Magic Monday
Aug. 18th, 2024 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
Midnight is here, 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 about getting goodies from spirits are also 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've discussed this in a post on my blog.
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 was my fortieth published book, and the product of an investigation that's still ongoing. I happened to notice back in the early 1990s, as a result of voracious reading in odd books, that a surprising number of temple traditions around the world are connected to legends about increased agricultural fertility. I know, that's supposed to be mere superstition -- but it's funny how often "mere superstition" turns into evidence that the ancients knew more than it's fashionable for modern intellectuals to admit. That launched a quest that resulted in this book. I've come to theorize that woven into the design and use of certain specific kinds of temples is a lost folk technology that boosts agricultural productivity. I've collected physical evidence (including controlled double-blind studies) that there are energies known to science that could have been concentrated and put to use with resonating chambers of stone, designed according to specific geometries, filled with volatile organic compounds, and activated with sound waves. What's more, it's a technology that could be rediscovered and put to work to help plants thrive now.
This book was my first progress report on that investigation. It's about to go out of print -- Llewellyn, the original publisher, still has a few copies left on sale, which you can get here -- but there'll be another edition in due time, and probably a further book not too long after that, as I'm continuing to find relevant data. Yes, there are also other people busy with this; the prospect of a working model, so that the details of the technology can be tested in real world conditions, may not be far off.
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***This Magic Monday is now closed, and no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 04:04 am (UTC)After reading about your recommendation to another reader last week concerning the Octagon Society I cast a geomantic chart about it. I’m a bit confused as to the interpretation.
My question was: “Should I start the Octagon Society lessons?”
Right Witness: Cauda Draconis
Left Witness: Laetitia
Judge: Conjunctio
My interpretation:
The judge, of Conjunctio shows a combination of forces, it is also influenced by the other figures. It is favourable for things that need to come into contact (perhaps me with my inner self, my childhood trauma etc). But it is also unfavourable for situations that call for solitude which the lessons will require.
Laetitia seems reasonable positive in this regard, and should thus strengthen the Judge.
Cauda Draconis represents letting go of the past and is favourable for things coming to and end which might include my ongoing issues with my childhood.
Do you think this chart is telling me to proceed to try the lessons or should I try and find a different way of dealing with my past?
Thanks for providing this forum.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 04:11 am (UTC)More specifically, the right witness as an emblem of the past indicates that there are things you're ready to let go of; the judge, as the present, is a figure of opportunity, and seizing things at the right time; and the left witness, as the future, indicates that the result will be happiness. In your place I'd go ahead and start the lessons.
Axe & Plough, PIE Religion, "Spook Central," 4 More All Father Drafts, and Q on Checking Divination
Date: 2024-08-19 04:15 am (UTC)Whatever may be going on this week for all here, may it go well!
To Share: Lots to share this week!
1. Earlier this week, I followed a link from Galina Krasskova to the blog Of Axe and Plough by Marc Gaidin and have been finding it very interesting. Though I don't agree with him on everything, he practices Anglo-Saxon Heathenry and approaches it with a mixture of scholarly and practical viewpoints I find most congenial (even if his "academicese" can be a bit much at times). I'm still poking through the archives, but so far I've found his thoughts on syncretism, prayer, and hearth cult/home practice especially interesting: https://axeandplough.com/
2. PIE Religion: For anyone with any interest in Proto-Indo-European reconstruction, this website has some interesting resources and takes, though I sometimes wish it were clearer about what are original conclusions and what are based on other sources (for example, this is where I encountered the claim I think I've mentioned before that some Mesopotamian myths might have been influenced by the Proto-Indo-Europeans, or one of their offshoots, very early on - specifically, cutting up/sacrificing a chaotic giant to create the world, like Ymir and Tiamat). I found this site ages ago, but when I recently tried to track it down, I couldn't find it. Turns out it's gone dead, but luckily a footnote on the above-mentioned blog gave me the URL to plug into the wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20220112214858/http://piereligion.org/index.html
3. A bit of a weird one, but Mark Bisone over at The Cat Was Never Found kicked off a new series trying to explore what's going on with the seeming increase in encounters with and influence from the demonic in recent years, based on his own brush with such things detailed in an earlier series. Interesting to read compared to the viewpoint found here and in Monsters, as he's coming from a totally different background (Christian, artist, computer programmer). Once again, I don't necessarily agree with his take on everything, but he's a thoughtful, interesting guy who takes the risks of the bad side of spirituality seriously: https://markbisone.substack.com/p/spook-central
4. Also earlier this week (trying to get in the habit of publishing on Wednesdays for a bit of planetary boost), I put out four more rough drafts of the "All Father" prayer I'm working on for the Heathen Rosary project: https://jpowellrussell.com/#more_rough_all_father_prayers
These are getting closer, but I'm still not quite there, so I'd very much appreciate critiques from anyone willing to share them over on my dreamwidth: https://jprussell.dreamwidth.org/21911.html
To Ask: For the past few months, or maybe a little longer, I've been getting rather a lot of use out of the looped-fingers version of kinesiology taught in the MOE material. I tend to use it throughout the day for pretty small questions, more of advice/guidance than prediction, as it seems to be much more limited for me in that department, and bad at timing even when correct about something happening. I've also been paying attention to birds, trying to figure out what kind of signs might be there. At times, I've put these together, using the kinesiology to ask things like "is this what that sign was trying to tell me?" (though often much closer to 20 questions than just that one). I've had what seem to be a few confirmations, but many of these haven't had a way to confirm whether they're accurate or not just yet.
1. Does this strike you as getting too close to "not trusting your method of divination by double checking with another," which you've advised against in the past, or potentially fruitful? Or perhaps just a matter for experiment?
2. Related, I've sometimes used the kinesiology to ask "should I do a divination on X?" or "Would Ogham be better for this than the Runes?" Though it has seemed to work out fine, it's kind of inherently hard to readily test (unless I'm being obtuse), so does that sound like something that might work, or am I stumbling into an obvious pitfall?
As always, thanks very much to JMG and everyone else here for all that you do.
My blessings to all who welcome them,
Jeff
Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2024-08-19 04:20 am (UTC)If I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom a relevant person holds power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below and/or in the comments at the current prayer list post.
This week I would like to bring special attention to the following prayer requests.
May Falling Tree Woman's son's girlfriend's mother Bridget in Devon UK, who has recently started to sit up and converse after more than six weeks of bedridden tracheotomy following a life-threatening fall from a horse, be blessed and healed and returned to full health.
May Corey Benton, whose throat tumor has grown around an artery and won't be treated surgically, be healed of throat cancer.
May Heather's brother in law, Patrick, who is dying of cancer and has dementia, go gentle into that good light. And may his wife Maggie, who is ill herself, find the strength and peace she needs for her situation. (Update on Patrick's condition here)
May Neptune's Dolphins' husband David, who lost one toe to a staph infection last year and now faces further toe amputations due to diabetic ulcers in his left foot, be blessed and healed, and may the infection leave his body for good.
May Rebecca, who has just been laid off from her job and is the sole provider for her family, quickly discover a viable means to continue to support her family; may she and her family be blessed and sustained in their journey forward.
May Kyle's friend Amanda, who though in her early thirties is undergoing various difficult treatments for brain cancer, make a full recovery; and may her body and spirit heal with grace.
Tyler A's wife Monika's pregnancy is high risk, and has now successfully entered the third trimester; may Monika and baby Isabelle both be blessed with good health and a smooth delivery.
Lp9's hometown, East Palestine, Ohio, for the safety and welfare of their people, animals and all living beings in and around East Palestine, and to improve the natural environment there to the benefit of all.
Guidelines for how long prayer requests stay on the list, how to word requests, how to be added to the weekly email list, how to improve the chances of your prayer being answered, and several other common questions and issues, are to be found at the Ecosophia Prayer List FAQ.
If there are any among you who might wish to join me in a bit of astrological timing, I pray each week for the health of all those with health problems on the list on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun's rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join me.
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2024-08-19 04:22 am (UTC)Lévi, chapter 19
Date: 2024-08-19 04:23 am (UTC)I have been avidly reading Lévi’s High Magic (it’s become one my favorite books of all time) and gotten to chapter 19 of Ritual. I have a couple of questions, as the chapter is blowing me over…
“To find the absolute in the infinite, in the indefinite, and in the finite — such is the Great Work of the sages and what Hermes called the work of the Sun.”
— I immediately thought of Gurdjieff’s absolute; and also thought of the Upanishads, the philosophers finding the Self in all things. It sounds like he is saying the absolute is a subset of the infinite, in Brahman.
I can wait till you get to this chapter in your blog, but would love a commentary?
And, “There is only one important operation in the work: it consists of sublimation, which is nothing other, according to Geber, than the elevation of the thing which is dry through the means of fire, with adherence to its proper vessel.”
I’m guessing you can say only so much. But ‘sublimation’ would be of the sexual energies?? That is my take on it. And I would suppose it denotes not losing energies, and perhaps a denoting of a specific ‘vessel’?
This is a great chapter!
BTW, regarding your introduction on temple technology. I rode my bike to Stonehenge years ago and vividly remember riding through windswept fields; it had the eeriest aura on that ride. Very powerful.
E. S.
Re: Axe & Plough, PIE Religion, "Spook Central," 4 More All Father Drafts, and Q on Checking Divinat
Date: 2024-08-19 04:24 am (UTC)2) Again, you'll want to experiment. I don't know of anyone else offhand who's tried this, so I don't have the data to offer anything more concrete.
Re: Axe & Plough, PIE Religion, "Spook Central," 4 More All Father Drafts, and Q on Checking Divinat
Date: 2024-08-19 04:27 am (UTC)If I work out anything definitive, I'll share it here down the road.
Cheers,
Jeff
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 04:28 am (UTC)Re: Lévi, chapter 19
Date: 2024-08-19 04:31 am (UTC)2) Sexual energy is one of the things that can be sublimated, but it's only one of them. One of the supreme secrets of alchemy, which has been hidden in plain sight all along, is that you can apply the alchemical method to anything. There are physical alchemies, astral alchemies, spiritual alchemies, and more.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 04:37 am (UTC)Is Elen of the Ways also good for people to be in the right place in life as well as physically?
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 04:39 am (UTC)Re: Lévi, chapter 19
Date: 2024-08-19 04:44 am (UTC)Later he says, “All matter contains salt, and all salt can be converted to pure gold…”
Here I think of Gurdjieff — the intake into the body of the three foods (food, breath, & impressions); and the conversion of that matter into the Soul.
After I finish reading High Magic, do you recommend a good introductory book on alchemy?
Thank you for your help.
Re: Lévi, chapter 19
Date: 2024-08-19 04:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 05:33 am (UTC)Thank you! Is there any source you recommend about her? Online seems to have a mixed bag, but I've noticed there isn't much about Druid gods.
Re: Axe & Plough, PIE Religion, "Spook Central," 4 More All Father Drafts, and Q on Checking Divinat
Date: 2024-08-19 05:37 am (UTC)—Thr Saxon Princess, Cutekitten I
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 05:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 05:40 am (UTC)I firstly would like to say I’ve been a fan of your books for some time. I have a background in Ceremonial Magick via yours ,Lon Milo Duquettes and Donald Michael Kraig’s writings and have been practicing on and off since 2017. (More off than on in recent years). One of the main things that has led me to this hiatus is that I became involved with a group based out of an occult shop that was local to me at the time. I was on fire for all things esoteric at the time and like many, I tried a lot of different systems without giving them much second thought. (Lesson learned)
Namely the system that has led me to writing you to ask your guidance today was Jason Millers Sorcery of Hekate. At first it sounded like a new exciting flavor of esoteric practice. I don’t judge its effectiveness but did sincerely feel as though many parts of the practice threw caution to the wind. His approach led one to believe that Ceremonial Magicians banish entirely too much and it creates an adversarial relationship with spirits that would otherwise be glad to have a quid pro quo relationship. I had quite a few magical friends around me who were doing the course along side me and so I kept at it. We were mostly doing mandala work, nightly chanting, and monthly devotionals. When the actual work began to start, one exercise we were instructed to do was to invoke a guardian spirit of Hekate’s into a bottle where its sigil and various herbs and items were kept.
Further into the system I got the more I began to feel like my noodle was getting a little fried. Ultimately I finished the course but decided not to continue as it felt like a regression from all the profound clarity, clean energy and pristine aura that a solid year of nightly ceremonial Magick had given me.
We ended up moving states and I brought all my ceremonial Magickal tools with me (candles, incense, etc.) along with this stuff I brought my Hekate altar, along with that spirit bottle. I didn’t reset it up as I felt as though I was no longer interested in being a devotee to Hekate. (I was always very clear that I wouldn’t ever be exclusively).
All of this stuff has been sitting in a chest in my basement for the last several years and I have to say, it’s given my house a rather Saturnian energy. I’ve felt significantly bogged down the last several years. I’ve felt as though my actual Will had been entirely and significantly weakened. I’ve suffered from some level of a chemical depression finding it hard some days to be motivated to do anything. I strongly believe that it’s some sort of stagnant version of whatever remnants of a Hekatean current are left over . We once again had to move and I’m now in a position where it is the last thing in my basement to go and I want to get rid of it, and cleanse myself of any attachments or ill effects it had on me so I can get back to the truly transformative work of Ceremonial Magick.
How can I best get rid of this chest of Hekate stuff?
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2024-08-19 05:45 am (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2024-08-19 05:52 am (UTC)I guess while we’re at it, maybe we should pray for a better, or at least not as bad, ruling class to take over.
-/Princess Cutekitten
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 05:53 am (UTC)To share, a list of abbreviations used on ecosophia.
Beyond hope and despair
Date: 2024-08-19 06:59 am (UTC)I've often wondered what it is. My working theory is that it's a developing mental body, or at least, work on the sheath. I know what helped me the most was the Cos Doc, and meditating on that always assists me further.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 08:38 am (UTC)dear commenters!
Some random questions:
1. I care for an elderly member of my family. Something I realized is that I am having the same pain and illnesses as him. Problems with the femur, stomach, etc. Exactly the same. Would LBRP help me with this problem?
2. The other day I read something interesting: “the more we give horizontally, to our peers, the more we rise vertically!”. What do you think of this phrase? Of course, there are other ways to ascend spiritually, right?
3. I would like to lose sexual interest. Sometimes I think I spend too much time and energy in this sector. Any magical recommendations for transmuting these thoughts and energies?
And thank you very much for your availability!
Rosy Cross origins
Date: 2024-08-19 08:41 am (UTC)I have continued my meditations upon the LBRP and RC ritual, and a question has come up.
Is the "Rosy cross" of the RC ritual identical or descended from the "Celtic Cross" in terms of meaning? I imagine that since there were Irishmen in the original G.D. that there must be a connection.
J.L.Mc12
(no subject)
Date: 2024-08-19 09:26 am (UTC)