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 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.

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

[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.

[(Anonymous)]

To extend this a little further, using astrological principles then: As I understand it, the three planets most strongly associated with wealth are Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Well, right from the start Ramsey suggests taking steps which please at least two of those planets (Venus and Saturn), in the form of "Blow" money, or money intentionally set aside to be used for something that seems fun right at the time; and the focused, dedicated self-sacrifice to save and pay off debts would be pleasing to Saturn; while he makes it clear that once this is done, donations and freely giving is essential, which would please Jupiter. He even suggests that it play a role right from the start, for those who have the spare money.

So, all three planets associated with wealth will naturally pour their blessings towards anyone who follows this, which if I'm not mistaken would help supercharge it; and suggests an option for how to strengthen this as well, in the form of setting aside some of the donation money I'm budgeting as part of my work with his system for planetary charity towards these three planets, in order to specifically ask for their aid.

[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]

Mercury and the Sun also have a role to play in becoming wealthy. Mercury teaches you to be adaptable and to make good bargains; he's the planet of buying and selling. The Sun teaches you to make all your lesser desires orbit around the one thing that matters most to you; he is the planet (or, more properly, the luminary) of earned success. But you can pick and choose which planets to invoke, of course.

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[ecosophia]

You have not only my indulgence but my enthusiastic support.

[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.

[yuccaglauca]

Fair enough! I suppose that is kind of a recurring theme . . .

[ecosophia]

It's an essential theme. All the teachings and orders that are part of the Universal Gnostic tradition take the freedom and independent insight of the individual as a central principle, and apply that principle over and over again. I know it's a little unfamiliar, especially these days, when pipsqueak experts claiming the right to tell other people what to do are as thick on the ground as cow turds in an overcrowded feedlot, but that's the tradition as I learned it and I'm sticking with it.

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?

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

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?

[(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.

[(Anonymous)]

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

[(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.

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.

Skinwalker ranch

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

What is your take on the skinwalker ranch mysteries?

Thanks!

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

[(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!

[(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?

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.

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?

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