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. With certain exceptions, 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. Also: I will not be putting through or answering any more questions about practicing magic around children. I've answered those in simple declarative sentences in the FAQ. If you read the FAQ and don't think your question has been answered, read it again. If that doesn't help, consider remedial reading classes; yes, it really is as simple and straightforward as the FAQ says. 

The image?  That's the nineteenth card in The Sacred Geometry Oracle. Card 19, Square and Diagonal, when upright tells you that the situation has a great deal of creative potential in it and your actions will yield results; when reversed, it urges you to be cautious, because whatever you do will have consequences you may not be able to anticipate and will not be able to avoid. 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.

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

[gullindagan]

I've put out the directions for the Heathen Greater Rituals of the Hexagram on my blog: https://gullindagan.dreamwidth.org/

[ecosophia]

Delighted to hear it!

[(Anonymous)]

I've been frantically studying Pluto and trying to make sense of what effects his fading out will have, and have recently realized there's a good reason for this as I dive into astrology: Pluto's influence has, quite abruptly (it seems to have taken roughly one Mars cycle) faded out completely in my life. In order to make sense of my life, as reflected in my natal chart, progressions, or transits before early 2019, I need to factor in Pluto as a full planet, and given his placement in my chart, an important one; while now, he's a non-factor. Reviewing my life and astrology, Pluto transits until then were always major, life altering events; while he's currently crossing my ascendant and I don't feel it at all.

I've realized that if this experience, Pluto changing power quite rapidly during the transition to or from planet status, is common, then it explains a few otherwise odd phenomena, including the way that Plutonian phenomena abruptly became very noticeable in 1900, even if limited to a small number of people at first; the way a lot of people find the notion Pluto is fading out incomprehensible and contrary to their experience; the way that so many people are continuing on with the old Plutonian worldview even as many others have completely embraced a fully post-Plutonian world; and the way that right up until the end of the 1920s so many people found the Plutonian elements of society completely baffling. It would also be quite symbolically appropriate, given it creates division in people's lives between when they resonate with Pluto and when it stops are starts, and within society between the people who resonate with Pluto and those who don't.

a) Do you know of anything which could support or refute this theory? My plan is, once I get a much better grasp of astrology, to look into a few dozen notables from 1900-1930, and since 2006, and see if I can find a similar sudden change in other charts; but this will likely be a ways out.

b) If I may throw a question to the readership: Has anyone else had a similar experience to mine?

c) I have an enormous number of bad habits that relate to the remnants of the Plutonian: old ways of thinking and of doing things which no longer make any sense to me but are rooted in inertia and changing only slowly. Do you have any advice on how to speed up the process of clearing these away? I've started LRM and intend to use the Classic Golden Dawn spiritual practice, but at this point in time my skills with it are minimal at best.

[ecosophia]

1) The best way to study it -- the traditional way in astrology -- would be exactly that: to examine as many charts as possible and compare them to what actually happened.

2) My experience was somewhat different. I started studying astrology seriously in 2010, and noticed as soon as I started tracking my transits that I was supposedly dealing with an important aspect to my natal Pluto...and nothing was happening. That was what ultimately got me started on studying the rise and fall of planetary influences! It may well be that whatever Plutonian influence was at work in my life switched off at some point before that, but I've never really resonated well with the Plutonian current.

3) These things take time. Meditation and journaling can be helpful, but replacing one habit with another is always a slow, gradual, non-Plutonian process!

[(Anonymous)]

First I want to thank you for keeping this these threads.

Then a few questions to John and also to his readers:

1) Is there a good illustrated book on palmistry with drawings of all this peculiar things like, islands etc?
2) Can bad karma come with bad teeth(the permanent ones) in childhood? [Bible seems to suggest so in some passages.]
3) Since demons and bad karma some of the times seem to go together; can demons associate themselves with teeth or attach to someone's teeth in particular?

[ecosophia]

1) You're in luck. I posted a link to 105 volumes on palmistry, free for the downloading, in the most recent FHR post; you can find the books here:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=palmistry&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22&and%5B%5D=lending___status%3A%22is_readable%22&page=2

This is to my mind the best of the lot:

https://archive.org/details/practicepalmist01saingoog

But you may want to look at some of the others as well.

2 and 3) Not really. You can have bad teeth as a result of bad karma -- that is, you can be born into a body with a genetic predisposition to bad teeth as a result of your karma from previous lives -- but the teeth are just one expression of the karmic pattern. As for demons, not that I've ever heard.

[(Anonymous)]

a) I've recently added the classic version of the LBRP to my daily routine, and find that it makes me feel somewhat spacey and dizzy, an effect which resolves if I eat something; is this normal? Aside from making sure I can eat right after doing the LBRP, are there ways I can address this and make performing the ritual more comfortable?

b) Do you have any idea on why so many people find it impossible to grasp what you say on magic and children? It seems like a very weird thing for people to struggle so much to understand...

[ecosophia]

1) That's fairly common in the early phases. If it fades out, you should be fine. If it continues or gets worse, you may want to consider switching to the Sphere of Protection, as your energy body may be getting overloaded.

2) I really have no idea why so many people have such a weird set of blockages about that. Mind you, as someone with Aspergers syndrome, I'm not the person to ask about why people behave the way they do! The thing that strikes me is that the people who get strange about that issue all seem to think that the instructions in the FAQ can't be taken at face value -- no, there must be some underlying logic that caters to their desires, their fears, or both at once.

[(Anonymous)]

You might recall me asking you if finding Heinlein’s Assignment in Eternity with Vincent Di Fate’s angel-with-a-raygun cover under my Belteinne ritual notes just as I said, “Hello, Elen” made it a suitable image to set on my altar… and that you told me to go talk to her about it.
So, I did. A printout along with an unexpectedly found incense holder are now keeping company with my Hirlas horn and favorite hawthorn stick.
That makes sense to me, but is it possible for anyone else to see Di Fate’s work as I do? The title is popular and comes right up in an image search…
Also, I think the image would be a good one for a lodge lecture for the Green Wizards’ Benevolent and Protective Association – something about the grounded rocket ship rusting in the desert… Opinions welcome.
Rhydlyd

[ecosophia]

Presumably this is the one you have in mind:


My opinion: Interesting...

[jprussell]

Good evening!

To anyone who celebrates it, a very happy Easter! Otherwise, a very pleasant Sunday. I've been rather free with asking questions here, so I'd like to start offering something of value as well. Tonight, please consider checking out Eirik Westcoat's Viking Poetry for Heathen Rites, even if you're not a heathen yourself. It's a collection of liturgical poetry for worship of the Norse Gods and Goddesses, but it also includes a description of how to write poetry in traditional Germanic meters using modern English. It strikes me that this might be useful even for prayers to other pantheons.

On to the question!

1) (Not a magical safety question, I promise!) Due to some very happy news, I'll be putting a pause on learning or practicing any non-basic ceremonial magic for the next 3 years and some change. I've been greatly benefiting from your advice to "follow a magical system to the letter," and I'd like to maintain some discipline and regularity, but there's a lot in the DMH I'll have to put on hold. Given this constraint, it seems like reading lots of occult philosophy/mythology, meditation, and divination are the ways to go. Any other thoughts or resources on what a fairly rigorous path of occult study without advanced ceremonial magic might look like? (My copy of Dolmen Arch Volume 1 arrived today, but I haven't had a chance to see how much of a role ceremonial magic beyond the SOP plays in it).

As always, thanks very much for your time and effort in these posts and your other efforts.

Thanks,
Jeff

[ecosophia]

Congratulations! The Dolmen Arch material contains no ceremonial magic at all except for the SoP and, later on, the Grail working, so it's actually very close to what you have in mind. More generally, there's an entire world of occultism that focuses on meditation, divination, and study, with ceremonial magic playing little or no role; it's something I plan on discussing in much more detail in the months and years ahead.

Natural Magic

[(Anonymous)]

After your encyclopedia what would be the next book you would recommend for studies into Natural Magic?

Re: Natural Magic

[ecosophia]

Almost anything, as long as it isn't by Scott Cunningham!

Seriously, it depends on what direction you want to pursue. If you're interested in hoodoo-style natural magic, Cat Yronwode's books are very good. If you're interested in the astrological side of natural magic, any basic intro to astrology would be great. Other than that, well, you might check the bibliography of my encyclopedia; it's been decades since I've used anything but hoodoo in practice, and I haven't kept up with the literature.

[open_space]

Hello JMG,

Good catch!

Please don't refer anyone to the OSA website at the moment. The provider that was acquired and I was later given did not match the specifications to support the site, I didn't notice until I tried doing a test run but it should be up again soon with the content this week with a different provider and once the refund proceeds.

Thanks,
Augusto

[ecosophia]

I'm not yet referring anyone to it at all. Once it's entirely up and running, let me know, and I'll publicize it.

[brenainn]

1. Can you recommend a good introduction to alchemy? Right now, I just want to understand the basics, but not necessarily attempt any alchemy practice. I'm also assuming that a good chemistry textbook would be ideal?

2. I've had a lot of trouble with learning to read the tarot. I'll continue to study it, but I can't seem to get decent readings myself. I have a tarot reader who does some good work for me, but I really need a divination system to compliment the numerology readings that I do. I've considered the runes, since I'm now working on a relationship with the Anglo-Saxon gods. I know there are many divination systems out there. Do you have a recommendation for a novice?

3. For the commentariat: can anyone recommend a good introductory book on crystals?

[ecosophia]

1) Alchemist's Handbook by Frater Albertus and The Path of Alchemy by Mark Stavish are both good. As for chemistry, what you want is not a basic textbook but a lab manual, which will teach you how to do procedures safely. Alchemy has almost nothing in common with ordinary chemistry.

2) It really depends on the personal factor! Some people who have trouble with tarot do very well with geomancy. Runes are also popular, and if you're working with the Anglo-Saxon gods those would be a good choice. But your best bet is probably to try lots of different things and see which of them works for you.

Factors in Reincarnation

[(Anonymous)]

I found your post on reincarnation on your other blog interesting ("A Few Notes on Reincarnation"). If possible, could you describe what sort of factors guide a soul to incarnate as a particular kind of person in terms of character? Does a soul choose or seek a future incarnation on the basis of an issue or need it's trying to resolve in its development? Is there some sort of hierarchy or classification of needs/issues for souls that they work through? (Kind of parallel to the way children develop, progressing through developmental periods for movement, language, mathematics, morality, socialization etc. in a semi-predictable fashion).

I ask because I have grown up all my life around drug addicts and people with various other afflictions and sometimes they resolve their issues before die, and sometimes they don't, and the process fascinates me. The ways in which it parallels child development also have given me a lot of food for thought, as I work with children.

As a secondary question you don't have to answer, do certain souls get drawn to certain cultures on the basis of a developmental imperative?

I understand if reincarnation is not currently not understood this completely.

Re: Factors in Reincarnation

[ecosophia]

The processes that guide reincarnation are subtle, complex, and intensely personal. Each incarnation is a reflection of whatever collection of karma the soul most needs to work with, and whatever aspect of the soul's ultimate destiny it is ready to work on at that time. It can't be boiled down to anything so simplistic as a developmental hierarchy, since each soul's karma and destiny are unique. It's also not something the soul chooses, not until very late in the process of human incarnation; for most souls, it's as reflexive as birth pangs.

Note on my Reincarnation Question

[(Anonymous)]

I was the person who posted asking about reincarnation. I apologize that my question arrived around 12:30 Eastern Time. I made the mistake because I live in the central time zone and forgot to factor in the differance.

Re: Note on my Reincarnation Question

[ecosophia]

Your question arrived about 30 minutes after the beginning of this Magic Monday and 23 hours and 30 minutes before its end. What are you apologizing for?

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

1) I practice discursive meditation, but the connections I make seem rather trivial and obvious. Is there any value in drawing ‘obvious’ connections?

2) Is it possible to meditate on a single topic indefinitely? After re-treading the same ground over and over again, at one point does one exhaust its potential?

3) What is the mechanism of prayer from an occult perspective? Do deities respond to astral forms, like specific words?

4) Why does petitionary prayer (for instance, to cure a disease) generally not seem to get answered at rates better than chance would predict?

[ecosophia]

1) The obvious points are worth starting with, but always try to push beyond them. "What else might this imply?" is a good question always to ask yourself.

2) It's not helpful. Go on to something else, and then consider returning to the old topic when you think you can come up with something new concerning it.

3) Prayer is massively misunderstood. The gods are not vending machines, and prayer is not a way of getting things from them. Prayer is making contact. It's entering into a relationship and then letting the relationship ripen.

4) The gods already know what you need, and the difference between that and what you think you need. Again, they're not vending machines, and the surest way to spoil any relationship is to treat it purely as a way of getting stuff you want.

[booklover1973]

In your delineation of the solar eclipse at 30 April 2022 you wrote about a mutual reception between Venus in Pisces and Uranus in Taurus. The problem that I see here that this should not work, because Pisces is not the governorship of Uranus. Could you please elucidate on this subject?

[ecosophia]

Ouch! That was a mistake, pure and simple. I wonder how I managed to screw that up.

Any chance in 103049 you've read "The Archimedes Codex' by Reviel Netz and William Noel?

[(Anonymous)]

Cornalina Apopleptic Banshee liked it.

Re: Any chance in 103049 you've read "The Archimedes Codex' by Reviel Netz and William Noel?

[ecosophia]

No. Is it about occultism? If not, it's off topic here...

Dealing With Death

[goatgodschild]

Mr. Greer --

My cat was put down on Tuesday. She was fifteen, and her kidneys had failed. She lived with us for 12 years. I prayed to Pan and Bast and Kuanyin and Sedna for her death and afterlife to be as peaceful as possible. However, I keep seeing her around the house in my secondary vision as she was in her best years. I thought that her soul would only be here for three days before moving onto the world of the dead or reincarnation, but now I am not sure. I have been told that this is normal, that these are memories, but I am worried that she is stuck here. Is there anything that can be done, beyond divining on it?

Re: Dealing With Death

[ecosophia]

First, please accept my condolences. That sort of thing is very hard.

Second, don't worry about it. You may see her from time to time while she gets used to being dead; it's not uncommon for ghosts to spend longer than three days before the Second Death. Keep on praying to the deities you invoked on her behalf, and it'll be fine.

HAM

[(Anonymous)]

After some scary premonitions about grid power I'm putting a new HAM rig together with a focus on DX packet data. Being a continent and half an ocean away I'd like to figure out how to stay in touch with the Ecosophia tribe. Can you share any more details about the post-internet plans? There's already serious bottlenecks on equipment and it feels like now or never to get set up.

Re: HAM

[ecosophia]

That's a heck of a good question which I don't yet have the technical chops to answer. Anyone else?

Color breathing and meditation

[(Anonymous)]

In your opinion, can color breathing be approached as a viable form of meditation? I've had the deuce of a time trying to settle on a way of meditation that I find at least moderately enjoyable and can look forward to rather than dread. I tend to associate each color of the rainbow with a traditional planet, cycling through them as I go, so that might be one way to focus my attention. What do you think?

Re: Color breathing and meditation

[ecosophia]

It's very basic, but yes, if that works for you, by all means.

Unicorns

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Years ago I saw the unicorn tapestries in the Cloisters in NYC. And recently found a book on the free shelf at the library about the tapestries. It is the thoughts of the curator of the cloisters, in which she describes the unicorn as a symbol of Jesus. What do you see the unicorn representing? The images are powerful indeed. And the background is full of A’s and backward E’s bound together. She doesn’t mention that at all.
Tamar

Re: Unicorns

[ecosophia]

I don't see symbols as "representing" any one thing, the way a letter represents a sound or a stop sign represents stomping on the brake. A symbol is an image or other sensory pattern that's at the center of a cloud of overlapping meanings. A potent symbol such as the unicorn has a vast number of meanings around it. Are you at all familiar with Odell Shepard's fine book The Lore of the Unicorn? If not, I encourage you to find a copy; it's a good intro to the very rich complexity of that symbol.

[(Anonymous)]

Do you know any good sources on astrological magic?

[ecosophia]

Dozens of them. ;-)

I recommend starting with the many pages of Chris Warnock's site renaissanceastrology.com -- he covers most of the basics very well, and he sells several first-rate books on the subject as well as a good solid correspondence course.

Gods and Archangels

[(Anonymous)]

I am drawn to the Hellenic or Hellenistic worldview rather than to the Abrahamic. However lately I've found myself thinking a lot about archangels. It began when I started invoking the Violet Flame. In that practice, one is advised first to request protection from Archangel Michael, and to thank him for same afterward. Now the ideas and images of Gabriel and Raphael have also become prominent in my mind. In fact, I have taken to sometimes praying to them for the respective blessings for which they are known.

You can ask a Hellenic deity for assistance, and maybe you will get it, or maybe you will get something else. Ask an angel, and they're there to help; even if you don't get it, they're not out to get you. Whereas if a Hellenic god is annoyed with you, he will happily drop kick you and stomp you with hobnail boots until you clean up your act. So far I haven't had that experience with angels.

I'm a visually oriented person. I love beauty, and according to the classic artists angels are beautiful beings of light, so I find the thought of them agreeable to dwell upon in my mind's eye.

Am I a hopeless spiritual slut? Am I on two irreconcilable paths that will split me in half, or is there a way philosophically to resolve these spiritual spheres?

Re: Gods and Archangels

[ecosophia]

One of the odder spiritual phenomena of the last century or so is that the archangels and angels seem to be detaching themselves from the Abrahamic tradition. That's not a new thing entirely -- the late pagan Neoplatonists made room for angels and archangels in their vision of the cosmos -- but it's become especially striking over the last half century or so. Ross Nichols used to invoke the four archangels in his Druid ceremonies, for example, with very good results.

A great many people seem to be finding their way to entirely new constellations of spiritual experience and practice just now. My suggestion is that instead of spiritual slut-shaming yourself, so to speak, you accept that your path leads in strange directions. You might consider invoking Raphael and asking him for guidance in this matter, as that's one of the things he's noted for. Here he is in a painting, guiding Tobit...

[ivn66]

Hi JMG -

A question for you and the Heathen commentariat. Recently I've been made aware that Wotan's been saying hello for some time now, at least since the beginning of the Covid lockdowns. Just wondering 1. if anyone can recommend some good resources to learn more about Him, as a great deal of the stuff I've found online is either very shallow or written by folks who would seem to be pretty big Hitler fans, and 2. what a suitable offering to Him would be.

[ecosophia]

I'll have to toss this one to the Heathens among the commentariat.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

I've been practicing the CGD for just over 3 years and expect to finish the bardic grade by the end of this year (I am taking things slow and steady). I am a man strongly considering having children next year and thus going on hiatus for at least 4 years between the bardic grade initiation and the beginning of practicing Druid grade material, more likely 6-8 years. If you do not mind, I felt it might help me to ask a few questions to help me consider the choice.

First, I began this practice in part seeking energetic stability after an unwelcome, hostile energy work experience 5 years ago and significant subsequent energy body dysregulation. I feel much more stable now after 3 years of practice, but I still worry if more subtle lingering effects of the dysregulation might affect my children negatively. Is there a significant advantage to going through the druid grade for the purpose of stopping practicing magic, for someone who was accidentally thrust into a state of very often accidentally practicing magic? (I am now apparently doing this only rarely and with fair self-awareness or I would not be considering children at all.)

Second, is there any more standard significant practical benefit to finishing the druid grade material and/or the bardic cycle of Merlin's Wheel prior to having children?

Third, while I take a hiatus from ceremonial practice I still intend to keep up my studies and non-ceremonial spiritual work related to druidry. I've found myself especially drawn to astrology: though I had no prior experience with it, the planets and the stars have been a persistent thread in my meditations, my pathworkings seem to be guided by representatives of the zodiac more often than not, and you've mentioned here in recent weeks that you hope to see more work melding astrology with druidical magic. Would you say such studies, eg meditations on the stars and their energies and dynamics and experiments in gardening or entomological astrology, are more likely to be useful to you and to the DOGD if I were to advance to the druid grade before my hiatus, or would study as a bard also be similarly effective and valuable?

Thank you for considering these questions. I've benefitted immensely from my practice so far and from the Magic Mondays of the last four years.

[ecosophia]

All these are questions to sort out for yourself by way of divination, meditation, and reflection, since your choices here depend entirely on factors personal to you. That plus the material in the FAQ should answer your questions.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

In sex, can a man absorb the energy released by a woman upon her orgasm without having an orgasm and/or ejaculating himself, or does he need to do so to open himself to it? For that matter, do they need to orgasm at more or less the same time to achieve the transfer or energy? Receiving that energy to balance out what is lost is important to me, but am I overthinking it?

Many thanks

[ecosophia]

The exchange of energies in sex begins with the first skin-to-skin contact, provided that both participants are aroused. Orgasm isn't even necessary, though it's the most intense phase of energetic interaction. If both participants reach orgasm, it doesn't matter whether that happens at the same time or at different times. Keep in mind also that the male orgasm releases much more energy than the female orgasm; this is one of the reasons why mutual arousal is so important, and also why it's a good idea for the male partner to help the female partner to several orgasms for every one of his.

Overthinking is always a problem. Remember that you can make up any deficit by cold showers (cold water contains lots of etheric energy) and exercise in fresh air and sunlight.

The Banishing Pentagram

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

I study LRM and hope to graduate to FHR some day.

In my country, far, far away from the US, there is actually quite a lot of folk magic going on. Especially during the night at cross roads!

At one of the retail shops I manage situated on a cross road, the staff remarked that on several occasions, when opening the shop in the morning there were traces of camphor, chilies and burn marks on the pavement close to the shop.

After some while I took my courage in both hands and after closing time I went to the shop and very very discreetly traced a banshing pentagram and visualised a beam of golden light streaming from my palm and flowing onto the pavement.

Guess what! Since that day no traces of folk magic at the shop...

Coincidence? Synchronicity? or did I chase away the bad vibes?

Who knows? Any views?

Regards

Re: The Banishing Pentagram

[ecosophia]

It sounds to me as though you chased away the bad vibes in no uncertain fashion.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG and MM community,

1. Do you know any occult books on psychogenic illness or any occult books on falling pregnant/infertility
2. I've begun to notice a sort of smokyness around my hand when I perform the LBRP, it's become more noticeable over time. Is this etheric energy I am beginning to see or something else?

[ecosophia]

1) I don't. Anyone else?

2) It could well be the beginning of etheric vision, but you'll have to keep on practicing and see what happens to find out for certain.