Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

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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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. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I was thinking of asking about the specifics of past life memories, how and why they surface, what makes them stick to your higher consciousness, etc. Within this life, memories tend to form around significant events, so I was wondering if there's a magical or spiritual parallel at work. I wonder if my memories were just the most important experiences for my past personalities, or those events that left an imprint on my higher form, or some of both? However, you seem to be saying that it's rather random and/or complex.

I've always been into religious & occult matters, even before I broke out my rationalist/Enlightenment conditioning, I wonder if that helped. Or maybe it's just a natural process? Some of my memories are pleasant (especially the life in Medieval East Asia I've spoken of), but there's also a more recent death by drowning in there. I also have guesses as to other past lives I've had that I can't remember directly. However, my recollections are nowhere near as detailed as yours. Is developing this a matter of practice, patience, or both?

Personally, I cherish my past life memories, even the harsh ones, as it's a way of getting to know myself and my spiritual journey better. But I agree that they have to surface naturally, and they're not all fun & games. I can clearly distinguish between my past lives and rich imaginings -- in my experience, there should be a sense of deep familiarity, even if it's something way outside of your experience. It's also something that comes to you -- you're not developing or defining it, rather you're catching glimpses of what's there.

--xcalibur/djs

[ecosophia]

1) It's very complex. Basically, when your personality (the temporary identity you have in your present incarnation) develops to the point that it reflects your individuality (the permanent identity you've been building all through your lives) well enough, bits of memory start slipping through. As far as I can tell, some of them are pretty random, some are suggested by events in this life, some seem to be hints of things you need to remember or work on.

2) It's a matter of patience and regular meditation.

[(Anonymous)]

I see, thanks! btw, I wasn't presuming to give you advice, that portion of my post was really meant for the rest of the readership. I can confirm that my past lives only came into view after I matured, it's not something I experienced in my younger days.

To reiterate: I have recollections of being a girl in Medieval East Asia, perhaps 800 years ago or so. That experience with flowering bamboo was strongest and clearest, it must've made an impression on me. I also remember my outgoing personality, completely different than my current self, and I remember a massive war later in that life (probably Mongol conquests or Jin-Song). However, I don't remember which culture I was in exactly, or which language I was speaking (although it was certainly not English), how I looked exactly (although I think I was reasonably attractive & healthy), and many other things that should be easy to remember, and yet are blanks waiting to be filled in. I wonder if that's normal? Maybe past life memories have their own logic, a logic which considers those points I mentioned to be details?

btw, even though we're all in different lives now, I still think of them as MY village. Centuries later, I still remember the loving bonds of kith & kin that tied me to the fabric of village life (even if I can't remember other contours of that life). That's kind of endearing, isn't it? That must be why I remember that life being happier -- it's because I lived in a network of relations, which is precisely what our atomized modern society is lacking. But that's another topic...

Thanks again for all your guidance!

--xcalibur/djs

[ecosophia]

The gaps you've described certainly have equivalents in my experience. It's the things that were important to me then, not the ones that would be interesting to me now, that I recall best!

[(Anonymous)]

I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to get the "last word" in or anything, but I have to say -- that makes perfect sense! Of course, it's my current self who's interested in those details of history & culture, which my past self didn't think about too much.

--xcalibur/djs