Magic Monday
Oct. 2nd, 2022 11:40 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? I've decided to trace, as far as I can, my own occult lineages in photos. We're still tracing Juliet Ashley's end of the lineage: from her to Manly P. Hall, from Hall to Augusta Foss Heindel, from her to her husband Max Heindel, and from Heindel to one of his teachers, Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was the wunderkind of early twentieth century central European occultism, a brilliant Austrian philosopher who chucked an academic career to teach occultism. He was active in the Theosophical Society until Annie Besant's misbehavior got intolerable, and then quit with most of the other central European members to found a new organization, the Anthroposophical Society. Heindel studied with him before the split, when Steiner was exploring a more traditional occultism using rituals from the Masonic rite of Memphis and Misraim, and much of Heindel's work draws on Steiner's earlier teachings -- as well as the work of another man, a teacher they had in common, whom we'll discuss next week.
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***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next week!***
Completed First Grade of Dolmen Arch and Lack of Rituals for Grades in DA
Date: 2022-10-03 04:05 am (UTC)To Share: Thanks to our host for putting together the Dolmen Arch course, and thanks to the commenters here who have shared their experience, asked and answered questions, and provided good examples - I've completed the first grade (Gradd Y Nwyddian) of the Dolmen Arch and I'm moving onto the second grade tomorrow.
To Ask: Related to the above - is there a functional reason the grades in the Dolmen Arch course don't have a ritual of completion/advancement, or is it just that it's an approach that doesn't have that? Or perhaps something else?
As always, thanks very much to JMG for hosting this space and to the commentariat for filling it with interesting questions and discussion.
Cheers,
Jeff
Re: Completed First Grade of Dolmen Arch and Lack of Rituals for Grades in DA
Date: 2022-10-03 04:13 am (UTC)2) Occult correspondence courses in the years between the two world wars rarely had any kind of ritual to mark the division between grades. The original Dolmen Arch course probably didn't have any rituals at all -- the material as I received it was too fragmentary to be sure, but most such courses didn't; I decided, after reflection, that the SoP and certain other ritual practices were worth adding to it, but that's one of the few places where I departed from standard early 20th century practice. I figured adding initiation rituals would be too big of a divergence.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 04:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 04:26 am (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 04:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 04:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 04:39 am (UTC)OtterGirl
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 04:48 am (UTC)Steiner
Date: 2022-10-03 05:08 am (UTC)The Free Masons
Date: 2022-10-03 05:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 06:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 06:09 am (UTC)I have been guilty of an unhealthy dependence on divination to aid decision-making, especially in interpersonal matters (although in my defense, as I have an avoidant personality, lumped in with Aspergers until recently, I have few other resources to work out what the frack is going on with people and what I should do). I had an otherwise very promising relationship blow up because I fell prey to weaknesses that I was blind to. I picked myself up, got over it and moved on without looking back.
Now 6 months later, having come to a very clear and complete picture of what I've been stumbling over all my life, I've felt I can both accept that about myself and manage it effectively so I don't blow things up inadvertently. A week ago I had a notion to try and get in touch with that old flame, which involved dropping them a note as I'd deleted their number. Divination suggested to not do this, as it would be a loss for me and go nowhere (as well as being not a little bit desperate, I thought). I let it go, then a few nights later I felt strongly that I should actually go ahead and do it. Rather than divining again, I decided to do what I wanted, even though it felt irrational, weird and possibly creepy. Long story short, the person got in touch and we are hanging out soon.
1. Is this plausibly the kind of thing a HGA/higher self/that being would do to bring people back together despite them making a mess of it the first time around?
2. Would it be below such a being to throw in a lesson about following your desires by screwing up divination to discourage you and then really pushing you to do the thing?
Thanks for Magic Mondays. They are a priceless resource.
Magic at Sea
Date: 2022-10-03 06:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 06:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 07:29 am (UTC)Jeremy Irons comes to mind...
A question on technic conflicts
Date: 2022-10-03 07:48 am (UTC)I have been pondering the question of conflict between different magical methods you (and others) have been warning us about for a little time, and I would like to ask for some clarifications. I thought hard about the way to ask my questions and have decided to leave aside the lengthy exposition of my rambles on the topic and instead take an example and ask specific questions.
Let's take as protagonist someone who completed the Dolmen Arch course.
In that example, the hermetic Tree of Life (as in Path of Wisdoms, Dion Fortune, etc) constitutes a different symbolic system. Assuming that our protagonist feels strongly drawn to this material (leaving aside the possibility of exploring it via the COGD), what issues, and consequent warnings would you give him regarding:
1- The exploration in meditation of the Tree of Life
2- The exploration in screeing/pathworking of the Tree of Life
3- The use of the Rider's Waite Tarot in meditation and divination
4- The use of the Rider's Waite Tarot / Tree of Life names/symbols as magical sigils included in the Dolmen Arch magical techniques
5- The use of material unveiled by meditation/screeings above in Dolmen Arch/Druid magical workings
And as a wrap up question:
6- What if I replace the Tree of Life by the Yi King in the above questions ?
I realize that the answers to these questions are implicitly discussed at different levels in your works, but I'd thought I give a try to get a sliver of explicit answer.
With my best
Seb
PS: I have 10$ on "Try it and tell us" ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 08:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 08:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 08:31 am (UTC)Maybe Alan Cumming.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 08:35 am (UTC)2. You mentioned Peale as one of your favourite new though-authors. I have started reading him and like him a lot. Who else do you like and do you have any particular books to recommend? (from the new thought "movement")
When is a tarot card reversed?
Date: 2022-10-03 09:26 am (UTC)Since the start of this year I'm having great fun with 3 card tarot readings. I use these questions for each card: "What you think it is", "Why you don't see what it is", and "What it really is". I started with just aces, 2s and 3s and slowly including more cards. I'm now using up until the King (lesson 6 from Mastering the Tarot.) I've noted that each card has a separate explanation for "Reversed". For example, Swords VIII means "The seeker is fearful" and reversed "Relaxation from fear". So far I've ignored the reversed explanations.
When should one read a card in its reversed meaning?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 10:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 10:46 am (UTC)My question this week is around an organization who treats people very poorly that I've been associated with in the past. They hold material of interest to history researchers but are hard to visit and rude to work with. During covid they thrilled in enacting a vaccine passport. The officers of the organization are gossipy and act entitled, and if asked a specific question in their wheelhouse, they'll just ignore it. My last phone call with them, they hung up on me. The basics of civility are beyond them. The officers are quick to display their politics on social media saying the most hateful things repeatedly. It's been many many years they've been like this. But they have an endowment, so they exist.
I started a small effort just before covid to actually help people with this research. I explain to people where they can get what they need and actually help help. Charge a small fee for it. And now it seems like the organization with its new director is trying to put me out of business with its latest efforts. I'm barely making any money as is, but I am helping people and feel like I add value.
I had a horary reading done which said I'd have success with my venture (I have books coming out) , but its a really struggle to say positive with these folks around. I do the LBRP daily and it does keep the space clear but man when I see an email from them I twitch.
Here's my question - I find myself wanting to crush them and put them out of existence as an organization. I want to make a list of everything that I could create that would eliminate the need for them. Its motivating to me to do that but working from that place is dooming me karmically isn't it? My previous stance has been to pretend as if they don't exist and just keep providing value to people.
Second question - Magic in this situation would be very tricky to do, I guessing. My focus should be all in building me up and ignoring them as much as possible? Only defensive to protect myself and things to keep me positive?
My horrid people certainly aren't unique and my sense is they will just get more horrid in the near future with the election. I would think that 4x covid jabs and saying terrible things about others all day long would do someone them in, but apparently not!
Heliotrope Exiguous Raccoon
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-03 10:48 am (UTC)1) When doing the SoP, I never feel any energy in my solar plexus during the visualization of the sphere at the end. I’ve also been practicing autogenic training for over a year now, and while I can evoke the bodily sensations of the other formulas (warmth and heaviness in the limbs, for example, or a cool forehead), I consistenly fail to get the abdominal warmth of the solar plexus formula.
Two years or so ago, I had a bout of unexplained vomiting out of nowhere, and ever since that day, I occasionally have stomach cramps that persist for days (no pain, just that feeling of contraction in the area). Ultrasound and blood work came back without anything out of the ordinary, so according to my doc, I’m perfectly healthy.
All this makes me think it’s an energetic problem, some kind of persistent blockage that refuses to dissolve. Do you have any advice what to do about it?
2) After months of dragging my feet, I finally resolved to tackle discursive meditation, and read that book by bishop Hall you recommended. I must say I have real problems making sense of his ten steps! Part of the problem may be that English isn’t my mother tongue, and the book is from the 17th century. But the other reason is that I find his descriptions of the steps vague, and his example meditation on the lives of the saints not exactly illustrative of those points. In fact, it seems that his example meditation is meant to get him into some kind of religious frenzy (and that provocation of intense emotions seems to be the point of this meditation for him, according to part two of his method), which is all fine by me, but doesn’t seem to be what you are aiming for with discursive meditation.
So my question is twofold:
2.1) are you following these steps, or do you have your own system of inquiry? Do you have a system at all, or do you sort of wait for what questions spontaneously pop up in your mind? This question also goes out to the commentariat — how do you poke at your meditation topic?
2.2.) can you help me understand his system? Here’s what I’ve come up with:
1. Definition of the topic
2. Its components? He talks of “an easy and voluntary division of the matter.”
3. and 4., causes and effects
5. “Consideration of the subject wherein or whereabout it is.” I have no idea what that means, and the example meditation isn’t helpful at all. I tentatively settled on ‘how it is applied’, since he mentions “whereabout that is employed” — am I totally off base here?
6. Its qualities; no idea what he means by “appendances.”
7. Comparison with contrasting or opposite things.
8. Comparison with similar things.
9. “The titles and names of the thing considered” — I’m not sure what he means, nor what it’s meant to accomplish. Something like etymology?
10. “Consideration of fit testimonies of Scripture concerning our theme” — not terribly relevant for me, but I guess one could adapt it to researching the topic to add relevant information.
Thank you so much for this space!
the Cailleach
Date: 2022-10-03 10:53 am (UTC)