Magic Monday

[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.  Given the events scheduled tomorrow, I've pulled this one forward out of order; it's my 65th published book, the one that got me banned from science fiction conventions (despite 18 SF and fantasy novels currently in print) and dropped like a hot rock by most of the Neopagans I know. No, it's not a work of science fiction, nor does it have much to say about Neopaganism. It's a discussion of why the policies embraced by a bipartisan consensus of the elite classes in the US made the rise of Donald Trump or somebody like him inevitable. Yes, it also talks about magic -- the magical manipulations that were used for fifty years to silence any attempt to talk publicly about what the policies just mentioned did to the working classes in the United States, the magic wielded by a motley band of (mostly) young men living in their mothers' basements who marched off to the Meme Wars beneath the banner of a cartoon frog, and the magic attempted by the so-called Magic Resistance, whose attempts to cast death curses and other equally pleasant spells at the people they hate did a lot to bring about the events of last November and the days immediately before us.

That is to say, it's just a little controversial. ;-)  On the off chance you're interested anyway, you can order a copy here if you live in the US and at your favorite online shop or full service bookstore if you live elsewhere.

Buy Me A Coffee

Ko-Fi

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. 

 

I'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 further comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Comments

The Stranger Side of Ketamine

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I've noticed that the drug ketamine, a tranquilizer once derided as a "date rape drug" has been gaining popularity in therapeutic applications and I was wondering if you had thoughts on its energetic dimensions. When I tried ketamine, I was shocked by the effect: my subtle senses could not extend outside my body at all. On the energetic level, it was if I was encased in a lead shell that completely insulated me from my surroundings. The effect was disturbing on multiple levels - I could see and hear things going on around me but the lack of energetic sense to match was eerie. I also became nauseous. People talk about balance problems when using it, "your X and Y axes getting mixed up" so to say but the severe nausea I felt seemed like a more extreme manifestation. I found that I could do body-scanning energy circulation exercises to fight off the nausea - by circulating energy within, I was able to get back some sense of equilibrium. Energy circulated well enough inside me, just with no external connection at all. What I deduce from this is that my sense of balance is assisted by my etheric senses, perhaps more than other people's. I've always picked up on etheric things more than average and that may be the cause of the nausea when my etheric perception is cut off.

Now on to the therapeutic uses and their implications. Ketamine has been proclaimed a new miracle drug for depression. I didn't feel much euphoria when I was on it and what else I heard about it made me wonder at the anti-depressant effect, since I didn't see how its effects would contribute to that. Understanding its energetic dimension it becomes clearer -- could it be that the people experiencing these anti-depressant effects are being insulated from the dismal astral condition of most populated areas? It's also being applied to treat PTSD, and something I've heard from PTSD sufferers is that the condition is heavily tied in with a person's situational awareness. They are constantly replaying in their head a situation where they or someone else fell victim to something terrible and playing out in their head what they could have done differently. That must have etheric and astral resonance as well, so perhaps a person is blocking themself from going into that perpetual replay loop by being energetically sealed off.

Do these cause/effect relationships make any sense to you? If so it seems like an ominous sign -- I wouldn't seek to solve any problem by blinding myself to it. Can you anticipate any side effects of people insulating themselves this way? It seems like it could make them more vulnerable to unpleasant astral critters and other phenomena.

Re: The Stranger Side of Ketamine

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, is ketamine back in fashion? It was a fave of the hip crowd back in the 1990s. I don't know much about its effects -- drug culture has never been a major interest of mine -- but a glance at online info suggests that you may be right. If drugging somebody into numbness is the only way to deal with their depression, that suggests that a far more effective remedy would be to get out of the situation that's causing the depression. Of course that won't be the approved therapy; psychiatrists have by and large fully embraced the disease management model, which consists of keeping patients sick and profiting from their illnesses rather than, you know, doing something to help them get better.

Zen

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG-
How would a Zen Sphere of Protection look like?
-Thanks!

Re: Zen

[ecosophia]

The proper answer would probably be to hit you over the head with a stick!

Less properly, that wouldn't be easy. Zen belongs to the jiriki or "self power" rather than the tariki or "other power" side of Buddhism; that is, the practitioner is expected to reach enlightenment under his own steam rather than calling in help from already enlightened beings. The SoP pretty much requires invoking something or someone in each of the six directions and asking them for assistance. You could go through the sutras traditionally studied by Zen monks -- the Diamond Sutra, the Lankavatara sutra, and so on -- and choose some bodhisattvas from those, but the result wouldn't really be Zen.

What I'd suggest instead is to take your meditation position, do whatever preliminaries you do, and then turn your attention to sunyata, the concept of emptiness, which plays so large a role in Buddhism. Feel yourself to be empty of any inherent existence, and then extend the sense of emptiness outward, dissolving all apparent phenomena into void, so that all that remains of the universe is pure void, and no hostile energies or entities exist because nothing exists. Then meditate on the identity of the void with the Buddha nature. Do this before your zazen practice daily; it'll have some of the same benefits.

[anonymoose_canadian]

I have no question this week, but would just like to provide a followup for two things discussed a while back. I'm the person who had the truly strange increase in psychic abilities following one of the fake meat products back in 2020. The effect seems to have been permanent. A more meat heavy diet than I used to eat seems to help keep things under control; as do the more intensive spiritual practices I've been engaged with since, but my psychic abilities remain many times stronger than they were before. I'm still unaware of anyone else who has had this sort of reaction, so I'm left with the conclusion that this kind of effect is quite rare (I have Uranus and Neptune conjunct near my ascendant, so me having weird spiritual experiences like this are not surprising); but it is a very interesting phenomena.

The second observation is that placing one of the protective red bags in one's underwear is in fact an effective way to combat a porn addiction, or at least, it worked quite well for me recently. I placed it there, and then promptly lost nearly all interest in pornography; but also in all mass media; I'm unsure whether there is a connection or not, but it is a very interesting data point.

[ecosophia]

Thanks for both these data points! I haven't heard from anyone else who had the same experience you did with fake meat, but I notice that the grocery stores that carried those products here in East Providence, which brought them out with much fanfare, have shoved them into a corner and carry very little of them these days. One way or another they don't seem to please people. As for your red bag experience, no surprises there -- a very large percentage of media content uses direct or indirect sexual lures to keep people watching. I'll keep this in mind and suggest it when it may be useful.

The King in Orange

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, it's Nemo. I am sorry you got banned from conventions. I am sorrier you lost friends and/or acquaintances. All for telling the truth! Your four-part Kek series is among my re-reads.

Re: The King in Orange

[ecosophia]

Thank you. I'm not especially bent out of shape about it, though it amuses me that I also don't get invited to the recently founded right-wing science fiction conventions either. (I'm pretty sure that's because my novels include positive portrayals of gay, lesbian, and mixed-race characters.) In a time of mindless polarization, the center really is the loneliest place. As for getting dropped by Neopagans, it's always useful to know who your real friends are, and that was certainly one way to find out!

Ecosophia Prayer List

[tunesmyth]

At this link is the full list of all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared at ecosophia.net and ecosophia.dreamwidth.org, as well as in the comments of the prayer list posts. Please feel free to add any or all of the requests to your own prayers.

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 Sub's Wife's upcoming major surgery on Wednesday 1/15 go smoothly and successfully, and may she recover with ease back to full health.

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. (good news update!)

May Mindwind's dad Clem, who in the midst of a struggle back to normal after a head injury has been told he shows signs of congestive heart failure, be blessed, healed, and encouraged.

May Corey Benton, who is currently in hospital and whose throat tumor has grown around an artery and won't be treated surgically, be healed of throat cancer. He is not doing well, and consents to any kind of distance healing offered. [Note: Healing Hands should be fine, but if offering energy work which could potentially conflict with another, please first leave a note in comments or write to randomactsofkarmasc to double check that it's safe] (1/7)

May Christian's cervical spine surgery on 1/14 be successful, and may he heal completely and with speed; and may the bad feelings and headaches plaguing him be lifted.

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 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 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.

* * *
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

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this as always.

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG,

I wish a happy MM to you and anyone else reading this.

I have two questions.

1) Do you have any recommendations for someone interested in approaching theurgic work from a pagan/polytheistic angle? I'm aware that you've already provided a polytheistic template for the MP ritual, though I understand that this would energetically conflict with a long-term SoP practice.

2) Could you please expand on the notion of elementals not having a Divine Spark (or a soul in general)? Having approached this as a theme for meditation, and admittedly, as someone coming from a cabalistic background, I really struggle to grasp the idea of an entity, or anything really, existing without being 'rooted' in the more spiritual levels of reality. That is to say, how can an entity exist in one of the more tangible realms without also existing in the Supernal Realms, especially when the reverse seems more plausible?

Now I understand that these are all metaphors to train the mind and not to inform it and that I should be flexible when it comes to 'code-switching' between occult paradigms. That said, having learned about elementals as autonomous soul-less entities within the context of a 7 Plane paradigm (as presented in the OPW) makes me wonder to what extent is each plane truly self-contained and self-sufficient. I also wonder if 'existence', in the 7 Plane model, is an intrinsic quality that each plane possesses on its own terms as opposed to being a quality derived from a spiritual plane or other Kether-equivalent. My preliminary meditations seem to indicate that this is the case, though to me this opens a new can of worms that will need further meditation (and perhaps another question will be forthcoming next week). You've said before that the planes are discrete and not continuous, but the seeming isolation between the planes that seemingly allows for the existence of entities such as elementals makes me feel oddly distressed. Care to throw me a bone?

Apologies if the second question appears nonsensical or if the phrasing is incomprehensible. If it is, then please disregard it.

Thanks again for hosting MM and offering your time as you do.

[ecosophia]

1) Start with the Pagans who invented theurgy -- Iamblichus and Proclus. Gregory Shaw's books Theurgy and the Soul and Hellenic Tantra are good introductions.

2) Sure. Elementals have no individual connection to the divine plane. They share in a collective connection. They are capable of achieving an individual connection and becoming entities capable of evolution, but they don't start out that way -- they start out as simply self-perpetuating structures created by the Lords of Flame, which have gradually evolved varying degrees of consciousness. It's part of our work as human beings to help them become individualized; we do that partly by giving them a template they can copy, but there are also esoteric traditions (notably the Rosicrucian and Druid traditions) that work with the elemental creation directly to help them on their way.

The Orange Monk

[(Anonymous)]

I can see Trump ascending to an even loftier status with his movement, and a growth in its diversity. I can see a new way for you to lose readers and annoy neo-pagans, write something on the meditating Trump buddha statues that are popular in Asia.

I'm convinced that plus a certain attempt on his life has mellowed him out just a touch. Hopefully more soon. The more that Trump the Man can adopt Trump the Symbol the better I think, not liking Trump the man very much myself.

Re: The Orange Monk

[ecosophia]

That could be fun. I've already mentioned these statues more than once over the last ten years or so:

But of course there's more that can be said about them, and of course the meme warriors are already doing their level best to say it:

Meaning

[realmscryer]

Hi JMG,

My various experiments over this last year while continuing my core practice have led to a very interesting place.

Returning to the DA form of the SOP, for example. Feels richer somehow. This is happening with the books, too. Reading the DA books is a richer or deeper experience. Same with rereading The Kybalion.

I am also in yet another sequence of meditations on the tarot trumps. This time the Journey of the Fool from John’s book The Tree of Spirit. As I finish a session I drop all the thoughts, symbols, and such associated with the card and sense into a Union with the card. Beyond the card and also swapping perspectives with the card.

So much to explore. I am pretty sure John’s books could be a many year set of courses.

There is also a mystic-ish approach to the DA I am experimenting with now. Kind of a cross between some of the concepts Robert Mathiesen wrote about in one of his recent books and the DA.

Now to the subject line, Meaning.

This last week something new showed up. I am quite sure due in part to exploring duality/non-duality/Union while continuing the daily practices.

Essentially, I realized or became aware of meaning as pertains to myself. Or about myself. Not the meaning of my life. Just “Me” or “I” as a bit of meaning? I guess a sparkle in Indra’s Net or something. I can’t say what meaning. There is no purpose or magnitude attached to this meaning. Just, meaning. Full stop.

Maybe even “as within, so without …..” or something.

Not sure if there is much to ask regarding the above. It just is.

I am definitely getting more curious about John Gilbert’s work with alchemy as well as the cabala.

Thanks,
Eric

Re: Meaning

[ecosophia]

I'm glad that isn't a question, because all I can do is smile and nod and say, "Keep at it." One of the things that appeals most to me about Western esoteric spirituality is that there isn't one fixed truth that everybody realizes -- instead, every one of us experiences a different facet of a truth that transcends human consciousness.

Glastonbury gathering topics

[(Anonymous)]

Hello John Michael and The Glastonbury Gathering,

Would people be interested in these Glastonbury topics?

A. Geomancy, specifically, to bring three geomantic charts including what question was asked, the prediction made, and the outcome. Not a bragging thing (one of my three would be a failure example), more so a way of sharing how our predictions can improve.

B. Dream Mapping, specifically, drawing simple maps of places where we have repeatedly traveled to in our REM dreams. My time in scrying has caused me to theorise that the collective Unconscious has dream places that are shared, and I want to compare some places that I know well with the places that others know well.

Please comment on this post if you plan to be in Glastonbury this June and are interested in these topics. Thank you.

Live from Pelican Place,
Christine Clifford

Re: Glastonbury gathering topics

[vitranc]

Glastonbury is one of my highlights this year and I am really looking forward to it. That said, I have no experience with such gatherings and will just happily hang out. So do your thing and I really look forward to meeting you! :-)

That being said, if I may piggyback off of this. Is there any more information as to the gathering?

Inquiring druids would like to know. :-)

Handling investments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John. I feel incredibly blessed to share that my grandfather left me a sum of money upon his passing. It is such a gift and is buffer enough to allow me to go down to part time work from home so I can be a mostly stay at home mom to my 1 year old son. My question is 2 parts: given your view of our societal (and economic?) instability, what’s the best way to safeguard this estate gift if it’s all in stocks? I have the option to liquidate as I need as an FYI. I ask bc having money in stocks during a slow collapse feels strange and maybe unwise. Also, are there magical considerations around finance and investments that I should stay mindful of if I’d like the money to last as long as possible? Just curious what you think.

One other question, I’m a mom to a young toddler and feel very low on energy lately. We don’t get great sleep, and I don’t have much time for working out or meditation lately. Any magical/yogic tips to increase my energy and vitality levels?

Thanks for your work.

Re: Handling investments

[ecosophia]

1) Not only am I not a stockbroker, I have zero personal experience with investments, and most of my secondhand experience with investments has consisted of watching people lose their shirts and land in bankruptcy courts because they bought into a bubble and lost everything when it popped. Given that stocks are near all-time highs, if I got a legacy like that one I'd cash it out immediately and put the sum into money market accounts in two different banks, but that's not investment advice -- it's just what I'd do.

2) Nothing you can do will make up for lack of sleep. The best magic you can do is to arrange for your toddler to spend a night at a sleepover with a family member or friend you can trust, and let yourself sleep like a log. Also, make sure you're getting adequate nutrition, and consider scheduling a massage every week or two. Sometimes material plane methods really are what's needed!

Modern Order of Essenes; blessing offer

[milkyway1]

Good morning,

I hope you and everybody else had a good weekend. :-)

I've published a post called "What is the Modern Order of Essenes", which goes a bit deeper into the elements of the MOE and the effects it has. If anybody should be interested, here is the link:

https://thehiddenthings.com/what-is-the-modern-order-of-essenes

The comments to this post will stay open. If any of your readers are interested in the Modern Order of Essenes, or have any questions which would crush the time limits of Magic Monday, I'm more than happy to answer them over on my site, now or later.


Also, I'm going to perform a formal blessing this Wednesday as usual and would be grateful for signups:

https://thehiddenthings.com/categories/weekly-blessings


JMG, thanks a lot for hosting MM again, and my blessings to you, too, if you'll have them.

Milkyway

Re: Modern Order of Essenes; blessing offer

[open_space]

I would be grateful to be part of your blessing, thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1) I ran across this quote from Jung recently about the archetype of the Self, he wrote that the Self is "the principle and archetype of orientation and meaning." This reminded me of what you've written about meaning and the mental sheath. Is the work of integrating the Self and the work of building the mental sheath the same thing, or otherwise related?

2) Do you have any advice (or resources) for using the Tarot as a tool for memory training? I have no experience yet with memory palaces or memory systems but I'd like to try to learn such a system.

Many thanks in advance!

[ecosophia]

1) My take is that the archetypes are active, for us, on the mental plane -- they reach all the way up the planes, of course, but the mental plane is where we contact them -- and the Self is the point of integration of the archetypes. That being the case, yes, individuation and the building of the mental sheath are the same thing.

2) Yes. Choose a deck you won't be using for other purposes, one with good memorable images. Memorize the sequence of trumps, working at it until you can call them to mind clearly in order. That gives you what Giordano Bruno called "subjects" -- the permanent images you keep in memory.

Now start using it with grocery lists and the like. Assign one item (one "adject," in Bruno's terms) to each trump: say, a carton of milk to the Fool, two pounds of codfish to the Magician, and so on through your list. Reimagine the images with the items included -- the Fool is drinking from the carton as he walks, the Magician holds a codfish in his upraised hand and there's another on the table, and so on. (Make it silly -- the images will stick better in the memory.) When you go to the store, leave the list in your pocket, call the trumps to mind, and see how many items you remember. (Check the list before you head for the checkout line.) Find other ways to use the cards as memory subjects, remembering always to turn things into vivid mental images that can be made part of the card images in your mind.

Esoteric causes of disease, books and recommendation.

[the_arcane_archivist]

To our generous host. Please allow me a bit of context. I plan to make a series of comments on the Open Post on disease especially on cancer.

If we take the 5 sheets of the human soul. I think disease arrises in the four sheets and the blocking of bliss from the fifth sheet to come and nurture the other 4 sheets.

I think there is a serious issue on the first 3 sheets with all that AI tinkering.

1)Body sheet, molecular tinkering, and it was in the past but is accelerated with the advent of AI helping protein folding and generative AI used in protein and other substances generation.
(yes they use generative AI for substance generation too:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959440X24000216)

2) Etheric sheet, EMF pollution, artificial lights, genetic engineering accelerated by AI.
3) Mental sheet, Cultural degradation Social engineering, LLM pollution, Cybernetic manipulation socio-economic engineering.
4) Karmic sheet, Cultural degradation, Social engineering, here is related to the egregore and the decline of the Empire and parasitic energies praying on the carcass, similar to what happened to Soviet Union, where mafias, alcoholism, and a lot of social and body diseases crept in.
5) Unwellness in these sheets prevents bliss from the fifth sheet to come and heal.

ecosophia, any biography recommendations or othe recommendation for this endeavour please?

I will include this Magic Monday in the Open Post Archives.


(LE: Also will it be any interest if I write a book about this subject at the same time might take anywhere between 6 months and 2 years, I am thinking that I will be using also the openthread as a source for it, I am also self-taught in English so if someone want to be a coauthor would be even greater.

since I am not native in English and not that well versed in English, would it present interest? Would someone help me edit it and review it?

As a Romanian I experienced the Soviet Block Collapse with their ailments and cures and now this Block Collapse

I also self-published a Tarot centered around Ioan Petru Culianu, if someone think this might present interest in making an English Version with more subtext and be a coauthor to an English version and help me publish it I am open, but probably the subject doesn't present that much interest in US, anyway in case you want to check it:

https://archive.org/details/magicianul-eduard-florinescu/page/n107/mode/1up

caption text for cards here:

https://dn720006.ca.archive.org/0/items/the-magician-tarot/THE%20MAGICIAN%20-%20TAROT.txt)

Re: Esoteric causes of disease, books and recommendation.

[ecosophia]

That's certainly a plausible theory, and it's very close to the one that John Gilbert included in his writings for the Modern Order of Essenes. This is from the Apprentice papers:

"Underlying every physical ailment known to humanity is an emotional issue. Resolve the emotional issue and you heal the physical ailment. Typical emotional issues include anger, anxiety, grief or sorrow, resentments, blame, shame or guilt.

"Underlying every emotional issue known to humanity is a mental block. Resolve this mental block and you heal the emotional issue. This mental block is usually associated with denial and not accepting life, self and others, not forgiving self and others, and not being lovingly kind to self and others.

"Underlying every mental block known to humanity is an intuitive (psychological) error. Resolve this intuitive error and you heal the mental block. Most intuitive errors have to do with ignoring our intuitive insights or doing the opposite.

"Underlying every intuitive error known to humanity is a spiritual disconnection. Resolve this spiritual disconnection and you heal the intuitive error. Spiritual disconnections happen when we separate ourselves from the Divine. All spiritual disconnections are real. Everything else is a symptom. Physical ailments, emotional issues, mental blocks and intuitive or psychological errors are all symptoms. These symptoms tell us we are distancing ourselves from the Divine. We are separating ourselves from the Divine. The teachings of the Modern Essenes are designed to help us reconnect with the Divine.

"All healing is spiritual healing. When we distance ourselves from the Divine, we cut ourselves off from the spiritual energy we need to survive as vibrantly healthy, mentally alert, emotionally stable, psychologically sound, intuitive human beings. This lack of spiritual energy is the cause of all our psychological (intuitive), mental, emotional and physical ills. Once we restore our connection to the Divine and start replenishing our spiritual energy, we heal. We heal on every level of our being. This healing is called spiritual healing. The end product of all spiritual healing is spiritual health. Abundant spiritual health is our goal."

https://octagonsociety.org/archives/modern-order-of-essenes/

Psychedelic Entities

[mr_nobody1967]

So there has been a lot of chatter on the Internets about You-Tuber Rudyard Lynch, also known as the "Whatifalthistory" guy, posting ten hours of an autobiographical account on YouTube in which he slurped down huge mugs of a drug known as kratom while recording and related a lurid narrative of his life that included alleged parental sexual abuse and mind-warping mental abuse. The highlight of the whole thing was an account of an intense and brutal trip he took with a heavy-duty psychedelic plant known as Ayahuasca in which he communed with an array of spirit-beings including the Abrahamic God Almighty, the Devil, and the Norse deity Odin. Odin in particular apparently charged him with a grandiose mission in life that when one hears Lynch relate it, sounds like schizophrenic delusions.

Naturally, this generated a lot of backlash and concern in which Lynch's sanity was roundly questioned. Lynch took down the videos and the rambling "X" posts associated with them, the fruit-bat crackers craziness of which really has to be respectively viewed and read in order to be fully appreciated. In subsequent "X" posts, Lynch claimed to be "only joking" and trolling the online left, but having seen the choicest excerpts of these videos, I find that difficult to believe.

So one thing I came away with regards to tripping on intense psychedelics, is that it really seems to me that if one really is talking to spirit-beings in these supposed metaphysical adventures, that they may very well be demons at worst, as many conservative Christians are maintaining about Lynch's encounters, or at least the very sort of deceptive trickster entities about which Emmanuel Swedenborg cautioned his readers. Would you say that this is a fair characterization of what one is likely to encounter when one ingests intensely psychedelic substances?

Re: Psychedelic Entities

[open_space]

That's one of the reasons why a proper ayahuasca ceremony --which is true also for hikuri of the wixrarita, and all the sacred plants of power I know-- needs a cleansing and blessing of the participants, a central consecrated fire that under absolutely no circumstance can be extinguished and constant prayer and chanting by the shaman or an assistant. Otherwise you can't raise your consciousness to the proper level and once you have bursted the doors open, anything could come in. Which is why I constantly tell tourists that under no circumstance you should go with a "facilitator", given that they are mostly clueless of this fact and then she you get the people that snap or runaway into the jungle or mountains to never be found again.

Afterlife

[(Anonymous)]

I’m pretty new to your page here, highly recommended by a friend,l and have enjoyed what I have picked up from your words. I’ve read the faqs and can’t see this featured so…
How would you describe the journey we have after death?
Do you align with the idea that when we die we are asked to reconcile our lives, given the opportunity and yet help is needed from those still in body, psychopomp/ancestral healers to call in helping spirits to support us in this?
And that if this is not done the soul is in a difficult place and then will reincarnate(fast as I hear you describing atm) and still be in a muddle from the last incarnation?
A friend who is a Buddhist and well read of The Tibetan Book of Death and Dying states that being in spirit is difficult and uncomfortable.

Re: Afterlife

[ecosophia]

Yes, that's more or less correct as I understand it. Death is a complex process; first the soul sheds its material body, leaving it to shut down and decay; then, within a few days, the soul sheds its etheric body (the body of prana or life force), leaving it to disintegrate. Once it's past this latter step, which is called the Second Death by occultists, it's on the astral plane, the plane we normally experience in our dreams, and there under normal circumstances it processes its memories of the life just finished and absorbs their lessons.

That process doesn't require help frm the living, strictly speaking -- there are angels and helping spirits on that plane already -- but help from the living is valuable. Praying for the dead is of great benefit to them, and so are traditional rituals. If that isn't done, there's more of a chance that the soul may refuse to process its memories and flee from them, and in that case, yes, it tends to reincarnate very quickly in a complete muddle. That's what happened to me the last time around, and it helped make the first half of this life a steaming mess.

As for being in spirit, it depends entirely on how you spent your last life. The process of dealing with your memories includes experiencing them objectively, without the filters of self-interest and self-justification; you get to see exactly what you did and how it affected other people, and you experience the emotional and cognitive states your actions brought about. If you hurt a lot of people -- well, that's where the idea of hell came from. If you helped a lot of people, that's the source of beliefs in heaven.

Quiet and sanity

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
I'm the occasional commenter named Bird. Two questions today, if it's ok.

The Unseen is "quiet" lately. It's never completely silent of course but quieter than usual. I wonder if those that were shouting so loudly are temporarily tired out, so to speak. What do you think?

Am I partly insane? There are many people I know personally and those I read online who seem to think that a new Era of Peace and Harmony is descending upon us all. The issues of yesterday are still here today. Maybe I'm excessively negative but how can one man or group of people change all this quickly, or at all? What do you think?

Re: Quiet and sanity

[ecosophia]

1) It feels to me as though everyone's holding their breath, waiting to see what happens!

2) No, you're realistic. I cast a mundane astrology chart for Trump's second term...

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/311834.html

...and no, we're not going to get a new era of peace and harmony, or a golden age. It's quite possible that some serious abuses will be corrected, but it's going to be a real slog getting there.

Occult dimensions to Cali fires

[miow]

I'm back after a longish absence, so my apologies if this has been asked before, or if it is an inappropriate question. Do you think there may be any occult significance / dimension to the horrific fires and the dire firefighting in California? Or is it just 'one of them things', a combination of natural causes and inept officialdom& politicians?

Re: Occult dimensions to Cali fires

[ecosophia]

As far as I know, it's simply epic incompetence and corruption on the part of California's one-party government, combined with the increasing desertification of the California coast driven by a changing climate.

Akupressure / -puncture and Christians / source of Ch‘i

[emily07]

This is not strictly a magic questions, it deals with the source of Ch‘i and the view of christians regarding Ch‘i an Akupressur/ -puncture. Hopefully it is permissable because I‘d like to have more Input from more erudite sources on these subjects, which I hope to find here.

As some probably know in my other live I‘m an occupational therapist. One of my tools I use is acupressure (4days Training so far, so that’s very minimal) and currently a client of mine is interested but being a „Freechurch“-Christian thinks that the source of power for acupressure (the Ch‘i) from reading on the internet is not derived from God and thus nothing for him.
I Never thought about that, for me Ch‘i always was something,something Kind of not well understood electricity.
What would be the view of JMG and the Christian commentariat on this?

Re: Akupressure / -puncture and Christians / source of Ch‘i

[open_space]

You could tell your consultant, with your criteria, that chi is the same as water and the wind, not a separate source from whatever sprouts Life at every moment. Just as he keeps having electrical pulses that keep his heart beating and lungs pumping, there is a subtler aspect of that electricity that can be handled by pressure in the same way that a subtler aspect of muscles can be handled by massage to clear blockages, tensions and stimulate bloodflow. That chi, is the same breath that God breathed into man, so the source is no other than God himself, understood to a great detail by a different culture from a different time just as ours understands modern medicine, surgery, etc. Its just a different word for "the breath of life".

Genesis 2:7 NIV 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The Goat Foot God

[scottyc]

I'm working my way through Dione Fortune's The Goat-Foot God and enjoying the read and insights.

On one level I believe Fortune is discussing duality in one's nature and how balance is essential.


I found her (or her character's) explanations concerning the god Pan interesting, especially Pan as the telluric current:

"Pan is God manifest in nature". "He's elemental force-that's all he is. He comes up from the earth under your feet, just as spiritual force, the sun-force, comes down from the sky..".

And this is something I have to think over and get my head around, especially in terms of Pan being the telluric current:

"But he knew that the gods are only to be invoked by sacrifice, and in the case of Pan, self-sacrifice would not serve".

Pan is the Green Man found in Britain.

Re: The Goat Foot God

[ecosophia]

It's a fine book and very deeply rooted in magic, as you'd expect! The point about sacrifice is true, but that doesn't mean it has to be a blood sacrifice. The gods of nature require material offerings: incense, pure water, and wheaten cakes were standard practice among the old Neoplatonists. (Compare that to traditional Shinto offerings, especially those made to the kunitsu no kami, the kami of earth, and you'll notice some very interesting similarities.)

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG and others,

I am wondering about a certain difference that I perceive between on the one hand Christian and Islamic (I live in Europe, they are most visible here) institutions and more spiritual or occult movements and people on the other hand. I don't necessarily have a prejudice against one or another.
The thing is that in my perception the churches and mosques here actually put a lot of effort in helping the disadvantaged like homeless, refugees etc. A lot of volunteers work towards that. It's clear that there is also a lot that isn't as ethical in those groups, but I do believe they are rather honest in that aspect (at least the volunteers are definitely)
On the other hand the spiritual and occult side seems to me much more self centered (as in focus on individual growth and almost no helping the disadvantaged) and also more money oriented (like I said, churches are definitely not perfect in this, but they do seem to really help people without asking something in return here, not even going to a service). I do know multiple people within a wide spectrum of spiritual and religious practice and I see this aspect first hand a lot.
Interestingly enough I also know a lot of lets say socialist atheïst people and they usually really don't like spiritual and or occult practices for this reason.

Is this something you believe to be true or know the reasons for the way this is perceived this way?

[brenainn]

Speaking for myself, I like this balance. I can, through my church, make some meaningful contributions to the disadvantaged in my community. In my occult practice, I can focus on my own needs. Nothing wrong with that, and I think those "socialist atheist people" dislike that because they tend to be extreme collectivists. They're essentially the secular equivalent of a dogmatic, fundamentalist monotheist.

Time Travel Magic?

[brenainn]

Okay, time travel in the literal sense probably is not what I'm getting at with this question, but is there any form of magic or ritual that is intended to place one's mind or spirit in a prior time period so that one can work on various issues stemming from that time? I've seen a few such books pop up in my suggested purchases on sites like Amazon, and I'm wondering if it there's anything to such ideas.

Re: Time Travel Magic?

[ecosophia]

You can certainly shift your consciousness back through time to an earlier point in your own life, and work on yourself in that context. That may not change what happened back then but it can have a very large influence on how what happened back then affects you today!

[thinking_turtle]

To share, for those who wonder what HOGD, TSW or R+C mean, a list of abbreviations used on Ecosophia. And for those who wonder what books came before I separated out the list of books.

It's a good day to discuss "The King in Orange". It greatly improved my understanding of politics. Thanks for writing it!

[ecosophia]

You're welcome and thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John,

Q1. I was raised as a Catholic but not in any very strict sense. I am Irish and I am interested in exploring Irish Druidry/spirituality. 

I feel really drawn to Irish mythology and Irish culture in general over the last few years. I spent many years looking at different forms of esotericism, but none of it ever felt right for me. I was mainly looking at esoteric Christian traditions and other Western stuff. I now feel that what I was looking for was right at home all along.

Would there be any karmic problems due to exploring spirituality that is different from esoteric forms of Christianity? (My current approach). My Catholic guilt is really flaring up.

Q2. Do you know of any good books that present optimistic viewpoints on experimenting with different spiritualities?

Thanks in advance.

[ecosophia]

1) No. Human institutions like to guilt-trip people, and the Catholic church more than most. The gods -- and I include Christ in this -- are much less judgmental. Were you aware that for many centuries, quite a few Irish people combined Catholicism with reverence for the Tuatha Dé Danaan? So it's not even a new thing.

2) Not off hand. Anyone else?

Modern Order of Essenes Healing Hands

[kylec]

I am offering healing hands again this week to all comers who need a physical or emotional boost in their well-being. Those who signed up last week have been fulfilled, and can sign up for another round if they please. Thank yall for the opportunity to practice my healing modality.

Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healing Hands

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the work last week! I Would like to sign up again with the need for some central nervous system/immune system help.

Matt

Relaxing muscles before meditation

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, JMG! I have a limited awareness of which muscles I am keeping unneccessarily tense when sitting down to meditate and which I am relaxing,and I feel that when I try to relax from the head down I am probably doing it wrong.

Re: Relaxing muscles before meditation

[ecosophia]

Nope. Everyone I've ever taught feels that way when they start. Just do your best, and don't tense up by worry about trying not to tense up!