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 -- as in, new questions posted from this point on will be fed to my pet black hole Fido. See you next Monday!***

Comments

[jenniferkobernik]

This may be kind of out of left field, but do you know of any magic that can be done using rattlesnake rattles? I'm decluttering the family home and found a boxful. I feel as if I shouldn't just throw them away, and it seems as if someone must have come up with something magical to do with them at some point, perhaps in Southern conjure?

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, yes. Rattlesnake rattles are used in traditional conjure to bring courage and luck; if you put it in a toby (a cloth bag containing magically effective ingredients), always put it in a little bottle or metal case first to keep it from fragmenting. Fiddlers and guitarists used to put one inside their instruments as a charm to help them win contests.

I don't know if any of the conjure supplies companies would be interested in buying a box of rattlesnake rattles from you, whether for cash or trade credit, but you might email around and see!

Parapsychological research and magic

[pkervale]

Have you looked at parapsychology researcher Dean Radin's latest book "Real Magic"? Among other things (including the usual sparring with Skeptics) "Real Magic" contains some discussion of experimental results that could in theory be of interest to practitioners of magic. I'm curious whether you think formal experimental science can be useful to magicians.

For example, Radin's book discusses some random number generator (RNG) experiments that asked participants what techniques they used as they tried to influence the RNGs with their minds. The most successful techniques for RNG-influencing were, from most effective to least effective:

"resonance [i.e., feeling 'at one' with the RNG], ... asking entities (spirits or angels) for assistance, using emotion to help 'power' the will, one-pointed concentration, physical relaxation, visual imagery, and finally, talking to the RNG as though it was a sentient creature..."

Are results like these of interest to magicians? Are they boringly obvious? Are the research methods fundamentally flawed? Is experimental science inimical to magic?

Re: Parapsychological research and magic

[ecosophia]

I haven't read it; I don't follow parapsychology much. I appreciate what the parapsychologists are doing -- trying to show that magic, and things like it, really do work in the real world -- but those of us who practice magic by and large aren't interested in that; we know that it works, and our main interest is in getting good at it.

Imagine, by way of comparison, that there was a well-organized, well-funded lobby that insisted that it's impossible to cook tasty, edible meals at home -- you've got to go to a restaurant instead. (This is the traditional attitude of religious professionals toward magic, for what it's worth.) Of course it would be useful for people to set out to prove that yes, in fact, it's possible to cook dinner at home -- but those who'd already figured that out would be more interested in finding old cookbooks and learning to use the recipes than they would be in continuing to prove something they already knew to be true.

[(Anonymous)]

I am working through the druid magic handbook but am frequently in circumstances where it would be socially inappropriate to do the SoP out loud. On those days, I practice silently or at a whisper, while imagining myself speaking and vibrating out loud.

Is this the best way to adapt to the need to be inaudible, or are there other useful tricks?

[ecosophia]

That's one way to do it. Another, which requires a little more practice, is called the Great Voice. To do this, when you would normally vibrate a word, imagine the vibration as intensely as possible, just as though you were actually making it; concentrate on feeling the familiar tingling or buzzing sensation you get when you vibrate a word. Once you learn the trick, you can get nearly the same effect in perfect silence as you'd get vibrating out loud.

Another approach is to do the working on the inner planes. Sit in a chair on the north side of the space, facing south, and imagine yourself standing up, going to the center of the space, and beginning the SoP. Imagine it all as clearly as possible -- the movements, the sounds, everything, as though you were doing the SoP physically, while your physical body remains silently in the chair. When you're finished, return to the chair. This is great training for pathworking and astral projection, too.

An ex-apprentice

[(Anonymous)]

I was apprentice/partner/room mate with a mentally unstable self-professed philosopher, alchemist, inventor, etc... Your assessment about learning one system well makes sense in light of his constant skimming and the results of his work. He sought to create his own system before mastering one. His practice seemed to be a hodgepodge of stuff from everywhere. He spent a large amount of his teens sleeping for extreme amounts of time and had a cosmology built out of that. He said most of his ideas came from his dreams though I often come across what seem to be influences.

He claimed he wanted to save to world and proceeded to do it by using everyone around him and then claiming they needed to adapt to him when they called him on his behavior. When you would ask him a question about something you didn't understand, he would start his spiel over verbatim instead of addressing the question. He hated being interrupted but did it all the time and would monologue you into submission. He would talk use rules of conflict resolution that only served him.

He had a lot of opportunities - loans, contacts, allies - but every group he formed seemed to implode or attract people actively trying to change its purpose which reminding me of your comments on Crowley. I found it difficult to detach because I wanted to be part of his work and associated with any spillover glory. Journey to the East by Herman Hesse makes sense here for me. I wanted to help publish his work as I was intrigued by the snippets I had read online that led us into relationship. He got me on a side project of his, I moved into his communal house to work on it, that was supposed to make us rich and lead the way to all other glories. I only did it because I wanted to publish the work and know everything that he knew. I was love-bombed / publicly shamed enough times that I was totally loyal.

Providence intervened in the way of a house fire that gave me the chance to move out of his house and create some distance. Down the line, I scanned his notes with his permission, he was worried about his life's work disappearing and wanted some redundancy and that created a new distance - I could read the work without having to talk with him. Yet now I'm not so sure because this is one the last links between us.

I read enough of his work to realize I didn't want any part of his mind. It was too disorganized. Too many diatribes, and unmarked figures. Too many asides and as the dates got more recent, a monomaniacal repetition of the project we were working on that had already burned half a dozen partners. And reading them made me think like him, but it was a lot easier to disassociate than to speak with him when he used "THE VOICE".

I said all this because you answered another post about Landmark that they may curse people who leave and he was an advocate of that organization. He sent it through the grapevine that he disapproved of my new profession, which I switched to largely out of frustration working with him and enjoy far more. His comments made me feel it was a good choice. I'm wondering if he used the mutual friend as an instrument. I'm wondering if he cursed me. I am still terrified to run into him or for him to meet my family and I can't explain why because he is not physically intimidating, but he scares me.

I've kept these files until recently, though I had no intention of ever reading them. Looking at them just made me angry. It took a long time to stop thinking through his eyes and to regain my confidence in my self. It took a long time to separate out what I liked what he said, and what I didn't, to fact check things I would just parrot without questioning. I didn't think I could ever be to taken like that and I learned the hard way. I'd like to believe it will never happen again. Only my wife, a couple of good friends and providence saved me.

Is there something I can do to rid myself of him for good beyond what I've done (deleting his work, ending the relationship, breaking contact)?
Will all the advice you gave regarding Landmark apply equally well to my circumstances?
Do you have any other comments about learning from someone inadequate to teach?

Re: An ex-apprentice

[ecosophia]

I'm sorry you had to go through such an experience! Yes. the advice I gave about the Landmark curse would also be useful to you. If you can find (and can afford) counseling or therapy, that might also be a good idea -- it sounds as though you've been left with some significant psychological wounds.

More generally, your story may be helpful to other people who may have to deal with this sort of person. There are a lot of them out there -- people who use occultism or spirituality as a way to avoid dealing with personal problems and/or a way to manipulate other people. One useful piece of advice I got from a teacher many years back, and have found to be reliably true, is that you don't want to study magic from someone whose life is a smoking crater. Operative mages have bad days like everyone else, sure; they're rarely rich or influential, since the time and effort that's needed to become rich and influential gets devoted to studying and practicing magic instead -- but if someone who claims to be able to teach magic spends his or her life careening from one disaster to another, leaving a trail of wrecked relationships and failed projects behind, don't walk away, run.

[(Anonymous)]

In previous posts you've dissected some of the far left's attempts at public evil magic. I was wondering what your analysis would be on one of the far-right's attempts at public evil magic, as well: namely, Ebola-chan, which has been going on for a few years: https://8ch.net/ebola/catalog.html , Nick Land's 2014 take: http://www.xenosystems.net/ebola-chan/ (you get a shout out here), PotP take: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/09/22/4chans-latest-terrible-prank-convincing-west-africans-that-ebola-doctors-actually-worship-the-disease/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a4188091b43a

In postmodern fashion, it's a working wrapped up in a joke meme disguised as a chain letter. The intention being a Linkola-esque cull of (african) humanity by means of Ebola by a. convincing Africans that there is a death cult of Ebola aid workers trying to spread Ebola, b. convincing the mainstream that it's all just a dumb racist joke, and c. feeding Ebola-chan sexual energy and focused intention.

[ecosophia]

Yes, I've been watching the Ebola-chan phenomenon since not long after it first surfaced. (I occasionally lurk on the Chans, for the same reason I occasionally lurk on social-justice forums.) Predictably, it's almost everything the failed anti-Trump working is not: clever, subtle, tautly focused, and skilfully crafted. Its one downside is that it's public enough to be accessible to effective countermagic -- since the whole spell's tied up in the image of Ebola-chan, binding spells and other workings aimed at that image would be a workable way to stop it in its tracks. As neither the meme nor the pandemic seem to be able to get more than temporary traction, I suspect this is in fact being done by capable mages.

Extremes

[ferngladefarm.blogspot.com.au]

Hi John Michael,

I was wondering if occult tradition has anything to say on the flight to extremes that goes on in today's society? I feel that there has to be some benefit for someone for such a mode of thought to take hold.

Chris

Re: Extremes

[ecosophia]

I'm not sure if it's that someone benefits, or simply that a known pattern of imbalance has come into play. In the Cabalistic magic I studied back in my Golden Dawn days, there are a set of demonic powers, the Qlippoth, assigned to each of the ten spheres of the Tree of Life. The Qlippah assigned to Kether, the first sphere of the Tree, is Thaumiel, the Two Contending Forces. In the human world, one of the forms the Thaumiel take is the delusion that I've called the One Drop Fallacy, the frankly psychotic insistence that what isn't all the way over to one toxic extreme must be all the way over to the other toxic extreme. From the standpoint of Golden Dawn occultism, what's going on in today's world is that the cultures of the English-speaking world are obsessed by that particular demonic energy.

Coffee in Natural Magic

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG, thank you for another Magic Monday!

Having just read H.E. Jacob's visionary world history of coffee (Coffee: The Epic of a Commodity, Berlin 1934/New York 2015), back to back with Antony Wild's decidedly more cynical Coffee: A Dark History (London 2004), it seems to me that Coffea arabica has quite a number of features one would expect to find in a powerful magical plant: It spread explosively around the globe once discovered (by Sufi alchemists, no less), being closely involved in substantial social and geopolitical change along the way (even in the rise of global finance out of the 17th century London coffee houses); it was and is widely used for recreational, medical, and mind-altering purposes (obviously); and it has invariably triggered extremes of enthusiasm and suspicion, both politically and religiously motivated, wherever it appeared.

All the more surprising that I can't find its properties listed in any materia magica I have access to, not even in your very comprehensive Encyclopedia of Natural Magic. I wonder what the reason for this might be, and if there are indeed uses for coffee in natural magic, beyond coffee ground reading, that you know of? Any information would be very welcome.

Re: Coffee in Natural Magic

[ecosophia]

I don't know of any information on the magical properties of coffee. On first principles, I'd guess that it's a plant of Mars with a cold and dry temperature, but that's just a guess.

Proper way to erect standing stones

[(Anonymous)]

What would be the proper way to erect standing stones? I am staying in a town this week that erected a stone circle to reflect the Celtic heritage of early families and to act as a bit of a tourist trap. To put it bluntly, they f***ed it up. The stones 'scream' at me when I get close. This has been noted by a number of other people I've asked about it. My guess is that they were hauled out of somewhere they were very happy to be, quite possibly with significance to indigenous traditions.

Re: Proper way to erect standing stones

[ecosophia]

We no longer know the proper way to erect standing stones. When megaliths were a living technology, there was an immense body of oral tradition governing their placement and use, and the creation and function of the energy paths connecting them. All that was lost thousands of years ago. The ancient Druids probably preserved some scraps of the lore they'd inherited from the pre-Celtic peoples who erected the stones, but next to nothing survives of their teachings; what we've got in modern Druidry has been painstakingly reinvented over the last three hundred years, and there's still a vast amount to be relearned.

It's possible to work around this by using divination to decide on the placement of stones; if I were called in as a Druid consultant to help guide the placement of a stone circle, that's certainly what I'd do! Lacking that, though, or someone with a really strong intuitive connection with the land energies, putting up standing stones in this day and age is a crapshoot; you're as likely to focus negative energies as positive ones. I've been to several modern stone circles that were placed without any such precautions being taken, and most of them have energies that range from the harsh to the creepy.

[casmen900]

Dear Mr. Greer,
In your book
The Art and Practice of Geomancy – Divination, Magic, and Earth Wisdom of the Renaissance
Please clarify my doubt:
- On page 217 there seems to be a contradiction
“Taphthartharath...but enemy to...Hasmodai.”
“Hasmodai...her friends are...Taphthartharath.”
Thank you.

[ecosophia]

It's not a contradiction. Hasmodai likes Tapthartharath, Tapthartharath doesn't like Hasmodai. Have you never encountered such relationships among human beings?

Labyrinths

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

Labyrinths seem to have been used across many cultures for millenia.

(1) What (if any) are the occult dimensions of their uses?

(2) Have they other uses besides meditative pathways?

(3) Have you used them and if yes to what effect?

Regards

Karim

Re: Labyrinths

[ecosophia]

They aren't used in the traditions of magic I've studied, and I haven't studied them in any other context, so I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer you here. Sorry!

The Myth of the Land

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG!

I'd like to apologise for last week's out of boundaries message. Lessons learned not only of following instructions, but of being conscious of the action being done while you're doing it, both indispensable for magical practice.

That said, here goes my question again.

While meditatimg it ocurred to me to try a ritual to receive from the Three Kindreds, Gods, Ancestors and Spirits, in dreams and visions, a myth of the land where I live, as a way to know their view and will regarding the work that needs to be done here.

Is there any precedence for this kind of work? Any suggestions and guidance? Thank you so much!

Re: The Myth of the Land

[ecosophia]

A lot of people are doing that kind of work these days, and it's appropriate. Just remember that whatever myth you get will be filtered through your own personality, and may only be appropriate to you. Other than that, construct your ritual, start performing it regularly -- it'll probably take many repetitions to have the full effect -- and pay close attention to the results you get.

[packshaud]

I own the edition of Circles of Power published by Salamander and Sons, and the edition of The Caltic Golden Dawn published by Llewellyn. What was updated in the Aeon editions of these books?

If you had these two choices to describe the Welsh LL sound, which would be closer: the LL in Spanish (in dialects where it sounds like a forced L, not sort like the Y in the English word you) or the SH in sharp?

[ecosophia]

Circles of Power has a new foreword; the Aeon edition of The Celtic Golden Dawn is identical to the Llewellyn edition, except that it's a sturdy hardback that will put up with years of hard use, where the Llewellyn paperback is a decent-quality trade paperback that will probably be shedding pages by the time you finish the whole course of study in the book.

I'm not a native speaker of Welsh and I don't know the Spanish dialects you refer to, so I'd encourage you to find someone who speaks Welsh to help with the pronunciation.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm almost three months into the daily practices and i've had my first transformative experience.

Perhaps one should call it healing instead, but the thing is i just came to understand and recognize some things about my past that now makes me feel in a quite diferent emotional landscape.

Its very surprising how the change of narrative, which has happened on her own, could be so liberating... and empowering. Now, i think i understand a little bit more what a change of consciousness accounts for.

The questions:
Since i'm 26 now, will this kind of "hard work" ahead of time, so to speak, make my Saturn return easier? My moon is conjunct Saturn in the 9th house, under aquarius.My childhood was indeed unhappy but,is this aspect likely to bring more suffering across my life?

2-Where i can find a guide of greco-Roman gods for the seasonal rituals of Druidry?

3-While meditating, do you think it's useful to explore a theme creating an image of the theme?

Many thanks JMG, for setting me on this magical path.

[ecosophia]

Delighted to hear it.

1) Moon conjunct Saturn in the ninth is a difficult aspect but not an unbearable one; its worst consequence is that you'll have trouble with depression and despondency throughout your life, and there's a good chance that if you marry, you'll have repeated troubles with your spouse's family. Long distance travel is also going to attract more than its usual number of difficulties. The thing is, every life contains suffering; the placements and rulerships of the malefic planets (Mars, Saturn, and Uranus) show you where most of it will fall. Every life also contains joy and good fortune, and you can find those by seeing where the benefic planets (Venus, Jupiter, and either Sun or Moon depending on your gender) fall and what houses they rule.

A Saturn return can always be made much easier by tackling the hard work as soon as possible. In fact, since you're 26, you may be getting the first foreshadowings of the return, and since you're responding to them by reorienting your consciousness, odds are you'll be fine.

2) There isn't one. You'll have to work that out yourself -- which shouldn't be too hard, all things considered. Study the symbolism of the festivals and the symbolism of the gods and goddesses, and then use divination to check your work.

3) Yes, by all means.

[(Anonymous)]

What results or benefits are possible from learning ritual magic? Does even asking this question indicate I'm not cut out for it? Should I just learn natural magic instead (faster results)? It's just that knowing my weaknesses, I doubt I could make the long commitment learning ritual magic requires. But perhaps, as with physical exercise, if I knew the benefits, I'd find the willpower. Thank you.

[ecosophia]

Most of the really good teachers of writing I know, when a student asked "Should I try to make it as a professional writer?" always answered "No." The reason was that you can't make it as a professional writer unless you have a passion for writing strong enough that you'll keep on writing even if somebody tells you not to.

Ritual magic is the same way. It's a helluva lot of hard work, and it will take years of daily practice before it starts to pay off. Thinking about the benefits you'll gain if you persevere won't cut it; you've got to have a passion for it, the kind of gut-level sense of rightness that makes mere willpower irrelevant. If you don't have that, I recommend natural magic.

Quit smoking sigil?

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve a friend that wants to quit smoking and is willing to try some magic to help with the process. Would love to get some pointers and tips if you or any of the readers have them.

Re: Quit smoking sigil?

[ecosophia]

This kind of approach to magic is a recipe for failure. If your friend wants to quit smoking, he or she should just do so -- millions of people have, you know. Magic is not an easy way out of doing your own work.

House and Geomancy

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!
I am beginning my studies in Geomancy and did a chart that got me insecure about what is the house of the question.
The question was “How can I better my tarot reading and effectively help those around me?”.
I was thinking it may be the 9th house, but I’m not sure… What do you think?
Also, do you think this may be an unfortunate phrased question for a Geomancy Chart? Since is so generic and broad.
Thank you so much!!
Alice.

Re: House and Geomancy

[ecosophia]

You've got the house right, but the question's way too broad. Geomancy works best with questions that have a strong yes/no component; since there are only 16 figures, it can't tell you a lot about (say) what exactly to do to improve your tarot skills. Ironically, the tarot's a lot better suited to that!

Also, your question piles together a whole string of questions into one, which is a guarantee of confusion. In effect, you're asking, first, whether you can better your tarot reading; second, whether this a useful thing for you to do; third, how to do it; fourth, if you should use tarot to help those around you, rather than for some other purpose; fifth, how to be effective at helping others with tarot. That's going to be very hard for any divination system to answer all at once...

Horoscopy

[(Anonymous)]

Can you recommend a book that teaches how to cast horoscopes by hand (and ideally one that doesn't require so much arithmetic for those who are mathematically impaired)?

Re: Horoscopy

[ecosophia]

If you want to cast horoscopes by hand you're going to have to learn some mathematics; there ain't no way around that. Fortunately it's a lot less difficult than it seems at first glance, because most of the math has been systematized into tables, and you can simply look up the right numbers there.

Any of the pre-computer handbooks of astrology will tell you how to cast a chart. Two I've used extensively are Max Heindel's Simplified Scientific Astrology and Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson's Foundation of the Astrological Chart. Remember that you'll need to get printed ephemerides (tables of planetary placements) and tables of houses; I use the Rosicrucian ephemeris and a set of Placidus house tables, which you can get easily from the American Federation of Astrologers or from any astrological bookstore.

[(Anonymous)]

Somewhat meta-: whom, and how often (last question was about 1 year ago, I think), would it be a good idea to ask about Nordic Golden Dawn development?

- aNeopuritan.

[ecosophia]

It's been quite a while since I heard back from the reader who was working on that; I know he'd had some crises in his personal life, so the Norse GD project may still be on hold.

curses

[violetcabra]

For the past several months I've dreamt of sinister, malevolent figures in my dreams around the eld of the moon. Sometimes this is accompanied by horrible trains of thought that feel like they're originating from outside of me. The regularity of this is what has caught my attention; it is always the few days before the new moon, and as the moon starts to wax this sense of organized malevolence noticeably disperses, while still remaining as background noise. I should note here that I do daily banishings.

A few days ago I sensed this and put on a protective amulet as per The Encyclopedia of Natural Magic and the thoughts that had been in my head stopped, very much like in your Weird of Hali books. I thought about Dion Fortune in Sane Occultism, how you can only defeat a mage of lower initiation. One character from my dreams is a real life mage who I have good reason to believe may be more of an initiate than I.

Somehow, I began to think about the Will as something that is outside the realms of normal consciousness, something outside of myself, and with these thoughts I felt myself immediately fill with the power of Will, discipline etc, and the sense of organized malevolence having power over me stopped as well. With this influx, I felt that I had power over the curse and I prayed that my defensive actions wouldn't amplify any blowback that the people who may be cursing me may experience. While I'm angered by the possibility that someone may be trying to harm me, I wished that their curse may be dispersed as much as possible similar as per what Dion Fortune suggests in Psychic Self Defense. Given the sorts of experiences I had been having, I could imagine that the blowback from this spell would be truly nasty, and the people doing it, according to my dreams, used to be my friends. Even if they were to have betrayed me heinously, they would still have a certain fond place in my heart, and I would still wish them the best. That being said, I wouldn't ever want to see them again.

Unfortunately, later that day I was "coincidentally" bitten by a deer tick. I've been taking large amounts of specific herbs, but for the past two days I've been rather under the weather. Of course this could all be coincidental, but my hackles are raised, given that these coincidences have been so ongoing and regular. That being said, I feel that the curse, or the intrusive malevolence has been dispelled like clouds lifting to reveal a shining sun, and that my experience of Will was genuine, and indeed, worked to dispel hostile forces, at least temporarily.

This experience has been going on now for something like a year, and I've been conscious of it's pattern for 3 or 4 months and it has been altogether utterly weird and dismaying. Of course, there is likely some Karmic Culmination going on, but nonetheless, given the lunar aspect and sense of recurrence I think that there may be more than that. I'm well aware that this I may be deluding myself. I don't consider myself an experienced Mage, or hardly a Mage at all really, and am aware that I can be over-imaginative, unbalanced in many ways and even foolish. That being said, I feel that in this experience I did indeed connect with something larger than myself, or perhaps a larger part of myself, since I can easily recall the feeling of connection to what I am calling Will, and that force is balanced and much stronger than my usual grade of will.

To close this comment:

1) I present this as information that at least some of the magic coming from the left seems to be perhaps more effective than the Trump binding spell, but to be coinciding with its schedule.

2) If I may ask a very general question, do you have any thoughts or suggestions concerning this JMG? This all seems so uncanny to my normal modes of consciousness that I would enormously appreciate your perspective on what I'm describing. I think taking stock of your perspective as an experienced Mage could help me very much to organize these experiences constructively. Quite honestly I feel shaken in many ways by this course of events and want to face the situation in the healthiest manner possible.

Re: curses

[ecosophia]

Dion Fortune's comment about grades of initiation was made from within a very different understanding of initiation than the one we're used to using nowadays. She meant by it something considerably more spiritual in nature; the reason you can't defeat a mage of higher grade, in the sense she's using, is that a mage of higher grade is more in tune with the fundamental patterns of the cosmos, and the momentum of the entire universe is against you.

If somebody's throwing nasty magic at you -- and it does sound as though this is possible -- they're not that kind of initiate, and you can clean their clock with the right techniques.

I'd encourage you to use natural magic in addition to your daily banishings. You know the timing of the attack, so you can (for example) put a saucer of vinegar in the room where you sleep on the seven days before the new moon, don protective amulets at that time, and so on. Since a lot of the harassment comes in your dreams, consider making a protective amulet and putting it under your pillow or between the mattress and the box spring. There are plenty of good protective herbs out there, and you can put them to work readily enough to spare yourself some trouble.

Japanese Knives and Celtic Iron

[(Anonymous)]

My mother-in-law is Japanese, and she follows a tradition in which you should never give a knife as a gift, as it will sever the relationship. She suggested we had no knives or other sharp implements on our wedding registry, for instance.

I had an experience over the past year where a friend gave me a pocketknife for my birthday and within 6 months the relationship was basically over.

I believe your step-mother is Japanese. I wondered if you are familiar with this tradition and I am really curious if there is some kind of connection between it and the traditional Celtic use of sharp-iron to ward off faery glamour. It might just be a similar symbolism but it is intriguing to think about unrelated cultures independently discovering a magical mechanism.

Re: Japanese Knives and Celtic Iron

[(Anonymous)]

My ex's mother was German-American. When I sent her a Christmas gift of a food chopper she sent me a penny in return--referring to herself as a superstitious old lady and the belief that you had to "pay" for a transfer of a cutting tool to keep it from severing the relationship.

Rita R.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Mr. Greer,

I live in the high desert of Bend, Oregon and I'm starting to learn the Grove Ritual. My concern is this. We're heading into several months of high fire danger and I'm concerned about open flames in the forest around here. I've considered using just some unlit frankincense resin in the bowl representing air and I'm must not sure what to use in the bowl representing fire. I don't like the idea of a battery powered candle because of the waste involved. Would it be acceptable to just try to visualize the smoke of the incense in the air bowl and the flame in the fire bowl?

Sincerely,
Haassmasithiam

air and fire elements without flame

[(Anonymous)]

(Deborah Bender)

I am in no way qualified to advise you on the Grove Ritual, but my tradition also uses incense to represent elemental Air and sometimes does ritual in places where open flames and smoke are forbidden, such as in hotel rooms. In those situations, we use something else for Air. If it's a group ritual, we use a struck bell, chime or tingshas--the sound is a vibration of the air. For small groups or solitary practice, one might use a feather or a hand fan. These days, stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond sell aroma diffusers that don't involve heat; I don't use those because sometimes the scents are made of unnatural chemicals. As a more natural substitute, perhaps you could crush the leaves or needles of one of the aromatic trees in your forest to release its scent.

Fireless fire is a greater challenge if you don't want to use an electrical battery as a substitute. If it were me and no one was watching, I would use a a candle in a tall glass container (a novena candle, available in supermarkets), preferably set in an existing fire pit with the ground well cleared of combustible materials for some distance around it, and not leave it unattended. If a fire pit wasn't available, I would set the novena candle in a bowl or basin full of water before lighting it.

[(Anonymous)]

When you publish your written work, whether they are books or blog posts, do you ever use planetary magic or any other form of magic to select an auspicious time?

[ecosophia]

Of course! These days I choose a time astrologically, based on planetary transits over my natal chart, to send a manuscript to a publisher. My blog posts always go up on Wednesdays, which is the day of Mercury and fosters communication. I've used other methods in the past, but since I'm putting a lot of time into studying and practicing astrology these days, that seemed like the most sensible option.

Sleep paralysis

[(Anonymous)]

Is there anything in the occult lore on the phenomenon of sleep paralysis? One would think that the reductionalist view of it being a brain hiccup, pure and simple, might not be all there is to it.

I had a curious experience at the end of yesterday's nap where a feminine presence came to wrap me in its sensual charms. Before long this turned into an uncomfortable feeling of being bound. At first I tried to fight it off and when that didn't work, to wake myself up, that too to no avail. In the end I managed to free both of my arms, then to pry it loose and turn it into mush against the wall. The resulting mess was akin to cat food running down my arm. A succubus of some kind?

Re: Sleep paralysis

[packshaud]

The easiest way you can find information on this is to get the second, updated edition of Monsters by John Michael Greer and follow the books in the Annotated Bibliography section.

Disclaimer: when *insert UFO researcher here* started to look for aliens, and Gustav Davidson for the information that became his Dictionary of Angels... both got what they were looking for and then some.

I would not like to speak about my dreams when I was focused in the acquisition of the books on Demons in the bibliography of Monsters... and with my favorite subject, the Fae, I am still getting my share of, ahem, encounters.

Be warned that you will find what you are looking for. Of course, Greer's book includes protective measures, which I did not follow of course, why would I need a bullet-proof vest when I'm going to a shootout?

orgone pyramids

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JM

I hope this Monday finds you in good health.

I'm curious about the little orgone pyramids - typically 4 or 5 sided, made from some resin, and containing some combination of metal filings and or crystals. I have a few of these and was told they're good for attracting unwanted orgone/newfre and can also help mitigate excess radiation from electrical devices or WiFi in the home.

I wanted to know of you have any insight into these devices and if they are useful as described (or more), but also if they were harmful or counter productive day when practicing daily ritual.

Thank you

Re: orgone pyramids

[ecosophia]

Hmm. An immense amount would depend on where you place them. Orgone was, of course, Wilhelm Reich's name for nwyfre/chi/prana/life force, and my experiments with his techniques suggest to me that he was definitely on to something, but I don't know that he ever experimented with combining them with ritual magic! You'll want to try doing ritual with them in the same room, and then with them as far away as you can conveniently put them, and see if you get different effects.

[(Anonymous)]

Good Morning John,
I have one comment and one question. My comment is that I have done the SOP in a dentist office waiting room, It was actually quite fun. I have no idea what the other people waiting thought as I stared out into the middle of the room, but it worked for me. My question is about the interpretation of the different few in your Druidry Handbook. Where did these interpretations come from or originate? I am beginning to see the few as not so much hard and fast rules, but actually quite flexible in that a few can be interpreted differently on a different day in a different circumstance. As always thanks.

[ecosophia]

The historic records of the Ogham, which were written in the Middle Ages, assign the sounds B,L,F,S,N to the first five Ogham fews. The traditional Irish name for the Ogham (and indeed for any alphabet) is Beith-Luis-Nion. A number of authors connected to the Druid Revival took that and noticed that if you put Nion (or Nuinn) in the third position, the resulting order of fews -- BLNFS, with "F" pronounced like V as it is in Irish -- gives you the name BeLeNVS, Belenus or Belenos, the ancient Celtic high god. Their theory is that this was the original order, and it was changed in Christian times to get rid of the name of a Pagan god. The version of the Ogham symbolism that derives from those Druid writers is the one I used in The Druidry Handbook; other people use the historic, Christianized version.