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-ninth card in The Sacred Geometry Oracle. Card 29, The Dodecahedron, when upright tells you that spiritual forces are involved in the situation; when reversed, it warns you that you will have to embrace personal change in order to deal with what's happening.. The sun in the upper left corner of the image tells you that this card belongs to the final third of the oracle, which corresponds to Nwyfre, the principle of spirit and meaning.  We've completed our passage through the first two of the basic root functions of sacred geometry -- √3, the principle of the vesica piscis and the equilateral triangle, and √2, the principle of the square and its diagonal -- and now we're working with the √5, the seed from which the Golden Section unfolds and resolves all back into unity.

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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

Generating a Spiritual Body

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid Emeritus,
as you know there are a number of inner traditions that teach their adherents how to generate an immortal spiritual body, to which consciousness is generally transferred when the physical body dies.
Examples include Taoism and its golden fetus, the Yogavacara tradition with its Dhamma-body and Western esotericism's Body of Light.
Ever since I've learned of it this idea has made deep sense to me and I feel drawn to this goal, however I wanted to ask what do you think about it; I'm asking because I remember you writing in a comment about Between the Gates (which is the most accessible Western source for these teachings) that such practices basically turn you into a vampire after death.
So, would you mind elaborating on that? (And yes, I'm definitely going to do divination and meditate before I start doing any such practices).

Re: Generating a Spiritual Body

[ecosophia]

Okay, this is a very complex matter and ties back into archaic mystery traditions that are very poorly understood these days. The very short form is that it's a bad idea to do this unless you have some very specific reasons for doing so -- and no, being nervous about death isn't one of them.

Under normal circumstances, when you die, you go through the normal after-death process and then reincarnate. This is appropriate and healthy, and keeps you from getting stuck in a personality rut; when you're ready to make the transition to not dying, that happens, and you stop incarnating into a physical body in a natural manner. Until you've reached that point, you're not prepared to function in a nonphysical body for more than brief periods, and you can mess yourself over good and proper by trying it.

A very long time ago, in the days of the long barrows, people from certain lineages used to voluntarily be buried alive in order to pass into nonphysical incarnation for a certain period, and serve as spiritual guardians of a place or a community. That was a duty and a sacred burden. Later on, with the rise of a warrior aristocracy and the replacement of the long barrows with round barrows, the same methods were hijacked by kings and nobles, and used in an attempt to cheat death. The results were not good. Over time, people stopped putting up with that -- the spread of cremation and the abandonment of mound burial are markers of this process -- and the techniques survived in a hole-and-corner fashion in the practices of vampirism. The people who entered into the earth in the long barrows were sustained by their own spiritual power; the kings and lords who were buried in round barrows (and, ahem, pyramids) were sustained by sacrificial offerings; those who practiced vampirism didn't receive offerings, so they had to steal life force from victims, usually killing them in the process.

So my advice is to focus on your own spiritual development and enter into the Unseen when you've matured enough to do it properly. The alternatives usually end in a real mess.

[andrewskeen]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Picatrix. The astrological techniques are extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of medieval cosmology most of the praxis will go over a typical reader's head. There's also al-Qurtubi's polydeistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his esoteric commentary--his personal philosophy draws heavily from al-Kindī's De Radiis Stellarum, for instance. The practitioners understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these allusions, to realize they're not just apropos--they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Picatrix truly ARE idiots--of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the insight in Picatrix's existential aphorism, "Matter is a coadunation of the elements ordered for the reception of form," which itself is a cryptic reference to Calcidius' Middle Platonic commentary on Timaeus. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as al-Qurtubi's genius unfolds itself across Picatrix's pages. What fools... how I pity them.

And yes by the way, I DO have a Venus sigil tattoo from bk II ch 10. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only--and even they have to demonstrate they're within range of my operative magical ability (preferably lower) beforehand.



Original here.

[ecosophia]

Funny. For what it's worth, I don't think that people who dislike Picatrix are idiots; they may simply not find that way of practicing magic appropriate for them, and that expreses itself in the emotion of distaste.

What a Druidic Mage Would Do

[cs2]

We recently moved from a thriving city to one of 0.04% the population, next to the lake I've mentioned. This area is tiny, de-industrial, and pushed against the lake by the surrounding forest. People live in century-old doll-houses about the same size as our apartment was back in the city. Past-times are outdoors things like gardening, hunting, fishing, etc.

I suspect people will start to move here to "escape climate change." If they bring their wealth with them, that'll mean cutting down the forests, building suburbs, and paving over everything for car infrastructure.

1. Is there anything I can do to bring something down the planes to ethically prevent such devastation? Can I help lift up nature, the way Dion Fortune lifted up Britain?

2. What would you do in my situation, in addition to "walking the walk"? When I took up magic, I gave up flying and driving. I'm often the only one walking around here. I really miss the trams back in the city.

I've been doing the DMH suite for 3.5 years and am working through the DA. I will of course not be hasty; I'll do my due diligence before acting. Thank you.

Re: What a Druidic Mage Would Do

[ecosophia]

1) Talk to the local nature spirits. More to the point, listen to them. Find out what they want to do, and what they want you to do. The land healing ritual from DMH might be a good place to start, but ask the spirits what they think.

2) What I'd do is get to know the people, the trees, the land, and the rest of the environment, and then try to sense the right course of action. That was Fortune's approach, for what it's worth -- she based her War Letters workings on things she was shown by spiritual beings in her meditations at Glastonbury.

[(Anonymous)]

1. Based on your remarks, I’ve bought Watt’s edit of The Eye of Revelation. Any advice for a beginner?

2. Since we are in the season of Lughnasadh, do you have any recommended reading on Sul?

3. Is there an astrological explanation for the long, slow grind to the success of the conservative movement in the US? The current round of Supreme Court cases on abortion, guns, the EPA, and election law are products of decades of work. (Actually, it looks like Cthulhu dreaming himself awake while the liberal side of the electorate plays the role of one of Lovecraft’s naughty sorcerers.) How do astrologers even begin considering the design of questions for this sort of thing?

Rhydlyd… er… Umber Funicular Orc, that is…

[ecosophia]

1) Take it slow and easy. The exercises are much more potent than they seem.

2) See if you can find something on the Roman baths at Aquae Sulis (Bath) in England. That has very nearly the only things we know about her from scholarly sources.

3) That's an interesting question to which I don't have an immediate answer. The waning of the Plutonian current is part of it, but only part; the "long slow grind" aspect makes me think Saturn must have a role in it too.

Symbology

[(Anonymous)]

A while back you suggested two books for studying symbology, the first was Rosicrucian Symbology by “Khei” to be followed by a second which contained emblems, or the description of emblems for meditation. I have worked my way through the first book, finding it tremendously helpful and would like to start on the second. Could you give the name of it again please.

Zebby

Re: Symbology

[ecosophia]

Hmm. Was it by any chance The Rosicrucian Emblems of Daniel Cramer?

Slavic SOP

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG and commentariat! I have a friend who wants to take up the SOP, but wants to use Slavic deities (especially Polish deities if at all possible). Does anybody have a ready made correspondence list for the opening and six directions?

Re: Slavic SOP

[ecosophia]

That's easy as pie, as the Polish pantheon is a good basic Pagan pantheon of the practically minded variety. Here's one possible set:

1: In the name of Lado...
2: ..and of Lada...
3: ... and of Lel their son...
4: ...may (I/this place/whatever) be blessed.


Air/East: Perun the storm god
Water/West: Welles the cattle god (the enemy of Perun -- that's an old Indo-European duality)
Fire/South: Dwiewanna the crop goddess
Earth/North: Mora the sea goddess (the sea is north of Poland)
Spirit Below: Marzanna the earth goddess
Spirit Above: Swiatowit the high god

[(Anonymous)]

1) in the GSF's morning exercise, is stretching part of what is to be done 7 times?
2) it'd be fine to do the OSA work as the journaling in the GSF work, right? Would you recommend that some sessions be left for other subjects? Thanks,

- Fulvous Malodorous Cheese Baal.

[ecosophia]

1) No, just stretch good and thoroughly once, and then do the breathing and affirmation seven times.

2) You can certainly do the OSA work as your GSF journaling; judge whether you want to put sessions into other subjects on the basis of your own needs and interests.

[(Anonymous)]

I was reading through a thread from last Monday the Germanic gods reawakening, gathering in power and all of that possibly ending at some point in an ugly manner, with a likely high body count. This may be a stupid question, but how concerned should the average person be about potentially tangling themselves up in this by taking up worship of those gods, or starting the Heathen Golden Dawn? For myself (American, non German as far as I know), I took religious Heathenry off the table in large part because of how wedded to the culture wars it always seemed to be; I have a very strong feeling I'm supposed to spend my life here staying out of the culture as much as humanly possibly. I have been doing the HGD basic practices as the best of the three available options though.

[ecosophia]

If the Germanic gods are awakening here in North America, we have to deal with them -- trying to hide from archetypal forces as they come surging up does not work well. Balanced methods of working like those in the Heathen GD may help keep those forces in some kind of harmony, or at least stave off the worst possibilities. If you feel called to work with them, by all means do so, but be sure to invoke the Vanir as well as the Aesir.

[jprussell]

Hello All,

A happy Fourth of July to those of you who celebrate it, and otherwise, a very pleasant monday to you.

Sharing: My daughter was interested in seeing The Wizard of Oz, so we watched the start of the movie with her. I had heard (likely from an MM) that L. Frank Baum was a theosophist, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a better claim to anything occult, but even if you just go with the political interpretation (cowardly lion = William Jennings Bryan, Scarecrow = the American Farmer, the Tin Man = the American Factory Worker), there's some interesting symbolism in the film. She ended up finding the movie easy to not get too worked up over, despite finding the witch a bit scary, and I've been thinking about what kind of symbolism might be going there - likely a fine theme for meditation!

Question: 1) If The Eye of Revelation recommends avoiding chilling the body, how does occasional swimming in a slightly cool pool stack up? I suspect an ~80 degree F pool is firmly in the "tepid to cool" category you talked about in a previous MM, but I was curious with summer holidays happening.

Thanks very much,
Jeff

[(Anonymous)]

I'd like to piggyback on this question, if I may:

I read the Eye of Revelation as saying one should not chill the body *right after* the workout, during the shower (if one chose to take one then) - not "at all, ever". As one of the hot-then-cold-water-is-awesome types, should I avoid the Five Rites entirely, then, and do something else? I rather liked them, and though I took a frigid shower in the morning and did the five rites in the afternoon, I can't say anything felt amiss. Then again, they didn't feel "significantly different" either, and the two may indeed have been cancelling each other out. I don't know. For me, the cold water is more important than the Five Rites, so I'll happily substitute the Judson exercises and a decent ordinary workout, or something else, if that's useful, but if it is indeed simply a matter of sequence and timing, I'd like to continue the Five Rites if it's not counterproductive.

What is your read on that proscription?

Cheers,

Ochre Flaming Horny Toad

[(Anonymous)]

Just a comment--
I have really enjoyed the images from your Sacred Geometry Oracle card set!

Your mention of the roots remind me that each successive root is the diagonal distance across a square/cube/hypercube for the number of dimensions in the exponent;
so
SQRT 2 is the diagonal distance across a square (2D);
SQRT 3 is the diagonal distance between far opposite corners of a cube (3D);
SQRT 4 is the diagonal distance across a hypercube (4D), and
SQRT 5 the diagonal of the 5D cube -- and the diagonal of a rectangle made by 2 squares (which sort of ties 5D back to 2D) --AND the seed of the Golden ratio, which is equal to 0.5 + SQRT(5)/2, as you have correctly pointed out.

It is truly a world of wonder!

--Mint Extrapolating Goose

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it! Yes, that's another progression of roots, and one very much worth meditating on.

[(Anonymous)]

I wanted to add another data point to the discussion of the resurgence Odin and German culture from last week (https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/187900.html?thread=31467004#cmt31467004) as well as some general data points from looking at currently popular baby names in the USA.

Detailed current and historical baby name data in the USA is available through the Social Security website: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

Focusing first on Odin and Norse culture becoming more prevalent—Odin has had a great surge of popularity as a name in recent years.

Odin entered the top 1000 names in 2008 and has been rising every year since then. It ranked in the top 350 names for boys born in the USA in 2021, with 999 American baby boys named Odin last year. Freya has been rising too, even faster. Freya first ranked in the top 1000 in 2013, and last year reached #152, with 1,853 girls born with the name. The Freyja spelling entered the top 1000 in 2019 and ranked #709 last year, with 402 girls given the name Freyja.

Surprisingly to me, Thor does not rank in the top 1000. (Loki doesn’t either!)

Broadening from the Germanic theme, I noticed some other notable or surprising deity/entity names in the top 1000 in the USA for 2021:

Boys:

Atlas (ranked #149)
Adonis (#223)
Orion (#314)
Ares (#513)
Titan (#741)
Castiel (#809)
Azrael (#837)
Aries (#915)
Azriel (#921)
Osiris (#948)
Azael (#949) (appears to be a version of Azazel)
Cain (#956)

Girls:

Luna (#11)
Athena (#98)
Lilith (#268)
Itzel (#561)
Selene (#721)
Persephone (#778)
Artemis (#865)
Mazikeen (#947, fictional but disturbing, so I had to include—she’s a demon in some TV show called Lucifer)

Picking a year at random to contrast, in 2001 the only boys’ names from the ones I listed above that ranked in the top 1000 were Adonis and Orion. The only girls’ names that ranked were Athena and Itzel (a Mexican goddess).

There’s definitely been a culture shift with powerful pagan god/goddess names gaining in prominence. Outcasts or controversial figures from the Bible or related lore are also appearing for the first time as common names (Cain, Lilith, Azrael).

I’m happy to see Luna, Athena, Freya, and so on gaining popularity. I find the Odin/Freya popularity fascinating.

But I do find it a little foreboding that two spellings for the god of war, two spellings for the angel of death, and several demons rank among the top 1000 names in the US for babies.

[deborah_bender]

To some degree, I think what is going on with the Germanic baby names is that after WWI it was socially unacceptable to giver babies the names of Heathen deities. WWII reinforced this. Few people who are old enough to remember the Second World War are still alive, so those names no longer stir the strong negative associations that they had for most people.

That said, I would never name a child Odin, or even a name that meant "son of" or "devotee of" Odin. That is too heavy a burden for a child to carry.

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning,

I have some more SOP questions, if you don't mind 🙂

(1) I don’t have enough time in the morning to really devote myself to the triad of SOP—meditation—divination, so I decided to do them in the evening after I’ve come home from work. However, doing the SOP in the morning gives me a real boost, both in energy and mood. Can I do the SOP twice per day, once in the morning as part of my ‘etheric hygiene’, and one in the evening to clear my space for meditation, or would that be too much?

(2) How flexible exactly is the SOP? You wrote that we can write our own version of the invocations, and leave out the divine names, for example, but some elements are nonnegotiable, like the elemental associations of the directions. What about the animals (hawk, stag, etc.)? Can they be left out? Can other animals take their place?

(3) I’ve reached the part of calling upon Spirit Below, and noticed that it’s also associated with the earth, but I assume it’s not the same as the element of earth, but more like the underworld? I’m asking because, while I have left out any deity names so far (thinking that since I have no allegiance to any pantheon, I’d feel uncomfortable with invoking divine strangers), I feel a growing urge to add them now.

(Did you count on that effect when you wrote that we don’t have to include any deities in our SOP? 😉)

Since I feel drawn to the continental Celtic gods, I’m currently trying to find fitting candidates for each position. So far, I have:

— Taranis for the sky god
— Rosmerta for the earth goddess
— Brigindo (Brigid) as my personal patron (or matron) goddess
— Lugos for Air
— Belenos for Fire
— Nehalenia for Water
— Arduinna for Earth, since she’s a forest goddess, especially of the forested mountains
— If Spirit Below is not the same as the element of Earth, then the earth goddess for it would be more of a chtonic deity, right? In that case, I’d choose Erecura, but if I’m wrong about the chtonic aspect, I’d probably go with Rosmerta again.
— Teutates for Spirit Above

What do you think?

Many thanks for your patience with the noob questions 😌

[ecosophia]

1) You can do the SoP twice a day, as long as you don't find that it makes you feel spaced out.

2) The animals aren't fixed -- they're specific to the modern Druid Revival tradition. You can replace them with other animals, or with other beings -- for example, many Christians invoke the archangels in this same place.

3) That's correct; Earth is the topsoil and what grows on it, Spirit Below is the force that moves through the deep places of the earth. A chthonic goddess would be a good choice.

[jeanluc_12]

Dear Archdruid Emeritus,

Blessings to you and my fellow readers! Thank you again for hosting Magic Mondays.

Would taking into account one's natal chart be useful in planning certain magical operations? For example, I wanted to attract a relationship, so I go about doing rituals to make myself more lovable, speak to Venus as laid out in the Picatrix, etc. Yet, say, I have a well-dignified Saturn as ruler of and in the 7th House. Would it be wise to consider this? Like, doing a ritual or expecting a manifestation during a positive transit?

Jean Luc

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, yes. If you have Saturn ruling the 7th, make sure that Saturn isn't debilitated in your election, and if you can have Venus applying to a neutral or well dignified Saturn by trine or sextile in your working, the results will be even better. (Look for a woman who's at least a little older than you, btw, and who may not be conventionally attractive; you'll be very happy together.)

retrograde outer planet party

[deborah_bender]

If this hasn’t been asked and answered previously—
In my date planner there’s a chart which shows every one of the outer planets going retrograde in the second half of this year. There’s a stretch of time when every planet beyond the asteroid belt is retrograde from the perspective of our planet.

In order of onset:
Pluto (I know, but it’s on the chart.) R 4/29-10/8
Saturn R 6/4-10/23
Neptune R 6/28-12/3
Jupiter R 7/28-11/23
Uranus R 8/19-1/18 of next year
Mars gets into the act R 10/30-1/12 of next year

Between 8/19 and 10/8, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are retrograde. Mercury is also retrograde for part of that period, 9/9-10/2.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all retrograde for a few days after Pluto goes direct, and Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune are retrograde for more than a month after Saturn goes direct. When Mars goes retrograde, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune are also R for about a month.

My questions:
—About how often do so many hands on the celestial clock run backwards for a month or more?
—When this is going on with the outer planets, does it feel different to human beings than when most of the planets are direct? I mean aside from the aspects to the natal charts of individuals. Is it anything like having a Saturn return?
—Does this pattern have effects in mundane astrology?

Re: retrograde outer planet party

[ecosophia]

1) It's fairly uncommon to have all the outer planets retrograde at once, though I don't happen to know how often it happens; it'll likely happen in bursts, since it'll take a while for the slow-moving planets to scatter so their retrograde periods are at different times.

2) Things will be more sluggish, certainly, but retrogrades aren't that big a deal. In traditional astrology, they're just an ordinary debility, not the bugbear they've been turned into by too many modern astrologers.

3) It's not mentioned in any mundane text known to me.

Two ??s about breaking the spell of devices

[(Anonymous)]

G'day JMG, and fellow readers. I am inspired to try your advice of putting a sharp metal object near devices (such as the mobile phone I am writing this on) to break their power over me. I have the blade from a Stanley knife and I plan to snug it between my phone and its rubber case. Two questions:

1. Does it matter if the blade has a few rust spots?

2. Can I put a strip of sticky tape over the blade for safety or will that defeat the point of the exercise?

As always, thank you for your excellent blog and civilised comments section. 🙏

Liz

Re: Two ??s about breaking the spell of devices

[ecosophia]

1) It shouldn't, so long as the point and edge are clean.

2) Yes, very much so. The sharp bits need to be bare and uninsulated.

Magic at the end of empire

[(Anonymous)]

British Magicians dabbled into demonic occult at the end of the Empire, Aleister Crowley did the Abra-Melin magic and contacted Aiwass.

Is Aiwass a good being?
https://external-preview.redd.it/y28dy_iIvOpH1U8Z32wMBCPC_sVdSySVzfmfPwcy1z8.jpg
Looks like an Alien, was British Magic Spies possessed by this spirit?
Crowley was most likely part of the Magic Spies along with Dion Fortune etc, there is proof that he worked for the British Intelligence. Now since part of the Intelligence was shared and passed on to the US Empire see ClA interest into magic and occcult, take just a few examples out of FOlA

https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/E4/E4AAFF6DAF6863F459A8B4E52DFB9FF4_Manly.P.Hall_The.Secret.Teachings.of.All.Ages.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/12/129E144131F2E093FB1E441C737ACF92_SearchForTheManchurianCandidate.rtf.pdf

Is it possible that the Aiwass or the demons infected the ClA at that point?

Re: Magic at the end of empire

[ivn66]

FWIW, Your link didn't work, but if the drawing is that guy with the big head people tend to speculate was a grey alien, that's not Aiwass, that's "Lam", who contacted Crowley in NYC long after Liber Al. As far as I know, the only drawing of Aiwass has him looking pretty human (as do Crowley's written descriptions of him).

How can I soften this a bit

[(Anonymous)]

Sometimes I believe I poisoned a Swami in a previous life, leaving aside this thought is crazy, lets say for the experiment of the thought. I cannot explain both my intense interest in spirituality and my really bad karma.

How can I soften the karma so it goes through many lives so I get to still keep spiritual? because it looks to me that bad karma gets you away from spirituality

Re: How can I soften this a bit

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, it's not a crazy thought. Plenty of people have done that kind of dumb thing in a previous life.

Second, bad karma doesn't take you away from spirituality. Quite the contrary, getting into spirituality very often means that you have to deal with a bunch of bad karma -- it's called "karmic culmination," and basically amounts to clearing the decks in a hurry so that you can make the most of the spiritual practices you've taken up.

Third, you can't soften it. What you can do is accept your karma and deal with the consequences as cheerfully as you can, no matter how miserable it gets. When it's coming at you fast and thick, that means you're clearing it away and you can look forward to better days and lives to come.

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning, all & JMG!

I have a question today regarding self initiation. I was doing some re-read in Circles of Power where it indicates that self initiations may be done repeatedly to good effect. So:

1) Say I hypothetically do a first degree self initiation, then later go on the a second. Can I still go back and re-do the first again if I want / need to? Are there any special considerations for this?

2) If I have already done a self initiation and want to go back and do it again, so I need to repeat it at the same as the initial one? For example, just hypothetically, if an initiation needs to be done on the equinox, do repeat initiations also have to be done on the equinox too or is there more leeway with this once the original has been done? I’m assuming it has to be the same every time but I wanted to clarify.

Thank you very much again!

- J

[ecosophia]

1) There are two ways of doing this if you've got a sequence of initiations. The first is to do each one several times when you first encounter it -- say, you do the first degree four times, the second four times, and so on. The second is to do the whole sequence multiple times -- so you do the first, second, third, and so on, then you go back to the beginning and do the first, second, third, and so on; rinse and repeat as often as you like. I recommend the second approach, and I recommend going through the training program as well as the initiation multiple times -- you'll get much more in later passes than you ever did the first time through -- but I know people who prefer to do it the other way around.

2) Nope. Once you've done it the first time, the timing becomes much less important. You can still choose to do it on the equinox, or whatever, but that's not mandatory.

Excess astral/etheric energy

[milkyway1]

Good morning,

And thank you, again, for the opportunity to ask questions!

A little while back, you mentioned in a comment that an excess of etheric energy would lead to e.g. temper tantrums, emotional outbursts and the like, and too much astral energy would go into daydreaming, fantasies, etc. (I’m paraphrasing from memory here - hope I got it right!)

1. The connection between too much etheric energy and emotional drama is easy to see for me. But I’m not sure about the connection between astral energy and imagination.

Would you mind explaining how and why people would turn too much astral energy into daydreaming/fantasies (as opposed to burning it off through other means)?

2. If somebody would notice that they had some excess etheric or astral energy to burn, how could one go about that, respectively, without resorting to emotional outbursts or fantasies? Are there any more productive ways to achieve a balanced state?

(This isn’t about getting more balanced over time e.g. through regular spiritual or occult practice, but the practical question: what to do with too much energy right there and then?)

3. How would the opposite state, i.e. not enough etheric or not enough astral energy, show? (I.e. for people who are not trained to recognise these conditions and to handle them in a more productive way)

Thanks, and may you and your wife have a wonderful and productive summer week!

Milkyway

Re: Excess astral/etheric energy

[ecosophia]

1) The imagination is astral. When you imagine something you're either projecting it onto the astral plane or you're seeing something that's already there.

2) It takes training.

3) Likewise, though you could talk to an acupuncturist or other alternative health practitioner to get some immediate help.

Banishing

[(Anonymous)]

In the SOP when I banish, say, the unbalanced manifestations of air, who chooses what to banish? Is it the powers of air whose help I have invoked? I am hoping so, because I am not sure I know on a daily basis exactly what manifestations of air are unbalanced within me or around me..

Re: Banishing

[ecosophia]

Your higher self and the powers of air between them make that decision, unless you make it for them. I tend to choose a middle path, and say something like: "And with the help of the powers of air I banish from within me and around me and from all my doings all harmful influences and hostile magic, all negative habits of mind, and every imbalance of the nature of air. I banish them far from me." That expresses a good general intention but allows the powers and my higher self to work out the details.

[jenniferkobernik]

Since doing the SoP is not recommended while pregnant/nursing, is there something pregnancy-safe you would recommend to replace the spiritual “hygiene” aspect of the ritual? I don’t like the idea of all the built-up ick over months of pregnancy/years of nursing.

Also, is setting up a shrine/altar okay during pregnancy? I’m not sure if this would count as prayer or stray too much into the realm of working magic. Assuming I did not do any rituals to consecrate it or anything, just set up a space with objects, figurines, etc. and prayed or made simple offerings (laying a flower on the shrine, for instance). I am trying to deepen my devotional practices while my magical practice is limited, and it would be really nice to have a shrine. (I swear I read your FAQ about magic and children, but this answer still wasn’t clear to me).

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Um, Jen? Anything that's not ceremonial magic, according to the FAQ, is just fine. Hoodoo cleansing baths? Not ceremonial magic. Other natural magic preparations? Not ceremonial magic. Devotional work? Not ceremonial magic Setting up a shrine or altar for your prayers? Not ceremonial magic. And, er, I defined ceremonial magic in the FAQ.

It amazes me that so many highly intelligent people have their brains turn to mush on this one topic.

Possible to have two past lives overlap?

[neptunesdolphins]

Is it possible to have two past lives overlap? For most of my life, I have had visions of being a German WWI pilot, and also a U.S. Gangster during Prohibition. Or is it a product of an overactive imagination? The only theory I could come up with was Doren Virtue's "walk-ins" where one being enters another. Is that possible?

Re: Possible to have two past lives overlap?

[ecosophia]

Good question. Some people seem to have this experience, though most do not -- I don't, for example. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Divination

[miow]

My thanks as always for this space. A question regarding divination if I may. As per my Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose programme, I am trying to learn two divination methods. One is Tarot, using the Rider Waite deck and the other is learning astrology. Boy oh boy am I finding these difficult! Interesting, but difficult. My difficulty at this point with interpreting the cards is that there seems to be so many different interpretations. The little white book (LWB) that came with the deck I find not very helpful and some interpretations in this LWB even contradict themselves. I have two other books, a bit more meaty, but their interpretations of the cards are different again. Surely there must be some base somewhere? I've been writing down the meanings out of all 3 and testing them against subsequent events, and out of the three, I found the LWB to be the least accurate. I'm now at the stage where I am more confused than when I started. Can you recommend a beginner's reference to interpreting the card meanings please? Any advice from the Commenters also gladly received. (I'm not even close to using astrology as a divinatory tool, for I think it will be years before I have learnt enough to do so.)

Re: Divination

[ecosophia]

Okay, you've fallen into one of the standard traps that await the unwary: the trap of All Those Conflicting Interpretations. No, there's no fixed meaning for the cards; they mean what your subconscious mind decides they mean.

You might find useful. If you don't like the LWB, choose whichever of the books you like most, stick to that for now, and use your own experience to figure out what the cards mean for you, as explained in the link.

That exercise where you walk through an imaginary door with a symbol

[casmith]

JMG:

I read this post (https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/187900.html?thread=31487484#cmt31487484) last week, and decided to try this exercise of imagining a symbol on an imaginary doorway and walking through.

I opened this with the LBRP to stay safe from unwanted astral influence. Was I right to do this or does LBRP interfere with the exercise?

I imagined the astrological symbol for Neptune and walked through the door. I was immediately overwhelmed with a strong vibration moving through my entire body, but particularly my ear and upper torso. I initially saw the planet Neptune, fell towards it, and floated in swirling blue clouds. The weird part came when I tried to match the vibration of my body with the vibration moving though it. It felt like I achieved a resonance with the vibration becoming stronger, less bearable, but somehow under more control. I called out to see if anyone was there but there was no response. I thanked whatever it was that I encountered and walked back out of the door.

Do you have any advice for when I try this again (including don't try it again if it sounds like I should stop)? Also can I use absolutely any symbol?

Thank you for providing Magic Mondays!

Re: That exercise where you walk through an imaginary door with a symbol

[ecosophia]

Congratulations -- you've just done your first scrying. It's a good idea to banish before you do the practice, to keep things clear, and yes, you can do it with any symbol it's possible for you to imagine. As for advice, why, keep doing it, take notes on the results, and meditate on what you experience.

[(Anonymous)]

This might be off topic, feel free to delete if so, but--

If you read the primary sources for ancient Western polytheism-- the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Homeric hymns, the work of Hesiod-- it's very clear that the gods are names given to those forces which are larger than humans and which generate or control the world we live in. Some are forces of nature, like Night or Dawn or Ocean; others are emotional or cultural forces like Oath or Rumor or Eros; still others are higher powers which embody complex sociocultural phenomena and weave them together with aspects of the natural world, and these tend to be the highest-- Zeus rains, and he also reigns; Hephaestus is fire, but also the labor that fire makes possible; and so on. Sleep is a god, and so is Oath; War is a god, Death is a god; every river is a god.

Despite this, I have regularly seen claims by modern pagans and polytheists, including academics who one would think have read the primary sources ever, that the Gods somehow have nothing to do with nature. A very well-known polytheist academic has suggested that to claim the gods are natural phenomenon would reduce them to mechanisms; how he accounts for the presence of every river in the world at the council of the gods in Olympus in one of the later books of The Iliad I do not know. A well-known Golden Dawner attempted to claim that there was no nature aspect to ancient polytheism because there were no sacred groves within the city limits of Rome, apparently failing to notice that most cities do not contain forests within them. Some years ago a very vocal "reconstructionist" pagan on Reddit insisted to me that his patron goddess, Athena, had no connection to philosophy or to war or to olive trees-- "She's just Athena." It is as if the very idea that the gods are active in the world of our experience, which the ancient gods clearly are, is offensive to them.

So, and again feel free to ignore if it's off topic, but what do you make of this extraordinary and widespread ignorance of the divine nature among people who really ought to know better?

nature of the gods

[ritaer]

I would see this as an extreme reaction to the "reduction" of the gods to natural forces, ancient kings, etc. These are not even new arguments. The Greek philosophers were already arguing the nature and origin of the gods. Plato's "One" is very far removed from Homer's and Hesiod's Zeus. Euhemerus argued that the gods had originated as great men, kings and warriors who were idealized and worshipped after their deaths. Christian theologians seized on some of these arguments to label the Pagan gods as false and their own as real and then later scholars extended this into the anthropological and psychological study of religions. So, reaction to this is to reject the very idea--Zeus is not rain and thunder--I'm not a stupid kid or primitive tribesman to think that a natural phenomenon, well explained by science, is a god. Zeus isn't the inflated memory of a warrior who ruled a hill fort and a patch of country smaller than Manhattan some 4000 years ago. Zeus is Zeus.

As has often been observed, the opposite of one bad idea is another bad idea.

Rita