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

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning and thank you as always.

I own an old coin from the late 19th century; based on its year, it should be about 90% gold and 10% copper. I don’t want to sell it because it’s an inheritance piece but I have no particular use for it so i was thinking of finding a magical purpose. Is there a way to use it for a sun talisman, for example, that wouldn’t involve melting it down or altering it in any way?

I also own a very high quality diamond, though my chart is mildly afflicted in Mars so I’m a little more uncertain as to how to use that safely.

[isaac_hill]

Not JMG, but I had some thoughts: For the coin, in terms of trad astro-magic, you may be able to draw a small sun sigil on the back or something like that, and consecrate it at the right time, but it doesn't need to be melted down. However, there are less intensive ways of imbuing it with solar energy without actually calling in a celestial spirit. You could, for instance, consecrate it every Sunday at dawn (best while the Sun is in good dignity, and he's not bad in Sag for fire triplicity ruler) 6 Sundays in a row with solar incense, and wear it in a yellow pouch over your heart, maybe with some Solar herbs.
In Jyotish, diamonds are a Venusian stone and are very powerful - you don't want to use a diamond if you have Venus as the lord of a bad house or in a bad house (I've heard of things like people going into organ failure after putting on a diamond because their Venus was in the 8th) so I would consult a Vedic astrologer before wearing a high quality diamond (especially in a setting where it touches your skin) If you have a good Venus that needs some help though, a diamond can be fantastic.
In Western Astro Magic, diamond is also the stone for Algol, which is one of Warnock's more popular talismans for protection.

[ecosophia]

You can use it in a modest way for a talisman, but it's always going to be fairly weak because it's had so many other influences brought to bear on it over the years. I'd advise keeping it as a keepsake.

As for a diamond, I'd be very careful with that, especially if you've got an afflicted Mars.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Last week, someone asked your advice on what type of metal is best for a pistol, based on astrology. (Thanks for asking that, last week's commenter! That never would've occurred to me.)

I'm planning to buy my first pistol as well, and while I don't know much at all about astrology, I do know that my Mars is afflicted.

Would it be reasonable to assume that I'm better off purchasing a gun made with aluminum, rather than steel?

Thanks as always,
Otter Girl

[ecosophia]

You might want to glance at your birth chart and make sure that your natal Uranus isn't in Taurus or Leo. If it isn't, yes, an aluminum body might be a good choice for you.