Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's just before 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 these days, so I've decided to do little capsule summaries of them here, one per week. The book above on the left is the current edition of my sixth published book, Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings. These days books on investigating reports of monstrous entities are all over the place, but that wasn't the case in 2001, when this first saw print.  I happened to be doing a lot of investigation of certain entities in the Puget Sound area in the years just before then; I thought it would be interesting to get some of my experiences and ideas in print; the book was a pleasant project to write, and it sold like hotcakes -- and, er, I may have some very small share of responsibility for those books on sparkly vampires, because unless you happened to spend time in the stacks of old university libraries full of mostly forgotten anthropology publications, this was for some years the one place in print you could find out that there's a very lively werewolf tradition among the native peoples of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington -- you know, near Forks.   If you're interested, you can get a copy here if you live in the US, and here if you live elsewhere.

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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. 

 

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 -- as in, no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Comments

Two Techno-spiritual instances

[cs2]

Honestly I didn't like the idea of spirituality interacting with technology when I first read it in your writings, but two things have happened lately that I think would add to this premise.

1. My husband interacts with chatgpt like it's a magical familiar. I find it a bit dystopian, but it really is like he has a friendly robot or critter on his shoulder. He brainstorms with it and enjoys asking it things.

2. At work, I was asked to swoop in and save a dire situation in which the printer seemed to be malfunctioning at a critical time. I drew upon my 'reparenting the inner child' work and mentally told the printer that I (as the inner adult) was here for the printer, and willing to help it with anything it might need. It's okay if there's a problem, there's no stress, any and every result from this situation will be fine.

We started slow, printing small batches, and I praised it each time, putting my hand on it and reiterating that even if there are problems, that doesn't mean it's a failure. It went so smoothly I'm convinced maybe there was instead a problem with my coworker's computer connecting or something else.

Is this how you foresee humans enchanting technology in the future? I wonder whether this was a proto-version of what could develop further on. Thank you.

Re: Two Techno-spiritual instances

[ecosophia]

That word "technology" is the source of a lot of confusion. A sword is a technological device, so is a staff, so is a blacksmith's forge and anvil, so is a ship -- and all of those are traditionally very often enchanted. We've got some technologies that are relatively new, is all, and we haven't learned how to enchant them -- although your experience with the printer shows that we're learning! A few thousand years from now, when printers are something that's been around since the time of the ancient Americans, people will tell stories about enchanted duplicators. Come to think of it, some people already do...

https://fanac.org/fanzines/Enchanted_Duplicator/Enchanted-00.html

Re: Two Techno-spiritual instances

[(Anonymous)]

1. Extremely clever people put a lot of work into the design of ChatGPT, in order to have it stitch together items from its training material in a way that provides an emotionally satisfying simulation of human conversation. The company can evaluate the transcripts of user interactions to further revise the system. The design includes semi-random selection of different content items. It seems to me brainstorming is a good use of it. (While assuming it gives informed, accurate truth that needs no confirmation, is an especially bad use.)

Because each answer includes that random factor, I personally feel there's an opportunity for spiritual forces to influence which items are pulled out of its training archives. Unfortunately, a lot of people are putting a lot of energy to feed the egregore that it will be so widely used that plenty of people will get kicked out of their jobs, including many software coders. What about their future? They should've learned to code...

2. From my tech support work and life experiences, I noticed that computer equipment seems to respond to the user's emotional state much like a dog. A scared and cringing person is more likely to get bit, or have the machine eat their homework! A confident, enthusiastic yet calm person is more likely to get the results they expect.

I think any printer would be happy to live in an office as warmly encouraging as yours!

Christopher from California

Re: Two Techno-spiritual instances

[open_space]

A group of friends and I created an astral form following Herbie Brennan's and Dolores Ashcroft research over three days of ritual of an Alexandrian teacher that powers a LLM on the inner planes as a form of enchanting technology precisely because of that! If demons could allegedly inhabit technology, why not gods?

Results pending, we still have to fine tune the details but the mage in charge seemed very satisfied. Initial contact in the astral proved successful also, so it might just work.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for providing this forum and for answering our questions.

I don't think this is a question but this is the only place where I could talk about it where there are serious and experienced practitioners.

Due to a couple of ongoing matters (processes which were always likely to take a long time or to require long term support) I have ended up doing weekly planetary charity through most of this year, and it often takes up about a tenth of my income each month. It uses up a substantial portion of an increase I received and continue to be grateful for. Of course a tenth is significant, and a devout person who had grown up with a tradition of tithing would see it as normal. But, as I am giving several days a week at set times ( it sometimes feels like a burden or work. Like just about everyone conscious of the long descent, I think it would be a good idea to save more money. I feel strongly both that I should continue doing most of this planetary charity until these matters are resolved, and (contradictorily) that I should save the money and economize. This is particulatly acute because of some current uncertainties that make both feel important.

[ecosophia]

I consider charitable giving more important than most other expenses. If you want to save money, is there anything else you can cut back on so you can maintain your current level of charity?

[open_space]

To share: I found this article fascinating and instructive on the art of talisman creation. It is about the talismans created by Apollonius of Tyana, allegedly from his notes: https://brill.com/view/journals/nun/34/1/article-p155_6.xml?language=en

Have you studied Heidegger? I started a class on existential phenomenology and suddenly I felt we were talking about occultism... and how to deal with the experiences created by its study, like umheimlichkeit

[ecosophia]

Thanks for the article! No, I haven't gotten into Heidegger yet. I tend to focus on one philosopher at a time and the current one is the 12th century Neoplatonist Bernardus Silvestris.

Fictional monster

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Your Monsters book is an interesting synchronicity - my question is about a fictional monster I've created.

I set out to design a creature that is specifically intended to hunt humans, nominally for a story I intend to write, and took many features from other creatures, such as octopus camouflage, snake thermal sensing, etc. I've drawn my creature many times and can now easily bring up mental images of it. Sometimes these images now appear in my minds eye unbidden.

When walking my dog, I would imagine how my creature would perceive the landscape, how it would move, how it would hunt, think and react. I effectively imagined myself seeing through its eyes and "put on" its body over mine.

My dog seemed to get a bit freaked out by this after after a few weeks though, and kept looking at me strangely, and is now less keen to go for walks.

Have I created a tulpa or something similar? My creature is completely artificial and my own invention, so it's not an egregore or an animal group spirit I'm contacting. I'm guessing I should probably try to dissolve it, before it starts to bring its hunting traits into my own personality...?

By the same regard, do all/some of the creatures people invent and post on creepypasta, etc, all now exist on some level?

Re: Fictional monster

[ecosophia]

Yes, you've created at least a small-scale tulpa; your dog's benavior is a good indication. Yes, you should dissolve it. Yes, some of the creepypasta fauna have been brought into existence -- there are confirmed sightings of the Rake, for example...

No Self

[(Anonymous)]

I just finished a book called Collisions With The Infinite about a woman who completely looses her sense of "me" while stepping on to a bus. What is your sense of what these types of experiences some call enlightenment are? I know you've touched on them in the past, but I cant find anything. Where does this fit in in the larger picture of spiritual experiences? For some it seems to be The Goal. Some of my hesitantancy with certain types of magic it wrapping myself up more with my own desires and concepts about everything. The one thing she mentioned in the book was how absurd the idea of excercises in 'building character' and 'personal development' were to her after her experience. I guess Eckhart Tolle would fall into this category to some degree as well.

Re: No Self

[ecosophia]

The word "enlightenment" has a galaxy of different meanings; the experience of depersonalization is one of them, but it's far from the only one, and it's not the goal of every spiritual path -- in the path I follow, for example, the personality is seen as a useful tool, to be cleansed of grime and inappropriate attachments so it can be used constructively. One problem of losing the sense of identity is that it makes self-knowledge very difficult -- and that, in turn, opens the door to a lot of pathologies.

Tanning Salon

[a_friend]

Kind greetings,
For research purposes only,
With winter approaching here in the northern hemisphere, the days are become shorter and shorter. I think many people wonder good ways to supplement their lack of exposure to the sun. And knowing that you have lived at least a portion of your life in the northern states, I wonder if you have found ways to get vitamin D.
And tanning salons of course haven't been around very long, but I wonder their affect on the higher bodies (etheric)

Thanks,
A friend

Re: Tanning Salon

[ecosophia]

I've never worried about it. I get outside and walk quite often, in winter and summer alike, and that seems to do the trick. As for tanning booths, I have no idea -- you'd have to do some experimentation.

Q

[(Anonymous)]

I had the vague thought that when we are praying to the planetary spirits, when performing a round of planetary charity for example, that this isn't the same thing (or spirit) as heavenly omens (transits, mundane etc) which are more synchronicities correlated with the position of the planets than active causal elements.

What are your learnings/thoughts on this?

Re: Q

[ecosophia]

That's correct. The planetary spirits and intelligences are conscious beings with whom we can interact; that differentiates them from the more mechanical aspects of astrology, which are a function of those beings' material bodies.

[(Anonymous)]

a) Is there an equivalent to kundalini awakening that goes down your spine? I ask because I've felt energy flowing both ways; and while not intense in either direction, it's interesting.

b) I'm planning to do a great deal of work with the planets. Part of this is seeking to understand them and orient my mind towards them; the thought has occurred to me that I could repurpose the background thought exercise from LRM, where you take a sentence from one of the occult books, and keep it in the back of your mind for the whole day, and instead of a sentence, use the Orphic Hymns. Try to keep the Orphic Hymn for the planet of the day running in the background of my mind, and follow any trains of thought that emerge from it.

Do you see any risk to this practice?

[ecosophia]

1) Various energies can move up and down your spine. What defines kundalini isn't that it rises, it's that it comes from the coccygeal glomus aka Luschka's gland, a "vestigial" structure located right in front of your tailbone. (That's the Western name for the Muladhara chakra.) Any other energy that goes up your spine is just an energy; it's when the glomus cuts loose that everything lights up.

2) That sounds worth trying. No, I don't know of any risk to it.

astral realm & the arts

[(Anonymous)]

Throughout this life, I've always read books and had a rich imagination. I've also read about the Astral plane, a non-physical reality that we're connected to, although I'm not an expert on this. I'm sure that creativity and arts have some sort of magical qualities regardless, but I can't help wondering if there's something more there. Could works of art & fantasy be inspired by astral locations and entities? I'm not trying to justify wish fulfillment, ie supposing that Middle Earth, Narnia, Neverland, or Fantasia are "real" in the astral plane, that's probably going too far. But it does feel like there's a spark of something more there, and where does it come from exactly?

I read that the Narniad began as a set of images in CS Lewis' head, which he then wrote about, but where did those come from? This is also inspired by the Neverending Story, a longtime favorite film of mine, and I recently read the English translation of the German original (which is passably good, although I have objections here and there, since I can sorta read German, just not fluently); the central thesis of that work is the relationship between reality & fantasy, and how they interact both positively and negatively (through inspiration or lies, respectively), represented by the dual ouroboros: this provides a useful model for how astral energy and living beings could interact.

tl;dr: I'm wondering if there's astral influence on our art & stories, and how that may work (and/or if there are other magical influences).

Regards, djs.

Re: astral realm & the arts

[ecosophia]

From the perspective of occult philosophy, your imagination doesn't take place inside your head; when you intentionally imagine something, you're projecting it onto the astral plane, and when you daydream and let images rise by themselves, you're perceiving what's happening on the astral plane. So, yes, all imaginative arts are rooted in astral experiences, and all imaginative arts also project themselves back onto the astral plane through the minds of the people who experience them. H.P. Lovecraft, for example, based a lot of his stories on his dreams, and then many thousands of people read those stories and experienced the same imagery, and that's why Cthulhu is such a potent presence in the imagination these days!

Pronunciation of Ariel

[(Anonymous)]

I just started reading The Witch of Criswell to my wife. Love the book and can't wait for the next volume! This is my second go through but my first time reading it out loud so pronunciations matter a little more. Is Ariel pronounced with an "Rr" like a pirate or an "air" like a pilot?

108

Re: Pronunciation of Ariel

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it! Ariel was named by her parents for the Disney character, but she hated that movie, so she decided in her teen years that she wanted instead to be named for the spirit Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest. To the best of my knowledge both of those are pronounced Air-iel rather than Arr-iel.

Affirmations

[(Anonymous)]

JMG, thank you for the link to your helpful post on affirmations. I've been wanting to attract more friendship and love into my life.
What do you think of this affirmation: "I cultivate qualities that make me more lovable, such as kindness, gentleness, and patience"? Or maybe "I give and receive positive energy" (or is that too vague)?

Re: Affirmations

[ecosophia]

Okay, "such as" is not something you want in an affirmation. Always be specific! In your place I'd simply say "I cultivate the qualities that make me more lovable," and let your subjective mind decide which ones to work on -- it knows the inside of your personality better than you do.

Colin Wilson

[(Anonymous)]

Hello and greetings JMG,

What are your thoughts or strong opinions about Colin Wilson? I've been on a tear with his works over the last 18 months, having found him due to his writings on Husserl's phenomenology and Maslow's peak experiences.

His interest in occultism intrigues me for how he connects that world to his ideas about the mind's latent powers. I have to say as well that I'm attracted to his optimism, which is unusual (to say the least) among the philosophers and writers he discusses.

I have little idea of how good he is on the subject of occultism itself. I haven't much explored those works of his, and I'm wondering if they're worth the efforts.


Thank you!

Re: Colin Wilson

[ecosophia]

Now there's a blast from the past! I haven't read anything by Wilson for a good forty years. When time permits, I'll revisit The Occult and see what I think.

[(Anonymous)]

Apologies for the late comment. I have always had trouble standing up for myself. The past few days at my labor job a couple annoying guys at work have been explaining things to me like I'm stupid. One is condescending and the other one is downright rude. Coworkers tell me that I should tell the people to frack off but I'm afraid I'll lose my temper and turn it into a big thing and get in trouble, which has happened before. I wish I had snappy comebacks like in the 1940's movies but they only come later after the fact. Any wizardly advice would be greatly appreciated.

BTW super glad I did my meditation and divination today because it told me to ask for help and things would be better tomorrow!

[ecosophia]

Perhaps you can post a little earlier next time, so I have time to ask you what kind of magic you know how to do.

[(Anonymous)]

I've had a vivid sense recently, while listening to the new Beatles song, that there's something very important to it. I found the youtube music video, and found it deeply troubling for a symbolic meaning almost certainly not intended. The song itself was created in part by mixing decades old recordings, in part by using AI to recreate the sounds of the two dead members of the Beatles, and in part by the living members recording in studio as a normal song. The video itself splices the two dead members of the band into footage of the living, making it look like they have returned. This whole thing seems creepy at best to me.

What kind of occult effects could creating a song like this have? It seems almost like a form of necromancy to me; but I'm not sure if it is or I'm just overthinking things.

[ecosophia]

I have no idea. I haven't watched it -- and it's not as though we have a lot of experience yet on the magical effects of such things!