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.

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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. 

 

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

Re: Zen

[(Anonymous)]

Does a student of the Druid Magic Handbook address both sources? Or just power from nature?

Re: Afterlife

[ecosophia]

These purgatories and heavens are where we process our memories. You gravitate to whatever level of the astral plane corresponds to your state of consciousness, which of course is closely connected with the nature of the life you just lived. So the hateful and angry soul ends up on the lower astral, in a hellish condition where its hate and anger are mirrored back to it, while the loving and generous soul ends up high up in the astral, where its love and generosity are mirrored back to it.

Re: The Orange Monk

[(Anonymous)]

That's 12:05 pm EST. 5 minutes past noon.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I was thinking about a wedding ring for my wife that is not gold and diamonds but silver with emerald and sapphire. Are there any magic issues with this combination?

Thanks!

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

Social perception and the aura

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you replied to a comment: "Dreams are always a mix of personal and transpersonal material, because the aura (the outer layer of the astral body) is like a screen on which two movie projectors are projecting at once -- one that's from your subconscious, and one that's from the big wide world out there."

Does your description of the aura above also apply to how other people perceive us? As a mix of what is projected on the aura from inside and outside? And then - does it also apply to how we perceive ourselves?

Re: Zen

[ecosophia]

That's a magical system, thus primarily other-power, but it does involve some development of inner power.

Re: The Orange Monk

[ecosophia]

I was watching the news feed come in -- he began the oath at 12:02 pm. Either way, it doesn't affect the chart in any significant way.

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

[emily07]

Ah, this is also very helpful, thank you

Re: The Goat Foot God

[ecosophia]

The Greek gods were very partial to wine!

Re: Time Travel Magic?

[ecosophia]

I've never seen anything even halfway decent in print on the subject. I got the idea from a bit in Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick, but modified the working considerably from the one he did. Experiment and see what you come up with.

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

[emily07]

I‘m having hope with this client, because he was open to my interpretation , fully knowing that I come from the roman-catholic faith and currently am not a member but not yet having found another Home that fits my perception of the Holy.

Re: Time Travel Magic?

[ecosophia]

Open a temple, invoke Saturn the lord of Time Past, and then use scrying to travel back to some specific scene in your childhood. One thing you can do -- and for me, at least, this was really quite helpful -- is to imagine yourself appearing to your child-self after some miserable experience, explaining that it really will get better, and offering any constructive advice that, on reflection, you feel you would have benefited from hearing at that time. Then return and close.

Work with only one such scene at a time, and give yourself plenty of time between these sessions -- the emotional aftereffects can be pretty intense.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

many thanks as always for this valuable space. I'm five weeks into eight weeks of offerings and prayer to Mercury to try and aid acceptance of my fiction. So far the rejections are continuing (until morale improves...)

I'm asking Mercury for two things: that the work I send (during the hour of Mercury) finds a fruitful reception and that I be open to suggestions and answers to queries for a novel I'm writing. The second is working really well but like I say the rejections continue. Am I missing anything? Best to keep at it and see what happens?

With thanks for your time and please accept my blessings if you will have them.

Mark

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!

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

[emily07]

Okay, I have to find those threads, thank you!

Re: Geomantic Supplements?

[ecosophia]

I'd encourage you to experiment with that and see how well it works for you.

Re: Planetary charity

[ecosophia]

1) I'd recommend Jupiter. As for the affirmation, I don't recommend terms like "perfect" for the simple reason that perfection doesn't exist in the world of matter. Something like "I am welcomed by a job and a community that are right for me" might get better results.

2) Some work has been done along these lines; for example, it's clear that aluminum is a metal of Uranus. It'll be several hundred years before all the details get worked out, however.

Re: Afterlife

[(Anonymous)]

(not op) Am I on the right track thinking that these after life states help clear karma but karma acts a bit like a Celtic pattern that reverberates through your lives until burnt off or you've consciously changed the pattern?

Re: Psychedelic Entities

[open_space]

That would be an apt description! I met one Dr. Facilier who took very little care of the people that trusted him, used the spotlight to play very inadequate songs and feel like a rockstar while people were tripping their guts out. Only to hear him later talk in a low voice to the guy that owned the place if next time they could pack the place even more. Which was very inappropriate, people were already next to each other skin to skin. As far as I understand, in a proper ceremony, you need to be 2 meters away from anybody. Coincidentally enough, that is about the distance the aura spans from the body, to prevent contamination once everybody's mind have been blown open. In that same ceremony I was invited as a by stander, and I saw one mental pathology bounce from mind to mind, the weakest link taking in all the grubby emotions from everybody else... poor guy. He ended up mumbling to himself in pain about a grandma that wasn't his and a loss he didn't live while the owner of the trauma suddenly felt great and was dancing.

I agree on the somewhat, the only place I know that is good to do ayahuasca is in the jungles of Perú with a tribe where the medicine is brewed properly and fresh by an elder that knows what he is doing. Just as the only hands that is proper to receive hikuri is from a marakame... The couple places I know that do such things also have someone not participating, and a doctor.

Re: The Orange Monk

[(Anonymous)]

The idea of a skew between "when the presidency officially starts" versus "when the new president is sworn in so that they will be allowed to exercise the duties of office" reminds me of the distinction occasionally made in Vedic astrology between different elements of the birth time: crowning for fire, full exit for earth, first breath for air, and umbilical severance for water.

https://shrifreedom.org/ayurveda-2/birth-time/

(Did I already post about that?)

Also, apparently the 20th Amendment only specifies that the old presidency ends at noon, not that that's when the new presidency begins.

I suppose it's possible, to a limited extent, to elect what "noon" means by moving the capital around, or changing the time adjustment. It's not like the Constitution specifies how noon is computed or where geographically it's judged. Really, the only thing stopping you from repeatedly moving the official capital across various territories around the world and adjusting the date line around it, or repeatedly changing the calendar itself, is the Supreme Court and the common sense of the people. If you built and claimed an artificial island at the North Pole, you could move the capital there and propel the capital around on treads to gain or lose many days per day, or run it straight through the North Pole and cause the concept of "noon" or even "January" to break down entirely. Or try to find an ambiguity relating to the Earth's axial wobble (like the difficulties in defining the lunar node) and weave the capital in between different definitions of the axis. These concepts are all constructions; and it might seem like some constructions are deeper-rooted and harder to disrupt, but that's only really true if you've done a thorough security analysis and closed all the cost-effectively exploitable loopholes in the definition ... sorry, I don't know why I feel the need to go on about this.

Re: The Stranger Side of Ketamine

[vitranc]

This must be said. I had depression. And I am still liable.
A wretched experience, where I decided, that I was worthless. Our society has no scruples in grinding you down and kicking when you are down. Then, if you are as lucky as me, you get to see your friends and family either ignore you, or even kick you further. You cannot be healthy, if your environment is toxic. I have seen people burnt down and there was no way they could get up, because the moment they were ready to go home, they were given over to toxic family members.
So there I am, sitting in a doctors office and getting a prescription for an antidepressant.
For how long? For six months as a start. Are they addictive? We are not going to worry about that now.
Most people, that I saw, that took the meds were permanently on the meds and not better, but reduced in ability.
But I got an ace up my sleeve. There was this Archdruid dude from whom I somehow, at that time got the notion, that „good magic is what makes you stronger, more capable“ and „black magic is what weakens and depraves you“, so I down right decided, that the whole institution was a garbage pit for humans run by black sorcerers.
But I could not function.
I used the meds, for 6 months. They really do numb the mind, and get you set at a neutral mood. But I also gained 10 kg and had some other side effects. I went trough the therapy that was provided. Then straight out, and used the period of clarity to apply myself at school and job. I went and joined a martial art club, and stuck to it. And 3 months later I showed my doctor a diary, that protokoled my experience over the last 4 weeks of getting of the meds. „I‘m out of the hole. Thank you, but I do not need them anymore.“
I went and finished my degree.

That is to say; thank you JMG.
My life would not be the same without you.

Re: Time Travel Magic?

[open_space]

A version that I was taught involves a simple a process as taking a piece of paper, writing such a date at the top, and writing.

Deity

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there. In my meditation experience, I’ve had a number of deities appear to me (Isis, Krishna, Hermes etc). I’m of course honored to be in contact with these beings but I’ve also been doing this long enough to know that sometimes lower astral entities can take these forms for parasitic reasons. I realize a good banishing ritual at the beginning of meditation could help ensure I’m not interfacing with any entities misrepresenting themselves but I’m still nursing a child so high ritual is on pause. I still protect myself before I meditate so hopefully that’s some kind of deterrent.

How do I know if a spiritual being is who they say they are? Any tips for avoiding parasites or egregores?

Thank you!

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[jenniferkobernik]

Would really appreciate continued prayers for a safe delivery and a healthy baby as I found out today our daughter is still in a breech position at 35+ weeks. Hopefully she will flip before labor begins! I think the wording already on the list is good, just wanted to mention we could use some extra help in these last few weeks. Thank you to all who have been praying for us!