Magic Monday
Jul. 24th, 2022 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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 thirty-second card in The Sacred Geometry Oracle. Card 32, Squaring the Circle, when upright is an omen of success and achievement; when reversed, it tells you that you're trying to accomplish something impossible and you need to accept that you won't get it. 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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***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next week!***
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 03:57 am (UTC)2. Three weeks ago, I noticed my sphere of protection was out of sync as it spun on its three axes. After a favorable mention here, I bought Kelder’s The Eye of Revelation (Watt edit). After two weeks of doing the rites, the sync problem is gone, I feel perkier, my desire to be entertained is greatly reduced, and my tastes in food have changed for the better. Any advice on what to watch for in the next few weeks?
Rhydlyd
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:08 am (UTC)2) Nah, don't let anyone else tell you what to look for. Pay attention and see what happens.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:51 pm (UTC)1. The ADF's politics drove me off a long time ago, but that's where I got the idea.
My experience of delivering the Outdwellers' offering is that they are busy, rather than hostile. So - maybe.
2. OK.
R
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:08 am (UTC)Blessings to you and my fellow commentators! Before anything else, I want to thank you and this community for the advice given in this space which has benefited me.
I’m currently looking for housing in the city I will move to next month. So far, the ones I am looking at are above the budget I have. For the goal of finding a suitable yet affordable accommodation soon, which of the seven planets should I work with? Off the bat, I’m thinking of Mercury and Luna.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:10 am (UTC)Jaundice Intoxicated Weasel
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 07:55 pm (UTC)"Tocado", on the other hand, is referred in this context as to someone who is out of their mind after a shocking event. It comes from the same root as the English expression "touche", which refers to a devastating blow to one's argument. The common ancestor (from the French?) refers to a literal, non lethal but disabling, piercing wound.
I don't know why the ladies in the article refer to themselves as tocadas, though; I would have pegged them as suffering from susto instead. I have only heard the word tocado in third person as the victim should not be aware enough to recognize their condition, and the interviewees sounded highly functional. Maybe it is a regional distinction, or I don't know. In any case, neither term is an earthquake exclusive malady, as the author would have you thinking.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 02:51 pm (UTC)One sentence in the article sticks out for me: "...time is less a steady current along which residents are borne and more a lurching sequence of nearby explosions, some perceptible and some imperceptible..."
While the title of the article seems to suggest some think the complaints of the Mexican residents to be 'just' PTSD, even the writer speculates there's more going on than meets the eye.
The sensitivity of humans to both their physical and non-physical environments is often underestimated or even pooh-poohed by sceptics. But the unique history and geography of Mexico City and the culture of Mexicans makes this sensitivity more overt. The buildings are slowly cracking and shifting and people can clearly see as well as feel this. Having somebody tell them 'it's all in their heads' must be very insulting. They can see with their own eyes what's happening.
Now I've seen any number of comments over the past year or so here on MM by people complaining of hearing explosive sounds or seeing bright flashes when they're on the verge of sleeping. The tectonic shifts of culture, climate, politics, religion etc are beginning to rub more and more people raw. While the feeling of 'susto' seems specific to Mexicans, I think we're all beginning to sense our own version of it. Everybody seems to be bracing themselves for the 'Big One' maybe hoping it will all be over with in one fell swoop and things can go back to 'normal'. But it's not quite happening. Instead, everything is endlessly quivering and re-adjusting itself, never quite settling down so people are stressing more and more waiting for the other shoe to drop.
No wonder so many people seem to be getting 'tocada'.
JLfromNH/Indigo Grimy Gorgon
Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 04:31 am (UTC)Thanks as always for hosting this wonderful resource.
To Share: Thanks to everyone last week who responded with resources on prayer as a practice. I've collected the recommendations along with a bit of organization/commentary here: https://sanepolytheism.dreamwidth.org/4241.html
To Ask: Does anyone here know if there is a book comparable to The Four Branches of the Mabinogi by Will Parker but for Germanic poetry, such as the Poetic Edda or Beowulf? I've been thrilled with the little bit of it I've referenced so far, and I'd love to see a similar treatment for the mythology I find most stirring.
Cheers,
Jeff
Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 04:34 am (UTC)Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 01:09 pm (UTC)Justin Patrick Moore
Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 10:07 pm (UTC)Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 05:55 pm (UTC)SamChevre
Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 10:10 pm (UTC)Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 07:01 pm (UTC)Re: Prayer Resources Roundup and Germanic "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"
Date: 2022-07-25 10:12 pm (UTC)ADHD and the occult
Date: 2022-07-25 04:35 am (UTC)It seems that the stimulants make up for low dopamine in my brain, and whilst they aren't the answer (as above so below) to the problem, they may give me the stability to start working on the answer (as below, so above).
What would your advice be about practising the occult whilst on them? My sense is it's different to the psychoactive drug scenario - ritalin to me feels like the same effect as 3/4 cups of coffee but without the jitters or anxiety.
Re: ADHD and the occult
Date: 2022-07-25 04:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:39 am (UTC)"Reliving" what happened feels like it falls flat since I don't clearly remember the events that unfolded. Usually only fragments. I also don't remember the actual feelings that went along with the events most of the time.
What I've noticed so far is that after the Breath of Acceptance there's a feeling that I have done a physical activity and my already unsteady hands have gotten shakier. There's more muscle twitching throughout the body as well.
My thinking is that I have a unusual amount of tension and that's why I'm not reacting as emotionally as I should but I'm not sure if it's that or if I'm not doing it well enough.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:48 am (UTC)Divination reading
Date: 2022-07-25 04:45 am (UTC)Re: Divination reading
Date: 2022-07-25 04:49 am (UTC)Re: Divination reading
Date: 2022-07-25 04:58 am (UTC)So, I might take that as "make an offering to this leader, say a prayer, and see what response you get". If you are uncertain/uncomfortable with making an offering to a deceased human, you might ask Woden or another God/Goddess for guidance on how to proceed.
Cheers,
Jeff
Re: Divination reading
Date: 2022-07-25 04:51 pm (UTC)Re: Divination reading
Date: 2022-07-25 05:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 05:17 am (UTC)I have been to court many times, but have never before felt such an effect; Do you or my fellow readers think it could be something my opponent was intentionally projecting; could it be that I was picking up on his nervousness and anger, or something else?
Thanks for any insights provided!
Turquoise Vitriolic Peacock
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 05:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 05:26 am (UTC)Thanks for hosting as usual.
1. What would be the druidic way of discerning spirits? I've been reading some of the Ignatian literature and was curious how the more... open minded druid view handles the complexity of the spiritual world out there.
2. Alexander Dugin has an ongoing work called Noomachia. Ever read it? His own occult background does seem to shine through where he goes through and analyzes various civilizations and to what degree/admixture they have of three different principles, apollonian, dionysian and cybellian. Each of his terms seems to correspond with what we might call the spirit above, lunar and spirit below forces in your tradition. Do you think that's a worthwhile method of historical review? Would you ever be interested in doing your own occult history series in the vein of Toynbee or Dugin?
3. One occultist, Greg Kaminsky, has written in depth about why he left western esotericism (WE)/magic behind for Vajrayana Buddhism. Specifically, he claims that the WE field just doesn't give the results it claims to for even long standing practioners. Given your general opinion of the broader "occulture" community, does this hold truth to it? Or is this just a case where the WE path ended up not being the place Kaminsky needed in particular?
4. Which planetary force is best invoked for self discipline, Mars or Saturn?
Thanks,
Tamanous
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:02 am (UTC)2) No, I haven't read it. Dugin's on my get-to list but it may be a while. Yes, I've considered writing a book on the theory of history, though as often as not I've thought of writing it as a long novel.
3) Everyone I've met who made that claim neglected core elements of Western esoteric practice -- above all, discursive meditation and the suite of practices that goes with it -- and most of them, at least in my experience, were still in the honeymoon phase with the new system. I can't speak to Kaminsky's case specifically because I'm not familiar with him, but I've done a variety of Asian spiritual practices as well as Western occultism and I've had better results with the Western methods.
4) Depends on what kind of self-discipline you have in mind. Do you need to motivate yourself to do something? That's Mars. Do you need to motivate yourself to stop doing something? That's Saturn.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:15 am (UTC)Thanks,
Jeff
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 08:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 08:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 10:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 10:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 12:55 pm (UTC)I think both of those are debatable, the first especially so: Vajrayana lineages in the west are just as rife with abuse as any other institution, and there's something odd that seems to happen to Buddhist teachers who emigrate to the US in particular - difficulty in adapting to the celebrity-style culture spiritual teachers can generate, and the US's comparatively extravagant material indulgences. OTOH, I can see the point about a coherent tradition with (relatively) well-preserved texts and traditions not just about the mechanics of practice but the pitfalls, ethics, cosmology, stages of development etc. Though it isn't my spiritual tradition - I'd argue some of the resources do exist in the fragments of the theurgists among other places - I've found a lot of helpful wisdom in texts from esoteric Buddhist practitioners.
(And, in my experience, individuals of 'true sanctity' really are there in the western traditions as well, but you're unlikely to find very many of them _very_ involved in the occult or neopagan scenes. So discernment is also an important skill.)
-888
Probs with Vajrayana & Tibetan Buddhism /re: Barrow vs. Mound building
Date: 2022-07-25 02:45 pm (UTC)...another aspect with the problems might be the holding on to power done by the Dalai Lama. I had heard he said he wasn't going to reincarnate as the Dalai Lama again. That might help solve some of the problems. It seems that spiritual corruption and the negative karma surrounding it would be involved with holding power for so long in an unbroken lineage of the same person reincarnating to the same position over and over. There are bound to be consequences from that. Perhaps some of the consequences have been the loss of autonomy for Tibet.
Going back to a discussion here a few weeks back, about barrow vs. mound building, I see a similarity. The earth works builders switched from being interred as a Sleeper as a form of magical service to an area of land to using it as a way to build a light body that could survive death, this then could be used to control and influence the world still. It seems like it was a bad idea.
I suggest that someone continually reincarnating to be the head of a group has similar control issues, and the rot would spread. Now I know a lot of people love the Dalai Lama, but maybe it's time for him to move on.
JPM
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:33 pm (UTC)https://www.theoldcraft.com/2020/09/06/interview-greg-kaminsky-awaking-authentic-spiritual-practice-uncommon-path/
https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep116-greg-kaminsky-occult-of-personality
In the first interview, Kaminsky calls the goal he failed to achieve in Western esotericism 'gnosis,' which he defines as 'a full-body knowingness that the Self is not an independent entity and when it is looked for, it is not found. This is similar to what is discovered when perception is investigated, and consciousness too. There are these processes of awareness occurring, but they don’t automatically mean that we are a subject in a world of objects. So, gnosis could also be described as a non-dual realization.'
He also says, 'when we start to ask where are those [in Western esotericism] who have accomplished the path and realized gnosis? They are very few and far between because, I would argue, by not beginning with a coherent view of reality, it precludes an actual destination or goal. So, you get a range of possibilities, but gnosis tends not to be one of them because gnosis is so far outside the normal function of the human mind that it only asserts itself in those who practice methods designed to allow it to arise. So, I would say that for the most part, what we consider Western esotericism has a different result than enlightenment. We could call the result initiation or knowledge and understanding, but it is not the realization of the nature of mind. I want to be clear here though, Western esotericism does not produce enlightenment, but some Chassidic Kabbalah schools do, and some Orthodox Christian monastic schools do, and some Sufi schools do. I would also argue that people have also gotten results in the Gurdjieff Work as well.'
Regards,
Josh Rout
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 07:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 07:29 pm (UTC)Side note: I think it's interesting how often people leave paganism/esotericism/etc. because of the lack of centuries of tradition & the corresponding infrastructure, while for others of us, that's one of the most appealing qualities. Sometimes I think it would be nice if there were a Druid monastery that I could go join & where I could spend the next 20 years studying, but it's also exciting to know I'm one of a handful of people meditating on Merlin as a spiritual practice & bringing that energy into the world. Guess you gotta pick which excites you more.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 08:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:03 am (UTC)Numerologically I am in a year of 5 in the overall year of 6, is satyagraha a good way to go in a year of 5. A lock of conflict around me, but I don't feel I can leave the truth position, is satyagraha a good way to approach this year? Arguably it seem to me that there is a generalised crush on dissent at it seem some of the truth lies there.
Also I have a lot of fire element in my birth chart with both Sun, Venus and Mars in Aries, I don't know what would be a position of strength for me is Michael a good guardian angel?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:31 pm (UTC)2) I'm not a natal astrologer, you know. You might want to get a chart delineation done by a good natal astrologer, and use that for your guide.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 06:13 pm (UTC)What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-25 06:38 am (UTC)This is an inherently personal question, but I am looking for a very general answer. According to the lore and your personal experience what do you expect your next incarnation to be like after a lifetime of magical practice?
And to clarify, I mean just from magic. Not from writing or charitable works like this blog or any other work you have done in this life. (Although it seems like you will get a nice return from those as a lot of people are very grateful for you efforts)
So what would be the difference for your next incarnation between a JMG that seriously pursued magic and a JMG that still became a writer and blogged about peak oil but did not do any magical practices? Or for a general case of a lifetime of magical practice as far as one can talk about general cases.
Thanks,
Tim
Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-25 04:41 pm (UTC)There are two positive things you can do with an incarnation, and you can do either or both of them. The first is to improve your karma by racking up favorable karma and clearing away the other kind. The second is to raise your level of consciousness. These are unrelated to each other -- you can have the best karma in the world and still be completely mired in the material mode of experience, and you can also raise your level of consciousness to quite some extent and still have a lot of wretched karma. Good karma doesn't keep you from being stuck on the merry-go-round of incarnation -- you need to raise your level of consciousness if you want to get off the merry-go-round and do something else.
Magic as I practice it -- theurgic magic -- is about getting off the merry-go-round. Specifically, its goal is to reach the point that you don't have to go through further material incarnations and you don't have to forget each life when it's over. There are many modes of existence above the material level, far more than we are capable of imagining; material incarnation is more or less the elementary school of the soul. I've been there for a while and got held back in a big way for good and sufficient reason -- yes, souls can definitely flunk a grade -- and at this point I'm interested in doing something else with the rest of my existence.
Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-25 04:55 pm (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-25 06:08 pm (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-26 03:58 am (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-26 04:02 am (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-26 02:31 am (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-26 03:46 am (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-26 03:23 am (UTC)Thanks as always,
Ryan M.
Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-26 03:48 am (UTC)Re: What do you expect for your next incarnation?
Date: 2022-07-27 05:52 pm (UTC)You have helped me and are helping me now in these my last years. I am 70.
I have always accepted that there is magic and spirits and other types of beings but I have wondered why do I care? I have never really been interested in magic. On the other hand I have been interested in developing my consciousness, but have never really had a clue how, or believed methods I read. I longed for the insights that seemed to be behind Herman Hesse or even Carl Jung.
On one hand I feel like I have always been here. On the other hand many a time especially when things go wrong and I become depressed I wish I was not in this life. (I think that comes from abuse in childhood. My mother used to justify her abuse with you chose to be born by me. Which I did not believe, but I now think may or may not be true.)
I have recently been ill and am now almost completely recovered and am going to begin the FHR and Spirtual Alchemy, because I now see the reason for them
But, as I stated, esepcially as I get near70, I have been wondering over and over Why? Why bother? Your answer: Karma and consiousness development, has given me a good reason that resonates, makes sense and matters to me.
When I was younger I was much like Goethe’s Faust learning everything, and not seeing any point to life, or even wanting to live. I was trying to find a solution to my pain which I did not find. I briefly looked into the occult did not find what I wanted and left. (What I found was not very good.) And I did not want to make any deals with the devil.
You have been repeatedly saying we enter this life for a certain purpose, or to learn something. And I have always thought I don’t know why I am here, I have learned absolutely nothing that made being in this life worth being here.
Instead, my whole life I have invented reasons, which usually involved other people, as a reason to stay. For instance I have a son, therefore (when he was young) how could I abandon him and what right did I have to do so? If I could not take it, how could I expect that he could?
But my illness, which was perhaps caused for this reason, made me realize (1): I also need to look after myself, instead of depending on others to do it. (I am first born of six children and like caring for and have always looked after others, but I am rarely, if not never with people who reciprocate. This has caused me to betray myself over and over, and not look after my own interests.) And (2): I need to not be so cavalier about not wanting to live. I need to treat my living in this incarnation with more respect.
That does not mean I do not still get depressed and wish I was not in this life. But now sometimes I catch myself at it and say Stop, or that is a lie. And I do stop it.
My son came when I was near dying, I had not seen him in 14 years, and he was very distressed and very insistent I continue to live. He stayed six months and I have recovered.
But I need a reason to live more than just my son. And more than my writing, which also gives me a reason.
Developing my conciousneess and improving my karma in the years that remain, is a pretty good reason. And may in fact be why I am here.
It took me long enough to learn this and it is still hard to hold onto. There has been nuch pain along the way. But I have assembled the materials, everything but the pentagram, and it is coming. I am beginning the practice.
Thank you for giving it to me.
An addendum: I used to think that in Goethe’s Faust the angels cheated when they pleaded on behalf of Faust’s soul. I thought Faust made a bargain, he should have to keep it. Or else he was or the angels were cheating. But now I realize, at least this is my interpretation, it was the devil himself in the first place who was cheating by setting up the deal or the arrangement.
As long as Faust did not want to live, his soul already belonged to the devil, and there was nothing further the Devil needed to do. (His soul by definition belonged to the devil because he believed in nothing).
But as soon as Faust wanted to live, then wanting to live, and believing in purpose meaning was by its very nature Godly. And not the Devil.
Therefore the Devil had constructed his game, or deal, to make it seem the Devil had won, at the very moment he had lost. He was cheating. But if Faust or the Angels had accepted or believed in his cheat, then they might have turned from believing, to despair and disbelief.
And by that manner the Devil’s cheat might obtain a last second win. (when actually it was at that moment he had no right to it. This is why I think in the Catholic church you may gave been evil but if you repent and believe in God at the end.)
Does that make sense?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 08:58 am (UTC)I've seen books on Tantra mentioned in tones of respect on esoteric sites recently, by people who are generally well-informed. (I don't mean the New Age versions but the real stuff). I see from doing a site search that one of the books - by Christopher Wallis- has also been mentioned here. Can you, or others for that matter, say whether there's any likely conflict in theory or practice with the GD tradition? (I'm interested very much in the non-duality/Shaiva tradition.
Thanks for any ... enlightenment.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:50 pm (UTC)If you want to do Golden Dawn magic, do it with all your heart. If you want to do Tantra, do the same thing. Don't wibble back and forth. Remember that you can always put 20 years or so into GD work and then go on to other things, such as Tantra.
Crop Circles and Sacred Geometry
Date: 2022-07-25 08:59 am (UTC)There was a fascinating discussions 2 weeks ago about crop circles and sacred geometry. JMG said that the "If the old sacred geometers are right...the results can only be good."
(1) Can we have the names of a few old sacred geometers and a few titles of their works?
(2) Could you expand a bit on what you mean that "the result can only be good?"
Many thanks! Much appreciated...
Re: Crop Circles and Sacred Geometry
Date: 2022-07-25 04:53 pm (UTC)Re: Crop Circles and Sacred Geometry
Date: 2022-07-25 10:16 pm (UTC)Do you know if anyone is , or will , invent new forms of sacred geometry, or re-invent lost aspects of the old sacred geometry from scratch?
Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-25 09:30 am (UTC)In the same period I’ve been on a spiritual journey. I’ve just had a glimpse that it is more analogous to the other journey than I had understood. Much of religious and proper magical work seems to be in the interest of spiritually “collapsing now” to “avoid the rush” during the transition into afterlife(s). The practice seems at first glance to be building an infrastructure - look at how hard it is for beginners to just maintain a daily practice (myself included.) After time and reflection that practice is modest and sustainable compared to the psychological, cultural, societal, and karmic infrastructure it helps you separate from. Religious and magical practice seems to create inter-structure and intra-structure respectively. Now I’m on to meditating on how this relates back to my sustainable living journey in the physical world.
Question: is this connection inherent and intended in your body of work? It seems obvious now, yet when I think back it feels like the link between “collapse now and avoid the rush” and druid magic and religion was more of the “live lightly upon the earth” vein… Though, now that even feels like a call to spiritual practice.
Other questions of recent (for you and the commentariat):
I see a divide between people who see a world infused with spirit but don’t physically experiment with that world (even living at a remove from it,) and those who directly interact with embodied world (trade workers, scientists, etc.) but see it as purely material. This is a sharp divide from the classical marriage of practical physics and philosophy. It seems so strange to me. I’ve been toying with the idea that it is all tied to the dominance and cruelty inherent in our environmental-relationship, it drives the spiritual people away from science, and the scientists and workers must avoid spirituality or face the ethics of their actions. What do you make of it?
I’ve recently had a significant tap from the Greek neighborhood (pantheon) of the cosmos. Obviously, we’ve got quite a lot of material. Anyone have some good resources for getting an overview and taking some exploratory steps into the deep end of Greek mythology and religion?
Thank you JMG for graciously hosting us here and being generous with your own understandings and reasonings. Thank you to all the rest of you commenters for the mutual support, and often insightful responses given to one another. Wishing you all a good week.
Re: Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-25 02:57 pm (UTC)They're a mostly-Platonic take on polytheism, with a focus on the Greek pantheon, so they might be helpful for you.
Cheers,
Jeff
Re: Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-25 10:00 pm (UTC)Re: Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-25 04:58 pm (UTC)2) It's rooted in the history of science. In order to redefine their field of study away from politically and religiously explosive occult traditions, and get support from the rising mercantile classes, the people who founded modern science deliberately distanced themselves from everything spiritual. There's an essay in my book The City of Hermes that discusses this in quite a bit of detail, if you're interested.
3) I'll leave this one for the Hellenists among us.
Re: Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-25 10:05 pm (UTC)2. That makes sense; and I'm glad to have your book as a source for further thoughts on the matter.
3. You may have answered this somewhat with the answer to 2, as one of the primary communicators identified as Hermes.
Re: Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-25 10:07 pm (UTC)Re: Collapse now
Date: 2022-07-26 03:57 am (UTC)And for the helpful guidance on your uses for them :)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 10:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 04:58 pm (UTC)Magic Monday Question.
Date: 2022-07-25 11:17 am (UTC)A few years ago, I accepted the gift of a small piece or artwork for a (now ex) girlfriend. I put the object in my bedside draw with a few other things and forgot about it.
Shortly after, we had a rather bitter and dramatic break up.
Since then I've had a lot of bad luck and I'm wondering if the object could be transmitting some kind of negative psychic energy causing or contributing to my run of bad luck.
Could you please advise me on what to do?
I've considered setting fire to the small object and the box it arrived in.
Thanks in advance.
Re: Magic Monday Question.
Date: 2022-07-25 04:59 pm (UTC)Re: Magic Monday Question.
Date: 2022-07-25 07:02 pm (UTC)Re: Magic Monday Question.
Date: 2022-07-25 08:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 11:26 am (UTC)1) I've seen you recommend journaling a lot to get at the root of one's emotional hangups etc. I've been journaling for decades without getting anywhere, so I have to assume I'm doing it wrong. The kind of journaling I'm doing can be best described as 'pouring your heart out on the page, because there's nobody who'd be interested in listening to you', and started when I was a teenager. The closest I've seen to this 'technique' in books is Julia Cameron's (of The Artist's Way fame) Morning Pages, though I don't write first thing in the morning.
I once had Ira Progoff's At A Journal Workshop, but I sold that book some years ago because it was incredibly involved and I felt overwhelmed just reading about his method. Are you familiar with his process (or is anyone from the commentariat) and can give me some pointers? Do you use something like it, or do you exclusively use the dialogue method?
(How about doing a series on journaling like you did for discursive meditation?)
2) How exactly does processing your life experiences after death work? I remember reading some reports from people who had near death experiences, where they saw their whole life from birth to (near)death, realized what they'd been doing wrong, and resolved to do better when they came back. But you said that how one experiences the astral plane depends on one's developmental level, and that most people experience it like a dream. Now my dreams are muddled and bizarre, and I wonder how a life review in that state of mind would work; would you even have a clear idea what you want to do better in your next round?
Related, so this would probably be 2b), how can you make sure that you're lucid when you wake up on the other side? I assume that this processing thing would be more effective the more conscious you are(?)
3) Is there a way to figure out what you intended to do in your current incarnation, so that you can go about it in a more targeted manner instead of stumbling around in the dark (and tripping over things and smashing your toes repeatedly)? Would divination work, or astrology? And if yes, can you point me to some books where I can learn more?
Periwinkle Amorous Llama
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 05:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 05:06 pm (UTC)2a) Dreams range from vague confusion to vivid clarity, and the same is true of after-death experiences. What's happening, however, doesn't depend on conscious decisions; the review is an uploading process, basically, in which your higher self absorbs the memories of that life and learns from them. If your conscious awareness takes part in the same thing, that helps things, but it's not necessary.
2b) That's one of the many benefits of meditation.
3) This notion that incarnations all have neatly planned agendas is to my mind seriously mistaken. You're here to experience material existence, in all its complexity and muddle, and to grow through that experience. The rest is minor details.
Umbrellas-supertition for the Commentariat
Date: 2022-07-25 11:35 am (UTC)Berlin (i.e. eastern Germany) was the seat of the government and the emperor so every new "fad" would start there. In those times living quarters would be cramped and the newfangled spring-loaded umbrellas might very verily have caused harm, because nobody was used to them.
Same as not walking under ladders btw: without roofrailings etc. and steep roofs, hammers and other things and persons might very easily fall off, so rather don't pass under ladders in those times.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 12:23 pm (UTC)My practice thus far has resulted (is resulting) in many layers of who I thought I was peeling away and falling off. This is helpful as far as it goes, but terribly frustrating and demoralizing at times, as it manifests as an endless trail of "nope, not that" in this quest to discover who truly am. Is there any method for taking a more direct path, rather than this meandering through the fog of error and illusion?
Heliotrope Obtuse Gnome
(no subject)
Date: 2022-07-25 05:08 pm (UTC)A Question about Pythagorean Numerology
Date: 2022-07-25 12:26 pm (UTC)I have started using Pythagorean numerology for daily divination and was wondering how the day number relates to the sum of the time number and the day number.
I know that the day number describes how events will go for the whole world, and I also know that by adding the day number to my time number, I can learn how that day’s events will go for me. But I have realized that the abilities of these two numbers, when considered together, begs a question – how can the world experience events in one way, while I experience the same events in another way? How can the world have the stability of a Venusian day, while I experience the same events as a day of Martian instability?
The only answer to these questions that I have found to make sense is that the day-plus-time number expresses itself in way that fits with what the day number predicts. For example, 7/11/2022 has a day number of 6. Adding my time number brings about the number 7. Would, then, my Saturnine experience of the day come about in a Jovian way? Or is my line of thinking wrong?
Thank you.
Re: A Question about Pythagorean Numerology
Date: 2022-07-25 05:12 pm (UTC)Q
Date: 2022-07-25 02:02 pm (UTC)I had a positive divination that the sun would appreciate planetary charity from me. Could you tell me how to go about this? Which charities are appropriate and what amounts/how many times?
I will use frankincense, a yellow candle and Orphic hymn to invoke.
Re: Q
Date: 2022-07-25 05:17 pm (UTC)Q
Date: 2022-07-25 02:17 pm (UTC)I think I have mild to medium ADD too and I don’t want to take the heavy stimulants.
Can any occult practice help with motivation? ESP with tasks I don’t enjoy. How do you manage yours?
Re: Q
Date: 2022-07-25 05:21 pm (UTC)Re: Q
Date: 2022-07-25 07:31 pm (UTC)Re: Q
Date: 2022-07-25 08:45 pm (UTC)Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-25 02:46 pm (UTC)recently while I was practicing the sphere of protection my black cat became intensely interested in my practice. I was starting the calling of the air when she jumped onto me and perched on my shoulders. Luckily I didn’t lose focus or drop her, but I found it very interesting how she has reacted in days after this. Even though she is an indoor cat, she had brought a mouse to me and she will accompany me anytime I do ceremonial magic. I’m sure it helps that I am a follower of the Egyptian pantheon, specifically Bastet, but this is quite fascinating to me. How are cats affected by magical practice? If I start the Celtic Golden Dawn will they be as interested?
Thanks as always!
Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-25 05:24 pm (UTC)Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-25 07:05 pm (UTC)b) What are (some of) the other reasons you don't recommend Enochian magic?
Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-25 08:49 pm (UTC)2) I didn't like the energies it contacted. I could get equally good results working with planetary and elemental intelligences and angels, and those had much cleaner, brighter, and more balanced energies.
Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-26 12:40 am (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-26 01:52 am (UTC)Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-26 03:50 am (UTC)Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-26 03:54 am (UTC)Re: Cats and sphere of protection
Date: 2022-07-26 04:01 am (UTC)Soul Loss
Date: 2022-07-25 03:07 pm (UTC)What do you (or the Western Occult traditions more generally) have to say about the phenomenon known as soul loss? That is, how is it understood from the Western Occult perspective, and how is it overcome?
If soul loss is one of those "it depends entirely on what you mean" terms, then what i mean is: an absence or diminution of meaning, purpose, and value in one's life, and/or a weakening or severing of one's link to "the world" and "the self."
Thanks.
Re: Soul Loss
Date: 2022-07-25 05:25 pm (UTC)Re: Soul Loss
Date: 2022-07-25 09:55 pm (UTC)Is this a standard pattern over the course of a human life? To begin with magic crackling and buzzing, only to dull as eyesight and smell and hearing also dull over time? Or is this not normal, but strictly a modern predicament?
To the OP: I have felt this as well, and I appreciate you framing the question as you have. I've been struggling to reestablish this link between the lower self and the higher self for the better part of a decade, apparently. It is grueling work. It feels like a giant cul du sac, and I want desperately to find my footing and continue journeying onward.
Re: Soul Loss
Date: 2022-07-25 10:02 pm (UTC)2) It's a pervasive modern predicament, though it's also happened in the mature periods of other literate urban civilization. It isn't mandatory, however -- if you want to live in a world full of magic, you can do it, but only by making your life full of magic. Why do you think I've spent my entire adult life putting an hour or so a day into magical practices?
Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-25 03:38 pm (UTC)Gooch, Stan, Creatures from Inner Space (London: Rider, 1984). An uneven but interesting study of various preternatural phenomena, with particular attention to incubi and succubae. Gooch claims that the whole range of preternatural phenomena are tulpas produced by human psychic capacities, and although his arguments are not always convincing he makes a strong argument for this in some cases.
From Liber Null, written by Peter J. Carroll, comes this quote:
Incubi and succubi are preexisting entities created by other peoples' pathological sexuality. Incubi traditionally seek sexual intercourse with living females and succubi with males, often in sleep. However both forms are almost invariably male though succubi may make some slight attempt to disguise themselves as females. Unfortunately they are both predatory and stupid, with little power or motivation for anything but sex.
These are my questions:
1) Do you agree with Carroll's opinion, that incubi and succubi are a sort of astray tulpa? In your book, you wrote this:
What sets tulpas apart from other denizens of the world of the uncanny is that they have no existence on the levels above the astral—the mental and spiritual planes. They are mindless, in every sense of that word, and their behavior is a matter of going through mechanical routines [...].
2) I'm also sort of baffled about why they would be "almost invariably male." If they are "receptive", so to say, to sexual energies, I think they would be "female." What do you think about it?
Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-25 06:07 pm (UTC)2) Here Carroll is quite correct -- I suspect he read Lodovico Sinistrari's book on the subject. Incubi and succubi don't have sex on the material plane; they stimulate the human nervous system using astral images and etheric energies, so their victims typically have erotic dreams of fever-dream intensity resulting in orgasm and followed by a sick, exhausted feeling and (very often) various illnesses. Clairvoyants who have witnessed them note that whatever feverish dreams they stimulate in their victims, they themselves appear to have male genitalia, though succubi can have some female characteristics otherwise.
Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-25 06:56 pm (UTC)Sometimes bad things are asked there, like "how can I contact my favorite elemental?", and we need to respond "work with all elements to avoid imbalances" to escape the karma of not warning. Apologies for taking your precious time. Can I link your answer there?
Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-25 08:55 pm (UTC)Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-25 09:14 pm (UTC)Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-25 09:59 pm (UTC)Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-26 01:40 am (UTC)Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-26 01:45 am (UTC)Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-26 01:18 am (UTC)Re: Incubi and succubi
Date: 2022-07-26 01:48 am (UTC)