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. 

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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, have at it!

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

Comments

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

Very seriously indeed. People who worship evil powers are not safe to be around, and not just in a magical sense. John Gilbert used to say that Satanists want to imitate Satan and get thrown out of heaven, and they do it by misbehaving in more and more extreme forms until the people they're maltreating finally cut all ties with them. All you can do is make that happen sooner rather than later, so you suffer less harm before the inevitable happens.

Er, what does BICOE mean?

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[taylorrose]

BICOE stands for "Break In Case Of Emergency"

Is it possible to sever the astral connection to a sibling?

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

You can certainly distance yourself from them and use magical means to weaken the connection to the point that it won't affect you significantly.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[taylorrose]

I would assume this means that I can't completely break the connection though?

I'm quite confident that putting more distance between me and my sibling is going to unleash an enormous amount of chaos and conflict in my family.

Would you recommend the same boundaries for somebody who freely associates with them but hasn't gone that far (at least not yet)?

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.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[taylorrose]

Now that I went out for coffee with the associator, it isn't looking good. They spent most of Thanksgiving and the days around it with the Satanist. They are also noticeably more corrupt than they were a mere week ago.

By very seriously; that means that this is the sort of problem that can easily cause several incarnations worth of trouble, and dealing with it is an overriding concern?

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

Yes. I consider it about on a par with finding out that someone you know has leprosy and is taking no steps to keep from spreading the germs around.

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.

[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.

[open_space]

1) Ok, so I was right about that one, it does go against the flow of spiritual evolution. I am going through a phase where I am having to calibrate my judgement about many things, (and dropping it entirely on others where accurate judgment and knowledge isn't possible for me rn) so this is helpful!

So that basically makes Satanists the contrarians by excellence. I've always thought that Satanists feel very attached to (and thus strongly reject as a response) God and Christianity while thinking it is something different.

2) And thanks for the other info too! I don't know why I had the idea that Bon was Buddhist, perhaps given its similarities, but a quick search suggests that it is pre-buddhist, while using elements from Buddhism.

Regarding demons, I didn't know they were smarter than us, I have heard you say it but hadn't put thought into it, it makes sense, they must've had much more time to use their intelligence than we have while they wait for their time of final redemption.

I have a cautionary tale about the silly-little-human. A well intentioned and actually talented African magician from Cameroon came to me (I don't know how) begging me to please help him because he offered several fluids to demons in offering. I don't think his magic worked but the act brought a nasty obsessive vortex that basically begged spirits to mess with his mind. He is gullible and books convinced him.

I did a divination for him and just by that rapport I got nausea. When I prayed for him (with his permission of course) the lights of my car went out and dogs started barking at me when I got out of the car... Fortunately I did a banishing on the spot with force and then I got birds singinging. So not even helping people attacked by demons without proper guidance and training is recommended. Albeit, prayer worked well, he is doing better, but I got tangled with him and his non-sense for a few weeks listening to him confessing in guilt and looking for guidance on how to do magic safely. (Since I am no expert, I directed him to your FHR material, I hope that is okay?)

fooling with Satanism

[ritaer]

Dear John Michael,

Reading your comment made me think of a certain deceased Druid who has been disowned and denounced by his former organization. Since he joined the Church of Satan for a period in his youth, on an "I'm just investigating and larking about" basis, I could not help but wonder whether it contributed to his later problems, both personal and organizational.

I know that CoS claims not to believe in an actual being called Satan. However, considering the disastrous ends of some of the members, such as actress Jane Mansfield, I tend to think that "silly little humans" may not have recognized that they had created a live connection to that entity. Since I did consider this person a friend during the time he was in the Bay Area, I wonder whether I should add some prayers for his future progress to my practice. If so, what sort, what frequency, candles, etc. might be most effective. I am Wiccan but do not confine my practice to Wiccan deities.

Rita

Re: fooling with Satanism

[ecosophia]

Yes, that might have been involved in his problems. May I suggest you do serious divination before pursuing prayer for him? Alternatively, if you decide to go ahead and do so, the type of prayer is up to you, but do it within a magically protected space; if something has him, it might become interested in you.

Re: fooling with Satanism

[open_space]

It was scary what I mentioned in my above comment, for as much as I was able to stop it, it did affect me for a couple days, at least in the sense that it gave me the jitters. Divination suggested all was fine (and that I was reckless). No more praying for things other than blessings outside a magically protected space! I had no idea prayer could do that, but it seems it does... and it makes sense, since it was me who was doing the praying.

How does a magically protected space prevent from the interest to be raised? Are pestering things unable to see within it and thus when you close you are untraceable or is it that the energy of the magically protected space makes them want to run away?

Re: fooling with Satanism

[ecosophia]

More the latter than the former, but the protective effect of the ritual also gradually removes your consciousness from the planes they can perceive.

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.

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.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[brenainn]

Thank you. I'll pass this onto him verbatim. From what I remember of the fellow, he's likely to opt for the first option (though he might be quite different now). I know he has a Christian background, and there's a traditionalist Catholic parish near him. I might recommend he give the traditional priest a call.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[ecosophia]

If he's comfortable with Catholicism that would be a very good option. If he decides to do it, he should make full confession of his sins to the priest, accept whatever penance is suggested, make a point of attending Mass at least once a week, and take up daily practice of the Rosary, asking the Virgin for her special intercession on his behalf -- she's famous for protecting people from evil spirits in such situations.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[open_space]

For the last part I would recommend the book How to pray the Rosary: and get results by Brother ADA. It has an effective method to use the Rosary for petition by slightly modifying the wording of the prayer. The author of the book (Agostino Taumaturgo) offers live Mass for specific intentions, but they are over facepalm-live still given that's where most of the people that read him are.

Re: An oddity and a problem.

[brenainn]

I'll pass this along as well. Thank you.