ecosophia | Magic Monday

It's just a few minutes to midnight, so we can launch 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 eighteenth published book, and it happened via a chain of accidents that still has me fielding baffled questions. Here's what happened.

My first book on geomancy, the fourth book I published, was released by a certain rather clueless publisher. I warned the marketing people there that they needed to make sure that their sales staff didn't get confused and think that it was a book on Wiccan feng-shui. Sure enough, their sales staff got confused and marketed it to all the little witch bookstores that thrived in those days as a book on Wiccan feng-shui. Once they got their copies and found out that it was a book on a somewhat fussy Renaissance method of divination, of course, they shipped their copies back to the publisher with irate letters; as a result, Earth Divination, Earth Magic became the first book of mine to go out of print.

Fast forward to 2008. Hot on the heels of the success of The Druidry Handbook and The Druid Magic Handbook, I tried to place Earth Divination, Earth Magic with Weiser. They weren't interested in a reprint but said they'd be happy with a new book on the same subject. So I wrote them a new book that covered exactly the same ground as Earth Divination, Earth Magic, and they snapped it up. Much later, Aeon Books picked up Earth Divination, Earth Magic and brought out a new edition. And that, my children, is why I have two books on geomancy from two different publishers covering exactly the same material, in head to head competition with each other. Most prolific authors end up with some such bizarrerie in their backlist sooner or later...

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~~With that said, have at it!~~

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Are there any followers of Athena reading? What can you recommend for connecting with her, offerings of items or tasks beyond the orphic hymns?

As a bookish woman with a strong personality, from a matriarchal family, I probably seem on the outside like someone who would be a follower of Athena, but I have not really connected with her. There are a few things coming up in my life that make me want to. When I have tried to focus on her before, I feel most aware of her warlike, stern side, the Athena of the Iliad and the Oresteia. I feel that I can't be up to scratch (I am not very tough, because of medical problems that mean I would certainly have died as a baby in the ancient world), rather than being able to draw strength. This does not feel like an obstacle when I meditate on other gods.

I have a small statue of her purchased at the Nashville Parthenon, which is worth visiting -- it's quite a good replica of the original, complete with a huge statue of Athena -- but beyond that, I don't have any particular suggestions. Anyone else?

I have made donations to the Owl Research Institute in honor of Athena. They seem legit. My late aunt used to donate to them. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/

I follow Athena, and there's another side to Her that you might consider. I think She is the patroness of productive work. Certainly She invented a number of tools that help us get things done: the bridle for horses, the loom to weave fabric, the flute to make music. You describe yourself as "a bookish woman with a strong personality," so is it possible that this angle might be a helpful approach?

Hosea Tanatu

Note to JMG: If this is too long, please feel free to delete it without posting.

To Anon, following on my previous post. I wrote this a couple years ago. If it helps you any, you are more than welcome to it. It's dactylic, but not hexameter. :-)

Pallas Athene, spear-brandishing goddess,
Who bears the Gorgoneion — terrible shield!
Fearsome in battle, you scatter your enemies,
Stealing their wits till in terror they yield.

Pallas Athene, the guardian of cities,
Rejoicing in Justice and Right undefiled;
Who teaches the know-how of civilization,
That sets us apart from the beasts and the wild:

The bridle for horses, the loom to weave fabric,
the flute to make music, the olive for oil.
All these and more are the tools that you give us,
To bring productivity out of our toil.

Friend of the crafty and peerless in counsel,
Your sight probing deeply, your eyes shining grey;
I sing of you now and will sing again later.
Be gracious and grant that I not lose my way.

Hosea Tanatu

I think of Athena's martial aspect as related to strategy more than fitness and violence. Strategy is reliant on perception, intention, and research - and particularly it requires honest acknowledgement of one's own limitations. As someone who has dealt with medical problems throughout your life, you've likely had to rely on strategy much moreso than someone without similar physical limitation. So, I'd imagine her warlike side would be something you could readily tune into if you can tune out the hum of societal shaming of the differently-abled.

Yes, that particular statue of Athena is a good one given your description of yourself. She is crowned and carries a little figure of Nike in her hand, as opposed to the statues of her with her helmet as a warrior, but it's useful to bear in mind that she is also a Goddess with combat attributes. There is an Orphic Hymn to Athena, and you could recite this hymn in front of her statue. You could add a votive candle, and the appropriate incense, which the hymn says is "aromatics". I like Patrick Dunn's book on the Orphic Hymns, and he gives some tips for using them in a ritual context. He mentions that aromatics aren't described in detail in ancient sources, but he assumes something like sandalwood or laurel leaves.

Athena is the force behind willful and complex creation. Productivity as an art. As an engineer, I think of those moments when I finally solve what seemed like an intractable problem. Thanks to my perseverance, something, no matter how small or inconsequential, is operating in a more elevated mode than it was before.

In an Ancient Greek context her connection to war makes sense: creating a more complex society will put you in conflict with those around you. Either because you’re seeing the fruits of your long term goals, or simply because you’re different than those around you. I don’t see Athena’s warlike aspects as about conquering, but more about taking the necessary steps to ensure one’s creations don’t get destroyed.

I see her stern nature as one of “tough love.” Creation requires a love of and confidence in oneself, and as someone who suffers from self-doubt this is the hardest bit. She can reveal this to you, but you’ll need to act on this revealed strength.

I offer about a teaspoon of olive oil each day and pour it out on the ground the next morning. On Wednesdays I add offering of cakes and wine (cookie of some kind). I find that if I buy the little bottles of wine and keep in the refrigerator it will not spoil before I use it up. Usually get some small cookie, such as vanilla wafers or ginger snaps. These are also poured out the next day. I address her most often as Guardian of Cities as her martial aspect seems more defensive rather than the joy in battle of Ares. The statue I have is from a now defunct store in SF, about 10" tall, some kind of grey composite on a marble pedestal, helmeted with spear in hand and shield by her side--not sure whether it is a reproduction. If space is a concern, there are several sites on Etsy that offer Greek deity figures about 4" tall. Mine of Athena is white with gold highlights' I think it also came in a "bronze" finish.
If you have a Cost Plus import store nearby the small, white China dishes and cups in the Japanese kitchenware section are a good size for small offerings of liquids or cakes. Very similar to what Shinto priests use with their traveling altars (they are asked to bless construction sites, new cars, etc. so have folding wooden altars and small dishes for the rice and fruit offerings). I started the daily devotion when my oldest grandson entered the US Marines but have continued and added the other grandkids.

Hope this is useful,

Rita

Magic Monday

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