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?  I've decided to do another pass through magical personalities, and I figured I'd start with one of my own teachers. This is John Gilbert, with whom I studied the teachings of the Universal Gnostic Church, the Order of Spiritual Alchemy, the Modern Order of Essenes, and the Magickal Order of the Golden Dawn -- this last, of course, is the parent body of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose. This photo was taken in 2008 in eastern Tennessee at a Druid event there; it was the last time John and I met in person, though we corresponded via email and talked on the phone quite a bit after that. 

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I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain 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, ask me anything!

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

Comments

[jprussell]

Good Evening!

As promised last week, if celebrating a cross-quarter day is part of your festal year, and if you prefer the halfway mark between the solstice and equinox to the first of August, then a happy Lughnasadh to you! Otherwise, a very happy Sunday night/Monday.

Thanks very much, JMG, for hosting this space and your time and effort in answering the wide variety of questions. Thank you also for sharing the picture of John Gilbert, and even more so for sharing the teachings he has passed on to you - to judge by what you've shared, he was quite the figure.

To Share: A few weeks back, I asked about resources on prayer, and samchevre was kind enough to share the Catechism of the Council of Trent (1829), and specifically its Part IV On Prayer. I found this extremly helpful (though I'm still reading through the parts analyzing the "Our Father" in depth), and I've written up some of my takeaways on what prayer can be about and how it can be useful, whatever your spiritual path, here, should anyone find that helpful.

To Ask: Having meditated my way through the first branch of the Mabinogion, I am now working on the Druid Philosophy triads from the Dolmen Arch. For JMG and/or the commentariat, is it normal to feel like I'm slamming my forehead into a brick wall with these first few Triads, and any advice besides "keep at it"? My current approach is to spend 3 days per triad (one day focusing on each part), with lots of re-reading in between meditation sessions.

Thanks very much,
Jeff

[(Anonymous)]

You've commented before about the changes in the subtle body that correspond to puberty (roughly the opening of channels in the subtle bodies that carry sexual/magical energies, with the end of this process being roughly the age of first menarche in girls and IIRC the first wet dream in boys). What subtle factors, if any, affect the age at which this process happens for a given individual?

- pretentious_username

[ecosophia]

1) You're welcome and thank you.

2) It's necessary to shift mental gears in order to make sense of the triads in the DA course. Narrative requires one kind of thinking, philosophical discourse requires a different kind, and yes, the transition can be a bit rough! One thing that helps many people is to think of examples in your own daily life, so it becomes less abstract to you.

[ecosophia]

I don't think I've ever seen that discussed in occult literature. Why do you ask?

[jprussell]

On 2), if I might follow up: this sounds like solid advice, but I'm not sure how to apply it to the first few triads on Awen, as they seem to be fundamentally about something utterly outside of daily experience. For these, would the examples from daily life be something like experiences of the divine?

I'll keep plodding along regardless, but I was starting to think I was getting the hang of this discursive meditation thing, and I'd prefer for the next few weeks not to feel so much like pulling teeth, so thanks very much for the advice.

Cheers,
Jeff

[(Anonymous)]

A rather interesting conversation I ran across elsewhere earlier this week; it's anecdotal, but if it holds then given my own impressions from what I remember of my own school days (quite a bit more recent than yours) it would suggest that the average age of first menarche has jumped forwards by about a year in the last decade alone. (First menarche used to be in the 12-15 range; my impression was that the age range when I was in school was closer to 11.5-13; this thread if it hold would suggest that the modern age range averages closer to 10.5 years old.)

There's an obvious set of *physical* plane causes for this if this is in fact a real effect (lots of calories, nutrition issues, xenoestrogen exposure); but a change like this strikes me as potentially reflective of changes or conditions on the higher planes as well and I was wondering if the literature had anything to suggest on the subject.

- pretentious_username

Another question about cats

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I have asked about the magical importance of cats in the past and as I am a Kemet whose patron is Bastet, cats are a fairly common topic. Now one of my last questions comes to this: why is it that cats are the black sheep of the media world? In any media, tv, movies, or otherwise, you would be hard pressed to see a cat or something to related to it not be abused.

Is it just commonly funny (for some people) to use them as the abuse/horror trope? Or is there a larger undercurrent of deeming them as “evil” or “dark” by the same kind of people who would burn them en masse in the 1400s during the witch hunts? It seems that the rate of these “jokes” have increased during this very dark period of time, which makes me so uneasy and nauseous I have to turn of the tv.

[ecosophia]

Okay, let's take the first triad as an example. "Three things that are not: that which is beyond Awen, that which is before Awen, and that which is above Awen." If you consider anything else in your life, there are things that are beyond it, before it, and above it; think of some examples and check. Now think of what something would have to be like in order to have nothing beyond, before, or above it. How else would it contrast with everything else you experience? What else could you say about it, knowing that much about it?

[ecosophia]

It's an interesting question, but I don't recall anything about it in occult literature. The one thing that comes close is a discussion somewhere in Dion Fortune's books about the fact that in her time, Indian girls reached menarche on average a couple of years before English girls, and iirc she credited the climate with that effect.

[jprussell]

Hmmm, okay, thank you, I think that gives me a bit more to go on. I'll give that a shot.

[jprussell]

Not exactly what you're going for, but if I remember right, I've read in some anthropology/evolutionary psych literature that girls who grow up in poorer/harsher life circumstances tend to hit menarche earlier than those in more comfortable surroundings. There might also be some correlation with ethnicity, but that can be hard to sort out from the kind of environmental factors I first mentioned. The Ev. Psych argument goes something like "the bodies of girls in less comfortable circumstances pursue a strategy of something like "get some kids out while the gettings good!", whereas the bodies of girls in more comfortable circumstances recognize the opportunity to be choosier, which might mean waiting longer to make babies.

Of course, all of this assumes that a) you think Evolutionary Psychology is a valid/useful field, and b) that any subtle effects are utterly dependent on physiological ones. It also would go against the general trend you're proposing if things are basically "better" physically for most girls, but that might also make for useful triangulation: if it's historically true that girls in poorer/more severe circumstances hit menarche earlier than more comfortable girls, but these days, even the comfortable girls are hitting menarche earlier, that might be a very telling data point.

Thanks,
Jeff

[vitranc]

Good morning JMG,

I have some things to share.
at a recent get together with some old friends I got an interesting peace of information. It seems that in the last years the university in Wyoming, that was having financial troubles in its technology and informatics departments simply shut down. Then in the same vain they reestablished a new university of technology and informatics. In that way they lost a lot of the old entrenched tenured staff, that consequently did not have tenure with the new university. This is just hearsay I heard of and needs to be proved. But it points to the trends you warned about.

Best regards, V

Re: Another question about cats

[ecosophia]

That's really odd. Recall that I've had zero contact with mainstream media for a good many decades, and so I wasn't aware of this. Nor do I have any idea why it's happening. Anybody else?

[ecosophia]

Hmm! I'll look into that. It doesn't surprise me at all; the university system here in the US is hopelessly corrupt and burdened with unaffordable administrative overhead.

Quieter and Quieter

[goatgodschild]

Mr. Greer --

A blessed (if belated) Lammas to you and yours.

In the past month, I have managed to find a group of fellow practitioners, and we have started working together. It is going well so far, and I expect we should be able to part ways without too many hurt feelings if it starts to go poorly. Now that I have this group, I have no interest in advertising myself. Is this common?

Two more direct questions:
1) Do you know much about the artist Elihu Vedder?
2) If you have a deck of Tarot cards with several missing, what should you do with the remainder?

Re: Another question about cats

[(Anonymous)]

My favorite was the crazy cat from The Kiss (1988) that they hit with a garden rake and fried in the bug zapper. So suburban. Mr. Kittles from Scary Movie 2 was based off of it. I love cats btw. If you are cool to them then the vast majority who aren't totally wild will eventually be friendly right back, but apparently that's way too demanding for some people.

[vitranc]

The source said, that one of the goals was to specifically target the old entrenched professors, who „did nothing, had double the salaries of the younger staff and the institution could not shed „. So disolve the institution and there is nobody to owe tenure.

Best time to accept a job

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Thanks for the MM

What is the best time for accepting a job formally (I assume nowadays in Zoom/online times is when you click on the button in the online internal system). You only get there after you've talked to HR on the phone and such

I was thinking planetary day & hour of Jupiter, try to do it during Aquisitio

if it's too far away, then anyday of the week during Aquisitio?

What do you think?

Thank you,

Persimmon Melancholic Salamander

[(Anonymous)]

A few months ago I asked a question about deliniating the head of state in my country for the recent Cancer ingress. The inauguration occurred yesterday with some very interesting timing, instead of opting for the Sun to be in the 10th house or conjunct the 10th house cusp, the inaguration took place with the Sun in the middle of the 8th house, and Jupiter in the 4th house, exactly conjunct the Aires 4th house cusp. The Uranus-Mars conjunction squaring Saturn which is the chart ruler. Neptune in the third house, while Venus is in the 7th house, Mercury is at the 9th house cusp, and the Moon in the 12th house.

What is even stranger is that while the donning of the presidential sash is the formal sign for assumption of the presidency, the ceremony was paused for an hour afterwards until another piece of inaugural regalia, Bolivar's sword, was dug out and brought forth to the technically now president. With this brought out is the sign for the president to begin his inagural address. By the time this began, the Sun had passed into the 7th house with Venus still in there, Mars-Uranus in the 4th, Saturn in the 2nd, Jupiter and Neptune in the 3rd, Mercury in the 8th, and the Moon in the 11th.

I am bit flabbergasted over how terrible an election the proper inaguration time is (local time 3:19pm, 20:19UT, Moon 16 Sag 25'15", Bogota Colombia). Saturn ruling the first, Uranus the second, Mars the 4th, an 8th house cusp Leo with the Sun in the middle of it. The second chart (4:21pm local time, 21:21UT, 17 Sag 2'19") is a little bit better for the Sun, but terrible none the less.

Two astrology/planetary questions

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG,

And thank you once again for the treasured chance to ask questions! :-)

Two questions today, if I may:

1. In your natural magic Encyclopedia, health is listed as belonging to Mercury. However, browsing through the talismans on Christopher Warnock‘s site, there are a few (less than a handful) of Mercury health talismans, but most of the ones associated with health belong to the Sun.

I also vaguely remember reading somewhere about a connection between Jupiter and health, but I‘m not sure about that anymore, so my mind could be making this up. ;-)

Could you explain which parts/aspects of health relate to the respective planets? (I don‘t mean the body parts etc, but when would Mercury in general be appropriate for a health issue, and when would the Sun, or Jupiter, or …).

2. I‘m inching my way into astrology and have reached that blissful state of knowledge where at least I know that I don‘t know. ;-)

However, I realised that I very much lack an overview of the different systems of astrology. I.e. „modern“ astrology (as in Parker‘s, with the new planets) vs. renaissance astrology (and maybe vs. vedic and other kinds of astrology). And the same for the different house systems (Whole Sign Houses vs. Regiomontanus vs. Placidus vs. others).

Do you know of any good and reliable written comparison? Any recommendable websites, posts or books which explain the advantages, disadvantages and limits of the different systems and house systems?

(I‘d rather read some reliable, recommended information than just do a random internet search. There‘s a ton of info about astrology out there, but even beginner-me can tell that a lot of it is just rehashed stuff, or new agey wishful thinking, or very weird stuff where I‘m sure people had a lot of fun smoking whatever before they wrote it. ;-) But if I knew which of the info out there was solid, I wouldn‘t have to look it up anymore…)

Thanks, and blessings to you and your wife!

Milkyway

Mapping the 7 planes on the tree of life

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I was wondering what was the accepted mapping of the 7 planes on to the tree of life. I've been thinking this over for a while and considered several options, none of which are perfect. Is there some consensus?

To Be Silent

[weilong]

First of all, thank you for your many excellent books. I know that you, as the author, might not have any say in the matter, but is there any chance of Circles of Power coming out in hardcover? I've about worn out my paperback. I've spent a bit over a year making and consecrating a full suite of working tools - and it's been quite an adventure. I'm looking forward to getting into some of the advanced techniques now.

On to my question: can you offer any advice on how to reconcile that fourth magical virtue with operating as a professional magician? I guess you don't get into the details of what you do in private, but it is no secret that you are up to your eyeballs in magic. I'm not sure if I really want do it, but I have been toying with the idea of opening up a little shop someday to do horoscopes and divination, perhaps sell some astrological talismans - or maybe setting up a booth at fairs and flea markets. How (if at all) would one stay Silent while using these skills to help people and make a little money?

Geomancy

[(Anonymous)]

Hey jmg

I was meditating on the geomantic figures, and I noticed a discrepancy in the assignment of inner and outer elements to each figure.

Each outer element has four figures attributed to it, but amongst the inner elements only water and earth have four, air has five and fire has three.
Is there are reason for this that you know of?

[(Anonymous)]

If I'm doing a daily ritual to awaken energy centers in my body, what should I be watching for to tell whether these energy centers are opening?

Re: Another question about cats

[goatgodschild]

Unfortunately, it's simple practicality. Dogs are more difficult to get ahold of or bully in the way that gets good results onscreen. Meanwhile, cats are smaller, seen as more durable, easier to locate while not being associated with disease. It is a wholly unpleasant business.