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've decided that questions involving the evocation of spirits are permanently off topic here. The point of occultism is to develop your own capacities, not to try to bully or wheedle other beings into doing things for you. I'll have a post on this on the blog in due time.

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 thirtieth published book and, in sales terms, one of my least successful works yet. I was invited by a small psychology press, Karnac Books, to write a book about the psychological implications of peak oil. It was an interesting project and one that I accepted with enthusiasm; it got a nice clean editing job and a good cover, and saw print. The result was one of my better books, a tolerably crisp analysis of the cascading mental health consequences of the mismatch between the modern mythology of progress and the reality of decline. Those few psychologists who noticed its existence at all, however, responded with horror or flat dismissal. Its sales have been so modest that, while it remains in print (with a firm that bought out most of Karnac's titles), the distributor that supplies stock to my Bookshop store doesn't carry it. You can get it from your favorite online bookstore.

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

Willpower and 12-Step Groups

[(Anonymous)]

For a number of years I attended a 12-Step group focused on dealing with addictive eating, and found it overall quite helpful, though I ultimately stopped going and have not been going for many years. I've recently started struggling more with my eating again, and have gone back to a couple meetings, but am not sure I want to dive in. On the one hand, it could help a lot and I've had a hard time getting traction with other approaches, on the other hand there were good reasons I stopped going in the first place.

The reason I'm asking here, is because a core tenet of 12-step programs is the idea that "my will" is faulty, and that in order to succeed you have to stop using your own will and "turn your will over to God," who then helps effect the transformation. But the idea is that "my will" is permanently unable to stop eating addictively (or drinking alcohol, or whatever the case may be).

I've done enough occult work in the intervening years to have a different understanding of the will than the one embodied in 12-step programs, but have struggled mightily to apply it to my eating. I don't like the 12-step worldview in a lot of ways (I'm generally familiar with the history and the origins of AA in evangelical Christianity) and would like to find approaches that better fits my polytheist/animist spirituality and worldview but am a bit at a loss.

One thing I do like about 12 step groups is the spirit of mutual aid and people taking their time to support each other without charging $200 an hour for coaching sessions! And I do know that there are different ways of understanding and interpreting the 12 step language which are maybe a bit more compatible. But fundamentally, I don't really want to concede that my will is fatally flawed and that the only way I can heal is to embrace an addict identity and turn my will over to God.

I'm interested in any thoughts or perspective that might help. Thanks!

Re: Willpower and 12-Step Groups

[ecosophia]

I've never been comfortable with the 12-step abdication of will either, but then I haven't had any of the problems for which that system is usually applied. I'm not at all sure what to suggest. Anyone else?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John. Have been practicing the golden dawn daily rituals for a few months now namely, the LBRP and the middle pillar and the closing from Damien Echol's book. Prior to this, I was casual about it but not anymore.

1. When would I be ready to move on to tattwa scrying? Echols books don't mention it.

2. Is there any magical or energetic practice that can make others in my workplace nicer towards me? Echols claims that the Middle Pillar does this for him and others. I have yet to meet anyone else make that claim though.

3. Is the circulation of the light step in the middle pillar important? I see that books contain different instructions for that step.

4. I have developed some interest towards the SOP after witnessing many commentators speak highly about it. I don't want to change my practice now since I am quite a few months into it but is there room for the SOP to be incorporated between the LBRP and the MP?

5. A question about tarot scrying as opposed to tattwa scrying. The world/universe card is considered the same for both Saturn and Earth whereas the rest of the elements get their separate cards. In Liber 777, this is not the case. In it, the Empresses (coins) card represents the Earth realm and Universe card represents Saturn.
Which is it?

[ecosophia]

1) I'd suggest starting that after you've got about six months of experience with ritual. You might consider adding discursive meditation -- the traditional Western form of meditation -- to your practices before you start scrying, though. A scrying that isn't unpacked through meditation is like a letter you never get around to opening.

2) Yes. You'll need to find Israel Regardie's little book The Art of True Healing -- it's readily available -- and use the expansions of the Middle Pillar exercise he gives there. In the meantime, you might want to do divination and journaling to figure out why people aren't being nice to you, and see what you can do to change things based on that knowledge.

3) Yes, but you can do any of the variants and get good results.

4) The SoP is basically incompatible with the standard Golden Dawn system. Stick with what you're doing! You can add in elemental invocations later -- Regardie's book Ceremonial Magic is an excellent textbook for this.

5) That's like asking whether the animal barking at you is a dog, un chien, or ein Hund. Symbols are tools, not truths. You can use any established set of symbols you choose. Don't make one up yet -- you don't have the experience to do it and make it work -- but once you've done the work with an established system, you can try a couple of others and then modify or create as you wish.

Dreams everlasting

[(Anonymous)]

Happy MM JMG
The post on the main blog compelled me to bring up dreams. I’ve had fairly accurate predictions of the future that have come to pass. Trade Centers falling in flames, fish in a barrel psychic wise, but still saw it years before, my brother’s early death, that was told to me in dreams twenty years before the fact, my one run in with the law, saw that mug shot in dreams well before hand and it was then that I started to realize I can see signs and affect change.

A dream this past April shook me to my core. In it, I witnessed the accidental death of my youngest child. Many omens have since played out on this plane. I have done all I can to counter it. In meditation I have come to terms that if it’s God’s will, there may not be much I can do, but when I pray and reach out for God, he keeps telling me the same thing.

Shape up.

I take that literally and figuratively. Trying to get into fighting shape at 50 plus is comical but the sweet science is my love, it’s what I know. My goal is to be Paul Newman at end of The Color of Money, not young, not the same in any way but still a force of nature, a force of will. On the figurative end, I’ve been sober going on five years and can’t even remember the last time I smoked (not cigarettes) and at this point, I don’t miss either. I was even able to give up coffee for a few weeks at the start of the year. I was impressed. I know I have the will but it always go to hell when I come up against my greatest foe, lust and it gets worse as I get older. The sadness of aging, it’s a mountain to climb and I often think of Saturn and occasionally attempt communication, but it feels odd as a lapse Catholic. All of this brings me to my only question, do you think SoP could help? Couldn’t hurt is my take but your comment from last week made wonder.

People who have strong psychic gifts are generally better off not practicing magic, since in many cases formal magical ritual doesn't play well with psychism.

I’m thankful for my gift and am determined to use prayer and meditation to alter what I saw. Funny thing is, 90 percent of the vision has already come to pass. If ‘shaping up’ is the difference between the rest, any and all thoughts are welcome.

Re: Dreams everlasting

[ecosophia]

If you don't currently practice a daily banishing ritual, yes, the SoP might help. It's not an instant cure but it strengthens and balances the will.

[corrach_the_blue]

Good afternoon Creyr Glas Cynwyddon,

A couple of years ago (more or less) the topic of the Boy Scouts egregore came up in the wake of the legal settlement in of their abuse scandal.

My daughter recently turned 5 and is eligible to join Cub Scouts. After working through my mixed feelings about the BSA now being coed and concerns about returning (I’m an Eagle Scout who had a very positive experience) to an organization with a potentially problematic egregore, I registered her with a local Cub Scout Pack and filled out the forms to volunteer as a Den Leader. I spent some time this weekend doing the Youth Protection Training and such and it came up repeatedly that the BSA is rebranding itself as Scouting America to better reflect the membership now.

I was curious how the name change would impact the egregore. On the news article in Scouting Wire ( https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2024/05/07/what-our-organizations-name-change-means-and-doesnt-mean-to-scouts-and-leaders/ )there are, of course, mixed opinions in the comments from some who are offended and others welcoming the change and a handful of reasonable middle lane voices. I briefly looked at the numerology of the name going from a 3 to a 5 using your posts from 2022. Both numbers have characteristics that I think that Scouting values such as being a jack of all trades (3) and making life an adventure (5). {Incidentally my daughter asked me yesterday if now that she’s a Cub Scout can we go on adventures which made me realize I have not taken her out into the woods enough}.

I was curious about your and the commentariat’s thoughts on the name change.

Cormac the Blue

[ecosophia]

Going from a 3 to a 5, there will be many more conflicts. Still, other factors -- including irreducibly local ones -- will determine how things work out for you and your daughter.

[(Anonymous)]

Is there an occult meaning to the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly [1]? Perhaps a wound on the Earth's vital body, perhaps beings living under it are more susceptible to astral influence?

Apparently the anomaly is moving over time, so I'm not sure where it was in the last few hundred years. But the only notable things I can think that happened in the overall area under the anomaly are that it is where the Jesuits decided to build their Utopia; where Bolivian sites like Pumapunku are located; where the Peabiru (ancient road/trail system connecting Southern Brazilian coast to Peru, already falling apart when the Europeans arrived) was; where the 3 sites Brazilian theosophists consider sacred are (Serra do Roncador being the most famous due to ancient and modern legends, and Percy Fawcett's failed expedition).

Thanks for this space.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly

[ecosophia]

I've never seen any discussion of it in occult writings. It's certainly interesting! I didn't know about the Peabiru, btw, and will look it up. What are the other two sites sacred to Brazilian theosophists?

Uncanny rejuvenation of rich people faces

[packshaud]

I am just forwarding an oddity I found. Sometime ago you commented on the weird face look of the rich, that seem to be using some kind of rejuvenation procedure that gives them an uncanny look. I think I might have stumbled into a possible explanation. An Italian called Girolamo Segato developed a way to preserve corpses that is even listed at Wikipedia as a lost technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Segato

In spite of the procedure being mentioned as petrifaction, he actually used several methods, including the one described on the site below, that features some not safe for work images of some of his workings.

https://ghoulsguides.com/2016/01/23/florence-girolamo-segato/

This quote is from the site above:

While in Egypt Segato had himself lowered into a pyramid and came out three days later a changed man, obsessed with mummification. In 1823 he went back to Italy, settled in Florence and developed a technique for the mineralization of human remains that left his materials their original color and elasticity.

This procedure was applied to corpses, but I wonder if something similar might be being used by our self-appointed betters. And this something might not be entirely physical, just like the secret that died with Segato.

Re: Uncanny rejuvenation of rich people faces

[ecosophia]

That's not only impressively bizarre, it would make an absolutely first rate Lovecraftian weird tale! I doubt our current decadent elites are having themselves petrified, but you never know...

The occult is being increasingly targeted

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I've noticed a trend of increasing fear surrounding occult groups and training. The trend also claims that "New World Order" types of organizations use occultism to achieve their aims (which might be true in some cases).

Have you noticed this trend as well, and what do you make of it?

Tim Pw

Re: The occult is being increasingly targeted

[ecosophia]

Yes, I've noticed it, and in fact made a point of watching it. There are several things going on. On the one hand, paranoiac mass panics are a common side effect of collective stress, especially during a time of revived interest in religion. On the other, the flight of many people from atheism and the weak-tea versions of Neopaganism into outright demonolatry and Satanism has gotten the attention of a great many Christians, and stirred up some very old and nasty habits of persecution in the crawlspaces of that faith. Add to this the fact that so many people in the pop-occult scene have abandoned whatever scraps of magical ethics they once had and are openly promoting the kind of magic that hurts other people, and you have a recipe for a good old-fashioned pogrom.

It would not surprise me at all to see mob violence against Wiccans and occultists in some parts of this country in the years ahead. I would encourage those who are concerned with this to keep a very close eye on their local Christian scene, and be ready to flee for their lives if things turn ugly.

Maybe I should have asked this last week...

[walt_f]

Does publicly pronouncing (in text, not literally) a dreadful classic curse present any hazard to the person doing so? Beyond the ordinary ones any messenger bearing an unwelcome message might expect, I mean. Anything by way of karmic, energetic, or spiritual consequences.

Um, asking for a friend. :b

Re: Maybe I should have asked this last week...

[ecosophia]

It depends very much on whether you participate in the behavior that is the focus of the curse. If you state the necessary consequences of something, and then make sure not to take part in whatever it is, you benefit from the escape clause: if x --> y, then not(x) --> not(y). If you state the curse and then do the same thing as the people who earned it, then it drags you down too. Take your pick!

[denebalgedi777]

Happy to return to MM!

I'll keep it brief this week.

To ask:

1. I've really enjoyed learning geomancy because, like the recent post on the main Ecosophia blog said, it's just such a powerful tool for answering questions and it's usually right on. However I still have some issues with it. My question is this: I understand that when an astrological geomantic chart is consulted for a specific matter, it's the perfection of the chart or the lack thereof that answers the question. Well and good. Then what do you use the judge, witnesses and reconciler for in that case?

To share:

2. I've noticed a change in inner senses after using the LBRP and MP exercises. I'm much more lucid, awake and aware on the inner planes when dreaming now, for example. Although sometimes I still have trouble remembering dreams after waking. I suppose part of this is that I've been so tangled up in material and mundane cares lately that there's a disconnect between more worldly and more subtle consciousness, and the two don't translate well.

Another very interesting thing is that I attended a funeral for a friend of my grandmother's, and musings from that will shortly appear on my Dreamwidth blog, and it took place at a Protestant church of which the departed had been a lifelong member. At the time of the Benediction, right before the end of the service, I felt a surge of energy from the direction of the podium -- not unlike completing the LBRP but more intense. Kind of had the feeling of a strong and purifying force washing over the room. Obviously a sign of inner senses waking up! I never remember that happening in a church before.

[ecosophia]

1) I don't usually pay much attention to the judge and witnesses in a house chart. At most, I use them to get a sense of the overall picture in which the question has its setting, with the right witness as past, the judge as present, and the left witness as the future.

2) Glad to hear this. The event at the funeral is a good sign -- the minister apparently still knows how to work energy in a church setting, which most Protestant ministers forgot a long time ago. (I discuss this in detail in my forthcoming book on polarity magic).

[jenniferkobernik]

Hi JMG,

My father passed away at our home on May 29th, not altogether unexpectedly. I am starting to tackle the decluttering and cleaning of his rooms, and am planning to clean with Chinese wash followed by some house blessing candles. Would you suggest anything else in particular before we begin to use and inhabit his room, where he lived and died?

(I am breastfeeding, so no ceremonial magic for me.)

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Please accept my condolences. Chinese wash and house blessing candles should do a fine job, so long as you didn't have a seriously problematic relationship with him.

5 Rites

[k_a_nitz]

I've been practising the 5 Tibetan rites for a bit over ten weeks now, making haste slowly and only adding reps every five weeks so that I am now on 7 reps. Just in the past week I noticed something odd. I woke up with a warm feeling across the top of my upper back/shoulder area - sort of like you get when you do the Wim Hof practice of generating warmth by progressively tensing from your calves up your back to half way up the back of your head - and since then although I'm still setting the shower to the same level of lukewarm it feels noticeably warmer (and it is winter here now too). I'm wondering if any of the other commenters who are practising the 5 rites have experienced something like this?

Re: 5 Rites

[ecosophia]

Fascinating. I've had some changes in temperature sensitivity but I simply put those down to a more active metabolism. Anyone else?

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG

I have been wondering lately about the sens of ritual in magical practice.
Since at the core of magic are: Focus, visualisation, intention
Then wouldn't a better practice simply be meditation focused on visualisation and focusing one's will? In all this, aren't the gestures, words, objects during the ritual such theatre for the mind to convince it that it is doing magic and are really just props?


And a second question, I am practicing the 5 Tibetan rituals from your book and I am getting closer to 21 repetitions.Can those be combined with this with the practices from your druid magic handbook? Do the 5 Tibetan rituals work on the same level as the sphere of protection?

[ecosophia]

1) Of course they're just props. Many people find, however, that using the props for training purposes yields better results.

2) You can certainly practice the Five Rites and the material in The Druid Magic Handbook at the same time, but no, the Rites and the SoP work on completely different levels. That's why they're compatible.

Learning a new language

[(Anonymous)]

JMG I have seen you give advice about learning a new language in a Magic Monday years ago - so I am asking you this question here.

If I remember correctly, it was along the lines of it being helpful to learn a new language by reading a book you are already very familiar with in that language? Could you repeat what you said or point me to the post?

Basically I speak a couple of Indian languages and am a native speaker of English as well. But I learnt all those as a child an I want to try learning a new language as an adult - specifically Japanese. I used to live in Japan (although I didn’t learn then) and I am familiar with the culture and can understand a few bits and pieces. I’m just starting to learn seriously (an hour or so a day) and hope to have conversational fluency in a year when I get back there.

Any tips you have would be appreciated - for now my approach is to learn about 1000 basic words and then mostly immerse myself in video and as much reading as I can manage (of course will need to start learning kanji as well) with minimal formal grammar study etc.

One of the Indian languages actually has a very similar grammatical structure to Japanese and it would make it a lot easier to learn Japanese through it, but of course most learning resources are in English which imposes a painful cognitive load in changing the sentence structure in my mind..

Re: Learning a new language

[ecosophia]

The method I spoke of is the one invented by Joseph Jacotot, which I learned about from the writings of French magus Joséphin Péladan. Basically what you do is find a text in both languages. It can be anything at all. You memorize it in both languages, a sentence at a time. This literally restructures your brain so you pick up the inner structure of the language, and makes learning it much, much faster.

I don't know Japanese, so I'll use Latin as an example. Let's say you choose The Hobbit. In English, the first sentence is "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." In Latin -- I'm using Mark Walker's fine Latin translation here -- that's "In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus." Memorize them both so you can repeat them out loud. Don't try to analyze -- just know that one means the other. Go on to the next sentence, or (since it's long) the next phrase: "Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell" in English; "Nec foedum, sordidum madidumque foramen, nec extremis lumbricorum atque odore caenoso impletum" in Latin. Learn one pair of sentences a day. Review the previous day's sentences every day. Do whatever other language exercise you like, but keep at the memorization. In a matter of weeks you'll have picked up much more vocabulary than you expect, and will also have absorbed a lot of grammar and structure. That's the method.

Diplomatic Insects

[pleiadesdreaming]

Hi all, just wanted to share an experience with modifying the blessing walk.

I do the blessing walk semi regularly and have noticed,like many others, that other beings become more comfortable around me as I do this. As it is summer and the bees, hornets, and wasps are out in full force, I decided to try a twist on the blessing walk. I have been terrified of bees and their temperamental counterparts since childhood, so it was a big change to go from wishing for their deaths to blessing them. But as I did so and began to respect their place in the natural world, they began being less aggressive around me, which isn't surprising. This summer I noticed a few hornet nests near my patio and wanted to find a way to live alongside them instead of knocking down and killing their nests. In order to keep the peace with the bees, i decided to add another message to the default blessing, along the lines of "may there be peace between us. I will respect your space if you respect mine." This has been working fabulously so far, and even though there are 2 small nests right above where I smoke outside, hornets and wasps will fly around me without bothering me. Sometimes they get close of course, but I take the opportunity to show them that I want no trouble by not swatting at them and simply moving a few feet away if they get too close. After a month of this, as soon as I ask them to respect my space they almost immediately fly away. My friends joke that the culmination of my magical training is being able to psychically compell wasps and hornets away from me, which is admittedly pretty great. I also noticed that they leave my 4 y/o daughter alone when she plays outside too.

So thank you JMG for helping me conquer an old fear of mine and helping me improve my relationship to the beings around me! I prefer this dynamic much more than my old search and destroy attitude that wound up with me getting stung!

Btw as a side note, I noticed that this approach works well with insects that are social and a part of a hive mind, but not with all solitary insects. Perhaps social bugs have a greater intellectual capacity to understand the sentiment of what I say versus a junebug (gag) that will just fly into anything willy nilly. My thought is that not all insects have a good grasp on what is or isn't a threat, but social insects seem to understand this concept quite well. Therefore, offering a truce to social insects makes sense to them and they may take you up on it versus a junebug that will kamikaze ANYTHING.

Anyway, this is a very interesting insight to me and could be taken much further with some practice. I think doing this with a person, for example, would require an understanding of what would go with or against their will if the same method would be used on them. Has anyone else experimented with this? What are your thoughts?

Re: Diplomatic Insects

[ecosophia]

Having the power to send hornets about their business strikes me as a very impressive magical ability! It can be done with drunk people -- I know this from personal experience. I'm not sure how much further it can be taken, not least because there are ethical issues involved.

Candi Kimpulan Temple - Hindu Temple Hidden Discovered Under Islamic University of Indonesia

[scottyc]

Last night I ran across an interesting three part series of videos concerning a Hindu temple discovered in Indonesia.

I know little about Hinduism and I can't judge but I suspect the host sensationalizes his content a bit and offers a lot of speculation (though to be fair, I believe that's all anyone can do in this particular case). Despite that, I find his channel interesting and a venue to learn more about the Hindu religion, it's temples and associated mythology.

I offer the video as much of his speculation mentioned concerns the use of this unique temple and hints at advanced technology. Unfounded speculation; sensationalism for views or not, I still find this interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50jN3QMI5u0

Re: Candi Kimpulan Temple - Hindu Temple Hidden Discovered Under Islamic University of Indonesia

[ecosophia]

Interesting. Thanks for this.

Hutber's Law

[ritaer]

No questions today but I have to share this gem I ran across in _Brewer's Dictionary of Phase and Fable_ 2nd revised edition, 1981.

Hutber's Law--"Improvement means deterioration". A telling phrase coined by Patrick Hutber, City Editor of the _Sunday Telegraph_. It pin-pointed the growing tendency of officialdom to palm off reduced services of poorer quality as "new and improved".

Brewer's cross references to Parkinson's Law, with which I was already familiar, having read his book sometime in high school. The British were apparently at the time of this edition unaware of Murphy's Law.

Rita

Re: Hutber's Law

[ecosophia]

Ha! Thank you for this; that's a law I needed to know about.

Solstice in Astrology

[(Anonymous)]

I know JMG's astrological focus is mundane rather than natal, but I'm hoping the question I have is something general enough that the answer might be similar for both.

What kind of effects might the Soltices have on the aspects of a chart?

For specifics: I recently started looking into secondary progressions - specifically the lunation cycle - and was shocked to see how well it laid out the milestones of my life. (I've been such an open book and didn't even realize!) As of right now my progressed Sun and Moon are due to line up directly at the exact moment of this year's Summer Solstice, when the Sun reaches it's zenith in Cancer. I feel the itch of significance here but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I am looking through Alan Leo's book The Progressed Horoscope as I type this - if he touches on this and I've been completely oblivious to it, do let me know!

I also want to add in a data point/possible future data point. Your Flight from Predication article has emboldened me to discuss my dream work in a more public setting. (I'm leaving many of the details out for both brevity and privacy reasons.)

The night of the 7th I had a frustrating dream; I was trying to pack up a car and head out on a trip but I kept forgetting important things; This was causing me to have to stop and turn around repeatedly. When I finally arrive at my destination I discover, yet again, that I've forgotten to bring very important items. I woke up before any resolution could be found.
I didn't think much about this dream as it didn't strike me as having much content beyond minor emotional grievances, but a message from a dear friend the following day changed my mind.
Out of the blue she tells me that she's had a dream about me: She had finished dropping me off at a remote location and was on her way back home when she realized that she'd forgotten to leave me something vital! This caused her to stop and turn around, but she woke up before she could resolve the issue.

Plans (of going from place to place) being thwarted by forgetting significant things. I wait in dreaded anticipation of what this might turn out to be...
Vermilion Loathsome Imp

Re: Solstice in Astrology

[ecosophia]

I don't think I've seen a discussion of solstices in natal astrology, so I'll have to leave that to more experienced readers. As for the dream, remember that it may not be literal. Try doing some free association on paper: write the words "forgetting important things" at the top of the page and then write down absolutely anything that comes to mind in response to that. You may be surprised by what you get.

Athena

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings and thank you again for this space and your work in answering our questions.

Do you, or any other readers, have recommendations for suitable offerings to Athena and also when to make them? I am used to planetary charity and candle-burning, so I am used to that pattern, and less sure what to do when a deity does not have an associated day of the week.

I have a small garden but it is overlooked, so if I need to do something outdoors, or bury offerings, I do not want to have to do anything that may look strange for long

Re: Athena

[ecosophia]

You can always burn frankincense to any classical Greek or Roman deity -- that was a standard offering for centuries and they appreciate it. You can also make an offering to any charity that supports things the deity values -- in the case of Athena, any organization that supports urban life, democracy, or civic values would be a good choice.

Souls of those who commit suicide, etc

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

What in your opinion happens to the souls/conciousnesses of those who commit suicide? Do they suffer their fate, as some esoteric schools maintain, only as long as their natural life cycle would have lasted? Is there such a thing as eternal punishment/damnation, souls which are irredeemable? Is there "universal salvation" as even some Christian scholars/theologians like David Bentley Hart or Richard Rohr (and many of the early Christian schools) maintain, or is there annihilationism for such souls? Finally, do you think there are human beings who are literally "soulless", i.e. lacking the 6th/7th principles, and thus incapable of compassion, love, remorse?

Thank you!

Re: Souls of those who commit suicide, etc

[ecosophia]

What I was taught is that if you commit suicide, you're basically ending your life before the inner planes are ready for you, and so you're stuck waiting in the afterlife for as long as you would have lived. Only then can you go on. Then -- well, occultism teaches reincarnation, so you can count on running into the same challenge in your next life that you ran away from in your last one.

There are no souls that are irreedemable, but there are souls that destroy themselves. That's very rare; it requires immense spiritual power combined with depraved morality, but it does happen. Far more often than that, you get souls who lock themselves into some negative pattern and won't leave it; since they have free will, they can't be forced out, and whole cosmic cycles can go by before they finally run out of energy and go tumbling back into the cycle of rebirth. Ultimately, any soul that doesn't destroy itself will be saved, but it can take a very long time.

According to some teachings, there are souls in human bodies that are not human; some are elementals, others are animal souls not yet ready for the human state. They're not actually soulless but they come across that way to us, because they are spiritually retarded and so don't have the qualities you've named. If they keep on incarnating in human bodies, they'll learn those, but it will probably take them a great deal of time and pain to do so.

Stations of the year

[(Anonymous)]

Hello John Michael,

I have a few questions about the use of the Stations of the Year in Druid magic.

1 - I am looking for instructions about each station. Would the Stations be useful the same way the related planets would be (Samhuinn - Moon, Alban Arthuan - Sun, erc)? For context, I read this in the DMH: "If you want to work magic for protection you can use the element of earth or the Station of Alban Heruin since both have general protective powers". I am not finding that Mars is typically used for protection, and I am not sure where to look for associations (other than scrying or meditating).

2 - Would the Dolmen Arch Ogam be indicators of types of operations for which each Station can be used in ritual at a given time? Duir attributes with the Station of the Solar Current, for example, and Ur attributes with the Station of the Telluric Current.

3 - I read your interest in the association of the Tai Chi Tu with the Tree of Life. It seems there are also interesting links to make between the Tai Chi Tu and the Wheel of Life. Do you like the idea of associating the trigrammes that are sometimes depicted around the Tai Chi Tu with the Stations of the Year, as seen here?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taijitu#/media/File:BatQuaiDo_2.svg

Thank you,
JML

Re: Stations of the year

[ecosophia]

All this is highly interesting and represents aspects of the system that as far as I know have not been developed yet. That is to say, you're on your own. I suggest plenty of meditation and experimentation to see what works!

5 rites

[(Anonymous)]

I've been doing the 5 rites for over a year and I've seen good results. I have noticed a stiffness under one of my ribs later realizing that this is near the vortex of the liver. This isn't a health question and it doesn't hurt but I was curious if this has been noted in others experiences.

Also, I enjoyed reading the secrets of the 5 rites.

Re: 5 rites

[ecosophia]

Thank you. That's not something I've heard of before, or experienced; anyone else?

The Watcher?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

Been a while since I've contributed here. I hope you and everyone reading are doing well. Please accept my condolences regarding your wife, you have been in my thoughts. Thank you for your hard work hosting this forum.

I started with the FHR right when it got rolling on your blog. As a result I'm well into the materials. Since the last initiation I did, I really like the way my energy has been rebalanced. But it's like I hit this point and went "good enough". I still maintain a daily practice as well as certain monthly and annual practices but its in a much more casual and lite way then it was previously. I have not really done much if any of the work of this grade specifically despite initiating into it about 6 months ago.

This is not a self-discipline issue. I can make myself do what I need to. With where I am now, I almost feel like I can leave my FHR work unfinished at this stage and stay as I am and be very content and peaceful. As I am right now, my life is honestly going very nicely. It's like I've arrived and done the work and now I can just relax and enjoy the results... but I'm not done! And I've come so far. And I didn't start the FHR to slack off after all this work. Yet I am also content where I am. JMG, is this a weird sort of self sabotage? Is this the Watcher?

Thanks again
Spaghetti Gulag

Re: The Watcher?

[ecosophia]

Might be the Watcher, might be that you have other things to work on right now. If you maintain your daily practices you should be fine either way.

Where is the threshold of a curse

[(Anonymous)]

In a reply to jenniferkobernik earlier today about her relationship with her late father you mentioned, "negative intentions would function as a curse". This dislodged an old worry of mine that I've been meaning to get feedback on.

You see, I grew up with a father who didn't want me. To the tune of: demanding my mother abort the pregnancy, leaving her when she didn't, and only reluctantly returning to her after being shamed by his family. (Needless to say their relationship didn't last long after this) Then later, I gained a step-father who was openly hostile about his distaste for me. It's an unfortunate hand to be dealt early on but I've manged to address my wounds, pull myself together, and build a satisfactory life for myself despite it all :)
However, I've had a nagging suspicion that the constant, low-hum of their desire for my non-existence acts as a kind of curse on me. A watered-down curse, most likely, but a curse none-the-less.They are still in my life, after all. Fully cutting ties with all parties involved just isn't in the cards for the time being. A curse would explain some of the bizarre encounters I've had throughout my life - sudden hostility from strangers, or being completely forgotten by those close to me, as examples - all which have lessened as I've put distance between myself and them.

But am I accurate in this assumption? Can a long-standing but passive desire function as a curse, or must it be something like a direct wish for harm?

Thank you!

Re: Where is the threshold of a curse

[ecosophia]

That's a matter of definition. Certainly that kind of passive desire can have negative effects on the target. Do you do a daily protective ritual? If not, that might be a good thing to take up.

[tritumi]

When I contemplate the theme of psychological impact of peak oil, I cannot help but recall Michel Ruppert.

And a silent prayer for those afflicted by the vision.

[ecosophia]

I never met Mike but we corresponded back in the heyday of the peak oil movement. Here's to his memory. (Clink.)

[scottyc]

So I started exploring the blog linked to by JPRussel in the first comment (https://krasskova.wordpress.com/2024/06/10/thoughts-on-the-gods-holy-work-d-day-the-military-dead-and-several-other-things/) which starts with a recent car crash the author endured.

One of my first thoughts was thanks for the safety of my family.

My question is to which planet is thanks appropriate?

I believe it is Mercury (travel, speed) but there may also be a planet / god associated with the ignorant causing much of the mayhem on the roads. Closest example would be Saturn as the god of thieves and a request to Saturn to help protect one's abode from them (please correct if I'm wrong with the Saturn idea).

[ecosophia]

Unless you'd previously invoked a planet, you'd be better off directing the thanks to whatever deity or deities you honor.