Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting toward 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 or comment 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. At this point I've finally gone as far back into my Rosicrucian lineage as I can without repeating earlier images -- the other great source of Dion Fortune's lineage, of course, is the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and its founders and major figures have already been honored here. So it's time to leap back to square one and start talking about the other end of my Druid lineage -- the one that goes through the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD). That was the first Druid order I joined, and the source of much of my early Druid training -- and it exists at all because of Philip Carr-Gomm, this week's honoree.

Philip was a young man on the fringes of the London occult scene when he began studying with Ross Nichols, whom we'll discuss in an upcoming post. (That's Philip with the colossal hair in the photo on the right, being initiated into OBOD on top of Glastonbury Tor.) Years later, after Nichols' death, he made the same mistake I did, asked the surviving older members about reviving the order, and ended up being talked into becoming its Chosen Chief.  He proceeded to launch an international correspondence course, write a series of first-rate books on Druidry, and in the process turned OBOD into the world's largest Druid order. He retired from the office of Chosen Chief in 2020, and has been writing books on other topics since then.  Did I imitate him when I became Grand Archdruid of AODA? Whenever I thought I could get away with it, you bet, and it inevitably worked.

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

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Another round of CosDoc-questions, if I may?

1) When Fortune writes about the left hand path and describes that it can be gained by either retroversion or deliberate crossing:
a) Isn't retroversion the same thing as degradation as explained earlier on?
b) If I understood it correctly, objective consciousness is a feature of the ascending arc after the nadir has been passed. Does that mean, that beings that gained the left hand path by retroversion are still in a dreamlike state and exert their negative influence (which I derive from the fact that Fortune talks about devils and demons) in an unconscious way, while beings that deliberately crossed from right to left can act consciously?

2) The general distinction of left and right hand path: Would it be correct to say that it is a question of perspective of the individual soul? If the direction is "up", away from the material plane, the direction is up. But souls on the right hand path always travel in the spirit aspiring, being taught by higher evolved souls and possibly teaching themselves, while what Fortune writes is suggestive that beings on the left hand path travel in the spirit of just being above other beings. Thus the maxim "I want to know in order to serve" as the guiding principle to find and stay on the right way?

3) When Fortune writes that the nadir has to be passed when the cosmic tides are turning and the next time they do is roughly 2000 years away, does that mean that any souls who came close to passing the nadir now have "to bide their time"?

Thank you very much!

Cheers,
Nachtgurke

[ecosophia]

Excellent! All three of these are correct. I think she's wrong about the cosmic tides, for what it's worth, but that's what she suggests.

Tamanous Culture

[(Anonymous)]

Where can I find an explication of the future Tamanous culture I have seen mentioned here? I am fascinated with the idea that we inhabitants of North America could evolve a new land-based culture that incorporates indigenous wisdom and aspects of the new immigrant cultures to "indigenize" us all. I work with Native Americans on re-introducing fire to our forests in the Pacific Northwest and I would like to expand my vision to include all aspects of culture in this way. Many thanks to all who can direct me to more information. When I search on the term Tamanous, I only get stories about monsters and video game characters. Is there more to this?
-Seaweedy

Re: Tamanous Culture

[ecosophia]

Nobody's written a book about that yet. It's a concept I created, and discussed to a very limited extent in a few blog posts, primarily this one.

Past Life Influence

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, JMG,

Past lives seem to be a mini theme this week, so I thought I'd add to it!

I have a friend who describes himself as asexual, and I've recently come to realize that I probably fall somewhat in that category as well. I always hated the pressure to date. Sex has never been a big priority, and I've always found sex scenes in movies to be boring. My version of getting married is "domestic partnership."

I've had a couple of different psychics over the years tell me that I lived one or more lives in monastic orders. These psychics were years apart and didn't have any info about me. In this life, I was born into a Catholic family but was always attracted to Buddhism also.

Do you think a past life as a monastic could be a good explanation for asexuality?

Re: Past Life Influence

[ecosophia]

I suspect it's the other way around. You may have gotten as much sexual experience as you need many lifetimes ago, and so you're doing a series of asexual lives to balance things out.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Thank you for this forum.
I am doing Preliminary Lesson 3 of OSA and having difficulty with #2 - restitution to the wronged party. They are dead, across the ocean, don't remember. Other people in my life... do not have any correspondence to my wrongdoings. I have separate relationships with them and do kind things for them to the best of my ability regardless of my past transgressions... so I was thinking that for every wrong thing on the list, I give money to the homeless. There are tons of them where I live and I don't anticipate running out of them in 1-2 weeks. Would that qualify as restitution to other people?
Kirsten

[ecosophia]

If you can't make restitution to the wronged people, it's a good idea to find other people in a similar situation and do something to help them. For example -- not that I think this is the case with you! -- if you behaved abusively toward others, you can donate to a shelter for victims of abuse.

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,
In the Occult Philosophy Workbook and elsewhere, you point out that in occult understanding, the planes of being are discrete and not continuous. Further, all living things, have a material body and an etheric body, which is composed of the life-force (substance of the etheric plane). The life-force animates and drives the material body. In addition, our astral experiences are sensed on the material plane. So, I am struggling to understand how these arrangements are consistent with the understanding of discrete planes. How can the material plane be discrete from the etheric and astral planes but still be driven and stimulated by the etheric and astral planes? If you could perhaps say a little more about discrete and not continuous, maybe that would help.
Thank you,
Will1000

[ecosophia]

"Discrete and not continuous" does not mean "absolutely isolated from one another"! It means that one plane doesn't flow seamlessly into another; there are points of contact and ways in which influences can pass from plane to plane, but it's always through a boundary.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi; I've got a few miscellaneous questions.

I asked you a few years ago about whether the circulation of light in the middle pillar should be done close to the skin or further out as they produced different effects, which seemed to be due to dealing with the ethereal vs astral. The same kind of dark, "starry" light feeling has occasionally shown up when imagining the light in the MP coming down to the spheres, if I imagine it coming from far enough away. Is that the kind of thing you mean by "silver" light in the modern Essene master healer exercises, or is "silver" just a fancy word for white here?

In your post https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/196988.html of Gnostic lesson 1, you mention reading from a list of books as part of preparing for "this training". I had thought that referred to the gnostic training as a whole, but, since this section does not appear in the collection into the Hermetic Rose PDFs, I'm thinking now it is meant to apply only to preparing for the priesthood. Is that right?

In the Essene master healer practice 2, you say to put two spheres next to the shoulders, but they're part of a triangle which is reflected from one that has two spheres next to/interpenetrating the ears. If it's a reflection, I'd expect the shoulder spheres to be above the shoulders, but the wording made me think they should be beside them. Which should I use?

If I haven't done the foot reflexology for a while, I seem to wind up getting *very* tired after doing it the next time, though this has only happened a few times. Does that indicate anything I should be doing something about? (Other than resting!) I still have not noticed any particularly obvious connection between the reflexology points that have tenderness and physical issues I know I have, and I noticed that the description of the mapping for the hands is actually quite different from the picture, so I'm not sure what to make of all of it.

Occasionally I've had the impression I was in and surrounded by this big sort of flame-shaped but "fluffy"ish thing with a flexible border a few feet out from me, with an impression of movement upward (which along with the shape is what makes it seem flame-like). This has popped up briefly at long intervals over the past year or so, but it became noticeable more or less continuously for a day or two after the apprentice Essene attunement, and then lasted weeks after the healer attunement (and was very strong for about a week right after it). (Also, for a short time right after the healer attunement it seemed like there was some kind of a cylinder shape overlaid on the flame shape, but that stopped.) Do you have any idea what this is, if it's not something specific to me or something I'm imagining? It doesn't feel like the astral stuff at all, but much more comforting, warm, etc.

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

1) You could read it that way if you like, but I was simply referring to the visualized color of the energy.

2) Yes, those are specific to the priesthood of the UGC.

3) Experiment and see which works best for you. That was always John Gilbert's advice!

4) When I feel especially tired after a reflexology practice, it usually means that my body's clearing a lot of toxic energy. Rest helps, but so does drinking plenty of water. The exact location of reflexology points, btw, seems to vary from person to person; pay attention to what points are sore when you've got an illness or injury, and you can work out your own personal map.

5) Hmm! I'm not at all sure. Auras have a lot of variations, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Though Monty Bodkin was not actually spatted at the moment, there did hover about him a sort of spat aura.

[ecosophia]

If you tried to post a comment here over the last hour or so, and it didn't go through, please try reposting. There's been some kind of problem on my end and it looks like several comments got lost.

[(Anonymous)]

Is there any reason not to conjure elemental spirits to protect specific people?

[ecosophia]

If you have good relations with the elemental kingdoms, you can do this. It's crucial not to bully the elementals the way some old-fashioned grimoires suggest, however, because they won't tolerate that, and other elementals of the same element will go out of your way to make life difficult for you.

[(Anonymous)]

I do CGD, so no bullying. :) How likely are elemental spirits to lean towards taking a threatening person out of commission permanently as opposed to just blocking schemes, preventing abuse, deflecting energies etc.?

Would the actions of each type of elemental be likely to reflect the nature of the element precisely e.g. an earth elemental blocking physical contact as opposed to a fire elemental destroying negative energies?

[ecosophia]

1) You'll have to be very careful. Elementals are just as careless of human life as the elements themselves; they kill as casually as fire burns, water drowns, air lets you fall, and earth buries you alive. If you have good relationships with them, they'll do their best to comply with your instructions, but of course they'll follow those to the letter, whether or not that's what you meant!

2) Yes, very much so.

[(Anonymous)]

(reposted)

How would one prepare to cross the abyss?

I think it may be thrust upon me at some point in the near future due to Kundalini. I am primary carer of a 5 year old boy and can't afford to be out of action.

What are the dangers?

Because of the Kundalini, I have had a lot of very challenging experiences including a night when my ego went completely away. i have become very skilled at holding it together while my mind is in la la land but people make a big deal out of crossing the abyss.

How would you advise I deal with this given I have little control over the process?

[ecosophia]

If you've suffered the dissolution of the ego, and can still function in that state, you should be fine. That's the most awkward detail of the abyss crossing for most people.

[(Anonymous)]

That's extremely relieving to hear. Thank you.

Hand of Glory

[(Anonymous)]

What was behind the Hand of Glory from grimoires like the Petit Albert? How much of the claims of invisibility and unlocking doors were real, and how would that work on the inner planes?

Re: Hand of Glory

[ecosophia]

I've never been sure what to make of that legend. It doesn't seem likely that it works on the material plane, but still...