Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

(I'm feeling unimaginative this evening, so it's just going to be a plain old ordinary Magic Monday with a strange alchemical diagram for its graphic. Deal.)

Once again, it's technically Monday now -- past midnight Eastern time -- and here I am on Dreamwidth, so it's time for another Magic Monday.  Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next Monday!***

Comments

[jenniferkobernik]

Hi JMG,

A question about color breathing as I grimly roll my boulder back up the hill that is developing an actual meditation practice:

When you breathe the color in through your solar plexus to fill your body, does it empty out of the rest of the world so that only your body is filled with the color, or are both your body and the area around you filled with the color at that point?

[marcu]

Dear Mr. Greer,

Thanks again for providing this forum to ask questions. It is much appreciated.
I was wondering if Tarot cards can send an "Error" message. For example if I were to ask a specific question and the card I draw has nothing at all to do with the question could I interpret that as an indication that the question does not have an answer at this stage or that I should perhaps ask the question in a different way?
Perhaps more generally how applicable should one expect Tarot answers to be on specific questions?

[ecosophia]

It doesn't empty out of the world. When you're doing color breathing, you imagine yourself in the midst of an infinite ocean of the color you're working with, and since it's an infinite ocean, you can fill your body with it without decreasing the ocean one bit.

By the way, yes, I know, meditation is hard work -- probably the hardest work you'll ever do. The payoff is commensurate.

[ecosophia]

This sort of thing varies drastically from person to person. In my experience, though, very often when the card you draw doesn't seem to make sense, it's because you're thinking of the question -- or interpreting the card -- in too narrow a way. Ask yourself: if this was an answer to the question, what would it mean?

[jenniferkobernik]

Thank you! That makes perfect sense, regarding the infinite ocean.

Meditation is indeed hard work, although I do not quite understand why I feel such disproportionate resistance at times! Still, I continue to chip away at it.

Children

[(Anonymous)]

I know this came up before, but regretfully I cannot recall any detailed precautions.
So my question is: when the child is 5 is it safe to:
-proceed daily with the routine, as usually recommended by you, of banishing ritual, followed by meditation and divination/ Tarot reading?
-if not safe together, which element or elements are safe?
-does it matter if the child is present in the same home at the time or does it help to pick a time when she's absent from the premisses?

Also I hope to start my work through your Learning Ritual Magic some day soon. Should I wait for my child to be of specific age?

I know these are so basic to you and I am trying to speed reed through lots of the recommended literature here; even the quick read of LRM makes me ache of the work ahead .. but I think since I started paying attention to some things that happen to me but I was usually left with no good explanation or resolution ( contact with dead family members incl. sounds and moving objects; patterns of daily events so pervasive that it would be impossible to call random; specific 'lucky' numbers; answers to prayers) it becomes plain and logical. So I want to learn about it and practice.

Thanks a lot
A.

Emptiness versus the gods

[rationalist858]

Is the combination of inner emptiness and desire for deep, meaningful relationships a good enough reason to start actively contacting one or more deities?

I don't want the gods to replace my friends, or family, or the search for Mrs. Right. But I would like at least one relationship in my life to be always there, independent of outside circumstances. Also, expecting humans to fill the inner emptiness seems a bit too much to ask.

Magic to Eliminate Procrastination?

[(Anonymous)]

Dear John Michael Greer,

Thank you for hosting Magic Monday. I cannot find it now but I recall that last week somewhere in the comments you mentioned that because of your practice you do not have problems with procrastination. Would you be willing to talk about this more specifically?

Sincerely,

MILLICENTLY LURKING

[(Anonymous)]

I noticed you occasionally do astrological readings for people. Can I trouble you to do one for me, as I have no idea what is going on with me. I was born on the 29th November 1980 between 7.35 - 7.40pm in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Does it make a difference if you were conceived in a radically different place to where you were born, as for me that was Colombia. Fair warning, you might not like what you see. I've already had a remote viewing instructor stop answering my emails after he checked me out.

Thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

At some point you've mentioned every Druid organisation I've heard of except for the British Druid Order. What do you think of them?

[madgastronomer]

Not a question, but something that might be of interest to your readers, and possibly even to you, although I know you're not a fan of some uses of electronics.

I created, essentially as a programming experiment, Geomantic. It will either generate a completely random chart, or accept four Mothers you have cast offline. You can fill in some basic information such as who it's by and for an what it's about. It will then give you a chart, which can be bookmarked and shared and printed, and you can add notes to the chart.

I'm still adding features. The 12 Houses chart just went live a little while ago, and while it's not very good, it's the best I can do with CSS and HTML right now (I based it on a chart I found online, rather than your prettier one, which I could not copy).

I'm currently working on adding The Way of Points, and then later I'll add Triplicities, before I start looking at anything as challenging as figuring out how to display the relationships in the astrological version.

It is, as the page says, still very much in alpha testing, but I'd love to have some people go and test it, especially anyone who know enough to spot errors, something none of my current testers do.

Update

[saturns_pet]

Mr. Greer:

A blah besets you? While these creatures have their functions, I will now do my part to broom them away from you with two bits of odd true news that a working mage like you will likely like the taste of.

1) A few weeks ago you kindly confirmed that a geomantic chart I cast did in fact show conditions were/are good for me to train to be Tolkien for Michigan. I did so and am doing so with Swiftness at my back as that chart advised. I have likewise accepted all help offered.

Since beginning, my corner of this cosmos of ours has done all but rain Hobbits in my backyard. I have acquired all those books of Middle Earth again plus more good ones and founded a book club to study Tolkien with my lady love and her mom. The following seeds for a good setting for myths have also sprouted from my wayward education: names, maps both wild and artificial, human populations, food webs, a not-too-shabby simple conlang, and last but not least, banners! :)

I'm an astrological ignoramus: were/are stars good for such deeds? All this happened in like three weeks. Swiftness ain't playin'! lol.

2) I recently made and distributed a one page homespun comic to both fight my hated enemy Chronic Wasting Disease (that approaches my herds as I type) and to honor your celebration of the commonplace.

I finished it on last Friday morning. That same morning I used my might in grundcraeft aka natural magic aka conjoined human living to turn that comic into a charm most Saturnal and mildly Mercurial. Bwah ha ha ha...

SEVEN MINUTES after I delivered that educational charm to my extroverted test subjects for distribution a bad wind storm in my county turned into a terrible wind storm and knocked power out for thousands (including my address)for over 50 hours. It blasted neighboring counties too!

lol. Winning! I am Saturn's Pet. Friends of Mordor: fear me!

My charm was/is well-received during its distribution in my 'hood. I even got a modest gift from some local hunters in addition to a useful boost in reputation!

Thanks so much for holding this fort. Frodo knows we need it... Donation in progress btw. I'm already semi-collapsed to avoid rushes so it is a little bit of a dance for me to get some bucks into a PayPal.

Saturn's Pet

Reincarnation & Personality

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Jmg

Happy to report The Druid Magic Handbook arrived in the mail last week. Looks like a solid year of initial work to me.

My question. In the Druid tradition what is the role of personality in reincarnation? Does the soul get a whole new personality to be navigated like the new body and inate abilities? Or does the soul bring some sort of core personality along with it?

I look at my children and wonder which parts are inherited from their parents and which came with the core being

[(Anonymous)]

(from Myriam)

JMG, thank you for the opportunity to ask questions about magic. I don't know anyone who can converse with me about it.

I would like to check my recent musings with you. You say we end up on different mountains depending on the path we take, and I'm wondering how that relates to which forces we worship as deities, the nested aspects of the deities, whether we in turn nest in particular aspects, and whether that path towards a specific deity continues on through reincarnations.

If the forces we worship as deities are all aspects of the One Source, and time and cultures change their aspects to us, I think of the deities as nested like Russian dolls all the way into the Source. If each of us feels pulled to worship certain aspects of those deities and we do practices that shape us towards those deities, would it be correct to think that we nest in a particular aspect of a deity, and end up on that “mountain” because our souls choose, are called there, or ARE manifestations of that force? I'm thinking ultimate destination as opposed to floundering around till we get our heads right. Or do we nest in many different deities? Or are our souls a unique aspect of the One, as unique as each of the forces that became gods and goddesses?

And would this pull towards specific aspects of the Source hold true over reincarnations and beyond, into gwynfydd? Or would different lives have pulled us towards different deities based on the personality of each reincarnation? And so nest in none specifically, or in all those we worshipped.

If I desire wisdom above all else, for example, as opposed to music, power, or enlightenment, does that desire come from a previous life or from my soul? (I ask this because since I was a very young girl, I desired wisdom above all else.) In other words, am I a very tiny manifestation of the force that is wisdom working my slow way to nesting in her as my place in the whole that is the All? As would everyone else towards their own ultimate place.

I would really like to know your thoughts on all this.

And as if that wasn't enough questions, I'm wondering if you have encountered the goddess Ariadne?

Thank you for your patience!

We all have flat days...

[ferngladefarm.blogspot.com.au]

Hi John Michael,

The alchemical diagram has defeated me! They're good. :-)!

Just riffing off the McMansion discussion, do you reckon that meme's can, or are being used in thaumaturgy? In explanation, sometimes I encounter folks who have a 'get big, or get out' meme stuck in their heads - and it is immovable, even when the evidence points in other directions.

Thanks for the Magic Monday, and I had a pretty flat week just gone due to illness. And now a 'cut-off low' is fast approaching from Antarctica and should arrive just before the weekend. I'm unsure that weather experience will be flat!

Cheers

Chris

Daily recollections

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

I have been doing daily recollections (amongst other daily practices such as meditations) for several years now.
I have noticed that I get now a lot of flashbacks from my own life of happenings of 30 years ago or more. It does not bother me at all, but would it be related to my practices? If so, what else could I expect to resurface?

Many thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

John--

In your replies to others and in formulations I've read elsewhere, I've noted an underlying formula for a basic working that I'd like to verify:

Take a square of paper (torn, not cut). Inscribe on that square the target/object of the working (e.g. the people of the United States) a number of times. Turn the square clockwise 90 degrees. Inscribe the intention of the working across the previous writings (e.g. may we live in peace) an equal number of times. Fold the square in some manner and place under a candle of an appropriate color (e.g. red for healing). Meditate on the intention while burning the candle for a regular period daily until the candle is completely consumed.

Questions:
1) Is this formulation essentially correct?
2) I have seen both 7 and 9 given as the number of times the writings are to be repeated. Is one better than the other?
3) Does is matter how the paper is folded beneath the candle (e.g. quarters)?
4) What does one do with the paper once the candle is completely consumed and the working is complete?

Many thanks!

--David, by the lake

[ecosophia]

Most people face an enormous amount of resistance to establishing a meditation practice. I'm not sure how much of that is common to humans everywhere and at all times, and how much is a function of some of the specific dysfunctional habits of our time and culture. One of these days I may try to start a conversation among people from different cultures about their experiences with starting meditation, to try to get a broader perspective on it.

Re: Children

[ecosophia]

If your child's five you can certainly begin the kind of basic rhythm of practices I've discussed -- and since that's also what's taught in Learning Ritual Magic, you should be good to go. It's usually more convenient to do practices when your child is somewhere else, simply because it minimizes the risk of interruptions! Still, it's not a hard and fast rule.

These practices are basic to me, sure, but I still practice a banishing ritual, a meditation, and a divination every day. That's the foundation of magical training, and you don't stop needing the foundation just because you've built things on top of it...

Re: Emptiness versus the gods

[ecosophia]

Possibly, yes, but you might want to ask yourself this: what are you prepared to give to such a relationship?

Re: Magic to Eliminate Procrastination?

[ecosophia]

Sure. It wasn't a matter of doing specific magical rituals to ditch my habit of procrastination; it was simply that I wanted magic in my life so badly that I was willing to push through the habit and establish a daily magical practice...and that taught me how to push through the same habit in other contexts. Procrastination is just a habit; like all habits, it gets stronger when you do it, and weakens its grip when you do something else.

[ecosophia]

You can do your own horoscope on any of a number of free websites -- the one I tend to recommend is www.astro.com. Casting and delineating a natal chart takes several hours of fairly hard work, and it's time I don't really have to spare just now, so the free site is probably your best bet.

I have no idea what your remote viewing instructor thought he saw. Your horoscope has nothing particularly dreadful in it: Sun in Sagittarius, Moon in Virgo, the last decan of Cancer rising, a decent elemental balance, enough squares and semisquares to give you some backbone, enough trines and sextiles to give you luck. If you'd like to learn more, there are plenty of websites and plenty of books that will walk you through the meaning of each of the planetary placements and aspects in your chart, and give you a fair idea of the hand you've been dealt in this life; alternatively. if you're willing to pay for the service, any competent professional astrologer can give you a thorough natal reading and walk you through what it all means.

No, it doesn't matter if you were conceived somewhere else. The moment that counts is the moment when you get an independent energy body, and that happens when you leave your mother's body at birth.

[ecosophia]

I don't know much about them, as I don't spend anything like as much time in Britain as I'd like!

Navigating social relationships and occult studies

[violetcabra]

For the past two or three months I've been practicing banishing rituals, daily discursive meditation and occult study. It's a bit too easy for me to treat divination like an addiction so I've been putting it on the shelf for the time being, although I've been getting quite a bit more into astrology which I find more balanced.

In this time I've noticed that my consciousness has indeed changed quite a bit; most noticeably I no longer enjoy watching youtube videos or reading popular novels for relaxation. Both strike me as very unpleasant now, and I wonder how I could have ever liked them! Equally I am increasingly less needy in my social realtionships. Perhaps this is because I don't share many interests with my old friends. What I would love to chat about, astrology, tarot card symbolism, herbalism, literature etc is something that would baffle and frighten my friends. So passing time with others is increasingly seeming more like a chore than a pleasure.

With my shift into more occult involvement I feel a shift in my casual relationships with others. My life used to be an open book, but now I have a lot of things that I don't want to talk about with others. While at work I was reading William Walter Atkinson's book Reincarnation and the Law of Karma and a senior employee, being playfully nosy, looked over my shoulder and was clearly taken aback. He seemed to think that my book was neat, but also disquieting.

This was something of a wake up call. It all the sudden seemed like quite a bad idea indeed to have my coworkers learn that I am reading Dion Fortune's The Goat Foot God or bring in a pack of tarot cards to the break room and go through them slowly as I love to do in a quiet moment. Some people would be deeply freaked out to discover that I'm a sincere student of traditional occultism. With the way that many people already look at me (like I'm something evil) I am sincerely concerned about acquiring a reputation of witchery in the small town I live in. You can well imagine what some people would like to do with their local "transgender witch" or whatnot (since some people seem to feel full license that it's okay to hate transgender people with the same vehemence that liberals hate working class white men). I feel like transgenderism is turning into the Poland of the culture wars, if you catch my drift. I recently had a nightmare about this, which is part of why I'm bringing it up.

Point being, my life has subtly shifted in the past few months and I'm in a new phase of my life. My question is, JMG, how have you navigated this awkward phase where no one in my life is into occultism but I feel that it is prudent to keep my studies and practices under wraps, at least for now. Do you have any advice on how to navigate this sort of thing? I don't like the feeling of retreating from everyone and becoming increasingly reticent, and living in my hometown has a lot of practical advantages. Of course I have to make my own choices, but your thoughts on the matter are welcome and appreciated!

Re: Emptiness versus the gods

[rationalist858]

Effort to embody the virtues of the chosen deities, daily prayer, weekly offerings.

I would prefer to avoid having arbitrary restrictions placed on me (e.g. not eating certain foods), proselytizing, and having my life turned upside down without benefit to myself.