Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Midnight is just a few minutes away, and so it's time to 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:  I'm going to draw a line, a hard one, under questions involving the evocation of spirits. Down the road a bit I'll be doing a post on the blog about why that's far less important than it's been made to look, and how the way of occult initiation takes a radically different path; in the meantime, I'm tired of fielding repetitive questions from people (or, quite possibly, one person using many sock puppets) that rotate gyroscopically around that one habit.

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-ninth published book, and remains far and away the most successful of my books from the peak oil era. Its genesis, like most of my other peak oil books, began on the blog I ran in those days, The Archdruid Report, with a series of posts on the appropriate technology movement -- one of the most promising of the movements of the 1970s ecological scene, which attempted to craft advanced technologies that could work within the limits of sustainability. Though it was erased from collective memory by mass media and corporate interests, it produced quite a few useful technologies, and this book was my attempt to bring those back to the attention of those who might use them. Given the steady sales of this book, I still have hope. If you're interested, you can get a copy here.

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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, and no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Comments

Re: The Reenchantment of the World and Question on the Protestant Church Model in America

[(Anonymous)]

"The Neopagans who wanted white clapboard covensteads and paid clergy never seemed to get that. Most of them were uncomfortable with magic, divination, and casual sex"

I don't understand this part. I thought the ADF were one of the best examples of the "supplying would-be paid clergy" type, but they practice magic and divination rather specifically, and let's say casual sex hasn't been foreign to their conducts either. I know they originated decades ago, but everything more recent that seems to me to want the same hasn't seemed too different regarding the above. Could you say something about who are those you described?

Re: The Reenchantment of the World and Question on the Protestant Church Model in America

[ecosophia]

ADF is a special case. They would have become a significant denomination in the American religious scene, except that their organizational structure was so stunningly dysfunctional -- it had all the disadvantages of autocracy and democracy without any of the advantages of either, and it went out of its way to encourage ambitious and talented people to become big fish in very little ponds rather than harnessing their energy to grow the organization.

At one point Philip Carr-Gomm, then the head of OBOD, asked Druids and Druid organizations around the world to contribute things to an archive of Druid materials he was organizing. He got some amazing things -- music, poetry, ritual, philosophy, you name it. From ADF, he got their official Policies and Procedures Manual, hundreds of pages thick. (As far as I know British Druids are still chuckling about that.) That, I think, is most of what you need to know about why ADF failed.

As for the groups I had in mind, I'm thinking of the ones who supported Cherry Hill Seminary and who were busy trying to turn Neopaganism into liberal Christianity with a different gender for God. There were quite a few of them, though it's been a while since I've paid any attention to the Neopagan scene.

Re: The Reenchantment of the World and Question on the Protestant Church Model in America

[(Anonymous)]

"harnessing their energy to grow the organization."

If I may;


The Ancient Order of Druids in America has published two books over the past several years, the druids book of prayers ceremonies and songs I and II. From what i understand these books can be purchased from several venues. The contributers were given no special title, payment, and all material was given over voluntarily for both editions. Most recent edition can be found here. https://aoda.org/publications/the-druids-book-of-ceremonies-prayers-and-songs/

Re: The Reenchantment of the World and Question on the Protestant Church Model in America

[ecosophia]

Why, yes. One of the basic principles I had in mine when I was head of AODA, and helped to shape its organizational culture, was this: "Whatever ADF does, we do something different." It saved us a lot of grief back in the day.

Re: The Reenchantment of the World and Question on the Protestant Church Model in America

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, thank you for that consideration and all the work your family put into reviving the order.

As a side note, scrying the path of Huath in the DMG could come with a warning label lol.

Ian