Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

I'm going to be shocking and launch this week's Magic Monday a few minutes early, since I'm here on Dreamwidth,. (The picture is Thomas Taylor, the great Regency-era Platonist and worshiper of the Greek Gods, godfather of the modern Neopagan revival)

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 use the button below to access my online tip jar. 

With that said, have at it! 

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

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you mentioned that in a robustly polytheistic society Pamela Coleman Smith would likely be on her way of becoming a goddess. Did you mean literally that you think she has escaped the cycle of incarnations and is now a celestial spirit, as Plotinus would likely say, or that a different being has taken her image to use as a notational avatar?

This idea got me wondering; with certain old authors there is a certain liveliness in their work that makes me think that they are still tending to it. I get this with Mark Twain, who seems a saint of satire, and with many others. One that I treasure is Ruth Stout, the garden writer, who may now be the patron saint of mulch!

Other old writing appears to me to be just dry dusty words, without the sense of anything enlivening it. I can't tell if this is because the writing is spirited, or if there is consciousness coming through the text, or both or something else!

Basically, my question is do you have any thoughts on this matter? Any illumination is much appreciated.

Many, many thanks!

[ecosophia]

I really don't know for sure how the old process of deification worked on the inner side of things. It's simply the case that in a lot of polytheistic societies, somebody who did the kind of creative work Smith did would very likely have offerings made to her after her death, and if the people who made the offerings got good results, her cult would become more and more popular until finally she'd become a goddess of divination and creativity, with her own temples and priestesses.

As for Ruth Stout, have you considered making offerings to her?