Magic Monday
Dec. 3rd, 2023 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
It's a little 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 seventh published book, The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. I'd gotten irritated about the lack of decent reference works on occultism, and Llewellyn, the publisher I worked with in those days was enthusiastic about the idea of helping to fix that. It was a fun project, and includes a certain number of quiet and rather abstruse jokes; there are other occult encyclopedias available these days but this one still stands up fairly well -- though I'd make a lot of changes if the publisher was interested. (This also turned out to be the last book I did with Llewellyn for a long while, due to some issues involving their treatment of another project of mine.) If you're interested in the encyclopedia, you can get a copy here if you live in the US, and at your favorite book venue if you live elsewhere.
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***This Magic Monday is now closed -- as in, no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 07:00 am (UTC)2) I'd have to read them again to find out.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 07:01 am (UTC)Re: Geomancy
Date: 2023-12-04 07:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 07:24 am (UTC)Sorry about that!
Earth Energies
Date: 2023-12-04 07:31 am (UTC)Earth energies, if I have understood well, are forms of etheric energies flowing within the earth. Temple technologies are stone structures that concentrate certain forms of electromagnetic and etheric energies to achieve sertain effects effects on land fertility and human awareness.
(1) Could there be there any links between leylines and earth energies?
(2) On the other hand lunar currents are combinations of solar and earth energies, (assuming I have gotten it more or less right!). Are there any links between temple technologies and lunar currents?
(3) Ceremonial magic, such as LRM, are about using astral energies, what occult techniques attempt to use etheric energies?
(4) What effects can be had by manipulating etheric energies?
PS: Apologies for the scope of my questions.
Thanks and regards.
Philosophical druidry
Date: 2023-12-04 07:43 am (UTC)This is a more philosophical question. I'm wondering how strongly a person should be drawn to nature in order for them to decide that the druid's path is the right one for them.
Little backgroung, I have read your books on druidic magic, I practiced this magic for about a year. I graduated with a degree in herbalism and plant therapies (universities of live science in eastern europe are pretty fun). I have a dog and a cat and I feel that I have a fairly constant contact with nature, nature relaxes me and I enjoy spending time in the woods. But I'm not drawn to join any environmental organizations, nor do I feel any great need to spend time in nature, I'm a pretty strong homebody. I also don't have the drive to grow plants or raise animals, and I'm not particularly keen on starting my own garden (I've worked a lot in gardens in my life, so I don't have a problem with it, but it's just not my passion).
On the one hand, nature is present in my life and I assume that even cities can be full of nature, on the other hand I do not know if this is enough for one to follow the path of druidism.
So my question: what qualities should a druid have and is a constant desire to be deep in nature one of those qualities?
Mystical infulence
Date: 2023-12-04 07:49 am (UTC)In your article , 'primal of mystical combat', you described emotion as one source of magical infulence, what are the other sources?
Etheric energies
Date: 2023-12-04 08:51 am (UTC)I am the OP about etheric energies. I just remembered your 2021 posts on etheric energies.
Please add any further comments you may have about my questions.
Thanks
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 09:38 am (UTC)I am preparing for my first serious SoP working as part of the DMH curriculum. I performed an Ogham reading as to whether December was the right time for it, and I came up with: Phagos (past) - Tinne (present) - Oir (future)
My reading of this is that I have learned some valuable lessons that will help prepare me, that I may have to deal with some struggles and conflict during the process, but the outcome will be revelatory. Does this sound right to you? And, more importantly, do you think the Ogham is giving me the go-ahead for this working?
Thanks in advance!
Roman and Greek views of the afterlife
Date: 2023-12-04 10:42 am (UTC)I always come across references of Hades being a dismal place in which the spirits are miserable. If this was the common belief then it must have been a miserable for Greeks and Romans when considering death and would explain the popularity of religious sects that promised something better in the afterlife.
By no means am I an expert on Greek and Roman religion but I'm skeptical that only misery or, at best, ennui, was to be expected after death (history written by the winners and all that).
I'm thinking there must have been some sort of hope for a good afterlife in those cultures but have not come across anything positive.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 10:52 am (UTC)Extremely odd question, but I happen to be a fantasy writer who is trying his hand at a story that hews relatively closely to reflecting actual occult practices.
I have a scene with two characters. Character A is a normal person, who has decided they need to contact the Archangel Michael (for Reasons). Character B is an extremely skilled but rather mad occultist practitioner. Essentially, I want A to get B to make an angelic contact, so that A can deliver his message. Ideally, I want a situation where A is deceiving B as to what his real motivations are.
Would B be using the Ars Paulina or Enochian magic here, or something else altogether? Bearing in mind that B is the sort of character who likes to gratuitously show off their power.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 10:57 am (UTC)I was wondering. Is it posibble to do magic without of spirits and Gods? Just using your own influence, focused will and imagination
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2023-12-04 11:09 am (UTC)Thanks,
Frank
Adherance to All Planetary Hours
Date: 2023-12-04 11:54 am (UTC)Many thanks for this wonderful resource!
I have a question or two related to performing some modest rituals during planetary hours.
1. This Sunday I said a prayer and lit a beeswax candle in honour of the Sun during 3 of the 4 planetary "hours" of the day. I didn't set an alarm to get up at 4am to do the same for the 4th "hour" very early on Monday morning, is this a mistake or is it generally fair and reasonable to do what you can and receive a blessing equal to you effort?
2. Where might I find more resources on improving my offering during these hours. My offering was the rather humble lighting of a candle and a prayer (as mentioned). Is that sufficient or does it depend on what is asked of them? I don't want to be at risk of imbalance and wish to provide the due respect. It felt fair to me, but being fair skinned I perhaps fear the consequences of a backlash perhaps more than others!
3. Lastly, I experienced heartburn just as I was climbing in to bed. Is this an indication that the Sun heard my prayers and is letting me know by literally burning up the zone of my desires? I realise the simplest explanation is probably true but found it interesting enough timing to remark upon it.
Thanks as always!
Pink Radiant Anteater
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 12:22 pm (UTC)Thanks.
beginner practice outside of home and some theoretical questions
Date: 2023-12-04 01:44 pm (UTC)1) First a practical question: I asked about alternative places to practice at last week because I can't practice at home. My intention was to find a place where I could do the elementary rituals outlined in your FAQ (qabalistic cross, lesser pentagram) as suitable for people with small children.
This is the practice that I had in mind, and since I can't do it at home, I was wondering about suitable alternatives. The ones that came to mind was 1) finding a secluded public spot somewhere in nature (I live near a hill) and 2) renting a studio somewhere. What do you think of these alternatives/what would you recommend?
2) Next some theory: I saw Techniques of High Magic on your twitter feed and decided to skim through a pdf - what stood out to me was that in its instructions and dessription of magical implements, the book assigns Fire to the Knife and Air to the Wand, as opposed to the Tarot assignment (Wands-Fire, Swords-Air). The book also mentions that knives and swords are not to be conflated, but I was nevertheless wondering about the significance of the distinct assignment to the cutting and pointing implements.
3) And third, I also inqiured a bit about numbers last week - I asked whether it would be valid to attribute "death" to 0 and "growth" to 9, with the rest of the nnumber line representing life. I did another meditation on the topic and was... :
- 0 as the intermediary between negative and positive numbers can be seen as an analogue of the present or "NOW", from which all other moments are distinct (less or more, 1 or 2 or 3...). Similarly, x+0 equals x, which reminds me of a desire to "stay where you are" in terms of human experience (I never want this to change). Analogously, as x+9 returns x after reduced to a single digit, 9 can be seen as the desire to repeat the experience (I want to do this again, and again and again...). In this sense they can be seen as expressions of sameness and repetition.
- The fact that 0 and 9 subsume their co-factors in multiplication (x*0 is 0, x*9 is 9 after redcing to single digit), on the other hand seemed to me to denote change. 0 can be seen as a "cutting off"/canceling/ending, reducing a unit of experience to 0. Analogous also to avoidance motivation, prohibition, severing connections...
- 9, on the other hand, given its place on the opposite end of the number line seems to fit a "positive" version of the same general form of change. In particular, synthesis or generalization - so 9 also seems to me as the number of abstraction, higher understanding, integrating knowledge or elevating a unit of experience or concept to a more general form (ice cream -> desert). But abstraction can also be reduction to the lowest common denominator, as the desire for "pleasurable things in general" is in psychology understood as "approach motivation". This would be "making connections", rather than severing them (although I can't find a suitable antonym to prohibition that I would be willing to use).
Last, this juxtaposition between 9 and 0 is inspired by the Deleuzian connective and disjuncitve syntheses and probably also CCRU's numogram (I think I arrived at the parallel between 0 and 9 independently, but I had been familiarized with basic Numogram theory beforehand). I am wary of CCRU-esque practice because of its "cthonic"/"demonic" language (and I don't want to pursue it for this reason), but I've found exploring the commonalities between 0 and 9 very interesting. Is this line of inquiry safe for someone who wishes to steer clear of cthonic/demonic influence, or is it better for me to change course?
Apologies for the slew of questions and thanks in advance for any you find the time to answer,
Best wishes,
tnm
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 02:23 pm (UTC)This is a question with a potentially very complex answer, so I won't mind if you give me a condensed rundown. I really enjoy your Golden Dawn works but I haven't spent much time going over Regardie's primary sources, and I'm curious what changes and omissions you may have taken in your approach and why. Do you intend for your Golden Dawn works to be a complete approach, or should one move on to Regardie and/or the Ciceros after studying Circles of Power?
Absence/Presence?
Date: 2023-12-04 02:24 pm (UTC)Does "feeling absent" from the material plane make you more solid on any other plane/s?
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 02:52 pm (UTC)Q
Date: 2023-12-04 03:10 pm (UTC)I found a photo of a guy from a 100 years ago in Italy and it unnerved me.
2) in my case, I find western astrology to be much more accurate about my natal influences than Vedic. Is there a good theory for why this is? Are different systems models for different societies etc?
3) why would we carry forward memories if we abandon everything else with the lower bodies? This means memories are going up to the higher bodies such as mental body to be preserved?
3)
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 03:13 pm (UTC)My 20 year old down-filled winter jacket needed replacing due to major zipper failure. So I found one on sale that seemed a fair replacement even though it was 100% polyester, from the shell to the lining, from the fibre fill insulation to the faux fur around the hood.
Its sales pitch (repeated on every ticket and label) was that it was VEGAN. groan
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 03:20 pm (UTC)Do you (or anyone in the commentariat) know of any good resources for magic with/by/about/generally having to do with honeybees or beekeeping? Thanks!
(I do know honey can be used as a communion food of the Sun, thanks to your Encyclopedia of Natural Magic).
The Soul of the Knees
Date: 2023-12-04 03:52 pm (UTC)Greetings, JMG and all!
I missed the discussion last week, but on reading over it later I noticed some discussion about energy vortices / chakras in the knees, relating to your new book “Secrets of the 5 Rites.” I'd like to add to this dicussion with information about the sacred functions of the knees from the point of view of archaic (Homeric / Orphic / pre-Socratic) Greek thought as well as other cultures from that time period.
As people probably know, ancient Greek thought located the multiple souls they recognized in various parts of the body, such as the lungs, diaphragm, head, liver, heart, thymus gland (named after the Greek thymos or thumos soul), body fluids, bone marrow, and so forth. One of those parts was the knees. The psyche-soul (as conceived in archaic thought, different from Platonic thought) was thought to reside in both the head and the knees, and to travel through / express itself in the marrow of the spine in the former case, the marrow of the thighs in the latter case.
Procreation and sexuality, and the fluids related to them, were considered expressions of the archaic conception of the psyche-soul. Tales of the birth of Athena from Zeus’s head, and of Dionysos from his thigh, relate to these locations of the psyche / life-generator in the head and the knees. Both Hesiod and Alcaeus wrote that men tend toward impotence during the hottest days of summer because of the influence of the star Sirius, which dries up the head and the knees.
In many languages, both Indo-European and others, the words for “knees” and for male sexual organs, the womb, reproductive functions, for familial groups and relationships such as ‘genus’ and ‘generations’, and for inspiring spirits such as ‘genius’ are all related, and are reflected in myths, customs and folklore about the knees and their connection to all these vital matters.
Events that have a great impact on the psyche and may cause it to flee or be loosened from the body, such as fear, swooning from shock or from intense sexual desire, intense grief and despair, and so forth, result in the psyche temporarily exiting through the knees and the knees losing their strength, causing the person to collapse or need to lie down. Fainting is caused by the psyche fleeing both the head and the knees due to physical or psychological trauma.
Pleading for mercy from a king or a Deity was done while clasping their knees, because the ‘soul of the knees’ was considered a merciful one. “On the laps of the Gods” as an expression of fate or of divine decree is also a related concept.
In my development of Heathen soul lore ideas, I’ve found a lot of interesting parallels and very useful further developments of ideas about souls and their connections to and actions through various parts of the body from ancient Greek thought; this is something I’m working to develop further. It occurs to me that developing other Western approaches to body-soul integration and energy work, as you and your sources are doing, JMG, could benefit from considering this information, as well.
My favorite source for this information is Richard Broxton Onians’ “The Origins of European Thought about the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time, and Fate: New Interpretations of Greek, Roman, and kindred evidence, also of some basic Jewish and Christian beliefs.” (If nothing else, this book should win a prize for the longest title….) It was pretty much his lifetime’s work as a Classics professor at the University of London. There are many threads in this book that can be pursued further in other sources.
Respectfully submitted,
Winifred Hodge Rose
Subtle manipulations through occult training
Date: 2023-12-04 03:58 pm (UTC)This bit in particular stood out:
"She said it is not at all uncommon for many of the Ayahuasqueros to place a dart into the luminous body of someone they are leading in ceremony. The dart is placed with the intent to influence that person to go back to their home country and tell many people about the Ayahuasquero, even to organise groups to come and work with the Ayahuasquero."
The article is focused on spiritual guides employing "medicine plants"/drugs, but to speak more generally, I've heard multiple anecdotes about courses of spiritual study with manipulative tools buried within. Things intended to steer students' thought and behavior in ways that are not disclosed up front. Do you have any suggestions on ways to identify such potential hidden mechanisms in occult resources?
In my case I would be more interested in traditional forms of study compared to drug-induced vision quests, which seem especially prone to exploitative behaviors since the participants are in an altered state. I recall discussions of several big glossy magical manuals that steer the reader toward affirming many of the authors' ideas on things that have nothing to do with magic.
Thanks as always for these posts.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-04 04:26 pm (UTC)