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 picture?  I'm working my way through photos of my lineage, focusing on the teachers whose work has influenced me. Sylvester Gould, last week's honoree, was an active member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, one of the more interesting occult orders of the late 19th century. (After many reorganizations, it's still around as the Church of Light aka Brotherhood of Light.) The H.B. of L., as most people called it back in the day, was founded by two British occultists, T.H. Burgoyne and Peter Davidson. The photo is of Burgoyne. It's also the photo of another gentleman, one Captain Norman Astley, who took over the reorganized H.B. of L. in America from Burgoyne, married another H.B. of L. adept -- the remarkable and talented Genevieve Stebbins -- and helped Benjamin Williams aka Elbert Benjamine aka C.C. Zain re-reorganize the H.B. of L. into the Brotherhood of Light aka Church of Light. Yes, Burgoyne and Astley were the same person. It's a complicated story. But Burgoyne and Peter Davidson, whom we'll be talking about next week, were among Sylvester Gould's teachers -- and behind them stands another and a considerably stranger figure.

Buy Me A Coffee

Ko-Fi

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 either of the links above to access my online tip jar; Buymeacoffee is good for small tips, Ko-Fi is better for larger ones. (I used to use PayPal but they developed an allergy to free speech, so I've developed an allergy to them.) 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 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

[(Anonymous)]

You've mentioned before that plenty of people practice magic without realizing it, and that any focused intention paired with ritual action constitutes magic. In this light, I've realized I might have just begun a major magical working: namely, it's occurred to me that Dave Ramsey's financial advice may very well fall into a form of wealth magic.

He has people follow a specific system, with mundane tasks like budgeting, working extra hours, cutting expenses by learning to do with less, and saving/investing playing a major role, but prayer, reflection, as well as intentional generosity all also play a major role in his system; invoking a higher power, intentionality, and blessing others, in occult terms. He talks a lot about the importance of unity of will (which he calls being “gazelle intense”), has something resembling an affirmation (“If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else”), and even has a few rather amusing little rituals, with one being the act of cutting up one's credit cards to symbolize the refusal to take on any more debt.

If this is a form of magic, it would also explain the observation he has made, that people who follow his advice find that as they build emergency funds, then the rates at which they run into financial problems plunges sharply; it's not just that they have the funds, but that events which would lead them to need it drop as well. Dave Ramsey suggests focusing intensely on the sense of security and safety that the emergency fund provides, for motivation in order to build it and then maintain it once it's fully funded; but if I understand the occult theory correctly, that kind of focus would also have magical effects. If the emergency fund is thus, in addition to an ordinary emergency fund, also functioning as a magical working to dispel emergencies and bring about security, then this would make perfect sense.

If there is some sort of unconscious magic, this would also explain why so many people who struggle with finances find that his advice works when nothing else does; and why those follow his advice routinely end up comfortably wealthy, even if it seems like they shouldn't be able to on their relatively low income. He's helped people dig their way out of intense debts and rather severe poverty to reach comfortable retirements, for example. Given the notion of tracks in space, it could also explain why so many people find that even where it seems like it would make sense to do things differently, it is easiest to follow the steps Dave Ramsey advises exactly, because an enormous number of others have laid those tracks down for us to follow!

Meanwhile, on further reflection, it's struck me that his advice follows one of your core pieces of advice for wealth magic: focus on finding opportunities to earn money. Each step of the process he suggests is based on the principle that money must be earned, and then some of it must be saved for future use: he suggests working extra hours, taking on another job, and the like for those starting out; in other words, finding ways to earn more money! Even when it comes to investing money for retirement, he insists that it be invested wisely, in investment vehicles that have been proven to work over years or, better yet, decades; and that while some “investments” may promise much higher rates of returns, he insists on avoiding any kind of “get rich quick scheme”, insisting that retirement investments be made in more safe and stable investments; and that it will take years of work and intentional sacrifice in order to fully fund them.

The other interesting part about it is that he's also adamant that once the basics are done (a process which means getting the necessities to survive, getting out of debt, and saving enough to be able to weather most emergencies), donating money is an absolute must; which, if his entire system is a magical working, would bring blessings into the lives of those who follow his work via raspberry jam; which could help explain why so many people who follow his system end up with plenty of money flowing their way.

Does this kind of analysis make sense to you?

[ecosophia]

It makes perfect sense. I wasn't familiar with Ramsey or his system, so thank you; this is a very good example of the practical application of occult principles to everyday life. I'm not in the least surprised that it works extremely well.

Ecosophia Prayer List

[tunesmyth]

JMG, with your indulgence:

To those who are interested, here are all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared across the Ecosophia community. Please feel free to add any or all of them to your prayers.

Also, if I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom you hold power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below and/or at the prayer list page.

If there are any among you who might wish to join forces in a bit of astrological timing, a few of us pray each week for the healing, health, and wellbeing of all those on the list with health problems on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun's rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join us.

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[ecosophia]

You have not only my indulgence but my enthusiastic support.

New Year's Symbel

[jprussell]

Good Evening,

A happy New Year to everyone! May it bring more of what you need and less of what you don't.

To Share and Ask: As last year, when I set my goal of reading books only by those dead for the year (accomplished!), I'd like to invite anyone willing to join me in a virtual symbel. Symbel is a Heathen ritual where those participating share rounds of toasts. During each round, anyone so moved may raise a glass and propose a toast, to which all participating drink. Traditionally, the first round of toasts is directed to the Gods, the second to the ancestors (or other divine beings like elves, dwarves, or the like), and the third is a chance to either share something accomplished, or pledge to do something. This last is called a "boast," but if it is empty bragging, you're doing it wrong. The goal is to acknowledge and call upon the role your community, human and divine, plays in helping you get things done. Composing poetry for the toast is traditional and appreciated, but definitely not required (I followed the rules for the Old Norse form ljóðaháttr as modified for modern English).

So here's my ask: will anyone willing please share in any of the three toasts below you can get behind with the beverage of your choice (alcohol is traditional, but whatever your beliefs or post-New Year's Eve feelings allow will work just great), and reply with any toasts you'd like others to join you in.

Hail to Gods
and Goddesses fair,
bright bringers of weal.
Drink I raise
to drightens* with whom
Daily we are glad to deal.

Hail to Ash
and holy Elm**,
forebearers far-sung.
Glass I lift
to that glad line
from which we are sprung.

May coming year
kindly yield
blissful blessings to all
Blithely will I
blog each week
wielding words to enthrall.

*drighten is a modernized form of an Old English word for a lord or ruler
** In Norse Myth, Ask (Ash) and Embla (Elm?) were two trees that Odhinn and his brothers made into the first humans by giving them spirit, wits, and blood/healthy color. I've Anglicized them here.

As always, thanks very much to JMG and those who read and comment.

To any who will have them, I put forth my blessings and best wishes,
Jeff

Re: New Year's Symbel

[liamq]

I will join you in this; it’s quite lovely, and it will help in my attempts to get closer to Nordic and Germanic deities.

And as an aside, thank you for always contributing something unique and insightful to Magic Mondays. After JMG, your comments are almost always the ones I learn from the most.

[yuccaglauca]

The grove closing in The Druid Magic Handbook ends with,

"By the Sword of Swords, I pledge my faithful service to the living Earth our home and mother. Awen."

Could you explain a little of what that pledge means?

Is it perhaps a reference to the AODA earth path changes, or the energetic role of Druid magic as mediating between Spirit Above and Spirit Below, or a commitment to eventually perform the land blessing ritual later in the book, or something else entirely? Is someone obligated to do something specific if they use this grove ceremony?

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, you haven't caught onto that aspect of the AODA system yet? It means exactly what, after appropriate reflection, meditation, and divination, you understand it to mean.

Qs

[(Anonymous)]

Greeting JMG and others, and a happy new year to everyone.

A few questions for you:

1) What is your advice for what to do in a mercury retrograde? And generally do you find that your experience of it is affected by the house/sign position of mercury?

2) Would you be able to share what the occult, as well as your personal views, on the essentialism vs existence idea?
With Schopenhauer, you would lean towards the latter would be my guess, but I am curious what neoplatonism has to say (which I dont know a lot about), since Plato's own ideas seem the other way.
Mulla Sadra is the other source I've found on this with a distinct view from modern existentialists.

3) Last week you said you use void moon rules; just want to confirm if you incl the other planets such as pluto in that list of major aspects?

Re: Qs

[ecosophia]

1) Mercury retrogrades are fortunate for anything Mercurial that starts with "re-". I use them to revise manuscripts, reread books, research future projects, and generally to review where I am in my writing career and reorient my efforts. That works so well for me that these days I look forward to Mercury retrogrades -- that's when I get my best editing and research done. I don't find that this is especially influenced by Mercury's house and sign position, but planetary aspects are worth watching -- when a retrograde Mercury is in a hostile aspect to another planet, for example, a little more caution is wise.

2) I find Schopenhauer's arguments convincing here: what we have to go on is neither essence nor existence, but simply experience: "the world is my representation," and the subject referenced by "my" is simply one grade or manifestation of the underlying thing-in-itself Schopenhauer called the Will, which cannot be said to exist in any sense of "exist" that can also be applied to phenomena. That was the basis of Eliphas Lévi's magical philosophy, too, though he used an older way of talking about it in Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. From this standpoint, both existence and essence are abstract labels we apply to different aspects of experience, and can be applied in different ways by different people, on the basis of their subjectivity. As for other occultists, they're all over the map; chaos magic, for example, might best be described as magic for existentialists, while the more Neoplatonist ends of magic are way over on the essentialist end of the spectrum.

3) I don't consider Pluto a planet, and so I don't count it when calculating lunar voids.

Memorization

[d_mekel]

Hello and happy new year

From COP,for consecration rituals of tools that will most likely be done once a year. How crucial is it to memorize the words and can a cheat sheet be used? Every week I have been practicing the full form of opening and closing, but use a small sheet with the first letter of every word for the closing part. I realize the importance of memorization for ritual, but it is probably my biggest weakness in magic workings.

Second question. For using the telesmatic imagery for angel PVRLAK, would I just use peh, vau, resh to figure the image?

Last one. I'm mainly using the golden dawn stuff from COP to get to the spiritual development chapter. Are there sections I could skip or do you suggest working the book front to back regardless. Was planning on skipping evocations for sure.

Always appreciated
-patrick

Re: Memorization

[ecosophia]

1) You can certainly use a cheat sheet. I routinely did.

2) No, if the name doesn't have the standard angelic endings -AL or _IAH, you use the whole name.

3) Once you've made and consecrated the working tools in chapter 9 you can skip straight to the chapter on spiritual development. The other applications of ritual are optional -- use 'em if you need 'em.

Yawning while worshipping specific deities

[collapsenik]

This is about worshipping some Hindu Gods. I am a practicing Hindu. One common Hindu practice is to meditate on a particular deity by chanting the "mantra" specific to that deity a certain number of times, say 36, 64 or 108.

I am noticing that repeated, uncontrollable yawning happens only while I am worshipping some specific deities. And all these deities have something in common - they all have a less than gentle disposition. Yawning (and coughing, sneezing and belching) during worshipping makes the worshipper impure, so a purification gesture has to be made each time. So you can imagine this would be a more than a little irritating if I keep yawning every 2 minutes. This never happens with "gentler" deities. I have observed this multiple times. I am not observing any other adverse effects either.

Have you seen something like this in the occult practices you have worked with?

Re: Yawning while worshipping specific deities

[ecosophia]

That's fascinating. No, I haven't observed that before. I wonder if it might be a good idea to talk to a qualified Hindu priest about that, and see if they know something specific about it.

[(Anonymous)]

So, some time ago, I was leaving an event. I wasn't quite sure where the elevator to the parking lot was, so I was looking for it everywhere along the hallway I was walking through. I got to the end without seeing it and decided I needed to consult my phone gps map to try to figure out where I had gotten lost. There was no gps signal indoors, so I went through the double doors to the outside, past a few homeless people sitting there. There still wasn't gps signal in the concrete canyon I found myself in, so I went to the intersection with a street a short distance away. At that point, a woman came up to me asking for some money, I think for bus fare or something, which I gave to her. Examining my map now I had signal, I found that I wasn't lost at all, and the elevators more or less had to be where I had been looking, so I went back inside. The elevator doors were right there, in plain sight, right where I had just been looking for them but had apparently not seen them at all. (There were no people or anything in the hall the first time that could have obstructed my view.) It struck me then, somewhat sharply, that if there had been anyone to see the whole process it would have looked exactly as if I had gone outside with the express purpose of giving that money to that woman. In fact, the event was such a disappointment to me that my whole trip might as well have been for the purpose of giving that woman that money.

I am trying to figure out how I should think about this. I suppose I am getting older, as we all are, but I don't normally overlook things I am expressly looking for when they look exactly like I am expecting and I am staring right at them. I don't think I exactly tend to jump to spiritual or occult reasons for things, but it's at least as easy for me to believe that's what happened as that I just overlooked the elevators that blindly. Do you think it's possible or likely that that's what happened? If it is...is there anything else I should be concluding or doing or anything, or is there likely to be any particular meaning to this? I'm guessing your answers are likely to be something like "yes" and "no", but figured I'd ask in case there was anything more.

[ecosophia]

Well, if you have any skill at divination, you might want to do some readings about that. My guess is that you had a karmic debt to pay off, and you paid it. If there's anything else you need to do, why, I'm quite sure you'll be put in a position where you can do it!

[(Anonymous)]

If reflecting on your life while still alive frees up time in the afterlife for more productive things, what are those productive things?

[ecosophia]

Accelerating your personal spiritual evolution and clearing away karma so your next life will be a better one.

[(Anonymous)]

Any advice about dealing with really bad tantrums from strangers while traveling for what they perceive as transgressions, even if there was no intention of such (bag placed too closely to their possessions)? Not that it’s important, just that the energy was really bad, and any reply would have invited even more insults.

[ecosophia]

No. I've never known how to deal with that kind of behavior.

Dream meaning

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks to our generous host.

To JMG and readers:

I moved to countryside I live near a mountain (1200m) 1-2 hours to the top from my place

I dreamed the forest on it was on fire.

Anyone what might be the meaning of it.

Re: Dream meaning

[revert2mean]

Hi there,

Not JMG, and he always tells me he doesn't do dreams, but I have some background in this.

Try to go back into the dream and get some more information. Is it a real fire? Is it from the future or the past? Is it a symbol to get you to pay attention to something else in your life?

Precognitive dreams are very tricky for most of us. They're often very unhelpful in a practical sense.

My dreams at the moment are full of purple light and angular shapes. I can take guesses, but quite possibly something will happen and I'll say oh that's what that meant ...

Skinwalker ranch

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

What is your take on the skinwalker ranch mysteries?

Thanks!

Re: Skinwalker ranch

[ecosophia]

I had to go look that phrase up online just now, which may tell you how much attention I've paid to it so far. (Of course it doesn't help that I haven't owned a television in my adult life.) To judge by the results I got on my search engine, there's a lot of ballyhoo and heavy marketing surrounding it; whether there's anything to it or not is something I could only determine by a lot of careful research.

diy cell salts

[sea_spray]

Does anyone here know of a good resource to start mixing up your own cell salts?

I've found that Nat Mur which is has the base ingredient of good old sodium chloride helps with my hayfever. The supply of various cell salt combinations has also been impacted by supply line issues making certain ones hard to get so I thought it would be a good time to learn to make my own.

Also how pure does the base ingredient need to be? Would iodised table salt or sea salt do?

Thanks
Sea spray

Re: diy cell salts

[ecosophia]

I'll be posting detailed instructions on this toward the end of this month, once I finish reviewing the old pharmacy handbooks I've collected. It would be best to use fairly pure salt -- non-iodized table salt (which you can get at most groceries) would be better than either iodized salt or sea salt.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I spent some time this weekend reading about enantiodromia, and also reflecting on compassion, and the OSA aims of experiencing joy, happiness, and peace rather than fear, sadness, and anger. A few questions arose.

1. Enantiodromia implies a switching between opposites. If I am compassionate, then I am choosing to not be cruel. If I try to be compassionate all the time, on the basis of being unconditionally loving, then am I repressing the infinite hatred that leads to cruelty? Wouldn't that which is repressed swing back into my actions due to enantiodromia?

2. I was in a great mood over the weekend, and caught myself thinking that I am feeling joyful in that moment. Therefore, due to the law of enantiodromia, I will eventually, in hours or days, feel the opposite (fear or sorrow). Therefore, in moments of joy, does it make more sense to temper that feeling in favor of calmness to avoid the enantiodromia? But then, that would imply that I am repressing joy.

3. Is this sense of being caught in the thrall of joy or sorrow one of the things Levi means by not getting caught in the currents? As in, these are the biases we are meant to watch out for?

4. We try to feel to joy, peace, and happiness rather than anger, fear, and unhappiness. Yet compassion implies feeling these things on the behalf of others. That is made more apparent if I realize that everyone and everything else is a reflection of the Divine, as am I, so this being's pain is my own pain. Yet I am trying to maintain a sense of peacefulness, which would be contrary to feeling of compassion. How does one reconcile this?

5. Is it theoretically possible (I can't think of a practical example) of finding balance between two poles and then finding that this point of balance is actually a point of imbalance on another continuum?

6. My last question is practical: I work with the DMH, and the Wheel of the Year. I am also meditating on the Tree of Life. I don't believe there are any issues with studying the Tree of Life, it is only when using the Tree in practical magic that there are conflicts due to the differences in systems, is that right?

Happy New Year's to you and the commentariat here!

And thank you!

[ecosophia]

1-5) It's entirely possible to get yourself tied up in all kinds of ornate knots by this sort of reflection. That is to say, you're overthinking it on the grand scale. Relax, and simply focus on having less misery and more happiness in your life.

6) There should be no problem with that at all.

[(Anonymous)]

I've noted with morbid interest that the Ukrainians are selling souvenir keychains made of destroyed Russian war machines and am wondering about their nature. Would they have a fairly strong Mars energy or would they just be covered in an unusual amount of astral filth? Or both?

[(Anonymous)]

I was thinking about the reasons to discourage trophy hunting. Obviously if anyone is seen wearing a Vietnam-style necklace of ears, that's terrible PR on all sides. But if any of the essence of their previous owners is still around, they'll be spending every second trying to sabotage the trophy carrier in any way possible.

Q

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, apologies I missed a couple of minor questions earlier:

1) In either natal or horary, is L of 4th house the father, and L of 10th the mother, or the other way around? I've read it both ways and it's confusing the hell out of me.

2) What is the difference between the spirit and intelligence of a planet? reading the invocation C Warnock wrote, it involves both, for each planet.

Re: Q

[ecosophia]

1) That's one of those things that people bicker about endlessly. The only advice I've seen that works at all is to look at your natal chart and see which of your parents most resembles your 4th house ruler and which resembles your 10th house ruler.

2) Spirits are blind forces, which have power over material things. Intelligences, as the title suggests, are more conscious and self-aware, and have power over ideas. In practical magic you always evoke the intelligence first and ask it to guide and direct the spirit, because it knows how to do that skillfully and you don't.

Ley Lines

[sirustalcelion]

Good Morning JMG, and a Happy New Year to you!

I had a discussion with a relative last week where she asked about Ley Lines. I paraphrased what I remembered from an earlier answer I saw from you on the subject, which was (IIRC) that they are science fiction from the early 20th century, and that while there are places with more spiritual energy than others, they aren't connected by any particular channels or pathways.

She insisted that ley lines were an ancient stone age technology, a claim I hadn't encountered before.

Is there a phenomenon similar enough to the 'ley line' concept that could merit the term being applied to it? If not, could you please remind me of the author who coined the term?

Re: Ley Lines

[ecosophia]

Er, that's not really what I said. There's a lot of hoopla over leys, and a lot of inaccurate information, but they're not just science fiction. They've just been overblown to an embarrassing extent.

Leys were discovered in the early 1920s by Alfred Watkins, a British antiquarian. His book The Old Straight Track is very much worth reading. He held that leys were an ancient system of land navigation, from the days when travel was on foot and Britain was mostly trackless wilderness; stone markers and various other guideposts were set up in places where they could be seen from far off, so that people could find their way from one isolated village to another. Over time, that gave rise to a network of more or less straight trackways covering much of Britain.

Many years later, in the 1970s, John Michell and other earth mysteries researchers got into the act. By then people had started noticing that certain spiritual phenomena move in straight lines over the landscape, and in a few cases there seems to be something like an energy current, which can be detected by dowsing and other methods. From that, the modern concept of leys as energy channels was born -- Michell's book The View Over Atlantis is the one to read here.

More recent research has more or less split the difference between those views. The trackways Watkins traced are one part of the picture; then there are natural flows of energy through the landscape, of the sort that feng-shui masters track; then there are traces of ancient technologies of various kinds and dates that made use of these "earth currents" -- my book The Secret of the Temple talks about one of those.

I'm glad your relative is talking about Stone Age technologies -- that's definitely a step in the right direction. The New Age scene for a while was full of claims that leys are everywhere, and all kinds of maps got splashed around, tracing "leys" that were nothing more than somebody's brain farts. There were some very interesting old technologies that worked with the earth currents and have left traces in various parts of the Earth's surface. Like everything else having to do with prehistory, though, they're found in some places and not in others.

Numerology Year

[stcathalexandria]

Wondering how everyone's 2022 numerology worked out as laid out in this series of posts last January? https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/164394.html

Last year was a 1 year for me and when I did focus and push on one project, I did get considerable (and unexpected!) success. This year is an 11 year so I've taken considerable time to do planning and preparation the past few weeks. In fact more planning and preparation than I ever do!

2023 is a 7 year for all of us where "things get weird" and unexpected things arise. I'm assuming this is a "we'll know it when we see it" situation and little point in predicting what would be unexpected?

Monochrome Cynical Sea Serpent

Re: Numerology Year

[open_space]

Chillingly accurate for such a simple divination I did! I wish I had payed more attention to it, it would have saved me from so much trouble with the ex mixed with my naïveté. It went kablam to such a degree that the shrapnel got hold of me 6000km away. Yeah, don't wish for partners, even quietly with that voice that runs in the background in the apparent privacy of your head.

For the same reasons I will hold-off this year's divination until I get the time it deserves this week. 😅

Geomancy Device

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John,

In case you are interested, I made this geomancy device (with lots of help from the master blacksmith) during the summer: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1398774317288165&set=pcb.1398776220621308&__cft__[0]=AZVk1636QEe2JPqVphiffLHiKeFNgRl0vQo4Fy67fdVDrpIq-LWxZcSo2ManvMcSExxluf2YVqZdAwVWfiw6Nr5CSc-75TBRTPmREDu8JhJZNnuaFU08ElUW0NT1nWqMXkvv1ozmdOJxD9BaCXKyg8EWytIGmL_exqv66kifBUJtg_rqz81RoPkaX2BMstnVC__irn6OHfM0407feH37HsWx&__tn__=*bH-R

You have to spin it from the bottom up to avoid rotation of the overlying dice. Have you seen this design before?

I am quite happy with the result!

Re: Geomancy Device

[ecosophia]

Hmm! This is good to see:



I've seen little brass versions of the same design from the Middle East, meant to be used horizontally rather than vertically, but this looks as though it would work very well.

[kayr]

I have been practicing visualizing the sphere of protection described in lesson three of the healing breath meditation and I was curious about how long the sphere lasts after you complete your meditation and any healing hands activities.

[ecosophia]

Depends on how long you've been practicing it. It varies a lot to begin with, but with most students it lasts a day or longer once you've been doing it daily for a few weeks.

[jdecandia]

Hey JMG, wondering if you are familiar with the ideas of Bernardo Katsrup and his metaphysics rooted in Idealism. I find the metaphors that he uses in his books "More Than Allegory" and "Materialism is Baloney" to be extremely poetic and match my own experience.


That being said, I have been practicing the SOP for about a year now on a nearly daily basis at varying times of the day (I do shift work during the day and sometimes over nights). My query to you is...his metaphysical view and many others like it explain the world in models of ever widening consciousness. However such models could make it appear that after death your individual consciousness could and seems to be absorbed back into a greater mind.

However occultism and various other religions talk about your individual soul as something that somehow maintains its own individuality throughout incarnations.

My own personal experience with magic hasn't lent contact with other spirits or entities as of yet so I haven't had any personal evidence that there do exist separate, more advanced mental entities. And even if I were to make contact with what appears to be a separate entity, how could I tell if it were indeed an individual entity and not just a mental process of mind at large? I'm not sure what the distinction would even be, and I've mostly been involved in the occult philosophically a I have yet to have a direct experience. My query stands, then; what does your occult training say about the retention of individuality after death? And what does individuality even mean if all individuals come from a vast mental process?

That being said, the change in my own world view has been immensely helpful and rewarding regardless of any "supernatural " evidence.

[ecosophia]

1) No, I haven't read Kastrup. I tend to take philosophers one at a time, and really soak myself in their thought before going on to the next one; right now Sri Aurobindo is getting that treatment, and such spare time for philosophy as I have is going into some thinkers I need to address and challenge in an upcoming series of posts.

2) The occult tradition rejects, in no uncertain terms, the claim that the human soul just dissolves into some sort of generic cosmic glop after death. The occult teaching is that at the core of each human soul is a center of consciousness and will that persists from life to life, passing through the process of reincarnation into new experiences. The occult teachings also include the idea of karma, that is, the rule that how you lived previous lives played an important role in shaping the kinds of things you encounter in this life, and how you live this life will have an important role in shaping the kinds of things you will encounter in future lives. Eventually you will outgrow the need for a material body, but that won't be the end of you; it's at that point that your soul finishes its childhood, reclaims its memories of its past incarnations, and goes on to do more interesting things in other realms of being.

Astral Entities

[williamf]

One quick question. When I started doing Golden Dawn rituals 3 years ago such as the Middle Pillar and LBRP I had serious problems with what might be called 'astral entities'. Its calmed down quite a bit since then. My question is do students in the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn experience the same things or is it totally different? Thanks.

Re: Astral Entities

[ecosophia]

The people I know who had that kind of experience have it only once, the first time they took up serious magic; changing to other modes of magical work doesn't seem to bring it back.

archetype after image

[(Anonymous)]

Hello John Michael,

Have you ever heard of something like this?

I practice karate at a few different dojos, with one sensei in particular being my Sensei as I really resonate with his teachings and always perform well in this class.

One day after class a few students were hanging out, waiting for the sensei as sometimes we would train a bit outside. Sensei came around the corner with one of the students, the couple affectionately holding hands, and in between him and I something disappeared. It left an outline behind, royal blue with black, angular in its lines, like a samurai crouching very low and wearing a hat that reminded me of an overlarge graduation cap. The loss of whatever had been between us created a void that left me speechless for a couple of minutes.

At first I wondered if I'd been overcome by jealousy, but I wasn't interested in Sensei personally and jealousy didn't explain the samurai aura. Over the next few months I chose to notice the archetype of the Sensei in between me and him during training, and then also with a higher belt sensei when I qualified for advanced training in another dojo.

I think that I saw an image of the Sensei archetype, somehow, as it left the space between us.

Live from Pelican Land,
Phosphorescent Translucent Troglodyte


PS. Please give my best to Clare.

Re: archetype after image

[ecosophia]

Hmm! That's interesting. It may well have been that, yes. (And "Clare" says thank you.)

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Happy New Year! I wish all the best for you and for the whole Ecosophia gang this year.

I've been doing the Rose Cross ritual for about a year and a half, using the Golden Dawn method found on the Hermetics.org site to good effect. I just started the Ritual of the Hexagram in 'Circles of Power.' Since I'm used to the Golden Dawn method, is it okay to swap the part of the Hexagram Ritual with the GD method, or should I stick to what you wrote? Would that also apply to the Rose Cross Ritual in 'Circles of Power,' too?

Thanks!
Jon
tangerine tangential cactus

[ecosophia]

Experiment with both versions and see which works best for you!

[(Anonymous)]

Now that the holidays are behind us, it's time for another Nature Report.

And now we know why the plants, the fungi (and some of the animals) were in such a hurry back at the start of autumn to get it all done and packed up. Did anyone else also notice that the single digit (in degrees F) deep freeze that also buried most of the northeast in snow, that it all kicked off right after winter solstice? Almost like someone threw a switch or something. Not the first time I've seen that happen.

Otherwise all quiet out there now. That freeze shocked just about all the low lying plant life I can see into dormancy, although I was a bit amazed that some of those anthills that were frozen solid have come back to life again. Nature is one tough cookie.

I'm just glad I don't have to shovel snow.

[ecosophia]

Thanks for the report. I'm interested to note that here in Rhode Island we still haven't had any significant snow -- all the expected snowstorms turned into rain when they got to us -- and the cold snap wasn't noticeably colder than usual here. I know that wasn't true for a lot of other places!