ecosophia | Magic Monday

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Magic Monday

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. Papus and Chaboseau, the honorees of the last two weeks, each got their Martinist lineage by a tangle of mostly forgotten figures, so we can jump straight back to one of the founders of the tradition, Louis-Claude de St. Martin. St. Martin was born in 1743 in an aristocratic family and became a student of the elusive master Martinez de Pasqually, learning the distinctive system of theurgic magic Pasqually taught. Later in life, after Pasqually's death, he focused more of his attention on Christian mysticism, studied Jacob Boehme's writings, and penned a series of influential mystical tracts under the pseudonym "The Unknown Philosopher."

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~~With that said, have at it!~~

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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

(Apologies in advance for a long effortpost.) I've been thinking about the Mansions of the Moon as listed in Picatrix, specifically the 27th/Al Fargh al-Thani.

The reason this Mansion has the powers it does is due to the effects of the zodiac, because everything in the created cosmos may be located in one of the twelve zodiacal signs, specifically mediated through the further distinction of decan and term; my sense with the Mansions is that exaltation and triplicity play less of a role, but I can't yet justify this from first principles.

The Plinian description of the 27th is to destroy springs and wells; its ymage is an angel holding a perforated dish to his mouth. This Mansion overlaps the decans of Saturn and Jupiter, and the bounds of Venus and Jupiter. The decanic admixture of Saturn, who has no further essential dignity concurrent with his decan, and Jupiter, who rules both a bound overlapping his decan and the entire sign, is part of the reason this Mansion has such a sharp mixture of benefic uses and malefica; this is also the reason the Sufi mystic Al-Buni says of it, "When the Moon is in this Mansion there descends a spirit of mixed good and evil, in which you will abstain from making any preparation." This is the reason the earlier listing in bk I ch 4 gives its magical uses as:
> increase merchandise and acquire profit (benefic Jove)
> unite allies (Jupiter and likely Venus as well)
> increase harvests (Venus and possibly Jupiter mediating Saturn's influence)
> heal illness (Jupiter)
> destroy the riches of whomever you wish (Saturn "mediating" Jove)
> impede the building of buildings (Saturn)
> put travelers on the sea in peril (malefic Jove?, possibly malefic Venus)
> prolong the incarceration of captives (Saturn)
> to do evil to whomever you wish (Saturn triumphing over all)

It would be foolish to use the Plinian ymage for any of these. The Plinian ymage of an angel blowing his breath (or pneuma) onto a dish (perforated, it spills anything in it and cannot hold water, another reinforcement of the ymage's destructive purpose) is for annihilating the wells and springs of an enemy. The description gives us everything we need: as Picatrix itself states in bk II ch 3, "..from generalities, you will be able to understand and judge particulars." We already know to make the purpose of the ymage as coherent as possible; because of how the cosmos is configured, there is nothing purely coherent in the physical world of matter and energy. Everything is "a coadunation of the elements ordered for the reception of Form." We will never encounter pure Fire or even a pure Form, only shadows of the ideas. While the Moon is in this Mansion, gaining a great deal of influence over Piscean matters, as further mediated through the other rules of the Mansion's degrees, we increase the coherence of our ymage in order to magnify its effect. We draw an angelic spirit belonging to this Mansion; he's breathing on/effecting the target, water; the vessel he holds is damaged and afflicted. And in the operation itself, we call out to the Angel or Lord ruling the Mansion, ask him to destroy the specific spring, then give the ymage to our apprentice and tell him to toss it in the guy's well in the middle of the night.

I believe the powers and effects of the Mansions change based on the state of the five rulers of the degree through which the Moon is passing as the ymage is made. These effects gain further coherence based on which planets the Moon is aspecting, their own essential dignity and angularity, and the houses they rule in the chart of the election. This Mansion is used to heal illness, possibly to aid health and vitality generally. On August 3rd at my location, the Moon rises in the 27th, sextiling her disposer Jupiter with very strong mutual reception, and applying to oppose Mars, also with mutual reception. With Pisces rising, the operator is associated with Jupiter; with Leo on the cusp of the 6th, the Sun represents illness. The ymage for this election might depict a winged, angelic figure breathing on an injured body part, or, even better, speaking into a doctor's ear while the doctor examines the patient (who is drawn to look like the person we want to help). Does this look like an ok election for a healing ymage? And have I made any blunders in this longwinded description of astrological magic?

Best,
Andrew

I had three questions:

1) Any thoughts about the ethics and responsibilities surrounding teaching?

2) Any thoughts about dealing with past lives? It felt appropriate to open up to (and affirmed by divination). I didn't take any active measures other than deciding I was stable enough to deal with something that had been hanging over me for years. The results have been somewhat overwhelming.

3) Any thoughts about the karmic repercussions of being conscripted or forced into military service?

Good Evening,

To any who observe it, a happy Lughnasadh! May you begin to enjoy the fruits of your work so far this year.

To Share: Hopefully of some interest to a few others here: I'm starting to work my way through Maria Kvilhaug's big ol' book The Seed of Yggdrasill. The very short version is that it's a good book full of helpful insights that could have been truly great with better editing and organization: https://jpowellrussell.com/#book_the_seed_of_yggdrasill_1_introduction_and_the_books_of_old

To Ask: Another question on humoral food characteristics: I know you're not an expert on this JMG, but if you (or anyone else) knows - is it common for folks of a certain predominant humor to have more fondness for foods that exacerbate it than they should? I think that I must have a Choleric disposition, and reading the list of foods cholerics ought to avoid in Humoral Herbal was practically a list of all my favorite things - fatty meat, salt, dairy, spicy, caffeine, spirits. Is this a common kind of imbalance?

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

Greetings JMG and Commentariat,

So the usual suspects along with the coming storm, tower time, and war in the otherworld, are now going on about a new Storm Goddess reaching out to them. Any idea what this could be? I got a feeling none of us are gonna like it.

You could certainly try that. Magic is an experimental science, however, and the proof of the pudding is in the eating; give it a try and keep careful records of the results you get, and then you'll know whether your theoretical approach to the question is correct. Btw, why "ymage"? There's a perfectly good English word for that already.

Hi John Michael, do you know of any protocol or advice for ending relationships with troublesome spirits that one might find themselves entangled with? Goetic and Lwa type spirits in particular. Thank you in advance!

Wanted to add in a separate post the webpage of a writer that's a good source on Taoist Magic for those interested: https://benebellwen.com lots of good info if a bit "woke" at times.

1) You can't control what people are going to do with what you teach them. It's important to give them as good a chance as possible to make the right decisions, but some will crash and burn.

2) Those show up when you're karmically and evolutionarily ready for them. Yes, it can be overwhelming, but once that stage gets past it's very helpful to know where you've been and why you're here.

3) That's something that happens if you have karma to work off. What you have no control over generates no new karma.

That's not unbalanced. It's normal and healthy, according to the old books, for people to be drawn to foods that maintain their usual humoral balance, e.g., if you're naturally choleric, hot and dry foods will appeal to you, and it's healthy for you to eat them. Only if you become excessively choleric will you want to eat more cool and moist foods for a while.

My guess is that it's going to turn out to be Jehovah, but we'll see.

You need to thank them, let go of whatever benefits you've gained by associating with them, and take up some other spiritual practice that doesn't make room for them; classic high magic with a daily banishing ritual is one option, sacramental religion is another.

I've read (and written a blurb on) one of her books, and thought it was quite good. Thanks for this.

Cliff Low writes it that way and I assumed he had a good reason. I'm definitely going to give the operation a try.

Ah, this is what I get for only skimming Humoral Herbal thus far, thanks very much. I thought I was looking at a lifetime need to balance things with a more cool and moist diet by default. That being said, cutting back on the hot and dry foods and drinks has helped me clear up some mood and general health issues, so I'm sold on paying attention to such things from here on out.

By all means. Cliff's got a lot of experience with this stuff.

That's one of the places where the humoral system contradicts modern assumptions. The basic rule is that no two people have exactly the same natural balance of the humors, and therefore no two people thrive on exactly the same diet; one size emphatically does not fit all. The important thing is to find the point at which your body, with its inborn choleric temperament, is healthiest -- and that'll inevitably be on the choleric side of the midpoint.

I have a friend whom I have reason to believe is the target of hostile magic. He has been suffering dental problems, ear problems and especially eye problems, the latter severe enough to make him fear the loss of sight.

I know who is the spell caster, a young person who has the advice and support of an older and highly experienced magical practitioner.

I would like to do something to protect my friend and help him get his health back. I have some basic skills in the HGD tradition. The most suitable thing I know of would be to practice my Hellenized version of the Rose Cross ritual on his behalf. Would this be a good one to use for such a purpose? Is there anything else you would suggest, that I could do with my fairly modest HGD skills?

Assuming the Rose Cross is suitable, I have a follow-up question. I don’t have enough floor space to leave temple center for the visualization of my friend. How might I modify my visualization to accommodate the limited ritual space at my disposal? Also, how often should I do this?

My friend been to see some doctors but they have done next to nothing for him. He has little money and is basically at the mercy of the American medical system.

I can see that, a flavor of Christianity that's almost the exact same but with a goddess

Hi JMG,

I was thinking of a discussion on your blog a while back regarding Magic Resistance-type projects to curse Vladimir Putin and how they were likely to fail due to using the romanized version of his name. By this same principle, does it follow that the heavy use of insulting images and nicknames for a person makes it less likely that collective ill-intent will affect them? For example: Drumpf, Blurmph, Big Cheeto, der Drumpenfuhrer, etc. Couple that with all the silly caricatures cooked up by cartoonists and it seems likely that many of Trump's detractors will vent their derangement syndrome on these names and images in their heads rather than at the man himself. Recall also the panoply of nicknames for George W. Bush: Duhbya, Shrub, Chimpy McCokespoon and so on. I always had a sense that all this nicknaming was self-defeating along with being juvenile and I feel like I've just connected some dots as to why.

I have an amusing TSW story that others may find entertaining, perhaps even instructive. Also I have a small question about my experience.

A few months ago, under the influence of certain New Thought figures, I tried an affirmation. It was something like “I am successful.” For now I prefer to be little coy about the exact wording.

One day I repeated this affirmation, or one very similar to it, for some time with great vigor and passionate conviction. This was no mere mechanical repetition; I really put my heart into it. Doing so felt heady, exhilarating.

The very next day I found myself in the parking lot of my local supermarket. As I left my vehicle behind and headed for the entrance, a man approached me. I didn’t know him from Adam nor he me. He stepped right in front of me and spoke. And do you know what he said?

He declared loudly,

SIR! YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL! YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL!

He repeated this several times. Completely out of the blue.

Half an hour later, as I bagged my groceries and prepared to leave the checkout counter, there he was again, right in front of me. And again he said:

SIR! YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL!

More than once. It was kind of an embarrassing situation, but I’m not complaining. I’m fine with it.

Not for a millisecond do I believe this happened by mere coincidence, nor that it would even once in a thousand years.

I am unshakably convinced that somehow my thought and feeling propagated outward in whatever medium carries them and influenced a receptive mind in such a way as to produce this response.

So now for my question. What is that medium? Is its nature etheric, or it astral? How high up the planes must thought and feeling travel to be communicated in this way?

I’m hoping to find constructive ways to employ this phenomenon to my advantage, and that of those I care about, and for the disadvantage of no one.

I've been attempting a practice based off that counterspell in your tentacle novels, where you make something you don't like the object of your awareness, rather than the subject of your awareness.

I've found that if I visualise my anxiety, intrusive thought, or whatever annoying problem I have that day, in the way a pilot might see a few flashing things on a heads up screen, the problem has a way of dissolving in its own smallness against the rest of my vision.

Does this seem an accurate way to explain the practice?

1. Do trees have a 'front'? Do they 'face' in a particular direction?

2. What does it feel like for a plant to be pruned? Is it more like a haircut or an amputation?

Hi JMG,

This evening I finished “A Druid in Psychologist’s Clothing”. Howe’s use of Druidry in psychology was really quite interesting. The quaternary thinking bit offers more than a few themes for meditation. Definitely, revisiting chapter 12, Howe’s Via Positiva, too.

As a side note: it took me a while to ramp up my ability to read the book. I believe that my online reading and media consumption have made focusing on longer form books with some depth to them more challenging.

Frankly, it was a bit disturbing to witness this short attention span that had developed in myself. Thankfully, a few good books is all it is taking to get things right again.

Thanks,
Eric

Is it possible for a family line to be cursed down through the generations?

If yes, can it be broken?

I'm asking as someone who would break a curse, not inflict one.

The Ninth Mouse

Morning John,
There is an interesting section in the Cosmic Doctrine that I would appreciate your thoughts on. It relates to the 5th death.
“He then seeks freedom from the lesser love, and with this desire for escape from that which is good though finite in order to realise the good that is infinite, causes the fifth death, and he is born into consciousness of the Individuality and lives upon the planes of the Individuality, perceiving “the face of the Father which is in heaven” but with the asking of desire come again the dreams and with the dreams come the recall into matter, the Spirit “beholding the face of the Father” until consciousness is weary with its brightness, closes its eyes and sleeps and sleeping, it dreams of its unfilled desires and so it is born again, for upon the plane of desire a state of consciousness is a place, and as we desire so are we reborn, thus each man makes his own Karma.”
This section seems to sketch out how the Individuality falls back into incarnation, and it seems to hinge on “the asking of desire”, which then causes the Individuality to turn away from the brightness of the divine and fall back into material form. Is this the right interpretation? And why would the Individuality having finally achieved the task of perceiving the face of God seek suddenly to turn away again?
Kind regards
Averagejoe

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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Magic Monday

Mansions of the Moon

no subject

Seed of Yggdrasill Review Part 1 and Being Drawn to Humorally Unbalanced Foods

And now a new goddess

Re: Mansions of the Moon

Ending relationships with spirits

Taoist Magic Resource

no subject

Re: Seed of Yggdrasill Review Part 1 and Being Drawn to Humorally Unbalanced Foods

Re: And now a new goddess

Re: Ending relationships with spirits

Re: Taoist Magic Resource

Re: Mansions of the Moon

Re: Seed of Yggdrasill Review Part 1 and Being Drawn to Humorally Unbalanced Foods

Re: Mansions of the Moon

Re: Seed of Yggdrasill Review Part 1 and Being Drawn to Humorally Unbalanced Foods

Steps to protect a friend

Re: And now a new goddess

Nicknames, Caricatures and Curses

TS for sure W

New visualising practice

no subject

A Druid in Psychologist’s Clothing

Curses

Cosmic Doctrine