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 trace, as far as I can, my own occult lineage in photos. We're still tracing Juliet Ashley's end of the lineage. Two weeks ago I posted an image of her fourth teacher, Arthur Edward Waite, the Golden Dawn alumnus who passed onto her the rituals that became the foundation for the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose. Waite, in turn, got his knowledge from the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Last week I posted an image of one of these, the redoubtable William Wynn Westcott; this is Westcott's partner and rival in the project, Samuel Liddell Mathers. Another Freemason with a passion for the occult, and like Westcott a genuine scholar and mage, Mathers didn't have the organizational skills to keep the order together once Westcott stepped down from the leadership, and the Golden Dawn promptly blew itself to pieces in the squabbles that followed. Mathers remained in charge of one of the fragments thereafter, and he and his branch of the order will appear again once I get into some of the other ends of my lineage. 

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I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the link above to access my online tip jar. (Dreamwidth is having trouble with crosslinks to other sites these days, thus the absence of the usual button.) If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here. 

 

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

***This Magic Monday is now closed--as in, no further comments will be put through. See you next week!*** 

Comments

Way of the Warrior

[(Anonymous)]

JMG - I started studying occult philosophy and practicing magic (druid-based) about 8 years ago. A few years after I began, I fell into quite a despair as my eyes were opened to the level of corruption and emptiness of our current modern world. For a few years after the despair began, I was not myself. I lacked motivation and suffered depression, feeling helpless against such strong evil forces that dominate our society. But, at the outset of covid, the level of aggression of this evilness actually snapped me out of the haze. I found the (exoteric) way of the warrior (studying martial arts, warrior philosophy, strong masculine behaviors), and I feel like I have found my place in this time and setting. Do you have any recommendations for explicitly warrior-based occult philosophies?

Re: Way of the Warrior

[ecosophia]

We don't have many of those in the West but they do exist. If you find polytheism attractive, you might look into Heathen (old Norse/Germanic) spirituality, which is a rich and vibrant tradition in which the warrior spirit plays a central role. If you prefer monotheism, look into the Knights Templar tradition, which also exalts the warrior virtues. In both cases, it's necessary to be careful about groups -- there are some good ones and some very dubious ones -- but that's true all through the alternative spiritual tradition.

For what it's worth, I'm very glad to hear this. The warrior spirit is desperately needed these days, and the occult scene could use a good strong infusion of its virtues.

Re: Way of the Warrior

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks. This is very helpful. I'll look into the Knights Templar, which lines up with my Christian faith. I've done some looking into the samurai tradition, as I'm studying karate and aikido. However, all I can find seems to be exoteric.

Also, related to this, I've been learning about and changing to be more Dominant (capital D) overall. This has incredibly transformed my marriage, and it has improved many aspects of my life overall. One of my strongest influences in this area quotes frequently from the Kybalion and promotes maximal Dominance and Submission among the sexes across all aspects of life. Obviously, this is extremely controversial in this day and age, but it does seem to fall in line with teachings on polarity. Do you have thoughts on this? Thanks!

Re: Way of the Warrior

[ecosophia]

There are dozens of Templar orders these days. Some of them are moneymaking scams, some of them Christian service organizations, some of them occult lodges, some of them conservative political movements with a chivalric dimension, and the list goes on. Since you're a Christian, I'd strongly recommend prayer before choosing among them.

With regard to dominance and submission -- however capitalized -- I recommend reading the Kybalion yourself, if you haven't already done so; there's a very solid site on the subject here. One of its core lessons is the Principle of Rhythm, which teaches that everything moves back and forth between polarities. Try to be dominant all the time and you will end up submissive, and vice versa; the phenomenon of "topping from below" is not restricted to BDSM scenes! I certainly grant that it would be good to see more men exemplify the traditional masculine virtues, and to see society celebrate those rather than pathologizing or denouncing them, but -- well, here as in everything else, the opposite of one bad idea is reliably another bad idea...

Re: Way of the Warrior

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for your advice on the Templar orders. I'll do some praying and researching.

Regarding polarity and rhythm, I understand what you mean. Thanks for your insights. It's been awhile since I've read the Kybalion. It may be a good time to read it again.

Re: Way of the Warrior

[jprussell]

I have not yet read this and so don't know how much "how to" advice it offers, but The English Warrior from Earliest Times to 1066 by Stephen Pollington covers what we know about the Anglo-Saxon warrior tradition, both Heathen and Christian. Pollington's books are exceptionally well-researched and even-handed in considering evidence but not jumping to conclusions. According to the publisher, this one is out of print but a being prepared for a reprint: https://www.asbooks.co.uk/t%20the-english-warrior.htm

Not so much a how-to guide, but as potentially interesting fiction: Neal Stephenson and his Western Martial Arts buddies got together and wrote a series of books called The Mongoliad set in a slightly different version of our Medieval times. The central conceit is that there is a western warrior monastery as hardcore and awesome as the Shaolin in China. There are glimpses of their spiritual practices in the story, but it's mostly just a martial arts action epic.

The original trilogy was meant to launch a multi-media franchise with books, movies, comics, games, and so forth, but as far as I can tell, they only ever put out books. For my part, after the original trilogy, I found the other novels and short stories wildly uneven in quality and ended up not trying to keep up any more.

Along similar lines, Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield is about the Spartans at Thermopylae and paints a rather compelling psychological picture of the warrior virtues that made that historic moment possible - it's assigned reading for a lot of US officer and special ops schools, and Pressfield was a Marine, so it's got some believability to it despite being historical fiction.

Lastly, I don't know how you feel about Saints and angels, but St. George and St. Michael the Archangel seem to be good warrior patrons - back when I was an indifferent Christian and a paratrooper, I wore a St. Michael medal on my dog tags, as he is apparently the patron saint of paratroopers. Perhaps there are spiritual practices associated with them that might work well.

Hope some of these help!

Cheers,
Jeff

Re: Way of the Warrior

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate this, and I'll look into your recommendations. Regarding Michael the Archangel, I've been working with him in my Sphere of Protection rituals. It actually didn't occur to me until just now to pursue him even more. Thanks for that.

Re: Way of the Warrior

[(Anonymous)]

JMG - Regarding Michael the Archangel, I've been working with him in my Sphere of Protection rituals. If I wanted to pursue him even more, do you have any suggestions on the best ways to do that? Thanks!

Re: Way of the Warrior

[ecosophia]

Start with the classic prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, which you can find here:

https://aleteia.org/2022/05/11/prayer-to-st-michael-the-archangel/

If you belong to one of the sacramental Christian churches, the St. Michael rosary prayer is also very traditional:

https://7sorrowsrosaries.com/pages/the-saint-michael-rosary-prayer-chaplet

Beyond that, you'd want to talk to a priest or minister who's comfortable with special devotions to saints, and get some advice from them. Most of the sacramental churches have plenty of resources along these lines.

Re: Way of the Warrior

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you. I hadn't seen the "classic prayer to St. Michael the Archangel" before. Those words are incredible - very much capturing the spirit I've been feeling these past couple years. I will work with that - thanks!