ecosophia: (Default)
John Michael Greer ([personal profile] ecosophia) wrote2023-08-13 11:34 pm

Magic Monday

Martinez de PasquallyIt'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, and at this point we've reached a genuine man of mystery, Jacques de Livron Joachim de la Tour de la Casa Martinez de Pasqually. Nobody knows when Martinez de Pasqually was born or where he came from; what's known about him is that he showed up in southern France in 1754, taught an extraordinarily rich system of Gnostic esoteric philosophy and practice to a circle of pupils that included Louis-Claude de St.-Martin and Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, and then sailed away to the Caribbean in 1772 and reportedly died there two years later. The image I've posted is one of the very few portraits of the man.

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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. 
 
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!***
jprussell: (Default)

Daily Heathen Prayers and Question on Persephone Myth Comparative Work

[personal profile] jprussell 2023-08-14 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
Good Evening,

As many of us bring our summers to a close, I hope you find chances to enjoy friends, lovely places, and any flexibility you can find in your work schedule.

To Share: I'm still working through Maria Kvilhaug's /Seed of Yggdrasill/, but we had a trip with friends this week, so instead of keeping on with my review just yet, I have a collection of some Heathen prayers I say most every day. As always, I welcome hearing how this might be helpful to you, or what works for you in the same ballpark: https://jpowellrussell.com/#a_few_daily_prayers

To Ask: For JMG and the commentariat: has anyone come across comparative treatments of the Persephone and similar myths? For example, in Germanic myth, some folks like Maria Kvilhaug have compared the myth of Idhunna's capture by Thjazi to Hades taking Persephone. If anyone has come across a discussion of similar possible parallels, most of all if it's more wide-ranging than only Persephone to one other myth, I'd be very thankful for a pointer to it. Linked to this, even a good discussion of the Persephone myth alone would be great.

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
kimberlysteele: (Default)

Lending My JMG Library!

[personal profile] kimberlysteele 2023-08-14 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
I am making my JMG book collection available by mail to anyone in the continental US:

https://kimberlysteele.dreamwidth.org/96400.html
jprussell: (Default)

Re: Daily Heathen Prayers and Question on Persephone Myth Comparative Work

[personal profile] jprussell 2023-08-14 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, too bad - I had hoped that you had come across some stuff in your research for The Ceremony of the Grail, given some of your comments in podcasts about links with the Eleusinian Mysteries. Thanks anyhow, and hopefully some others will have some thoughts to share,

Cheers,
Jeff

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Good Evening JMG,

I recently had a rather vivid dream where I think I may have been visited by a goddess or other powerful female/feminine entity. This involved the most beautiful music I ever "heard" (rather lucidly); female choral singing with some exotic-sounding stringed instrumentation that followed later. "She" didn't appear in any sort of anthropomorphic form, just as a hexagram of blazing/brilliant white and golden light with a blue sky in the background.

1. I know dream interpretation isn't your thing, so I won't ask for that. My first question is that do you know of any goddess who uses such a symbol or anything like that as her calling card? Of course I open this up to the commentariat if you've never heard of or seen a blazing hexagram or choral singing associated with a goddess.

2. Is performing SOP silently any less powerful than doing so while sounding the words out loud? While doing it silently I'm still doing all the hand gestures and directional positioning normally, and of course visualizing everything as instructed.

-Cyan Truculent Possum

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
Good morning Sir and Druid.

Two questions:
1) Have you looked into the Mormon temples and their suitability or not with regards to the temple technology principles?

2) Several months ago, there was discussion on the topic of Ganesha being described as a child God. That stirred up memories of Christmas time novenas, wherein The Child God was the main focus of both the novena prayers and the carols. While titular Child God is implied to be Jesus, the Ganesha discussion highlighted the ambiguity of the title and opened up the question of which Child God is being referenced. This was in South America, so there is a grain of syncretic salt (just as the large numbers of Virgins of _____ that seem to abound in these regions) to consider. Apart from Ganesha, what other gods are there that can be described as child gods?

Re: Daily Heathen Prayers and Question on Persephone Myth Comparative Work

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
I've been looking into this after I got side-tracked on my original research on the radiotechnology component of the grail myth. There's a bunch of fascinating articles by a Russian scientist and Egyptologist Scariatin "Enel", who undertook work in the 30s and 40s on the Egyptian Mysteries. The links to those papers disappeared some months ago, but I was lucky enough to download them. My take is that the Eleusinian mysteries are a survivor of the Egyptian mysteries, and the Egyptian mysteries themselves came from a much older culture that perhaps originally developed the temple technology. These are the mysteries that Herodotus was initiated into, and of which "he said no more".

The Egyptian version has a fascinating account of pyramid grain, with substantial powers. That's where I clicked on the link to the grail, as otherwise, the concept of a "grail" at least as found in northern European accounts, is absent.

China

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
Have you seen the latest china news . They have insulted another god. If you see the pathway of the taifun that hit Beijing area avoiding Taiwan that would have weakened the taifun and hitting full force in the North. It is brutal to watch floods partially done by the government but partially by some really angry deity. Apparently the temple of the storm dragon and its son's was spared.

Also another god has made itself known of this age perkunas i think

When a totem pole mysteriously appeared on a popular coastal path in south-east England.
The 8ft (2.4-metre) wooden pole, erected on the clifftops on the North Downs Way in Kent, between Folkestone and Dover, has particularly provoked interest for its inscription with the name Perkūnas, the Baltic god of thunder.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/09/mystery-totem-pole-appears-on-coastal-path-in-south-east-england

The council in all its wisdom wants to demolish it because no permit.

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
- I've been doing the DMH Grail working for about a year. The Cauldron of the Moon is linked to intuition. Does the Grail working interfere in any way with the intuition exercise in John Gilbert's book The Doors of Tarot?

- In The Sanctified Life document you posted in the UGC posts, on page 7 at the bottom, there is the quote below. Is that meditation technique described the same thing as mindfulness meditation?

"...begin by directing unceasing efforts to keeping the mind free of attachment to any specific idea, concept, or exercise, even while actively engaged in its practice. Strive to exist solely in the moment, in God—every act, every thought, an offering to God—letting the past, the future, the “10,000 things” take care of themselves. Endeavor to maintain as pure a state of objectivity as possible, observe each and every thing around and within, tangible and intangible, animate and inanimate, with equal care and thoroughness, yet cling to nothing. As various thoughts, emotions, and sensations manifest themselves, examine them, trace each to its source, but allow no opinion, no prejudice, no preference to take root."

Thank you!

Re: Daily Heathen Prayers and Question on Persephone Myth Comparative Work

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
They are out of copyright, or not ever sure they were in copyright so I can send them to you. What email address is best?

Tendon Healing

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
JMG - I partially tore my distal bicep tendon (attaches near elbow) in the gym about a month ago. I'm doing everything I know to help it heal quickly - rehab exercises, appropriate herbal remedies, drinking bone broth for the collagen. It's really being stubborn, and I'm starting to get a little discouraged, which I know won't help. I prefer to not see a doctor for the typical reasons discussed here. Are there any additional magical approaches that I could take? Thanks!

Re: Tendon Healing

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you. I'll look into this.

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
Happy Monday JMG and everybody,
I finally had some success with my meditation work. I'm sharing it in the hopes that my experience might be helpful to someone. For the longest time I was doing everything by the book yet the sentence "I entered into a meditative state" rang hollow to me... until the last Tuesday. What moved the needle for me was frankincense. In the presence of its scent, I finally did it... taking the position, relaxing the muscles, fourfold breath, go! And I did! The smell of frankincense helped a lot. It was not easy to learn to burn it properly though.
I have a question about SOP. I am invoking Druid Deities, but that's the extent of my relationships with them. Is it OK to do so? My parents were atheists and I am slowly working my way toward faith and religion, but slowly is the keyword here.
Kirsten
thinking_turtle: (Default)

[personal profile] thinking_turtle 2023-08-14 07:49 am (UTC)(link)

To share, for those who wonder what LARP, IIRC or TSW mean, I've compiled a list of Ecosophia abbreviations.

Thanks for appearing on two new podcasts, I'm looking forward to listen to them!

To ask, I've read people mention the Qabalistic Cross and Rose Cross rituals. These both appear to be part of the Golden Dawn tradition. What is the goal of these? What are the differences between the two? Which of your books describes them?

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
Hello JMG,

a friend of mine said that he had heard from Sadhguru that it is possible to be reborn even into the past. Have you ever heard that such a thing is possible?

Greetings ExecutedByGandhi

Re: China

[personal profile] robertmathiesen 2023-08-14 10:20 am (UTC)(link)
On the Perkūnas pole see now the good short article by Francis Young:

https://drfrancisyoung.com/2023/08/10/talking-perkunas-on-bbc-today/

Sacred geometry

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 11:09 am (UTC)(link)
Welcome our host

I am looking for books on the practical aspect of sacred geometry, perhaps something towards making talismans/amulets using sacred geometry?

Orders of practical magic

(Anonymous) 2023-08-14 11:14 am (UTC)(link)
Hello archdruid

In the previous week there was a question about magical orders centered around exploring the more mystical aspect of occultism (aimed more at "making the adept be in the right place at the right time" and exploring occult philosophy).

My question:
Do you know of magical orders dedicated more to learning and developing the practical aspects of magic? More towards changing the world according to the will of the magician?

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