Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Once again, it's technically Monday now -- past midnight Eastern time -- and here I am on Dreamwidth, so it's time for another Magic Monday.  Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

With that said, have at it!

**This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next Monday!**

Um, folks...

I just fielded a brand new question more than 24 hours after this Magic Monday closed. I'm not sure if the person who posted it didn't read the two sentences in boldface, or decided he was so special that the words didn't apply to him, or what, but it doesn't matter; I set aside one day a week to answer questions, because I need the other six days to do things like write books. 

New questions posted to a Magic Monday after it closes will be deleted unanswered, full stop, end of sentence. If you want me to answer a question, post it during the open period on a Monday. And remember, learning to follow instructions is a basic skill you need to master in order to get anywhere in magic... ;-)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I’d like to find a book that shows the classical attributions given to the planets as well as the types of offerings/libations one can offer. Which book(s) do you suggest?

John Crowley

[(Anonymous)]

I just listened to a podcast of last year where you mentioned enthusiastically the books of John Crowley especially his Aegypt cycle.

Can you tell us a bit more about why you really liked his books?

Regards

Karim

[ecosophia]

I'm going to assume you've already learned the basics of classical planetary magic -- the sort of thing you'd learn from Chris Warnock's books and website, and in the translation of Picatrix Chris and I did. If you want to go beyond that, you're facing serious research in primary and secondary scholarly sources, as I don't know of any book for practitioners that covers the subject in the kind of detail you have in mind. The Greek and Roman astrological authors are one starting place; another is Pausanius' Description of Greece, which dates from long after Greek religion took on its postclassical astrological dimension; another angle begins from Hans Lewy's Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy and Iamblichus' On the Mysteries -- but each of these are starting points, and you'll be chasing sources from there into odd corners of classical literature and the scholarly work based on them. You might, if you decide to pursue this, consider writing a book yourself that sums up your discoveries, since this is a subject practitioners would no doubt like to learn more about!

Magical trees and bushes

[kimberlysteele]

Dear JMG and company of mages, can you suggest appropriate magical trees and bushes for my yard? I bought a little house a year ago in the Midwestern US with little to no restrictions concerning what I do with my yard, which is 1/6 of an acre in Zone 5 with full sun. It's not huge, however, the house is small enough that it does not occupy a great deal of the yard. I have planted a dwarf pear tree on the south side and a Blue Princess holly bush in the East. Apparently the Princess needs a male consort, so I'll buy her a mate soon. I was going to plant some apple trees I sprouted from Aldi apples out there, but they almost died so they are inside now, recovering. Other than some raised beds, it's a blank slate. There will be two rain gardens out of necessity.

I have been studying Ogham, but I am a slow learner and have not yet made a set of staves. Should I be planting hawthorn? Birch? Hazelnut? What would you plant? Thanks in advance.

Re: John Crowley

[ecosophia]

I'm never sure how to respond to a question like this. Um, I like Crowley's books because I find reading them enjoyable -- but does that tell you anything you didn't already know? Still, that's basically the situation. I don't enjoy a book for this or that reason; I enjoy a book, and then maybe I can come up with some sort of clumsy attempt at explanation for why I enjoy it.

Re: Magical trees and bushes

[ecosophia]

A great deal depends on what exactly you want to do -- what energies you want to attract to your yard, what effects you want to bring about. I'd encourage you to get a good basic book on natural magic -- my Encyclopedia of Natural Magic is one of the available choices -- and go through the trees and other plants listed in the book, asking yourself which of them have energies you want to bring into your life.

[jenniferkobernik]

A commenter last week asked about doing divination in a banished space, which you didn't discourage, but I remain curious as to what effect a banishing ritual would be expected to have on subsequent divinations performed there. I have been wont to do my divination in the same room as the SoP, although most often not in the precise area enclosed by thel sphere, and have gotten good resuts. I think I recall you saying that a banishing ritual essentially clears away etheric (or was it astral?) crud, but I am not very clear about the distinctions between the planes. Do you have any knowledge/speculation on the mechanism by which Ogham divination works, and if it operates on a particular plane? Does a banishing ritual "chase away" whatever makes divination work, or allow it to come through more clearly, or have some other effect entirely?

Return to Sender amulets

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Mr. Greer,
I learned to make return to sender amulets from your Encyclopedia of Natural Magic. I wanted to make the amulet stronger so in addition to the salt and the bent nail, I added a piece of quartz, a pinch of blue vervain and three deadly nightshade berries. Is it possible that this amulet is too strong, that it might amplify ill wishes as it returns them? This is not my intention.

I have made these for sensate/empathic friends and they like them and feel they are getting good results. I wear mine all the time as our community is somewhat afflicted with vicious gossip.

Thanks you for all the interesting articles and books.
Max Rogers

Questions

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Do you have a favourite tarot deck, or perhaps a top 5?
Do you use different decks for different circumstances?
Is it worth reading any Crowley or are there other authors that discuss his method that you would recommend?
I am just starting chapter 3 of your ritual magic book, and I definitely have a mind like a vagabond, it wanders all over the place!
I am determined to stick with it, I keep thinking of your mantra of Keep Going.

Last question, do you have a spell to help find small, misplaced objects?
Thanks in advance
Helen

[(Anonymous)]

If someone has dementia and it's progressed to the point where they're basically an empty shell with no trace of their original personality, are they still in there or could their soul have already moved on?

If a skilled mage develops dementia is there a risk of them starting to do dangerous magic as their mind deteriorates?

Spirit above clockwise direction

[scotlyn]

Hello, a simple question today.
As I'm doing the SOP, I always have a moment's doubt drawing the circle above my head when invoking Spirit Above. To make it properly clockwise, should I imagine a clock face above me facing downwards (towards me), or should I imagine it facing upwards (towards the sky). I usually do it as if the clock were facing me (which is consistent with all the other moves in the SOP), but sometimes I wonder if all the clocks have a fixed reference which is the earth, in which case I'd be looking at the "back" of the clock from below.

[(Anonymous)]

You've said you don't find the concept of evil useful (I forget if that was your exact phrase but it definitely wasn't positive). I thought the same for a long time but then I discovered the theory of wetiko and it made a lot of sense to me. How do you think of the acts and people generally considered evil? Especially those in Terry Eagleton's generously narrow definition of evil - torturing your enemies for information, enslaving them or killing them quickly and efficiently don't count as they may serve an amoral but rational goal. Only making people suffer for no reason and no benefit to yourself, or even being willing to damage your own position in order to hurt someone else count as true evil.

Reverse one’s own evil spell?

[(Anonymous)]

For a many years, an enemy has treated me and mine with extraordinarily pertinacious malice, notable for its irrationality. Several years ago, after a series of most unpleasant episodes provoked solely by my enemy, I was ready for some solid revenge. I struck with malefic magic.

In retrospect, this wasn’t at all a good idea. I doubt it’s ever right to do malefic; if there are any circumstances that can justify it, these weren’t them. And of course the consequences fell on myself.

It was a lunar Mansion; not the worst, but pretty nasty. A talisman was involved; I destroyed it.

Is there anything further I can do to reverse the effects of the magic, both with regard to myself, and the object of my attack? If so, how ought I to proceed?

I doubt I can ever reconcile with this individual, but perhaps I should do something to diminish the hatred between us. There’s even a Mansion for that; though I’m not so keen on Mansions as before.

Aurum Solis

[(Anonymous)]

I posted this question on the main blog but I guess I was too late.

Do you know anything about the origins of the Aurum Solis and if it was truly an independent magical system developed separately from the Golden Dawn?

For that matter, how much experience would you say someone should have before trying to experiment with either creating his own system or modifying an existing one? I don't have too much knowledge of the early origins of the GD, but it seems to me that although the founders were in contact with some practitioners of crystal magic and talismans (Hockley et al) they themselves never got very deep into the Renaissance methods before developing their own system.

Thanks
Alvin

Re: John Crowley

[(Anonymous)]

OK! Understandable....

[aldabra]

Please can you point me to one of your books or blog posts which introduces the planes?

On offerings

[lordyburd]

Dear Mr. Greer,

This may not strictly be an occult question.

When one makes an offering of a specific object to a spirit/god, is this establishing a relationship of reciprocal exchange, the importance of the offering matching or exceeding the magnitude of the boon required? If that is the case, does that not make one's motives for engaging the being purely selfish ones?
I ask because I find that part of me wants to praise and wish the being i am trying to engage to be well; whereas another part clearly wants something in return.
Is this a problem?

lordyburd

Re Television

[(Anonymous)]

I have been fascinated by the discussion in a previous post on the possible natural magic remedy for the pull many people feel, against their will, towards television. I am familar with some of the esoteric ideas regarding technology, eg., Dr John Lilly (solid state entity), Dmitri Orlov (the technosphere) and Rudolph Steiner (Ahriman), but I am very curious to know your idea about what might be the source of any malign enchantment promoting television watching.

Re: Magical trees and bushes

[miltonics]

There's a big difference between growing magical stock and creating a space for spirits to inhabit. I would seriously take a look at the landscape around you. What's within walking distance and what's already going on there?

[(Anonymous)]

What do you think about invasive species of plants, in regards to magic?

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG
When doing middle pillar exercise do you imagine each chakra/sephiroth inside your bady at each point, like an organ, or do you imagine them outside your body close to each point?

Geomancy

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

Does geomancy only work for questions with binary answers? I've been reading various things (including your book) on geomancy, and I'm not sure if the open-ended question I have in mind is appropriate. The question in mind: Where should I move?

I feel strongly that I must move to a different state but am thoroughly perplexed as to which one. And it seems asking an open-ended question doesn't make any sense in a geomancy context.

Thank you for your help.

Etheric connections

[tunesmyth]

Well, I don't own a TV but I tried taping an open safety pin to the back of my mobile phone. I was seriously expecting to be a naysayer and give you the honest feedback that it just didn't work for me... except that it worked for me. So far, at least. I'll be interested to see if all of us reporting positive results still are doing so a month from now. If so, well... if this is just a placebo at work, more placebos, please!

Two questions for now:

(1) Based on your understanding of the theory of etheric energy, is there a place on your body that you recommend over others as a place to keep a sharp bit of iron for protection against TVs, etc in the wild? Is on the head better than over the heart, say?

(2) By carrying around bits of sharp cold iron, are there any "positive" etheric energies we could otherwise be benefiting from which we'd be cutting ourselves off from?

Atomwaffen

[(Anonymous)]

Hey ADJMG!

Have you ever bumped into these guys?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Nine_Angles

I remember you said once there are nazi occultist around. I thought you were being overly dramatic . I stand corrected.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

This might be an odd question, and apologise in advance, but I wanted to ask you about good astrologers? I have tried several, and besides being expensive it seems they never seem to get me or my chart or whatever.

Lately I’ve started to “feel” I need to move countries and although it has happened before nowadays things are much more complicated in my life. So at the very minimum I’d like to get some
Country- options checked beforehand.

Also, if I may ask, I missed the Book Club in your other website, although I have read quite a few discussions. What would be your suggestion for a Book or books for a complete newbie to start learning magic ? BTW is it suitable for anybody or are there some contraindications?

Thanks!