of those “well, it could be anything” questions. First time I’m navigating this sort of thing so I’m not entirely sure what to make of it.

Oh, and I’m doing well with the OSA work. Thank you for the confirmation on what I asked about in other comment section.

Cheers,
Reid

[ecosophia]

Saturn is like that. He makes up his own mind, and since he is the lord of time, it's well to heed such advice. He may have some very specific purpose in mind for that money.

Heathen Golden Dawn/Anonymous Heathen

[(Anonymous)]

Anonymous Heathen,

I missed the Magic Monday closing time last week, so also missed answering your question re: Skadi/ Yesod:

The first few times I tried the Heathen Middle Pillar, I found myself with what felt like mild menstrual cramps in the evening. I’m well past menopause, so took that as a sign that Skadi was indeed at work. No issues since then.

I consider myself a magical noob, but must say the three exercises JMG and Sven designed have benefited me greatly.

OtterGirl

Re: Heathen Golden Dawn/Anonymous Heathen

[gullindagan]

Thank you very much for the data!

[(Anonymous)]

A data point from Red State – The if-this-keeps-up observations about the Biden government from rulebook-loving, statistics-quoting NASCAR fans fit nicely with your theories about the current state of economics and politics… especially as they apply to both the wage class and the Basement Brigade.
For those unfamiliar with the hinterlands, the denizens appear to be going sane.
Rhydlyd… er… Pallid Nocturnal Yeti, that is.

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this.

What are these ladies saying?

[(Anonymous)]

See: https://ibb.co/rf17V2K

My jaw dropped when I saw this in the Seattle Museum of Art. It's a beautiful piece, but the description says it's mystifying: https://ibb.co/Dg3kY5J

JMG - can you demystify this?

I have done limited study of the tarot, but even so, the facial expressions seem to indicate disinterest. I hope this is some juicey Kabalic secret of the gold dawn, but maybe it's at least a little interesting at least? The paired symbols don't make much sense to me...

May thanks to our great host!

Ochre Sanguine Crab

Re: What are these ladies saying?

[ecosophia]

Allegory, my Aunt Fanny. That's a magical image -- in effect, a talisman in oil paint. Exactly what it was meant to bring about won't be obvious -- mages in those days knew how to keep their mouths shut and veil their intentions in intricate symbolism. In all probability the various symbols spell out words of power in a private symbolic alphabet.

[(Anonymous)]

If you do a divination in geomancy then remember what you asked is considered a special question afterwards do you take your first interpretation or follow the sq rules?

[ecosophia]

Take your first interpretation. Your subconscious made you do that for a reason.

Pluto

[kimberlysteele]

Will the precession of the equinoxes ever include Pluto?

Re: Pluto

[ecosophia]

The precession affects the sun's movement through the signs, not the planets. Or have I misunderstood what you're asking?

[booklover1973]

Last Magic Monday, you wrote, that the Celtic Reconstructionist scene has imploded. Can you elaborate? Does that concern only Ár nDraíocht Féin? Or have other organizations imploded, too?

[ecosophia]

ADF is if anything the last one standing. When I started getting AODA on its feet again, there were something like a dozen big, loud CR groups, of which Imbas was the most prominent. I don't know any of them that are still in existence.

[(Anonymous)]

I want to know how to look at people and be able to tell their sun sign at least.

What books or training do you recommend for getting better at that?

[ecosophia]

That's not something I'm any good at, so I don't have any suggestions. Anyone else?

[(Anonymous)]

Last Monday in a magic rant about how the word factum in Latin has two meanings. And that seems to be appearing again in today's times with the overuse of the word fact.
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/140273.html?thread=16815345#cmt16815345

I will try to be more clear, eloquence is not my gift:
Fact comes from Latin factum which means made. It also mean fetish or a magic agent, think of a voodoo doll.

So every-time someone sees the word fact, replace, as a useful magic exercise, that word with made, on one hand and on another, with fetish.
So when you see fact with this exercise then questions will arise: Made by whom? Who's fetish? thus verily comes the most important thing in your mind, who is behind those facts.

Same with data which in Latin means just given. So similarly: Given by who?

Because data and fact are like some voodoos doll or magic agents and not some objective terms as they are presented to be, people need to see who is behind "the facts" and "the data". Has that person, group interests, does it profit from it.

[ecosophia]

Okay, I think I understand what you're getting at now. You're saying that modern Western cultures fetishize (that word again!) "facts" and "data" as objective realities, which is exactly what they aren't -- a fact is something that someone has made, and a datum is something that someone gives you -- so you always have to be wary of the subjective reasons why the people in question have made or given it. Is that more or less what you're saying?

Bird feeders

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I really enjoy feeding the birds from a feeder in our garden, and was wondering if I could turn re-stocking the feeders into a prayer or ritual each morning? One of my patron gods is Mercury, and as they are air creatures (well, except the squirrels...), it seems like it would be good idea to do this to him, possibly as an offering or show or gratitude for his support? I don't have much experience in ceremonial magic, aside from the SoP, but do regularly pray.

Thanks.

Re: Bird feeders

[ecosophia]

I'd say pray about it, and if you get a favorable response, go for it.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1) I had asked on the OSA post about the conflict with my parents, who complained that I was losing my childlike nature and sense of humour.

(For reference, this was my comment: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/140782.html?thread=17004270#cmt17004270)

I am reading Jung's Man and His Symbols, and in a burst of synchronicity I read this passage from Marie-Louise von Franz's chapter on individuation:

"The dark side of the Self is the most dangerous thing of all, precisely because the Self is the greatest power of the psyche. It can cause people to 'spin' megalomaniac or other delusory fantasies that catch them up and 'possess' them. A person thinks in this state thinks with mounting excitement that he has grasped and solved the great cosmic riddles; he therefore loses all touch with human reality. A reliable symptom of this condition is the loss of one's sense of humor and of human contacts."

It was quite a shock to read that last sentence about the loss of a sense of humor when I had just been confronted with that very thing a couple of days before. My parents had also blamed me for not visiting as much, but there is an ongoing issue with them and my wife that has caused a great deal of tension.

But I do find myself, as I go further into my occult studies, a loss of interest in other people. I find I sometimes have to force myself to find things in common with others, and I'd rather be reading books. I thought this was just the Way of the Lonely Ones, but if it has to do with the dark side of the Self, that sounds like something to worry about.

Von Franz doesn't really offer much of a suggestion about how to handle this other than pointing out the need to stay grounded in the ego while doing the work. Have you encountered this and how typically does one avoid the trap of the dark side of the Self?

2) All this raises another question. I know that the order of the process of individuation typically involves first dealing with the Shadow, then the Anima/Animus, and then the Self. I seem to be dealing with all three at once, although I did start with the Shadow. Is this normal?

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

It may be helpful to look at the four fundamental archetypes you mentioned and view them in relation to your natal chart. The Ego, the Shadow, the Anima, and the Self correspond to the ascendent, the nadir, the descendent, and the zenith respectively. I'm working on integrating the Wise Old Man archetype (which comes after the anima if I understand correctly) which I project on to someone who has a Saturnian energy which is interesting because the planetary ruler of the zodiacal sign of my Shadow is ruled by Saturn. So it sometimes seems like I'm working on both.

I've also found that integration of the Shadow and Anima isn't completely static. As we integrate them we move our locus of consciousness to the center of the mandala (I view this as the astrological birth chart for practical purposes) but as the universe tests us we may slide off center for a bit. As time goes on, if we pass the tests, we slide off center less and less.

I'm by no means a Jung expert so ymmv. Thought I'd provide some of my thoughts that I've been nurturing as your question reads almost as if I asked it myself lol.

cannibalism

[(Anonymous)]

I met up with some people I know who had just came from an impromptu memorial service where they tasted the ashes of their dearly departed friend before scattering them. Not sure of the context but it seemed like more of a dare kind of thing. This struck me as a bad idea to me from a magical perspective, but maybe I am just being a prude.

Re: cannibalism

[brenainn]

If it is prudish to find consumption of human cremains disgusting and abhorrent, I guess I'll just have to be a prude.

Do Gods Evolve?

[davidtrammel]

You've spoken and written that we reincarnate multiple time, evolving our life sparks, for a lack of a better word "soul", over the course of those many lifetime. Each time after death, reviewing the lessons we learn from the experiences of that lifetime. At some point we have learned enough to shake off our material body and continue our journey towards the spiritual plane. I believe you've also said that the spirits who have gone before us, serve as mentors and teachers during that pause, helping us to understand what we experienced.

This is what I've come to believe myself, from earlier study and now from what you have written in "Learning Ritual Magic".

Now if all souls evolve, do the souls which were birthed earlier than ours and which have passed beyond the material plane and become the spirits magicians deal with, continue to evolve as well? Are what we speak of as the Gods on the same journey?

I feel like it would be the height of human centric arrogance to think that we're the only ones evolving. That the Universe has put the Spirits/Gods there just for us but if they evolve and journey as well, then will a Spirit/God disappear from their place in the Universe.

If they do then, and I'm coming to the conclusion that they do, then is what we think of as a God, say the spirit we call Odin or Hekate, not a specific individual spirit but more like an office or a job title?

It seems to me that the spirit that was Hekate in 1000 BCE at the beginning of her worship in the Anatolia region of what is now Turkey isn't the same spirit that is now worshipped worldwide. That the Odin of medieval times is not the Odin of today. That the position that we think of as a God changes spiritual hands from time to time, perhaps as the shape of the civilization changes.

Or maybe what we think of as a God, isn't a single office but a conglomerate of spirits all performing the role of that God, adopting and using the same set of characteristics, duties and powers?

In reading on forums, the experiences of other magicians when they deal with same (assumed) spirit, they often have entirely different minor characteristics. Suggestions of what the God likes in the way of offerings can be radically different. Could this be because they are different spirits entirely, just working in the same job/office?

And that as those same spirits learn and grow from their interaction as gods, they leave and are replaced by newer ones?

Something I believe I read here, in a comment has stuck in my mind. The commenter had summoned a particular spirit. They asked it, "Are you (Name)?", to which it replied something like "We don't treat names as you do".

I've mediated on this several times, and feel like this "seems like the way things are" but I'd appreciate the your thoughts on it.

Re: Do Gods Evolve?

[ecosophia]

That's the understanding of deities you'll find in the Hindu Puranas, if I understand them correctly: Indra, say, is a title, not a specific soul, and in each age of the world a different soul takes on that role and fulfills its dharma. It seems quite sensible to me.

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

Thanks for this forum. I've been doing the SOP as described here in this blog for about three months, invoking the Christian God, and have been getting good results. I recently purchased Learning Ritual Magic and am beginning to work through it. Do I continue to practice the SOP or should I follow along with the lessons in the LRM without it?

Thank you,

Steve

[ecosophia]

If you're going to work through LRM, you should set aside the SoP for now. Just do the work in LRM exactly as given. When you're done, go back and compare the basic ritual LRM teaches (the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram) with the SoP, and decide which one you'll be doing thereafter.

Tarot Decks

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, as an attempt to lighten the mood a little, may I ask what your top 10 Tarot Decks are?

For those following the book club, you might find Swamiji Narsig, "The anti Swami's" YouTube series on the Tarot of interest.
It's 12 years old now, but still the best discussion Ive seen in my opinion.
I'm currently re-watching it.
He also has some other topics which I plan to watch too.
Has anyone else heard of him?
He's an interesting character, I believe he's French Canadian.
The deck he shows is one of JMG's favorites, the Masonic Tarot by Jean Beauchard, sadly, now OOP. Mine cost me more than I care to admit 🤭

https://youtube.com/user/SwamijiNisarg

Re: Tarot Decks

[ecosophia]

I don't have ten favorite decks, but these are the ones I like:

The Knapp-Hall deck
Jean Beauchard's Masonic deck
Symbolic Tarot of Wirth (to my taste, the best of the French decks)
Rider-Waite deck
David Palladini's Aquarian deck (not actually that good, but it was my first and I still have a lot of affection for it)

Intention

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG,

I am looking for some help creating a suitable intention for the SOP to keep my medical freedom while continuing to work at my current company.

My company now requires the COVID vaccine to go on site. Not a big deal to continue to do my job remote but I need to have a medical reason. I have an underlying permanent condition and there is no long term data on the vaccine that says it has no impact. I am working with my doctors to see if I can get them to write something that says I should have the choice to wait.

So, how about this intention “I maintain my medical freedom while continuing to work at my current company”?

Thanks!

Re: Intention

[ecosophia]

Yes, that sounds good.

lion's gate moon

[marcrhodestaylor]

could you please tell me what a lion's gate moon is supposed to be, i was just told this yesterday on the day of the dark moon, i assume that it has something particular to do with that thank you

Re: lion's gate moon

[ecosophia]

I had quite literally never heard of this until you mentioned it. As far as I can tell it's one of the current bumper crop of pop astrology brain farts.

[stcathalexandria]

Good morning -
I’ve reached lesson 14 of LRM and feel like as I get closer to finishing the book that I did not do it “good enough” and need to start all over. Of course this is a feeling I get when I do a lot of things and I’ve been journaling about it. Any advice you can offer for the last few chapters of LRM?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

That's one of the ways your subconscious is trying to talk you out of finishing. Go ahead, finish the work, and remember that you can always go back through it again after you've completed your first pass through the lessons.

Tarot decks

[(Anonymous)]

Hi again, I forgot to put my name to the previous in post.
I'm currently reading the guidebook to the Golden Dawn Magical Tarot by Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero.
I think I recall you once said that you felt the GD card pathways on the tree of life felt a bit forced and that you preferred William Gray's version. ( I bought his book, I buy a lot of books you mention 🙂)
I think I agree, I'm not really sure why the fool would go up the top for example.
But then, Ive always felt that elementally, the knights are more fiery and passionate and the kings more airy and intellectual. They've done their fighting.
Having said that I can see the other way. You've made the analogy of different languages, but still communicating a valid message.

Regards,
Helen in Oz,

(where we still continue to be going through a mass psychosis!)

That face fear affirmation needs to be broadcast publicly here on a 24 hour loop!

Re: Tarot decks

[ecosophia]

There are at least half a dozen different ways to map the tarot onto the Paths, and as far as I can tell, all of them work. If you're working with a particular system of training, however, it's important to use the set of attributions that system teaches, while you're doing that training!

Ur

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
I am working my way through the DMH and am meditating on a scry of Ur, the heather. I was considering the link between death and the heather and and in my scry, I was saying that I didn't understand. I was in a heather moor in the scry and a white mist curtain came up. Ghostly human shapes came out of the mist.

Meditating on the scry later, I find I still don't understand. Does the heather create a thin place? Is it something to do with the connection of the heather to elves? What am I missing here?

I find the process of spending a week meditating on and scrying one subject has depend my meditation a great deal. I am up to 30 minutes a day of meditation for more than a year now and it has done me no harm. Indeed, my life continues to improve from very good to wonderful.
Maxine

Re: Ur

[ecosophia]

Heather is mysterious that way! Don't worry if you don't get immediate clear answers to issues like that; the symbols will ripen in the deep places of your mind, and tell you what you need to know when you're ready for it.

[(Anonymous)]

JMG-

I have been thinking about your post on the vaccines, and just more generally on the political/economic systems that I've been living in for 50 years now, and one thing that has always puzzled me is why the rich want to be X% richer...?

I understand saving, investing, trying to provide for your children, grandchildren and so on, but sane people, which is to say the people I've known in my life, seem to reach a level of contentment or at least a level where they stop caring about that move on to other things in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. However the ruling elite of the west by and large to do not seem to do this. It is always more more more, whether that's wealth or power or whatever.

Now perhaps there are individual psychological reasons for this in some cases, e.g. GWB III invades Iraq to finish what his father GHWB started, but looking at the overall pattern of elite behavior it's hard not to think something more is going on.

My question is, is there any sort of occult explanation that gives any insight into what looks like (at least from here I sit) an insatiable need for more? Or is this more mundanely just something that tends to happen at this stage in a civilizations' cycle?

[ecosophia]

Well, to begin with, you don't become rich unless you have a neurotic obsession with money. Nobody anywhere actually needs a million dollars, and let's not even talk about the absurd amounts our current kleptocrats have. Their reaction to money, to borrow a phrase from Robert Anton Wilson, is as abnormal as the emotions of a necrophiliac who's just broken into the county morgue.

Because our society rewards people who have this particular mental illness by giving them lots of power and privilege, such people don't get the help they need. Instead, they end up having far more power and privilege than is good for them, and damaging society as a result. This may be one of the reasons that civilizations fall.

[(Anonymous)]

John--

I perform the SoP each morning. Do you have any recommendations for an end-of-day cleansing (my wife suggested sage) to "wash off" the energies of the day, particularly the work-day?

[ecosophia]

You could do the SoP in the evening as well! Alternatively, yes, sage might work, or you could strip down and wash with cold water -- that cleans away noxious energies.