Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's almost 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 and the teachers who influenced them in turn.  Like Allan Bennett, who we discussed last week, this week's honoree was a teacher of Aleister Crowley. George Cecil Jones was the man who introduced Crowley to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and later on helped Crowley found the Argenteum Astrum (Order of the Silver Star, or A∴A∴), the first of the two magical orders the Not-so-great Beast headed during his lifetime. (The other, the Ordo Templi Orientis or OTO, will be discussed next week.) Jones was a working chemist and metallurgist as well as a serious student of the occult. He practiced the magical virtue of silence more effectively than most of his contemporaries, however, and very little seems to be known about him.

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With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

Re: "Hail Idun" Variants, and Any Questions of Which to Ask More?

[hearthculture]

Thank you for the blessings and well-wishes. :)
May you and yours be blessed.

I'm curious... why Idun? I can understand Idun's place in worship as a life giver, but it seems like Frigg would be a direct correlate to Mary. She is the wife to the All-Father, births the son of a God, loses that son tragically, and then publicly grieves him to the ends of the worlds. The rosary seems to illuminate Mary's pivotal role in a cycle of divine life, acknowledges her grace and holiness, and implores her to have mercy on behalf of the supplicant.

The rosary, though used for many purposes, directly requests prayer for a sinner. You may have different purposes in mind for a Heathen rosary, but perhaps it should consider our worthiness in the eyes of the Aesir. How would one sin against the edicts of Odin...? The few bits of heathen lore we have seem to be firmly focused on acts rather than prayers.

Perhaps, a Heathen rosary would call on Frigg to pray for those not called to battle, to have a courageous life and meaningful death; or, call on Idun to inspire us to be worthy through providing sustenance rather than taking life.

I'm wishing you well in this endeavor, and excited to see what you produce.

Re: Counteracting Black Magic at Societal Level

[(Anonymous)]

People really go flaming bananas over that thing.

Re: advice for the unexperienced

[vitranc]

If I may, I just finished reading Dion Fortunes Esoteric orders and their work.
(available on archive.org)
It covers this question quite well.

Re: Mirrors

[bendithfawr]

It's German, from 2002 and called "Handbuch der Biochemie nach Dr. Schüßler" by Thomas Feichtinger et al. Glad to hear it's not common knowledge that slipped by me.

Re: "Hail Idun" Variants, and Any Questions of Which to Ask More?

[(Anonymous)]

The last time I had the flu, many years ago, I clearly remember trying to decide whether to call in sick. Not because I was so dedicated, but because I wasn’t sure whether I had the strength to dial the phone. 😁

—Princess Cutekitten

Re: "Hail Idun" Variants, and Any Questions of Which to Ask More?

[hearthculture]

A quick rough draft of what I hear in a Heathen Hail Mary:

Hail Frigg
Aesir queen
Allfather’s betrothed
Beloved-Balder born to thee

Divine Frigg
Mother of mothers
Inspire us to beauty and courage
That you may grieve our passing

Re: "Hail Idun" Variants, and Any Questions of Which to Ask More?

[mek_kladenets]

Happy to help!
Another good source for inspiration might be Thomas Taylor's translation of the Orphic Hymns. The structure of the hymns is in many cases just a list of epithets, so plenty to get inspired by :D

As far as the scansion is concerned, yes, I used / for stressed and _ for unstressed. I made some assumptions about names and titles, so there may be some inaccuracies.

Blank verse and free verse are what most people start with because there are many who look down on traditional forms. However, those forms, just like ritual structure help to contain and direct emotion in a way that more elastic forms cannot.
Best of luck!
-mek

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Thank you for this forum. My 2nd Saturn return is approaching - March 7th. The first one was ... er... torturous. I am planning a ceremony. I am thinking on March 7th in the hour of Saturn I'll light up 3 black candles, say an orphic hymn to Saturn, and ask him for endurance and wisdom to accept whatever it has in store for me this time around. Does that seem to you like a reasonable approach? Are 3 candles supposed to be black? Anything else that I should add?
With deep gratitude,
Kirsten

[(Anonymous)]

I wonder whether the way the evolution of a planetary spirit is described in the CosDoc can be seen as a rough general template for any process which involves the creation of an organized whole out of individual entities? Say, a body (human or otherwise), or a society?

Maybe I'm not far enough into the book but if the general pattern that the principles established on a "higher" (or lower, as in closer to the unmanifest) level percolate through everything that is created out of this level of existence holds, wouldn't that imply that every society HAS to decline and dissolve someday and that there is no stable state that can be reached, regardless of how complex or simple a society is? Just as there is no immortal body? And that the decline will either happen in a natural, relatively relaxed way if the individual entities are aware of the process and do their part of that all kinds of nasty effects including divine intervention may happen if they don't? (I can't help it as I don't know where to turn to in the light of the following... it IS *slightly* related however and only to bear with a good portion of Galgenhumor - but then it's really funny. Have you seen this: https://www.eugyppius.com/p/worlds-most-ridiculous-fact-checker )

And then another question that pops up in this forum in this or that variety every now and then: Why are egregores not conscious (or how can it be that they are not conscious?). If you define consciousness as awareness plus memory, and awareness as the capability to react to an external stimulus, what's missing?

Greetings,
Nachtgurke

Re: GSF Solar Plexus Exercise

[diletpoly]

Ah, good point, and thanks. I'm not sure I can relax fully while lying flat on my back, so I'll give it a shot, and report back next week.

The Number of the Accountant

[goatgodschild]

Mr. Greer --

I have put off writing this for some weeks, but I want to provide you with a data point in regards to Crowley's current legacy.

In the magical circles I have run in, the view on Crowley is that anything he wrote, created, or did was utterly disgusting and wrong, with no hope of retrieving useful things. Anything that even seems like Crowley would have associated with it should be avoided, in case it pollutes your work.

I haven't read any of him yet, though I've been working through other occult writers from around that time.

[ataulfo]

I feel I need to step away from this online space. May I have your blessing for my work with your books to proceed on its own merits?

[ecosophia]

Ha! Nicely quoted.

Re: Mirrors

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Thanks for this; there's clearly some new (and rather odd) stuff in the German biochemic community.

Re: Modern Order of Essenes

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this; I'll see what I can do.

Re: Sleep Difficulties

[ecosophia]

No, journaling won't work with the etheric and dense astral bodies. Some kind of energy healing might be useful, if you or anyone you know can do that.

Re: GSF Solar Plexus Exercise

[ecosophia]

I typically do the practice slumped comfortably on a sofa, where I can relax fully.

[diletpoly]

The analogy that came to my mind was a laser. If a laser hits a material that it can't destroy, but is not reflective, the light is still there, but it's not concentrated, so all the energy is present, but the cohesion that gives it power is not.

Re: stone and word

[ecosophia]

1) The traditional sources don't give a correspondence for granite. I've never tried to work with it and so don't know its magical properties.

2) That would be worth doing, yes. Anything associated with each concept/role that is connected to emotional issues is something to explore.

Re: coelbren letter

[ecosophia]

I'd see that as Lli, rather than Li -- Li is smooth and gentle, Lli is turbulent, like falling on your rump on a snowy day!

[jprussell]

Hi Luke,

Thanks for the shout out! As for books on the Vanir, hmmmm. One difficulty is that we're not totally sure how much the distinction between Aesir and Vanir was relevant to worship in pre-Christian times - we have the myths about the war, we know some Gods have "Van" in their kennings (like Freyja being "Vanadis"), and modern thinking and gnosis suggesting a common thread in what these Gods and Goddesses care about (intellectually likely traceable to Dumezil's tripartite hypothesis and its association of certain Gods with different functions, but as I said, also seemingly correlated by a lot of Heathens' gnosis). Further, as I was reminded by deketemoisant in a comment on my "List of Books on Germanish Belief" (https://jpowellrussell.com/#list_of_books_on_germanish_belief_with_thoughts), in myth, pretty much every Van we have is "acting as" an As - married in, traded as hostages, and so forth.

Anyway, that's all a way of saying that most discussion of the Gods that I know about doesn't get into the Vanir "as the Vanir" in a lot of detail, or as a stand-alone subject. With that caveat out of the way, on to some recommendations like you actually asked for:

1) Gods of the Ancient Northmen This is Dumezil's book about Norse mythology. I haven't read it yet, but from a quick skim, it looks like it might have the closest thing to an overview of the Vanir in the books I had handy/was familiar with: the first chapter is "The Gods: Aesir and Vanir". Throughout the rest of the book, he examines myth and cultic practice through the lens of his tripartite hypothesis, which again, is hugely influential in how most folks these days conceive of the Vanir.

2) Freyja, Lady, Vanadis I haven't read this yet, but some folks around here have spoken well of the author. Likely narrower than you're looking for, as it focuses on only Freyja, but since she's the best-attested and arguably most widely-worshipped of the Vanir, it might come in handy.

3) Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner This more of a "How to Heathen" book, but it contains some discussion of the different "tribes" of the Gods, and in the back lists the Gods by which tribe they belong to along with suggestions for altar decorations, color symbolism, and suitable offerings. Includes information for the slightly-controversial worship of the "Rokkr" (Jotnar, Loki, and his offspring)

4) A Guide to Modern Heathenry This lacks a specific section that's something like "Overview of the Vanir", but its discussion of cosmology and of individual Gods and Goddesses does a pretty good job of highlighting which are Vanir and what things they have in common. Includes meditation suggestions for each God and Goddess, which is nice.

5) The Hidden History of Elves and Dwarfs So, this one is coming at things a bit sideways. The Elves and Dwarves are not *exactly* the same as the Vanir, but there are obviously at least sometimes overlaps with the Elves, so a discussion about them might shed some light on the Vanir. Briefly, the thesis of this book is that Elves are something to do with the "higher" spirits of dead ancestors, whereas Dwarves are something to do with the part(s) of ancestors that go in the ground. I've had the thought that comparing this with JMG's discussion of barrows and other tombs in Secret of the Temple, but I haven't looked into it at all or thought very hard about it.

6) The Goddess Idun in Myth and Poetry While not an overview of the Vanir, this includes a pretty thorough sampling of epithets for the "Matronae", Goddesses that were apparently worshipped by Germanish folks living in the late Roman Empire. Many link the Matronae with the Vanir, and with Nerthus specifically. Perhaps especially relevant is Kvilhaug's discussion about how the idea of a "fertility Goddess" is maybe overly narrow and more of a modern invention.

7) Essays on Germanic Religion This is a collection of essays by a comparative Indo-Europeanist who was firmly in Dumezil's camp for interpretation. I haven't read it yet, but skimming through, it looks like the final essay, "Germanic Religion: An Overview" might have some helpful bits.

Hope some of these help!
Jeff

[jprussell]

Huh, now that's an insight I hadn't encountered before that seems worthy of some serious meditation. Thank you!

Re: GSF Solar Plexus Exercise

[diletpoly]

Ah, no, I was unclear. I meant to say I wasn't sure if I could relax fully even lying comfortably on my back in bed.

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[grandswamperman]

I’d like to ask for prayer for my son (age 3, turning 4 in late April). He was born premature and is still on the small side, and isn’t gaining as much weight as the doctors would like. He’s currently on a feeding tube, which is helping a little, but it’s still slow going.

Re: energy healing

[ecosophia]

1) I passed on the MOE material pretty much as I received it, with only cosmetic edits. If I'd written the thing myself, I wouldn't have claimed that all illnesses are curable, because that simply isn't true. Everybody can be helped by spiritual healing, but sometimes the help you can get is a matter of being able to function better with an illness, and sometimes it's simply a matter of dealing more gracefully with your own mortality. Life is a terminal illness, and we all die of something.

2) Interesting! Thank you for this.