Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just past 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. Last week's honoree, Jean Bricaud, received the headship of the Martinist Order from this man, Henri-Charles Detre, who wrote under the pseudonym Teder. Detre was active in a great many occult circles in early twentieth century France; he was the head of the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose+Croix (Cabalistic Order of the Rose+Cross), headed several esoteric Masonic rites, and was also the chief of the French branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) back in its pre-Crowley days. He headed the Martinist Order for only two years, from the death of Papus in 1916 to his own death in 1918.

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I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.

And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com.

With that said, have at it!

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

Comments

My Take on Revival Druidry and What Makes It Last

[jprussell]

Good Evening,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and a great summer (or winter, for folks down under)!

To Share: I've written up a very short introduction to the Druid Revival, interwoven with how it came to be a part of my own spiritual path. Likely not much this crowd doesn't know about what Druidry is or where it came from, but hopefully there might be some interest in what it has meant to me: https://jpowellrussell.com/#a_quick_grounding_in_revival_druidry

To Ask: I've been thinking through what it is that has allowed the Druidry Revival to quietly keep on chugging for 300 years without ever riding the wave, up and down, of being an alternative religion fad like Spiritualism or Theosophy. I've come up with a list of the things I think have done the most, but I'd welcome thoughts from both JMG and the commentariat on whether these are a. right and b. exhaustive. So, challenges to my assumptions as well as things that I am clearly missing are most welcome! Stated briefly, I think that the Druid Revival has been able to stick around so long, comfortable out on the fringe for the following reasons:
1. It spoke to a real unmet spiritual need of the early modern period that continues to be inadequately met by mainstream options: engaging with the divine through nature
2. A very appealing central aesthetic image: the widely (but barely) known druids of yore
3. Around this very clear spiritual and aesthetic core, druidry is /very/ flexible, allowing it to easily fit into some rather different spiritual lives and different times
4. Druidry has emphasized "walking the walk" - don't just put out dogmatic statements, try to lead your life such that it's consistent with what you wish the world were more like
5. All of these things have been done out in the open - any time folks who aren't on board have looked at Druids doing their thing, they can clearly see there's nothing wicked going on, at worst it's some weirdos doing their own thing peaceably.

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: My Take on Revival Druidry and What Makes It Last

[ecosophia]

Those certainly did play roles, but -- er, Revival Druidry did in fact go through a series of booms and busts. The largest of those was in the early to mid-19th century, when quite a few people in Britain went cuckoo for Druidry. We were spared the most recent round of boom-and-bust activity, the one that saw Wicca go up with the rocket and down with the stick, mostly because Revival Druids had a reputation for being dull!

[open_space]

Huh, I didn't even know there was a pre Crowley OTO. Thanks for the fact!

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, yes, Crowley hijacked it, he didn't create it. (He really didn't create much.)

[(Anonymous)]

John--

My fourteen year marriage may be heading for dissolution. What or who would be best to invoke to prevent this or, in the alternative, to help me get through it?

--Fuchsia Flaming Prairie Dog

[ecosophia]

Depends entirely on the reasons why it's heading into trouble. If the problem's a failure of communication, invoke Mercury; if the problem's a lack of love, invoke Venus; if the problem's a loss of the generosity of spirit needed in any relationship, invoke Jupiter.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

You have sometimes advised that people with mental illness severe enough to be prescribed antidepressants etc. shouldn't study ceremonial magic. Is this because of the risks presented by the features of such illnesses themselves, concerns about the interactions between the effects of magical energies on the body and the effects of medications or other issues?

If a practising magician fell so ill as to require such medication, would you recommend they modify their practices?

I realise this is dicey territory, so I emphasise that I am not requesting advice about the use or prescription of any medication, just about what you think a magician could or should do in the situation I've described.

[ecosophia]

Antidepressants are among the most overprescribed medications in America today; people who are suffering from ordinary, reasonable levels of depression and anxiety are routinely put on them. A mage who is put on antidepressants for a condition that would not have been medicated fifty years ago can probably continue practices without difficulty, though I'd recommend regular invocations of Venus and Jupiter to help balance out the emotional state. It's only in the case of really serious clinical depression -- the sort that makes everyday life activities impossible -- that it's probably wise to step back a bit on one's practices.

Interestingly, Marsilio Ficino back in the Renaissance considered melancholia (that is to say, depression) an occupational hazard of scholars and mages, and recommended invocations of the Sun, Venus, and Jupiter, along with warming and moistening foods and plenty of music, to help balance the emotional state.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Thank you for MM. A couple of questions:
1. Wouldn't you say that a sub Titan catastrophe is a perfect manifestation of Saturn in Pisces? I'm going through my second Saturn return. So far, it's somewhat severe.
2. On your other blog, there was some discussion about Naomi Wolf experiencing a severe health emergency as a karmic culmination. Would you elaborate on karmic culmination? What is it?
Kirsten

[ecosophia]

1) The suddenness of it makes it sound more like a Uranus event, or maybe Mars, but Pisces is certainly appropriate.

2) Very often, when you take up spiritual practice for the first time, any unresolved karmic business you've been running away from shows up and has to be dealt with. That's karmic culmination. Once you get through it, you've cleared the decks and you'll very often find life improving significantly, but the initial stages can be hard to get through.

solstice and equinox

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG and everyone here,

What happens on the spiritual plane during the solstice and equinox?

thanks you,

Re: solstice and equinox

[ecosophia]

The solstices and equinoxes are special points in the interactions between the Solar Logos, the spiritual being "who hath made his tabernacle in the Sun," and the planetary spirit of Earth. At the equinoxes, when the earth's orbit crosses the plane of the ecliptic, a current of influence from the sun energizes the earth. At the solstices, when the earth is as far as she goes from the plane of the ecliptic, the earth turns back to renew her relationship with the sun. The resulting energetic changes are important in many traditions of ceremonial magic.

[gardenandtome]

To share: an observation I wrote up about the changing understanding of the times we live in that seems to be spreading among Christians: https://gardenandtome.dreamwidth.org/5429.html

To ask: I know very, very little about numerology, but in the post linked above I wrote: “All of these were posted today, 7/7/2023. As you may be aware, the number 7 is significant in Christian symbolism. Additionally, 2023 is related to 7 in two ways: the digits add up to 7, and it is divisible by 7. And if I want to stretch the point just a little further, when you factor 2023, you get 2023 = 7 x 17 x 17.”

Question: is there any numerological significance to the date 7/7/2023, or are the above just a fun set of coincidences?

[ecosophia]

There's numerological significance to every number -- every date, every time, and every name, since we all learned the alphabet as a sequence (sing along with me: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G...") and so all words are also numbers. Since everything that can be numbered has numerological significance, however, that means that no one number is that big of a deal, unless it has some other source of importance.

That said, you might like this text from the Wisdom of Solomon, one of the books of the Apocrypha: "But thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight" (Wisdom 11:20)

[(Anonymous)]

Good Morning,

To share: Following one of the links in the other blog, I came across this account of the use of a perfume, which effects are wholly Martian in character.

http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2021/09/bijan-men-psychotropic-cologne-for.html?m=0

The question that arises is, Is perfumery a branch of alchemy, operating rather openly under the guise of mere aesthetic preparations?

[ecosophia]

I'd classify it as natural magic rather than alchemy, but perfumery certainly has significant occult dimensions.

Apostolic succession; Gnostic lessons

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG and everybody else!

I hope you are all having a pleasant start into a good week! :-)

A few questions around the UGC today, if I may:

1. What happens when a person who has received apostolic succession via consecration dies? Is the apostolic succesion only „valid“ during one lifetime, so to speak? Or does it also have effects in the afterlife, and especially during any of the future reincarnations of this person?

(If, say, John Gilbert would enter reincarnation, would his former consecration have any effects during his next life?)

2. And a couple of questions to you as bishop of the UGC, if I may:

A friend of mine is turning towards a new path in life and might benefit from a blessing/naming ceremony to mark their new commitment.

I‘m working my way through the Gnostic Lessons (currently at the Healer stage).

Since the UGC is currently dormant (and I’m technically also not a member), would you still consider it appropriate if I did a blessing/naming sacrament and ceremony for them in the name/tradition of the UGC, as the text suggests?

3. I know I don‘t need anybody‘s permission to perform a ceremony of any kind (yep, I‘m getting the hang of that gnosis thingy… ;-) ). But I feel that such a ceremony might have more „oomph“ if it is based on the UGC, instead of just on myself.

Am I on the right track here, or would you think the „background“ of such a ceremony doesn‘t matter at all?

4. And finally, I haven‘t done the commitment ceremonies yet - I’m going to catch up on them as soon as some other things wind down, probably starting in August.

The text says the ceremonies are optional. Would you still advise (or as a bishop maybe even insist) that people do the commitment ceremonies before they perform any ceremonies of blessing or naming for others? (And if so, would you mind explaining why?)

Thanks, as always, for your help on this journey! And if you will have them, my blessing to you and your wife - may you have a wonderful, productive and healthy week together!

Milkyway

Re: Apostolic succession; Gnostic lessons

[ecosophia]

1) The consecration doesn't remain with the soul, but it leaves certain imprints behind. If it would be of benefit to the soul to receive consecration again in another life, that's easy for the spiritual forces behind the tradition to arrange.

2) The UGC may be dormant as an organization but the tradition is still very much alive, so yes, you do do this.

3) Good question. That's something you'll want to explore yourself.

4) Yes, you should do the ceremonies before doing other ceremonies, because learning how to do ceremonies is part of the point!

SOPs and Revival Gods

[hwistle]

Hi John, a couple of questions this week, if I may:

1) If one was to take up magical practice following either The Dolmen Arch or The Druid Magic Handbook, is it feasible to use your "latest" version of the SOP (Dr. Ashley's, I presume? :-)) instead of the given version? Or to put it another way, are the different Opening and Closing versions interchangeable? I feel more at home with the non-cross Opening (and, for that matter, more at ease with the basic closing!) but was wondering whether the change might have an impact further down the line (vg conflict with further exercises in DMH or DA)

2) Have you considered writing a book/post on the Gods of the Druid tradition? I know you have said before that there's very little in print about them, but I'm sure I won't be the only one who would love to read more about them, almost to expand on the information you gave in the DMH appendix, perhaps including quotations from other Druids, poems by Nuinn, maybe your own suggestions for prayers or invocations? If this is not in your list, could you suggest some pointers for research? So far I've got Nuinn, Lewis Spence, Owen Morgan and Edward Davies (and Iolo, of course!)

As usual, many thanks indeed for your time!

Re: SOPs and Revival Gods

[ecosophia]

1) You can use any version of the SoP you like in any of the books.

2) Hmm. No, I haven't considered that, but I'll consider it; it may be quite a while, though. The sources you've cited are the ones I'd use.

[thinking_turtle]

To share, for those who wonder what abbreviations like SP, SoP and SGO mean, there is a list of abbreviations available.

This week I read the book "Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth". That was a pleasant read and I finished it within a few days! The coming weeks I plan to meditate on each of the seven laws: wholeness, flow, balance, limits, cause and effect, planes and evolution.

To ask, a question about the red bag amulet from the FAQ. I've wondered if I myself am perhaps radiating negative etheric energy, and the red bag stops that, preventing other people from reacting negatively. What do you think of this possibility? Is it possible to unintentionally radiate "hostile magic", for example if you're unhappy with the way material is maintained?

[ecosophia]

You may be radiating negative influences; many people do sometimes. The red bag amulet is especially useful in that case, because very often the negativity we experience in our lives is a consequence of the negativity we radiate, and stopping that radiation can improve our lives no end!

zeeo and human sanity

[(Anonymous)]

JMG and commentariat - Looking at platonic solids and geometry I came across an interesting proposition regarding the Cistercians and the introduction of zero:

*****

They claimed zero was a device of the devil.

This may seem silly to our modern minds, but they realized the profound implications zero would have on human consciousness that would open the door for humanity to separate itself from its spirituality and believe that the material reality was the only true reality.

Merchants adopted the zero, nonetheless, for ease of calculation.

Suddenly zero permitted numbers to represent ideas which have no form. This was an entirely new way of looking at numbers."

In antiquity, ‘idea‘ meant ‘form‘ and implied geometry and Idealism represented consciousness giving form to reality.

‘Idea‘, therefore, was redefined. Ideas became less real than physical ‘things’. Humanity began to become separated from the knowledge that consciousness (ideas/thoughts/emotions) formed all physical reality.

Lawlor explains, "This breakdown of the simple, natural logic of the arithmetic structure allowed a complicated mental logic to take its place and invited into mathematics a whole range of numerical and symbolic entities, some of which have no verifiable concept or geometric form behind them."

Physicist Conrad Ranzan writes, “The rejection of aether and the consequential incomplete theory of gravity has led theorists to propose highly speculative universes of mathematical genre – abstractions devoid of reality.”

Dr. Harold Aspden concurs, “Modern physical theory has become abstract. The starting points of the original papers on the subject are mathematical, the treatment is mathematical and the conclusions are mathematical. In many instances there seems to be no relation whatsoever to the phenomena which make up the world of experimental physics.”

*****

Two more quotes from the article:

"Culturally speaking, the reverse of this ‘spiritual nihilism’ of the East is ‘materialism’ of the West."

"The ancients knew consciousness was the source of the physical. This began to slip away during the ‘Age of Reason’."

Has anyone read or seen discussion of these ideas?

I am finding the idea that introduction of zero could have initiated a cascading effect that has resulted in western societies level of current craziness quite fascinating - that the shift from the monad representing unity by introducing a level of abstraction via zero, has quite literally, driven folks insane?

Any thoughts?

For anyone interested, here is the link: https://www.cosmic-core.org/free/number-zero-and-one/

Given zeroes and ones under all this digital malarkey - if the cistercians were correct, it might go some way to explaining some of the creepiness of the internet.

Might we be needing the quivlent of a butlerian jihad before the human species can regain some semblance of balance and harmony?

Cheers all

[earthworm]

Re: zeeo and human sanity

[ecosophia]

I first encountered that same proposal in Robert Lawlor's fine book Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice. It's quite correct, of course.

There are at least two other consequences of the introduction of zero that might be worth considering here. First, it ruined the West's sense of proportion. The number line used to go like this

(nothing) .....1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4..... (infinity)

This made it natural and easy to think of four as one-fourth of a whole, and so on; this fostered a way of thinking about proportions that makes good art much easier. Replace it with:

(negative infinity???) ....-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, .... (infinity)

Which fosters the modern habit of thinking that you can just add on more units indefinitely, and thus leads to ugly art and architecture.

But the second one's the real kicker. Care to guess why negative numbers became so popular in late Renaissance Europe? They made it easy to calculate debt. The entire bizarre modern conception of debt as something with its own value, something that can be bought and sold and used as money, rests on negative numbers. In earlier times, people knew better; that's why lending money at interest used to be considered a mortal sin. Dante puts moneylenders deeper in the Inferno even than heretics.

Disavow your ancestors, they said

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, thanks again for these posts. I was just reading this post by Galina Krasskova:

https://krasskova.wordpress.com/2023/03/25/never-ever-disavow-them/

It recounts a rather grotesque humiliation ritual where white teachers going through a diversity training session were told to stand before the group and disavow their ancestors. Galina and her commenters discuss the consequences of such an an act for the teachers in question.

I was wondering about the consequences for those who conduct these training sessions. Interlocking oaths of fealty are an important part of many social structures, both spiritual and temporal. What do you see as the spiritual implications for a group that tests fealty by demanding that people formally violate family bonds in this way? There seems to be a rising trend in PMC culture of demanding displays of loyalty that go directly against the grain of natural behavior and morality. For instance, given the negligible scientific value of Dr. Fauci's beagle experiment, there has been speculation that it may have functioned as a test for the professionals involved: would they carry out this pointless cruelty with no questions or objections?

Re: Disavow your ancestors, they said

[ecosophia]

Oh, that's standard Marxist practice. You force people to break their ties to their ancestors, their culture, their communities, and everything else, so that their only remaining loyalty is to the Marxist cadres. It's very destructive to the personality, but if all you care about is power, it's a neat little trick to impose on your lackeys.

As for Fauci and the beagles, no surprises there either. In Nazi Germany, candidates in the SS officer training school were given a puppy to raise to adulthood. After a couple of years of taking care of it night and day, and going through all kinds of experiences with it, they were expected to kill the adult dog. If they showed the least hesitation they flunked out.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I've been reading through the The Celtic Golden Dawn book with a view to possibly starting work on the Ovate grade. The teaching includes the use of spagyrics which use alcohol. As someone who doesn't drink alcohol this would be an issue for me.

1) Could I leave spagyrics out when I'm working through the CGD grades without 'breaking' the system?
2) Or is there an alternative to using alcohol when making spagyrics?

I appreciate that the various parts of the CGD system are designed to work together to form a whole, so I understand if leaving out spagyrics would break the system. I've also been reading through the Druidry Handbook and the Druid Magic Handbook, so if the CGD is not an option for me because of the above at least it would help me narrow down which path to choose!

Thank you very much,
Mauve Crunchy Carbuncle

[ecosophia]

The alcohol is essential to the spagyric process, and the spagyric work is essential to the initiations. That being the case, you'd probably want to follow the path of the Druidry Handbook and Druid Magic Handbook instead.

[booklover1973]

Since upthreads there is a discussion about why Druidry managed to quietly survive the ca. 300 years since its emergence, my question today is why the Neopagan movement has had such a colorful rise and fall during the last decades? And, presumably, Neopaganmis didn't cease to exist, instead it merely retreated to small subcultures, is this correct?

[ecosophia]

That's a complex story. Until the 1970s Wicca was a small and fairly quiet initiatory tradition that required a great deal of work from prospective members. What happened in the 1970s is that a number of people figured out how to create a Wicca Lite that involved a lot less hard work and would be much more appealing to the pop culture of the time. That launched the modern Neopagan movement on its way. Like every form of pop-culture occultism -- Theosophy and Spiritualism are two good examples -- it attracted a lot of people, ballooned in size and influence, got watered down even further, and finally got supplanted by other fads. Now it's on its way back down to small subcultures; it's not quite there yet but the writing's on the wall. If things follow the usual pattern, we'll go through thirty or forty years in which political fads are more popular than spiritual fads before the next pop-culture occultism gets going.

A Right Time to Start a Lodge

[inykane]

I was wondering when would it be a right time to start a magical lodge?

I am currently halfway through "Learning Ritual Magic", which means it's still quite a number of months until the self-initiation ritual. From then on it would seem natural progression to continue onward to "Paths of Wisdom" and "Circles of Power". "Inside a Magical Lodge" would seem like a good purchase before undertaking the effort.

Would a good time to start the lodge be after the self-initiation? Or would it be advisable to wait until I have had more experience myself?

Re: A Right Time to Start a Lodge

[ecosophia]

You need to wait until you have considerably more experience. Once you've finished Learning Ritual Magic, I recommend working through at least the first half of Circles of Power while studying Inside a Magical Lodge. I also recommend that you join a fraternal lodge -- the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Grange, whatever you have in your area -- so that you understand how lodges and lodge initiations work; too many people who lack that experience make a thorough mess of things if they try to start a lodge from scratch. Once you've got that background behind you, then you can consider starting a lodge.

[(Anonymous)]

From circles of power, for the eucharistic and other rituals that use a rose, can a preserved or dried out rose be used?

[ecosophia]

No, it needs to be fresh. Your local florist will be glad to help you.

[(Anonymous)]

What day of the week is best for mailing in an application for educational financial aid? Thank you.

[ecosophia]

Wednesday. Mercury rules letters, and he also rules education.

Astrology and the Meridians

[readoldthings]

Hi JMG,

Some time ago, you mentioned a group of French Druids who had created a system of acupressure (or something) which specifically linked the 12 meridians to the 12 signs of the (Western) Zodiac. Can you point me to a source for this? Or do you happen to know how they assigned the meridians to the signs?

Re: Astrology and the Meridians

[ecosophia]

Sure. The book you need is Do-In 2 (also titled The Second Book of Do-In) by Jacques de Langre; it's out of print but can be found fairly easily in the used book market.

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning! I hope you and everyone else are having a fabulous day so far!

1) Is the purpose of discursive meditation in the FHR (and in general, I suppose) to try and have gnosis with a concept instead of just becoming informed about that concept by reading about it? Is this the point of path working? To have gnosis of the Tree and not just being informed about it?

2) How would you distinguish between mediumship and necromancy? Is there a meaningful distinction to be made between the two?

Thanks so much for hosting this space for everyone and taking questions, it means a lot.

[ecosophia]

1) That's one of the reasons for both of these practices, yes. They have other purposes as well.

2) Mediumship, when it's used to contact the dead, is one form of necromancy. There are others.

Feng Shui-ed

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! I asked last Monday about remedying the bad vibe of my bedroom, and got some helpful advice:

No feng shui pros in my area, so I did the best I could: read a book on it, as well as the "House that Cleans Itself" book that someone recommended also (despite being a book about housecleaning, she has some very cogent advice about furniture placement)... then digested all that for a bit, moved all my furniture, added a couple of strategic houseplants, and the difference is AMAZING. In case it helps anybody else, I *think* the thing that made the biggest difference was moving the bed-- it had been under a window *and* while not exactly opposite the door, it was the biggest thing in my sightline when I opened the door-- moving it to an interior wall changed both of those things, so now I no longer feel like I'm being irradiated by the streetlights while trying to sleep, and the first thing I see when I open the door is a long stretch of empty floor... which makes the room look way bigger and less crowded. Plants are helpful, but they seem to be a distant third to just moving the bed.

One interesting side-effect: for lack of anywhere else to put it, my desk, and computer, are in my bedroom. I was initially inclined to blame them for the gross vibes, but for whatever reason, moving them to a different wall completely changed how I interact with my computer-- I spend less time at it, and the internet got way more boring. I call that a win! In case it's relevant and anybody else wants to experiment, I moved it from a south wall to an east wall. Both interior walls.

I'm now very curious-- has anybody else found that the location of the computer in your house affects how much you use it, and how engrossed/compulsive you are about using it?

Re: Feng Shui-ed

[ecosophia]

Delighted to hear this. Yes, I tend to be very careful where I put my computers -- I have one I used to access the internet, and another with no internet access where I do my writing -- for that reason among others.

Necromantic amulets & LBRP

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John Michael,

I have inherited some amulets of SE Asian origin which contain necromantic elements and ghosts. I must praise them regularly, but my personal magical path is more Western magical in nature.

Do you happen to know if the energy of practices like the LBRP is likely to conflict with the nature of these spirits, i.e., is it possible to banish and protect without banishing spirits of the dead and of other traditions when doing the LBRP?

Thanks,

P

Re: Necromantic amulets & LBRP

[ecosophia]

That's a fascinating question but I have no idea what the answer is. You'd have to experiment and find out.

Ecosophia Prayer List

[tunesmyth]

Here are all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared across the Ecosophia community. Please feel free to add any or all of the requests to your own prayers.

If I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom a relevant person holds power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below or in the comments to the post linked above.

* * *
This week I would like to bring special attention to the following prayer requests.

Boccaccio, who has had difficult brain and nervous system health issues for over a decade, will visit Spain this week to see a renowned special to better diagnose his issues; for a successful trip to Spain, and healing and resolution of all of his health problems.

Oilman2 has survived cancer and is learning to adjust to a rebuilt colon and learning how to walk again; for healing energies, for robust fitness in his new physical circumstances, and for him to remain cancer free.

Tamanous's friend's brother David got in a terrible motorcycle accident and has been diagnosed as a quadriplegic given the resultant spinal damage; for healing and the positive outcomes of upcoming surgeries and rehabilitation, specifically towards him being able to walk and live a normal life once more.

Lp9's request on behalf of their hometown, East Palestine Ohio, for the safety and welfare of their people and all living beings in the area. (Lp9 gives updates here and most recently here, and says "things are a bit... murky"), and the reasonable possibility seems to exist that this is an environmental disaster on par with the worst America has ever seen. At any rate, it is clearly having a devastating impact on the local area, and prayers are still warranted.

* * *

Guidelines for how long prayer requests stay on the list, how to word requests, how to be added to the weekly email list, how to improve the chances of your prayer being answered, and several other common questions and issues, are now to be found at the Ecosophia Prayer List FAQ.

If there are any among you who might wish to join me in a bit of astrological timing, I pray each week for the health of all those with health problems on the list on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun's rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join me.

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this as always.

Wands--what's in your pocket?

[(Anonymous)]

This is going to sound like the opening to a rude joke, but it's actually a question related to a handicrafts project. If you have a wand, I would like to know the length and width, and if your wand has attachments like crystals, wire wrap, ribbons, or other kinds of projections/snaggy bits. Thank you!

--Sister Crow

Re: Wands--what's in your pocket?

[booklover1973]

I have several wands, all of them of wood, the average length of them is about 28 cm / 11 inch, the thickness is on average 1,5 cm / 0,59 inch.

About Magical Resistance ending badly

[neptunesdolphins]

In the other blog, you mentioned that the Magical Resistance could end up like Heaven's Gate. Why? Is there something inherent in their magic that causes them to mesh as a group and move as one? What are the signs that this may be occurring? Is there anything to be done about it?

Re: About Magical Resistance ending badly

[ecosophia]

First, there's an enormous amount of groupthink in that scene. Second, they abandoned their ethical compass -- do you remember when "An it harm none, do what you will" was central to Neopagan practice? I do -- and yet these people, most of them Neopagans, abandoned that in favor of death spells and invocations of demons against their political enemies. Third, they're getting increasingly obsessive about the supposed war in the Otherworld, and equally so about their "Tower time" persecution fantasies. Put those together and mass suicide becomes frighteningly possible.