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. I'm currently tracing my Martinist lineage.  That's rendered complex by the Martinist tradition that one does not name one's initiator, so we'll have to go back via slightly less evasive routes. The last two honorees, Constant Chevillon and Robert Ambelain, both received part of their many lineages from this week's honoree, Jean Bricaud. Bricaud was a student of Papus and a leading figure in the French Martinist movement, as well as a major figure in the French Gnostic church of the time. He became head of the Martinist Order on Papus' death in 1916, and played a significant role in many other alternative spiritual scenes of the time. He died in 1934.

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With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

Red bags; GFS Initiation

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG, and everybody else!

No replies up yet, and you‘re in a creative mood - I hope that bears well both for the amount of sleep you got, and for your next book(s)… ;-)

Thanks, as always, for having us over today and patiently answering all the questions. I really learn a lot each week, and treasure this space very much.

A few questions today, if I may (however many you feel ready to answer):

About the red bags and jars with salt/nail:

1. Is it advisable to wear them/put them up all the time, or would this be too much? Or, in other words, does the „occult immune system“ need some training, and constant „disinfection“ isn‘t healthy either?

2. I presume there is some (healthy) energy exchange e.g. between close couples or between parents and their children. Does a red bag suppress or prevent this? Could wearing such a bag lead to issues in that regard?

3. Since a lot of people don‘t even seem to be aware that they are drawing energy from other people: How does one notice? Does this directly correlate with e.g. drawing attention or time, being needy, being dependent, etc? Or are there other, less obvious, cues to look out for in oneself?

And about the GSF Initiation and lodge:

4. In the initiation, there is a composition of place, but no un-composition. One second, you‘re in the grove, and the next second, you‘re back in the lodge, just like that. Does that have a specific reason, or did it just happen to end up that way?

5. Why is the lodge closing done in the same order as the opening, and not in reverse? I.e. why doesn‘t one „unroll“ things in reverse order?

Thanks, and if you and your wife would have them, my blessings to both of you - may you have a healthy, enjoyable and productive week!

Milkyway

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[ecosophia]

1) I don't recommend wearing them all the time, because...

2) A red bag amulet would interfere with this.

3) It takes practice, but one useful hint is to watch what happens when you're alone for a while. If you start feeling depleted, and perk up suddenly when you get near another person, you may be parasitizing them.

4) So that the composition flows into the astral structure of the lodge itself.

5) What a fine theme for meditation! ;-)

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[(Anonymous)]

3. This is why extroverts must be stopped. :)

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for your replies.

2) The jars in the house/flat corners would be less problematic then, I presume, at least as long as no people significantly close live elsewhere?

5) Harumph. Could‘ve seen this coming, of course. (I‘ll be back if it still doesn‘t make sense, though!! ;-) ).

Milkyway

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[ecosophia]

2) They should be fine.

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[(Anonymous)]

Not the OP:

3) If you have the opposite problem, where being around other people consistently depletes you, does this mean you're... leaking energy? If so are there ways to counteract this?

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[ecosophia]

Yes, but it's not easy. You need to learn how to seal your aura. Regular practice of a basic protective ritual such as the Sphere of Protection will teach you that, and so will most other courses of magical training, but it takes time and attention. In the meantime, make sure you have plenty of solitude to recover!

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[(Anonymous)]

Yet a third person chiming in here, I suspect this might be my problem. What causes something like this to happen? Is it something a person is born with, or is it caused by trauma/abuse?

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[ecosophia]

It can be either brought through from a previous life or caused by events in this one. As with so many things, it's not something that has only one possible cause!

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[(Anonymous)]

Hello and thank you so much for these weekly Q&A. You mention a red bag amulet...would you be so kind as to post the link to that? I am interested and I think it might be very helpful. My apologies if this is a question you get constantly. I'm having a little trouble navigating the site.
VM

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[ecosophia]

It's in the Magic Monday FAQ, which is linked in the post at the top of this comment thread.

Re: Red bags; GFS Initiation

[thinking_turtle]

1. Is it advisable to wear them/put them up all the time, or would this be too much? Or, in other words, does the „occult immune system“ need some training, and constant „disinfection“ isn‘t healthy either?

Working out the same question! I'm currently wearing it only when I expect negative interactions. There's a lot of that currently, so I'm wearing it a lot. So far it seems to have a beneficial effect.

Curious to learn what your experience will bring!

Personal Spiritual Path and Religious Organizations

[jprussell]

Good Evening,

For my fellow Americans, a very happy Fourth of July. For everyone else in the northern hemisphere, a happy early-mid summer. For anyone in the southern hemisphere, I hope whatever stuff you're up to is good :)

To Share: A more personal post from me this time, I talk through my own spiritual path: https://jpowellrussell.com/#how_i_came_to_believe_what_i_do

To Ask: I'm thinking a lot about the role of religion in today's America, and into the future. I'm especially interested in the role of religious organizations. I feel like we all understand the role churches play/have played in the West and in America, but I'd be especially interested in hearing any thoughts on what other religious organizations may have been like/may be like today - for JMG or the commentariat.

As always, thanks very much to JMG and everyone else here for all that you do.

To any who will have them, I put forth my blessings and best wishes,
Jeff

Re: Personal Spiritual Path and Religious Organizations

[ecosophia]

The main alternative to churches has long been initiatory organizations. I knew a lot of old men in the Masons and Odd Fellows for whom lodge meetings are their church services; I also know a lot of people in the occult scene for whom lodge meetings are central to their religious life. There are others, though -- it's an interesting question.

Re: Personal Spiritual Path and Religious Organizations

[temporaryreality]

Oh my, yes! The president of my grange said explicitly to several of us a few weeks ago, “The Grange is my church.”

I knew exactly what she meant because I’m finding it fills that role for me too (though I’m less involved than she is, she’s also active on the state level)

Re: Personal Spiritual Path and Religious Organizations

[(Anonymous)]

If you watch TV or movies, pay attention to how many of them feature characters at AA-type meetings. There is a reason for that-- the 12 Step tradition is HUGE in California. When I lived in Santa Barbara there was something like 200 meetings every week. Tons of people were a part of it, including lots of people involved in the entertainment industry. Most of the people involved treated it either as church, or as the thing that was more important to them than Church even if they were a member of one.

In the groups had a very tribal spirit, which to my mind is very suggestive of "tamanous" does JMG has described it. Egalitarian, but with charismatic leaders dominating. A fission-fusion structure, like hunter-gatherer bands. An emphasis on personal spiritual experience. And strongly supportive networks formed among the members, who routinely found each other places to live, jobs, and so on.

To my mind it's a very American form of spirituality, democratic, egalitarian, franchisable, puritanical, bibliolatrous (every program has its Big Book). It has its drawbacks, but I can see a modified form of the 12 Step program having a big influence on the religions of the future on this continent, and I hope that it will.

[jprussell]

Huh, I didn't think about 12 Step Programs, but now that you mention them, I'm embarrassed I didn't, for all of the reasons you enumerate. Thank you for the avenue for further research!

Re: Personal Spiritual Path and Religious Organizations

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Jeff, there is a chapter called "Two Hundred Years of Masonry" in this history of Long Island, which may be of interest.

https://archive.org/details/boroughsofbrookl01haze/page/323/mode/1up

lavender

[jprussell]

Thanks very much!

Temple technology and Kozyrev devices

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG & all,
I have stumbled across some material that may be relevant to your studies of temple technologies--
The book reference is:
Kaznacheev VP, Trofimov AV. Cosmic Consciousness of Humanity; Problems of New Cosmology. Elendis Progress Publishers, Tomsk, Russia, 1992.
Chapter: Part II, 2, 1. At Thracian Gods. Expedition through Sanctuary Places of Bulgaria. Pg. 75.

The chapter describes experiments in an ancient sanctuary of the goddess Kabile in Bulgaria, from about 1000 BCE. It has magnetic anomalies in the rocks which, when you pass along the passages cut into the stones, induce changes in consciousness that allowed transmission of images from a person in the Kabile sanctuary to another person in Novosibirsk (Siberia).

This has something to do with Kozyrev mirror devices. I don't understand much of it, but thought you might want to look into this, since a team of researchers apparently figured out how to use some of the special features of an ancient temple.

Do you, or do any readers, know about this or have comments about it?
Has anyone tried a Kozyrev mirror device?

Thanks for any information you may have about it!

Anyone interested can download a copy here:

https://kupdf.net/queue/cosmic-consciousness-of-humanity-problems-of-new-cosmogony-vpkaznacheev-v-trofimov-_5b171606e2b6f5ef68b78ba2_pdf?queue_id=-1&x=1688362911&z=MjQuNjcuMzcuMjc=

Re: Temple technology and Kozyrev devices

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Thanks for this; I've downloaded a copy and will read it as time permits.

[(Anonymous)]

Huh... I wanted to ask a red bag amulet question, opened the thread and... the first question I read was about a red bag amulet. Something's in the air :)
Anyways, hello JMG. Thank you for hosting Magic Mondays.
Here's my red bag amulet question. HOW does it work? On an etheric plane? On an astral plane? Do I have to be in the presence of a "well-wisher" for it to work?
Kirsten

[ecosophia]

It's etheric, and no, it doesn't require anyone's well wishing. Etheric forms unanchored to physical forms are vulnerable to sharp points of a conductive metal -- they pop like bubbles when they contact an iron point. The salt is to absorb the energy released by the discharge, so it doesn't affect the wearer.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for your reply, JMG! One more thing to clarify... I have a particular person in mind. This person is no mage by any stretch of the imagination. However, there is a lot of hostile energy that goes from this person to me. Am I vulnerable only in the presence of the person (and better wear an amulet) or at all times? I feel drained after interacting with this person. I also spend a lot of time ruminating about my situation vis-a-vis this person that I would love to stop.

[ecosophia]

Hatred and hostile feelings are themselves a form of magic, and not a good one. Wearing an amulet when the person is around is essential; however, you might find it useful generally to use prayer or a basic protective ritual such as the Sphere of Protection to cleanse your aura and keep the person's noxious energy at bay.

[(Anonymous)]

For Christians... would the regular use of something like St. Patrick's Breastplate serve a similar purpose?

[ecosophia]

No, not really. Protective prayers are important and valuable, but they function on the spiritual plane primarily, with effects cascading down into the mental and astral planes. They don't have the specific astral effect the red bag amulet has.

The red bag amulet, however, involves no incantations, no prayers, nothing like that. You can perfectly well bless it with a Christian prayer, and when you put it on you can say a prayer of protection. Think of it as something not too far from fastening a seatbelt when you get into a car.

[(Anonymous)]

I stand corrected, thank you, JMG.

—Princess Cutekitten

[thinking_turtle]

They don't have the specific astral effect the red bag amulet has.

A comment earlier you wrote that the effect was etheric. Why is it not a "specific etheric effect" in the sentence above?

[ecosophia]

Because I was writing in a hurry. It should be "specific etheric effect," of course.

[(Anonymous)]

It worked for him, and don’t forget to invoke your guardian angel, too. Good luck!

—Princess Cutekitten

St Benedict's medal

[homeopathic_meditations]

I do recommend the use of St. Benedict's medal, also called the Cross of St. Benedict. http://www.liturgialatina.org/benedictine/stbenmedal.htm

My personal experience tells me that it works (at least) on the etheric level, likely in the astral and above. Source one with good metal though, it may break/corrode when under attack otherwise. You also want to have it blessed by a knowledgeable priest too, the difference is noticeable.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you as always for providing this space and answering our questions. I have had a few questions building up for several weeks but I can't remember all of them just now. Here are a couple.

1) With regard to using planetary days and hours for important activities, should I make more use of my better placed planets (Mars and Jupiter) even if they don't correspond as closely to the activities? (Many things I do are probably Hermes related)

2) I suspect I am overthinking some things and using planetary timing where not necessary. I have sometimes ended up with a build up of things to do at certain times on a Wednesday with a waxing moon, not got round to all of them and left things which are less urgent, but would still be better done sooner, and waited two weeks. Example, subscribing to an educational website for something I'm studying, which I wanted to use regularly as soon as I became aware of it.

[ecosophia]

1) That hasn't been my experience, certainly. The planetary hours are relatively impersonal.

2) That's a common bad habit of people who've just found out about planetary hours! With practice you'll learn when something's important enough to need that planetary boost.

[hippieviking]

I have thought about asking a question along these same lines. My understanding of the planetary hours is that they are impersonal. However, I've had a number of experiences that lead me to believe that isn't the case, mostly tied to my angular and very well dignified Mars. Things that seem un-Mars related or like Mars would be contra-indicated often seem to turn out well when (planetary hours wise) they shouldn't whereas things with other planets I have that are not so well dignified often seem to not work, even when the planet in question should be appropriate to the situation.

I have about a thousand irons in the fire so I haven't tried to chart out a systematic record of such things, though the idea has occurred to me.

HV

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Thank you for the data point.

[(Anonymous)]

What sort of activities build our mental bodies?

If the mental body is our first 'permanent' body does that mean it stays in the same polarity (male/female) as it was in our last incarnation?

How do you know when there are no more repressed emotions in your physical body? Can you even reach this point as an 'average' person?

[ecosophia]

1) Anything that exercises the capacity for abstract consciousness. For example, mathematics and philosophy will do it, meditation will do it, and so will experiencing arts, literature, and music that don't primarily appeal to the bodily passions.

2) Not really. The permanent bodies don't have to go through death and rebirth to change polarity.

3) Maybe such a paragon exists somewhere, but I've never met one. I'd say don't worry about it; clear away the blocked emotions you can manage, knowing that more will probably surface later.

polarities

[(Anonymous)]

Some while ago there was a mention that something had changed 'upstream' (possibly Sadhguru and others) - if results of this gradually appear 'downstream', might this have something to do with turbulence on the astral?
So not only do we have humans being disconnected from the world in favour of tech and a seemingly endless stream of crazy as the humans make dubious choices, we could also be getting amplified strangeness due to changes in higher realms in addition to our own idiocy?

JMG said: "2) Not really. The permanent bodies don't have to go through death and rebirth to change polarity."

So if more rarefied bodies can use polarities in different ways, and we're getting trickle-down turbulence, might this go someway to explaining the idea of people identifying as things that they are not, but 'feel' that they are?
(i.e. Not simply a human generated craze)

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, and in fact there are significant changes under way as the Sun makes its transition at the spring equinox from Pisces to Aquarius. So a lot of things that used to work don't work any more, and some of the things that didn't work in the past are beginning to work now. It's a strange time.

2) That's possible, but there are other factors that explain it at least as well. For example, if you don't mind some grubby details, the popularity of "shemale" pornography means that some very large number of men have been masturbating to images of women with penises -- thus charging that image with intensive sexual energy, and making it easier for impressionable men to think of themselves as women with penises.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

Fascinating. If it is correct that a major change occurred upstream, one wonders how much of a strange time we might be headed for!

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

2) If anything a large number of men masturbate to with porn charges it with sexual energy, this might help explain the rise of "rape culture", and that talk about it: rape, and impromptu and dubiously consensual sex, are highly popular scenes in porn...

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

Yes, that's also a significant issue.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, something else has occurred to me to wonder about: all of this is being mediated by mass media; and especially the internet. Does this charge the media with sexual energies? Is the internet essentially one of those creepy bars where middle age men are sitting off in the corner masturbating to the attractive young women who are duped, coerced, or so desperate for attention they end up in one of those places?

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

Yep. That's a very good description of it.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

This creates a very creepy mental image: AIs are basically children raised in one of those bars, never allowed to even step outside. No wonder so many of them are so creepy....

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

When has rape *not* been common in porn (so that you'd have a "prior" period to compare to now), particularly that consumed by women?

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure. Frankly, the idea of looking into the history of rape in porn feels me with the creeps, so I'll pass; but porn has exploded in popularity since the 1990s or so with the rise of the internet; this is around when things started getting really ugly with rape culture, cries about rape culture, and the rise of celibacy among women; although I'm well aware all of these predate the rise of the internet, and all have other factors as well, it seems interesting timing to me.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

Huh. My impression from a distance was that "rape culture" was partly two things that had been going on to similar extents for a while previously: a form of motivated commonly accepted carelessness around intoxicants and consent, plus occasional clusters of men in that scene who would engage in darker things and support each other in doing so. This was amplified to a social construction "rape culture" by a moral panic, associated with changes in the surrounding culture and feedback effects through the power of social media, that worked through increasing the power of side-taking social actions against anyone who didn't themselves side with a higher standard (a standard that was so much higher than the previous practice as to be unreasonable, since it would predictably be taken literally). The allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are about his alleged conduct in the early '80s, and the way people act about those allegations suggest that they were not particularly unheard-of at the time. Also the internet didn't get that popular until the late '90s.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

2) I realize I just posted, but another question just came to me: there's another genre of porn which is flooding sexual energies in a deeply troubling direction: "simulated child pornography". This is exactly what it sounds like, and is a disturbingly popular genre on quite a few porn sites. While the big ones tend not to host as much of it, it's disturbingly easy to find such content on hentai sites; and they are far from being fringe right now.

Aside from increasing the number of pedophiles, what sort of effects do you think this would have? Might this be linked to the weird desire so many people seem to have to sexualize children?

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

I wasn't aware of that. Ugh. (Reaches for brain bleach...) I'm not sure what effects it would have but none of them would be wholesome.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry about introducing you to another way that our society has gone off the rails in an extremely unpleasant fashion, however, it bothers me that it seems to explain a few odd things that don't make any kind of sense otherwise....

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

This confirms my visceral disgust with sadistic / graphic / slasher horror films.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

It's worse in that a good portion of it is pornographic versions of media aimed for children. Charging those with sexual energies seems like a truly bad idea...

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

2) Is this sort of thing why prohibitions and restrictions on masturbation and pornography are so common in cultures that haven't embraced the "anything goes" mantra of modernity?

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

It's certainly one of the reasons. Part of the challenge of modern times is that our ways of making images are far more realistic than those of past societies -- photography really shifted pornography into high gear, and made its subtle effects much more powerful.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

2) If pornography can provide energy to images in this fashion, is there any reason it couldn't also transmit such energy to people? What kind of effects would it have on the recipients of this sort of energy?

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

That happens all the time. It's one of the reasons for the modern cult of celebrity -- all that adoring attention and desire focused on photographs of individuals. It's also one of the reasons why so many celebrities burn out so fast.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

I've always connected that with some cultures' belief that photographs can steal a bit of your soul.

Celebrities have way too many photos taken of them. It's a wonder any of them stay sane.

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm. Given just how many photos are taken of conventionally attractive women (or even just the "not ugly" women) and then shared online for men to masturbate to, I wonder if this is part of the reason why so many young women are going off the rails these days; I also wonder if this helps explain why so many women I know have zero interest in sex, if they are getting bombarded with sexual energies constantly, it makes sense they'd have no interest in getting any more...

Re: polarities

[(Anonymous)]

a) I am extremely psychically sensitive, and I wonder if this might be linked to why I absolutely hate having my photo taken: presumably this effect occurs well bellow the level of celebrity culture.

b) Could you use this to your advantage? I'm wondering if, with their consent, it would be possible to photos of someone as an anchor of sorts to bring blessing or healing energies to them. Do you know if anyone has looked into this?

Re: polarities

[ecosophia]

It's done all the time in some traditional occult circles; a photo is placed on the altar and healing energies directed through it to the person by a group of healers. (Mouni Sadhu's book Theurgy discusses how this is done.) Radionics very often also works with photos.

[(Anonymous)]

"Anything that exercises the capacity for abstract consciousness. For example, mathematics and philosophy will do it, meditation will do it, and so will experiencing arts, literature, and music that don't primarily appeal to the bodily passions."

This makes me wonder if neurodivergence like autism is something we go through on our way to building our mental bodies. I'm autistic and it led me to completing a mathematics degree in my early 20s - alongside most of cohort who were also on the spectrum somewhere. If I wasn't a social recluse who is little interested in mainstream culture I probably wouldn't have picked up meditation and my other spiritual pursuits either.

So what if it's not a 'disability' but an important stage in our evolution?

[ecosophia]

That's an interesting speculation!

[(Anonymous)]

Is there something not-too-long you could say about music "not appealing primarily to bodily passions"? Thanks.

[ecosophia]

Sure. Think of the difference between classical music and rock. Rock rhythms stir up the passions -- that's the whole point. Classical influences the mind and the subtler emotions. The more cerebral sort of jazz is another good example. Pick any kind of music you like, and think about how you experience it and what kind of activities it resonates with; that'll give you a good idea.

Out of copyright book resource

[hwistle]

Hi John,

no questions just now, just wanted to share this site with you and the commentariat, in case you weren't aware of it.

It's the work of one Englishwoman who has been uploading electronic versions of out of copyright books to an ever increasing online library. Crucially, the library includes a large collection of Occult books, including a few hidden gems...

https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/category/ebooks/occult-page-1.html

Manuel

Re: Out of copyright book resource

[ecosophia]

Global Grey is great! I encourage readers to download occult books from it, and donate as much as they can to support the project.

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG

Im looking for a good books about European alchemy and energy magic with European background. Any recomendations?

Have a wonderfull day

[ecosophia]

Both of those are gargantuan fields of study; there are thousands of books in print on European alchemy, and many different things that could be called "energy magic" in Western occultism. Can you be more specific about what you want?

[(Anonymous)]

What woudl be ,,energy magic'' in western occultism? That has captured my interest

[ecosophia]

As I noted, there are many different things that could be called that, but it's not a label that gets much use.

[(Anonymous)]

Good day to you JMG!

Hello JMG!

I don't know if this belongs to your expertise and knowledge but I am looking for sources that will help the western reader understand and enter the occult world of Hinduism. It would be wonderful if you could recommend a book to me.

And a question from a friend of mine who is not here. What is your opinion on chaos magic (from the Carolla school). Can it be called , "effective" magic?

Best wishes

[ecosophia]

1) You'll have to ask someone who's studied Hindu occultism, which I haven't. Anyone have any suggestions?

2) Your friend reminds me of a once-famous poem:

"Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away!"

In answer to your friend's question, I'm not a fan. I read Carroll's Liber Null and Psychonaut when it was first published in 1987, and I also read its primary inspiration, the appendix on magic in Shea and Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy, back in the 1970s. Every so often somebody comes up with something like this, a version of magic that's been stripped of everything offensive to modern materialist thinking; it's always very popular for a while, precisely because it doesn't challenge the conventional wisdom of its time, and so -- since such projects are always portrayed as radical, cutting-edge, rebellious, and exciting -- they allow people to pretend to be edgy while conforming to the official beliefs of their time. Some people apparently get good results from chaos magic; I find it resembles lite beer, compared to the good robust brown ale of more traditional approaches.

[(Anonymous)]

Beautiful poem XD I'm sure my friend woudl love it. Would you then suggest where I could find Western tradition of mostly energetic magic? I looking for a way to do magic without of spirits (incorporeal intelligences)

[ecosophia]

You might try Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics -- it doesn't involve work with spirits.

The Occult World of Hinduism

[yogaandthetarot]

Hello there!
For a deep and authentic guide to Hinduism (esoteric and otherwise), I recommend Dr. Edwin Bryant (his website at Rutgers contains lots of free lectures and courses.)
He also just completed a course for Embodied Philosophy (another great resource) on the six schools of Vedic Philosophy.
www.edwinbryant.org
www.embodiedphilosophy.com

Hope this helps!
Jill C

[gullindagan]

The Hindu occult world is vaaaaast and ancient, and there are many living lineages, many masters, but also many fakers. I'm entering through Freedom Cole's Science of Light, a fantastic intro to Vedic astrology, which is fundamental for a lot of Hindu occultism (as astrology is in the West)

[thinking_turtle]

To share: if you wonder what abbreviations used in Magic Monday mean (like APG, PoW, or EDEM), the list of abbreviations might interest you.

To ask: my experiment with wearing the red bag from the FAQ is interesting. It seems to reduce the drain I feel when reading news or when talking to certain people. So I'm curious to learn more about the red bag.

What tradition does the red bag come from? Where can I read more about it?

[ecosophia]

It's something I learned many years ago from a teacher in Seattle. I have no idea what the original source is.

abbreviations

[yogaandthetarot]

Thank you Thinking Turtle for this!

[brigyn]

Dear Archdruid,

I wanted to ask - in the Druid Magic Handbook, each of the 8 stations has an emblem - a circle of candles, a crown, a silver branch - and so on. I was wandering how these were obtained - are they references to stories, obtained though scrying or meditation, or some other source?

I see how Ceridwen's emblem would be a cauldron - but why a circle of candles for Imbolc / Ana?

(The same question goes for the associated "Inner Place" of each Station, I suppose!)


All the best,

- Brigyn

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

I'm not JMG so please excuse my interjecting. I was reading that section recently too, and wondered if it was simply the association of illuminating a cavern in the earth (the inner place) and/or illuminating the a dark part of the year?

JH

[ecosophia]

The emblems and images were all obtained through scrying and meditation on my part. I recommend -- you knew this was coming, right? ;-) -- meditating on each of them.

[(Anonymous)]

Duly noted.

Thanks!

Divine names

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG and other friends here,

I hope you are all healthy and that you had a good weekend!

Thanks for this space!

1. Based on what principles was the association between the divine names in Hebrew and the sephirot made? I guess it wasn't a random association.
2. Likewise the Archangels and angels.
3. And why exactly the use of Psalms to invoke the Divine Names when these names are present in other parts of the Bible such as Genesis and Exodus.
4. Would just visualization, meditation and repetition of the names bring consistent results? (this question came to me while typing the question...)

Thank you very much!

Re: Divine names

[ecosophia]

1-3) Nobody knows. Seriously, nobody knows. The people who created the Cabala didn't leave an account of why they made the choices they did -- if in fact they made the choices, and didn't simply receive the names and other correspondences in visionary states from angels or the spirits of dead tzaddikim.

4) You'd need to experiment and find out!

Re: Divine names

[(Anonymous)]

Do you recommend any good literature or even a website that addresses this topic? There is a lot of literature on angels and planets, and very little on Divine Names.

Re: Divine names

[ecosophia]

Um, what part of "nobody knows" don't you understand?

Re: Divine names

[(Anonymous)]

Do you have any idea why "Nobody knows" seems to be impossible for some people to grasp? It seems like it should be a simple idea...

Re: Divine names

[ecosophia]

We live in an age of entitlement. A great many people can't handle the idea that they really can't have something they want.

Re: Divine names

[(Anonymous)]

"A lot of literature" could mean "a lot of literature making reasonable and surprisingly plausible speculation, it's just that it's speculation that involved connections only scholars would have been aware of enough things to be able to draw", and they might have been asking if there was anything analogous in relation to divine names. In that context, maybe they thought "nobody knows" means "nobody knows anything like primary evidence or anything particularly dispositive", rather than "nobody knows anything and it's hopeless even for well-informed scholars to make any useful speculations that a novice couldn't also".

Communication is in some respects like software engineering. What you thought you meant isn't necessarily what the process on the other end could entirely reasonably interpret you as having meant. Sometimes debugging is necessary.

Re: Divine names

[ecosophia]

Maybe so, but it remains the case that nobody knows.

Astral travel history and dangers

[(Anonymous)]

I read a fascinating, if chilling account of the 'astral war' between the Soviet Union and the USA during the cold war. The article is here if it is of interest to yourself and your readers https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/the-hades-environment-fab4434e8bdd

Essentially, it seems that both governments actively encouraged astral travel for various means, including warfare, but that chillingly, the amount of travelers awoke something ancient and nasty from the past, a name I won't repeat, which began killing people or trapping them whilst out of body.

It also seems that both governments became aware of the dangers, and rapidly closed down their programmes and actively censored the astral travel methodology that was in circulation at the time.

This all occurred around the time of the rise of the arch skeptics and angry atheists, and it has me wondering if that movement originally began as a psyop literally because of the dangers of the astral at that time. I can see that being a tactic employed by a desperate CIA and Pentagon to shut down a portal they were losing control of.

It's a chilling read actually, but a side of history I thought needed to be shared.

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[robertmathiesen]

I lived through those years of very wide-spread popular experimentation with astral travel and other such things. Certainly, now and then someone died experimenting with it, as with almost any esoteric technique. But most empahtically there was no effective censorship of how-to-do it books and articles: they could be widely found in pulp magazines and among cheap news-stand paperbacks, and academic research also continued in this or that university laboratory for a while. Some government agencies did indeed research such things for a while, with covert activity in view; and some of the resulting papers and documentation was eventually destroyed -- as much out of embarrassment at being thought to have been gullible as out of fear of their power in other hands.

The article strikes me as writtn not so much to inform as to titillate and chill.

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[ecosophia]

That's a fine piece of horror fiction, but as Robert has pointed out, it's not very accurate as history. I knew one of the generals involved in the military end of psi research, the late Gen. Albert Stubblebine -- the original of the character General Hopgood in the movie The Men Who Stare At Goats. He was retired when I first met him, and was an associate and friend of my teacher John Gilbert. His account was that the government pulled funding for all that research when the Reagan administration took charge and Christian fundamentalists became too politically influential. He was better at psychic spoon-bending than anybody else I've ever met.

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[(Anonymous)]

I had a relative on the Stanford Research Institute's internal review committee for CIA-funded mind control studies on things like spoon bending with Uri Geller. I saw Geller myself try to do a demo in front of a small audience at an SRI auditorium as a child. Another relative helped set up a test for him at a restaurant with people wholly unconnected with SRI. Spoon bending, ESP and the like I know are 100% real but back then 45+ years ago no one had been found so far guaranteed to do those skills on demand.

I find the idea the Reagan Admin could have killed off all those mind control programs ludicrous given the vast amounts of US federal dark budgets especially when it comes to human subject experiments where contractual Funny Bunny Twister Games are common.

My best contacts who worked for the US Air Force insist the current US military seriously think they can control any battlefield with just electronic warfare and A.I.. Electronic warfare includes mind control technology. One thing the US military has been known for almost 200 years is brute industrialized force. If they've figured out how to achieve dominating mind control with electro/magnetic tech with or without drugs or ESP they'd do that in a heartbeat with no moral scruples whatsoever.

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[(Anonymous)]

Correction - not sure if it was CIA or US Department of Defense funding those SRI studies 45+ years ago.

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[ecosophia]

I simply repeated what Gen. Stubblebine told me. You're free to make up your own mind, of course. As for what your contacts in the USAF told you, keep in mind that the US military also believed that the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched a month ago was going to sweep through the Russian lines and reach the Azov Sea by day 6 or so. Nor did the US show any particular ability to control the battlefield in the last days of our tenure in Afghanistan...

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry to have used the harsh word "ludricrous." I don't doubt at all what that general said but the Pentagon and too many other federal departments today are so compartmentalized, while I hope all those psyic ops and studies were killed off I retain my doubts.

As for Ukraine battles, I listen to the shifting stories from DC about why the USA is involved there. First it was to prop up a "democracy," then to "weaken" the Russians, and now who nows why truly given the head of Ukraine just announced no more elections until he wins the war. Perhaps just a big write-off of old military equipment to grease the rials to buy newer stuff?

As for Afghanistan, I know a lot who served on the ground there from the start of US involvement, at least one who also served the USA during the Soviet battles. Terrains full of caves and lots of different tribes already at each others throats reminded me a lot of the old American 13 Colonies full of forest with American rebel sharpshooters lurking in the trees of their home ground as the British Redcoats and their equally well-uniformed mercenaries marched through, A bizarro guerrilla war terrain when any invader with too much hubris, like the Old British Army in the 13 Colonies or Afghanistan, could get delayed fairly easily.

Re: Astral travel history and dangers

[ecosophia]

Oh, doubtless some projects kept going. The problem with paraphysical technologies is that they won't work reliably unless the people who are doing them undergo the necessary spiritual growth, and if that happens -- why, like Gen. Stubblebine, you take early retirement and go do something else with your life, like become a Gnostic bishop. The enlightened aren't interested in being cogs in the system's machinery. As for Ukraine and Afghanistan, I also know people who fought in the latter, and their consistent report to me was that the morons in the Pentagon and the morons in Kabul were duking it out over which could be more utterly clueless about what was actually going on. (I've heard the same story about Vietnam, except in that case, of course, the second batch of morons was in Saigon.) This is why I always include slack-jawed, drooling stupidity on the part of our would-be lords and masters as a core element in understanding what's shaping our world.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
Thank you for all you do. I hope you will agree to comment on a reading, on a banal but important issue. We have committed some money to a trip and are getting alarmed that the weather forecast is worsening. We must decide soon whether to cancel or risk losing the money we have paid. I asked the oracle "what will happen if we go ahead with the trip" and received the following:

1st House Puella/ 2.Amissio/ 3.Fortuna Minor/ 4.Amissio/ 5.Via/ 6.Albus/ 7.Puer /8.Laetitia/9.Tristitia /10.Conjunctio /11.Puer/ 12.Acquisitio.
The Judge is Via, The First Witness Caput Draconis, the Second Witness is Laetitia and the Reconciler is Rubeus.
To my inexpert eye it doesn't look a very positive chart. The journey is quite a short one (less than one hundred miles.)
Apologies for such a banal question.

[ecosophia]

Any time you cast a chart of this kind, unless you specifically cast it as a house chart, the witnesses and judge give you the answer. The judge is Via, indicating a journey, and the two witnesses are both favorable figures. This is quite a positive reading and suggests that you should go ahead with the trip.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you!

[jeremys]

Dear John Michael Greer,

It seems most magic/ritual practices these days use either The Golden Dawn or Wicca as their foundation. This is hard for me to fully grasp, that a group in 1 country that broke up over 100 years ago, that only lasted a 2-3 decades, during a time so different from our own, still holds such a foundational purpose for so much, instead of just being one of many groups that passed through history. You do a great job explaining this in the Introduction in your Celtic Golden Dawn book, but I still have trouble fully comprehending the concept.

In any case, it seems the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram ritual or some form of it, acts as a foundation for many other ritual practices, I believe even in Wicca/Neo-Pagan type groups like clearing the 4 corners of the circle, or something. I know, circles don't have corners. My guess is this is solely a creation of the Golden Dawn in the 19th Century.

If the Golden Dawn and Wicca never existed, what do you think the standard opening and closing temple ceremonies (or any use of the Lesser Pentagram Ritual) would be like today, which in turn other ritual practices would be founded on?

This line of thinking also makes me wonder how people would be approaching the Kaballah today outside of Judaism, with no Golden Dawn Qabalah modification. And then it makes me wonder, if the Golden Dawn and Wicca never existed, how would magic in general be practiced today?

Anyway, hope you are having a great day!

Thank you!
Jeremy

[hwistle]

If I may, this might be of interest regarding the LBRP: https://correspondencesjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/19601_20537158_wheeler.pdf

[ecosophia]

Er, I recommend doing a little more historical research. The Golden Dawn didn't invent the circle with its four quarters; you can find that in Eliphas Lévi, who revived Western magic in the 1850s, and he drew on much older magical traditions. Here's a diagram of the magical cosmos from the writings of John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's court wizard:



The division of the circle into four quarters -- not "corners" -- is found in Western occultism from early Greek times onward, and it's also common in many other parts of the world; for example, the Native American medicine wheel is similarly structured.

As for what would have happened if the Golden Dawn hadn't been founded, why, one of the dozens of other magical orders active at the same time, using very similar kinds of magic, would have filled the same role. The GD simply happened to be the one that most people borrowed from, and that's because its magic is very effective and tolerably easy to learn and use. I can't speak for Wicca, as I'm not into that; I gather that it's a popular source of inspiration because it was so popular in late 20th century America and so it's a convenient place to start. Again, though, there were other movements in the same direction that would likely have filled the same role.

[jeremys]

Oh wow, that is very interesting. Thanks for that! I get 4 quarters is not original, but did other groups before Golden Dawn do tracing pentagrams in four quarters and summoning personifications of elemental energies in each quarter and tapping the forehead and bringing light from the heavens down through the body into the Earth and stuff like that? That I thought was exclusively Golden Dawn.

I assumed the whole Hermetic Qaballah/Tarot/tracing pentagrams/Neo-Egyptian system was exclusively Golden Dawn, the way they mashed it all together in a workable system. Is that wrong? Almost all magic today stems from Golden Dawn, so you said another group would have taken hold, but what do you think that would have been like? Maybe I'm not explaining myself well. I am trying to imagine what it's like outside this Golden Dawn/Wicca paradigm it seems we are all stuck inside.

[ecosophia]

Your best bet is to read up on other versions of magic available in the late 19th century. You might consider starting with Eliphas Lévi's Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic, which set the whole process in motion, then go on to The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor by Joscelyn Godwin et al., and Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite by Albert Pike; those three are typical works of the period and will give you some idea of what magic was like in those days.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, and thank you, again, for all that you do. I read with interest your recent post about your decision to re-animate a path for ordination in the UGC. At some point during the past year or so, I asked you a question about the UGC, and you recommended The Many Paths of the Independent Sacramental Movement, which I read with great interest. (I've begun to explore some new spiritual paths after a bad experience at my former Quaker meeting.)

As I read Plummer's book, (and some of the back in forth in the comments following your post) the phrase "valid apostolic succession." frequently appears. I have to wonder why this is considered important. Is it not analogous to bragging about having at least one branch in one's family tree trace back to ancient royalty? Quakers traditionally don't care about apostolic succession or even ordination, so this egalitarian background no doubt contributes to my confusion.

And I hope this question does not come across as disrespectful of the tradition. It's just that as the length of the chain (and the number of possible paths) tracing back to the original apostles continue to grow, it seems that by simple geometric progression, the number of possible paths to "valid apostolic succession" would increase tremendously and thus become less significant. Why does the idea still hold such importance, especially in a church that stresses independent, personal gnosis, not obedience to a set of rules allegedly tracing back to the year 32 AD? If I understand correctly, gnosis is not something handed down like a spiritual baton, which is how I'm stuck in thinking about apostolic succession. Thank you JMG.

[ecosophia]

It's not about rules. Apostolic succession is a transmission of energy -- an empowerment. If passed on in the traditional manner, it makes it considerably easier to experience and transmit certain spiritual states which are conducive to gnosis. Is it possible to reach those states without apostolic succession? Sure, but if you have it, they're easier to attain and much easier to communicate to others.

Quakers, like so many of the movements that came out of the radical end of the Reformation, rejected apostolic succession and traditional ceremonial because it was so deeply tangled up in the power trips of the early modern Papacy and church hierarchy. That's understandable, but from a perspective within the independent sacramental movement (ISM), they threw out a treasure because they didn't like what had been done with the box that contains it. The whole point of the ISM is that it's possible to restore apostolic succession and the sacraments to what, from a Gnostic perspective, they once were: channels of power and blessing instituted by the Divine to assist us in the work of attaining gnosis.

Religion or set of ethical beliefs?

[(Anonymous)]

Some religions seem to consist mostly of a set of ethical beliefs, i.e., be good according to the religion's definition of good and you get the prize. Are there religions that care less about how you act and more about whether you worship?

There seems to be a scale with one side being "act how I tell you to act" and the other side being "worship and honor the god/gods/goddess/goddesses." Religions fall all along the scale. Does this make sense to you, or is my understanding off?

This has been on my mind a lot because the secular religions, like Branch Covidian, cares about how you act and what you do and you only occasionally have to bow down and declare pharma financed guys in white coats infallible gods. In fact, best not to worship or meditate on those white coated gods because if you even look a little, you will see the lies. Surprising to me, a fairly unreligious person, I find myself looking for something that provides for worship and meditation. I think that Christianity once had a more worshipful side, especially in the monastic tradition, but where is that today? All the organized religions I am familiar with are over on the "do what we tell you" side of the scale. Was there a time when worship was more of a thing or has religion always been just a way to control the population? Thanks, just looking for your thoughts because I respect your views on religion and faith.

Re: Religion or set of ethical beliefs?

[ecosophia]

The confusion between religion and ethics is mostly a habit of prophetic religions, i.e., those religions that were founded by a prophet, visionary, or messiah. Religions that grow up naturally among a people, like most of the old pagan faiths, don't have that habit. You can still find branches of Christianity that focus on worship and meditation rather than moral lectures, but you sometimes have to look hard, and Protestant churches are rarely a good place to start.

Re: Religion or set of ethical beliefs?

[sanctuaryofroseandchalice]

Dear JMG:

I'm not the Original Poster, but I would like to piggy-back on this question if I may. I'm an Anglo-Catholic occultist looking for a sacramental church which focuses more on worship and meditation than on moralism or political activism as the means of salvation. (To be fair, I'm all for cultivating virtue-ethics and engaging in works of charity, so long as they're voluntary). I've considered the high church end of Continuing Anglicanism, as well as certain jurisdictions within Liberal Catholicism. Do you or anyone else here have any suggestions? Anything to avoid? I've also considered the Apostolic Church of the Golden and Rosy Cross, led by Masonic scholar Piers A. Vaughan. I think he's in your neck of the woods, are you familiar with his work? Thank you so very much in advance. May the peace and blessings of the Boundless Mystery be upon you.

Sincerely,
Sanctuary of the Rose and Chalice

Re: Religion or set of ethical beliefs?

[ecosophia]

Piers is in New Jersey, but yes, I've met him, and I highly recommend him: a very pleasant and thoughtful man, and also a serious occult scholar. I don't really have a lot of contact with the rest of that world -- I met Piers in a different context. Anyone else have a suggestion to offer?

[booklover1973]

Hello JMG,

I have a question about the place of austerities in the grand scheme of human incarnations: Since austerities are, to varying degrees a part of religions, the importance of austerities partly depending on the kind of religious sensibility to which a particular religion belongs, the question is: Are they generally something which souls do in their later human incarnations or are they something which certain souls in their later incarnations do, and others do not, depending on the character of the soul?

[ecosophia]

Austerities are a tool used in certain kinds of spiritual practice. Some people find them useful, some don't. I've always thought that ordinary life imposes enough burdens, limitations, and sufferings that austerities aren't particularly necessary, but of course your mileage may vary.

[booklover1973]

Austerities aren't my thing, either. I asked because I had the suspicion that it depends on the soul involved, not merely on its relative stage in the span of human incarnations. Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings, gracious host,

I have a question about invoking deities in the SOP. Could you explain what it means to invoke "in the name of" a deity, including vibrating the name? I don't think 9 deities are actually showing up every time I do the SOP. And I'm actually invoking the element, right? So what does the name of a deity add to that?

Also, a minor question I've been meaning to ask: would pickling salt work in the various uses of salt for cleansing and purification? It has no additives. It's a fairly fine grind. It's also inexpensive, available everywhere, and I have a box in my pantry already.

Thanks very much.

[ecosophia]

1) No, the deities aren't showing up, but deities aren't limited by space or time. When you invoke a deity and vibrate its name, you are attuning yourself to that deity's energy and influence, and radiating that energy and influence into your surroundings.

2) If it's pure salt, it should work just fine.

[(Anonymous)]

1) Ah, that's helpful, thanks. So it's causing a change in me, or creating one in my surroundings, not requiring any response from a deity.

2) Yep, the box says "Ingredients: salt."

A Sense of Opposition

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I'm starting magical practice with daily banishing rituals, meditation and quite a bit of reading. It's brought about positive results in terms of balancing my mental state, however I've also noted something peculiar. Recently it feels as though distractions and impulses to procrastinate I experience have multiplied, impinging on my thoughts more than in the past. Along with this comes the sense that these impulses have some external source, that they don't come from me but from something else. I get the impression something is trying to push me off of this path.

I'm persisting in spite of it and find it curious. Could this outside influence, whatever it is, be reacting tp displacement by the banishing rituals? Has anyone else observed anything like this? Thanks for hosting these Q&As.

Re: A Sense of Opposition

[ecosophia]

This is almost universal any time anybody begins magical practice, and it's the first great test you face in your quest to become a mage. I know the feeling well -- I went through the same thing at the beginning of my own studies. The source of those impulses is the Watcher on the Threshold, the personified energies holding you in ordinary material existence, as much for your own safety as anything else. You can overcome them simply by maintaining your practices no matter what -- and that's the only way you can overcome them. As I said, this is your first great test; if you want to proceed on the Path, you must keep on doing the practices and not let yourself be distracted or discouraged by the Watcher.

FHR Tarot and MOE

[iprescott]

Hi JMG,

I hope you had a great weekend and will have a Happy 4th of July.

1. Is there an existing map for the FHR regarding tarot and the paths the cards correspond with? Or is this err... an excellent theme for meditation?

2. To clarify, to take the MOE Master Healer attunement, you do not study the Gnostic lessons? That is done for the Master Teacher grade, correct?

As always thank you for this space.

Best Regards,

Ian

Re: FHR Tarot and MOE

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, but you have to extract it by receiving the initiations and studying them thereafter. It's not usually written down.

2) You can study the Gnostic Lessons any time you wish; John Gilbert encouraged complete beginners to study them. You must complete them before you become a Master Teacher, but how soon you do that is up to you.

Changing luck

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John Michael,

A great deal of SE Asian magic involves talismans or rituals to change ones luck, to improve the occurrence of serendipitous events in ones life.

As far as I know from your books, Western magic seems to be more about effecting specific outcomes, eg obtaining a job, finding a lover etc. If one wanted to improve ones luck with Western magic (I am familiar with your work and Golden Dawn material), how would one go about this? Is it even a thing in the WMT?

Thanks,

P

Re: Changing luck

[ecosophia]

That's really interesting -- I don't happen to know much about SE Asian magic, so you've taught me something. In the Western mystery tradition there isn't much of anything I know of that focuses on luck in general; it's more a matter of looking for the specific problems you're having, and fixing those with magic.

Re: Changing luck

[(Anonymous)]

Not the OP or JMG but you might try looking into hoodoo. I don't have experience in that tradition but I have seen various "lucky" bags and charms described.

Re: Changing luck

[(Anonymous)]

My very limited and distant understanding is that "luck" in a Southeast Asian, or at least East Asian, context has a little bit of a different spin than the Western half-conscious conception of an amorphous, impersonal force of favorable fortune. It'd be a little more like having various functionaries in a celestial bureaucracy pulling for you. Or maybe having the spirits who are administering your life and circumstances be more likely to be favorably disposed toward you. Or maybe having everything in the right order, such that things like prosperity and happiness would naturally tend to result as part of that order.

Perhaps these concepts could be adapted. The general sense seems to be that luck is a feature of a relationship. Although things capable of providing luck by a relationship are presumably also capable of having opinions or preferences about why not to confer what a human might consider "luck" under some select circumstances.

The idea of "right order" is related to Taoist practice especially, but is also similar to religious practice in general: one hears of miracles happing around a dedicated saint or mystic without them necessarily even having been themselves aware that there was a problem for a miracle to solve. Also the Egyptian deity Ma'at is a direct personification of one version of "right order", and Neoplatonism involves the sometimes-related idea of Logos.

The Witch of Criswell

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

After reading The Witch of Criswell, and hearing you say all the magic there is real, I have been wondering something. I had worn a silver protective necklace since I was a child. In 2020 around the time a witchy woman started hanging out with me the necklace kept coming undone and falling off my neck. Eventually I gave up trying to wear it.

Shortly after that all of a sudden I became obsessed thinking about her, and about a week later out of the blue she said she wanted to be in a relationship with me. It was an emotional roller coaster. We broke up but I still couldn’t stop thinking about her every second that I wasn’t focused on something else. One night after attacking myself in my sleep, (I put it down to ptsd from over a decade in a warzone,) I decided to try your sphere of protection spell to see if that would help. I did it at the end of each day, and I did stop attacking myself at night. However, on your recommendation I decided to switch to doing it first thing. Shockingly I found that the moment I finished the SOP in the morning time, I stopped thinking about the woman, and haven't had a longing for her since.

I never told her about the SOP, or my obsessive thoughts, or the ceasing of them, but since that day I have never heard from her again, and in the 10 months since that day she has never posted anything on any social media, and other people who had known us have also not heard from her. After reading your book I have been wondering if I might have been the target of some kind of spell, and that the silver necklace falling off just before the obsession started and her disappearance after the switch to the morning SOP were not coincidental. Is this possible? Do spells like this exist? And if so am I protected now with the morning SOP? Or should I take other measures if I find myself in a similar situation down the road?

Thank you

Re: The Witch of Criswell

[ecosophia]

Not only is it possible, it happens quite often, and you should be fine so long as you continue practicing the SoP. One of the things I hope to accomplish with the new series of novels is to give people who don't know enough about magic some idea of what's out there.

Re: The Witch of Criswell

[(Anonymous)]

Another fan of The Witch of Criswell here. I've taken to grinding a little pepper into my closed-toe shoes once a month because why not? It's a simple enough thing to do, and with the world as amped up as it is, protection on all levels seems a good idea. Would there be any benefit to wearing a silver dime pendant/bracelet as well? If yes, what sorts of effects does it block/neutralize? Or what positive effects does it attract?

This series is shaping up to become the most entertaining and enjoyable how-to collection ever!

Thanks as always,
OtterGirl

Re: The Witch of Criswell

[ecosophia]

Yes, wearing silver is a traditional protection against some kinds of hostile magic. It's the most conductive of all metals to etheric energy, so it tends to dispel noxious etheric patterns.

Re: The Witch of Criswell

[(Anonymous)]

Does it matter what kind of silver I am wearing (e.g. purify), or how (medallion, coin, etc.)?

Re: The Witch of Criswell

[ecosophia]

Nope. If you belong to a religion that does silver medallions, it can be helpful for a priest or other holy person to bless it, but other than that, silver is silver.

Reincarnation Questions

[yogaandthetarot]

In the HOGD tradition, "what" is it that reincarnates as the Individuality? Obviously, it’s not the physical and etheric body, and I was under the impression that the astral and mental bodies left their impressions from the Personality on/in the Individuality? So does that mean the impressions and the “higher” and more subtle bodies tag along with the Divine Spark through each incarnation?


In the HOGD, once a being reaches a human incarnation, do they no longer ever go “back” to an animal or plant?

Thank you so much JMG!
With Love Jill C

Re: Reincarnation Questions

[ecosophia]

1) It's a little complex. At the end of each incarnation, the personality is absorbed into the Individuality and the bodies that once contained the personality dissolve. At the beginning of each new incarnation, the Individuality projects a new personality and gathers around itself a new set of bodies. The personality is always a mask for the Individuality; the "you" who reads these words is the same "you" who has lived countless lives in countless bodies -- but you don't know it yet, because the dream of incarnation involves hiding that awareness from yourself.

2) That's a subject about which GD writers disagreed. Some said yes, some no.

Re: Reincarnation Questions

[(Anonymous)]

Are there practices that allow you to contact your individuality?

Re: Reincarnation Questions

[ecosophia]

It's not a matter of contacting it, so much as it is a matter of waking up to the fact that you are it. Most systems of occultism and mysticism have this as their central goal, so yes, there are methods!

[(Anonymous)]

Fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸🎉. Console yourselves with the thought that the Founding Fathers, all of whom were pretty smart guys, would be as appalled by what we have today as we are. We the People are not alone, at least not in spirit.

—Princess Cutekitten

[ecosophia]