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.

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

Re: Sleep Difficulties

[brenainn]

I'm now in early middle age, and I have slept alone virtually my entire life. In fact, having someone else in the bed is a sure way to make sure I have a lousy night's sleep. We humans are a diverse lot, I suppose.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Have you heard (or heard of) 'The Hum' and is there any Occult explanation?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Thanks!

In Need of / MOE Sleep ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps this has been answered on one of the MOE threads, but I was curious if the healing energy stops when someone goes to sleep, is it worthwhile to still do distance healing on people when they might be asleep?

I ask because I have several people with illnesses or long term conditions who have requested healing. My first session is in the morning between 6 AM and 7 AM. Some of these people are inveterate night owls. I might be myself if I didn't have to be at work -something to look forward to in time. And for night owls who may be practicing this on people who go to sleep at 9 PM, the reverse situation might be at work.

Anyway, I do a repeat in the afternoon, so that should cover it, but was just wondering what your or Gilbert's experience was around this.

Anyway, I have found my palms activating and the circulation easily from right shoulder through hands, etc. I have noticed less, though some pressure in the back.

Thanks for this space, and all the teachings you've made available.

Justin Patrick Moore / Mocha Eldritch Peacock

[ecosophia]

If you invoke Saturn in this way often, you don't need to do anything extra -- just invoke him in the usual way.

[ecosophia]

The timing isn't essential -- it's helpful, but you can invoke the planets at any time. (They're always up there, after all.) In ancient times people made offerings to the goddess Venus on every day of the week. So it's not an issue.

Re: On thought processes

[ecosophia]

That's tolerably common. Have you ever seen someone watch TV and carry on a conversation at the same time? The mental skills are very similar. It's not a problem, and it's something of an advantage when you have to multitask.

Re: Amulet

[ecosophia]

An excellent question that can only be settled by experiment. Give it a try and see how it works!

Re: Sleep Difficulties

[(Anonymous)]

Until I married, I was only able to sleep if I had classical music playing. My husband has served quite well as a replacement.

The interesting bit of this, and why it might be relevent, is that I was unable to sleep because of the constant possible-future-dreams. I still get those, but not hour after hour night after night, just occasionally.

In your friend's case, would he be willing to try queuing up eight hours of medieval or classical era Catholic music and running it very softly? It's good stuff, lyrics and music both, so if he can sleep at all with music on, it won't do any harm.

BoysMom

[ecosophia]

Partly it's that his personality comes across very clearly from his writing, and I'd walk a mile in tight shoes to get away from that kind of pompous egomaniacal bore. Partly it's that his idea of spirituality and mine don't have much in common. Partly it's that as I see it, Crowley completely misunderstood what an Aeon is and what it means to speak its Word -- I discussed that on an earlier Magic Monday thread here. Now of course I know Jung well enough to recognize that when someone irritates the bejesus out of me, that's because the person mirrors my own bad habits back at me; I know that there are plenty of people who find me equally insufferable! But I don't find his teachings useful, and his life was a smoking crater -- to me, that's a big red flag. If a teacher can't pay his bills, cope with human relationships, and generally keep his life on an even keel, there's something very wrong with the teaching.

As for the Book of the Law, channeled volumes handed down by discarnate intelligences were a dime a dozen in the 20th century. Crowley's contribution to the genre doesn't strike me as especially interesting -- though I have to admit that "Liber Call Me Al: The Book of the In-Laws" is probably the best parody of any such volume ever written.

Re: The Number of the Accountant

[deketemoisont]

To add to JMG: https://imperialarts.livejournal.com/24397.html convinced me that I probably should read a bit of Crowley.

[ecosophia]

Yes, but it's also possible to end up stark staring nuts by pursuing that sort of awareness too forcefully. You might consider seeing if you can find a good Zen teacher who can get you started with the meditations that will get you there more or less safely.

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

[deketemoisont]

I'd thought your process in your first comment was too parallel to Christianity's for my taste, but this prayer's end makes me consider mentioning Baldr totally worth it. Thanks.

Re: Sleep Difficulties

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for that. Now I have some place to start looking.
Thanks,
Maxine

[(Anonymous)]

I would also say that at least two of the Vanir are also tied to the Jotuns, as Freyr is tied to Gerda and Njord was married to and divorced from Skadi. While we know little about the husband of Freya besides the name Odr, this might be a name for Odin or a name for another deity entirely. But there is another Jotun who has her heart, in a matter of speaking, and that might be Loki. If Freya has the byname Gulveig, and if She was the one trapped in Odin's Hall at the outset of the war, it would have been Loki who ate her heart. So each Vanir deity is tied to the Jotun pantheon in very intimate ways, I would say.

[deketemoisont]

(Not necessarily for publishing, depending on the case.)

JMG, I've been doing the basics of the GSF work this year - so I had the most interest in one of the systems published by you without an associated group. I'd like to ask your permission to open a message board, that I'd moderate along your lines, dedicated to that work; if allowed, I might call it Golden Section Forum (shortened to "GSForum").

[ecosophia]

I've heard of it, of course -- I left Seattle before the West Seattle Hum became a thing, but I know people who heard it. That turned out to be caused by a huge pump used to unload bulk cargoes in the harbor, with defective sound control equipment on it. Plenty of other hums also have their origin in malfunctioning technology -- but there are others that seem to have other causes. There are lots of strange noises in the world. As for occult explanations, for the last forty years or so there's been very little contact between the occult scene and the anomalies-investigation scene. That wasn't the case before then -- to name only one example, Meade Layne, an important early UFO investigator, was a Golden Dawn initiate and a very capable occultist -- but most anomaly researchers these days don't want anything to do with occultists. So the investigations that might turn up occult causes haven't happened.

Re: In Need of / MOE Sleep ;)

[ecosophia]

I've never been sure what to make of that bit of John's teaching. I haven't noticed any lack of effect when doing Essene healings either on people who were about to go to sleep or people who were asleep at the time. It might be worth experimenting and seeing whether there's actually a difference.

[ecosophia]

As long as you make it clear to all and sundry that it's an unofficial message board and that I'm not personally involved in it, you certainly have my permission. Yes, the name would be fine too.

[deketemoisont]

Thanks; should I open it, I'll do accordingly.

[(Anonymous)]

A question regarding the knowledge of how vapors from acidic liquids do an effective job of repelling noxious entities:

In addition to keeping away the nasties, does having a dish of vinegar next to where I sleep every night pose any risk to my own etheric body?

[ecosophia]

Nope. It won't affect any etheric body that's anchored to a material body; its effects are solely on etheric forms without a material basis. (Thus it won't deconsecrate talismans, either.)

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

[hearthculture]

The short answer was good enough for me, perhaps the most valid answer you could give :)
Annnnd, I appreciate the narrative and explanation, and I understand your poems better with this backstory. Perhaps what I'm feeling critical of is that your relationship is so embedded into the poems that they feel more like a praising or orphic hymn than the Hail Mary. (I actually like them more thinking of them this way - particularly the first and the third.)

I've been thinking through my reactions to your "Hail Idun"s in light of this new info, and reframing my thoughts with Idun in the place of Frigg.

Another shot at what I see as more in line with the Hail Mary, because I believe it better explains my view than I can if I continue pontificating.

Hail Idun,
Yggdrasil's Seed,
Wife of verse,
Mother of rejuvenation.

Blessed Idun,
The Gods renewer,
Bless me with bravery,
That I may meet you in Valhalla.


Thank you for the conversation; I'm full of thought and inspired.

[fraterquidam]

Hi JMG!

I'm working through CoP, and (based on a suggestion you gave someone else on this forum) I've done a series of simple elemental rituals, followed by a series of planetary rituals, to learn the GRP, LRH, and GRH, as well as the basic Opening and Closing. I'm nearing the end of the planetary sequence, and thinking about what comes next. I'm thinking of learning the elemental and complete forms of the O&C, and, either at the same time or afterwards, making and consecrating the working tools.

My questions are:

1) Do those sound like the appropriate next steps?
2) For the working tools, should I plan to do the consecration rituals repeatedly, or just once per tool?

Thank you!

Questions Concerning the LBRP

[sanctuaryofroseandchalice]

Dear JMG:

Thank you again for responding to my question earlier about Corinne Heline, I appreciate it. Since then, a new, different question emerged. Previously I asked your opinion about Gareth Knight's version of the LBRP found in A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism and how it compares to the more traditional version. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember you saying that you weren't fond of his alterations to the practice. I also prefer the more traditional version, but I'm taking a correspondence course based on Knight's work, where his version is required if I incorporate the LBRP in my practice. I should probably follow my instructor's advice if I intend on continuing with the coursework, but do you see any potential pitfalls or imbalances with Knight's version? Thank you so very much in advance. Peace and blessings to you.

Sincerely,
Sanctuary of the Rose and Chalice.

Re: energy healing

[temporaryreality]

I’d have to say I’m with you on this one. Maybe someday someone will carry their MOE practices far enough to be able to reissue the system with a similarly realistic approach.

In the meantime, I suppose its claims are a useful hypothesis and a framework of metaphors from which to view human experience. A series of calisthenics to try out and strengthen certain muscles.