Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's a few minutes before midnight, so we can launch into 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 was my fifteenth published book, and it's the one book of mine that I've allowed to go out of print permanently. The publisher who brought out Monsters was interested in other books in the broad paranormal-weird stuff end of things, and the Atlantis legend was an obvious topic; unfortunately the result was rushed, and not really well thought out. Someday I want to do a proper book on the Atlantis legend, and more generally on the tradition that there were entire cycles of advanced civilization in the distant past -- but this is not that book, and I'm somewhat embarrassed by it. 

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

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG and commentators,
I hope you are well and that everyone is having a great week.

1. What were the precursors of the so-called Christian Kabbalah? We always talk about Pico Della Mirandola and Ficino. Someone before them?
2. Can Catholic or Orthodox Saints be part of an occult/esoteric path?! I ask because I always think of the devotion of these entities as associated with official churches and not with a Kabbalistic path, for example.
3. Would the power or effectiveness of a saint be connected to the number of devotees he has?
4.Finally, a curious story: my 7-year-old niece is a devotee of Father Christmas, a toy she received a few years ago with the typical, commercial figure of Father Christmas (not the Catholic saint). After she started this devotion she has been receiving gifts from friends and relatives, raffles at school... My question: could Father Christmas have turned into an artificial server over time?

And thank you very much for your generosity!

[ecosophia]

1) Ficino wasn't a Cabalist, he was a student of the Hermetic tradition, which only later got blended with the Cabala. Pico and Johannes Reuchlin were the ones who set the Christian Cabala in motion.

2) Dion Fortune advised against it -- she held that if you start working with one of those saints, they'll inevitably lead you toward their church. The great exceptions are the saints, especially mythological ones, who were recognized before the year 1000 or so. Since the Christian church hadn't broken apart into quarreling sects yet, there's less pull toward any one church.

3) That's one of the sources of power saints have.

4) That doesn't surprise me at all. So many children have put so much emotional energy and belief into the image of Father Christmas that it's surprising he hasn't become more of a folk religious figure than he is already!

[brenainn]

2) That's very interesting. It might also explain the course of my spiritual path. I went from traditionalist Catholic to polytheist with, as time progressed, varying degrees of continuing involvement with Catholicism, then back to the Catholic Church with my own very syncretic esoteric practices and beliefs. There I remain, and I am quite content now. But the whole time, I maintained my longtime devotion to St. Joan of Arc. Years ago, she was also my confirmation saint. I suppose that devotion, and the special connection formed with her during my confirmation, explains the pull toward the RCC that eventually brought me back to it, though on the terms (such as continuing devotion to Mithras) that I managed to work out with the Holy Trinity.

[(Anonymous)]

Brenainn, Have you tried Martinism, an Esoteric Christian tradition?

[brenainn]

I have heard of Martinism, but I have not tried it or studied much about it. Right now, I'm studying and implementing the teachings of the defunct Mayan Order (superficially Christian, at least) and Max Heindel's work through the Rosicrucian Fellowship (very Christian). That's quite a bit on my plate, and keeps me very busy. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to exploring Martinism at some point a few years down the road.

Do you have any experience with Martinism? If so, I'd be happy to hear anything you'd like to share.

[(Anonymous)]

Brenainn,

I have a few years of Martinist practice. I would say that I am more of a Martinezist than a Martinist, I mean, I am more of a theurgist than a meditator.
I find reading Louis Claude Saint-Martin difficult and it hasn't touched me yet. I like Pasqually and his theory of reintegration and Philippe Nizie when he talks about Christ.

[brenainn]

Thank you. I'll make a note in my journal so that I'll remember to specifically check out those particular aspects of Martinist writings.

[ecosophia]

When you're finished with your current solid course of work, we might want to talk a little. I've also received the Martinist initiations. It'll be a different viewpoint than you'll get from Anon, since I'm more a meditator than a theurgist -- though I certainly acknowledge that both are valid and holy paths.

You can read some Martinist texts here:

https://mooa.us/library/

[brenainn]

Thank you, I'll certainly keep that in mind, and I'll reach out once I've completed my current work. And thanks for the link, I'll keep it bookmarked and for the time being at least skim the materials to get a better idea of the Martinist path.

[(Anonymous)]

Same, with St. Francis, although I never made it back to the Catholic Church, I remain parked at the Episcopal Church. I might have made it all the way back to the RCC but for their hostility to gay people (of which I am one).

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

3) I also think of the devotion network as a network, in which the saints could put their strength and requests to work. What would be other ways of empowering the Saints? Geographical proximity to the devotee?

[ecosophia]

Er, keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to empower the saints; they have plenty of power of their own, which they receive from the deity they worship. It's more a matter of tuning into their signal. Geographical proximity can help, which is why pilgrimage has been such an important factor for all of human history, but any of the other traditional ways of making contact with a holy being can also be used.

[brenainn]

One potential option that Anonymous might want to look into is a third class relic. This is oftentimes a piece of cloth touched to a first or second class relic, and sometimes included in holy cards for a saint. I have one for St. Joan. It may or may not be easy to find a third class relic of a pre-1054 saint, but I'm guessing some can be found. The commenter who mentioned having a piece of stone from a cave where St. Michael appeared has what many trad Catholics would consider a relic of the archangel (though officially, I don't think it is considered so).

[(Anonymous)]

(Not the OCer.)

1) does that mean Ficino's occultism had nothing Cabala-like, that it used the older Greek material that originated it?

[ecosophia]

Ficino's main sources were the dialogues of Plato and the Corpus Hermeticum, both of which he translated into Latin, and the Picatrix, which he didn't admit he had (you could get burnt at the stake for owning a copy) but which he borrowed freely from in his writings. So he assembled a typically idiosyncratic Renaissance spirituality and magic, with some material that looks vaguely Cabalistic in places but only because of the shared ancestry.

[(Anonymous)]

4)Wouldn't surprise me at all to find that Father Christmas has somebody answering requests in his name.

But also... some people just have really forceful "wishers". My middle son is one of them. Ever since he's been old enough to formulate a specific request... he tends to get his requests granted in completely non-intuitive ways. Nothing to do with Father Christmas, which is not part of our own household tradition. The first time I remember this happening, we were at MallWart, and he spotted the Hot Wheels tracks in the toy section. We were broke at the time, and I just said no. We can't afford those. Nothing more said about it. A week or two later, one of the old ladies at church tapped me on the shoulder, said her friend had been cleaning out closets and she had a bunch of stuff in her car and did I want any of it? In amongst the gently-used boys' clothing (which we also needed), my son went home with a three-story loop-the-loop Hot Wheels *garage* with elevators. All the bells and whistles, pleased as punch. Which could be a coincidence except it happens pretty regularly, always the same kid-- if he wants something badly enough the universe conspires to put it in his reach.

May he always want good and innocent things!

[(Anonymous)]

How much fun!! What a great kid to have as a friend!