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 more than 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 photo is of course the inimitable Manly P. Hall, the doyen of 20th century American occultists, and the person who did more than anybody else to help the US occult scene recover from the self-inflicted implosion of the Theosophical Society after the Krishnamurti affair in 1929. It's occurred to me recently that not everyone may be aware of the vast amount of classic occult literature that's free for the downloading online right now. (How long will it remain available? Good question.) Hall's Monthly Letters were the first of several training programs he created for his students; like Hall's writings generally, they focused on philosophy, though they also include the first draft of his book on spiritual training, Self-Unfoldment through Disciplines of Realization; and the whole set, all 60 lessons, can be downloaded free of charge here. If you're interested in a glimpse, or more than a glimpse, of the more philosophical end of occult training, you could do a lot worse. 

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button above to access my online tip jar. If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here. 

 

I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain other gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I now have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.

And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com.

With that said, have at it! 

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

Comments

Planetary Charity

[(Anonymous)]

I am involved in the care of an elderly relative with dementia. She’s in hospital at the moment but it seems that there’s little more that can be done to help and the plan is to bring her home for end of life care. All the conventional matters will be taken care of, but if there’s anything else that could be done to make things easier for her I would very much like to do it.

I’ve had some success over the last few years with planetary charity, and I thought perhaps a petition to Saturn to ease her passage might help.

Unfortunately there is no way to gain her consent. She only has the vaguest idea about what is happening to her which is a blessing, but even if I could explain it in a way that she could understand, moving on to the concept of planetary charity seems well beyond the boundaries of the possible.

I know that this would normally end matters there but as it happens I recently became her legal guardian in matters concerning any health or welfare decisions. The paperwork was filed some time back during a period when she could understand and consent to me doing that for her when the time came. So in effect I now have the same legal relationship with her as that of the parent of a toddler. This is not just a mere legality, I have had to make serious life changing decisions on her behalf, based on by best understanding of her wishes.

Do you think that this is sufficient for me to undertake the ritual anyway? If so, would Saturn appropriate?

Andy

Re: Planetary Charity

[ecosophia]

Since she gave you consent to make important decisions for her, and she herself is currently unable to give consent, if on reflection you feel it's appropriate to perform planetary charity on her behalf, it would be reasonable to do so. Yes, Saturn's the appropriate planetary power to invoke -- he rules everything having to do with old age and death.

[jprussell]

Good evening!

Thank you very much for this weekly venue and the community you have carefully built around it. It has been tremendously spiritually valuable for me.

As for the questions, as I often have, here's something of a grab-bag, and I welcome any thoughts from the commentariat as well.

1) For meditation themes, what is your approach to balancing between following a schedule you have set ahead of time (e.g. "I will meditate on each aicme of the Ogham for 3 days") and meditating on potential themes that seem to present themselves (e.g. a seemingly portentous dream, a puzzling divination reading, a striking thought from your reading, etc.)?

2) You mentioned in a previous MM that the mind can tell apart products of visual imagination brought on by reading or listening from reality, but it doesn't truly make that distinction with visual images. That made me wonder: in a world with much less visual media (meaning, most of human history), were the few (usually religious) visual images likely to have a much more potent effect and to be felt as more consciously real? For some reason, the story that comes to mind is the Christian who viewed the ceremony of the Eleusinian mysteries and basically went "what, it's just a sheaf of wheat?" I don't think that story has a particularly strong "saturation of visual media" component, but the idea that his preconditions to not take the ritual seriously meant it didn't affect him strongly struck me as potentially related.

3) Related to the above: any thoughts on how the mind does with telling apart "products of imagination" versus "images seen with the eyes" when those images are the product of your imagination (such as a drawing you did yourself)?

4) Astrology has taken something of a backseat in my magical development to date, and I suspect it will continue to do so as I work through the DMH and its symbolism. Are there any Pareto Principle-type pieces of knowledge/behaviors (e.g. the 20% of behaviors responsible for the 80% of results) that anyone working on magic ought to know even if not learning astrological magic? I'm thinking something like "okay, you should at least make sure to avoid doing any rituals on the day of such-and-such or the hour of so-an-so". If the answer is "nope, you'll actually have to learn it if you want to avoid the pitfalls and reap the benefits", well, there's something to look forward to learning down the road!

5) I assume the answer to this is "prayer and meditation to find out what's up", but just in case you or any of the commentariat have further thoughts, something odd that's been happening to me: for the last several weeks, I have run especially into delays and other travel hindrances on Wednesdays (accidents blocking traffic, construction blocking lanes, trains stopped at crossings, other drivers going slow/acting confused/cutting me off). Now, some of this is surely due to the fact that I currently only go to the office on MWF, so Wednesday is one of the days where I can encounter such things at all. On the other hand, the fact that Wednesday is the day of Woden, who is a traveler and equated with Mercury in the Interpretatio Romana, and that Woden is a God whom I especially worship, makes me stop and wonder "what is he trying to tell me?" So, other than appropriate offerings, prayers for guidance, and meditating on the symbolism of traveling, delays, and blockages, any other thoughts on what this might mean or what I should do?

6) I had a dream where I was surprised that my wife said something about "Hu the Mighty", who I went on to explain was a Druid Revival God. Hu Himself did not show up in the dream, other than as a topic of discussion. To date, I have not prayed to Hu the Mighty or invoked him in my magic. Besides that I should meditate on it, any recommendations on what I might do or look into as a result of this dream?

Thanks very much,
Jeff

[ecosophia]

1) If I'm doing a series of themes already planned out -- which is my usual way of doing things -- I stick to that strictly as training for the will, and note down any additional themes that occur to me in a notebook. If I'm really certain I need to meditate about something else, I schedule a second session for that day, or for several days, as needed.

2) Yes, very much so.

3) It depends on how clear, intense, and focused your imagination is.

4) Nope, you'll actually have to learn it if you want to avoid the pitfalls and reap the benefits. ;-)

5) Planetary charity directed to Mercury would seem very sensible!

6) Hmm! Dream interpretation isn't something I do, so I'll leave this to the commentariat.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

What books on occult philosophy would you recommend for beginners?

[ecosophia]

Hall's monthly letters, linked in the post above, are a great place to start. Another classic author is William Walker Atkinson; his Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy (the "yogi" verbiage is pure window dressing) are a better intro than his more famous work The Kybalion. Eliphas Levi's Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic and Dion Fortune's books of essays, especially Sane Occultism, are also good starting places. I've got a book at the publisher titled The Occult Philosophy Workbook that might be worth adding to the list, but it won't be out for a while yet.

An uncertain hallo from below

[vitranc]

Hi JMG,

1. So I did it. To my astonishment on my first asking of it, I received a positive reading to go ahead and perform the calling on the spirit below ritual. I honestly did not think I was ready, but the ogham was quite firm in its opinion. I did the ritual and I think it worked insofar as there certainly rose something up to the grove. Like water. But I do not know if I was successful in taking it in. How can I tell that it had an effect?

2. I have been mulling over the covid open posts. Especially the Mathias Desmet stuff about mass formation. And your comment in one of your posts years ago. “Who is the hero that will forge a (some weapon) out of the rays of the sun and pirce the darkness. Why, you are”
2.a I am assuming this mass formation around the fusion of general ankseiety and a convinient problem is building an egregire? On what level is it? Is it astral in nature?
2. b can such a beast be countered. To use your sentance. Couldit be “lanced, wounded” by an appropriate tool. And so deflate/wither.
2. c is this even possible, or is the only option really to wait it out untill it destroys itself? Experts like Dion Fortune did it like that inww2.

Best regards,
V

Re: An uncertain hallo from below

[ecosophia]

1) You got a definite effect, so you're fine. Proceed with the work.

2) My guess, though this is still only a guess, is that yes, an egregor has been created around the whole virus panic, and it's a very destructive one. Egregors are always astral phenomena. My guess, though it's only a guess, is that this one is the vehicle for a lot of very ugly collective karma, and so the only thing we can do is distance ourselves from it and invoke positive energies, in exactly the way that Dion Fortune did.

[(Anonymous)]

Might you be persuaded to say a few words about the Rittenhouse trial, particularly the collapse of the prosecution? It looked more like one of those don’t-do-this training videos than the efforts of a professional. Is there something more than meets the eye here?
Rhydlyd

[(Anonymous)]

What met MY eye was that video of the prosecutor walking around the courtroom pointing a rifle at people, with his finger on the trigger. It was enough to make your hair stand on end. I wonder if he can be disbarred for his reckless disregard for human life?

—Princess Cutekitten

Musical response

[australiandreamer]

A colleague at work recommended an artist/album and to start with a particular song on that album to see if I liked it.

I tried it and had an an interesting reaction ... tried a few others today when they followed up and still the same interesting response. There were some good instrumentals involved but when I listened to any of the songs I got a sensation on both of my arms like a combination of hair raising and numbness (and while I was typing afterwards it felt a bit like I was not using my own arms / like they had been temporarily separated from my body) plus a strange pseudo burning sensation in my chest ... *not* a reaction I commonly have to music.

Is that related to anything in this wheelhouse perchance?

Re: Musical response

[ecosophia]

That's really odd. I don't know of anything occult that would do that. Do you know if anyone else gets that reaction?

[goatgodschild]

Mr. Greer --

I hope this week once more finds you well. As I write, the Santa Anas are blowing about, at the end of a rather trying week. I have a few questions for you, and am hoping that you or the commentariat might be able to shed light on them.

1) Can one do a geomancy spread for one's birth chart, or once that time is over, the chance is gone forever?

2) Today my area had a scheduled power outage, and so there was no electricity for most of the day. While I did not appreciate the loss to my refrigerator, the rest of the day was wonderfully quiet. I was able to focus on reading, sincerely enjoying what I was doing instead of doing something with electricity and having to distract myself from the lack of enjoyment I am taking from it. In fact, I felt rather uncomfortable when the power came back on! Is this a common feeling to have as one tries to disentangle from this "current" world?

[ecosophia]

1) It's not really a birth chart, but you can certainly cast a chart for your life, personality, and destiny, and read that.

2) Sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is far more common than anyone in authority wants to admit, and ordinary AC electricity sends out EMR. I wonder if that was what you sensed.

[(Anonymous)]

There's a bunch of schlocky horror movies and stories about astral projection that hinge on the idea that the projector leaves their body empty while projecting, allowing some cheesy CGI monster to then take control of the person and shove the 2-bit plot along. With Golden Dawn style astral projection, is the body left empty while the projector projects himself elsewhere?

[ecosophia]

Nope. The material body still has the etheric body in it, and it remains in contact with the astral body and the soul -- the "silver cord" discussed in occult literature connects the two. It's entirely safe.

Some Qs

[adastra1111]

Hi JMG!

Thank you for your guidance; it’s an unbelievable gift that you’re willing to help students along the path who are working with your published instruction. It’s rare to be able to ask an author for clarification and it’s rare in life to be given straightforward and useful answers to questions in general.

On my mind this week:

1. I’ve been a fan of David Lynch since around 1991. I’ve been curious about his Transcendental Meditation practice since I first heard about it. I’m not a practitioner and don’t have any interest in it; I agree with you there’s enough in the classic Western tradition to render no real need to go looking elsewhere. Hearing him talk about TM, and having now some years background in occult practice, I find there seems to be some usefulness to TM, but my suspicion is that it’s a bunny-slope approach. His description of diving within to the Unified Field, which he equates with God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the true self, etc seems similar to cabalistic ideas, except the metaphors are reversed: diving rather than rising. His notion that the method is effortless goes against everything about spiritual practice I’ve experienced, whether discursive mediation, ritual magic, or Christian worship, all of which take a great deal of effort to produce any result whatsoever, in my experience. What are your thoughts about TM?
2. I’ve taken to heart your advice last week about your working around your published material. So much so that I happened upon a website that I thought would contain an interview with you, but I realized as I was reading it, that it was an excerpt from a book I’m aware you’ve published, but haven’t read or bought before. So I went and purchased the book. Even though I didn’t intentionally go there to steal anything, I felt it was better to err on the side of caution. My question is about samples. I’ve stopped reading any books I’ve downloaded from the internet that I could instead purchase, and only read books I haven’t paid for if I can be quite sure they’re in the public domain or are offered by someone in good faith like the Candle Magic pdf you posted recently. But I have samples of books I’ve downloaded from Amazon. I tend to download these samples they offer to help me make a decision whether to buy the book or not. I have, for example, a sample of The Celtic Golden Dawn, which is not a system I’m working with, but was curious about purchasing. What are your thoughts about these samples and how they tie in or don’t tie in to your working?
3. How would you do a divination before a working? What question would you ask and what would the spread be? Can you give an example?
4. If a friend asks you to housesit and to do something to banish unwanted spirits from their apartment, would praying the rosary and reciting the Daily Office (morning and night) in their apartment for one week function similarly to performing the LBRP plus the Rose Cross ritual back to back every day that week? Or would the effects be different? How do?
5. Piggybacking on the above question; if I decide (after divining and meditating) to use ceremonial magic rather than just giving advice about the problem (guidance on this already came through to me from an earlier divination), but I’m out of practice doing anything stronger than the LBRP lately, would a working of doing the LBRP and the Rose Cross every day for a week have any dangers? Too hard, too fast?

Thanks again,

- Translucent Insipid Curmudgeon

Re: Some Qs

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome!

1) TM is bunny slope stuff. It's very simple mantra meditation, using one of a list of short mantras assigned by age and gender.

2) Samples are fine. Amazon's skeevy about a lot of things but they're fairly careful to keep the samples within legal limits.

3) I'd use the question "Is (describe the working) appropriate for me to do at this time?" If I were doing it with a card deck, I'd use a simple three-card spread: the first is me, the second the working, the third the outcome.

4) Good question. Since I'm not a Christian I don't happen to know much about the spiritual effects of saying the Office and praying the rosary. Anyone else?

5) No, those are good basic rituals and should be safe for you to do.

More from the my-mental-health-is-fine file

[revert2mean]

HI JMG,

Following up on your comments on another post about astral gunk which comes and goes, I've been noticing that too.

I've also been seeing entities that come out of trees and other things in my local area. They move around and hide, but as soon as I actually look for them they're not there. I even saw a two-foot man dressed in black walk into a black parking bollard and vanish into it. One of the tree entities visited me in my dreams to check me out and see if I was trying to capture them. Seemed to think I was OK. They seem like very happy, positive entities. This is all very unusual. Might these things be related to the astral gunk?

Re: More from the my-mental-health-is-fine file

[ecosophia]

That's a very good sign. The ancient Greeks called them dryads, and treated them with respect, knowing that if you treat them well they bring blessings to the land and to everything (including humans) who live on it. The question that occurs to me first is (a) are you simply reaching a stage of awareness at which you've started to see them, or (b) are they becoming more active?

[(Anonymous)]

I reviving this because I asked it wrongly last time, hypothetically let's suppose someone was Aleister Crowley in a past life, or some of those that have been like Aleister Crowley for half of their life, in what way should they change for better...

[ecosophia]

It's the same for everyone: take a good hard look at the mistakes you've made, learn from them, and stop doing them.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1. In the DMH, it isn't explicitly stated anywhere, but I wonder if it's a worthwhile to scry the Stations of the Wheel themselves, and not just the paths between them? (I've already meditated on them)

2. I'm about to do pathworking for Ailm, so it will be my first time going from a Station to the Central Grove. In the DMH, there is no instruction about what pentagram to invoke when going to the Central Grove. My guess is that is because the Central Grove represents the world of ordinary experience, therefore no pentagram is required. But before I go forward, I wanted to double-check!

3. Yesterday I noticed a dull ache in what I would describe as the small of my belly below my belly button and just below the belt line. It's still there today. It could have physical causes, but a flash of intuition told me it could be an energy center, and some searching online told me it could be the sacral chakra. I don't know what name this energy center has in the DMH tradition.

But reading about what that energy center regulates made me wonder: are there relationships between energy centers and Jungian archetypes? For example, creativity seems to be associated with both the sacral chakra and the anima?

Many thanks!

[ecosophia]

1) You can certainly do that. It's technically known as a sphere working, as distinct from a pathworking.

2) That's correct.

3) Hmm. The sacral center is very low down, close to where your sacrum is (that's also called your tailbone, if that helps). Below the belly button and just below the belt line sounds like the lowest of the three cauldrons to me, but your mileage may vary. Yes, energy centers can relate to archetypes.

[(Anonymous)]

In chapter seven of your book “The Art and Practice of Geomancy,” you mentioned that the outer element in the figure within the sixth house can point toward the “elemental nature of the illness.” This feels like an excellent opportunity to both deepen my knowledge of geomancy and also start to build an understanding of the four humors model of health and illness.

I’ve done some research to start exploring this but have hit a wall as I’m not familiar with the scope of resources are available in English on the four humors - and are also of good quality.

What books would you recommend?

Taupe Hibernating Yucca

[ecosophia]

Stephen Taylor's new book The Humoral Herbal is a good source, and so is Graeme Tobyn's Culpeper's Medicine.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the Office and the rosary would help. You might want to add the Saint Michael prayer too.

—Princess Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
As ever, your wise guidance would be very welcome.
Having taken up magic a couple of years ago, very late in life, I have wandered around a bit before settling happily on a (mostly observed) daily ritual of the LBRP with the Cabalistic Cross , the MP Exercise, fourfold breathing and an invocation to a planet and its angel. I have also been working my way very slowly through the OSA exercises. So I’m not idle, and I think I’m making slow but definite progress. It’s a question of where I go from here: if not straight away, then before too long.

As between the pursuit of magic as a type of personal development to acquire wisdom, and its pursuit to actually achieve things, I fall into the latter camp for personality reasons. However, whilst I would never describe my domestic environment as hostile, it’s also true that it’s effectively impossible, for practical reasons, for me to create temples, use candles or incense, buy and use talismans for workings and so forth. In reality, I’m pretty much limited to my imagination, what I can do with books and to whatever I can do by way of physical movements and exercises.

I realise that that already includes quite a lot already, but I’m thinking of the next few years. If circumstances remain the same (which they will, I think) how can I best make more progress with practical magic?
Thank you.

[ecosophia]

Work on your visualization skills. Given the limitations you face, you'll be best off doing most of your work in the imaginal realm: for example, constructing an imaginal temple and doing advanced work in it. Pathworking and other forms of scrying will give you a lot of practice in that field and also give you sources of guidance and knowledge.

[(Anonymous)]

What is the relation between astrological ages and various civilizations? Faustian civilization emerged during the Age of Pisces, but this age began already during the heyday of the Semitic and Graeco-Roman civilizations. And if I recall correctly, both tamanous and sobornost will emerge during the Age of Aquarius. What is the Piscean trait of Faustian civ? Is it the attempt to break free from earth-bound matter by transforming it? Russian Cosmism could work as a model here, again: instead of a "resurrection body" through divine grace, we get a resurrection body through technology!

Tidlösa, Sweden

[ecosophia]

The Piscean age by my calculation began in 271 BC, so the Faustian culture is entirely a Piscean creation; the Magian and Mexican cultures are transitional, having started under Aries but flowered under Pisces; the Classical (Apollonian), Hindu, and Chinese civilizations had all finished their creative period and settled into civilization by the time the Piscean age dawned.

Faustian civilization is Piscean in its relation to matter -- it seeks to conquer matter but also to flee from it, the two fishes swimming in opposite directions -- and more generally in its desperate entrapment by binaries. The task of the Aquarian age will be to bring the binaries into balance -- the two fishes transformed into the two waves of the Aquarius symbol, moving in parallel.

[(Anonymous)]

A somewhat strange question...

Why do ghosts of the recently departed often appear *fully dressed*? Is it some kind of hallucination even according to occult philosophy, or is something else going on?

Tidlösa, Sweden

[ecosophia]

When you imagine yourself, do you typically imagine yourself naked, or clothed?

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid, I wanted to ask you a question about the theosophists - what exactly made them as fractious as they proved to be? My own impression, based on my limited reading, is that the theosophists were kind of the hippies of their day - people very high on creative thinking and originality, and not so much rule-following obedience (like those you'd sooner see in the Jehovah's witnesses or similar). Then again, you know more about this topic, so it would be interesting to hear your opinion.

[ecosophia]

That's a good description. The Theosophical Society was the first public occult teaching organization in the western world in a couple of thousand years, and it attracted a very diverse crowd -- too diverse, ultimately, to remain under a single banner.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

In the comment section of a different post you mentioned gunk from the lower astral plane moving to the etheric plane and eventually the physical plane. My questions:

1. In general, is this something that occurs as a cycle (like spring following winter?) or
2. Is this caused by say human activity and, if so, what would bring this about?
3. Some other explanation?

Thanks for taking the time to host this forum.

[ecosophia]

What happens, according to the old occult lore, is that the astral plane picks up images, energies, and influences from thinking beings. If the thinking beings are careful to make their thoughts, daydreams, et al. healthy, balanced, and wise, the astral plane becomes very clear and bright -- but, er, human beings being what they are, that doesn't happen too often in this corner of the cosmos. The more corrupt, selfish, greedy, and degraded the thoughts and imaginations of the thinking beings happen to be, the more astral crud piles up in the lowest sub-planes of the astral plane, until it reaches the point of overflow. Once that happens it cascades down through the etheric plane to the astral plane, where it causes wars, plagues, disasters, and other forms of mass death. If the astral plane is clearing now, as some people have perceived, we may be in for it.

Invocation of the Higher Self

[cs2]

Last Monday I was feeling crummy with my health issues. The mental image popped into my mind of wading through mud when there was a ladder right next to me.

Without thinking about it, I mentally very firmly cast aside my lower self and invoked my Higher Self. It came with a change in consciousness, for sure.

Until Saturday, I spent the week not letting my health issues bother me. I was a gracious and joyful wife. I felt more like myself than I have in a good long while. I was focused and finished my current book.

1. What did I actually do?

2. Is there a ritual for this in the DMH-DA system?

3. I felt awesome, but was this somehow unsafe? Thank you.

Re: Invocation of the Higher Self

[ecosophia]

1) You cast aside your lower self and invoked your Higher Self, of course.

2) Not really. A lot of the work in the system is there to make it possible for you to do that, but you have to do it yourself -- as indeed you did.

3) Unsafe? Not at all. You're beginning to awaken to your own inner power. Keep doing it.

[tarian]

Hi John, a general question, if I may. As the saying goes, "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad". But how can you tell if you are going mad, if everything you do (and think) seems utterly logical and reasonable? What are the telltale signs and symptoms? Easy to see in other people, perhaps, but in oneself?

[ecosophia]

It's when you think that everything you're doing is utterly logical and reasonable that you know you've probably slipped off the deep end. Human beings aren't logical, reasonable creatures. This includes you. If you're not aware of the irrational, quirky, and eccentric side of your own personality, that side is probably running your life, and finding someone who will talk to you honestly about how crazy you're acting is a good idea.

The Fae and the fox

[(Anonymous)]

JMG over on the Covid open post someone has asked about the Fae the the vacine. Their question is is it possible that the Fae could be part of the push to fox everyone. They presumably would like the human population to be reduced. Is there any merit to this question? When you first put up the demon speculation it struck me as very plausible because of how weird the whole thing is. It appears people are in a trance and are being lead along by something or someone, maybe demons, maybe fraeries, maybe something else?

Thanks and best wishes
Will O

Re: The Fae and the fox

[ecosophia]

The basic rule about those nature spirits we call "faeries" is that if you think you know what they're up to, you're wrong. All the evidence I've seen is that they've been staying as far from us as possible during the peak of the industrial age, but you never know.

Prayers to Apollo

[cs2]

To the commentariat, if any of you have recommendations of prayers I could sing to Apollo, or a small altar statue I could buy of him, I would really appreciate it.

I currently have Kimberly's rendition of his Orphic hymn, and my own sung version of Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke.

I'm praying to Apollo-Belenus, so if anyone has Beli recs, I welcome those also. Thank you in advance.

Re: Prayers to Apollo

[jprussell]

One option to consider are reproductions of "Kouros" statues - these were statues of idealized adolescent boys that were popular in the Archaic period. They were often found in sanctuaries of Apollo, but there is some debate about which ones (if any) depict Apollo himself. They are "stiffer" than later Greek sculpture, as the Greeks were just re-learning sculpture from Egypt and the Levant, and they borrowed some of their highly stylized forms for a time. A quick search for "kouros small statue" turned up some reproductions on Etsy and eBay, so you might be able to find something suitable.

The Wikipedia page on them is pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouros

Hunting magic?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,


In the last few years I've taken up hunting to help close the distance between me and my food, among other reasons. Can you suggest any practices or resources related to promoting a successful hunt? I understand an appeal to the appropriate deities is one approach. Are there any others?

Re: Hunting magic?

[ecosophia]

Always thank the animal. Hunting cultures very often believe that the animal deliberately gives you its flesh to eat, to sustain your life. (There's an echo of that in Christian symbolism, where Jesus dies to grant you life and you eat his body in the communion ritual.) If you make a point of thanking the animal once you shoot it, and include blessings for its soul in your prayer of thanks at the dinner table, more of its kind will be willing to offer themselves for you.

Psychic vampires

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

In several books (fictional novels) by fairly high-profile authors, and multiple films in the past 5 years or so, there is a trope of psychically-gifted children being abducted and drained of their life force to prolong the lives of shadowy groups or individuals, who live for centuries and use their extended lifespans to accumulate enormous amounts of wealth and power. Psychic children were targeted either due to having higher reserves of energy, or that energy being easier to detect or harvest.

To some extent, this could just be seen as a modern version of the Victorian vampire story (not the 'true' vampire myths), with rich nobles feeding on the youth of the poor (itself an analogy for aristocracy in general), but I've been wondering if there is more to it.

A common aspect appears to be hynotising the children to trap them initially, and then torturing them so that they release more of their life force.

I have definitely met people who I would describe as low-grade psychic vampires (of the type you've mentioned on previous Magic Mondays), who emotionally drain you after tedious or stressful conversation, but this would be on a different scale.

Obviously don't share any details, as I really, really don't want to know how to do so, but would such a thing be possible? Could there be pockets of psychic vampires existing around the world?

Re: Psychic vampires

[ecosophia]

No. This is the latest form of the blood libel, the line of propaganda that used to be used to justify pogroms against the Jews; in recent years it's changed its focus from antisemitism to eat-the-rich, but it's the same slur. It's a very troubling sign that it's been revived and used as a media gimmick again.