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 (or lack of same)? At this point I've traced Juliet Ashley's lineage back as far as photos and documentation extend. John Gilbert's other main teacher, Rev. Matthew William Shaw aka Rhodonn Starrus, is a tougher proposition. Born in Pennsylvania, he became a Universalist minister, serving in a church in the Allentown, PA area.  In 1952 he and two other ministers of the Universalist Church, Revs. Omar Zasluchy and Owen Symanski, left the church to protest the upcoming merger between their denomination and the Unitarian Church. (They believed that the Unitarians planned on taking over the congregations,  churches, and bank accounts, and then discarding every element of Universalist teaching and tradition; as it turned out, they were right.) In 1952, the three of them were duly consecrated as bishops by Bishop Robert Monroe of the Liberal Catholic Church, and founded the Universal Gnostic Church (UGC). Rev. Shaw had already founded the Modern Order of Essenes as a healing order associated with his church, and took it with him into the UGC. In 1972 he relocated to the Boulder, CO area where he became a friend and associate of Dr. Juliet Ashley, and received initiation into the orders she headed -- the Order of Spiritual Alchemy, the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Ancient Order of Druids in America -- while she became active in the Modern Order of Essenes and the Universal Gnostic Church.  John Gilbert described him as a gifted teacher but a strict taskmaster, who demanded the best from his students and usually got it. 

I have yet to find a photo of the man, or accurate information on his birth and death dates -- I gather from what John told me that he died sometime in the 1980s. I have also been unable to find much of anything about Bishop Robert Monroe of the LCC -- there were plenty of schisms in the LCC's history, and he apparently ended up on the wrong side of one of them, so he's just a name in a few old lists at this point. I hope to be able to get more information on him, on Matthew Shaw, and on the early history of the UGC as things proceed. 

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:  PayPal for now, but that'll be replaced by a couple of other options shortly. 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. 

With that said, have at it!  

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

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I hope it’s alright if I share a brief update. A couple of months ago, I shared about some of the experiences I was having while DMing for my middle schooler’s D&D game. You and your gracious readers were kind enough to encourage me write about what I was seeing re: the intersection of RPGs, Jungian psychology, the occult, spirituality, parenting, and more. To that end, I’ve started a blog. I’ve put up an initial post, and hope to update it regularly:

https://thetableyoufearthemost.blogspot.com/2022/11/of-dungeons.html?m=1

I’ve left my name off the blog for now, as I work in an industry where some of what I talk about would be very much frowned upon.

I’d love to chat with anyone interested in pursuing this topic further via guest posts. And if your time permits, JMG, I’d love to interview you at some point to get your thoughts:)

Warmly,
Ryan M.

[ecosophia]

I'm delighted to see this -- and of course we can arrange an interview. Put through a comment marked "Not For Posting" sometime with an email address and we can make the arrangements.

[ecosophia]

Got it and thank you. You'll be hearing from me in a couple of days.

[jprussell]

Wonderful to see this! I haven't had a chance to read yet, but I've opened it and look forward to doing so soon.

Something that came to mind that I can't believe I didn't share before is a brief work that has been very influential in the "Old School Renaissance" niche of the already niche hobby of D&D: Philotomy's Musings (https://www.grey-elf.com/philotomy.pdf). It's a varied and idiosyncratic take on running the original version of D&D, but the section that caused me to link it is where he talks about "The Dungeon as Mythic Underworld", which I think will prove interesting from a Jungian-informed view.

Good luck and keep posting!
Jeff

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks very much, Jeff! I’m excited to hear your thoughts and feedback. And I will check out the link ASAP! The title sounds like it’s in exactly the same vein as the direction I went in my first post.

Warmly,
Ryan M.

D&D

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Ryan M,

It is really great to see you are going forward with this idea! I'll read up yr post and I wish you well!

Regards

[k_a_nitz]

Excellent post - I just wish there was a way to sign up for emails on the next one! Have you thought about the junction between dungeon master and priest?

Nice

[emily07]

Dear Ryan!
For technical reasons that are currently beyond me I can't post in your blog.
Thank you for writing this, I'll be following eagerly (and finding out how I'll be able to comment) As you might attract readers who are not full blown roleplayers you might consider a glossary with the most used shorthands?
Looking foward to the next posts!

Re: Nice

[thetableyoufearthemost]

My apologies, I've just discovered this afternoon that it doesn't seem like you can comment on a blogspot blog unless you have a gmail account... so taking a cue from our host, I've set up a dreamwidth page with identical content. I'd love to hear your thoughts there! And thank you very much for the excellent idea to have a glossary. I will try to add one in the near future!

https://thetableyoufearthemost.dreamwidth.org/