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

An inspired path

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I appreciate your time as this is a bit long-winded.

I've dedicated much of my life to an art, or some might call it a craft. A few years ago this practice led me to an awakening. I had worked for a long time to improve my abilities but always felt something eluded me. I went down many seldom-traveled paths, trying to find answers to my questions but for a long time every possible solution vanished like a mirage as I approached.

Eventually I went far down an obscure route paved by great practicioners from before. It appeared promising but I found that the path appeared to lead to a dead end. I had gone to one of the furthest, deepest places and found nothing. But then I realized a peculiar commonality between the distant place where I was and the place where my journey began, and at that moment I had an epiphany.

You could call it an encounter with the higher self, the genius, the holy guardian angel. That's the best way I can categorize it. In an instant I understood my art in its totality, along with the reasons for the difficulties I had and the path that I might take to overcome them. When I had this experience I knew that the road to the place I want to go will be long and hard, but that I now have a "North Star" I can follow to get there.

My question to you is: what types of magical practice make sense for me? The spiritual path I find myself on is idiosyncratic and individual - established religions and societies have never particularly appealed to me; they all feel like something made to fit someone else. These personal experiences have resonated with me much more than any "brand-name" deities and I seem to draw power from this genius the way that people describe petitioning gods. For example, when I'm attuned to the higher self and following its guidance I have effectively infinite motivation and can make sustained efforts that shock other people, who ask how I haven't collapsed. I've intuited that what I have isn't simply an inspiration but "sponsorship" from something that has some degree of ego and conscious purpose. As to the nature of this "sponsor" I can only guess.

So how does one get more in tune with an anonymous higher power? Do you suppose that's what I've encountered, or am I just drawing on deeper reserves of my own energy than I thought I had? Established gods and religions have methods for working with them to affect change, but in this case I'm flying blind although I have the great boon of a "sponsor" that I have a high natural affinity for. How can I advance toward the level of understanding of someone who knows the identity and history of the power they're appealing to?

Thanks again for reading.

Re: An inspired path

[ecosophia]

Why not ask your "sponsor" what to do?

Re: An inspired path

[(Anonymous)]

Communication is kind of one-way, and I get just the vague impression that there's some amount of ego on the other side. Its "intent" surfaces in impressions wafting up from the subconscious, not in signs given as answers to questions. I could experiment with different types of augury as opposed to asking explicit questions and see if there's something that seems to reflect its intent.

Re: An inspired path

[ecosophia]

I'd encourage you to try that approach.