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 twenty-first card in The Sacred Geometry Oracle. Card 21, the Spiral, when upright shows that some factor in the situation is unfolding its potential and will be much more significant than it looks; when reversed, it tells you that some factor in the situation has passed its peak and will now spiral down into a state of lesser importance. 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

Rune Poems, Welsh Translation, and the Mabinogion

[jprussell]

Good evening and happy Belteinne! For anyone who doesn't celebrate Belteinne, a happy beginning of May or simply a happy Sunday evening/Monday morning to you.

First, something to share for the commentariat: The Rune Poems, edited by P.D. Brown and Michael Moynihan: https://arcanaeuropamedia.com/products/the-rune-poems . The main primary sources on the various versions of the Runes are the Rune Poems. This book contains a new translation of each of the major Rune Poems. Additionally, and perhaps more excitingly, it also contains a number of poems about the Runes by current esoteric practitioners interested in the Runes. If you're at all interested in the Runes, it's well worth checking out.

As for questions, I have three, all related to reading Welsh for esoteric wisdom:

1) I have not been able to find any discussion of the meaning/etymology of Einigan/Einigain/Einigair/Einiger, other than that "ein" is the (modern?) Welsh word for "our", and that "Einigen" is (coincidentally?) German for "unite". Any pointers on where I might track this down?

2) More broadly, any recommendations on a Welsh Dictionary for supplementing study of the Mabinogion?

3) Building on the above, any chance that a version of the Mabinogion with footnotes and/or esoteric commentary is one of your very many irons in the fire? Or is The Dolmen Arch as close as we're getting there?

Thanks as always for hosting this space and your time and attention in responding.

Cheers,
Jeff

Re: Rune Poems, Welsh Translation, and the Mabinogion

[booklover1973]

Somewhere JMG wrote that the myth of Einigen might be quite old; the name Einigen might come from an ancient Celtic Oinogenos, which would mean "the one-born" or something similar. The similarity with the German verb "einigen" is probably entirely coincidental.

3 Questions

[jeanluc_12]

Dear Archdruid,

Blessings to you and my fellow commentators.

1. I’m currently studying the Tree of Life. One night, after reading about Binah, Dante’s Paradiso popped into my mind. It was as if someone was telling me to research on this. When I did, my mind was blown. Dante’s journey through the spheres (from the Moon to the Primum Mobile and beyond) in heaven is basically the reverse Flaming Sword. Even God’s appearance as “three equally large circles” in the Empyrean reminds me of the Three Veils of Negative Existence. Do you think Dante knew of the Kabbalah and/or was an initiate of a mystery tradition?
2. Saturn is the only planet associated with a Sephirot above the Abyss, in the Supernal Triad. Based on this, can one assume that Saturn has a power and influence beyond the other planets?
3. I’m traveling out of the city this week to an island that become a fairly popular tourist destination over the past decade (I live in Asia, btw). I plan to continue doing my daily practices (LBRP, MP, Circulation) while I am there. Do I need to inform the ‘spirits of the land’ that I will be performing my daily practices? If so, what is the proper way to do so?

Thank you for hosting Magic Mondays.

Re: 3 Questions

[ecosophia]

1) In the Middle Ages, the vision of reality that we now consider espteric wisdom was the ordinary worldview of most educated Europeans. Dante may have had access to a mystery tradition, but he might also have picked up a lot of the Neoplatonism that was the foundation of ordinary thought in his time.

2) Depends on your version of the Tree! In the version I currently use, Uranus corresponds to Chokmah and Neptune to Kether. In any case, Saturn traditionally has certain spiritual dimensions not present in the other planets, but it's not stronger than they are.

3) Only if you're doing them outdoors in an area with plants. If you're indoors, it'll just be another of those funny things that humans do.

Sun Music

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG and possibly commentariat. I've started doing a daily planetary prayer practice, and I like to play music from Gustav Holst's The Planets. The only problem is Holst never composed movements for the Sun or Moon. The Moon is easy, an all-strings version of Claire de Lune and the first movememt of Moonlight Sonata work great. But I don't have anything better than the Beatles' Here Comes the Sun for the Sun's music (it lightens the heart and feels as cheery as a dose of St. John's Wort, but it's not very regal or awe-inspiring).

Do you or anybody else have any suggestions for some very solar classical/orchestral music?

Re: Sun Music

[ecosophia]

The piece "Hail the Conquering Hero Comes" from Handel's Judas Maccabeus, or the prelude to act 2 of Mozart's The Magic Flute (which always makes me think of sunrise), might be worth considering.

a busy week

[ecosophian]

For anyone interested, my transcript of Damien Echols's "Alchemy" lecture. It would be interesting to get JMG's comments on his methods.

https://ecosophian.dreamwidth.org/3270.html

and my commentary on the Circles of Power section about contemplation.

https://ecosophian.dreamwidth.org/3576.html

[booklover1973]

Hello JMG,

what is the best way to explain / say something about occult practice to someone not familiar with it, if that subject comes up for any reason?

[ecosophia]

Good question. As I have Aspergers syndrome I'm not the person to ask about how to deal gracefully with other people! Anyone else?

Recommended tarot book?

[sh1njuk1]

Hello JMG,

Happy Beltane!

I've seen you answer this question before multiple times and sincerely apologize that I am bad at searching Dreamwidth posts... nevertheless...

Could you please repeat what book you would recommend as the best general guide to the tarot? I recall it having a generic title, but a specific author's name, and that you mentioned it was published in the 70s.

Thank you very much for your patience!

Re: Recommended tarot book?

[ecosophia]

The book you're trying to remember is Eden Gray's Mastering the Tarot.

In another year or two, I'll have something else to recommend -- I've just located a big trove of John Gilbert's fine lessons and essays on the tarot, and have received permission from his executor to assemble them into a book and get it published. Stay tuned!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG & Commentariat,

How long do I leave a jar of magical stuff buried by the side of the road to dissipate its energies? If it surfaces again, do I re-bury it, or can I take it out with the trash after a while?

In mid-Fall last year, I found a glass jar that had rolled down the hill from my neighbour's yard. Not too surprising, as they both have the look and feel of dabblers in the occult. It had some brown solids in it, some liquids and maybe sticks and other things. I took it for some sort of magical working, and was advised here to bury it un-opened by the side of the road so that whatever energies were inside it could dissipate with the passing traffic.

I buried it on the edge of my property line in the middle of the night without lights, and pulled a flap of turf aside, replacing it so as to hide the hole. I am pretty sure I was not observed.

After I buried the jar, one of my neighbours began to walk around the road at the edge of my property. Maybe she could feel that she had lost something, I'm not sure.

Four months later, the neighbours moved away.
Five months later, the jar top poked up out of the earth.

I re-buried the jar--but could I just throw it away at this point? How long do I need to leave it buried by the side of the road?

Thank you for hosting this forum, and thanks to all who comment! I have learned a great deal here.
--Obsidian Paradoxical Neanderthal

[ecosophia]

Bury it again, in a place where it won't come to the surface. It doesn't have to be by the side of the road but it shouldn't be where anyone can get at it.

[ganeshling]

Hi JMG,

I'm still thinking on which of the Welsh gods could be considered as a Uranian deity or at least covering some part of the Uranian spectrum. Seeing how Hu the Mighty is assigned to the 2nd Sphere of the Tree of Life in CGD and how you proposed to assign Uranus to the same Sphere in the book of Pluto, it seems that Hu might have a relationship there. The bits of lore that talk about him say that he brought his people to Britain, that he invented the plough, and gave them poetry - all sound as almost revolutionary changes and in line with the more benevolent and balanced side of Uranus.

Does it make any sense?

You are probably way more familiar with the energies or the feel of both Uranus and Hu. If you are and you feel comfortable talking about it in the open, from your experience, is there any similarity to speak of?

Or is it more of a case that everyone interested would have to establish their own relationship to both and see for themselves?

[ecosophia]

That's certainly a plausible correspondence, but it's still very much something that each student should ponder for themselves.

[open_space]

The moment, as in the exact day, the Sun entered Aries and left Pisces my life went ablaze into minor chaos. It's not the first time I've noticed this and I already have a set of things and moods I do and experience that seem to correlate to astrological phenomena.

What astrological concepts and/or techniques do I need to learn to figure out what's going on and do something about it? I know that there is a way to take the current chart and cross reference it with my natal chart but I don't know the details.

[ecosophia]

What you're asking about is the interpretation of transits. When a planet in the heavens right now aspects the position a planet had in your natal chart, that's a transit. There are books that reference it, mostly in terms of the slow outer planets; I've got a book in process that covers transits to the natal chart as a means of timing, which may help when it's available.

Basically what you do is look at the aspect and interpret it as though it's temporarily part of your natal chart. If (let's say) the transiting Sun squares your natal Mars, yeah, you can expect some chaos!

On the angels...

[(Anonymous)]

Last week I noticed a comment about the various classes of angels, and how they relate back to the swarms of souls that have evolved and risen from this world. I note that you indicated that the archangels, or the star logoi, are (well at least symbolically) the first 12 swarms of souls to evolve. I went back to the Cos Doc to check and I assuming that this means the Lords of Flame, Form, and Mind, which have merged in part with the Logos are even greater than the archangels, a higher form of angel again. I recall them being called Regents somewhere.

This would in turn mean that the angels who aren't star logoi are from later swarms, which would show just how many swarms have passed through this solar system before us mere humans. I'm imagining that the number is more than 12 but probably less than 100.

Re: On the angels...

[ecosophia]

Er, you seem to have misunderstood what I wrote. Here it is again:

"Archangels are a little different. They, like the Solar Logos, completed their evolutionary journey long before this solar system was even formed; they are the Star Logoi discussed in the Cosmic Doctrine and the gods of the old Pagan faiths. They are far beyond the angels in evolution and in complexity. They also cooperate with the Solar Logos in the shaping of the solar system's evolution and destiny."

The archangels are thus older than the three swarms that became the Lords of Flame, Form, and Mind. The Lords of Flame are the angels, who thus rank below the archangels.

serpentine omen

[kallianeira]

Greetings JMG and readers,

Today my partner was driving through the town where we live, a town of about 4500 people with a highway running through it. Waiting at the lights at the main intersection he saw a snake in the middle of the road.

It lunged at passing highway traffic, trying to strike cars and trucks, including a bus that ran over it but did not harm it. Then it made towards a pedestrian waiting at the kerb to cross the road. Partner called out to the man that it was a red-bellied black snake and was dangerous. The man hurried away across the side street to avoid it.

No, we had not seen a snake in this place before even though we have lived beside bush blocks for three years.

This feels significant.

iridescent scintillating elver

Re: serpentine omen

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Either that, or the man standing at the roadside annoyed somebody who's good at curses!

Sacred geometry on the wheel of life

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

Have you mapped the symbols in your sacred geometry oracle onto the wheel of life?

Thanks
Sea Spray

Re: Sacred geometry on the wheel of life

[ecosophia]

Of course. I recommend each student to work it out individually, as part of the process of getting deeper into the cards.

Break in the life line

[(Anonymous)]

I am passing through some difficult uncertain time, besides the whole picture for everyone, is the same for me, I have some breaks in the life lines, now I am not that good in palmistry, but this is like self diagnosing on internet you can always get more scared than necessary

The break in the line is on both hands but the upper lines don't rush towards the Venus Hill.

Some say that if they don't rush towards the Venus Hill they would probably not be fatal.

What to make of it?

I am definitely feeling that I am at some turning point in my life, there is a lot of trouble lately and there is a lot of death around where I eat a soup daily they organize alms for people that passed away very often.

How do we get ourselves preparing for the Big Exit?
And if we end up remaining here how do we proceed on keeping human and psychologically sane? it seem to me that we are in a world where people and things are starting to collapse, a few people collapsed earlier and avoided the rush but that comes with some personal image penalty...

Re: Break in the life line

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, it's a common misconception that breaks in the life line indicate death. They don't. They indicate that your vitality comes in fits and starts, and that you need to take more time to rest and think things over than most people -- very often, more time than you give yourself. Breaks in both life lines can mean a serious illness, though it may be one you've already had -- the life line begins between the thumb and index finger and ends near the wrist, so you can divide that distance into an average lifespan and see where in your life the breaks happen. Breaks in the life line can also mean a change in your career or a relocation, depending on the pattern of the other lines.

As for your broader question, that's not something that has only one answer!

Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

[cs2]

Happy Belteinne!

I was gifted a dark night of the soul last week, in which I saw clearly how I had caused my own suffering in regards to my current health issue. Part of it was an honest mistake, but the other part was utterly foolish. It hadn't occurred to me that almost immediately after surgery from a different injury, I would need to go back to the doctor and start the process all over with a new injury. That, and I hide my pain, so my husband didn't realize he needed to urge me to go to the doctor. It took being in pain for 2.5 years to finally get an X-ray and realize I'm injured.

This frustration opened the door to a deep anger, where I mentally was violently destructive in imagining revenge toward myself for causing my own suffering. This only lasted a few moments and must have ended due to an angel's prompting: my husband came into the next room and declared a Lord of the Rings watch party.

The next day I realized this was the same pattern with my Devouring Mother Archetype growing up. Much of it was an honest mistake; as a child I didn't realize my mother could twist me mentally and emotionally, and that such things were abuse. It wasn't until she tried to physically attack me at age 30 that I finally processed this was abuse.

The same dark pattern of self-hatred flows all through that. I hated myself for letting myself be twisted by her, for never standing up. Though the one time I did was at age 30 when she then physically attacked me, so standing up as a child would have been a bad idea.

It feels like I opened up this deep, terrible thing in the ground and finally let it dissipate into the air. I saw the horrible anger but I only indulged for those few dark minutes. After that I let it go and haven't reached for it. OSA has surely helped open this, and praying to the Healer (Apollo). I understand that I do not need to punish myself for this by hating myself. Months or potentially years of work to get back out of pain will be hard enough.

I am wondering what you recommend I do to handle this. I've mostly just been tired, like a lot of the processing is going on behind the scenes in my psyche. I feel like I need a "staycation" of lots of rest, good food, gentle walks and quiet. Sorry for the long post, and thank you.

Re: Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

[ecosophia]

I'd say you need to do exactly what you feel you need to do -- get plenty of rest, gentle exercise, good food, and a quiet time generally. The process of abreacting something that deep and bitter is always a challenge to the whole system, and recuperation is a good idea!

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
Entry-level question on astrology, if you wouldn't mind.
I've been told by an astrologer that my Sun is in Aquarius, and is therefore in detriment. (I have a Sagittarius ascendant if that makes any difference). So I should do what I can to support the Sun. I already know about planetary charity, and practice it, but as I understand it, that's more for achieving specific things. Have you or any of the commentariat any simple, practical suggestions for strengthening the Sun generally?
Thank you.

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, relax. Roughly a twelfth of humanity has the Sun in Aquarius and most of them get by just fine. Dignities (detriment is one of these) are less important in natal charts than they are in some other branches of astrology; if you read a good book on natal astrology, you'll find that having the Sun in Aquarius has important strengths as well as downsides, just like every other Sun placement in the Zodiac.

Second, the essential dignity of the Sun (and every other planet) is only a very small part of the picture. Your natal Sun's house placement, the condition of the planet ruling the house where it is located, any aspects the Sun may have with other planets, and any planets in whichever house the Sun rules in your natal chart, all have to be factored in to gauge the strength or weakness of your natal Sun. The kind of single-factor astrology that treats (say) the Sun's placement in the sign of its detriment all by itself is one of the main reasons astrology has fallen into disrepute.

What all this implies is that you may or may not need to strengthen the solar force in your personality and subtle body, and you may or may not be in a situation where you can do so. A thorough grasp of your natal chart is necessary before you should do anything beyond purely symptomatic workings of this kind!

Karma & meetup mid-southern Germany?

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG
1.) I hope I can ask this question clear:
in another post you mentioned, IIRC, that going the path of the enlightetd/ the magician often involves three livetimes, one getting started, one getting good, the last a rather short one with often a ...not so nice end - I wondered first why the not so nice end and second about the karma for the bringers of the not so nice end - I had to think about e.g. (roman catholic) Frere Roger of Taizé, who founded a monastery that was open to all and celebrating easter every weekend, who - after a long and fruitful live and also apparently after having set his things more or less in order because the old age started to show got attacked during one mass with a knive and killed. The killer apparently being insane ( I think schizoprenic was the diagnose). This would set up Frere Roger up to be a Martyr, but the one who set him up wil lbe getting the karma of a murderer, yes?
So in essence, if I take up those three lifetimes I´m setting another person up with bad karma? What is your take on this?

2.) @ I think Booklover, but maybe another fellow German here: I also had the equation Ceremony = magic in my head, maybe it´s a German thing, worth meditating over, thank you for asking that question.

3.) So - are there other JMG blog readers around Frankfurt that would like to meet up and figure out if in real life we really have a potatonose (or some suche) and only rather would like to meet up in text?

Heliotrope Fetid Mongoose - Emily07

Re: Karma & meetup mid-southern Germany?

[ecosophia]

No, you're not setting anybody up. There were any number of ways that Frère Roger could have met a sudden messy end -- I'm thinking here of Thomas Merton, who was electrocuted by a defective floor fan while visiting a monastery in Thailand -- and it so happened that somebody who was murderously unbalanced was there at the right time. The killer did indeed get the karma of a murderer, and specifically the karma of someone who commits murder in a state of insanity, which adds complexities all its own, but that was the natural outcome of his previous karma and choices; nobody made him become the kind of person who would murder a priest in the middle of Mass.

The guy from Nazareth understood this -- one of the many reasons why a lot of occultists think he was an initiate: "Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!"

Gold tincture

[davidastrom]

Hello!

1. In the chapter on talismans in CoP, you recommend "painting" the talisman with a gold tincture. Is this the same thing as colloidal gold? Can the latter be used as a substitute?

2. Connecting the crosses in the RC ritual, should the shape be a square or a circle?

Re: Gold tincture

[ecosophia]

1) I've never tried colloidal gold for that purpose; you'd have to experiment and see how it works. What I suggest using in Circles of Power is a fluid condenser, not a tincture, and I give detailed instructions in that book for making it.

2) Depends on the shape of the room, since the crosses go in the corners. In most rooms it's either a square or a rectangle.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, and thank you for your generosity, JMG.

I'm still very early in your LRM, proceeding slowly. I have been quite regular in my meditation practice, and after meditation, I usually perform the Quabbalistic Cross. I notice that without fail, every time I do the QC, I feel a tingly sensation, like a chill or a faint electric buzz. It is mostly in my chest and shoulders as my hand traces the shape of the cross from the top of my head, down my trunk and then up to right and left shoulders. It also seems to build in intensity as I do the ritual.

Many years ago, I had a favorite musical piece (fairly obscure, but it featured riffs by a well-known American acoustic guitarist and an Indian musician playing a traditional Indian stringed instrument whose name I forget). The song built to a wonderful bluesy crescendo, and to this day, whenever I hear that part of the song I get that same feeling-- a shivery energy that resolves in a very satisfying way. It reminds me of the satisfaction of a good sneeze in how it builds and releases.

What is this sensation? I am a person who largely lives in my head rather than experiencing life through my body, so it's quite intriguing. Etheric energies, or perhaps something completely different? Identifying (let alone experiencing) such things is quite new to me. Thank you.

*Ochre Harebrained Curmudgeon*

[ecosophia]

It's etheric energy. Music can affect that, and so of course can ritual magic. Welcome to a wider world!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

There was a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter the other day, and unfortunately I missed seeing it, but I just wondered if the act of seeing an astrological event makes any difference to a person in terms of how it affects them, or if the energies just reach them regardless either way?

Thanks.

[ecosophia]

The energies get to you whether you see them or not. It's always interesting to watch, and I made a point of observing the conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn a little over a year ago, but observing them doesn't have an astrological effect.

[(Anonymous)]

John--

How would you interpret a shield chart whose court is made up entirely of Populus? "It depends"?

[ecosophia]

It would depend on the question, of course, but most likely it would mean that nothing much is going to happen, and the issue about which I'm asking doesn't have anything to do with me and is just a matter of what the mass mind is thinking.

Animism

[tjololo]

Will you share your thoughts about animism? My ancestors were steppe people and animalism is all I can find that would be a spiritual link.

Thank you,
Tjololo

Re: Animism

[ecosophia]

I don't really know much about it, since it's never particularly appealed to me. Anyone else?

Advanced Spirituality?

[neptunesdolphins]

I was reading a blog by John Beckett about how there is beginner's Polytheism, and intermediate Polytheism, but no one every becomes advanced. That got me to pondering - in Paganism, magic, etc are there such a step system? I always thought that long-time Polytheists were "advanced" as it were.

Or am I talking about something different that what Beckett suggested? He was referring to whether he should write a book on advanced Polytheism. Is this some sort of modern idea of stages of religion?

Call me confused.

Re: Advanced Spirituality?

[ecosophia]

Oog.

Yes, I'd expect to see that from him. When Beckett says "nobody ever becomes advanced" what he's actually saying is "I'm smarter than everyone else and they should listen to me."

Taoism

[lp9]

Cross-posted at the Ecosophia Open Post:

The Sane Polytheism group is compiling starter guides for many varieties of polytheism. I would like to contribute a post for those interested in Taoism/Daoism/Chinese folk religion. Does anyone have recommendations for books or other resources, especially those with detail on ritual and practices? I recently read “The Souls of China” which touches on Daoist practices in modern day China, along with the rise of Christianity and other religious practices. And, of course, the Tao Te Ching. Any other suggestions or personal insights/experience?

Thanks!

Re: Taoism

[jprussell]

On the original post over there, I think you mentioned Watson's translation of Zhuangzi, which I found more uneven than the Tao Te Ching, but included some key ways of putting things that "clicked" better than any other discussion of Taoism.

Not religious, but helpful for providing some context, China: It's History and Culture by Morton and Lewis does an admirable job of giving a very brief overview of China's long history, which is helpful if your education, like mine, was woefully inadequate in this area.

I also have the Bollingen edition of the I Ching, largely due to its association with Jung, but I haven't done more than skim and read a bit of the introduction. I hear it's pretty well-regarded.

Lastly, though not strictly "Taoist", I imagine Confucius also ought to go on any Chinese philosophical/spiritual reading list.

I look forward to seeing what other folks have to say!

Dark MAGA

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning, I'm sure you have seen the Dark MAGA meme. I was curious what your thoughts are on the occult dimensions and ramifications of it are. It seems like it could have bad unintended consequences (or perhaps that is the intention). Thank you.

Re: Dark MAGA

[ecosophia]

I hadn't encountered it at all until I went looking for it in response to your mention of it. (It's been a while since I've done a round of lurking on the Chans, admittedly.) It seems pretty silly to me.

Maybe I'm showing my age, but all this reminds me forcefully of a bit of business from an early Cerebus the Aardvark comic. Cerebus and this peasant go into the tower of an evil sorcerer. All of a sudden black smoke billows and a voice booms out: "None may enter the dark castle of Necross save that they are evil. Are you evil?" The peasant, who's been sweating bullets the whole time, cracks, and starts babbling, "Yes, I'm evil! I look down women's dresses! I shirk my chores! I take more than my share at dinner! Evil? Why, I'm positively Satanic!"

There is a sudden ZOT! and the peasant is reduced to a grease spot. "Evil, yes," booms the voice. "But also incredibly boring."

A horoscope question (if it fits here)…

[(Anonymous)]

...and I'm getting political, mainly because what we're operating under (The horoscope for Noon of January 21 of 2021 unfolding before out eyes...). I first foresaw this possibility under Trump, but I think the question is more imperative given what we have at the moment (A practically nonexistent President who may be forces behind the scenes using him as a puppet, the mess that is the Presidential line of succession, and the aforementioned horoscope).

If Joe Biden were to abrogate the Constitution and declare himself dictator on September 1 of 2024 and hold power until the December 29 of 2025, would we still be operating under January 21 of 2021 chart, or would we cast a new chart for September 1st of 2024?

The wider question: If an elected leader takes on dictatorial power (by which I include an indefinite period of power, not one circumscribed by laws and/or custom), does the original election date still act as the leader's astrological chart, or do you cast a new one for when the Presidency is turned into a dictatorship? Similarly, do you cast a new astrological chart for every inauguration or do Incumbents continue under the original horoscope?

Hope the questions are clear...

– Godozo

Re: A horoscope question (if it fits here)…

[ecosophia]

That's an interesting question that would have to be settled through a careful study of comparable historical examples. Since I consider Joe Biden at least as likely to become a Trappist monk and achieve sainthood as to become dictator, I'm not too worried about it.