Magic Monday
Jan. 19th, 2025 10:30 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. 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.
***This Magic Monday is now closed, and no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***
The Stranger Side of Ketamine
Date: 2025-01-20 05:10 am (UTC)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.
Zen
Date: 2025-01-20 05:15 am (UTC)How would a Zen Sphere of Protection look like?
-Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-20 05:15 am (UTC)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.
Re: The Stranger Side of Ketamine
Date: 2025-01-20 05:23 am (UTC)The King in Orange
Date: 2025-01-20 05:34 am (UTC)Re: Zen
Date: 2025-01-20 05:36 am (UTC)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.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-20 05:40 am (UTC)Re: The King in Orange
Date: 2025-01-20 05:44 am (UTC)Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-01-20 05:57 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 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.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-20 06:08 am (UTC)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.
The Orange Monk
Date: 2025-01-20 07:30 am (UTC)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 Stranger Side of Ketamine
Date: 2025-01-20 07:42 am (UTC)Only, there's no money in first generation, nearly 100 year old stimulants, so they are almost banned in most countries.
I'm convinced that your teachings that you got from John Gilbert about depression being a tertiary emotion make a lot of sense. Low dose stimulants seem to give people the mental energy to unpick and unpack old behaviours that are harming them, getting back to the primary source.
If I knew then what I know now, I'd have trained in psychiatry, and be not just medicating, but counselling as well.
Meaning
Date: 2025-01-20 07:55 am (UTC)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
Glastonbury gathering topics
Date: 2025-01-20 09:04 am (UTC)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
Handling investments
Date: 2025-01-20 09:10 am (UTC)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.
Modern Order of Essenes; blessing offer
Date: 2025-01-20 09:12 am (UTC)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
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-20 09:26 am (UTC)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!
Esoteric causes of disease, books and recommendation.
Date: 2025-01-20 09:43 am (UTC)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.
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: The King in Orange
Date: 2025-01-20 10:15 am (UTC)Shaking my head at the banning. Reminds me of one past comment about JMG's "wacky politics" (sic). Of course having reasonable, sensible positions makes one fail the purity tests of both sides. Oh, well.
What a world!
Psychedelic Entities
Date: 2025-01-20 10:20 am (UTC)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?
Afterlife
Date: 2025-01-20 10:30 am (UTC)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.
Quiet and sanity
Date: 2025-01-20 11:15 am (UTC)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?
Occult dimensions to Cali fires
Date: 2025-01-20 12:10 pm (UTC)Akupressure / -puncture and Christians / source of Ch‘i
Date: 2025-01-20 01:41 pm (UTC)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?
The Goat Foot God
Date: 2025-01-20 01:55 pm (UTC)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.