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.

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

Divination

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I've been working my way through The Druid Path and have started with the divination using the Coelbren alphabet. I made myself discs from cardboard which I then select out of a paper bag.

At first I thought I would do it for a month or so to see what happens before I ask any questions here, but after only a week I'm building up resistance against it and I think it may help if I can get some guidance.

The book advises to ask the question 'what will I encounter today / tomorrow?'

I find this such a general question that it's difficult to write down anything meaningful as a prelude to see if what I 'intuit' comes to pass. Thus far I have basically written down what I have planned for the next day and any expectations I have of it. And thus far the outcomes have been as bland as the predictions. Maybe my life is just bland :-)

In some cases I had meetings planned that were cancelled and that fit with the readings. But that happens to me all the time, I don't need divination to know that meetings have a good chance of being moved or cancelled.

Also, I consistently get very 'negative' readings in the sense that they foretell difficulties or need for change. Apart from the fact that such successive readings with a similar message actually induces fear of divination in me, I often wonder whether I should be seeing these readings in a larger context e.g. perhaps the change required is that I should move to another country?

The danger I see here is that I start reading meaning into the divination that is simply not there but that are occupying my mind in general.

Where I live I can't get physical books from overseas easily and I can't find an ebook version of your book about the Coelbren alphabet to buy on the internet.

Could you or any of the commentariat give some guidance on how to approach the divination so that I treat it with adequate but not overdue respect? Or point me towards books / readings about divination in general that might help?

Thanks

Periwinkle Somnolent Raccoon in a far flung and collapsing corner of the world

Re: Divination

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Periwinkle Somnolent Raccoon,

(not JMG, just a random member of the commentariat)

I spent several years doing daily divinations, first with Tarot cards, and then with geomancy. And I completely know what you mean; much of the time, you have a pedestrian day, and you think "wow, I really read a lot into that divination that was overly dramatic!"

The benefit of doing the divination every day is that occasionally, something dramatic DOES happen, and then you can go back and see how the oracle indicated it.

Once that happens enough times, you can use the oracle profitably for specific questions. It becomes easier to understand the indications. (Of course, you still need to ask the right question.)

The fuzzier aspect of daily divination is that it trains you to "read the vibes", so that you begin to notice small details in your environment and other people that subtly tip you off to what is going to happen, or where you need to go.

Just my two cents, for what it's worth. May your perception grow ever keener!

-Ms. Krieger

Re: Divination

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, the resistance is normal. Practicing divination requires you to learn a new set of mental skills, and the habitual levels of the mind always push back against that. Also, most of us do lead bland lives; it's important not to fall into the trap of thinking that doing divination will somehow make your life more exciting than it is. If you lead a quiet, regular, repetitive life, your divinations will reflect that.

Second, the fear of divination you mention is also normal. One of the benefits of daily meditation is that it teaches you not to be frightened of "bad omens." Again, most of us lead bland lives; if you get Lli in your daily reading, for example, that doesn't mean that your world will fall apart, it just means things will be a little more turbulent than usual.

Finally, my book on the Coelbren is in transit between publishers -- I told the original publisher that The Druid Path was about to be released, including material on the Coelbren, and they might want to market my Coelbren book with that in mind; instead, in their infinite wisdom, they let it go out of print. The new publisher is moving with considerable speed to get a new, expanded, improved edition out, but it'll be late summer or early autumn before it's available for order. I'll make an announcement here on Dreamwidth once it's available for preorder.

Re: Divination

[thinking_turtle]

As a beginning tarot reader I too fear negative readings. Yet they've helped me make decisions that I had been delaying for a long time. They also force me to face truths that I have been avoiding.

If your readings bring up the suggestion the emigrate, why not try what you believe is the first step in immigration? You may learn more about what the divination is trying to tell you.

The book "Mastering the Tarot" by Eden Gray works great for me.

Re: Divination

[brendhelm]

Keep in mind that "negative" doesn't mean baleful and world-ending - it could just mean inconvenient.

To put into consideration, I asked Kimberly Steele for an ogham forecast for 2023 and it came back all three ill-dignified. Nothing horrific has happened... but I've had to have a filling refilled, found out about another relatively minor medical concern, had one of my car's tires spring an unfindable leak and have to be replaced, had a severe storm in which I was legitimately afraid the apartment window would break (it didn't), had to have the doorknob replaced (it had gotten stuck locked), and had to wrestle with technology several times. Nothing horrific, but inconveniences a lot more frequent than they had been all of 2022.