ecosophia: (Default)
John Michael Greer ([personal profile] ecosophia) wrote2023-08-06 11:26 pm

Magic Monday

WillermozIt'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 hereAlso: 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.

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Bookshop logoI'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!***

(Anonymous) 2023-08-07 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Are there actually laws stating you can't, for instance, draw tarot cards to decide whether to place a trade? Have laws like that ever used to prosecute someone who mentioned doing it? I can see such a law being applied to diviners and psychics who advertise paid services providing stock tips but how is it supposed to be enforced on individuals who do it themselves?

(Anonymous) 2023-08-07 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, in many places around the world. In some cases it's part of anti-witchcraft laws (such as much of the Middle East); in others, there is a legal presumption that it's actually a cover for insider trading and it becomes the diviners job to prove it wasn't, a task which is often impossible; and others, such as Canada, just have the blanket prohibition.

Enforcement, at least what I saw, works the same way as practicing medicine without a license. Most of the time, done on a small scale, there's no real enforcement because it's not possible to detect when it's happening. But when it's done by a big name, or someone gets a lot of money from it, then the law can, and quite often is, used on people who admit to using divination.