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. Last week's honoree, Theodor Reuss, got the idea and many of the teachings that went into the Ordo Templi Orientis from this man, Carl Kellner. Kellner was an Austrian chemist and a successful industrialist who made a tolerably large fortune by creating and patenting a new process for manufacturing wood pulp for paper. He was also, as the photo shows, something of a dandy; let it never be said that all occultists are dowdy!

In his off hours, he was an active Freemason and a student of occultism. A member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, he also studied with European students of our old friend, Paschal Beverly Randolph, and with several Hindu gurus and a Sufi shaykh. He drew up plans for an occult order that would pass on Randolph's sexual gnosis using rituals like those of Freemasonry. Before he could complete the plan, however, he was struck down with a sudden unexplained illness, recovered somewhat after a long hospital stay, and then suddenly died. (There's some reason to think that he'd been experimenting with kundalini yoga -- not the modern, simplified, safe version, but the old robust teachings that can drop you dead in your tracks if you don't have a guru watching you on a daily basis.) Since I'm not a member of the OTO, my only connection with any of that story is that one of my teachers was taught by a student of a student of a student of Kellner; still, thin as it is, the connection is there.

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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

The Well and the Tree Review and Whence New Thought?

[jprussell]

Good Evening,

I hope everyone's starting to enjoy some early spring weather, and that the skipped hour last night hasn't done you too much ill.

To Share: I have taken a first stab at putting together my thoughts on The Well and the Tree, but I'm not totally happy with it. At any rate, in the spirit of "writing to work things out" and "put it out there and learn from it", here's the post as I have it for now: https://jpowellrussell.com/#thoughts_on_the_well_and_the_tree

Furthermore, it is my opinion that Daylight Savings Time delenda est!

To Ask: I've gotten used to digging through 20th century self-help and occultist stuff and going "oh, that's from New Thought", but what has been less obvious to me is where did New Thought come from?

As always, thanks very much to JMG and everyone else here.

To any who will have them, I put forth my blessings and best wishes,
Jeff

Re: The Well and the Tree Review and Whence New Thought?

[ecosophia]

Fortunately I've already done a blog post on that very subject!

Re: The Well and the Tree Review and Whence New Thought?

[jprussell]

D'oh! I think I read this when it first came out, but when I formulated the question, it didn't come directly to mind. Apologies for not doing my homework.

Re: The Well and the Tree Review and Whence New Thought?

[(Anonymous)]

I just came across one other thing about the Ave Maria prayer. The second half was probably introduced and became popular during the Black Plague, since it first starts being attested in religious community breviaries from shortly thereafter.

Re: The Well and the Tree Review and Whence New Thought?

[jprussell]

Thanks for this!