One More Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Once again, it's technically Monday now -- past midnight Eastern time -- and here I am on Dreamwidth, so it's time for another 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, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

A few CGD Questions

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I'm doing the Celtic Golden Dawn path and am wondering about Abred and the Etheric/astral plane. Perhaps I'm getting hermetic and Druidry practice confused but I'm wondering where emotions and then imagination and then abstract thought fit into the tree. My understanding is that my emotions (e.g. lust) are one level, and then I have feelings about my feelings (eg guilt) and then I have imagination (eg fantasy) and the I have concentrated thought (eg focused meditation). What realms am I in when engaging with these? I'm asking partly to see how i might use the practices to help me get clarity in some of my relationships.

Or do you have other suggestions to help with that question?

I'm using divination too, but still learning about it - particularly with what questions to ask - what kind? how specific? Can you recommend something to help with those?

And when I'm imaging my body filling with light, is that imagination or higher level thinking? My light body seems to have less "brilliance" over the months since I started practising and I'm wondering why that may be?

Many thanks!

Re: A few CGD Questions

[ecosophia]

Okay, lust is a passion, not an emotion. On the Tree of Life, lust corresponds to Ner (Yesod), while guilt, which is an emotion, manifests in Byw (Netzach). Thought in the sense of mental chatter belongs to Byth (Hod), while thought in the sense of a reflection of universal patterns in the mind is Muner (Tiphareth); imagination is simply thought using images rather than verbal concepts, so the same rule applies.

As far as getting clarity in your relationships, meditation's a good tool there, and I also recommend a variety of psychology called Transactional Analysis, which you can learn quite adequately from books; Eric Berne's Games People Play is a good introduction.

In the early stages of divination training, start with simple readings and questions such as "What do I most need to understand about the events I experience this day?" As for the apparent decrease in brilliance, that's common, and it usually means you're starting to perceive some of the grubby energies you've picked up over the years; keep practicing and it'll clear up in due time.

Re: A few CGD Questions

[(Anonymous)]

That is uncanny, I picked up Games people play a couple of weeks ago. And just got hold of another TA book, so i will definitely read them.

Thanks for the distinctions on differnt kinds of thought too, although I'm not clear on the difference between a passion and an emotion. Where might I get more info on that?

Thanks for the other insights too, I'm enjoying the divination which is so "not me" - whatever that means!
Your a star, thank you.