Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. (The picture is Emma Hardinge Britten, one of the leading occultists of late 19th century America.)

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

Comments

I still need magical

[(Anonymous)]

I am still having trouble with a terrible neighbor whom I’ve complained of before. Due to circumstance, it seems that magic is currently my only option for dealing with her *exceedingly* persistent harassment. I’m desperate for good effective advice.

I can’t afford to move and I can’t afford to sue, so those aren’t options. Nor can I afford the surveillance cams that would be needed to bust her. I’ve tried city hall and they’ve proven worthless. The police also are useless for this; I’ve asked. Complaining to the landlords would almost certainly be worse than useless, putting at hazard our already precarious housing situation.

All that is necessary to provoke one or more episodes of harassment from this individual is for me to be present on some portion of the rented property, where I have a right to be, and minding my own business, reading a book or the like, while she also is in some nearby portion of the property. This happened in the past couple of days, provoking an incident. I know from prior experience that she is likely to do still more nasty deeds soon, perhaps tonight.

Things she is likely to do, based on past history:

Pour poison on the soil over the roots of the rose bushes that I planted in the back yard for my mother, causing them to wither (two occasions at least, probably more). We could smell the stench from the rotting roots and see the wilting & weakening of the plants.

Just as the rose buds are getting ready to bloom, snipping off and so destroying them (two or three occasions). She first did this just a couple of days before Mother’s Day, when nine blossoms were about to open.

Persistently trample other flowers we have been cultivating in the same area (destroyed a robust patch of poppies in this way, as well as other flowering plants).

Place a large sample of fresh cat excrement on our front or back porch (twelve to fifteen occasions).

Place small bits of old dried excrement on our stairs, front or back porch (many occasions)

Place cat excrement in our portion of the back yard (many occasions, and sometimes in huge quantities, saved up over time; I discovered such a pile today). On one occasion, it was a very large fresh pile of dog excrement.

Place other unsightly objects in our portion of the back yard, or on our stairs or porch - broken glass or crockery, rubbish, etc.

Bang loudly on the floor under my bed in the middle of the night, waking me up (several occasions).

Persistent verbal harassment against me. This was so bad that, through the help of friends, I managed to get a lawyer to send her a cease-and desist letter. This stopped her, mostly, but the harassment can resume at any time.

The original provocation? She was running a laundry business illegally out of her basement apartment, keeping us up all night, and we tried to shut her down. This is when we learned that city hall won’t do diddly.

This person is from Hong Kong and appears to be in her early 70s. I suppose some of her tricks might be forms of folk magic from that part of the world. She likes to feed stray cats, which explains her access to cat poop. The food she leaves out for them attracts many pests.

I’ve tried hotfoot powder and it didn’t work (maybe I didn’t do it right?). I’ve tried a couple of magical attacks, with severe consequences - to myself.

The only other option I can imagine would be to contact her adult daughter, who appears to be a rational person. I doubt the lady has told her daughter of these her deeds. The daughter might be able to persuade her to lay off. But I only have one address for the two of them, so there’s no contacting just one; and anyway, how do I know this won’t hurt rather than help my situation? It seems to me that I need powerful, ethical, effective magic. If you have any suggestions, I’m willing to do what it takes, even if it involves considerable effort and inconvenience.

Re: I still need magical

[ecosophia]

I have a very straightforward suggestion. Do a series of magical workings to get the money you need to move, and follow up the workings by engaging in practical measures (such as working extra hours) to do the same thing. Magic is not a cure-all, especially with this kind of tangled interpersonal situation; what's more, the old woman may know more about magic than you do.

By the way, um, magical attacks? Bad idea. Really bad idea. You may have locked yourself into a bad situation by doing that.

[(Anonymous)]

I have two questions about the Grove ceremony in the Druid Magic Handbook:

When performing the grove opening version of the SOP, should I be pivoting in place, or circling the altar for the different gates? Can it be done either way? I have been pivoting but it feels odd.

Also, with the pledge on the sword of swords, I just realised that I should probably physically leave my hand in the salute positon and only imaginally put my palm against the imaginal sword--is this correct? I was moving my hand to the sword and back to the salute before.

Many thanks for Magic Mondays!

[ecosophia]

1) Circle around the altar. You want to place the gates at the outer edges of the space in which you'll be doing your working.

2) I always physically move my hand, but you can do it either way.

An experence of living nature

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

I have an experience to share and I’d like to hear what other people have experienced along the same lines.

I was on a walk beside a river among some trees trying to connect to the plants around me. I’m in the southern hemisphere so it’s approaching spring now. Some of the willows beside the river were starting to put out their first leaves and there were a few trees covered in flowers. I perceived a feeling like stretching after waking up from sleep from the trees putting out their leaves. It felt like a tree covered in flowers was singing. Some pine trees felt like they were grumbling “grow grow grow...”. it felt like the grass plants were squabbling amongst themselves. I got the impression that if the plants were left to their own devices it would be a complete mess. It felt like there were other spiritual beings which acted to balance out the ecosystem and bring about the complex and dynamic beauty which we see in functioning ecosystems. I also got an impression from the goddess Elen who I was trying to talk to at the time.
I’d like to hear it this matches up with the experiences of others and what experiences they’ve had in nature.

Thank you JMG for providing this forum where we can talk about this kind of thing openly.

Re: An experence of living nature

[ecosophia]

This is pretty much what I experience whenever I'm outdoors in spring and turn my attention to the inner side of things. A great many of the old occult authors -- I'm thinking here especially of Geoffrey Hodson and Rudolf Steiner -- have very similar things to say, as indeed do the Findhorn books. So you're in very good company!

Room Cleaning, Dragon Slaying, and other Apollonian Pursuits.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, Archdruid.

My Name is PhoenixFloundering, and I'm OneThing's infamous niece.
(The one with the Apollo patronage and/or tulpa.) I've been lurking on-again-off-again on your blogs since before you created the Well of Galabes. (Which I loved; and was happy to see you posted on Ecosophia since I find it useful to link to!) This is my first time posting though.

Question 1
I have been seeing a psychotherapist for assorted stuff, and last time I went, I was told that I am probably over-reaching/under-appreciating my abilities due to self-sabotage due to anxiety/depression/failure being my Comfort Zone. This strikes me as being
A, quite accurate and
B, quite unfortunate long term as well as uncomfortable short-mid term and
C, quite possibly something Magick would be especially adept at helping.

Question 2,
This last week I finally re-started the process of learning to touch-type. I found that it triggered my emotional stuff, required exercise of will, patience and focused attention. It was something of a religious experience and for various reasons it seems like a thing I should very much continue.
That was back on Friday though, so my usual anxiety/procrastination habits are getting the best of me.

My religious raising was in Russian Orthodox Christianity, of which I have only a child's grasp, really. When I was 12 I started "hearing voices" (mostly Apollon) while I was away from any local (orthodox) churches, and also reading (skimming) stuff by Castaneda and Zechariah Sitchin. In high school I discovered Wicca(of the solitary, eclectic variety). My first exposure to something resembling a grimoire was Raymond Buckland's Big Blue Book of Bulls**t Complete Book of Witchcraft. I read it cover to cover, did a few spells, managed to get my mom to let me return it to the library INSTEAD of burning it, tossed out my magickal tools, went back to church but never went to confession about it, and eventually went back to being vaguely wiccan-ish. Then came about 10 years of nibbling voraciously at anything esoteric or alternatively religious I could get my hands on (in an armchair kind of way, not a dabbling way.) I rarely do a spell but when I do, they work.

Also, for a few months I had a sort of Guru, named White Flame. He appeared to speak the Green language in real time two(or more!)-way communication, I was awestruck, he said "When you kill the Ego, you Know Everything" I believed him and begged for teaching. He made a serious attempt to Teach and I a serious attempt to Learn. He was very influenced by the works of Samael Aun Weor, and also prescribed veganism, water fasting, and frequent mantra meditation. I also had at that time a practice of daily major arcane tarot divination (1 card automatically emailed to me daily)from which I would take my magickal weather/Karmic Lesson-y thing. The thing peaked when I had a day where i had a vision of Christ/Apollon/The Universe sort of conducting myself and everything around me, like music. I told Flame about it and he told me to Fall,(I assumed from the Grace which was presumably an illusory/temporary state) and because I had Faith and Obedience, I did. everything started spiraling downwards after that. His oracular Speech became more critical and less comprehensible, and my trust ebbed, and the synchronicities in my life got more alarming until I had a Really Bad Day involving missed buses and a phone dying, and I decided I was obviously ungrounded, and/or following a madman and/or psyching myself out irreparably. I immediately stopped all daily tarot reading (they still come to my email, mediation, listing to Flame, and fasting, and ate a big bacon cheeseburger to start things off. This mostly worked. I can still do occasional tarot readings, and synchronicities ebb and flow slowly in my life. But they do not cease and (nor would I want them to) and when the waves peak, I find, half-measures produce wipe-outs. So I need to find out how to get back on the horse so to speak...any cures for magickal ptsd?
Question 3 ---^


Sorry for rambling a bit, I hope everything was clear.

Re: Room Cleaning, Dragon Slaying, and other Apollonian Pursuits.

[(Anonymous)]

Also, I forgot to mention that I can somewhat reliably:

A, Sense , absorb and ground "energy" if i'm focused on it,
B, Do a very vague and basic "centering, energetically mentally, emotionally
C, Make a "bubble" shield which i then attempt to "program" with intent.
D, Cast a basic circle and emit a somewhat functional "energy blast" to push out icky energies.
E, Call the Quarters (at least verbally, but I think I'm doing something)
F, Passably demonstrate polite respectfullness toward whatever "spirits/deities" might be involved in a current working/talking.
G, Banish unfriendly entities, or in extreme circumstances, call for Help and hold out until Apollo deals with it.

And I've been occasionally doing this "Olympic LBRP": http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos546.htm

And I do have an athame, chalice, brazier, and a backyard I can bury things in legally. Also assorted candles,basic cooking herbs, and a handful of essential oils, as far as sympathetic ingredients go.

Thank you very much for your time and expertise, they are greatly appreciated!

Summoning and Banishing in CGD

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John,

What am I summoning and banishing in the LRP Celtic Golden Dawn? I assumed it was the four gods, but I feel that it is more than that. How much do I need to know of what’s around? Or do I trust summoning to bring good things and vice versa?

Thanks for your guidance

Re: Summoning and Banishing in CGD

[ecosophia]

No, it's not the four gods -- neither you nor any other human being has the power to summon or banish a god! "Summoning" and "banishing" are shorthand terms for a somewhat complex process. A summoning ritual brings you into closer contact with the spiritual world; a banishing ritual brings you back into closer contact with the material world. In both cases you call on gods and use a symbol of balanced power to make the transition in a balanced and protected fashion.

Gods of different pantheons with same archtype

[(Anonymous)]

Can I mix Pokemon and Arabian night Jinn magical systems to trap Jinns in Pokemon cards? or Pokemons in old lamps? :)

Seriously though…
If gods are older than us humans, and many gods across the various pantheons are similar, but still different (i.e. trickster: loki, maui, coyote, etc. as one example).
Are they totally different entites? Or separate manifestations of a single larger/parent entity?
I feel there must be a connection/original being somehow

-KNS

Re: Gods of different pantheons with same archtype

[ecosophia]

Human beings aren't smart enough to know.

I mean that quite seriously. Do the dust mites that live in your armpits understand anything about how you relate to your family members and coworkers? We are to the gods what those dust mites are to you. All we know is what seems to work in dealing with them.

of Saints and Avatar

[(Anonymous)]

About 20 years ago when I was in the thick of my eastern meditation practice I had a trip to India.
A couple of the interesting things that happened;
1. I came across the Karmapa Lama (the one born in China and who escaped). He was about 21 at the time and his energy was phenomenal! So much way more spiritual strength/power than anything I had experienced before or since.
I could feel his presence in the hallway outside the room while waiting for him.
The only reasonable explanation I can come up with for a 21 year old to have that spiritual power is for him to be an Avatar.
(talking to others back at the ashram, they'd met the other Karmapa Lama and apparently the other is just as strong)
Question, Have you met or aware of any avatars in the western tradition? And who are they?

2. By luck one day we met and followed a Hindu priest on his daily rounds (I was travelling with followers of the same lineage as him). At some point in the day we were introduced to a saint, his energy was significant (but not too strong), but exceptionally clean. This makes sense to me as a good way to define a saint.
Are there real saints like him with this exceptionally clean energy in the western tradition? (excluding those called saints by a church for what I assume is more political than spiritual reasons)

-KNS

Re: of Saints and Avatar

[ecosophia]

1) The process of repeated reincarnation is something that's been developed over centuries in Tibet. It's not something you find in most other Buddhist countries, even in places where esoteric Buddhism is practiced. It's also not something that Western spiritual traditions have done, as far as I know, so no, I don't know of any.

2) Every tradition has its saints. I've met elderly Christian ladies who have no religious function other than member of a congregation, who radiate clear light so strong I practically had to blink looking at them. (One of these days I'll do a post passing on the advice about daily prayer and Bible study I got from one of them -- if you happen to belong to any religion that has a sacred scripture, it's first-rate stuff.) So, yes, there are saints of that sort all through Western spiritual traditions; I've never encountered one in a leadership or clergy position in a religious organization, but they do exist.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Thank you for your advice last week - it was much appreciated.

Further to the part of the question about Brythonic deities, I think I have come up with a suitable set for the Elemental Cross, but since I am only meditating about one thing per day, I haven't settled on the rest of the deities in the Sphere of Protection yet.
I was thinking for the set of four: Nodens as the elder male, Lugus as the younger male, Arianrhod (but I will probably de-Welsh-ify the spelling to the older form, which is possibly Aranrod or Aranrot) as the elder female deity, and Brigantia as the younger female deity. I am not actually sure which is younger of Arianrhod or Brigantia, but Arianrhod is attested as having children in the mythology and Brigantia is related to Brighid/Bride and is not attested as having children. Does this sound ok?
In addition, should I continue using the deity-less form until I have thought of the correct associations for up to where I am now (calling on Spirit Above), or should I immediately switch to using this Elemental Cross and work my way back up through the elements as I come up with the right associations?

Thanks,

L.

[ecosophia]

The list is fine. I'd suggest that you should get all of the deity names in place before you start invoking deities in the ritual.

Magic in Green Wizardry

[(Anonymous)]

Hiya John

Re: Question two weeks ago about calling the Green Wizard’s Benevolent and Protective Association’s announcing officer the Mortimer.
So, I took your advice and imagined catching up with Mortimer the Penguin and asking if he would like to be our patron. He looked at me kinda baffled, so I went to the Ruinman’s Hall in the Akashic Records and spoke with John Greer, the Great Grand Master of all Ruinmen, about the matter of a patron over early breakfast in the cafeteria. (Hasty pudding is served from 5-7 AM on workdays. He says he is not a relation of the esteemed twenty-first century author, by the way.) Great Grand John was put out because he is our patron – after all, he did sign our Grand Charter which grants membership in the Ruinman’s Guild to all Green Wizards. My mistake for thinking Great Grand had granted license without consideration when the benefits of a R&D wing are obvious. Thus, we have a patron and reciprocity.

After that, I went to visit Mortimer again, this time at his home on Seymour Island. Did you know that he’s a Colossus Penguin, Palaeeudyptes klekowskii? He liked the idea of joining the Ruinman’s quest to find the Tower of the Green Wizard. So, I said, “Brother Mortimer, noble companion of the First Green Wizard, you have honored us with your friendship. We will ever honor you by titling our announcing officer “The Mortimer.” Penguins have no need for possessions, but they prize true honors that increase their renown. Of course, we shall maintain the truth of that honor as a duty.

Then Mortimer turned me into a penguin, so we could go fishing in the rich waters between Patagonia and Antarctica. But that is another story…

Am I doing this right?

Anyway, your remark on limits in last week’s book club, “…creation requires limitation. To bring something into being is to accept limits. To reject limits is to guarantee that whatever you do will dissolve uselessly into the Void,” is drawing great interest in my circles. Several of us have been actively wondering how to define our fraternity so that we can become an operative body rather than a speculative organization as quickly as possible. The fact that people interested in Green Wizardry tend to be all-the-wrong-kind-of-people who would never be invited to join a traditional fraternity is starting to look like a stepping stone to a new reality (Talk about change in consciousness!)

At this point, I want to avoid reinventing the Masons and the Elks. I’m advocating a body to promote the seven sustainable technologies you outlined in Green Wizardry, plus the trivium and quadrivium with a heavy emphasis on critical thinking.

Having never built an organization before, and having little experience with magic, the favors of your opinion and advice are welcome. I’d like to switch from pestering you on your blogs to a serious discussion via US mail. If you are interested, kindly point me to your publicist or other preferred point of contact because I haven’t been able to figure that out on my own. Of course, meeting beneath the plum tree on the level by the square is fine by me.

Fraternally yours

Rusty

Re: Magic in Green Wizardry

[ecosophia]

Well, I recommended absurdity, so it's good to see that you took me up on that. Yes, you're doing it right.

With regard to a more detailed conversation, put in a comment marked "not for posting" with your email address and we can sort out the best way to handle that.

Spirit below gate

[(Anonymous)]

(from Myriam)

I have been moving at a glacial pace in my progress because of work load and other commitments, though it has been sort of steady, with some breaks when too exhausted or ill. Two weeks ago or so, I got to the spirit below in the SOP. A couple of observations:

It may sound strange, but I recognized this force. I know this force from before. It is eager to connect. It is already in me, and has always been.

It also seems to me to be the same force that flows through the first four gates, but the clear, raw source, not the flavour, if that makes sense.

And it is incredibly powerful. When I began doing that step, the force would render me so weak I could barely stand, and felt ill. I'm sometimes doubled over with weakness. Once, it crushed me so much I couldn't stand and had to go lie down. So I left the circle, lay down for a few minutes, then thought it a bad idea to leave the circle, so went back and finished a very weak and wobbly circulation of the lights.

It does seem to be getting better. I am careful to have eaten not too long before, and don't do the SOP first thing in the morning when my blood sugars are low, nor late at night which I've realized has been causing all the insomnia I've had in the past (thanks to a comment you made a couple weeks ago). I'm able to stand straight to finish that gate, but the strength of the force is still there.

A couple of questions:

Any thoughts on this? Is this normal? Something I'm not doing right?

I'm wondering if the weakness has anything to do with the breathing I'm doing during the SOP. I prepare myself before I start with 9 relaxing deep breaths, just focusing on the breathing of the solar plexus, and then during the SOP itself at each gate, after I imagine the symbols appropriate to each gate (early morning air, full sun and fire, the St-Lawrence river which I live beside, and a forest) I breathe deeply 3 times imagining the colour of each gate flowing into my solar plexus and filling me. Is it possible by the time I get to the spirit below gate that I'm weak because of hyperventilation? That wouldn't explain the force of that gate, though.

Was there any danger in leaving the circle before I finished the circulation of the lights?

Is it the same force at its source as the other gates? Or are they supposed to be different forces?

Why is that force so much more powerful (to me anyway) than the other gates? Are all the spirit gates more powerful than the first four gates?

I'm thinking of taking my time with this gate, and not doing the next one until I no longer feel the weakness. Would you advise this? Or would it be helpful to balance it with spirit above asap? I noticed that it was a very good thing that you said to learn the gates first with air then water before doing fire. The balancing of air with water and fire with earth as I was learning felt necessary. Is the same thing happening here?

I really appreciate the time you take to share your thoughts on all this! And for the opportunity to ask.

Re: Spirit below gate

[ecosophia]

1) You probably have had some kind of connection with the telluric current via spiritual or magical work done in a past incarnation. When you get a disproportionate response to something like this, that's very often what's involved. No, it's not hyperventilation.

2) No, there's no danger in leaving the space. This isn't Goetic evocation, where you call up malign entities and use a circle to defend yourself against them; that's the kind of magic where you can't leave the circle.

3) The three forms of spirit provide the force, the four material elements provide the form. You'll understand how that works when you've been doing the whole set for a while.

4) As noted above, you've probably got a stronger connection with that force.

5) Take your time, and wait until you've got the force of Spirit Below in balance.

6) You're most welcome!

Rapid change of states

[ferngladefarm.com.au]

Hi John Michael,

Thanks again for providing this service and I appreciate it.

I've been thinking recently about a story about feckless person that I knew. The person had a belief system which suggested to them that all the messy details didn't matter, and because I'd known them over such a long period of time, I was starting to wonder whether they were onto something and I was wrong in my own beliefs. But then one day the details did matter for them, and their fall from grace was very rapid indeed. I was surprised to see such a rapid change of state for a person, but I was wondering whether there was any occult tradition to such a change? I mean a proper initiation process can produce such a change in state for a person, and I was wondering whether there were any similarities there? Dunno.

I'm curious about it because often the stories people tell themselves are used by people to shield themselves from other external forces, and the policy seems to be effective for only a little bit of time, before the external forces eventually intrude. But when a society is conducting that sort of a way of thinking, well sometimes it troubles me.

Chris

Re: Rapid change of states

[ecosophia]

That's something you see fairly often in people who convince themselves that the details don't matter, or that the universe is set up to give them whatever they want, or what have you. (We're seeing a world-class example of it here in the US, courtesy of Elon Musk, for whom the details are starting to matter in a very big way.) The methods of positive thinking can shield you from the consequences of your actions for a while, but that just means that the consequences build up a head of pressure, and sooner or later the barrier cracks and down you go.

And yes, when a society does that -- and sufficiently complex societies always do that -- you get a certain trajectory called "decline and fall"...

[(Anonymous)]

In Knight's Qabalistic Symbolism, which I've started working through, he quotes a section of the previous chapter of The Cosmic Doctrine we studied (the three rings and their interactions) and goes on to observe that when energies lock-up in opposition/equilibrium, they descend a plane, which is seen on that plane as a birth. When those energies are freed, they re-ascend, taking with them the experience of that manifestation, and this event is seen on the lower plane as a death. (I don't have the text in front of me, but this is from the chapter on Kether.)

Two questions:

First, are the planes he is referring to the "levels" of the Tree, the "worlds" of the Tree, the circles of Ring-Cosmos mentioned in this month's reading, the seven planes we have access to (which you distinguished from the seven circles of Ring-Cosmos)? None of the above? All of the above?

Secondly, he also makes a point of noting the equal holiness of each sephirah. I still find myself skewed as seeing "higher" as "better" and "lower" as "lesser" -- it is residual of a certain thread of gnosticism that has woven through my past thinking. (This applies to any ordering of planes and similar concepts in general, not just the Tree.) Do you know of any exercises or meditations that might aid in shifting that framing?

Thank you.

David, by the lake

ordering of planes

[deborah_bender]

On your second question, I have no meditations to offer but I can propose alternate vocabulary.

Some people find it helpful to describe the relationships of levels, planes, emanations and other schemata which are influenced by Neoplatonism as deeper/less deep or closer/farther (with reference to the origin or ultimate source). Some occult texts refer to some levels as more or less subtle or of higher/lower vibration, but these are metaphors that imply a ranking in my mind.

Changing the adjectives will not permanently stop the habit of rating levels or emanations as better/worse. I find it helps to think of or remind myself that these emanations or worlds are continuously arising from and returning to the Source, and that they interpenetrate each other.

In some cosmologies, there is an axis of more differentiated/more unified, which seems to me more neutral than higher/lower, and also ties in with current understanding of evolutionary biology.

Alienation

[violetcabra]

A few months ago I brought up the need to keep secrets vis-a-vis my spiritual practices and the world. As a follow up, I can say that this has proven to be easier than I would have thought. The issue though, is with a sense of acutely felt alienation between myself and others.

Basically, spiritual practices have amped up my 'voltage,' for lack of a better term. I can think more coherently, feel more compassionately, and my dream life is filled with sunlight and symbols. My aura is light and clean. This is great!

What is painful, acutely so, is the sense, real or imagined, is the alienation. Of course, a lot of this alienation is built into the environment, but some of it is a chasm that has opened between myself and others. Frankly, and I am half-ashamed to admit this, discourse with most people reminds me much more of the barking of dogs more than conversing with self-aware beings. This is an eerie experience, honestly. It is like the stories of talking animals in folklore, but reversed, with barking, mewing or cawing humans. It seems too, that people are a bit scared of me too, since this voltage can be uncanny, it is bright and intimate, and can involve things like telepathy and the like.

I think I'm describing an experience that others must have too. The experience that with spiritual practices that move one towards the grand ideal ofipsississimus, that one is going to have to traverse a landscape where people seem, relatively less developed, or actively deluded or crazed. I don't personally feel more special or better, just different and distinct, btw, but it is a very lonely sort of difference. Of course, everyone is distinct and weird in their own ways, but not always in manners that cause acute alienation to bear down on their relationships with others. Perhaps I'm being myopic and inconsiderate in this...can't tell.

To rectify this I've started volunteering at a soup kitchen to get me around more people in meaningful activity, and so far so good! I plan on moving from the half-embalmed suburb where I live too sometime in the next year, which is something too. I'm curious though JMG, how you emotionally navigate this sense of difference, of loneliness, of alienation? Are there general thoughts you think may have bearing on this sort of experience?

Re: Alienation

[ecosophia]

I'm probably not the best person to ask about this, because solitude is kind of my preferred state -- dealing with people was so difficult in my childhood, due partly to my Aspergers syndrome and partly to the way that most people reacted to my Aspergers syndrome, that being alone with a book or what have you became my comfortable place early on, and dealing with people even now is something I have to nerve myself up for.

But the experience you're having is extremely common. There's a good reason Manly P. Hall titled one of his books on occultism The Ways of the Lonely Ones. The thing that seems to work is to find people to associate with who are also actively involved in spiritual practices of one kind or another. Those are the people you'll find you can communicate with.

Hellenic Druidry

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG!

Your choice of leading figure in occultism last week made me think about a possible adaptation of the SoP and the Wheel of the Year with Hellenic Gods and symbology. Do you have suggestions about Gods fitting for each position and correspondence, or at least how to go about it?

An example of my doubts is regarding Hades as a possible symbolic correspondence for the underground and ancestors, but I've been told there was a restriction in Hellenic times about working with him directly.

Thank you so much for your time and answers here!

Re: Hellenic Druidry

[ecosophia]

That's certainly something you can do, and there are people doing Hellenic versions of the SoP already, so it's not even that exotic. To work out the system, all you have to do is study the myths and pay attention to rules like the prohibition about working with Hades. (You probably want Hekate for the Samhuinn station anyway.) An equal number of gods and goddesses is always a good idea, and it makes a nice symbolic balance to put, say, a goddess at each of the cross quarter days and a god at each of the solstices and equinoxes.

Beyond that, I wouldn't dream of denying you the fun and the learning experience of working out the correspondences yourself!

intention

[(Anonymous)]

You have said getting your intention right is a critical early step. So my question has to do with dealing with the Wendigo.

Fighting the Wendigo - bad idea
Shoving the Wendigo into the void - Better but still sounds like fighting
Transforming the Wendigo - Don't know if that is even possible

Replacing the Wendigo- I think this is the best I have come up with and fits in with the embracing the opposite. What do you think?

Re: intention

[(Anonymous)]

How about:

- feeding and supporting and strengthening things that undermine the wendigo?
- thinking about and building up what systems will need to be in place when the wendigo circles out to the void on it's own? what will come next?

cure for love spells

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, JMG. I seek your advice re: love spells.

I strongly suspect that a member of my family is under the influence of a love spell (this person has the symptoms that were discussed in previous “magic Monday” posts), but I have not yet cast a chart to determine whether this is true. I’ll be casting the chart this evening or tomorrow.

If, by chance, this person is under a spell, they will likely not accept the fact and will resist any magic rituals to counter the spell. What would you advise under the circumstances? If a cool bath with vinegar, salt and cayenne (as per previous magic Monday posts) works, I can probably convince the person to take it – that is, if it is an appropriate antidote. If it is, please confirm. If there is some other non-ritualistic approach, I would appreciate knowing about it.

Thanks so much in advance!

Re: cure for love spells

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, your family member has the right to make his or her own mistakes. Love spells cast on the unwilling have a predictable result -- the person under the spell spends a short time feeling uncharacteristically warm and enthusiastic about the person who's cast the spell, then shakes herself, says "What was I thinking?" and slams to the opposite extreme. When a love spell has lasting results, there was serious potential for attraction even without the magic.

A basic cleansing bath would indeed be an effective way to deal with an unwanted love spell. If your family remember stays in love with the person you don't like, though, you may just have to live with it.

QAnon shows its hand

[jpc_w]

In your series on the Kek meme wars, you mentioned QAnon as a potential method of discrediting the chans, or at least /pol/.
Well, QAnon--or some of their followers--have dredged up some "13 Bloodlines of the Illuminati" material, some of which has accusations of occult activity.

My question: can doing meditations or divinations along the lines of "is this material somebody's psyop" yield any useful results? And have you done this before when researching various occult histories?

Re: QAnon shows its hand

[ecosophia]

Yeah, at this point we're dealing with a common or garden variety bit of manipulations. Yes, meditation and divination are both useful in this, and it also helps to study known psyop activities, especially those done by the governments most likely to be involved -- there are consistent M.O.s in this sort of thing, as distinctive as a fingerprint. (If you know your way around the maneuvers used to distract the Germans in advance of D-Day, you'll recognize instantly what was going on in the early days of the UFO phenomenon, for example, and if you know your way around the last four or five decades of military intelligence psyops around the UFO scene, QAnon is pretty clearly in the same style as Project Aquarius, MJ-12, et al.)

Oh, and there's also Rule #1 of psyop defense: if somebody from anybody's military intelligence claims that they're leaking you classified information, they're lying to you. Remember the old poker rule; there's always a sucker in every poker game, and if you don't know who it is, it's probably you.

[(Anonymous)]

Is the concept of the fin de siecle just a human construct (if that's the right word) or are there occult reasons why the turn of the century would mean a significant change? Or maybe there was no particular reason for it originally but if enough people believed it they could make it true?

[ecosophia]

It's purely a human construct, but human constructs have power to shape human thoughts and actions.

Very first magic step

[(Anonymous)]

Happy Monday, Mr. Greer. I have found a great deal of good sense in your writings, both sociopolitical and esoteric, since I discovered them a couple of years ago. Perhaps you have helped others through dilemmas similar to mine.

First, to saddle you with yet another reader biography. I shall strive to be pertinent. I have always been abstractly pagan in personal philosophy, and I have reached a stage in my life where I want and need an active spiritual practice. I believe in magic, as you have described it, and I have no qualms with others who practice it.

Unfortunately, I have profound difficulties with conceiving of myself as a potentially magical person. Discussions with my counselor suggest that is because when I say "magical" I primarily mean "capable of self-determination." And it is true that I do not really consider myself such a person... but I would like to be. And it does seem like an issue that magic could help with.

But how do I even begin effectively? I have attempted a couple of simple rituals over the years and felt nothing but awkward and uneasy after. What can I do to get myself past this mental block and start properly on the long path to becoming an effective magician? My counselor is sympathetic and encouraging, but unfortunately is not well-versed enough in the matter of esoteric practices to offer specific advice.

Cordially, Tif

Re: Very first magic step

[ecosophia]

One of the classic ways to deal with this sort of thing is the old New Thought practice of affirmation. Simply start saying to yourself, several times a day, "I am capable of self-determination." The first few times you do this, or the first few hundred, you'll probably get an internal tantrum in response. Ignore it, and keep on repeating it.

(It's important, by the way, to use a present tense declarative sentence like the one I've given. Your mind listens to those.)

Along with this, get yourself a notebook or blank book of some kind, and spend fifteen minutes or so a day journaling. Write "I am capable of self-determination" at the top of the first sheet of paper and then, without self-censoring, write down everything that comes into your head in response to that sentence. Keep doing this day by day until you've gottento all the miserable childhood experiences whose bottled-up emotions are surfacing when you try to think of yourself as capable of self-determination.

One other thing. You already are a magical person. Everybody is always practicing magic, day in and day out. What makes somebody an operative mage isn't that they have powers nobody else has; it's that they use their magical powers consciously, to get the lives they want, rather than using them unconsciously, to get whatever life they were programmed to get by their parents, their culture, and their childhood experiences. You already have all the power you will ever need; you just have to wake up to that fact, stop using your powers to frustrate yourself, and start using them to live your dreams.

Vertigo and Vervain

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings, JMG:

About 2 months ago I had a cerebellar stroke resulting from a vertebral artery dissection (cerebellum is where one's equilibrium lives). Since then, I have experienced some disorientation when vibrating words used in the CGD lesser pentagram ritual. I am, of course, following medical recommendations to the best of my ability and making appropriate lifestyle changes (diet, exercise etc.), and will not take anything you have to say as medical advice. I was hoping you would be kind enough to share your thoughts on the vibration/disorientation thing, and possible magical interpretations of this event.

Also, I am trying to coax some verbena officinalis seeds to grow, but I am having trouble getting them to germinate. I have tried the seeds in moistened soil in the fridge for two weeks (then moved outside), and on a sunny windowsill indoors for two weeks; no seedling growth yet. If it matters, I live at about 4800 feet elevation in Colorado.

As always, thank you very much for your writing over the years, and for hosting these Magic Mondays. Your words and insight mean a great deal to me, and clearly to a great many others.

Re: Vertigo and Vervain

[ecosophia]

1) I'd give up vibration for the next six months, to give your cerebellum time to heal fully. Just speak the words aloud. It won't be quite as effective, but it'll work well enough to be worth doing.

2) I wonder if your seeds are viable. The couple of times I've planted vervain it came up pretty readily.

[mesosylvania]

I have a few questions this week:

1. On the Ogham versus Runes front, being an Ogham person, how is your experience with testing the Heathen Golden Dawn system going? Do you still develop a good relationship, even though runes don't work for you like the ogham does? I'm working through the DMH, and I'm intuiting that I may be a rune person moreso, even though I love the Ogham system, and assuming that's the case, I'm just wondering how much of a connection I can hope to achieve with the Ogham Fews. Or is it more if a matter of divination not being as great, but magical workings should be fine?

2. Again, as a person working through DMH (I started invoking Spirit Below last week- man that gate is powerful!), are there ways of working with and connecting with local nature spirits which wouldn't take away from my focus on the system? I sometimes "imagine"what a nature Spirit would look like and what it's nature would be, usually with good results (I've done this with the Irish deities as well), and I'm wondering both how to take this further, and if I should wait to do so.

3. The business that I co founded is about to launch a new brand and website in 1-2 weeks, selling products (well made, that I wholly stand behind) online on the national level. Are there any magical workings that you know of that I should look into to help us achieve positive attention and sales, or if not, resources that I should check out? Folk or natural magic, since I'm still a ritual magic neophyte.

Thanks once again for his forum!

[ecosophia]

1) I'm mostly testing the ritual work. My coauthor has had many years of practice with the runes, and will be doing most of that part of the project. In your case, the only way to find out how deep a connection you can make with the Ogham fews is to try.

2) That's included later on in the book, so I'd encourage you to keep working through the material in the book in the order given, and take up work with nature spirits when you get there.

3) You might check out this collection of hoodoo spells for business success.

How to respond to directions from the cosmos

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

Thanks for the weekly Magical Monday posts. I'm seeking today advice on how one should best respond to patterns being seen from the cosmos. I remember once how you felt the god Krampus was communicating with you and how it led.. well I don't recall where that led. But when it is obvious that something is being communicated with you due to patterns and syncrhonicity, what should be the next step(s)? Thanks!

Prizm

Re: How to respond to directions from the cosmos

[ecosophia]

It depends entirely on what's going on. Does the synchronicity point you toward any particular set of actions? Is it associated with a deity who might be trying to make contact with you? Or what?

Sphere of Protection

[ritaer]

Greetings,

I have accessed two versions of the SOP, the one on the Ancient Order of Druids in America site and the one in _Druid Magic_. I tried the physical movements in both version and decided I liked the DM version better. However, when moving my arms from the hands upright in front of solar plexus to the arm extended with palm upward and elbow still at side of body, my lower arm does not extend straight. By this I mean that it is not in the same plane as my torso, i.e. if I were lying on my back on the floor the lower arms would not be touching the floor. OTH in the instructions from AODA with the elbow straight the arm _is_ flat. It occurs to me that it might be a result of the different anatomy of the female arm, the so called, carrying angle.

Does this make a difference to the rest of the exercise?

Thanks

Rita

Re: Sphere of Protection

[ecosophia]

It doesn't matter a bit. Different people have different body shapes and functions, and that's fine; extend the arm to whatever feels comfortable, and go with that.

linking to the land through story and ceremony

[scotlyn]

Hello,
Last Friday, August 17th, was exactly one year from the day I fell off my bicycle. In fact I recovered incredibly quickly from a broken rib and some internal bleeding the rib caused by injuring my kidney and spleen. I was back at work inside of two weeks and back on the bicycle,with full confidence, after about four months...

Anyway, there so happens to be a roadside well, belonging to neighbours, very close to the site where I came off my bike, and as I have passed the spot, often twice daily, I have begun to give a mental salute to the nameless "lady of the well". I have thanked her for bringing the help I needed in that moment, and also for my recovery. I decided I would, with the neighbour's permission, visit the well on the anniversary, and pay my respects in person.

I had prepared a wee ceremony that would include the offering of silver (well unknown metal jewellery, anyway) for the lady, and a drawing of water from the well, on which the lady's blessing would be asked, for purposes of consecrating* (or at least, making sacred) a different well, one that is closer to my house, and to which I have access without running a road traffic hazard.

Well, leaving work on Friday, with a wee box of chocolates for the neighbours, and in my pocket a brooch for the lady, and a wee glass container for water, I actually felt excited, as though I was going on a date. :)

Anyway, having visited both neighbour and well, and carried out my intentions, I am now working with my husband to develop the other well, which is the domestic well formerly used by his family at his old, now ruined, childhood cottage. It had become overgrown, and lost a stone or two, and needed a good clean. So we have confabulated some plans to bring it back to its glory.

My question (after all that) is: do you have any suggestions as to where to look for inspiration to prepare a ceremony for once the work is complete? We want to entrust the well over to the lady, let it be her habitation, and to establish it as a sacred place of the land? I understand that we need to be speaking to her about this already... And I am doing so. However, hearing the "small voice" from the other side of the conversation is something I'm practicing, but very far from perfect on...

* If I recall correctly, you have said a consecration should apply to something only you will touch, thereafter. Obviously a well does not fall in the category of things that only we will ever touch. Still, in "handing it up" to be sacred, we will also be handing ourselves up as caretakers. Whatever you call that.

Re: linking to the land through story and ceremony

[ecosophia]

It's a different kind of consecration, of course -- much more like the sort of thing used with churches, temples, stone circles, and so on. I don't know of a good source for rituals of this kind, but you should be able to construct something fairly readily using an ordinary opening and closing ritual and an invocation of the Lady of the Well.

I know I don't have to tell you that what you're doing is profoundly traditional and taps into very deep energies. As for "caretakers of the sacred well," the old terms were, I believe, "priestess and priest."

Spiritual Material

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid,

You mentioned that glass, steel and concrete are magically ‘dead’ materials. (on the etheric level that is. I understand they could all be enchanted on the mental plane, and so on.)

I understand the associations between fossil fuels and death, as well as the isolating properties of glass and the ‘short-circuiting’ caused by (sharp) steel - but what is the deal with concrete? I recall it is also useless for standing stones (and I have seen good stones tragically suck into a poured concrete base).

I do feel the difference between concrete and red brick - new buildings here tend to be made of concrete slabs with a single later of brick over them, and they seem to isolate as well against the currents of nwyfre from the sun as they do cold air. But why?

Yours in Druidry,

Brigyn

Re: Spiritual Material

[ecosophia]

Good question. Concrete doesn't make working standing stone material because it's a jumble of random gravel held together by cement, thus lacks the complex internal crystalline structure of natural stone. Why it's etherically dead I don't happen to know, but that's been my experience and that of many other Druids and occultists.