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.

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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 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

metta meditation

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG & assembled MM community,

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

[ecosophia]

Anything that says "all beings" is right out as far as I'm concerned, since I don't have the right to tell all beings what to do or what kind of experiences to have! You might try the Essene blessing walk --

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/208136.html

-- for something a little more attentive to the needs of individuals.