Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

 Once again, it's technically Monday now -- past midnight Eastern time -- and here I am on Dreamwidth, so it's time for another Magic Monday.  (The picture is Manly P. Hall, one of the great American occultists of the 20th century.)

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

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 find my online tip jar here. 

With that said, have at it! 

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

Comments

Updates to 'The Druidry Handbook' book recommendations?

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

First things first: Happy 34th Anniversary to both you and Sara. And would you please pass on my thanks and appreciation of her comments about modern art in Ecosophia?

I've had my first read-through of the Handbook (once quickly, to get the lay of the land), and next I'll go slowly through it. Throughout the book, you make various recommendations for further reading, and I am wondering if you would still recommend the following books and/or editions, or if there are others you would now recommend in their stead:

1. Steve Blamires, "Celtic Tree Mysteries" (Llewellyn, 1997).
2. Geoffrey of Monmouth, "The History of the Kings of Britain" (Penguin, 1966).
3. Sir Thomas Malory, "Le Morte d'Arthur" (Random House, 1994).
4. Paul Rhys Mountfort, "Ogam: The Celtic Oracle of the Trees" (Destiny, 2002).

Finally, is there an introduction to sacred geometry that you could recommend?

P.S. I'm finding the orthography of the names in the book mind-bending. I'm going to have to do some research. That and I'm finding myself drawn to Merlin/Myrrdin (I think I must be the only person in the West who isn't very familiar with his mythos).

Thanks for you time and patience,
Mark Taber

Re: Updates to 'The Druidry Handbook' book recommendations?

[ecosophia]

Thank you, and I'll certainly pass on your thanks to Sara.

The books aren't on the recommended list because I don't think you should read anything else. They're simply books (in the case of #1 and #4) or editions (in the case of #2 and #3) that I read and found suitable. They're still suitable; if you find something else that works better for you, why, that's good too. As for books on sacred geometry, Miranda Lundy's elegant little book Sacred Geometry is a good starting place, and Robert Lawlor's Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice is a good next step.

If you're interested in Merlin, btw, I highly recommend Nikolai Tolstoy's book The Quest for Merlin as a first-rate introduction to the legend and its historical roots.

[(Anonymous)]

The Druid Magic Handbook talks about enchanting objects and places—can songs and stories also be enchanted?

Are the elements assigned to specific points of the Oak and Heather pentagrams? If so, how to do they map onto the heather pentagram?

Is the etheric property of pointy steel breaking up patterns a factor in the use of daggers in ceremonial magic?

Many thanks for all your patient weekly answers and for curating spaces of online sanity!

[ecosophia]

1) Nope. Songs and stories are (or can be) enchantments -- to try to enchant one is like trying to get the wind to blow the wind along! As enchantments, though, they can certainly carry magical power.

2) Nope. The attribution is purely to the Ogham letters.

3) Depends on the tradition of ceremonial magic. In some, very much so; in others, not so much.

psychedelics

[(Anonymous)]

I just finished the book How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan and I'm curious about psychedelics as a tool rather than recreation. He mentions finding a qualified guide for the journey (psychologist, shaman, etc) to get the most out of the experience.

Supposing a jurisdiction where legality is not an issue, is there significant danger if one is also regularly performing basic beginner ritual magic?

My guess is that it's not a good idea to do both at the same time, but I'm curious if there's a certain waiting period before and after like sex, etc.

Re: psychedelics

[ecosophia]

I once had a long and very productive conversation with a person who used psychedelics of various kinds as a spiritual path. We were sitting in a forest in Oregon at the time, so it was a congenial subject! We talked over the requirements and results of our respective paths,and both came to the conclusion that while they're both valid, they don't mix; it's like trying to travel north and south at the same time.

Everything I've learned about psychedelics before and since then -- including my own limited dabbling during my first time at college -- leads me to the same conclusion. Choose one or the other, and whichever one you don't choose should be left strictly alone.

[(Anonymous)]

Happy anniversary to the both of you, and many happy returns!🍰🥂

[ecosophia]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Hey jmg
Two astrology questions here.
1-what do you think of “cusps?’ I’ve hear that if you are born during the week just after the last zodiac sign has passed you’re supposed to have some influence from the past sign on you. I was born just after Capricorn so I think I’m a Aquarius with Capricorn influences.
2-when meditating on the zodiac are you meant to use each zodiacs “key phrase “ as the theme? (E.g Aries has “I AM”)

[ecosophia]

1) The effects of cusps vary depending on how strongly the ruling planets of the signs in question are placed in your chart. It takes a very weak planet to make the effect of a cusp last a full week, though!

2) You may certainly do so if you wish, though it's not required.

Do I need to do something to protect myself?

[marktaber]

JMG,

I wasn't going to ask this (one question a week is enough from me), but something unsettling and unusual happened to me this past week.

About 7AM, walking from the coffee shop 2 blocks to the office, as I do every work day, and as I have for many years, I crossed the street and coming towards me on the other side of the pedestrian walkway was a young lady, about 9 inches shorter than I, though wider. She looked straight into my eyes and gave me a smile. Suddenly, I felt the urge to move just a body's width further to the left, away, but not to cross the street or rush past her. Normal pace, steady. Her smile chilled me. I can't explain. And her eyes. She kept looking straight into my eyes.

Now this is going to sound crazy, but I knew she was thinking about attacking me. While she looked in my eyes, and while she smiled. Or maybe whatever was looking out through her eyes was thinking about having her attack me. And as we passed each other, a thought came into my head, clear as a bell, and said to me: "I know who you are and I know what you are."

Now, working downtown, I've dealt with drug addicts, mentally ill, homeless, you name it. This was the first time I got spooked. I haven't seen her before or since.

I've just started studying the Druid Handbook. Do I need to start doing a beginner's protection ritual now? If so, what would you recommend for a tyro?

Thanks again,
Mark

Re: Do I need to do something to protect myself?

[ecosophia]

You might find it useful to learn and practice the Druid's Egg exercise given in p. 233-234 of The Druidry Handbook. Later on, when you've gotten a little further into the other practices, you might consider picking up The Druid Magic Handbook and learning the Sphere of Protection ritual, which is a good general protective working.

[guillem66]

Jmg,

How far i can venture in the implications of a meditation theme? The recent sessions on the lore of Awen had been extremely productive.One of the things i have grasped is why it is said that the astral light is more true than the fisical world. This has happened more or less step by step, after meditating several days in the first paragraph of Awen lore, one sentence at a time.

I ask because there are lots of links opened now to meditate and relate to this realization. But since im a novice, perhaps is better if i proceed with the next paragraph and save the explorations for later?

Second, i would like your opinion on an idea. I have the sense that, whatever ocult ability or subject you pursuit, it only give its secrets tho those who, like Menw, take the subject and incorporate them into his live and cosmos, relating it with the rest of what you know and letting the implications of the resulting relationships shape you.Would you agree?

[ecosophia]

1) By all means follow each theme out as far as you like. There's no need to go onto the next paragraph before you're done with the first one.

2) I would indeed.

Otherworldly communication?

[(Anonymous)]

(Tolkienguy)

Hello again Mr. Greet. First if all, thank you for answering all these questions every Monday!

I believe I left a comment on here a while ago about the time I tried practicing ceremonial maguc and got (among other things) the constant feeling of being watched, especially when I was at work. I did not write about the weirdest thing that happened-it seemed too insane at the time.

One night, at work, the feeling that I was being watched was even stronger than usual, to an extremely unnerving degree. Finally, it got to the point where I thought, somewhat forcefully, "Whatever the heck you are watching me, get the heck away! I don't want to talk to you!"

Immediately, I felt a feeling of sadness and insult, like one might feel if addressed this way. It did not seem like my emotion, though-it was as if something had somehow been aware of my thought, and responded.

JMG, I know you communicate with spirits as part of your magical work. Does such communication in any way resemble what I just described? Or do I sound insane? I stopped practicing magic a couple weeks after that, and haven't had a similar experience. I still wonder if I actually interacted with a disembodied something, or was going nuts.

Re: Otherworldly communication?

[ecosophia]

I'm pretty sure you actually interacted with something.

[(Anonymous)]

1) what do you think about writing a full-length article about magic and children (or not) at some point after you finish kekking?

2) with regards to "Golden Dawn obligations":
2a) you'll pass them along in everything GD you write, right?
2b) for someone practicing GD magic and something otherwise compatible at the same time, can those obligations forbid you from practicing a specific other tradition?
2c) if yes to 2b, how much of a problem is it for one to drop GD practices to practice something GD obligations forbid?

3) if, for ESL reasons, one preferred to perform a ritual written by you in one's first language instead, would that be feasible? Is it generally?

[ecosophia]

1) I don't have children, so you should probably ask somebody who does.

2) Okay, I think you've misunderstood the point about obligations. When you're initiated into a magical lodge or the like, you make certain promises -- the obligations of initiation -- which you're expected to keep thereafter. If you, personally, haven't gone through that experience, the obligations in question don't affect you, so don't worry about it.

3) Of course you can translate the rituals, so long as you leave the words and names of power unchanged.

Synchronicity

[marcu]

Dear Mr. Greer,

I was wondering if you had any thoughts or advice on dealing with synchronicity? I'm always concerned that I'm reading too much into things but I also don't want to miss obvious hints.

Re: Synchronicity

[ecosophia]

That's really something you have to learn from experience. There's a middle ground between ignoring synchronicities and being obsessed by them; aim for that and you should be fine.

Etheric charging with rainbows

[(Anonymous)]

The place I live has recently experienced the typical spring (Southern Hemisphere) period of rain, then sun, then rain, which has led to a plethora of rainbows. I saw you mention elsewhere that you can do etheric charging with storms and other forms of energy, and I was wondering what the effect of etheric charging with rainbows would be.

Re: Etheric charging with rainbows

[ecosophia]

I don't know. You'll probably have to try it and see.

[(Anonymous)]

Which societies in history do you think handled magic best and got the most out of it with least bad effects?

[ecosophia]

Most tribal societies handle magic very well. Among advanced societies, ancient Egypt and imperial China both did a very good job integrating magic into the structures of government, religion, and everyday life; it may not be accidental that they were among the two longest-lived civilizations in human history.

[(Anonymous)]

Have you read Six Ways of being Religious by Dale Cannon? If so what did you think of it and how would you say Druidry fits into his framework?

[ecosophia]

I haven't encountered it.

[(Anonymous)]

In the DMH you get telluric energy from the daily ritual and in the CGD you get it from herbalism and plant alchemy. First, how does the latter create balance when you'd be doing them far less frequently than the ritual? Second, does getting earth energy from such different sources alter the experience or the effects?

When you develop a magic system, how much of you goes into the egregore? If someone practises one of your systems, as well as absorbing your approach to magic, could they start taking on some of your non-magic traits as well?

[ecosophia]

1) The CGD system is primarily a solar system, with just enough telluric energy to provide balance; the DMH system uses equal amounts of solar and telluric energy. (There are also systems that are primarily telluric, and use just a bit of solar energy to provide balance.) Of course the experiences and the effects are different; they're radically different systems of magic.

2) I haven't yet heard of any other practitioner of my systems adopting my regrettable taste in bad fantasy fiction or starting to post tl:dr essays to the internet, so you're probably safe. ;-)

[(Anonymous)]

If you should ask someone's permission before praying or doing magic for them, how do the ethics of political magic work? Even if you do one of the nice-sounding ones like my 'let people see the world as it really is', you're still messing with their minds without their consent. They could be very attached to those false beliefs and I had an image of the illusions drifting away and people chasing after them shouting NO, COME BACK! :)

[ecosophia]

"Let my people see the world as it really is" -- oh, man. I hope you wouldn't seriously consider a ritual with this intention. What you mean, of course, is "Let my people see the world the way I do" -- and if you think that your idiosyncratic personal viewpoint is "the world as it really is," um, I recommend a course in basic epistemology, and a good shot of intellectual modesty into the bargain.

For a good counterexample, look at the political magic recorded in Dion Fortune's book The Magical Battle of Britain. She wasn't trying to force anyone to change their behavior. Instead, she set up a network of people who used magical meditation to charge certain widely recognized symbols and ideas with energy, so that everyone in Britain who chose to turn to those symbols and ideas could draw strength from them.

[(Anonymous)]

If I buy an e-copy of CGD and, needing hacks to have a copy that doesn't rely on the store still working/having an Internet connection/etc., perform those, should I expect anything to not work?

- S. T. Silva.

[ecosophia]

If you've bought a copy, you're fine. If you had a print copy and made notes on the margins, or even cut it up to turn it into booklets because that was easier for you to work with, that would be fine, too, and the same principle applies.

[booklover1973]

In a book about the different traditional views of reincarnation among different peoples, I read that some traditions postulate a long time-span between incarnations, on the order of 1500 years. That seems to me a bit long. With regards to a question from last Magic Monday, I would therefore like to ask, what is it about these long timespans? You wrote, that the average timespan between incarnations is rather 3-9 years. Is this right?

[ecosophia]

It really does vary. 3-9 years is relatively short, and only happens so often nowadays because there are so many bodies being born. 30 years used to be much more common, and the further back in history you go, the longer the intervals, because the supply of new bodies was so small.

[aldabra]

Can you recommend an introduction to the planes?

We're being told that Brexit, next March 29th, is going to lead to shortages of food and medicines, and rioting in the cities. If that was going to happen, would it show up on an astrological chart? (We were promised a blood moon on Friday, but instead we got the first rain for months; is there any significance to an omen which is supposed to show up and doesn't?)

[ecosophia]

I don't know of a good general introduction to the planes that isn't hip-deep in the philosophy of a specific school. I may eventually have to write one.

Yes, you'd want to check the Aries ingress chart for London for that year and see what it shows. You might also compare that to the foundation chart for England, which is the coronation of William I at Westminster, 25 December 1066 at noon. I could check that sometime in the next few weeks, time permitting, and see what predictions I can make.

Do no harm, for fiction writers

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

First of all, happy anniversary! Also, thank you for answering my question on ghosts a few weeks ago.

As a fiction writer and a non-magic user, do I need to be concerned that I am unconsciously or possibly harmfully using magic by writing my stories? I know that if a book really sweeps you up, you enter something of a trance-like state, or at least feel that you have been transported into the world of the book. That's very different from brainwashing someone. I was just curious how I make sure that I'm not manipulating my readers, or something else I wouldn't want to do. Surely since I am not at all trained in magic, I'm therefore not skilled enough to actually cause harm, right?

Thank you for your time.

-C

(PS- is the tip jar link active? When I click on it, it just logs me out of my Paypal account. Definitely could be user error on my part.)

Re: Do no harm, for fiction writers

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, no, you don't have to be concerned about that. People buy and read your stories because they want that experience of being swept away by the story; you have their consent -- they wouldn't start reading if they didn't want that, and they won't keep reading if they don't like the place you're taking them. (I'm sure you've had the experience of starting a novel, deciding that the place it takes you isn't somewhere you want to go, and stopping in mid-scene or even mid-sentence, never to finish; I certainly have.)

If the tip jar link's giving you trouble, try going to my blog and clicking on the tip jar button on the right hand bad. That should work!

Ethics study resource recomendations

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

Happy anniversary!

Can you recommend any resources to study to gain the understanding of ethics that is so lacking in today's culture.

Thank you very much for all your advice to all of us here.

Also I've been working on the writing in public challenge: https://sea-spray.dreamwidth.org/
Does anyone have comments?

Re: Ethics study resource recomendations

[ecosophia]

There's a huge literature on the subject of ethics. I don't recommend most modern works on the subject, but Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue is a worthwhile exception and a good starting point.

Glad to hear you're still working on your story! I got sufficiently flooded with other stuff that mine had to go on hold for a little while, but I plan on returning to it shortly.

FAQ?

[ganeshling]

Dear JMG,

Once again, enormous thanks to you for the work you are doing in general and for this Magic Mondays in particular! I am not asking questions often but I wait for the questions of others every week and read the whole thing each time. Quite often, while replying to someone else, you give an answer to a question I didn't even think I had! :-}

I was wondering, if you could consider compiling a magic FAQ page. Children & magic question seems to be most popular, but there are others that are asked fairly frequently too. In my experience, creating FAQ, listing it in all visible places, and referring to it any time a typical question pops up, is the only way to deal with it constructively. New people will keep stumbling into this treasure trove and asking the same questions with no ill intent, simply because it takes time to get familiar with the format of this exchange and to learn how to search the archives. Having a FAQ page will give you a chance to reply with RTFM each time! :----}

Best regards,
Ganesh Ubuntu

Re: FAQ?

[ecosophia]

I'm not sure where I'd put such a thing -- I don't think this journal has a way of doing that. Still, I'm willing to consider it.

Access to magic

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

for quite some time I have your Druid Magic Handbook on my shelve and also frequently in my hand. It's got a certain appeal to me, because I have a strong inclination to the ecological and "nature sprit" part of it, spending the last 11 years moving constantly in that direction and now for some years working a lot in and on the land. Magic on the other hand pulls me, so to say, because I see it as a gateway to a deeper understanding of life and also because I believe it would be very very useful tool to enhance my above mentioned work. Reading of "reenchanting the world" had put into words what I already had in my mind for a long time. With that bit of background, here are my questions:

1) I have a certain reluctance on starting to work with magic without a someone experienced "at hand" I can talk to or who could help me out if something unexpected happened or went wrong... What's your take on this?

Anyhow, this road seems blocked to me right now. Before my last attempt to seriously take the Druid Magic Handbook in my hands, I made a simple Tarot divination, just taking one card, asking if taking up magic now would benefit me and my family. I got "The Devil" as an answer, so that made it quite clear, I suppose, and I can also see a few reasons why.

So here I am, feeling a bit stagnant and steerless. On the one hand, there is this constant desire to dig deeper, on the other there is this reluctance to go further without a person I could turn to and above that this clear stop-sign I received. Which leads to

2) Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with that situation?

Thanks for your time and the opportunity to ask this questions! :)

Re: Access to magic

[ecosophia]

That's one of those things that you have to grapple with for yourself. Magic isn't for everyone; it requires the same kind of dedication and focus that you'd have to put into becoming a classically trained pianist, say, or a martial artist in a traditional style. The great difference is that in magic, not only can you do it by yourself -- guided only by a textbook or a set of lessons -- but all the most important steps along the way must be done by yourself. The portal is in front of you; nothing requires you to enter it; and only you can know whether entering it is the right thing for you to do.

Geomancy for divining trades

[(Anonymous)]

Geomancy, following your book "The Art and Practice of Geomancy", has been the divination system I found easiest to learn and apply. I've been getting good results doing readings for myself and friends. I tried tarot using a few different decks; in the end, while I had my best readings using the Tarot de Marseilles, I still often find my readings too open ended compared to geomancy.

Anyway I have been reading about how parapsychologists researched remote viewing and the work the US military put into it. Researchers have used remote viewing to make money on the stock market. I was considering doing a similar experiment using geomancy.

My idea is to basically just cast a chart for each trade, looking at the Judge and Witnesses for a clear positive or negative, and then looking at the Second House (moveable property) for clarification.

Would you happen to have any advice?

Re: Geomancy for divining trades

[ecosophia]

The great barrier to clarity in divination is self-interest. For that reason, you'll want to start out with trades on which you don't have a serious amount of money staked, and work up to larger trades only after you've gotten some facility with the reading. Also, watch the Reconciler for the longer-term outcome.

Blood Moon

[fluiddruid]

Hello JMG!

Could you tell us about the astrological importance of the recent "blood moon" and Mars opposition happening at the same time? I watched the whole thing myself, it looked fantastic but also ominous. I wonder what effect it would have on our lives?

Re: Blood Moon

[ecosophia]

Not a thing. Mars oppositions don't have an astrological significance, and the "blood moon" was, astrologically speaking, an ordinary lunar eclipse with the usual relatively minor effects. I know, bummer. ;-)

American Traditions

[(Anonymous)]

1. A couple times, including on some podcasts, you've referenced the American occult/magical traditions that got consigned to gather dust back when British traditions between Dion Fortune and Gerald Gardner were fashionable. Out of curiosity, what were some of those abandoned traditions?

(And who knows, maybe someone here will feel inspired and breathe new life into one of them.)


2. A free suggestion, and worth every penny... I can't be the only one who cringes on seeing you get another question on introductory astrology books or performing magic around children. Would a FAQ list help minimize any aggravation? With the right setup -- such as a wiki -- it could even be maintained by the readers by referencing previous answers.

Re: American Traditions

[(Anonymous)]

I intend to read the full Archdruid Report and thought about compiling some lists for it. A wiki would be an obvious place to put them.

- S. T. Silva.