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.

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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

[(Anonymous)]

John--

I apparently have a significant anger issue. Not that I act out, but rather suppress--acting out isn't polite, after all.

However, my spouse is a "sensitive" and something of an empath. For some time now, she has been on the energetic receiving end of my inner life. I get embroiled, regardless of how I mask it, and she embodies physical symptoms. (Some of these symptoms have resulted in urgent care visits but the doctors find nothing wrong. This has occurred on multiple occasions, so I cannot doubt the connection between us.)

But my spiritual path is frustrating. I have been asked to give up a number of things--my idealistic views of "how things ought to be," alcohol, sex, associations and relationships with "bad energy" attachments, intellectualization, any sort of map--and I have complied. Not always willingly and certainly not always joyfully, but I have complied because it has been made clear (through multiple modes of divine communication such as synchronicities, dreams, encounters, and the like) that these things are necessary. But I am cast forth on this path with no text, not tools, no community, no tradition; just my goddess and the handful of prayers I've created. It is a solitary path and I suspect that is for a reason--namely, that I learn to experience existence without the tools I've been accustomed to using. I can understand this and still not be happy about it. (I pointed out to my spouse that Job was deemed righteous and he complained vociferously. Needless to say, she did not look kindly upon that example.)

There is a part of me that feels violated in that I am not allowed to have my feelings on the matter, regardless of how private I keep them. She, on the other hand, feels violated by my energy as she is the one physically manifesting the symptoms. The only solution appears to be to not feel what I in fact feel.

How can I deal with this anger and frustration? My relationship with my spouse is being significantly impacted but I also cannot lie to myself about my feelings around the frustrations I have with my path and pretend that I don't feel what I feel. "Using different words" has been suggested, but that falls under pretending in my book. Do you have any suggestions?

--Sepia Befuddled Dragon

[ecosophia]

This is one thing that journaling is great for. Have written conversations with your anger. Give it its voice, on paper, and let it express itself. Anger is a secondary emotion -- nearly always, what's really going on under the surface is unresolved shame, grief, or fear, usually rooted in miserable childhood experiences, and if you give the anger the opportunity to speak, you can release the anger and find the original experiences. Releasing those emotions leads to a more general healing.

Do you have trouble with depression, by the way? Very often depression is a tertiary emotion -- people get depressed because they suppress their anger, and thus their vitality and joy. Getting through the depression to the anger, and then getting through the anger to the underlying emotion, is a path to healing.

Finally, if you need some guidance and structure for this, the Order of Spiritual Alchemy exercises are very good for this. You can find the introductory steps here:

https://octagonsociety.org/preliminary-lessons/