Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for 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 1.1 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 image? I field a lot of questions about my books on magic these days, so I've decided to do little capsule summaries of them here, one per week. The book on the left is the current edition of my third published book, Inside a Magical Lodge. This was my first really original work of nonfiction; Paths of Wisdom and Circles of Power were both attempts to present the Golden Dawn system of Cabala and ceremonial magic respectively in a clearer and more user-friendly form than existing books had managed, but this one broke new ground; there's still nothing else like it in print. In the years before I wrote it I'd joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, an old-fashioned fraternal lodge, and realized that huge amounts of classic magical technique assumed that you had a lodge background -- which next to nobody has these days. So I set out, between the covers of a single book, to explain what lodges are, how they work, and how they can be put to use by aspiring mages.

It's one of my better books, though it badly needed the revision I gave it when it got its new edition a few years ago. Like all the books I consider my best, its sales were decidedly modest. Still, it found an audience, and I still hear tolerably often from people (most of them Freemasons) who find it extremely useful for making sense of the old but still functional toolkit of traditional lodge practice. (If you're interested, you can get a copy here if you live in the US and here if you're anywhere else.)

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

Ecosophia Prayer List

[tunesmyth]

At this link is the full list of all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared across the Ecosophia community. A printable version of the entire prayer list current as of 10/29 may be downloaded here. Please feel free to add any or all of the requests to your own prayers.

If I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom a relevant person holds power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below.

(Also, if you think you might be interested in having anyone pray in support of your own self-improvement, please have a look at the Ecosophia Prayer List Autumn Special.)* * *
This week I would like to bring special attention to the following prayer requests.

May the brain surgery that Erika's partner James underwent for his cancer on October 16th have gone successfully; and may he be blessed, healed and protected, and successfully treated for all of his cancer.

May Kyle's friend Amanda, who though in her early thirties is undergoing various difficult treatments for brain cancer, make a full recovery; and may her body and spirit heal with grace.

May Jeff Huggin's friends Dale and Tracy be blessed and healed; may Dale's blood and spinal fluid infection clear up sufficiently to receive a heart valve replacement; may his medical procedures go smoothly and with success; and may Dale and Tracy successfully surmount these difficulties.

In the case of Princess Cutekitten and the large bank who is suing her, may justice be done, with harm to none.

Lp9's hometown, East Palestine, Ohio, for the safety and welfare of their people, animals and all living beings in and around East Palestine, and to improve the natural environment there to the benefit of all.
 

* * *
Guidelines for how long prayer requests stay on the list, how to word requests, how to be added to the weekly email list, how to improve the chances of your prayer being answered, and several other common questions and issues, are now to be found at the Ecosophia Prayer List FAQ.

If there are any among you who might wish to join me in a bit of astrological timing, I pray each week for the health of all those with health problems on the list on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun's rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join me.

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this as always.

[(Anonymous)]

Back in 2007, I was invited to join a magical working which had as its goal making people on the Right see the Left accurately. This was done by a bunch of Leftists who were convinced (as I was, in those days) that the only reason people on the Right weren't Leftists was that they were brainwashed by the Right. I've since had cause to review my old notes, and came across this and realized that there's probably a good reason why my divination told me not to go there.

I've realized that there were two ways that the target of this working could have been met: the first was to adjust the image the Left had in the mass mind on the Right; the second would be to align the Left with the image held in the mass mind of the Right. The first option, would, however, instantly create a situation of magical conflict, and might not work at all on some of the folks on the Right. Fundamentalist Christians, for example, have some kind of spiritual connection, and were never going to embrace seeing the Left as it stood in 2007 as anything other than satanic monsters.

In the years following this working, the Neopagan scene collapsed morally and spiritually (to match the image the Right held of them), and then a sizable fraction of the Left in general began acting out the lurid fantasies the Right held of it: atheists turns to demonolatry; the pro-choice movement began to embrace infanticide; the tech companies began overt censorship and information control; the "War on Christians" became a lot more real, with things like bans on closing stores on Sunday; and so on and so forth. This was not the intention, but it looks to me as if the working is running its course quite nicely: the image the Right holds of the Left is aligning with the way the Left really is.

All I can say about the scale of the working is that it was done by at a minimum a few dozen groups scattered all over North America; and it does seem to me that the timing is suspicious as well. I doubt that on its own it could have accomplished the complete collapse we see, but it seems odd to me. Is it possible this working plays a role in the radical changes the Left has undergone in the last 15 odd years?

[ecosophia]

Hmm. That's fascinating, and at least potentially plausible, but I'd want to know more about the working and more about just how widespread it was before trying to guess how large of a role it played in the moral collapse of the Left.

Blessed bus ride

[vitranc]

Hi JMG,

I have recently gone back to the blessing walk idea of the Essen Order, and I wanted to ask if it is possible to do the blessing part without walking?
I have a daily bus drive and have started blessing people I see on the bus and on the street.

I would also like to ask about the surces for the seed bearers conecpt, you mentioned them in a podcast you did earlier this year, and I know Dion Fortune mentions them in the See Pristes.

best regards,
V

Re: Blessed bus ride

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, of course! I don't recommend doing it while driving, because it interferes with concentration and thus with vehicle safety, but if you're sitting on board a bus, a train, or any other vehicle you don't have to pilot, you can certainly do blessing work.

2) I got it from Dion Fortune. I'm sorry to say I have no notion where she got it.

Astral oddities

[open_space]

I get a really weird sensation when I manage to connect better than usual to the astral. Normally I get the images, scenes, feelings or the likes but some other times it is not that I am receiving things as in a screen but more like it's me who is going somewhere else and suddenly it feels like I fall or an overwhelming sense of space or a vast expanse.

Have you heard of this?

If so, how does "space" work in such a place? I feel I am somewhere but there is no perspective (in order to move somewhere) and no floor or friction so the "walking" doesn't really seem to work!

Re: Astral oddities

[ecosophia]

No, that's not something I've heard of, but one thing to keep in mind about the astral plane is that it's more varied and complex than the material plane, and people's experiences of it vary just as widely. You'll have to figure out for yourself how to function in that setting.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello John and others,
A question about how I can improve the environment around me
What’s are the ethical and personal repercussions of practicing cleansing type magic in public spaces? More specifically places like gyms. Ethnically is it ok to do something like the Judson exercise in a public gym? And in doing workings, do I pick up any of the energy I banish?

If anyone has tips about what they do in (bus, hotels, gyms) I would be most interested to hear
Thanks
A friend

[hearthculture]

I find that when I do my personal work in the morning before the day begins, I'm better able to navigate the other spaces. I feel most comfortable offering the Modern Order of Essenes blessings to the people, plants, animals, and items in a space and that seems to help lighten the area. I also express gratitude to what I interact with (even items,) and that seems to help as well.

[(Anonymous)]

I thought of something while reading about the Israel-Palestine conflict. The zionist project as it currently exists can be said to involve an attempt at rewriting the myth of the Exile. The zionist jews are trying to pass off the role of the exiled people to the Palestinians while taking for themselves the role of the exiler. This, it occurred to me, is the essence of projecting the shadow: trying to rewrite a story to make yourself out to be the hero or the winner of the story while putting someone else in the role you're stuck in. I never conceived of projecting the shadow in such mythic terms until now.
And if I'm right and the zionists really are trying to invoke the myth of the Exile, this is going to end even more disastrously than I thought. Maybe there's something to the not-uncommon claim that zionism is antisemitic...

[(Anonymous)]

I think a better fit might be Mizraim (Biblical Egypt). During the Exile, the Jews were banished from their lands; while in Egypt they were forced to remain stationary. There's also the detail of God hardening the pharaoh's heart, which would seem to fit...

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

I'd like to check a detail in the air to earth pathworking in CGD. On p184 of my copy, it says "the sky will darken and the stars come out as you pass from sunset to midnight", but should this be "from sunrise to midnight"? I thought the inner grove of air was at dawn.

With thanks for your valuable time.

[ecosophia]

Yes, that's one of several typos in that book. It should be from dawn to midnight, of course.

More of a followup note.

[jpc_w]

Back in your notes on Chapter 5 of Levi's Ritual, I asked you about the lights in Carnaki's "electric pentagram".

Well, after reading a paper on William Hodgson's awareness of emerging technologies, I can't say for sure what the bulbs were, but candidates include Geissler tubes, custom Crookes tubes, true Cathode-ray tubes, and Tesla's Plasma Lamp. All of them could run from large batteries with 1900's voltage rectification, albeit not brightly or for long periods of time.

If I had to guess, the true Cathode-ray tube is the sibling of the vacuum tube, a very similar device used for electronic signal switching and radio frequency filtering. This was state of the art filament-free tube technology before "modern" neon lighting.

"Modern" neon lighting became commercially available just after the period Hodgson was writing the Carnacki stories, but the technology trends from Geissler's time on were pointing in that direction.

Re: More of a followup note.

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Many thanks for this. I'd love to see someone build an electric pentacle using such tubes. There's a whole world of retro dieselpunk magic -- orgone boxes, Hieronymus machines, etc. -- and an electric pentacle would make a great addition to that.

Berserkers

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I was reading about the Viking Berserkers, who seemed to take on the spirit of an animal in battle and been described as nearly unstoppable to those who fought them, impervious to elements like fire. Do you know of any other notable examples of similar “magically-enhanced” warriors in history who could alter the course of a fight?

And also, do you think such animalistic practices would not be as useful in modern warfare due to technological developments for weapons, in which physical ability seems to be more trivial?

Re: Berserkers

[ecosophia]

1) Good heavens, yes. Many ancient peoples had ways to use shamanistic, magical, or mystical practices in battlefield conditions. Using animal forms was a bit unusual, but there are historical reasons for that -- I discussed them in a blog post here:

https://www.ecosophia.net/our-werewolves-ourselves/

2) These days? Not outside of a very few fringe contexts. Most of the killing that takes place in war nowadays is a function of skilled operation of complex technologies, not raw physical strength and toughness. The current Ukrainian war is a case in point. The Ukrainian infantry are by and large just as tough as their Russian adversaries, but the Ukrainians are suffering much higher losses than the Russians -- on the order of 10 to 1 in some engagements -- because the Russians have better artillery and more drones. Heroic courage doesn't do you a lot of good against a hundred pounds of high explosive on the business end of a Lancet drone.

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you answered a question from a person that seemed weary of being in a body. Your answer included "It can be a useful incentive, too, to do the necessary spiritual work and also to work off the last of the karma that holds you here, so you can complete your time in matter and go on to more interesting things."

What is the necessary spiritual work you speak of? What are the core lessons that need to be understood? Is it different for everyone? The amount of work I would have to put in to get to sainthood is too much to think about, but every time I think about having to do another life I sort of crumple...and I was born in very good circumstances! I'm just not interested in succeeding at almost anything anymore other than art or music, but even that has lost most of its shine. The only thing that really captivates me is magic/high strangeness/real mystery. The frontiers of consciousness, but not to escape life, to make it weirder and more interesting. I would add I enjoy small earthly pleasures, but modern life to me is so boring and without risk. Might be first world problems I don't know...

[ecosophia]

The spiritual work in question is complex and varies to a great extent from person to person. One of the central aspects, though, is gaining the kind of reflective awareness that allows you to distance yourself from your own thoughts and feelings -- including, crucially, your ego, which is the collection of thoughts and feelings you have about yourself. As for your first world problems, it's quite reasonable to see the modern world as a miserable place. It really is a miserable place -- but it's also temporary, and is coming apart around you right now. The ending of the modern age is shaping up to be very rough, but you certainly won't find it boring and without risk!

Ukraine colored converse high tops

[corrnata]

If it was magic Sunday I'd open with "Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot; for there is a reason why gunpowder and treason should ne'er be forgot".

I have gone and orded last night the dk parker astrology book as you recomended last Monday. I've also gone and orded yours The Occult Philosophy Workbook and beyond progress. Plus I put in a preorder for The Secret of the Five Rites.

So this week's questions

1. Do you plan to go on any podcasts for the new book?

2. What does the astrology say and has been saying on the Ukraine war?

The reason I ask this bit of a tangent but I may make you laugh. So earlier in the year a astrology video about the Ukraine war and in the video It made the prediction that the war would end in November and Donald Trump would play a role. Obviously I found this idea hilarious that and Trump not in office so like how.
So I was in a local cafe with a friend telling telling him about these predictions laughing our arses off. Then next too us was 300lbs man wearing custom converse in the colours of the Ukraine flag and a bag in the colours of the Ukraine flag. Truns around and say "I shall have you know I'm Ukraine" which me and my mate look at him and in our facial expression without saying a word say "and sooo your point"
Synchronicity as well the cafe itself branded with the Ukraine colours but it was that long before the war.

With that have you seen the news with Ukraine and trump. This astrology prediction is coming true.

3. The youtube channel in question has rebranded as cosmic cybernetics. Obviously to find the video in question but in the channel name and Ukraine.
In an attempt to rename astrology to appeal the science and progress lovers, what do you make of this name and the idea of cosmic cybernetics?

Have a pleasant week.

Re: Ukraine colored converse high tops

[ecosophia]

1) That depends on whether any podcast hosts decide they want to have me on. I'm pretty much always available for podcasts, if somebody's interested.

2) The astrology of war is a complicated subject. The astrology show you mention did a pretty good job, as the US is pretty clearly trying to find a way out of the Ukraine quagmire now that it's painfully clear that Ukraine isn't going to win, and in a very real sense, Trump is involved -- more precisely, the Biden regime's panicked realization that if the war's still going on during the election campaign, their side's going to lose badly. I doubt we'll see an end to the fighting this month, however, for the simple reason that the Russians have nothing to gain by a negotiated peace. They're winning; all they have to do is keep up the pressure for another year or so, which they can do easily, and they win everything.

3) It sounds like balderdash to me, but then I'm old-fashioned.

[(Anonymous)]

John how do you decide what to use magic for? I got interested in magic originally as many others have to “get stuff” with little or no work. Obviously if you are prudent and do your homework you figure out that isn’t how things work. It is abundantly evident you have put many years of hard work in on your writing, but yet I wonder sometimes where you would have deployed magic (if at all) in that regard. If someone was starting from scratch and wanted to be a painter or a filmmaker or anything, I understand they would have to learn and diligently practice those skills, however what would a skilled mage do to assist the type of success desired? Ask advice on how to proceed from spirits? Do rituals for road openings and better opportunities? You have written about doing major multi-day operations - what would one do these for exactly? The reason I think about you as an example of living magic is you ended a post once about achieving or accomplishing something (I can’t remember) and along with the mundane efforts that you wanted “magic, buckets of it”. That has stuck firmly with me because I have that feeling too...I’m not afraid of putting in the blood sweat and tears for anything, but I definitive want buckets of magic poured all over it..but how?

[ecosophia]

The great secret of magic is that its most effective use is in changing yourself. Yes, you can change your environment to some extent through magical practices, but then it's the same old you in the new environment, with the same old flaws and failings and weaknesses. Use magic to get rid of the flaws and failings and weaknesses, or to give yourself ways to work around them, and the doors open wide.

Let's say you want to become a painter. What's keeping you from becoming one? You need some skills; okay, magic can help you get those. (One of the most successful talisman workings I ever did got me two years of university without a penny of student debt.) You need some opportunities; sure, you can use magic for those, too. But you also need work habits, a clear personal vision, various capacities of mind and eye and hand, and the list goes on -- and all those things can be gained or amplified by magical workings.

Finally, magic is itself an art. It requires daily practice, which starts with simple workings and builds from there. That's most of the magic I do these days -- and I put about an hour and a half a day into various magical practices. Start with that and the buckets will show up sooner than you expect.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
Dear commentators,

I hope you are all well and healthy.

Is there any idea as to what era the system of incarnation on earth began, where the first beings to incarnate here came from and why they came and also who were the celestial entities that control this entire system?

Thanks in advance!

[ecosophia]

It's complex, but Dion Fortune's book The Cosmic Doctrine covers that in quite some detail, to the nearest approximate metaphor. (Metaphors are all we are capable of understanding about it -- imagine the dust mites in Mozart's hair trying to understand his music.) Oddly enough, I've recently published a commentary on that very book.

GD pentagram rituals

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Mr Greer,

I'm interested in the "prehistory" of the GD pentagram (and hexagram) rituals in general and in that of the LBRP in particular. There are several questions I'd like to ask. (Please acccept my apologies if my post is too long.)

1. In the SIRP, the GD uses 6 Hebrew Divine names to invoke/banish the 4 Elements + Spirit Active + Spirit Passive. Four of these names (those composed of four letters) are also used in the LBRP. To the best of my knowledge, no definitive rationale behind the LBRP attribution of these four names to the four quarters has been offered.

However, while skimming the Heptameron I chanced on an illustration depicting a magical Circle to be drawn for some of the magical operations contained in that grimoire. I was struck to see that magical Circle featuring three of the four LBRP names in the specific LBRP arrangement – to wit, using a clock as an analogy: AGLA at 9, TETRAGRAMMATON at 12, and ADNY at 3 (the only difference being ELOY, rather than AHYH, at 6).

My question: could it be that the designers of the LBRP borrowed its structure from illustrations of magical circles found in primary sources on medieval/Renaissance magic? And therefore that the rationale behind the choice and specific arrangement of the LBRP names would, in fact, be "as simple as that", rather than the product of (rather speculative) theological/metaphysical considerations sometimes found in GD literature?

2. In the GD, each point of the pentagram is attributed to a particular element. If the attribution of Spirit to the top point needs no commentary, what is the rationale behind the other four attributions? (Earth=bottom left, Fire=bottom right, etc.) Did they originate in the GD, or were they derived from some earlier sources?

3. Agrippa's Scale of four refers to the Archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel explicitly as the "angels ruling over the corners of the world" and to the four cardinal directions as the "four corners of the world" (both being obvious references to the Book of Revelation), thus providing the following basic attributions: Michael=East, Uriel=South, Raphael=West, Gabriel=North. Additionally, and significantly, the same Scale mentions "the four rulers of the elements" by name and these are explicitly not the Archangels. It would therefore appear that according to Agrippa the attributions of the Archangels to the four quarters is primarily spatial (e.g. Michael=East) rather than elemental (e.g. Michael=Fire) in nature.

My question: what is the origin of Agrippa's attributions of the four Archangels to the "four corners of the world"? Did Agrippa borrow his spatial attributions from a preexisting tradition? Or was this an original contribution of Agrippa?

(Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells features the exact same attributions, but that work is much later than Agrippa's, so there is no telling whether Heywood borrowed his attributions from Agrippa or from some independent source.)

NB: I'm well aware that the Scale of four also includes elemental attributions (East=Fire, South=Earth, West=Air, North=Water) and that these attributions follow ancient astrological symbolism based on the elemental nature of the zodiacal signs. But if we were to follow that line of reasoning the question would then become: if Archangel Gabriel is in the North because the North is Water, then why (and by whom / what tradition) was Archangel Gabriel attributed to Water in the first place? (And the same question applies, mutatis mutandis, to the other Archangels.)

Thank you for your time and for any help you can offer with my questions!

Re: GD pentagram rituals

[robertmathiesen]

The four archangels you name under point 3 are the only four angels named in the Bible: Michael and Gabriel in several places, and Raphael in the Book of Tobit (which is canonical for Catholic and Orthodox Christians, but not apocryphal for Protestant Christians). Uriel is named only in the book called 2 Esdras in the Protestant apocryphas, but (usually) 3 Esdras in Medieval Latin Bibles; it is not found in Eastern Christian Bibles (except for the Slavonic Orthodox Bible). So the pattern of four and only four named archangels is a relatively late development in Western Christianity.

Once it developed, it was easily added to the other "Fours" of Medieval cosmology: the four Evangelists, the four Gospel symbols (Man, Lion, Ox, Eagle), the four points of the compass, the four stations of the sun (solstices and equinoxes), the four seasons, the four humors, the four temperaments, the four elements, the four ages of a human life, etc. etc. So yes, it's a preexisting tradition.

Work in astral place

[(Anonymous)]

I have been shown (or given?) a "place" in the astral by a planetary deity.

This place is clearly a workplace of sorts. Think about the equivalent of, say, a study room or a tool shed with workbench, but on the astral plane.

I have been shown this place during my regular planetary worship, in increasing detail. The deity has been communicating with me mainly through symbolic images. Or rather, these images are all I have been able to pick up so far. Maybe he has also been talking to me all the time, but I simply haven't been able to hear him...

I've been able to make sense of some of the images through meditation and pondering, but by far not of all I was shown yet. And while it's clear that I'm supposed to do something there (my guess is several different things, and long-term, like studying or practicing something), I have only a very vague idea yet what these things could be - and how to actually "do" them in the astral.

At this point, I'm a bit at a loss at how to proceed:

Asking the God for advice on that would be the most natural step, but I'm not sure that getting more symbolic images will be of much help right now.

Thus I've started to "enter" that place via scrying, just to get accustomed to it. My plan is to look around a bit in each scrying, slowly discover the surroundings, check the contents of containers and all the other outfits, and simply discover the place and get used to it. This will likely take me several scryings and the meditations to go with them, maybe more.

At this point, I would very much appreciate your advice:

1. Is this a feasible plan? Is there anything else I should or could do, or not do, at this point?

2. For the scryings: Do you recommend entering and leaving them the "GSF way", i.e. from the GSF room, through a door with an appropriate symbol, and then later closing that door while imagining that any unwanted energy/entities stay behind it on the astral? Or can I simply enter the place directly?

And if the former and I enter it directly, e.g. because I meditate on it and kind of end up there, how do I best leave it?

3. Is there anything I should do in or around this astral place, while I'm there, to keep it "safe"? (It clearly has a way for others to enter it, for specific purposes, although I'm not quite clear yet about these purposes - and I have no idea at all if they can enter it at will, or only if I "invite" them in when I'm there).

Or will the fact that a God has an eye on it be enough to keep it and me safe?

4. Is there anything I can do to speed up my "hearing" of what that God tells me (apart from what I'm already doing)? This particular planetary deity is on the more communicative end of the spectrum, i.e. I'd be surprised if he wouldn't try to talk to me directly. But as I said, I just can't hear him yet...

5. And in very general terms, what can one "do" in the astral?

If it helps, the place is clearly intended for me to do work on my own, in various ways, but also to interact with other "people". What kinds of things could one do for others in such a place, and for whom?

I'm also aware that the planes are discrete. Still, could one e.g. "read" a book there and learn something for the rest of one's life? Or practice a craft or something similar, and with what kinds of effects in the rest of one's life?

This is clearly a place for me to work in - but I have no idea at all what kind of "work" is even possible in such a place. Could you give me a general overview of the kind of things which might be possible there? Or point me to relevant literature, posts or other texts?

I feel that having a better idea of what is possible or feasible at all, and with what kind of effects, would help me understand everything a lot better.

++++

Sorry for the long post. I have enough common sense to know that this is a valuable gift, and I want to make sure I treat it accordingly and make the most of it.

Thanks a lot for Magic Monday, and for your answers!

Re: Work in astral place

[ecosophia]

If you're working in the GSF system, you should certainly use the GSF method for scrying. Start going to the inner place regularly -- doing your daily meditation in that space might be worth trying -- and let your perceptions of it ripen. You may find, as many other occultists have found, that when you are in such a space it is much easier for gods and other inner plane communicators to talk to you in words, not just imagery. Beyond that? The god who gave you the space knows what he wants you to do with it. Let him lead you.

sacred architecture

[randomactsofkarmasc]

I am reading The Canon by Stirling and just finished the chapter on The Temples. In that chapter, he goes into some detail about the architecture of the Parthenon. Do you know if someone has done a similar write up on The Temple of Zeus at Olympia?

Thank you.

Re: sacred architecture

[ecosophia]

I don't recall seeing any such analysis, but it's certainly possible. You might consider giving it a try.

Calcination

[(Anonymous)]

My attempts at spagyric tinctures have been marred by consistent failure with calcination.

After burning the strained vegetable matter to ashes, I put the ashes in a cast-iron pot over a medium flame for several hours. They seem to be reduced to even ashier ashes, and though they appear white when hot, after being soaked in distilled water and then poured through a coffee filter, what I get is pretty dark. Evaporating the water over low heat leaves something brown, and more resinous than crystalline.

The most detailed instructions I’ve found are in the Manfred Junius book. They make me wonder whether the temperature or duration of the treatment in the cast-iron pot has been insufficient. Do I need an industrial thermometer to measure the heat?

I would be glad to learn what I’m doing wrong.

Re: Calcination

[open_space]

Fwiw the way I do it is on a container that allows for air flow but not much, like a large pyrex beaker. Then you light it and move it when the alcohol on top is not much, the stirring releases the alcohol underneath.

Then you gently blow it until it turns into hot red coals until no more alcohol remains. You take that into your mortar and pestle and grind it, add more mercury and light it up again. When the salts are red hot again and don't require alcohol just keep blowing the flames and stirring and all the specs have been consumed and reconsumed by the "coaling". I've never achieved white but more like a light gray.

This is Stavish's method from The Path of Alchemy

[jenniferkobernik]

Last week I was speaking with my father-in-law, a devout charismatic Christian, when I suddenly had a strong urge to give him a message. I didn’t say anything at first, but I then experienced an escalating sense of internal pressure and heat starting at my toes and moving upward until a beam of energy shot forward out of my forehead and something briefly spoke through me to him.

I would say that the “something” was the Holy Spirit, despite my not being Christian. My father-in-law has a deep and ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. The best that can be said for me in that regard is that I’ve mostly gotten over the aversion I developed to Christianity as a child and teenager, and I respect my in-laws’ very sincere and spiritually rich Christianity.

I did not feel maliciously possessed by any means, and I believe I could have refused to cooperate if I had truly wanted to, but at the same time it was definitely another entity speaking through me, and while I do remember what was said, the memory is a bit weird and hard to recall, like a dream.

My husband, without my saying anything to him about the experience, later asked, “What was that, a bit of mediumship?” and told me that he felt my presence recede and another presence take over.

While it wasn’t a bad experience, and I certainly don’t want to set myself up in opposition to divine will, I am a bit dubious about this whole spirits taking over my body thing (what could go wrong?), and a bit confused by it being what seems to be the Christian divinity when I personally feel a bit icky about Christianity (I did once have a very clear sign that I should remain a Christian as a teenager, but ultimately when that was untenable became an atheist and then a Druid of the pagan polytheist sort, so that’s a bit of an ongoing source of confusion and unease).

So that was channeling, right, however brief? Anything in particular you would recommend that I do or not do beyond basic spiritual hygiene in light of this, or if I choose to try to further develop the ability (if that’s advisable)?

Thank you.

[ecosophia]

As long as you remained conscious during the procedure, you're fine. The kind of channeling that can have harmful effects is the kind where you lose consciousness and wake up after the trance with no recollection of what the spirit said through you; that's unpleasantly close to being possessed.

Very clearly that message *needed to be passed on* and you were the best person to do it. If you decide you want to develop the ability of conscious mediumship, you might see if you can find someone else who does it -- it's best passed on by those who have experience in it.

Fate, Will, Destiny

[alexandermarcus]

Thanks for hosting, JMG

I have recently noticed that my life is imbalanced with regards to fate, will, and destiny as described in the Druidry Handbook and Dolmen Arch. Specifically my life is dominated by fate. I’m living in the past.

What are some practical steps I can take to correct this imbalance? If relevant, I’ve completed the Dolmen Arch.

Thanks!

Re: Fate, Will, Destiny

[ecosophia]

I wonder if you might find the Order of Spiritual Alchemy work helpful. Its goal is to release unproductive emotional burdens from the past, of the sort we all have.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG and fellow Ecosophia readers,

Does anyone reading here do bird omen interpretations, or bibliomancy, or feel like reflecting on the experience below?

Last Tuesday, I was dwelling on the sad state of affairs in the USA after reading some information on how pharmaceutical companies (such as the Sacklers) targeted people in Appalachia and other rural areas with opioids. The anecdote I read specifically was about how they deliberately hired/recruited foreign-born doctors to run pill mills in these areas, because the companies discovered those doctors had fewer qualms about overprescribing the drugs (presumably because they didn't have family/cultural/emotional ties to the areas they were working in). I have a personal connection (through my in-laws) to one of these Appalachian areas devastated by opioid addiction, and have seen firsthand its decay and decline over the past 15+ years.

I looked out the window just as I was brooding over this, and saw two hawks flying very low right over my yard—-probably no more than 15-20 feet high. They were mid-fight, sparring at each other with their talons, and doing barrel rolls as they fought. This lasted all of 2-3 seconds, then they flew out of sight, still fighting.

I felt this was some kind of omen, though not a good one. I happened to be standing by a bible at this same moment. (I read one chapter of the New Testament daily and meditate on it, as a spiritual practice.) I reached for it and asked God to give me an interpretation of what I had seen.

I opened to Jeremiah Chapter 11, the theme of which is very heavy--it's about a broken covenant with God, and the ensuing punishment. A link: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2011&version=NIV

Specifically, my finger was on Verses 22 & 23: "therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine./ Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

Quite sobering.

I've done some meditating on this over the past week, and I do feel that this country has deeply lost its way on a spiritual level, and a new pathway must be forged or the decay and devastation will only spread. But I'm not feeling particularly hopeful at the moment for this kind of change any time soon.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks for reading this far.

Bibliomancy 101

[homeopathic_meditations]

In my experience, picking up a few verses will cause needless distress, because our mind will make a beeline for the most grim line and latch to it. Instead, my process is something like this:

1. Pray for guidance. Light a consecrated candle and under its light do the following...
2. Pick the book/chapter. Open the Bible roughly in the half, pass my open hand over the left side, then the right side and try to feel what is the correct side. Do not pick whatever page you opened up first, move a chunk forwards or backwards depending on the tingle of your hand. Repeat several times until you feel you pick the track. Do not read as you do this.
3. Pick the verse. When you have narrowed down the text to a couple of pages, move your index finger up and down. Close your eyes, because the temptation to read will be greater and no one can unread anything. The line that feels "hot" is the personal message for you.
4. Open your yes. Read the line immediately above, at and below your finger. Re-read them, but this time picking full verses (either leave a little bit out, or pick a little bit more).

As for interpretation...

5. Read the whole paragraph for context. This is still the Divine speaking, but more in an informational tone and not so much as "this is what you need to do now". Meditate on how this applies to the situation at hand.
6. Read the whole chapter for context, and the foot notes, and the next/previous chapter as needed. Your aim here is to inform your intellect of the whole situation (though you will need to do less of this if you study the Bible regularly and are able to remember the whole passage from the top of your head). Reassess how this all applies to the situation at hand.
7. Go back to the One Verse that is the crux of the message. Pray one more time, read it aloud, discern what is for you to do about the situation.

---------

Now, since I obviously cannot do all that for this post, please take what follows with a grain of salt. But I will point out that the curse is not towards the unfaithful common people who have deviated from the ways of their parents, but towards those who are actively working to suppress the Prophet and the Lord's message. And while the future ahead for the common people looks dark, there's nonetheless the fact that the Lord willed to send a Prophet to warn them, so they would be prepared and not keep making their situation worse that what is already. I notice also this goes well with the omen of the two fighting falcons because, it is the Prophet against the Anathothites, fighting for the ears and hearths of the People. If the omen where about the Lord of the Host against any human power... one of the falcons would have been an old, fat and not particularly smart squirrel.

Daylight Savings Delenda Est and Similar Energy Centers Across Systems

[jprussell]

Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a good Halloween/Samhuinn/other mid-fall holiday! Can I just say that it strikes me as profoundly backwards that Veterans' Day, honoring the living, is during this time of year, and Memorial Day, honoring the dead, is at the turning of spring to summer.

To Share: Just a short placeholder this week, on why Daylights Savings should go: https://jprussell.dreamwidth.org/13886.html

To Ask: Obviously you should stick with the specific visualizations given for a practice, but I was curious: when visualizing energy centers with the same/similar location and attributions, but within different systems, to what degree are they "the same?" The main example that comes to mind is visualizing the Tree of Life as part of the MOE "Bridge of Healing," which includes a heart and belly center, versus the "Three Cauldrons," which has cauldrons in the same spots, with similar, but not identical, symbolic associations.

As always, thanks very much to JMG and everyone else here for all that you do.

My blessings and best wishes to all who will have them,
Jeff

Re: Daylight Savings Delenda Est and Similar Energy Centers Across Systems

[(Anonymous)]

You know, I never thought about the point you bring up about Veteran’s and Memorial Days. Hmmm.

—Princess Cutekitten

[robertmathiesen]

I'd like to weigh in to praise this book of our host's. I think so highly of it that I assigned its first edition to students in a few of my small "independent study" courses on magic at Brown University, way back in the day. Lodgework hasn't influenced my own personal style of magic, but a great many of my magical acquaintences owe a lot to it.

One of the things that (IMHO) caused the decline of the old fraternal orders in the USA was the formation of a country-wide social safety net during the many long years of FDR's presidency. Pretty much all of my male ancestors in the 19th and early 20th centuries were active lodge members (Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, one of the less occult Druid orders, etc.) in part so that the womenfolk wouild not be left to starve after they died or if they became disabled. (This happened to lots and lots of women back in those days.)

But in addition their obvious value as safety nets for families, the fraternal lodges were also an excellent training ground for young men to become good men, and then better men. There is a very good study of this aspect of lodgework by Mark Carnes, Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (1991). The loss of this important training gound was clearly one of the harmful consequences of FDR's reforms.

[jprussell]

I recently read an excellent article on how lodges and other small, local groups served as training grounds getting things done at all levels of society, which allowed for remarkably robust, decentralized responses to things like the Civil War and the Spanish Flu: https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/03/30/a-school-of-strength-and-character/

Divination?

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, JMG and everyone! In recent weeks, I can recall seeing notes from several of the experienced diviners who frequent this forum (including our host) that have mentioned difficulties and inaccuracy plaguing their practice, even across different modalities. I'm currently trying to deepen my ambiently Druidic spirituality, and have been preparing to take up the Ogham. But now I'm wondering if, given the unsettled "astral weather," now might not be an effective time for a newbie to wade into the waters.

What do y'all think? Should I go for it anyway, or would I just be setting myself up for an extra dose of confusion and frustration?

Also, I can recall that sometimes it's been mentioned that different methods of divination seem to have different... attitudes, I guess? But I can't specifically recall what was said about the Ogham, and I'm curious as to what kind of responses I can expect from it (assuming that I can actually get it to talk to me, lol). I've dabbled in tarot some, and with some success (though I haven't tried consulting it for a couple of years now), so that's all I have to compare it to.

Thanks!

Re: Divination?

[slclaire]

For whatever it's worth, I'm not having trouble with divination of the what-do-I-need-to-know-about-today variety. That's as clear, or not clear, as it's been for the 10+ years I've been doing it. I don't do divination on bigger questions because I don't think I can keep my hopes or illusions out of it. I wonder if it's the divinations on bigger questions that have been more problematic, or if it is all divinations.

[tamanous2020]

Hi JMG,

I hope you're well. I was hoping to get your thoughts on a geomancy reading I did today.

Geomancy Q- If I asked X out on a date, would she say yes?

1- Puer
2- Amissio
3- Puella
4- Via
5- Via
6- Carcer
7- Caput Draconis
8- Puella
9- Caput Draconis
10- Rubeus
11- Conjunctio
12- Fortuna Minor
RW- Fortuna Major
LW- Amissio
J- Carcer

Interpretation- No, with Carcer standing as the negative judge, even if mitigated by a strong RW in Fortuna Major. Amissio in the LW indicates sorrow/loss if I proceeded forward.

Amissio is generally a negative, but I do see, in your geomancy book, it is good when trying lose something, like your heart to another person romantically, so I'm a little confused there. I also see Caput Draconis in the 7th house which would be suggestive of new relationship, but which doesn't perfect, so not sure if it adds anything to the interpretation.

Your thoughts would be appreciated, thank you.

Tamanous

[ecosophia]

Whether you read the judge and witnesses or the houses, the answer is no. Of the judge and witnesses, two are negative; that's a no. In the houses, no mode of perfection connects the figures of the querent and the quesited; that's a no.

I think you're trying to rush things, for what it's worth. Puer, the figure in your house, can indicate pushing too hard too soon, and Fortuna Major, the right witness (which also represents you), is a sign of difficulty at the beginning followed by success later on.

[(Anonymous)]

Happy Monday JMG,
Thank you for being here. Here's my Monday question: HOW do you you go about "completely ignoring the other guy"? I'm having trouble with that. I've tried certain things and they work for a short while, but then my head space gets consumed by "the other guy". Every time I catch myself thinking about "the other guy" I tell myself, "Kirsten, stop and think about X, Y, Z", "Kirsten, stop and look at the beautiful clouds", etc. I'm excited about the positive ideal and think about it a lot, yet "the other guy" keeps creeping back. Any advice?
Kirsten

[ecosophia]

It's not necessarily easy. One thing that helps me is having some very absorbing things to think about, so "ignoring the other guy" is easy -- after all, the other guy is usually pretty dull, all things considered.