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[personal profile] ecosophia
Dolmen Arch 2Midnight 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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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 either of the links above to access my online tip jar; Buymeacoffee is good for small tips, Ko-Fi is better for larger ones. (I used to use PayPal but they developed an allergy to free speech, so I've developed an allergy to them.) If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here. 
 
Bookshop logoI've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.

And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com.

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed, and no more comments will be put through. See you all next week!***
From: [personal profile] brenainn
1. What is the purpose of agalmata?

2. Can agalmata be made using non-Druid deities?
From: [personal profile] brenainn
That's very interesting. Most of my deity statues are solid, and not easily hollowed out. Can one make an agalma by fixing the statue to a hollow base that is filled with appropriate resonating materials? Is there a specific ritual or set of rituals one must use when creating an agalma?
From: (Anonymous)
This seems to be synchronous with the Egyptian/French side of the temple tech - the substance, particularly the shape and design is not an astral symbol of something - it's a direct representation of a higher plane, and resonates with it.

If the neoplatonists had a sense of that approach to magic then this is a profound revelation to me.
From: [personal profile] brenainn
1) Does our limited evidence indicate whether an agalma must be a particular type of divine image (statue, icon, etc.)? I am thinking that I might attach images of the deity to the hollowed base, essentially creating a whole new image that holds up the deity's statue.

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.
open_space: (Default)
From: [personal profile] open_space

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?

open_space: (Default)
From: [personal profile] open_space

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?

open_space: (Default)
From: [personal profile] open_space

Thank you, I will keep it in mind when I can have an established altar space.

hwistle: (Default)
From: [personal profile] hwistle
I knew I've read about this before! Patrick Dunn gives some modern rituals for creating images with synthemata and then animating them in his The Practical Art of Divine Magic, based on the same neoplatonic and hermetic texts you mentioned. For more info see Exercise 3.1 Creating an Image (pp 101-103) and exercise 4.4 Ritual for the Animation of a Statue (pp 166-172) in the aforementioned text.

Manuel
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