Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Midnight is breathing down our necks 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 is my sixth-third published book, and you'll have a little trouble finding it right now, because its former publisher let it go out of print last year. The upsides are, first, that this gave me the chance to revise, expand, and improve it considerably; second, that I was able to give it the title I originally assigned it, Merlin's Wheel -- did you know that authors have no control over the titles and cover art of their books? -- and third, that I had it placed with a second publisher less than 24 hours after the old one let go of it.

The book -- well, it's a sequel of sorts to my earlier book The Celtic Golden Dawn, providing a set of eight seasonal ceremonies inspired by ancient mystery rites, celebrating the legendary life of Merlin around the cycle of the year as a system of spiritual self-initiation. The new version has been expanded so that it can also be practiced within the ritual system of the Golden Section Fellowship and its related traditions, including the Dolmen Arch system and the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose. It'll be out later this year, and I'll make an announcement here and on my blog once it's available for preorder.

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

[ecosophia]

To quote myself just above your comment:

"You'd want to talk to a Taoist or Chinese Buddhist master about that. I'm pretty sure they have their own protective ceremonies, but I don't happen to know what those are."

Re: Odd Goings On

[(Anonymous)]

(not OP)I find that they appreciate a wry chuckle of recognition ;-)

Q

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I've just parked myself on a tropical island for the next month, to recover and speed up my kundalini integration.

I know you said that meditation on the tree of life could help integrate emotional issues and personality imbalances. I have a copy of your paths of wisdom with me.

Do you have any suggestions on how to go about these meditations? Just dive right in, or read the full book?

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,
For a few weeks now, I have been regularly praying everyday over the Ecosophian Prayer List that Quin manages and as I do so, I keep wondering if I have the proper effective attitude, etc. So today, I went over some of your various responses to Qs about prayer here on MM or Open Post that I have copied over the years and put together the following for use with Quin's prayer list:

Prayer is not about making one feel powerful. Prayer is about acknowledging that there are beings in the cosmos far greater than us.

Settle into a stable position, turn attention toward the deity or deities to pray to, and talk. Do it as though I have the chance to talk to a wise and powerful elder. Explain why I want to pray to the deity/deities, ask for the outcome.

Imagine energies of blessing, healing, and peace streaming out from me for the people of each prayer request.

At the end, acknowledge "Thy will be done" and thank the deity/deities for listening. (Don't grovel, don't flatter, don't whine.)

Then, at the end of the prayer session, and this is crucial, be silent for a while. Listen for any answers. We may not get any; an answer may be felt -- an emotional tone, say -- or words may surface in the mind; but it's at least as important to listen to deities as it is to speak to them.

Does this seem like an appropriate approach for the prayer list or prayer in general? Any modifications?

Thank you,

WILL1000

Re: Q

[ecosophia]

That's all covered in Part 3 of Paths of Wisdom -- go ahead and read chapter 10, then chapter 12, which gives instructions for meditation. Read Part 1, chapters 1-6, while you're getting up to speed on discursive meditation, and then plunge right in.

[ecosophia]

That's a very good way to do it. It's fairly close to the way I pray, if that's anything to go by.

Magic & Myth

[cs2]

Last week I had a specific fear hanging onto me. Mentally I noted that I had already released the personal hangups that had originally attached me to this fear. It thus didn't make sense that it was still hanging around.

The day before, I'd visited a statue of Apollo and told him about my transformation last year, promising another transformation this year.

Just as I had the thought that I wanted the fear gone, and I'd already released my own attachments to it, the idea popped into my mind that I could slay it like Apollo did the python.

Immediately in my mind's eye the python was right next to me, its huge maw open about to eat me. In the physical world I pantomimed drawing the bow and arrow. In my imagination I had a Studio Ghibli-style moment where my hair floated and I let out a silent scream. I let the arrow loose and the python exploded, imaginary blood all over the room.

The scene dissolved and I was baffled to realize the fear was gone. It hasn't returned since. I thanked Apollo and made sure to not summon the fear again.

1. This sounds like the very definition of magic! Right?

2. Is this a common way that mages use myth for magic, and I just didn't know? Thanks for your time.

Re: saturn returns

[(Anonymous)]

ooof.

Then with saturn at near enough 29degreesPisc in the first this will be umm "fun".. also mercury ruling a couple of other sensitive points..

4)And yeah, it's because of the beginning of a new age thing that I figured I really needed to ask this now.

thanks for the reply. best start taking that meditation etc more seriously.

parion in the uk

Re: saturn returns

[(Anonymous)]

Ah finally question. Should one avoid planetary charity for Saturn during this time? Or is it okay/safe? Or would there be a better choice to help/buffer things?

Thanks again.

Parion in the uk

Re: Magic & Myth

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, but it's a specific kind of magic, one that worked the way it did because you'd made the contact with Apollo. You might consider getting a small statue of Apollo and burning a little incense to it now and again, partly as a thank you, partly to strengthen the contact.

2) Some do, some don't. It depends on one's relationship with the gods.

Re: saturn returns

[ecosophia]

It needn't be a bad experience. I'd encourage you to consider meditating on Saturn and Neptune, getting a sense of how their energies relate to your chart, and seeing if there are constructive ways you can put the conjunction of those energies to work.

Re: saturn returns

[ecosophia]

In your place I'd avoid it -- Saturn is going to have a lot to do as that happens. If you have some other planet strongly and favorably placed in your chart, though, planetary charity to that planet during the time immediately before the conjunction, asking the planetary intelligence to help you weather the changes, might well be helpful.

[diletpoly]

Good evening JMG and commentariat,

I've had a busy day, and am running out of time, so I just thought I'd thank whoever asked the question last week about using both charts for Geomantic divination. I had been doing that and getting mixed results. Since reading the answer, I've switched to using mostly the House chart with "how will my day go?" or similar as the question, though there's the occasional "will the kids and I end up going out for sushi tonight?" thrown in (the sushi place is expensive), and it has two effects that I'm quite liking:

1. For the yes/no questions, the answers have been straightforward and right, so far.
2. It's forcing me to become more comfortable with the meanings of all the houses. Up until now, I'd known the meaning of a couple of them (around relationships and work, because they're what I've asked about) but now I'm digging in more.

More observation than question. As I work my way through OPH, I'm at the section on the value of occult training as it relates to where one is on the evolutionary scale. First, I found myself thinking quite a bit during my meditations about the possibility that I'm not actually getting anything out of it, because I'm not as evolved as one should be to work on occult topics. Or, alternatively, am I just at the cusp, which is why I've been interested in these topics my whole life, but the practice has only just "stuck" in my middle-years. Also, there was a line that occult training is "a narrow path set apart for a few" which really got me thinking, on the one hand, do I really want to be associated with the people who first thought up such an elitist idea, and then, well, is it really elitist? To use an analogy, "there are very few people who can solve differential equations in their head" is, I assume (not being such a person), simply true, though reading it the right way certainly sounds just as elitist.

I'll be going through and reading the questions and answers tomorrow.

Happy Monday, and thanks again for hosting,

The Dilettante Polymath

Re: Odd Goings On

[(Anonymous)]

In the same vein, rather than 'Thank you' I tend to quietly say "That's fun" when I recognise such goings on.

magic to make yourself more lovable

[(Anonymous)]

in one of your really old posts you mentioned a way of using magic to make yourself more lovable, how do I do this? I've been reading your rituals of high magic series, I hope the answer you give me is specific and actionable

[ecosophia]

What sets occultism apart, and makes it for the few, is simply that most of us have other interests -- and that's wholly appropriate. For most of the lives we spend as human beings, it's far more useful for us to plunge into the various dimensions of human life, to learn from our successes and failures, and to come to know ourselves in this way. Only those who are wrapping up their time in human incarnation will be drawn to occultism, and so by definition they're odd ducks. The crucial point here is that it's a waste of time to proselytize for occultism; it's not for everyone, nor should it be, but anyone who feels called to it and is willing to accept the necessary requirements and put in the hard work that's needed is welcome on the Path.

The Devil Himself

[xcalibur_djs]

Satan is usually depicted as a red, satyr-like being, with horns, hoofs, and tail. There seems to be a connection with fauns/satyrs and Dionysus, particularly the excesses of Bacchanalian pagan festivals. This also fits a larger pattern, in which the pagan elements that couldn't be synthesized ended up demonized (sometimes literally).
However, I'm wondering if there's more to the story -- are there occult reasons/history for this portrayal? I recall reading a book on occultism as a kid, which had an illustration of an entity with a goat head & legs, with women's breasts -- I'm sure you know what I mean. I assume there's a connection there?

Re: magic to make yourself more lovable

[ecosophia]

It's quite simple, but it does require you to have a good working knowledge of some system of ceremonial magic -- for example, the Golden Dawn system, which I'll use as an example. (If you practice some other system of magic, adapt the following to that.) First, you'll need to do a series of meditations and Pathworkings focusing on Venus and its corresponding sphere on the Tree of Life, Netzach, to activate those influences in your sphere of sensation. Meanwhile you can begin practical work by adding to your daily Middle Pillar exercise the work Israel Regardie included in the last section of his book The Art of True Healing, charging your sphere of sensation with the energies of Netzach. All this is preparation, though it can have a considerable effect.

When you've finished the meditations and pathworkings -- let's say, seven weeks of those (7 x 7, 7 being the number of Netzach), you create and consecrate a talisman of Netzach for the purpose of removing the unlovable aspects from your personality, and therefore making you more lovable. Then you let the talisman work. That'll likely involve some emotional upset as it forces you to confront and let go of the unlovable aspects of your personality, but on the far side of it you'll have become much more lovable and people will treat you accordingly -- for example, by falling in love with you.

How's that for specific and actionable? If you need the details of the Golden Dawn approach, you can look up all of this in my books Paths of Wisdom and Circles of Power. If you're not to that level yet in Golden Dawn studies, any standard introductory volume of GD magic, such as my book Learning Ritual Magic, will teach you everything you need to know.

[ellendegenerate]

Thank you very much!

Re: The Devil Himself

[ecosophia]

Presumably this is the image you have in mind:

That's Eliphas Lévi's drawing of Baphomet, the supposed idol of the Templars. Lévi had very specific things in mind when he drew that, about which the people using the image these days have less than no clue.

The conventional image of Satan is borrowed very nearly lock, stock, and barrel from the Greek Pagan image of Pan. There's a reason for that, of course, which is that Pan sums up all the aspects of the Divine that couldn't be included in the Christian understanding of divinity, and so became the Shadow (in the full Jungian sense) of the Christian image of God. Jung had a lot to say about that, and about the psychological cost of the Christian castration of the Divine Image -- you'll find it, if you're interested, in his book Aion and elsewhere. The Fisher King in the Grail legend is another symbolic expression of the same insight, associated with fish, wounded in the "thighs," and unable either to fully live or fully die until someone asks the right question...

Re: Niagara Falls

[(Anonymous)]

Don't know about occult traditions as such, but many Native American legends surround Niagara Falls: "Beyond legends and folklore, Niagara Falls holds a significant place in Indigenous cultural ceremonies and healing practices. The Indigenous peoples believe the rushing waters of Niagara Falls possess powerful healing properties, capable of purifying the soul and providing spiritual enlightenment." https://www.niagaraaction.com/unveiling-the-indigenous-legends-of-niagara-falls

[bruno86]

The way I see it, it's akin a senior highschool student expecting juniors and kindergartners to have the same duties and interests he does. People are at different levels of experiencing the human condition, and that's it. Roughly one third is focusing on the material plane, another third is focusing on the ethereal, and the last third mastering the astral.

Re: MOE Healing

[kylec]

Justin,

Not sure what movements did it, though having worked as a strength coach I wanted to mention that most shoulder impingements happen when lifting overhead in the frontal plane (elbow out to the side of your body). It is not possible to bring the elbow higher than the shoulder in the frontal plane without a bony impingement. This includes pushups done with elbows flared out to the side. I'm not sure if this is what happened and apologies if it isn't, I just see a lot of flyes and overhead presses in this plane causing people issues.

Even if it wasn't, I'd recommend staying in the sagittal plane (elbow points straight forward in front of you instead of pointing to the side).

Healing hands on the way!

Re: Affirmations?

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you

Radionics cleansing

[(Anonymous)]

I read an account of you and Joseph Max using a Hieronymus machine in a group ritual before to progressively cleanse the chakras.

Would it be advisable to adapt this to the equivalent of a daily ritual? So doing the same thing, but with a sample of myself in the well, and going through the chakras? Or do you think another ritual would be better.

Thanks