Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just past 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 taking a momentary break from chasing down photos of my lineage. Today is the spring equinox here in the northern hemisphere, one of the holy days of the Druid calendar, and this is a photo of the spring equinox sunrise as seen from an ancient stone chamber at South Royalton, Vermont -- one of many astronomically oriented megalithic sites here in New England. The photo's courtesy of New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA), which was gracious enough to send it around yesterday morning.

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With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

Occultism's relative importance

[hearthculture]

Felicitous spring greetings to all :)

I've been pondering your posts on cycles of enchantment and a response to last magic Monday where you described the features of religion, occultism, and science. What has been formulating is a image of religion, occultism, and science as the three primary colors in Venn diagram form, with the places they overlap (the secondary colors,) begin defined as philosophy (occultism and science,) ethics (religion and science,) and psychology/mythology (occultism and religion.) I'm wondering if the state of disenchantment comes as those secondary pursuits try to stand on their own as if they aren't derived from the primary forms of knowing. This seems to be worth pondering, but it feels like perhaps a broken analogy/visualization.

Where is breaks for me is the role of occultism. Perhaps I'm skewed because of commitment to occult study, but it feels like through delving into occult practice and working on understanding one's own perception and intention and the power and limits of both, the practices of religion and science become more powerful and accurate so that occult practice is a balancing force. In contrast, from observing the lives of others, it appears that deep diving into religion or science, without a balancing occult practice (even mundane ones such as journaling) leads to imbalance and delusion.

One of my first thoughts as I read your most recent post on "The Destiny of Disenchantment," was that occult study provides a framework with which to avoid being thrown by tides of enchantment/disenchantment - a surfboard of sorts to ride the currents because you can actually see, and see through, those currents' effects on society's and one's own perceptions of the world. It also seems like the active parts of occult study are eminently useful, the creation and use of rituals is a way to maintain enchantment during low tide, and reflective arts like journaling and mediation are a way to maintain reason during high tide.

Am I giving occultism too much precedence?
Do you believe the original analogy of primary and secondary forms of knowing is worth pursuing or misguided in some way not obvious to me?
Do you view occultism as a mediating factor to the ebb and flow of enchantment; or is it perhaps tied to and reactive to those flows?

I appreciate this space and your thoughts.
Blessings to all who would receive them.

Re: Occultism's relative importance

[ecosophia]

I see the Venn diagram a little differently:

Occultism is crucial because it deals with the realm between the material world that science investigates and the spiritual world that religion discusses. That middle realm is where enchantment and disenchantment take place, and it's precisely because our culture pretends that the middle realm doesn't exist that we're so clueless about enchantment and disenchantment -- and also why our sciences and our religions are so detached from one another.

Re: Occultism's relative importance

[hearthculture]

That helps my thoughts coalesce! It also explains my feelings that some form of occult study is essential to study and practice science or religion holistically and in proper context.

Re: Occultism's relative importance

[jprussell]

Hmm, both versions of this have me wondering "is there any insight to be gained from equating these fields of knowing with Nwyfre, Calas, and Gwyar? For one thing, if we did, say, equate Science with Calas, Religion with Nwyfre, and Occultism with Gwyar, we could use the Venn diagram from Way of the Golden Section to ask ourselves about the various overlaps and see if any useful correspondences fall out.

Off the top of my head, and largely borrowing from hearthculture's correspondeces:
- Nwyfre = Air = Religion
- Nwyfre + Gwyar = Spirit Above = Theology? Ritualism? Philosophy?
- Nwyfre + Calas = Spirit Below = Psychology/Mythology
- Gwyar = Water = Occultism
- Gwyar + Calas = Fire = Engineering? Alchemy?
- Calas = Earth = Material Science
- Nwyfre + Gwyar + Calas = Spirit Within = A balanced and individual way of knowing?

I'm not totally happy with this as is, but hopefully some food for thought!

Cheers,
Jeff

Re: Occultism's relative importance

[ecosophia]

Heh heh heh. A fine theme for meditation...

Re: Occultism's relative importance

[hearthculture]

What a fascinating train of thought... I've got my copy of Way of the Golden Section in my hands to go exploring more. Thanks for this!