ecosophia | Magic Monday

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Magic Monday

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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~~With that said, have at it!~~

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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Kastrup is well worth reading: he's a computer scientist as well as a philosopher, and his dismissal of materialism is an excellent piece of popular science writing. He's also written an interesting book about the nature of religion, called More than Allegory, which argues that what we think of as religious myths are in a very real sense "true."

Hello, and thank you for offering this forum.

For a year and half now I've been practicing daily the Sphere of Protection, the simple meditation on Eliphas Levi that you recommend in your blog posts, and a four-card Tarot divination.

I have now reached the point of finding these practices exceedingly onerous. The SOP often feels like slogging through a swamp of distracting thoughts, and the meditation wanders off in all directions. The four-card draw seems to be getting harder to interpret, and frequently the meaning of one or more cards is completely opaque to me.

Nevertheless I persevere, even if it takes me much longer some mornings to drag myself to the task than others. I'm tempted to move my practices to some time in the evening, but I think that would only make it easier to contemplate skipping a day.

My question is simple. If I understand the sum of your writing and teaching aright, this is the point at which I need to Just Keep Going. Am I right?

Last year was a 9 year for me and brutal. It definitely had the end of a cycle vibe the numerology said it would.

If someone knew they were going to be heading into high-stress situations is there magic they could do to protect themselves from PTSD? (Assuming they were doing the material world things as much as possible - being well trained, well fed, well rested, and debriefing after incidents.)

Thank you, it won't repeat ever again; first and last.

It was very visceral and I am still removing the thorns, but I am grateful I got out in time, she is having to deal with the blowback of her impressively clueless magic, on her own, and there is no way I am saving her from that, for as much as I would like to. She got mugged at gun point a few weeks ago I am told. It's the only relationship I've had almost blindly with someone, not doing that ever again. My previous strategy got me meaningful partners in the years scale since I was about 16 so I am getting back to that one.

In my experience, at least, it's only when you take it up. You should be fine when you get back to the ritual work, especially if you've continued with meditation, divination, or other nonritual practices.

I had originally expected it to be a 9 year, but that didn't fit at all. It was hardly a year of "completion" -- almost the exact opposite, if anything.

Switching my name number (from the equivalent of "Joseph Smith" to "Joe") both makes my name number fit me better and makes last year a 2, which also sounds right. Based on that, this year will be a 3 for me.

So I guess my takeaway is that once I properly calibrated my personal numbers it seemed to work.

(Also, to anyone who's completely lost regarding this whole thread, the old posts are easily found under the numerology tag off to the left.)

- Murky Sanguine Housefly

I haven't gotten deeply into that end of magical tradition; as I recall, there are some good discussions of Greek statue magic in some of the literature on ancient Greek magic, and the Asclepius, one of the treatises attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, has a useful section on making magically empowered images. I don't have a bibliography to hand, though.

Well, what kind of magic do you know how to do?

Some other details:
- The central shaft sticks freely into a hole in the platform (two plates studded together for stability).
- Between the dice acting as separators are little balls drilled with holes.
- Each dice rotates over its own drilled ball.

As said above, you hold the handle from the top and spin with the other hand beginning with the bottom dice, working your way up, otherwise a rotating dice will tend to rotate the ones above!

What form does clearing karma take in that situation? How is it different from the experiencing-the-consequences-of-your-actions life review you'd get after an unreflective life?

That would make an interesting read in Conjunctio.

By the way, any idea if the admin is still active? I've tried posting but they never came through.

Happy New Year, JMG!

I think we all agree that the Hex Trump movement was a very bad idea. But I'm wondering whether you think a curse against someone (not a national figure, I'm thinking someone you know personally) is ever justified. I've read varied opinions on this. Some say they should be confined to people that do very bad stuff (people making threats, putting your life in danger, etc.). I do know one well-known occultist who thinks a curse against someone threatening your livelihood (like spreading malicious gossip at work) is justified, especially if you live in an area without many opportunities.

Or do you think curses always have negative consequences for the magician? I'd be interested to know your viewpoint.

Thanks!

No, not originally. The New Thought movement was launched by one man, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who had no known connection to occult traditions other than some contact with a traveling Mesmerist. You can read his story here:

https://www.ecosophia.net/the-power-of-the-mind/

After New Thought found its feet and its market in 19th-century America, occult schools borrowed many of its ideas, and also inserted occult teachings into New Thought books and periodicals; you also had a lot of hybrid traditions that combined New Thought and occultism -- in fact, most of American occultism from 1880 to 1980 can be described in exactly those terms. But New Thought wasn't invented by occultists. It was wild-caught, not farmed. ;-)

1) I don't know of any source for that detail. Try both and see which fits best.

2) That's another good question. I don't know of any source that discusses business numerology! Keep detailed notes -- you may find that you're breaking interesting new ground.

3) It's certainly worth trying.

4) A 9 year would be very suitable for that.

I'm not at all surprised. If the basic teachings of occultism are correct, all material objects have some form of life and consciousness, and so can respond to healing and blessing. Glad to hear you're enjoying the GSF material -- once I finish the current round of Magic Monday responses, I'll be getting back to work on the next book in the series.

That's one of the most horrifying things I've heard in years. That said, thank you for telling me; it's good to know. I think your theory has just passed its first test.

Brrrrrr.....

It's just a song and it's just a game. Two centuries ago you could find devout Christians who insisted that using matches would start you on the road to perdition -- godly people used flint and steel, by gum!

(I'm still not sure why the fundamentalists didn't just come up with roleplaying games of their own. Your characters are ancient Israelites, contending with the swords and diabolical sorceries of Philistines and Canaanites while trying to build up enough Grace Points to rescue the lost Ark of the Covenant or what have you -- it would have been great good fun, and as theologically correct as all get-out. Were they that terrified of their own imaginations?)

You can find the details for each of the year numbers here:

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/164394.html

Psychic and metaphysical gifts being used purely to feed the ego and its cravings. You see this pattern very often among corrupt spiritual teachers -- they've got genuine powers, but everything comes down to preening their egos and providing them with whatever material items they happen to crave.

Divinatory reasons, no. I know quite a few people who find that different decks are better suited to different subjects of divination -- this one for questions about love, that one for questions about magic -- but half a dozen is usually enough.

There are two other reasons, however, why someone might want a larger collection of tarot cards. The first is that different cards have different symbolism, and if you work with the symbols of the decks in magic, meditation, or what have you, it's helpful to have any deck whose symbolism you want to work with. Since decks go into and out of print without warning, for that matter, having a good collection guarantees that you can use a deck when you want it.

The other reason is if you're going to be teaching tarot to other people. In that case it helps if you have a copy of the deck your student is using, so you can point them to symbols and other elements of card design they can use for mnemonic and divinatory purposes.

Start by getting adequate sleep and eating nourishing meals. The planes are discrete and not continuous, so if your material body is easily exhausted, you need to address that with changes on the material plane.

As it happens, I've never read it. Do you think I should?

Might you suggest a prayer that could be offered alone or along with other prayers by everyone?
I have an inkling that a group effort along with individual efforts might have a good effect… or is that just wishful thinking?
Rhydlyd

That would make a great deal of sense of the traditional lore, wouldn't it? I don't know of any work of occult philosophy that discusses the possibility, but it's definitely worth exploring.

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Magic Monday

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Day by Day

Re: Numerology Year

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Re: Numerology Year

Re: Astral Entities

Re: Numerology Year

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Re: Geomancy Device

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Re: Numerology Year

Curses

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Re: Numerology for the New Year

Re: Weather radio and MOE Healing Hands

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Re: D&D as the Road to Perdition

Re: Numerologicaly finally in a year of 6.

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Re: Energy

Re: Michael Ende

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

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