Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Once again, it's technically Monday now -- past midnight Eastern time -- and here I am on Dreamwidth, so it's time for another Magic Monday.  (The picture is William Butler Yeats, Nobel Prize laureate, one of the greatest poets ever to write in English, and a longtime member and adept of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.)

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

With that in mind, have at it! 

***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi jmg
For someone who is beginning the traditional golden dawn, what is the beginner supposed to use as their fist themes for meditation?
(E.g the Sephiroth, the figures of geomancy, the cosmic doctrine?)

[ecosophia]

You start with the First Meditation, which is in the first knowledge lecture -- you'll find it on p. 55 of the new hardback edition of Regardie's The Golden Dawn. Then go on to meditate on everything covered in the first knowledge lecture, giving at least one day to every symbol introduced there. Go on from there to the Pillars lecture, and then -- when you've gotten the Neophyte Grade material down cold -- go on to the Second Meditation, the second knowledge lecture, and so on. Meditate your way through all the Outer Order knowledge lectures and instructional papers, and by the time you finish doing so you'll have a more complete grasp of the symbolism of the Golden Dawn tradition than 999 out of every 1000 Golden Dawn students.

[(Anonymous)]

In divination by sortilege (in my case Ogham) is it appropriate to assign meaning to the placement of cards based on the way I want the answer structured?

For example, I find it convenient to ask 'What would be the outcome if: I do X/ I do not do X/either,' and draw a card for each outcome. Is this meddling with the system?

Many thanks for yet another Magic Monday!

[ecosophia]

Some people find that this works very well for them, others don't have as positive a result. Give it a try and see how it works for you.

Heathen Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I love this ritual! Thanks again, to you and Sven. I’m only a week into regular practice, but I can intermittently feel the protection, even hours after performing it. It’s as though occasionally I sense a weapon, or a star, or a sense of peaceful protection, or all of that, in my vicinity.

My husband asked me to show it to him once I had it memorized, and he said that at the end of it, he could see square-like shapes where the pentagrams were drawn. Whoa! Wish I could see that. What’s up with those shapes?

Appreciatively,
OtterGirl

Re: Heathen Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram

[ecosophia]

Glad it works well for you. Does your husband know that he has clairvoyance? Why exactly he's seeing a square shape is a complex question, since the way astral images appear to each individual clairvoyant is a matter of subtle personal variables.

Burying Placenta

[(Anonymous)]

I buried my child's placenta today. Me, my wife and my newborn went up to the hills. It was a foggy and windy day up there. There is a grove of bay trees there surrounded by volcanic rocks, this island in a sea of dead grass at the top of a hill. Directly below is a small labyrinth of stones. We walked the labyrinth and I left some bay nuts and my wife left a pocket knife in the center then walked out. We trekked up to the hill to the grove. We found a good spot next to a young tree then dug the hole, setting the rocks aside. We said a prayer and poured in the blood, then another prayer and placed the placenta in, we each throw a handful of soil in the hole, then buried it, turning the sod upside down on top - then we piled the stones saving one as a keepsake and stuck a dried piece of rosemary wood in the center. I tossed some soil in the bag with the blood. We said a final prayer and we walked down the hill on the other side and around a bend giving us another view of the labyrinth. On another pile of rocks overlooking the valley, I left a toy of my son's, a wooden ball. Back on the path we each grabbed a bunch of chamomile. And rubbed them as we walked back and I picked a bay leaf from the tree I took the bay nuts from and chewed it till we got back. At the car I ate an apricot and buried the pit where I had pissed when we got out. On the way back I bought a ceanothus shrub and planted it in my yard with the soil from the hill.

My hope was to show gratitude to this land as we are leaving soon. I was born here and my son too. I want him to always love this place and feel attached to it. We will be separated a month prior to leaving and I want them to return safely.

Do you have any opinions on the magical dimensions of the placenta and the ways of burying it? We kind of winged this with the little I know and a lot of hope that we stumbled on the right things to do as we had to do it soon - we left our apartment and my parent's had no room in their freezer.

Re: Burying Placenta

[ecosophia]

As long as you returned it to the earth in a respectful way, you should be fine.

An odd encounter

[(Anonymous)]

I was taking down some signs from a garage sale. A homeless man that begs by the highway approached me and said "It's over?" He thought it was the next day. Then he asked if we had any religious items. Even if they are dogmatic. I walked home and got some frankincense and myrrh, a copy of the I Ching and a candle altar I got from my brother with some strange symbols I have been unable to understand. We approached his mat, he has some artwork that looks like a 3D collage on some of the poles. He was visibly excited by the incense and exclaimed "Frankincense and Myrrh!" He asked if the I Ching was a holy book as he did not permit any other texts in his realm. I gave him the altar and said I had been unable to understand it for years. He looked at the altar and said "A Burning Heart." It is an image of a heart with fire coming out of the top and a cross in the fire. He said all the other symbols were distractions. Then he said, "We blame the Masons for all their secret pass-codes and handshakes, but that is to turn people away who aren't ready." He excused himself. We shook hands and I walked home. Since then, I see this man all over the neighborhood talking to everyone. He showed up one day playing the drums by the highway. He is never there anymore, but always talking with someone.

I don't know if I have a question, just thought I should share this story. I feel drawn to talk more with this man, but I am also weary of this feeling because there is something strange and powerful about him. I said to my wife after meeting him, that he may be a saint and she told me the story of the man who was drowning so he asked God for help. A ship came by and tried to rescue him, but the man waved it on and said he was waiting for God to save him. He died and God said to him, why didn't you get on my ship.

Re: An odd encounter

[ecosophia]

Thanks for sharing the story!

Magic Shamanism Organ transplants

[casmen900]

Good morning Mr. Greer,

I’d like to go back to my question from last Magic Monday on improving the outcome in organ transplantation by curbing rejection episodes due to spiritual or energetic incompatibility.

You advised me to do shamanic practices if I was to approach the subject from a shamanic perspective. You also said western occultism is not shamanism and doesn’t look at the world in the same way.

My knowledge of either shamanism or western occultism is very superficial and hence my hesitation in adopting one method or the other.
The only method I’ve ever used was electional astrology, for minor surgeries.
This being a big issue I feel I need to know more.
I need a second opinion (maybe even a third).

So, without further ado,
How exactly does western occultism view this particular aspect of Health?
What rituals, planetary magic or whatever could be applied as a means to encourage better response between donor (even though he or she might be dead) and recipient?
Thank you.

Re: Magic Shamanism Organ transplants

[ecosophia]

I know of nothing in Western occult literature that deals with this subject at all.

[(Anonymous)]

When vibrating names, is it sufficient to do so quietly so as not to disturb others and invite awkward questions?

[ecosophia]

Very much so. It's good to practice vibrating at different volumes, so that you can do it very quietly and still get the full effect.

How to choose a focus area

[casperw]

Hello JMG,

While reading your materials I find myself going from one subject to another. I have been working with "learning ritual magic", "druidry handbook" and "celtic golden dawn" but have not accomplished to settle into regular practice. I am reading "cosmic doctrine" and "the mystical quabalah" side by side at the moment (and notice the parallels). I use tarot daily, which is progressing very well. Recollection exercises go well. I have been unable however to do daily ritual practice and recursive meditation.

I was initially drawn to druidry but find myself studying mostly Golden Dawn material.

My questions are:
- How should one choose a focus for study? I am considering dropping the druidry material for now and work through "learning ritual magic" first, until finished. Would you recommend that?

- Given the description do you have any advice for training, in order to become more regular at ritual and meditation practice?

- How did you make choices regarding Druidry vs. Golden Dawn and how did it work out?

Regards,
Casper

Re: How to choose a focus area

[ecosophia]

I'd encourage you to choose one -- it doesn't matter which one -- put the other books away, and do everything in the book you've chosen, exactly as given in the book, until you've done it all. If you can do that, you can master any branch of occultism; if you can't do that, it doesn't matter which book you choose.

I worked in the Golden Dawn tradition exclusively for better than twenty years, then spent a decade or so of hard work learning Druidry and being initiated into three different Druid traditions, then explored a range of other magical systems. Most recently I've combined Golden Dawn magic with Druid symbolism in the system taught in my book The Celtic Golden Dawn, and that's what I work with these days. I've learned a great deal from every magical system I've studied, so long as I persevered and studied all of it -- so that's what I do.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!

Do you think someone can be reincarnated as a life form on another planet?

[ecosophia]

Nope. Occult tradition has it that each group of souls incarnates on a single planet until they've learned the relevant lessons there, then moves on as a group to another planet.

deities, et al...

[(Anonymous)]

I was wondering if you had any advice, when attempting to contact [for lack of a better term] a deity for which little is known, how to separate 'fact from fiction'. I fell drawn to Mabon, as an example, probably because so little is known, and am uncertain distinguishing projection, if not outright fantasy, from the real thing. The only thing I've ever been taught was if you get what you expect, it's probably fantasy. Thanks! Just finished Monsters-great read!

Re: deities, et al...

[ecosophia]

It's not easy, and it never has been -- not least because the imagination is the sensory process by which you perceive inner plane phenomena. Regular banishing rituals help, so does extensive meditation on whatever you get from a deity, but ultimately you're going to have to wing it.

[guillem66]

Jmg,

After some months, i finished the meditations on the Einingen myth.It's been a rewarding journey :)

In the Druidry handbook you ask to proceed through the material on chapter 2 before meditating on anything else. However, im very drawn to meditate on some quotes from "Where the wasteland ends" which i think are higly relevant to the Einingen myth.It's ok to spent some time on those before returning to the book material?

About an habit im picking, and not being sure if its fair:Whenever there is someone i would like to help, aside from the practical aspect, i imagine the sun above him/her with three rays descending and forming a glowing sphere around the subject, then the same for the telluric, which i imagine as a green sun beneath the earth.My intention is to bring balance and a general improvement in the subject well being and capabilities and, oddly enough, it's way easier for others than for myself.My daily ritual is way harder than this kind of visualizations.

Any thoughts?

Guillem

[ecosophia]

Yes, you can spend some time on another theme before you go on to the material in the book, if they're relevant to what's in the book. As for the visualization, are you asking for their permission before doing this for them?

[(Anonymous)]

A couple of times now when I have been meditating or praying in a meditative state with my eyes closed, I've seen an interesting pattern of light on my eyelids. The best way I can describe it is what it might look like if you had your eyes closed on a dark road and cars were driving by with their headlights on. So a light fades in slowly and then pulses and fades back out. I can feel the surge of light as well, but it is subtle. Is there any possible explanation for this or is it just a personal experience?

[ecosophia]

I love that phrase "just a personal experience" -- did you think you have any experiences that aren't personal? ;-) There are lots of possible explanations for the experience, and which one's correct is impossible to know yet. Keep up your meditations and prayers, and see what happens to the perception; it may well unfold into one or another kind of clairvoyant perception...

Occult or mundane phenomenon?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG and Allie tour knowledgeable readers.

I have a question about an experience I had over 20 years ago - which hopefully I still remember accurately, I know how memories drift over time - but that has had to be sorted into the 'Don't Know, There's Weird Stuff Out There' pile. I'm wondering if people with more occult knowledge might be able to identify the phenomenon.

A friend and I were pulling one of those all night discussions about life, the future and everything that fifteen year old girls at sleepovers tend to have. I was lying on the couch, she was sitting in a chair. She was in the middle of a sentence when she suddenly made a frightened sound and called my name. I had been staring at the ceiling listening, and so started to half turn to ask her what was wrong, when it "hit me" too.

There was a white-blue flash directly overhead and outside of the house - perhaps I could see it through the floor to ceiling windows, perhaps in my mind's eye- and I was 'thrown back' and paralysed on my back. I thought I was dying, my eyes were open to the ceiling, but I could also 'see' a dark tunnel above to the place of the flash. I felt 'pulled open' somehow. I didn't want to die, so I 'struggled', I also thought at what felt like an observer or possibly more that I wouldn't go. Seemingly seconds passed, and it occurred to me maybe it was aliens like one of those "documentaries", and I was being probed somehow. Then I wondered, maybe it was God - I was raised outside of any faith, but maybe this was what a revelation felt like. But no one said anything, showed me anything, I was just left kinda asking "who are you? What do you want?" And being 'looked at' and opened to a vastness. Then it withdrew.

My friend was still whimpering, she had her eyes closed, and as I looked she gasped and opened them. When I asked her what she saw, she said there was nothing to see, but she was pulled along through empty space, fast, and with direction changes like a roller coaster. She hadn't tried to resist or talk to anything, the movement sensation had been overwhelmingly.

We ran to the windows to look for clouds - was it lightning strike, is the what that feels like? No evidence in the house, clear winter night in the PNW.
Was it some weird effect of a helicopter from the nearby airforce base? There weren't any low aircraft in sight. Was it aliens -again, nothing to see. We had a distinct sense of feeling watched, and like reality was thin all night, but couldn't say if it was just that adrenaline hyperalert feeling.

Three friends sleeping downstairs below us, and a friend's brother upstairs, had no incidents.

I remember a man on here once saying he'd had an incident with something appearing in a tunnel in his room after his wife died, and telling him he could go see her again, and JMG agreed if he had gone, he'd have likely been found dead in his bed the next day, that there are malevolent things which would be drawn and try to prey on that grief.

Was this likely one of those things just popping by for a psychic snack?

I've always had a fear in the back of my mind that if it was supposed to be a god revelation, I blew it with my cantankerous fighting and distrust.

Re: Occult or mundane phenomenon?

[robertmathiesen]

Since there was an Air Force base nearby, the most likely explanation is that your experience was caused by a misfired test of some sort of experimental surveillance device, or (less likely) some sort of experimental weapon system.

Other than that, yes, weird experiences do seem to happen occasionally to people, and some of them seem to be encounters with predators. Yours empathically does not sound as though you missed a chance to encounter any sort of benevolent deity or other power.

A man about three or four decades older than me (and now long passed) once told me (about a quarter of a century ago) about an experience he had had in his own youth.

Back then he was a vigorous young man with more energy than he knew what to do with, and he worked constructing houses for new subdivisions in the desert where the southern tip of Nevada touches California and Arizona. After the day's work, a truck would come to take the workers back to camp for dinner and sleep. But there were days when he still had energy to work off, so he would run back to camp by himself instead of riding the truck. He had come to know the road well, and it passed through dry and empty desert land. Once--just once!-- as he ran back to camp, he saw two trees along the side of the road, in this land that had no trees. As he ran by the trees, he glanced between them, and he saw ... not desert, but a green and verdant land, with the smell of water in its air. But the vegetation was strange and the light was strange. Though he saw no animals, there were rustlings in the vegetation, as if there were animals hiding in the vegetation. These animal sounds, too, seemed strange to him. And the land beyond the trees seemed to call to him, to pull him in.

Yet all his instincts screamed against the call from that green land, and so he kept on running back to camp. Of course, the trees were not there the next day, nor on any following day.

This man was half Native American, on his mother's side. His mother, he knew, was a person of some importance among her own people, though he never knew just why and how this was so. After he finished his work on that construction job, he went home for a rest and to see his mother; and he happened to mention the two trees and the verdant land to her. She looked at him long and hard in silence. Finally she said, "I am so glad you did not go into that land. If you had, I would never have seen you again." And not a single word more could he ever get from her by way of explanation.

Yes, there do seem to be Other Places. Some of them may be uninhabited, or even uninhabitable. Others may be homes to beings that have no interest whatever in Our Place and our small doings. Some may even be home to benevolent beings. But some of these Other Places do seem to be the lairs of stealthy predators, who may sometimes fancy a human snack or two and so cast a sort of "fishing lure" into Our Place.

If it was not something from the nearby Air Force base, then you and your friend may have been reeled in by such a predator, looked over, and then tossed back. You may have had a stroke of very good luck there.

Color Breathing

[filthywaffle]

Hi JMG,

Re: Color Breathing

Let's say during a particular session my goal is to focus on green. Yet I keep seeing yellow, or yellow just seems easier to imagine and -- for lack of a better word -- easier. As if there is less resistance.

Does this tend to mean there is an imbalance, and I need to continue to work on visualizing green? Or does it mean I'm somehow "craving" yellow and need to go with the flow?

Re: Color Breathing

[ecosophia]

Experiment with it. Do a bunch of yellow color breathing and see if that seems to fill the need. Also try pushing back and getting green even when your mind wants yellow, and see what results you get.

[(Anonymous)]

That is fascinating. No, clairvoyance is news to hubby. Almost 25 years ago, he and I stood in a lovely public garden on Whidbey Island, admiring the rhododendrons, when I looked over at him and saw quite clearly that he stood within the body of a young Asian man, in monk robes. I feel quite certain that was one of his past lives. If so, would his training as a monk long ago have anything to do with the shape of what he saw?

He’s not religious per se, but is totally accepting of my lifetime of seeker adventures. I’m quite lucky he’s my mate.

[ecosophia]

Very likely, yes, the monastic training he received in that previous life will have opened up specific patterns of clairvoyance in him, which would carry over from life to life.

differences between divination sources

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I hope that it's not the quantity of responses to comments and questions on your blogs that's making you tired. I'd hate to be part of the problem and wish you plentiful r&r.

I wonder if you might let me know if this is a good way to handle discrepancies between divination meanings. I'm new to working with Ogham, currently only have access to two texts that relate meanings if the fees and have found the correspindences for two fews are transposed. Until I can find more sources, I've decided to just stick with one source's interpretation for now.

Or would you recommend something else?

Many thanks!

Re: differences between divination sources

[ecosophia]

Choose one, stick with it, and see what results you get. Every divination system in existence has variations like this -- in the Tarot, for example, there's been a long dispute as to whether Justice should be trump 8 and Strength trump 11, or vice versa.

nesting rituals

[kallianeira]

Hello JMG.

There has been some discussion of ways to perform rituals when in public spaces. I have a related question.

I have been doing the LRP and Middle Pillar practices together at home.
As I understand it - please correct me if wrong - the order is:
Circle of Presence
LRP
MP exercise
Circle of Presence

The LRP (done without the MP) is bracketed before and afterwards by the CoP.

Now if there is time only for the LRP, and I wish to continue with the MP and meditation later in the day, must the MP exercise also be bracketed by the Circle of Presence, or preceded by the entire LRP, or neither? i.e. I'd like a clearer understanding of the relations between the functions of these three. I have not any perception yet as to what they are doing and the logic of the parts.

Thanks as ever,

kallianeira.

Re: nesting rituals

[ecosophia]

It's best to do the whole thing as a unit; the LRP, which begins and ends with the Circle of Presence, and then the MP, with the Circle of Presence following it. Both the ritual and the exercise should always begin and end with the Circle of Presence -- when you do them together, the Circle of Presence that ends the LRP begins the MP, so you only do it three times.

MIght be considered a question about magic...

[youngmanontv]

How does a druid deal with mosquitoes when outside practicing rituals in the summer?

Here in the woods in central Wisconsin they are terrific and I'm often driven indoors from the innumerable swarms. I stay covered head to toe with clothing and a mosquito net over my head. It keeps about 80 out of 100 of them from biting but they still becomes such a distraction from my practice.

I'm of the mind that this is their home as much as mine and I'm no fan of bug-bombing and citronella candles and herbal sprays and such can't handle the sheer number of them this particularly overwhelming mosquito season.

I'm curious if you've dealt with or overcome this relentless insect.

Re: MIght be considered a question about magic...

[ecosophia]

I use herbal oils, and lots of them.

[(Anonymous)]

What determines where ley lines form? Do standing stones alter the path of leys or just make the most of them as they are?

[ecosophia]

There's been a lot of confusion and nonsense written about this recently, so I appreciate the question. Leys aren't natural phenomena -- they were created some thousands of years ago, in some parts of the world, using processes of magical engineering that nobody knows any more. As any feng shui master will tell you, when the natural energies of the landscape are left to themselves, they'll move in complex curves, not in straight lines!

The standing stones in those places that have leys -- far northwestern Europe, New England, Japan, and a few other places -- are an integral part of the ley structure. So are mounds, and some other works of geoengineering. Again, we don't know more than a few scraps about how leys were made and how they were used, but it's pretty clear that (for example) when a standing stone falls over or is removed, the flow of energy through the associated ley changes.

[(Anonymous)]

When you do colour breathing and breathe out impurities, what do you visualise happening to them after that? If you just breathed them out and they were still in the vicinity I'd feel like there was a danger of reinhaling them on the next breath.

[ecosophia]

I visualize them dispersing outward into infinite space and being transformed into light.

Kunstler’s Magic

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I’ve been wondering if you might share any thoughts on the magical depictions in the World Made By Hand series. The title character in The Witch Of Hebron comes to mind, but also Brother Jobe’s unusual abilities. As someone who found both you and JHK through the Peak Oil scene I was surprised to find that element in his books, and curious as to the reaction from someone who is magically informed. Thank you.

P.S. Rather ironic that his Peak Oil fiction involves the occult, while Retrotopia prominently features street cars and good city design!

Re: Kunstler’s Magic

[ecosophia]

I thought it was interesting, and not at all bad for something written by someone who hasn't studied or practiced magic.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi again,

About a day or so after my grandma died, my mom swore that my grandma called her name. My mom was fully awake when this happened. Is such a thing possible, so soon after someone dies?

Thank you again for your time, it's so interesting to read all of the questions and answers.

[ecosophia]

That's the most common kind of ghost experience there is. Something like a third of all people have had an experience like that -- my dad, who insists that he's one of the least spiritual people alive, heard from my grandmother after her death in exactly the same way. (I got a phone call from a very, very spooked father right afterwards!)

During the three days or so immediately after death, the spirit is still very close to the material world, and it often happens that it will try to reach out and make contact with the people it's left behind, to comfort and reassure them. After that, it passes through what's called the Second Death, and has other things to occupy its time.

A Ritual for Concentrated Intellectual Work

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I wondered if you might have a suggestion for a simple ritual for focusing on intellectual work? I am employed as a civil engineer, I find that I often have trouble focusing, but that sometimes I find myself in a state of deep engagement, and would like to understand and make that state re-producible. Those various states all occur on the same subject/project, so I don't think it is the content that is preventing me from focusing, but rather an imbalance or untrained aspect in my self.

The first thing that jumped to mind is a ritual of some sort, and you seemed a good person to ask.

I am not embedded in any particular tradition, though I am European-descended and Western symbolism tends to resonate more frequently than Eastern for me, if that helps you point me to a particular ritual.

I do not have any of your books on ritual, but I will happily buy one if you have already detailed such a ritual there.

Thanks for your generosity in offering these Magical Monday's!

DutyBound

Re: A Ritual for Concentrated Intellectual Work

[ecosophia]

Magical ritual doesn't work like that. It's a little as though you asked me to teach you a Bach fugue for violin when you've never studied violin and don't know how to read music. Magic -- at least the kind of magic I do -- is like playing a classical instrument; it takes the same kind of regular practice, and you have to invest a lot of time into it before you can play anything much more complex than "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Pentagram," but the more you practice it the more you can do.

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of relentless little creatures, any advice for making a garden less attractive to the rabbits that have been moving into my area? I've been educating myself about fences, predator scents, and rabbit-resistant plants, and am looking for magical ways to back those up by making rabbits vaguely uncomfortable.

[ecosophia]

Good question. I don't know of a spell for that purpose, though cooking and eating as many of the rabbits as you can catch might be a good start. ;-)

books on astrology

[churrundo]

Hi JMG

I've had discussions with a good friend of mine regarding belief in astrology. He is quite smart but also skeptic. I tend to fail at giving sound arguments about how astrology works, and I wanted to know if you could reccommend me (or him, for that matter), some books that can reconcile these beliefs with someone who is open to it, but hasn't found the evidence to back it up.
Thanks!

Re: books on astrology

[ecosophia]

I've never really looked into books like that. My approach to astrology was simply to give it a fair try. I found that it worked very well, and proceeded from there.