Magic Monday
Jan. 1st, 2023 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
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***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next week!***
Heathen SOP and some more CosDoc
Date: 2023-01-02 11:09 pm (UTC)1) Some symbols like "hawk of may" have a strong association to the Arthurian legend. I am thinking of something that fits better to heathen mythology but it might take some time. I think I'll take them as they are for a start and change them once I found something else. Do you see any problem with this?
2) Translation of "power/powers": There are two different possibilities to translate. One is "Macht", the other is "Kraft" (which could also be translated back as "forces"). Do you make any difference between the two? In German - as I think also in English? - both can be used in a personalized way, e.g. "die Kräfte der Natur" can be conscious beings, just like "die Mächte der Natur". Are the "forces of air" principally the same as the "powers of air"?
3) Translation of "spirit below/above": A direct translation would sound rather silly, I think. A possible translation could be "Geist der Erde" (spirit of the earth) and "Geist der/des Himmels" (spirit of the heavens). Is that what you mean with below/above?
4) Translation of "telluric current": A direct translation would be "Strom der Erde" which I somehow don't find very fitting. You mean streams of energy, I guess, so I'd rather invoke "Energiestrom der Erde". I don't see a big difference besides the sound... Does anything speak against this?
5) CosDoc: The statements about the omnipotence of a Great Entity in relation to the universe it creates seem somehow contradictory at a first glance, since it is explained afterwards that the Great Entity does depend on the reaction of the atoms gathered around it, when it projects its concept of itself. From that I conclude that the Great Entity and the Universe are not the same thing and that the Universe exists in some way outside the Great Entity. So omnipotence would not mean that it can do as it likes within the universe, but that the universe can't change the Entity so it is "free of conditioning influence". And when I say "outside" that doesn't mean outside the universes "ring-pass-not", but that the Great Entity IS the universes ring-pass-not, ring-chaos and ring-cosmos. It provides the location, but we are the ones to dance there, so to say?
Thank's a lot, and best wishes to you for the new year!
Greetings,
Nachtgurke
Re: Heathen SOP and some more CosDoc
Date: 2023-01-02 11:28 pm (UTC)2) I would use "Kraft" rather than "Macht," as to my ear "Kraft" has the connotation of effective forces, not just power that could be expended in vain.
3) Geist der Erde and Geist der Himmels would work very well.
4) That would be fine. I assume it would also be Energiestrom der Himmels?
5) That's certainly my take on it.
Re: Heathen SOP and some more CosDoc
Date: 2023-01-02 11:49 pm (UTC)4) Yes, Energiestrom des Himmels. I just wrote down my translation for the the calling of spirit above :-) Maybe one more question in this regard: I think you can say "the heavens" or "heaven" if you mean the "otherworldly" sky. In German "die Himmel" (pl) or "der Himmel" (sg.) - is it one or more than one? In some way I think I might be splitting hairs, but in another it seems important to ask what is it, that I want to invoke?
5) It feels like that the first sentence of the first chapter contains the CosDoc in a nutshell if you assume that the facts of a former phase of evolution become the explanations of the next...
Greetings,
Nachtgurke
Re: Heathen SOP and some more CosDoc
From:Re: Heathen SOP and some more CosDoc
Date: 2023-01-03 03:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-02 11:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2023-01-02 11:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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From:A not so happy new year
Date: 2023-01-02 11:40 pm (UTC)I hope that you and Sara had a Happy New year and that this New Year will be prosperous for you both.
On New Years Eve, someone busted out my Wife's car window. We were the only car hit in our neighborhood. My neighbor has cameras on the front of his house and it shows a person walking down the cross street on to our street and straight to my wife's car. After I turned off the alarm, he ran like a coward. The police were called and the officer did not seem very interested in the situation. This would end up in a summary offense (slap on the wrist with a fine) for the perp, if they find out who it was. You could not see a face in the camera footage. The officer said that it looks targeted (we have no enemies) and my neighbor said it looks like the perp was on a mission. My neighbor sent me the footage and I agree with both.
There is magic I know how to do. I have used it for positive purposes with very good results. I am a Seeker in the FHR and am current on the MOE material as well. If I did a working to make sure the perp gets everything they deserve and nothing more, what could the karmic repercussions be? I know it would be interfering with someones Will, but the perp interfered with mine and my Wife's will by destroying our property and costing us resources to get it fixed.
I ask, what advice do you have in this matter?
Best Regards,
Ian a.k.a Cobalt Necrotic Skull.
Re: A not so happy new year
Date: 2023-01-02 11:50 pm (UTC)Sleep & Headspace for Spiritual Development
Date: 2023-01-03 12:23 am (UTC)1. I'm wondering what I can do to use sleep to maximize my spiritual development. I already do the memory rewind suggested in the DA, and usually pass out when I've rewound my memories partway through the day. Is there anything else I can do to help my higher self wash my personality clean while I'm sleeping?
2. Are there other practices I can do to put my consciousness at a higher level throughout the day? I do my DA practices for a half hour to an hour in the evenings. But I like the idea of my higher self individuating my personality behind the scenes. I'm wondering if there's something I could do in the morning to get myself in this headspace.
(The reason I do my DA practices in the evenings is for peaceful sleep.) Thank you!
Re: Sleep & Headspace for Spiritual Development
Date: 2023-01-03 03:28 am (UTC)2) Oh, there's quite a few things. Have you reached the Gradd yr Athroniwr yet? If so, the breathing exercises make a good first thing in the morning exercise.
Re: Sleep & Headspace for Spiritual Development
From:metta meditation
Date: 2023-01-03 12:29 am (UTC)I was happy to see the discussion of metta meditation last week. I began experimenting with the brahmaviharas in my meditations last summer (metta is the first of four), and felt reservations along the same lines. In particular, a line that is sometimes included: “May all beings live with ease” struck me as very wrong -- I would not wish a life of perfect ease for myself, so it felt wrong to wish it for others.
Nevertheless, I did see some value in a routine reaffirmation of goodwill towards others. And I definitely saw value in contemplating the dangers of ill-will towards others, in the forms of jealousy, envy, resentment, or the desire for revenge.
So my question is: have you found a comparable western practice or orientation that avoids these pitfalls?
Trying to think of some myself, I’ve come up a few along the lines of:
may all beings encounter the challenges they need to grow
may all beings receive the blessings they desire
may all beings live in harmony
But they feel a little clunky.
p.s. Thank you very much for the series on writing on the .net blog. The spontaneity trap especially cleared some things up for me.
Thanks,
Rusty
Re: metta meditation
Date: 2023-01-03 03:30 am (UTC)https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/208136.html
-- for something a little more attentive to the needs of individuals.
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Date: 2023-01-03 01:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-03 03:31 am (UTC)John Gilbert's other groups
Date: 2023-01-03 01:05 am (UTC)Re: John Gilbert's other groups
Date: 2023-01-03 03:51 am (UTC)Questions on the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose
Date: 2023-01-03 02:50 am (UTC)Questions about the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose materials (thanks for providing!):
1. Is there any long term advantage over using the Sphere of Protection versus the Lesser Banishing/Middle Pillar? Does choosing one foreclose paths or practices related to the other?
2. I note at the end of the temple closing, the Sphere of Protection is released. For daily practice, it is not. Is that accurate?
Thank you!
Matt
Re: Questions on the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose
Date: 2023-01-03 03:53 am (UTC)2) Yes, that's correct.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-03 02:51 am (UTC)As an example, I have received verbal/thought messages/ideas, 'loving vibes', and visions that have suggested that a person who broke up with me will come back to me. The nature of these experiences feels like more than wishful thinking, but I am wary of giving much weight to them given the pain I've already suffered. I have been using divination to try and sort through it but any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-03 03:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2023-01-03 04:42 am (UTC) - Expand(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-03 03:34 am (UTC)As I recall, you have described the three paths if mystic, mage, and occultist with re to the Tree of Life as the the sephirot of the middle pillar (love), the sephirot of the lightening flash (power), and the paths of the lightening flash (wisdom), respectively. What of other routes from Malkuth to Kether? One might go Malkuth-Hod-Geburah-Binah-Kether, for example, and use thought and will as primary vehicles. How would such a path be characterized? Or its counterpart along the other side, focusing on feeling and compassion?
(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-03 03:55 am (UTC)Zairja
Date: 2023-01-03 04:14 am (UTC)Are you familiar with divination systems involving getting a card with numbers or symbols and spinning it, then picking a number/symbol with eyes closed? These things are called “Zairja” in the Arabic world, and some European versions exist, called wheels of fortune.
I recently invented a Zairja design consisting of a octagon divided into quarters, which are divided into 14 triangles and assigned the numbers and suits of the minor arcana. I was wondering if you you had any experience with how effective a divination system Zairjas are before using it.
J.L.Mc12
Re: Zairja
Date: 2023-01-03 04:52 am (UTC)