Magic Monday
Jan. 5th, 2025 11:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
Midnight is almost here, and so it's time to launch a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism, and with certain exceptions noted below, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note: Any question or comment received after that point will not get an answer, and in fact will just be deleted. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 341,928th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.2 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. This was my sixtieth published book, the second volume of the sprawling study course in Druidical occultism I assembled from fragments, scraps, and a lot of William Walker Atkinson's more obscure writings, as chronicled in the intro to last week's Magic Monday. The Lesser Mysteries comprise four grades, the Greater Mysteries three more, finishing up with the grade of Gwyddon Rhydd or Free Loremaster, which brings with it the right to teach the system. There's a modest but significant number of Free Loremasters running around these days, and some of them do in fact teach; most students of the Dolmen Arch, however, simply learn it from the two books. One way or another, if you're interested, you can find copies for sale here in the US and at your favorite online or brick-and-mortar bookseller elsewhere.
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***This Magic Monday is now closed, and no more comments will be put through. See you all next week!***
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 04:58 am (UTC)b) Part of the way I wound up in the nasty situation I’m in right now is an odd one. Any divination done about how to deal with issues which involve my parents will always suggest that I go along with whatever they happen to want, no matter how destructive to my interests and my values. If I listen, then I always lose, while when I ignore the divination, things usually turn out better.
It’s also interesting that this is true whether I do the divination or someone else does it. These effects have also occurred with multiple systems of divination, including ogham, geomancy, tarot, and horary astrology.
These odd results occur even where my parents have not fully explained what they want to me; and in the most recent case where this happened, it involved a reading where neither I nor the person doing the reading realized my parents had a vested interest in a given result. As far as I know, they do not use any kind of magic, but it is reliable enough it’s getting spooky.
Do you have any ideas what might be going on here, and how to protect my divination?
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 05:00 am (UTC)2) That's really quite odd, though not completely unheard of. No, I don't know any way to get the effect to stop.
Magic users
Date: 2025-01-06 06:01 am (UTC)Everyone uses magic all the time. The untrained people are unpleasant because they do not know they are using magic and they have not been taught any magical ethics.
Maxine
Re: Magic users
Date: 2025-01-07 01:44 am (UTC)Rita
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 06:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 10:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 01:19 am (UTC)Should that line of questioning yield more reliable readings, then you would come away with more nuanced data by which to plan your best course of action. Should divination reveal that your parents' resistance to or resentment of your autonomy were sufficiently detrimental, you might want to consider taking some protective actions, like getting a P.O. Box to receive any mail that might upset them, or opening a new email account that you never log onto from computers they can access.
Should more bite-sized divinations yield no better results than before, then the task before you is more challenging. That would point to your will being deeply divided. Most certainly, your parents don't have a greater influence over the life force than the gods do (in other words, divination works.) However, your parents may well have that potent of an influence over you and your subconscious. Whatever energetic parasites they have succeeded in implanting in you could easily be distorting your divinatory efforts by making you too afraid to ask, too distracted to hear, or too doutful to trust the wisdom if the divine.
Magic often feels like someone whammying us from outside, but we have to have the vulnerabilities inside of us for that to work in the first place. Clear away all those parasites that are not you, and only your own energies will be left to shine through in their divine truth. Have a blast scouring yourself clean!
— Christophe
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 05:01 am (UTC)I am wondering if there is anything I can do magically to recover the Druid stuff, at least. I’ll let the cash, the backpacks, and the gun go. I am in the Druid grade of the CGD, but the kicker is I now can’t open a temple. I lost all of my altar supplies, even the tablecloth, a consecrated wand and sickle, the raw material egg for my serpent’s egg, all of my incense, a bracelet I’d made for use during Merlin’s Wheel, my tarot deck, and a bunch of other things. Literally all I have left is my geomantic wands and the rosary to Ceridwen that I made. Based on the first go round, it would take me months to reacquire and consecrate all this stuff, so I’m pretty dejected, and trying hard not to take this as an omen that the Druid Grade is not meant for me. It feels like such an unusual thing to happen. The apartment is way in the back of a complex with one entry, in a small town, where there is no foot traffic, so it seems like it was a targeted attack by someone watching me moving stuff in.
Of course I’ve filed a police report and there is security footage from a neighbor’s camera of a young woman in her 20’s or early 30’s walking out my patio with an armload of my stuff, but the neighbors don’t recognize her. It doesn’t look good for recovering my things without some kind of divine intervention. Any suggestions? I can still cast a shield chart to find out any further information I might need.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 05:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 03:52 pm (UTC)Since I hate to be a Debbie Downer, I'll also share one synchronicity that occurred. While I was on the phone telling my ex-wife what happened, I noticed a tiny piece of paper protruding from under the blinds on the windowsill where the thief entered. I'd opened and closed these blinds even since they left and didn't notice it. It turned out to be a scrap, torn on all four sides like some magic works, with a quote by Jack Kornfield about how spiritual practice is all about learning to let go. My ex recognized it as probably having come from a new age shop where she bought some obsidian stone. Somehow it must have gotten shuffled into my stuff when I moved, and perhaps fallen right back out of that stuff as the thief exited the window, because there is no other material way for it to have ended up there. That does leave plenty of non-material interventions, of course.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 06:45 pm (UTC)Guillem.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 08:17 pm (UTC)That theft sounded right disappointing up until you discovered that your soul even left a guidepost for you on the windowsill. Given the peculiarly limiting English convention that we only refer to the sill of doorways as thresholds, I’d say your soul has sent you a very powerful message:
Someone watching your behavior noticed your abundance of riches and transgressed a threshold to try to take them from you. That watcher may not have had any idea that she was actually doing your soul’s bidding, but your soul has made quite certain that you would know. You’ve reached the point in your spiritual practice where learning to let go of cherished artifacts is the key to unlocking magical thresholds you hadn’t realized you were ready to cross. That same key will also allow you to relock those magical thresholds to any malign influences wanting to trespass.
You appear to have gotten the resistant watchers within you scared enough to try to steal away your gifts in order to stop your spiritual growth. Foolish watchers, why can’t they ever figure out that their attacks always leave us stronger? Where will you be able to explore now that you no longer need to bring so many crutches with you?
Every rock, stick, and leaf offers a potent portal to divinity. They can be consecrated as and where needed, and then left on the forest floor as a blessing for all who will pass by. Perhaps your soul is trying to let you know that you’ve already reached the point where remaking your lost gear needs little work or expense, as the tools you need are already within you.
- Christophe
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 12:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 09:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 05:43 pm (UTC)I am very sorry to hear this happened to you, despite the fact that it does seem to have a message to reflect on. I think it is perfectly fine, even healthy, to be a little down from all this!
You didn't ask me, but if I may, it seems to be possible to open temples in a fully internal way if it helps you continue your practices. I can't get them to feel as strong yet, and at least for me it is harder to stir the emotions without the paraphernalia, but some mental preparation in the devotional direction beforehand, incense and a chair seems to be doing something for me.
If it helps at all, I grew up used to crime and a little red thread prayed over as you tie it on your belongings will take away a great deal of the "glow" of your personal items that thieves seem so good at detecting.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:46 pm (UTC)The red thread is also a fine idea. When I get my new gear I will find a more secure place for it and tie a rope's worth of protection. If anyone else has similar tips for protecting a particular belonging, please let me know.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 09:20 pm (UTC)I am glad it was helpful, for what is worth, red cotton yarn is the traditional approach.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 11:01 pm (UTC)I'm sorry for your losses. On Frugal Fridays you asked what to plant on your patio. Well, according to our gracious host's Encyclopedia of Natural Magic, "caraway was held to have the power to prevent all kinds of theft... Traditional lore claims that objects containing caraway seed could not be stolen, and that the growing plant would prevent thieved from making their escape". Caraway is easy to grow from the seeds. It looks like something you might want to try to grow on your patio given your situation.
Best of luck!
Inna
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 12:06 am (UTC)I won't pile on with "there's likely a lesson in all this," as it sounds like you're already reflecting on that, and even if true, right after isn't the best time for such thoughts (and even if true, it still sucks!). The only thing I'd say along those lines that I haven't seen you or others say is that there might be a message in what was left - something like "focus on this stuff and what it means."
Other than divination, which you've already done, and prayer, like JMG suggested, I'm afraid I'm short on practical magic suggestions.
On a mundane practical note, and not to add worries to your plate, but did you happen to have a record of the gun's serial number? You might want to make sure that gets reported to the cops in the police report in case it gets used in a crime or something, since you'll be the last owner of record, and might get some unwelcome questions in that case.
At any rate, again, my condolences, and good luck continuing through this disappointment,
Jeff
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 12:43 am (UTC)I have a little wood carving of a temple called a Thai spirit house, guarded by two jade foo dogs, looking over the living room, and had invited friendly and helpful spirits who are ok with banishing rituals to take up residence. I also put a Thai statue and overturned jug in the only corner of my patio with dirt and weeds instead of concrete, designated it the wild corner, and invited friendly nature spirits to dwell there, too, prior to this crime.
I just noticed that the Thai statue and jug appear in the corner of one of the photos of the perpetrator looking on scoldingly. Maybe they didn't love the violation any more than those foo dogs did.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 02:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 03:34 am (UTC)It is also possible that the divination is tapping into believes, frustrations, etc. That is why divination is best done by somebody else when you are too close to it, if you want your own astral patterns to be avoided.
End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 05:05 am (UTC)For any I missed last week, a happy New Year!
To Share: I've done a lookback on the year just ended, the main highlight of which is that I (mostly) met my goal to write a book (I was 22 minutes late and the rough draft is only ~40k words, which is a bit short, but I'm still counting it. More details in the post): https://jpowellrussell.com/#looking_back_on_2024_and_forward_to_2025
To Ask: With the turn of the year, I thought it'd be fitting to ask: occult-wise, that you're willing to share, what in 2024 did you learn, try out, begin, or change your mind on that you think is interesting? Alternatively, if nothing much comes to mind, anything you're excited to try, begin, or look into for 2025?
As always, thanks very much to JMG and those who read and comment.
My blessings to all who welcome them,
Jeff
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 05:27 am (UTC)Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 01:59 pm (UTC)2. Can agalmata be made using non-Druid deities?
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 04:36 pm (UTC)Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 05:47 pm (UTC)Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 06:18 pm (UTC)2) Put the synthemata (the magically effective substances) into the agalma during the day and hour of the ruling planet; that seems to work quite well.
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 09:29 pm (UTC)If the neoplatonists had a sense of that approach to magic then this is a profound revelation to me.
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-07 01:58 am (UTC)Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-07 12:57 am (UTC)2) I am in possession of a Jung relic. I am wondering if that might not also up the potency of a Carl Jung agalma? At least within Catholicism, relics have long been venerated as objects of great spiritual power. That said, I also know that classical polytheists and all the modern ones I know (well, besides me!) don't find the practice very appealing. Not sure what kind of overlap might be possible in this particular case.
And thanks very much for mentioning agalmata. For some reason, I find this to be deeply fascinating, and something that I feel a strong desire to actually do.
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-07 02:07 am (UTC)2) An agalma is what you use when you don't have relics. The classic Catholic practice that requires at least two relics in an altar on which Mass is performed comes straight out of old Pagan practice, specifically the worship of heroes. (Heroes, remember, are the Greek Pagan equivalent of saints, human beings who on account of their great deeds and personal power were raised by the gods above the human level and, after their deaths, continue to benefit the rest of us.) If you have a relic of Jung you can set up a heroon (pronounced "hero-on") or hero shrine in the classic style, and invoke Jung's spirit with incense and libations.
3) Glad to hear it. I'm working on a book on the practical application of Neoplatonist teachings to modern polytheism, and agalmata will feature in it.
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 06:23 pm (UTC)1) What is physiological alchemy?
2) Regarding agalmata. Are they consecrated via a similar method as the Egyptian ritual of the opening of the mouth?
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 07:42 pm (UTC)2) That's a question a lot of people ask, even in the academic scene! The answer is no, not traditionally, though you could probably do so.
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 08:24 pm (UTC)1) That is a topic that interests me quite a bit, I look forward to reading it!
2) It's been done for sure, I was part of one for an egyptian goddess not long ago which is why I asked. I found it interesting that it was a mix between assumption of godforms-like methods and traditional methods from the book of the death. Any idea what synthemata would resonate with Cernunnos?
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 08:33 pm (UTC)Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 09:23 pm (UTC)Thank you, I will keep it in mind when I can have an established altar space.
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 07:47 pm (UTC)Manuel
Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-06 08:04 pm (UTC)Re: End of Year Lookback and Anything Learned/Excited about for Past/New Year?
Date: 2025-01-07 12:14 am (UTC)Not for JMG, obviously, but for anyone interested, Tom Rowsell has a video/podcast review of Gregory Shaw's Theurgy and the Soul, which includes some of his thoughts on how to apply Iamblichus's ideas on different beliefs and practices for different cultures to Heathenry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6NVzuXkdHM
Cheers,
Jeff
Planetary Debilities
Date: 2025-01-06 05:20 am (UTC)Last Magic Monday you linked an article on calculating planetary dignities and debilities using William Lilly's numerical factor tables. I went over my natal chart using the tables and found all planets relatively decently dignified (about 10-20 range), except for Jupiter, which is debilitated to the score of -11 and placed in a rather consequential house. If I understand it correctly, in Lilly's system an ill dignified planet can be a significant source of negative influence. Is there a protocol for rectifying this kind of influence?
Re: Planetary Debilities
Date: 2025-01-06 05:29 am (UTC)https://www.renaissanceastrology.com/planetarycharity.html
Re: Planetary Debilities
Date: 2025-01-06 08:20 pm (UTC)Re: Planetary Debilities
Date: 2025-01-06 08:34 pm (UTC)If I may ask a few questions about the circumstances in which you stopped watching television ...
Date: 2025-01-06 05:36 am (UTC)It's my understanding that you used to watch TV, then stopped cold turkey.
If I may ask, did you stop around the time you began magical training? Also, was there a particular commercial or TV show (if you remember) that struck you to the point that you decided, "I have better things to do with my life than watching moving pixels for hours on end"?
Perhaps a commercial that depicts world peace and a happy life by drinking fizzy brown sugar water from the right beverage company? Or a 10-years-running TV sitcom portraying a 3-year war as allegory for a 20-year war?
Thanks,
-E.
Re: If I may ask a few questions about the circumstances in which you stopped watching television ..
Date: 2025-01-06 05:46 am (UTC)I began my magical studies in a not very systematic way the winter of 1976-1977, and didn't get really serious about it until the summer of 1984, so I stopped watching TV before then.
Re: If I may ask a few questions about the circumstances in which you stopped watching television ..
Date: 2025-01-06 07:21 pm (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: If I may ask a few questions about the circumstances in which you stopped watching television ..
Date: 2025-01-06 07:45 pm (UTC)Essenes and Octagon
Date: 2025-01-06 05:59 am (UTC)I have a magical request to make of you. Please think of publishing the Essenes and Octagon Society material. I find a book much better to read than a computer. Also, I am not great with a computer but can reliably operate a book.
Maxine
Re: Essenes and Octagon
Date: 2025-01-06 04:39 pm (UTC)Would it help for you to have PDF copies you could print out and put in a three ring binder? The Essene material is already set up that way --
https://octagonsociety.org/archives/modern-order-of-essenes/
-- and I could easily set up the Octagon Society material the same way.
Re: Essenes and Octagon
Date: 2025-01-06 05:23 pm (UTC)Yes, the PFDs will be very helpful. I very much appreciate you doing the same for the octagon material. I found both very helpful but gave them up due to computer difficulties.
Maxine
Re: Essenes and Octagon
Date: 2025-01-06 06:19 pm (UTC)Re: Essenes and Octagon
Date: 2025-01-06 06:23 pm (UTC)Re: Essenes and Octagon
Date: 2025-01-07 12:17 am (UTC)Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-01-06 06:21 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 Viktoria have a safe and healthy pregnancy, and may the baby be born safe, healthy and blessed. May Marko have the strength, wisdom and balance to face the challenges set before him. (picture)
May Open Space's friend's mother
Judith be blessed and healed for a complete recovery from cancer.
May Linda from the Quest Bookshop of the Theosophical Society, who has developed a turbo cancer, be blessed with a successful surgery under a steady hand when she goes into the operating room in mid January, and with well-being and a speedy recovery.
May Bill Rice (Will1000) in southern California, who suffered a painful back injury, be blessed and healed, and may he quickly recover full health and movement.
May David/Trubrujah's 5 year old nephew Jayce, who is back home after chemotherapy for his leukemia, be healed quickly and fully, and may he, and mother Amanda, and their family find be aided with physical, mental, and emotional strength while they deal with this new life altering situation.
May Peter Van Erp's friend Kate Bowden's husband Russ Hobson and his family be enveloped with love as he follows his path forward with the glioblastoma (brain cancer) which has afflicted him.
May Daedalus/ARS receive guidance and finish his kundalini awakening, and overcome the neurological and qi and blood circulation problems that have kept him largely immobilised for several years; may the path toward achieving his life's work be cleared of obstacles.
May baby Gigi, continue to gain weight and strength, and continue to heal from a possible medication overdose which her mother Elena received during pregnancy, and may Elena be blessed and healed from the continuing random tremors which ensued; may Gigi's big brother Francis continue to be in excellent health and be blessed.
May Jennifer, whose pregnancy has entered its third trimester, have a safe and healthy pregnancy, may the delivery go smoothly, and may her baby be born healthy and blessed.
May Scotlyn's friend Fiona, who has been in hospital since early October with what is a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, be blessed and healed, and encouraged in ways that help her to maintain a positive mental and spiritual outlook.
May Peter Evans in California, who has been diagnosed with colon cancer, be completely healed with ease, and make a rapid and total recovery.
May Jennifer and Josiah, their daughter Joanna, and their unborn daughter be protected from all harmful and malicious influences, and may any connection to malign entities or hostile thought forms or projections be broken and their influence banished.
May all living things who have suffered as a consequence of Hurricanes Helene and Milton be blessed, comforted, and healed.
May Giulia (Julia) in the Eastern suburbs of Cleveland Ohio be healed of recurring seizures and paralysis of her left side and other neurological problems associated with a cyst on the right side of her brain and with surgery to treat it.
May Corey Benton, whose throat tumor has grown around an artery and won't be treated surgically, be healed of throat cancer.
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: 2025-01-06 04:40 pm (UTC)Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-01-06 05:15 pm (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-01-07 11:09 am (UTC)Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-01-07 01:09 am (UTC)Normally don't ask for help but JMG stated should ask. I'm going in on spinal surgery on the 14 but have been having headache and just feeling bad. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Christian
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-01-07 11:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 06:42 am (UTC)Just have a question about daily lbrp and lirp. I will be going into surgery to have my cervical spine fixed. One of the stipulations is once it happens I cannot get out of a recliner for a minimum of two weeks while the spine is healing.
I do CGD and my altar is in the garage. Would it be feasible to close my eyes and do my rituals in my mind or should I take those two weeks off and catch up on reading?
Thank you
Christian
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 06:20 pm (UTC)Hermes/Thoth
Date: 2025-01-06 07:42 am (UTC)1. Has a deity ever approached you like this?
2. What’s with Hermes’ vast attributes of overseeing magic and alchemy and learning and writing etc etc (all noble and civilizing enterprises) but then he’s also the god of trickery? What do you make of the reputation for trickery?
3. Do you believe Thoth and Hermes are the same being? Is the planet mercury associated with Thoth and Hermes?
Thanks John!
Re: Hermes/Thoth
Date: 2025-01-06 06:51 pm (UTC)2) All these things are also contexts for trickery. Writing is the basis for fake credentials and deceptive propaganda; learning is as often as not learning how to cheat; fraudulent alchemists are more common than honest ones, and the ability to convince the mind in the absence of facts is a basic element of many kins of magic. Mercury is the god of ambivalence, of things that can be used for good and evil alike.
3) No. Thoth is a moon god; Hermes corresponds to the planet Mercury. Thoth doesn't have the reputation for trickery, either.
Re: Hermes/Thoth
Date: 2025-01-06 07:13 pm (UTC)(Not the OP),
Question for the OP:
Did you do anything to encourage Hermes to contact you? For example, do you have a daily practice of some kind that might have grabbed his attention?
I'm very interested in this topic. I hope you don't mine me asking.
Thanks in advance to you and JMG
Re: Hermes/Thoth
Date: 2025-01-07 05:34 am (UTC)Human Design
Date: 2025-01-06 08:50 am (UTC)Last week I asked you about your opinion on Human Design and you wanted me to refer you to a source: https://www.jovianarchive.com
(you could also check your own chart (same hp) and see that way how well it fits)
Thanks in advance!
Re: Human Design
Date: 2025-01-06 06:52 pm (UTC)Planetary charity for finding new place
Date: 2025-01-06 08:57 am (UTC)I am currently trying to find a new rental to live in, and I wanted to know what planet would be most appropriate to appease in order to make my search easier and fortunate. My assumption is that either Jupiter or the moon is the answer but I thought it would be best to check.
Re: Planetary charity for finding new place
Date: 2025-01-06 06:52 pm (UTC)Re: Planetary charity for finding new place
Date: 2025-01-06 08:08 pm (UTC)Would I be correct in assuming the best recipient for the charity is any organisation devoted to mothers or housing in some way?
Re: Planetary charity for finding new place
Date: 2025-01-06 08:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 09:17 am (UTC)To share, for those who wonder what APG, TSW or DA mean, a list of abbreviations used on Ecopsophia.
I offer my best wishes for the new year to our host and all fellow readers.
To ask, I kept track of the books you discuss. I wonder about the order, for example, your fifth published book Encyclopedia of Natural Magic is listed on Goodreads as published in 2005. Your sixth published work Monsters is listed as published in 2001. This is true for more books. What explains the difference between your numbering and the publication date?
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 08:50 pm (UTC)Sorry for nitpicking! I enjoy following along the capsule summaries and put them in a spreadsheet. Then of course the spreadsheet wants to look all correct and sorted. Thanks for writing the book summaries!
The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-06 09:22 am (UTC)This a bit of a follow up to my question about astrology last week. In this week alone I heard two people with an online presence and following make quite remarkable statements that at least to my understanding seems a bit deluded. Both of them do channeling of various ascended beings and one of them actually claims to read the Akashic Records like an open book. What is remarkable about this is that it seems like the mainstream media and the liberal/left side of the political spectrum must be channeling the same ascended beings and reading the same books in the Akashic library.
During the last five years I repeatedly found myself being disappointed with various spiritually inclined people, some whom I know and some that I dont. Whether its yogic practicioners, astrologers or spiritual channelers most of them seem to be almost completely subsumed by the popular narratives. Why is this? Why does their respective spiritual practices fail to inspire to wisdom, or at least critical thinking? That is at least what I used to think was part of the goal with these various traditions. I am not myself involved in any of the aforementioned practices, but in another magical/spiritual tradition native to where I am from, a tradition that focuses a lot on personal empowerment and responsibility.
I am not an occultist but I get the feeling that people within the broader occult traditions have generally faired better during the last few years and have not to the same degree been consumed by the mainstream madness. Is that your feeling also? If so, what do you think the reason for this is? And what would be the most important component of a spiritual system of practice that inspires to wisdom and an ability to not get swept away by the narratives?
/Fredrik
Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-06 07:25 pm (UTC)I do have a theory about why this is, though it'll doubtless offend some people. The forms of meditation practiced in most spiritual traditions in the modern West teach people to shut down the thinking mind. Whether they're chanting mantras, practicing mindfulness meditation, or what have you, they're all teaching themselves not to think, and it's not surprising that in fact, they've learned not to think.
Classic Western occultism, by contrast, teaches discursive meditation, which engages the thinking mind. In discursive meditation you don't silence your thoughts, nor do you observe them floating past while making no attempt to assess them -- you examine them, study them, take them apart to see how they work, and put them back together in various ways. That develops skills that enable the practitioner to see through the kind of cheap thoughtstoppers marketed by the corporate media. There may be other tools that make this happen, but discursive meditation is the one I know.
Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-06 08:21 pm (UTC)Discursive meditation sounds interesting, how do you systematize it? What would be a good wtitten source for this? One of your books?
/Fredrik
Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-06 08:38 pm (UTC)2) I've covered it in nearly all of my books of magical instruction. The most detailed discussion so far is in The Druidry Handbook; I'm planning on an entire book on the subject fairly soon.
Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-06 10:46 pm (UTC)Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-07 02:08 am (UTC)Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-07 04:38 am (UTC)The mindfulness meditation that's popular in the West is a watered-down, stripped-down, pasteurized version of Buddhism, meant to lull people into complacency with the fuzzy relaxing stuff, all nuanced philosophy & critical thinking excised, since that might lead them to reject their servitude.
Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-07 04:46 am (UTC)Re: The failure of spirituality
Date: 2025-01-06 09:34 pm (UTC)Planetary alignments
Date: 2025-01-06 10:51 am (UTC)This month six planets will be in alignment, notably, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.
Does this has any astrological bearing?
Regards
Thanks!
Re: Planetary alignments
Date: 2025-01-06 07:25 pm (UTC)Re: Planetary alignments
Date: 2025-01-06 10:54 pm (UTC)Re: Planetary alignments
Date: 2025-01-07 02:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 11:04 am (UTC)On New Year's Eve, I started to do my usual Tarot spread for the new year. I decided to try a new Marseilles deck rather than the standard Rider Waite deck I've been using for years. But I was confused when I realized some of that new deck's minor arcana cards don't appear to distinguish between up and reversed orientatione. Cerrtain cards looked the same when turned either way. Or at least I couldn't see a difference. So I simply went back to my regular deck for that reading.
Was I missing something? Or is this a deliberate design choice? And if so, which cards don't get a "polarity" in the Marseilles deck and why?
Thanks.
*Ochre Harebrained Curmudgeon*
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:54 pm (UTC)Manuel
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 09:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 10:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-07 02:57 am (UTC)But the lack of flash could be a strength, too-- the first divinations I ever did, in college, were with the I Ching. And the vagueness of that oracle absolutely invites deep reflection.
No doubt, I now have at least 78 new themes for meditation. Thanks to all for your help and comments.
*Ochre Harebrained Curmudgeon*
Amulet follow up
Date: 2025-01-06 11:50 am (UTC)About 5 weeks ago I asked a question about a nail becoming tarnished within a day of having it in the salt-filled red amulet. It freaked me out that it happened so quickly - JMG said tarnish was OK but not rust. Well within a few days it was definitely rusty and even starting to corrode. So I changed the nail (& salt), and changed it again when it rusted just as fast a week or so later...
On NYE I swapped them out again for the fourth nail in a month, aware that I would be spending time in the presence of the person I suspected of sending the bad energy. But I felt something shifted with that person that night... and over a week later the nail is still bright and shiny! So bizarre having the salt and nail out of the same packets on the same person under the same physical conditions but it reacting so differently...
I was skeptical at first but now fully convinced TSW!
Thanks again for the red amulet suggestion, JMG.
Re: Amulet follow up
Date: 2025-01-06 07:26 pm (UTC)SGO and the icosahedron
Date: 2025-01-06 12:14 pm (UTC)Currently, I am going through the SGO book, slowly. I have reached the icosahedron chapter and meditating upon that shape.
I must admit I have not found why the icosahedron should be in anyway linked with the water element.
All I did come up with is that water is life, so related to the life force. Thus if the icosahedron is linked with water so is it to the life force also.
That could mean the life force has geometric structure, it has form and shape, its not just a formless fluid.
So my questions are (1) does the above make sense to some of you and (2) has anyone come up with a reason why the icosahedron is linked with water?
Many thanks for any answers and regards
Re: SGO and the icosahedron
Date: 2025-01-06 07:33 pm (UTC)Re: SGO and the icosahedron
Date: 2025-01-06 08:12 pm (UTC)What about the polyhedra not made of triangles, such as the Cube and Dodecahedron?
J.L.Mc12
Re: SGO and the icosahedron
Date: 2025-01-06 08:43 pm (UTC)”Wulmnath” in 2025
Date: 2025-01-06 01:04 pm (UTC)I thought long about how to ask this, and have finally decided to form this question in a general way since there might be several people in the commentariat that might profit from a question like this.
2025 is shaping up to be an interesting year. In the Chinese proverb kind of way. And independent of our material situation burning out, stressing out or similar could be detrimental to oneself.
- have you gotten any new insight as to the “wulmnath”
- could you give some occult recommendations on how to strengthen oneself in 2025?
Dinjy Waggish Jackalope
Re: ”Wulmnath” in 2025
Date: 2025-01-06 07:36 pm (UTC)2) A daily protective ritual and regular discursive meditation are essential. Beyond that, get ample sleep and, if you can, regular massage.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 01:37 pm (UTC)Can you recommend any good occult book stores / gift shops in Rhode Island?
Thanks!
Jonathan
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:37 pm (UTC)Cauldron exercise in DA
Date: 2025-01-06 02:05 pm (UTC)Re: Cauldron exercise in DA
Date: 2025-01-06 07:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 02:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:39 pm (UTC)Radionics
Date: 2025-01-06 03:18 pm (UTC)Some questions:
You were into radionics for a long time, but it's not one of your core practices. What do you think of its strengths and weaknesses?
Have you found radionics remedies as useful as the other healing modalities you know?
What about radionics divinations?
I've been practising geomancy following your book since 2012, I've seen that actually that 13th century Arab geomantic device, which can arguably is also one of the oldest known radionics devices, from what I've read about the "stick reaction", it's pretty similar to how when you're making geomantic markings the traditional way, you stop, if I understand correctly.
Thanks
Re: Radionics
Date: 2025-01-06 07:48 pm (UTC)2) Yes, but no more so.
3) I never had much luck with those.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 03:43 pm (UTC)1. I've just been through a severely wounding break-up. The phrase "I dodged a bullet there" has been bringing me some solace, and I just repeated it to myself 100 times. Does this sound like a good affirmation?
2. Do you have any natural magic recommendations? I will take a hoodoo bath when I recover from my flu. I'm not sure if a cut-and-clear is quite needed yet, but something to move on and strengthen my sense of self-worth and value independent of her esteem (or lack of thereof) would be very useful.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 07:59 pm (UTC)2) Lavender's your friend -- it stabilizes the mind and dissolves romantic and erotic attachments. Clary sage oil is also good for this.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 09:28 pm (UTC)Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 04:10 pm (UTC)Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 04:28 pm (UTC)I would really welcome some healing energy right now.
Best regards,
V
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 04:36 pm (UTC)-Alex
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 04:54 pm (UTC)Indigo Insouciant Gorgon
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 05:42 pm (UTC)Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 05:47 pm (UTC)I would be grateful to get another round for whatever I need the most healing right now. Thanks again!
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 07:27 pm (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-06 08:08 pm (UTC)My husband Josiah and our daughter Joanna and I have all caught a nasty cold that seems to have settled into our lungs, so we would all very much appreciate some Healing Hands this week. Thank you again for your generosity in offering this!
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-07 12:22 am (UTC)Thank you very much! Jen
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-07 01:01 am (UTC)Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-07 03:46 am (UTC)Thank you,
Dave
Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings
Date: 2025-01-07 02:56 pm (UTC)Thanks for your good work Kylec. I would like a boost toward perfect health.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 04:28 pm (UTC)2. I believe you mentioned that Aleister Crowley’s soul may have emanated from Autophuês, which is striking to me as the name isn’t so dissimilar from “Aiwass.” Would you be willing to share According to Myther, "The total number of Aeons, being 32, reflects the similarity of the mechanism to the Tree of Life, which, as suggested in the Zohar, incorporates 10 Sephiroth and 22 paths interconnecting these 10 Sephiroth; while 10 Aeons are created during the first five generations from which come the other 22 Aeons later during the sixth generation." Would you be willing to share why you believe this, whether the above similarity is part of that or not, notwithstanding the obvious themes of pleasure and freedom in Crowley’s work?
3. Can you recommend any (other) reading on the connection between the Aeons of Valentinian Gnosticism and more recent Western Esotericism, especially as it relates to the Cabala?
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 04:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-06 08:03 pm (UTC)2) Purely because, of the Aeons in the Valentinian system, Autophuês seems closest to Crowley's basic orientation.
3) I've seen very little written on the subject, which is unfortunate. It seems worth serious study.