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 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.  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.  And further:  if you ask a question about some occult topic and I tell you it's not something I can or will help you with, and you keep on asking more and more questions about that same topic, don't be surprised if your questions just get deleted. 'Nuf said.

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 twenty-fifth published book. During my time as head of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, it became clear that we needed a few books for members with rituals and the like. This was the first of them, a guide to the ritual work of a grove (that's what you call a group of Druids) in AODA. It was a pleasant, simple, straightforward job, and I didn't (and don't) make a cent from it -- all proceeds go to AODA. It seemed to me that this was appropriate for what was, after all, a labor of love.

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. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I was reading a thread on people’s weirdest stories using magic. The range of experiences was really interesting, anything from causing weather events to hotfoot powder quick results. Obviously there is no way to know how much magic influenced these situations, but most of what I read came across with sincerity. Many of the posters themselves were surprised at what happened.

In the past you have written something like “learn a system of magic, it doesn't really matter which one” which got me wondering what the common elements behind these systems are. What are the common denominators? Aside from intention, I see mantras/vibrating sounds, gestures, visualization/imagination, and spoken words as the basis of what one is actually doing aside from meditation and divination. Are there certain systems that will allow someone to develop “paranormal” abilities more than others? You have often written that there are many different systems of magic, but the only ones I ever see getting consistently mentioned are Golden Dawn, Franz Bardon’s system and Agrippa to a lesser extent. How does someone know they are making progress in a given system? I know this is a bunch of small questions...

2) You mentioned you know some serious practitioners of Bardon’s system. What makes somebody a serious practitioner and how does the experience of life differ for someone who spends a lot of time doing these types of practices (magic)?

Thank you for doing Magic Mondays JMG

[ecosophia]

1) The common denominators are will and imagination; everything else is detail. Yes, different systems have different effects, "paranormal" or otherwise; the measurements that allow you to know that you're making progress vary from system to system, but one that's common to all valid systems is that your life improves.

2) A serious practitioner is one who puts in practice time every day. It's the same rule you use to call someone a serious musician: how often do they practice? As for the differences in the experience of life, that would practically take a book to explain. Imagine for a moment that what you think of as "paranormal" abilities were actually normal, things that everyone has though most people don't notice or use. Imagine that what you think of as "supernatural" was all perfectly natural, and you experienced those things all the time. Imagine that you stopped experiencing yourself as a helpless victim of circumstances beyond your control, realized that your will and imagination were shaping your life constantly in ways that you weren't conscious off, and that you started taking conscious control of the process and making your life what you want it to be. Imagine all of that together; that's a start.