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. (Please note:  Any question received after then will not get an answer, and in fact will just be deleted. I've been getting an increasing number of people trying to post after these are closed, so will have to draw a harder line than before.) 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 image?  That's the thirteenth card in The Sacred Geometry Oracle. Card 13, The Octagram, when upright lets you know that other people or factors in the situation can help you pursue your goals; when reversed, it warns you that you're going to have to compromise, and settle for less than everything you want. The waves on the sides of the image tell you that this card belongs to the second third of the oracle, which corresponds to Gwyar, the principle of fluidity and change.

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

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

With that said, have at it! 

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

Comments

Various

[australiandreamer]

1) Following on from the conversation about burning potentially dodgy crucifixes etc … some people will make jewellery using the ashes of their cremated loved ones. Are there any issues around that? If your wife died and you made a Tree of Life necklace out of the ashes would it do anything? Would consent still be a thing or is it no longer ‘them’ eg if you made an occult symbol from your anti-occult dead granny’s ashes …


2) What is the difference in consequence between speaking that which you know to be not true, speaking what you believe to be true but which is untrue, speaking as an organisational representative that which is the official ‘truth’ while knowing personally that what you are saying is untrue, and speaking what you are told is true while being aware that something might be dodgy but deliberately avoiding examining it so you can continue to speak ‘truly’. Ultimately we take many things on faith whether they be historical, theological, psychological, biological etc and examining every one of them to as close to first principles as we can arrange is beyond the scope of our timeline so we kind of choose which authorities we accept and which we question. If you were attached to a fundamentalist mob and were asked about divination and verbally provide the standard organisational response from Leviticus re divination = blanket evil while in your mind processing the knowledge that Ezekiel refers to false visions and lying divinations (implying there are true ones) and Micah has as consequences for evildoing ‘diviners disgraced because there is no answer from God’ etc are you ‘lying’ or damaging yourself in some fashion by working in an environment you do not fully agree with etc?

Re: Various

[ecosophia]

1) Tradition has it that doing something disrespectful with the remains of the dead is a great way to guarantee yourself a long run of miserable bad luck. With that in mind, unless your relative specifically approved being turned into jewelry, I don't recommend it; something more respectful is probably a good idea.

2) Excellent! You clearly have enough material here for a month or so of daily meditations, and far be it from me to interfere with the process of finding the answers to these questions for yourself.

[(Anonymous)]

A while back, I asked whether there was something which incorporated the ideas of 20th century physics, in particular black holes, into an occult philosophy. You said no, and suggested someone could work on it, and so I took on the project, and would now like to report in on it. The gist of it is that this task will not work well, for the simple reason that black holes, and indeed most 20th century physics, is breathtakingly Plutonian, and thus not suited to working well with occult philosophy.

Black holes are predicted to exist under relativity, and mark a region of space so dense that they create a gravitational pull that not even light can escape from. This creates a division between the outside and inside (the event horizon), and as with most Plutonian phenomena the energies involved are breathtakingly intense (literally infinite: at their heart sits a singularity, a point of infinite density, infinite gravity, and thus infinite energy). Further, the exact behaviours of black holes are unclear: given nothing can ever actually escape them once inside (a strong Plutonian theme itself, an eternal unbreakable prison), observations have been entirely indirect (which also fits the Plutonian theme), and they are a nightmare from a theoretical perspective, which helps reveal the nature of 20th century physics as a Plutonian phenomena: both quantum physics and relativity need to be taken into account in order to make predictions about black holes, and general relativity requires something occurs which quantum physics says is impossible.

To make a long story short, black holes, according to relativity, release energy from their event horizon at a frequency determined solely by the mass, charge, and spin, of the black hole, without regards for anything which it swallowed up. Quantum physics says this is impossible: information contained in the material swallowed by the black hole cannot be erased, as would be the case if relativity is correct and there is no relationship between the material swallowed by a black hole and the radiation it emits.

The thing which strikes me about this is that both the core paradigmatic theories of 20th century physics came into being in the early 20th century, both were subject to massive hype and excitement, and both proved unable to deliver. Furthermore, relativity is tied intimately with nuclear fission and fusion, and divides the former unity of space and time by making them dependent on motion.

Quantum physics, meanwhile, has been subject to hype and failed promises ever since it was invented, with one of the most recent set of hype being around quantum computing; it also divides former unities, in this case stating that small particles can be in more than one place and thus dividing the former unity of position.

Meanwhile, every single attempt to reconcile them has failed, leaving modern physics divided into two distinct, incompatible and contradictory systems. The only place where both need to be taken into account are black holes, and here they reveal they are quite contradictory.

This seems to suggest to me that sometime in the next 15 years or so, we're going to see a major revolution in physics, one which will utterly transform our understanding of the universe and replaces both quantum physics and relativity, much as relativity replaced Classical Mechanics in the early 20th century. I'd also wager that such a replacement would include a disproof of black holes, although the details are well beyond me.

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this! I became convinced that modern physics had gone down a series of dead ends when dark matter first became a thing -- it's so obviously the modern equivalent of all those epicycles people inserted into the Ptolemaic system to make a dodgy theory fit the evidence via brute force. I could definitely see it falling to bits in a hurry.

[tiporcupine]

I just noticed that I've been doing horary numerology wrong: I've only been adding up the digits of the hour and minute, not adding the date and my time number. Interestingly, the answers I got this way still tend to made sense in light of the situation.

I've gone back and reanalyzed two that lead to me making non-trivial decisions. One shifted from a 7, which I took as somewhat positive under the circumstances, to a 3, which was very positive.

The other was the one I did about joining the FHR: it shifts from a 3, which I (and you; I mentioned this before creating this account) took to be very positive, to a 5, which I think is still somewhat positive but means I'll have more difficulties than I thought.

Two questions:

a) In these sorts of instances, does my intention matter more than the system, or does the system matter more?

b) If the latter, am I right about my interpretation of the 5?

[ecosophia]

1) Your intention is the thing that matters. I've seen people who got some very basic element of a divination system wrong, still do excellent readings, because the information filtering up through their subconscious minds took a form that would communicate itself to them.

2) 5 simply means that you should proceed like a warrior on the battlefield, calm, focused, aware of potential dangers, and intent on your goal.

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

Does magic offer any tools for helping one deal with difficult life circumstances and emotional events, such as the death of loved ones? How does the magician confront the inevitability of one's death with dispassion and fortitude?

[ecosophia]

Yes, magic offers such tools, though it takes time and practice to put them to practical use. In the meantime, occult philosophy may help.

One of the basic lessons of magic is that your material body is the least important part of you. You can learn that by having out-of-body experiences, which will teach you in no uncertain terms that you can exist apart from your material body, or by remembering your own past lives, or by way of various other experiences. Once you grasp this death is no longer a big deal. Shedding your material body is only a little more significant an event than taking off your clothes; you have had other bodies before this one, and you will have other bodies after this one -- and the same is true of everyone else, including the people you care about.

Occult philosophy teaches this. Magic gives you the tools to experience it directly while still in this life. Both can make things much easier to face.

Better Scrying, Creative Ritual, Materialist Hangups, Appropriate Seriousness, Occult Dead Ends

[jprussell]

Good evening,

Thanks as always for this wonderful resource and for maintaining rules that have created a civil, engaging community. From your own descriptions of setting out on the occult path via books and correspondence courses, I am all too aware what a luxury a resource like this is.

First off, a bit of a shout out: causticus has put together the "Sane Polytheism" community (in homage to Dion Fortune's Sane Occultism). There's been some quite interesting discussions, so for anyone interested in talking with other polytheistic practitioners who are also interested in the more occult side of things, check it out here: https://sanepolytheism.dreamwidth.org/

As for questions:

1) For JMG, but thoughts from the commentariat most welcome: I've now had a couple of scrying experiences, and I'm wondering how to be more "perceptive" and less "inventive", if that makes sense. In other words, I would like to be open to whatever imaginal experience I might encounter, but I'm not sure how to stop myself from just steering things wherever I might want them to go. Do you have any thoughts besides "more practice, and keep trying to hold that intention"?

2) I was listening to an interview with a writer, and he talked about how he has struggled to do what some writers do, which is to set aside a specific block of time everyday for writing. He further said that he knew that for many writers who successfully kept that habit, making it "sacred" and a "ritual" was a part of the success. This made me wonder: would it potentially be valuable to come up with a Grove- or Lodge-like ritual to create a space in which to do one's chosen creative work?

3) In your experience, for someone raised in a typical modern materialist-myth-of-progress worldview who has started down an occult path, are there any particularly stubborn notions/ways of thinking/concepts/paradigms/etc that are especially hard to let go of/get past? If so, any particular antidotes besides more daily ritual/meditation/divination?

4) A bit of a broad question, so I understand if nothing much comes to mind: anything that most new/aspiring occultists take too seriously? Anything they don't take seriously enough?

5) Are there any avenues of occult investigation that you have become interested in, looked into, and then decided were dead ends? If so, I'd be interested to hear how often it was a) "not for me", b) worthless, c) not enough evidence, or d) other. Specific examples are welcome, of course, and if any of those categories above had particular warning signs (especially "worthless"!), I'd be thankful to hear about that too.

Thanks much,
Jeff

Re: Better Scrying, Creative Ritual, Materialist Hangups, Appropriate Seriousness, Occult Dead Ends

[ecosophia]

1) The only way I know of is more practice -- scrying practice, but also regular meditation, which helps you learn to shift from active to receptive modes and back again.

2) Good question. By all means experiment if that interests you.

3) It really varies from person to person, and so do the appropriate responses.

4) Most beginning occultists take their psychic experiences much more seriously than they should, and take the humdrum routine of daily practice much less seriously than they should.

5) Yes. I looked into chaos magic when it first came out, and decided after study and reflection that it was too watered-down and surrendered too much to the materialist mainstream for my taste; I think that counts as "not for me." I also looked into Traditionalism, and went away shaking my head at its sneering arrogance, posturing, and intellectual fakery. Finally, I've looked into some systems of practice that claimed to be Really Powerful Magic, and backed away when it turned out they had a few beginners-level tricks and nothing more. Manly P. Hall has a great little essay somewhere that points out that common sense is just as valid on the spiritual levels of being as anywhere else; if someone is saying something that would be stupid, hateful, or silly applied to material reality, it keeps that quality when applied to spiritual realities.

[(Anonymous)]

I've realized there's a major factor driving the current conflict between the established powers of the west and the masses which ties directly into what you wrote about in The Twilight of Pluto, and promises to be interesting: if Pluto marks division, then it would naturally rule over the division of fact and image; in other words, PR, propaganda, Orwellianism, etc.

What this means is that as Pluto fades out, all the ways of maintaining power which depend on image control are going to stop working, as the ability to control images to the extent possible in the Plutonian Era will go away. I think this is already happening, but what's really interesting here is that it seems to suggest that the Magician States are Plutonian, and thus can be counted on to crumble in the years ahead, and never come back on anything like the scale they existed.

If this is right, the years leading up to 2036 could be quite something, since most of the western world has no idea how to function politically or culturally outside of a Magician State...

[ecosophia]

Hmm! That's a fascinating possibility, and I think a plausible one. As images lose their Plutonian subversive quality and turn back into Neptunian dreams, systems built on them will dissolve into Neptunian incoherence and confusion -- er, yes, and of course that's what has been happening. Meanwhile, those who can work with images in a Neptunian way rather than a Plutonian one can accomplish some very strange things...

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

You've often said that we are very busy between lives - what sort of things do we do between lives?

In your last post you noted that warmth in the hands while doing the MP can represent the development of healing abilities in past lives. Is there any significance to the chest area?

More of a long descent question, but I'd like to focus on the healing arts in this lifetime (I feel really drawn to them - it was through realising that the entire medical model is basically bogus after a decade of chronic illness that introduced me to the occult world). Do you think there is room for one to make a living from alternative healing during the long descent? (Bearing that one abides by all laws and registrations and legalities required of them in their country etc. etc. - I am not from America FYI).

[ecosophia]

1) You process your memories from the life just ended -- that can be a heavenly experience or a hellish one, since you see those memories objectively, free from the biases of the moment, and so you get to experience all the good or evil you did unfiltered by your own self-interest. After that's done with, you have the chance to rise upward to the edge of the mental plane, to the extent of your capacity, and get a glimpse -- or more than a glimpse -- of the destiny of your soul. Then you have preparations to make for your next life, as you create the template for the personality you will have in the new body.

2) That's usually just a side effect of energizing the Tiphareth center.

3) Very much so. As mainstream medicine shuts down -- it's dreadfully dependent on extravagant energy and resource use -- alternative practitioners will be desperately needed to meet people's health care needs, and so they will be able to make a living even more readily than they do now -- and quite a few people, of course, make a good living doing alternative health care now.

Pluto vs. Monism

[slithytoves123]

One of the things that has occurred to me since last week is that Pluto's influence arrived on the scene shortly after Eastern spirituality, including Advaita Vedanta -- arguably the most uncompromisingly monist spirituality ever -- hit the world scene, and also shortly before their resurgence in popularity from the 60's until... well, they're arguably fading in influence as we speak.

Then there's politics: the birth of the Soviet Union corresponded with the discovery of Pluto, came onto the scene with a thunderous roar and for a while seemed unstoppable, then finally petered out and fell during Pluto's transit through Scorpio.

In other words, in both cases Pluto may have subverted what would have been Neptunian juggernauts that could have realistically displaced their competition. For all the trouble it's caused, this suggests a positive aspect to Pluto as a temporary balancing factor.

Re: Pluto vs. Monism

[ecosophia]

Pluto wasn't a mistake or an accident. He was a necessary factor during his time as a planet, and I don't think he's lost all his usefulness yet!

Increasing awareness.

[vitranc]

Hallo JMG,

Last week k you asked me to repost the question this week.

Link

„I assume I know the answer, but what steps can one do to achieve a greater awareness. What are your recommendations?

How does one notice progress? Do you become more aware in your dreams, or does one notice some things?“

Could we continue the topic.

Re: Increasing awareness.

[ecosophia]

1) Meditation is the most important tool for developing awareness. That five to twenty minutes a day of sustained reflection is the key that opens many, many doors. There are other exercises that supplement meditation -- you'll find them in most books of old-fashioned occult training -- but meditation's the core.

2) It really varies from person to person. Some people have lucid dreams, some notice things in daily life, some find longstanding problems resolving, and so on. Don't worry about it -- as with most aspects of practice, fretting about whether you're doing well enough is an unproductive habit. Just keep on doing the work, and you'll catch on over time.

[emmanuelg]

Hi JMG & all--
As an attempt to see the big picture of Geomantic significators being strengthened in one house of the house chart, and weakened in another, I made a diagram that places each geomantic figure in its strong and weak houses (red for strong, blue for weak). I was hoping to get a big-picture view of strengths and weaknesses. The diagram is here:

https://conjunctio.dreamwidth.org/23936.html

Question 1) How were the strong- and weak- house placements determined? Did the placements come from the Zodiac, or another source?

When I think about the character of the houses and the character of individual geomantic figures, some of the placements seem backwards, while others seem appropriate. For example, Rubeus is strengthened in II but weakened in VIII. I would have expected it to be the other way around. Amissio is strengthened in VIII, and weakened in II - This makes more sense to me.

Question 2) Do you (or the commentariat) have any ideas about why there are many characters that seem to be placed in reverse of a more expected conformation?

Thanks again for conducting this discussion space!

Emmanuel G / Dreary Acquiescent Gopher :-)

[ecosophia]

1) I don't happen to know where the traditional strength and weakness placements come from. The placements don't fit the zodiac -- Amissio, for example, is Taurus, and the 2nd house is the natural house of Taurus -- and their underlying logic is not clear to me. Honestly, I don't use them much.

[(Anonymous)]

Something just hit me: if you're right that Pluto marked the Initiation of the Nadir, then it follows that once it's done, the Earth-Pull ought to either go away or be balanced by the Attraction to the Higher once it's done. Neptune seems ideally suited for this task, and so it's worth considering that this is the role Neptune will play in the future; which is also why it was ill suited to be discovered until we were ready to start moving upwards. Here though, there's also an interesting parallel to the Dark Night of the Soul and Rationalisms: they are both preceded by a spiritual uprising, much as Neptune was discovered.

I suspect this will be a theme for a good many meditations...

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Yes, that would follow too.

[(Anonymous)]

Two things today - first a TSW moment. While I was piggybacking my 2yo daughter through the house, each time we go through a door she says "This one's angry", "this one's sad", "this one's tired". On that last one, as soon as I realise she's talking about the doorways she says "this one's happy!", when I go back to the sad and the angry one she says that they're happy too. I'm making a point to thank the doors as I go through them now.

The second, what do you make of this for an omen?: https://nitter.net/nick_kapur/status/1500482391395254276
I don't know enough about Japanese culture to make a call on it, but it seems big. If you can't view the link, it is a Twitter thread that says that the Sessho-seki stone in Nasu, Japan has split in two, and has before and after pictures as well as some paintings and lore about it.

[(Anonymous)]

Not JMG, but the timing here is odd: the Sessho-seki started cracking in 2014, and if it relates to the events since then, well, crunch time is here....

Translation Update

[(Anonymous)]

I've had lots of fun with Etteilla's book, and learnt a thing or two about card divination. The book is very short and quite scanty in some details. I decided in the end to publish it under my own imprint as an experiment to see how it does in comparison with my other publications, at this stage it is coming out 19 April (unless I run into some issues with the book block etc) - I even had a go at divining that decision using the Book of Thoth (and included the result (cards, not interpretation) in the notes in the back for readers to interpret for themselves).

My favourite quote from Etteilla:
"Only God has created the entire universe, and the law written down in it — that we shall find everything when we react to it and strive after it."

Meanwhile, I am looking at Karl von Prel (aka Carl Du Prel)'s Das Rätsel der Menschen: Einleitung in das Studium der Geheimwissenschaften [The Puzzle of Mankind: An Introduction into the Study of Occult Science] (1892) as a prospect for my next little exercise on the side.

Re: Translation Update

[ecosophia]

Delighted to hear this! I'll be happy to promote it in exchange for a print copy. (Yes, I know, I'm greedy when it comes to occult books!)

Qs

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

Starting a tech company soon, and I was looking into electional astrology with an astro friend. We have some dates in mind now. I just had a couple of questions:

1) The basic idea is to fill and submit the registration form for the company at the right time, correct (since the when the company is actually successfully registered isn't under my control)? Would a prayer or ritual/donation etc be recommended (and if yes, could you advise how to go about it)?

2) Because of some dumb international regulations in my country, I had to register the US company in the name of a US national, and then they will transfer the company to me (a foreigner) as a gift, post which I will be the owner.

Whether the company is registered in someone else's name and then transferred to me shouldn't affect the timing/optimality of the act right? The right time is for the success of the company as an individual entity?

Just don't want to make any careless mistakes here. Your help is appreciated.

Re: Qs

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, that's correct. Since tech companies are ruled by Mercury (and so is business in general), after you send in the form, on the next eight Wednesdays, burn an orange candle and recite the Orphic Hymn to Mercury (which you can find online via any search engine you like). On those same eight Wednesdays, make a donation of some multiple of 8 units of your currency to a charity of a Mercurial nature -- for example, a clinic that helps children with language and reading problems.

2) Yes, that's correct. It's the company you're electing -- you already have a birth chart!

[(Anonymous)]

I have a strong, well placed Pluto, and noticed part of how it reflects itself is a strong wry, ironic sense of humour, one which helps me to laugh at many of the absurdities and tragedies of life. This sort of humour seems to have defined the Plutonian era, which at its best had a strong sense of irony and absurdity, and it's hit me this is not a coincidence: Pluto is perhaps the most ironic force imaginable, as the rejection of Cosmos given a Cosmic form!

The question this raises though is simply this: do you know if anyone has ever written on the characteristic forms of humour for each planet?

[ecosophia]

Not that I know of. That would be an interesting project!

[(Anonymous)]

Do you think there's any kind of significance to the fact you started your blogging career in 2006, right as Pluto was downgraded?

[ecosophia]

It's quite possible. The whole thrust of my work is in opposition to the Plutonian influence, after all.

[(Anonymous)]

Once again, a round of applause for our generous host!

👏

-Princess Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Again,


I have very abstract questions about magic practice that I'm not sure how to answer within my own understanding. I have my own personal thoughts within the concept I can't really share through a community, I feel. I've been diving into the concept for quite a while, and without concretely stating my knowledge on the subject here are my questions for ya:

1. Have information theory concepts ever been introduced to the concept of magic?

2. As our brains work similar to computers process data in certain ways, could it be a consideration that one with awareness of self could "encode" information quantities through a "programming" method?

3. Has a base guideline ever been establishing throughout all magical and ritualistic practices?

Thank you very much for your thoughts.

P.E.

[ecosophia]

1) Not that I know of, but then I don't keep track of the latest fashionable gimmicks in pop-culture magic.

2) Our brains don't work like computers. That's why computers do such a miserably poor job of imitating brains. I suppose you could use programming as a metaphor -- I think Timothy Leary did that at one point -- but it strikes me as a very clumsy and unhelpful metaphor, much less useful than other ways of thinking about magic.

I'll expand on that a little. The idea of programming takes it as given that you, the programmer, are the active factor; the computer is passive, doing what it's told; and the program is a sequence of logical steps that makes the computer do what you want it to do. Approach the universe that way and you'll always be blindsided, because the rest of the world is not passive and will not do as it's told. Neither will your own mind and body, by the way. Programming as a metaphor for acting in the world is one more expression of the myth of the machine, the delusion that claims that we are the only active and creative forces in a passive, mechanical universe -- and the universe isn't interested in playing along with that dreary fantasy.

3) Nope. You can't do that without controlling all the variables, and since the universe will not sit still -- and neither will your body and mind -- you can't control the variables. So the baseline remains utterly unknown.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

I really, really liked the Twilight of Pluto! So much of my resentment, disgust and anger over ... well, lots of things, seems to come from my difficulty accepting the Plutonian nature that underpins a lot of the modern world. Reading about your theory about the Initiation of the Nadir ... it eased a bit of my anger, and let me see some of the benefits and necessities of the Plutonian mode. I feel better reconciled to and happy with the world that I live in, so thank you for that! You seem to have a talent for disseminating such a life-orientation, between your books, the SOP, and discursive meditation!

One question that came up when reading the book: where do you see fantasy fiction going, since it seems as though Pluto is vanishing? I am in the process of writing some novels and short stories (have finished one novel rough draft). Through trying to keep up with the genre, I've noticed that something happened that was VERY much in sync with a theory of Plutonian fading. The Game of Thrones TV show started very exciting, with a bang, released TONS of passion and energy, and was about a very grim, secret, plotting, aggressively non-spiritual set of groups endlessly scheming against each other. When the tv show finished ... well, going out with a whimper would be a nice way to put it. Now that it has faded, a lot of fantasy seems to be more ornate, more mythological, more focused on women, (this is the case BOTH with woke and non-woke fantasy that I've seen) and a little less grounded. Perhaps this is cold, secretive, masculine Pluto giving way to sensitive, imaginative, muddled, feminine Neptune? What are your thoughts about what this could mean, both for the genre, and its influence on society? Given that scifi is slowly slipping in popularity but fantasy isn't, could some Uranian influences find their way in? Thanks as always for this space, in addition to the weekly covid posts and the main blog!

-Derpherder

[ecosophia]

I think fantasy fiction has a grand future ahead of it now that the Plutonian influence is fading out. I would expect to see it become more dreamlike, more vivid, and much more innovative -- we've had endless rehashes of the same imagery for three quarters of a century now, cloaks and swords and wizards with pointy hats and the rest of it, and it's time to go to a broader vision in which faux-medieval kitsch is no longer mandated. Now that Neptune is the outermost planet, the Lord of the Great Deep and the emblem of unity, all the other planets can find places in fantasy, Uranus among them. I look forward to seeing the results.

M P Hall

[(Anonymous)]

Morning John
I’m continuing to enjoy Manly P Hall’s articles and the way they stimulate the flow of awen. One of the things he writes about is how the plane of spirit is the true reality and the material plane is in effect un-reality. And this got me thinking. In your tentacles novel Dreamlands people are living in the dreams of the sleeping lord. Which led me to ponder. Is the material plane, in essence, part of the consciousness of God, or the creator or whatever label one prefers? In the human body there are numerous parts that function in effect autonomously, ie the immune system, skin cell replacement etc. Are we the microcosm within the macrocosm? Is God everywhere and everything and yet we can’t see him/her?
I could read these articles for years and still benefit from them!
Kind regards Averagejoe

Re: M P Hall

[ecosophia]

There are various ways of thinking about what the material plane is, but one of the oldest and richest is the idea that the world of matter is the dream of the Creator. That's Dion Fortune's take, for example -- in the Cos.Doc. she says explicitly that the solar system is dreamed into being by the Solar Logos and the Cosmic atoms that accompanied it on its great journey out to the seventh plane.

I'm delighted that you're enjoying Hall's letters, btw. They're worth very close study.

electional astrology for marriage

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Do you happen to know of a general principal for electing a wedding date? Or is it complicated and maybe depend on the natal charts of the people involved?

-John N.

Re: electional astrology for marriage

[ecosophia]

Electing a date astrologically is always complicated and always depends on the other charts involved.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a Saturn opposition to my natal moon coming up. Should I do a planetary charity to the moon or Saturn? Thanks

[ecosophia]

Saturn's the disrupting influence, so he gets the offering to put him in a better mood.

[booklover1973]

A question about the accumulation of filth on the lower astral plane: might it be that the war in Ukraine is the way that the things which have accumulated on the lower astral plane during the past years are discharging into the material plane? Or is it the wrong place for that since all the hate and madness, which filled the lower astral plane, happened in the Western world?

[(Anonymous)]

My experience is that it's not discharging, it's deepening and thickening the accumulation. My big fear is that the discharge would be a global thermonuclear war. That would be a way of discharging the black oobleck that I'm sure the demons would be tickled pink about. --Mr. Nobody

OBOD or

[miow]

Dear JMG

I guess you could call me one of your flock, and first of all I wish to convey the deep thanks due to you. I owe you a depth of gratitude, in fact I probably owe my sanity and my success at work to you. After more than a decade of observation, the time has come to start learning in earnest for me, and my question is this: I am really grateful for the lessons you provide here, for free, but I am considering joining a local (United Kingdom, England particularly) formal training course. Both the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids as well as the Society of Inner Light are viable and attractive options to me and they offer tuition at my level. Are you in a position to recommend one? Or should I avoid one or both?

Many thanks
Miow

Re: OBOD or

[ecosophia]

Given a choice between the two, I'd recommend the Society of the Inner Light. OBOD has a good course but the SIL offers much more.

Terry Pratchett

[miow]

Talk of dark matter and quantum physics made me think of the late Terry Pratchett. Are you familiar with his work? Thinking about his books, especially the Witches trilogy, it now strikes me that he must have had more than a nodding acquaintance with magic and not the bunny in a top hat kind. Any thoughts?

Re: Terry Pratchett

[ecosophia]

I read a few of his early Discworld novels and found them mildly amusing but not much more than that. I never got to the witch books, and the books I read mostly displayed a keen awareness of the failings of pop fantasy.