Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's 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. Along with Louis-Claude de St. Martin, last week's honoree, the inner circle of pupils of Martinez de Pasqually included this week's figure, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz. A very active Freemason, Willermoz played a central role in cleaning up the mess left by the implosion of the Strict Observance (the most important Templar order in 18th century Europe) and created a new order with its own rituals, the Rectified Rite, which survives to this day. Much of what became the ritual of Martinism came from Willermoz's hands.

Buy Me A Coffee

Ko-Fi

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use either of the links above to access my online tip jar; Buymeacoffee is good for small tips, Ko-Fi is better for larger ones. (I used to use PayPal but they developed an allergy to free speech, so I've developed an allergy to them.) If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here. 

 

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

[(Anonymous)]

Last week, there was a question from someone else about making an experience the 'object of awareness rather than the subject of awareness':
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/241747.html?thread=42340435#cmt42340435

I meditated on this this morning, which has led to some questions. The idea makes sense in that if I am anxious about something, I can 'widen out' so that seeing whatever I am anxious about in a wider perspective helps reduce the anxiety.

However, especially when I was younger, I would frequently find that my "good" experiences would undergo something that might be similar. I would be having a great experience of some sort, completely caught in the moment, and then my mind would jump in and say, "hey, it's you that is experiencing this, and at some point this great experience you're having is going to be over and only a memory". I don't know if that is the same thing as 'making an experience the object, not subject, of awareness'.

So is the technique described in the original question meant to be used for negative emotions? It seems like my consciousness has it the other way around. Negative emotions often totally fill my awareness, and positive emotions get distanced.

This has me wondering whether a) that full in-the-moment awareness where the "me" sense is forgotten is a state that some spiritual practices are meant to recapture, or b) whether the goal is rather to see that both "good" and "bad" experiences are poles of the same thing, and spiritual practice is meant to teach one to distance oneself from them. Indeed, I now suddenly wonder if this is what is meant by detachment?

Many thanks!

[ecosophia]

The technique described in the original question was borrowed from my novel The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth, in which one character teaches it to another to deal with hostile magic. Yes, it's meant to be used for negative experiences; yes, you're in the habit of doing things the other way around, and breaking that habit would be useful; yes, this is what detachment is about. As for the traditions that focus on the full in-the-moment awareness, keep in mind that spiritual traditions vary not only in their methods but in their goals; that's one goal, detachment is another, and there are others still.