Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just past 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'm still tracing my lineage in photographs. At some point after the death of Bishop Shaw, a question arose about the legitimacy of the apostolic succession of the Universal Gnostic Church. John Gilbert arranged to settle the matter in the traditional way by receiving sub conditione consecration from Archbishop Herman Adrian Spruit of the Church of Antioch; that's Archbishop Spruit in the photo. Sub conditione?  That's the technical term for a second consecration given to a bishop in case the original one didn't have valid lineage, and Spruit was the man to give it. 

He was born in 1911 and started out his religious career as a Methodist minister, but he became convinced that a more sacramental and less dogmatic approach to Christianity was needed, and so he joined the Independent Sacramental Movement and was consecrated as an independent bishop. At that time there were sixteen different lineages of apostolic succession outside the control of the established churches, and squabbles between independent bishops about the validity of the different lines were common. Spruit ended that in an exceptionally graceful way. He arranged to be consecrated sub conditione in all of the lineages, and then conferred the same consecration on any bishop or qualified candidate for the episcopacy who requested it. These days practically every bishop in the Independent Sacramental Movement has all sixteen lines -- yes, including me -- and the squabbles are over. Bishop Spruit's Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch remains an active independent church, and so do many of the other independent churches who received his blessing. 

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 See you next week!***

Comments

planetary charity question

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry if you've already covered this somewhere/sometime else.

I understand that I make a set number of donations corresponding to the planet and put them in the mail at the hour/day of that planet.

But how do I start the process at the outset? Do I pray to or invoke the planet and ask for help/blessings with my petition? Do I repeat my petition after that or just do it the first time?

Thank you.

celebrating the winter solstice

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

I am wondering if you (and anyone else who is so inspired) might offer some simple suggestions for celebrating the winter solstice in a family context.

Thank you.

Proclus and Cabala

[readoldthings]

This might be more suited to the Open Post, but I've been slogging my way through Proclus's Six Books for the last... well, for a while. Thomas Taylor's translation isn't exactly easy going, but making my way through Plato helped, especially the less well-known works-- dialogues like Philebus and the Sophist aren't very often discussed these days, especially in comparison with the Republic or the Timaeus, but they're necessary to understanding Proclus.

Anyway, what I wanted to ask you about was this-- reading through Book 3, I can't help but see the Tree of Life in everything I'm reading. Proclus tells us that the One Itself is beyond being, and is not the head of a Triad-- this is the Unmanifest. Immediately following the One are the Three Intelligible Triads, the first of which is also, at least sort of, beyond being. Each triad is characterized according to Being, Power, and Intellect-- or, alternatively, the Limit, the Infinite, and the Mixed. The latter terms characterize the triads respectively themselves as well as the 3 terms within the triad.

Now, what I'm wondering is this. I know that Proclus influenced your own thinking a great deal, and my own understanding of the Tree of Life is heavily informed by The Celtic Golden Dawn and Paths of Wisdom. But it seems to me that if I were a student, trying to come up with some visual way of representing these ideas, I would draw something more or less identical to the Tree of Life, with Malkuth as the world dangling off of the end of the Three Triads which precede it, and which themselves emerge from the unknowable One. I'm honestly wondering if that isn't exactly where it comes from. What do you think?

SOP

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning and as always thanks for your time. I've been doing the SOP for a few weeks using essentially what you said you use from a Druid perspective. My choice of 'who' to call might be a little unorthodox, and I'd welcome feedback from anyone who is interested. How I attribute the directions are Mabon above and Modron below with Bridget at the center for the opening, Taliesin in the east and Cerdwin in the west, and Gawain in the south and Ragnell in the north. Any and all comments welcome,especially if anyone has worked with any of the above. I haven't experienced much so far from the SOP, but I've only started a few weeks ago after about a year or so of regular Golden Dawn practice. Thanks!

Being Kind to Plants

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG - You've posted a couple of things recently proposing that plants and other "lower" life forms are souls that are just a few grades behind us, so we should offer them love and blessings. I am not trying to troll here, seriously asking: How is that compatible with feeding ourselves? Not only do we kill plants for food, but when I garden I rip up weeds and throw them in the compost, or cut the woody mess back as well as possible. I don't stop to apologize to or ask permission of every weed seedling, and really can't. Doesn't being a heterotroph require me to suspend love and compassion for some organisms, at least sometimes?

Related question, I know some occultists and others assert that all souls are eventually supposed to get to our level and beyond, even those that are now just bacteria. But we could not live on this planet to experience growth if there were not plants to eat, bacteria to break down waste, etc. Doesn't this make it inevitable that when the last sentient beings to live before the Earth's destruction are living, there must also still be plants and bacteria, which won't get the chance to progress to intelligent life? Has anyone speculated about what will happen to them?

Thanks very much for tolerating weird questions!

-Translucent Jejune Octopus

Frequent reader but infrequent poster here

[(Anonymous)]

asking for a positive energy for my Mom Karen - she has some blood pressure issues and is in the hospital

Question about the role of Time in the "Occult Philosophy" process

[(Anonymous)]

I've been studying your recent book, "The Occult Philosophy Workbook," which I love! And I've been pondering the role of Time in the evolutionary processes you describe there. You explain that each of the evolutionary planes has 7 regions within it: the 'lower' three relating to the substance of the plane it is in, the middle one relating to the energies of that plane, and the 'upper' three relating to that plane's spatial attributes.

Where does Time figure in this conception? Is it a spatial attribute of a particular plane? I'm curious about both subjective and objective Time in this picture.

In my meditations on this question, I get the image of the divine spark as a needle, trailing a thread behind it, which is Time. (I see other threads, too, but am asking about this one now.) As this spark heads through the planes, 'down' and then 'up', forming its bodies, it brings this thread of Time along with it, creating an apparent time-loop.

The Being-Spark's experiences of Time are both colored by and collected along the thread, which feels linear as it goes through the planes, but circular once the time-loop is connected back to itself upon return to the Divine plane.

If this is the case, this seems more like subjective than objective Time. Maybe objective Time is part of the larger cycles of the cosmos, perhaps shaped into a similar line-and-then-loop as the great beings taking part in these larger cycles pursue their activities?

Thank you for your thoughts, and all your writing!

Winifred Hodge Rose

Question on cannabis

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, JMG:

I saw you mention in a post that you think cannabis can hinder someone's magical development. I was wondering if you could elaborate on this. I currently use edibles for pain reasons, although the dosage I take would be considered a micro dose, basically enough to take the pain away but not so much as to make me stoned and non functional. I wasn't sure whether your statement had to do with lack of awareness, in which case the dosage might be a factor, or whether cannabis itself has some properties that you think can hinder someone's abilities.

Karma and promises

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG, I have a question about promises and karma. A couple years ago I became reacquainted with a friend after decades apart. She asked me to make promises, such as keeping in touch, which I did. After a few months of spending time together, I realized that she is full of qualities I do not want anywhere near me. Eventually I decided that I need to keep this toxic person out of my life for my health and sanity, and have been gradually backing away. Even though this person lied to me, and manipulated me, I expect karmic consequences for not keeping my promises. I have prayed about the matter, explaining my side of things to God and asking to be released from the promises, but don't know what the answer is. Do you have any advice for a person in this situation?

Re: Being Kind to Plants

[robertmathiesen]

Why do you believe that love and compassion for some being is incompatible with killing that being? Everything that lives is born to die and to become food for others. Eating and being eaten are the very heart of life. (Yes, I know that this deeply offends our modern Western sensibility. That hard fact highlights a major defect in our sensibility, not a defect in life.)

Re: Judson Exercise: numbers; planetary correspondence for peace

[lincoln_lynx]

2. Peace is a balance of forces and so it makes sense why it wouldn't fall exclusively under any planet.

Re: Frequent reader but infrequent poster here

[lukedodson]

Sending good vibes!

Re: celebrating the winter solstice

[(Anonymous)]

Celebrating a family Solstice...I recently posted an article on my website with suggestions for Heathen Yuletide, but many of the suggestions will work just fine for other forms of Pagan observance and celebration. Most of the suggestions are very family-oriented, including the Sunwait, playing games, telling stories, and suggestions for arranging gift-giving in a different way than the usual Christmas-day scramble, focusing as much on the 'giving' as on the 'getting' for children (and everyone!).

I don't know what the policy here is, for adding links to our comments. If my link doesn't come through, you can find this article by searching for my website "HeathenSoulLore.net" and then looking for "Ideas for Celebrating Heathen Yule" in the list on the right sidebar.

https://heathensoullore.net/ideas-for-celebrating-heathen-yule/

I hope you and your family and everyone here enjoys a beautiful Yuletide season!

Winifred Hodge Rose

Re: Runes and the Grail, Heart Center Exercise Question

[(Anonymous)]

Stephen Harrod Buhner's books The Lost Language of Plants and The Secret Teachings of Plants are both about 'the intelligence of the heart' and heart-centered perception. I have both, I have read the Lost Language of Plants and it includes toward the end a set of exercises for working with the heart in this way, and it looks like Secret Teachings goes further into that.

Unsure about compatibility with the DMH/DA, but I would have thought the Cauldron of the Sun, which is located at the heart, which is included in the Three Cauldrons ritual would actually be an exercise to work with the heart?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Newbie to the Golden Section Fellowship here, with some questions:

1. Do single celled organisms have souls, according to occult theory? Where would they fit in the soul’s developmental cycle, if so?

2. I have been experiencing the number 13 very, very frequently in synchronicities over the past year (other numbers too, but 13 is by far the most frequent). I’m not too familiar with numerology (though I have done some reading on my own), do you have any general advice on how to interpret this number?

3. Is the SoP adequate to protect against most kinds of curses if I ever suspect I’m being targeted or are there other measures that should be taken?

4. Recently I came down with a sickness and lost the use of my voice. I assume in this case it’s fine (though not as effective obviously) to do the invocations in the SoP nonverbally?

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[open_space]

Auch.

And does it work for them? Meaning, does such a path make progress in the evolution of their beings? I would say no, but I am catholic, and also polytheist so naturally I now know that things from the outside can seem like contradictions. For example, Bon Buddhist I think somehow incorporated Dakinis and all into their cosmology and magic even though it seems the Buddha opposed such things and still works very well for them.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[brenainn]

When someone has worshiped an evil power like Satan, or made the mistake of dabbling in that kind of magic, but then realizes their mistake, what can they do to break off that relationship and its influence on them? I had an acquaintance who got involved in that stuff (shortly after taking the Covid vaccine, too) and, after not hearing from him in a while, he's messaged me about how to escape from the demon he stupidly got involved with. I have no idea what to tell him.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
You often counsel against mixing techniques from different traditions.
Some years ago, in a book on Chinese medicine, I came across simple techniques to improve energy flow by daily gentle physical massage of the liver and kidneys, and remember finding them effective. Is there a risk of such techniques interfering with GD-type work?
Thanks you.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

There's a biological dimension to the connection that remains during this incarnation, and that can't be broken. As for boundaries, it depends very much on the details of your relationship with the free associator. Pay attention to their behavior and energy, and also see if the Satanist tries to use them to reach you.

[(Anonymous)]

What is luck? Is it different from karma?

[(Anonymous)]

With the hoodoo bath the etheric contamination goes to feed the tree. What happens to it in the Judson exercise?

[(Anonymous)]

There are etheric and astral banishing rituals, is there a mental-plane banishing ritual?

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

I can't speak to Bon -- which is not Buddhist, by the way -- but in the Western occult tradition it's quite possible to work with some classes of tricky or dangerous spirits. Demons in the strict sense, however, are another matter, because -- ahem -- they're smarter than we are, and any attempt to manipulate them quickly turns into an opportunity for them to mess with the silly little human. (They can be banished and exorcised with the help of deities and angels, who are smarter and stronger than they are.)

As for people who get into Satanism, they're messing themselves over in a big way. It's not permanent, but they're going to spend a lot of lives clawing their way out of the karmic pit they dig for themselves.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

There are two ways. One way is to convert to a religion that has effective ways to deal with such things, abandon all occult practices, and use devotion and prayer to a deity to solve the problem. The other is to get seriously involved in some form of "white magic" aka classic occultism, and use invocations of deities and positive spiritual energies to do the same thing. I know of people who've done both with good results.

[ecosophia]

Yes, very much so. People are drawn to environments that have the same sort of vibes they have; sleazy people seek out sleazy places, and so on.