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. Quite a while ago we reached Israel Regardie, and then chased his lineage back through Aleister Crowley et al. After he left Crowley, however, Regardie also spent a while studying with this week's honoree, the redoubtable Violet Firth Evans, better known to generations of occultists as Dion Fortune. Born in Wales and raised in a Christian Science family, Fortune got into occultism after a stint as a Freudian lay therapist -- that was an option in her time.  She was active in the Theosophical Society, belonged to two different branches of the Golden Dawn, studied with a number of teachers, and then founded her own magical order, the Fraternity (now Society) of the Inner Light. She also wrote some first-rate magical novels and no shortage of books and essays on occultism, including The Cosmic Doctrine, the twentieth century's most important work of occult philosophy. I'm pleased to be only four degrees of separation from her.

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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

[(Anonymous)]

I remember the early ‘80’s, but not fondly. The government seemed bent on wrecking everyone’s life, and as far as I could tell, hardly anyone objected or even noticed. And here we are.

—Princess Cutekitten

Re: Papus Numerology's teachings

[ecosophia]

His main work is La Science des Nombres, which is available for free download here:

https://archive.org/details/papus-la-science-des-nombres

Re: Star Logoi

[(Anonymous)]

Mmmm....
How about the planets? Are they not supposed to embody Gods and somehow mediate influences...
I admit some confusion on my behalf...

Thanks for your time!

[ecosophia]

The symbolism of the numbers 2, 3, and 4 might be worth considering in that light. I'm still fairly new to Martinism myself, and so don't yet have a good sense of its numerological dimension -- all in good time!

[(Anonymous)]

When I see those two events as examples of a descent into craziness, they feel much more parallel than in opposition. I was in high school then and starting to have some of my first experiences of spiritual opening and awareness, so I think I was just especially sensitive to the uptick in ambient madness brought on by the new technologies then.

—Andy T.

Re: Papus Numerology's teachings

[(Anonymous)]

Many thanks for the speedy response!

Re: Star Logoi

[ecosophia]

Each planet has a planetary spirit. They're vast and ancient by human standards but much younger than the Logoi; the old Neoplatonists called the planetary spirits the encosmic gods, the ones "inside the cosmos," and the Logoi the hypercosmic gods, the ones "beyond the cosmos;" from the standpoint of the tradition I teach, this is correct, because the planetary spirits are born within the solar system but the Logoi completed their early evolutionary journey much further back in time, in systems that are now long gone.

Re: Granite.

[ecosophia]

That would make sense. You'd want to see if solar temples have more granite in them than temples to non-solar gods, though.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd be curious to hear more about that, how the government was wrecking things for people then...does it feel worse/like more of an overreach than what has been happening during the past couple of years?

—Andy T.

[(Anonymous)]

Good evening JMG and commentariat!

What do you think of Paul C Jagot? Someone sent me a copy from the mexican second hand market titled Occult Science and Practical Magic which have been reading it in between unpacking of boxes at my new place and thought of asking.

Re: Final(?) "Hail Idun" and Question About Etheric Action at a Distance

[jprussell]

Not JMG, but for what it's worth, good energy en route!

Masonry's "Israel Regardie!"

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG! I Hope you're doing well, and thank you once more for doing this.

Did masonry ever had it's own "Israel Regardie," someone who published all the "secret rituals?" How close to the magick of the freemasons is the Golden Dawn material itself? Is it true that the purpose of the Memphis-Misraim rites as modified by John Yarker is to achieve "self deification/godhood" much like so called "left hand path" modern magicians claim to be doing?

Thanks!

A few questions

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

1: Regarding the personality of Saturn, would I be correct in thinking that while he will not give anything for free you will also get exactly what you earn with hard work, and that work will pay off? I have him in my 7th house...

2: Are the methods of developing clairvoyance that Rudolf Steiner describes in his books compatible with the magical systems using the SOP? Would you recommend any one in particular?

3: How common is it for gods to alter the results of divination's to lead you in the necessary direction, even if that means the divination results aren’t necessarily true? Are there any approaches or ways of phrasing questions that are recommended to work with them better, other than listen and learn from mistakes?

4: For the purposes of magical timing when does the full moon end? Is it at the moment the moon perfects its opposition to the sun? Or is there an effective time or orb before it finishes?

Thanks
Sea Spray

Re: Star Logoi

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,
This all jives very well with Gurdjieff, who thought the planets and sun are living, thinking, breathing beings.
Humans, on a cosmic scale, are relatively insignificant to Gurdjieff; as we are merely a part of the film of life over the Earth.
However, our individual hope is to create a planetary (astral) body and solar (mental) body as a part of our Gurdjieffian evolution.
My question: Is it conceivable that, with a perfected astral body, we are conjoined with the Earth logos; and with a mental body, we are conjoined with the Sun logos? (This all makes me think of that medieval designation: “a choir of angels”.)
Thanks!

[davidastrom]

Hello!

1. When doing the MP, I usually have some issues concentrating due to being pestered by "random" thoughts. I have been doing the MP for roughly two years, and it has basically been the same the whole time. I don't have nearly as much problem when doing for example the LBRP, the Rose Cross or LBRH. Do you have any theory why this might be?

2. At the end of the analysis of the keyword ("let the divine light...") I always get a huge surge of energy, almost to the point of shaking. What is the significance of this? (I don't feel nearly as strong energy during any other parts of the rituals)

[(Anonymous)]

In the photo is Dion Fortune wearing the uniform of some organisation or is that just how she dressed?

Q

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings

Something strange happened to me last night.

I woke up around 5 am feeling a sensation on my arms, I looked at my hand and saw (or imagined seeing) a weird shadowy thing crawl away diagonally into the distance and disappear. Mind you this was mid air and there‘s nothing I know they moves this way. It had the shape of a lobster or something.

Is it likely I was just hallucinating this as I was transitioning out of my dream state into waking life, or did I see an astral/etheric creature? (If latter what could I do besides the vinegar bowl?)

[(Anonymous)]

When Charles Fourier wrote about the Northern Lights being 'the fluids of the Earth', how close was that to the occult theory of the time?

Evolution - progress

[(Anonymous)]

JMG - I've finally got round to reading through your excellent essays in Ecosophia about Enchantment, the Myth of Progress and Consciousness through the works of Wilber, Gebser and Barfield. Thank you for very informative and thought-provoking pieces.
My question:
Evolution is non-teleological. However, succession is, in some way, progress. That's to say, when pioneer species colonise a barren landscape (cooled lava flow, for ex.) they give way to - and give rise to - increasing complexity towards, eventually, lush, rich, entangled ecosystems. Could it be that people tend to confuse increased complexity, biodiversity and bioabundance with progress-towards-a-goal? And could this, then, give rise to the conflation of evolution with progress, and the idea of progress-of-consciousness?
Also, can evolution be consciously driven? I ask because I found in Frederic Myers the idea of the imaginal as an indication of our greater evolutionary capacities. Then wind forward and I found in Barbara Marx Hubbard the insistence that we can, somehow, 'speed up our evolution' (or some such...) in some kind of spiritual sense. What do you think? Is Hubbard barking up the same teleological tree as Wilber et.al.?
Lastly - thank you! You cited Robert Anton Wilson’s 'The Persecution and Assassination of the Parapsychologists as Performed by the Inmates of the American Association for the Advancement of Science under the Direction of the Amazing Randi'. This is the first time I've found you referring to RAW. You and he make excellent bedfellows (excuse the metaphor!). RAW, though, was also convinced that humans are destined for some greater expansive cosmic consciousness and that we can drive forward our evolution. His correspondence with Timothy Leary and his affinity with Leary's Starseed mission seems oddly similar to the Wilber-Gebser-Barfield rap. Or perhaps not. I'm not entirely certain.
Thanks again for you tireless work and generous teachings.
Victor

[jeremys]

Dear John Michael Greer,

1) In the Celtic Golden Dawn, it is mentioned how Esus and Elen are divine names, but what is Heu’c and Sul‘w?

2) What is the reason why the 4 directions in the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram contain those 4 names in the elemental positions they are in?

3) Where did the 4 emblems come from: Hawk of May, Salmon of Wisdom, White Stag, and Great Bear?

4) Have you ever checked out any 5-element rituals of the Tibetan Bön tradition? The 5th element is space. Very interesting!

3 Cheers for Dion Fortune!

Thank you for your time!

Jeremy

[lukedodson]

Hi JMG,

Great speaking to you yesterday!

Just to clarify something regarding planetary charity. As I understand it, a planetary day does not follow the standard calendar day, but starts at the planetary hour close to dawn, and ends during the following morning. As such, a planetary day will bleed over into the following calendar day - so would planetary donations made during this post-12PM period will still be valid for the planetary day?

To give a specific example, on Friday, I realised I had forgotten to make a donation to Venus just as her hour had passed, so I set my alarm for just after 4am in the morning to catch the next planetary hour. I just wanted to double-check that this counts as a valid donation, as the calendar day had shifted to Saturday, but the planetary day still belonged to Venus, so far as my checks told me.

Thanks!

Luke

[(Anonymous)]

Dear John,
Many thanks for your work as always.
I have a simple question: I want to add depth and sensuality to an existing and vey important romantic relationship. Geomancy suggested that offerings to Venus would be appropriate and effective, but I am very unclear about the type of charity to use. I would feel uncomfortable with aggressive feminist organisations, which would rather miss the point anyway, but I would nonetheless like to do some good. Do you or anyone else have suggestions?
Thanks again.

Qs

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG,

Some questions for you today.

1) The event you've alluded to in humanity's past that created some sort of demonic gateway or link, is that related to stories of the fall/original sin in anyway? In your non-christian tradition, what are you thoughts on the ideas of the fall and original sin?

This q is open to everyone, I am curious as a non-christian myself.

2) Was Augustine of hippo an neoplatonist saint? Are there ideas worth reading there? I saw you quoted him last week.

3) You posted earlier about the solar logos being the regent of this solar system, and the star logoi are the spirits of the zodiac influencing this galaxy.

This gets to something I was confused about. Solar logos is equivalent to the christ consciousness/christ spirit right?

So is the sun spirit we worship as a part of planetary charity a lower spirit which has the same body as the christ being but is much less powerful and responsible for certain significations on earth? Is this small sun spirit still the lord of the lower planetary spirits?

I am still trying to figure out the relation between the sun, saturn, and jupiter. (different traditions accord different strengths and relations: apollo as son of jupiter, whereas hinduism has saturn as the son of the sun god).

Steiner said something along the lines of the resurrection of Christ has already happened in the last 100 years but he has descended into the earth in etheric form this time, not a physical incarnation. Curious what you make of this.

(I would presume we'd see more positive effects from such a thing but its unclear)

Re: Final(?) "Hail Idun" and Question About Etheric Action at a Distance

[(Anonymous)]

Hm. Have you ever tried to (or know about somebody who did) send healing energy back in time, i.e. to yourself or somebody else at an earlier point of time? If so, would you mind sharing the results?

Milkyway

Judson Exercise; mundane astrology

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG and everybody else,

I hope you are all having a wonderful start into the week - and as always, thank you very much to you, JMG, for hosting this space and patiently sharing your knowledge and wisdom!

Two questions today, if I may:

1. Do you mind if people spread the word about the Judson exercise elsewhere, e.g. on their own websites? Or would you rather it wasn’t mentioned elsewhere?

(I‘m not talking about copyright violations, btw - i.e. not copying your text, but writing about it in one‘s own words.)

2. Mundane astrology:

Do you know if there were other books about mundane astrology, besides Green, which were well-known or widespread back in the day? In particular texts or material with other approaches or different viewpoints than Green‘s?

I‘m searching for something, but I‘m afraid I can‘t quite put into words what it is I‘m searching for. :-) Hence I’m casting a wide search net - anything you‘d care to mention which is remotely connected to mundane astrology techniques would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Milkyway