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 1.3 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-sixth published book -- I've passed over The King in Orange, which was pulled out of order by the eldritch attraction of Inauguration Day and appeared in January -- and the beginning of my most ambitious publishing project to date: a complete system of occult training, original although based on the material I studied with John Gilbert, which fills roughly the same role as the correspondence courses offered by old-fashioned occult schools but is published for everyone to read.

I stress the word "occult" here. Occultism and magic are not the same thing, though they're related to each other and can be compatible. Magic uses ritual as its primary tool, and has power as its theme and goal; occultism uses meditation as its primary tool, and has wisdom as its theme and goal. (Both contrast with mysticism, which -- in its western forms, at least -- uses prayer as its primary tool, and has love as its theme and goal.) The Way of the Golden Section and its sequels teach very little in the way of ritual and even less in the way of magic. They focus on meditation, divination, sacred geometry, and certain other standard occult practices, and their goal is to achieve wisdom, revelation, and enlightenment. This book -- which requires The Sacred Geometry Oracle for some of its work -- is the first step on that path. Interested? You can get copies here if you're in the United States and here elsewhere. (I recommend the hardback edition, btw:  it's sturdy, and will stand up to the hard use you'll give it.)

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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 more comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Comments

Distinguishing invocation from goetia

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning and blessings, JMG!

Do your warnings against spirit summoning in "A Path That Abides" apply only to practices meant to evoke and bind dangerous or unwholesome beings like sub-lunar spirits, ghosts, etc? Or is there also a risk of contacting something that wants "a hefty serving of your life force" when employing methods meant to contact angels, gods, or other "higher" beings for assistance (e.g. Abbot Trithemius's system of "drawingbspirits into crystals" or the procedures described in the Arbatel)?

I guess what I'm really asking is: how do you distinguish between the invocatory practices of high magic and debased methods like goetia? My first thought is that it's a question of the desired result: goetia involves asking spirits to do stuff or get stuff for you, while invocation is about making you into the kind of person who gets what you want. And yet some forms of invocation do seem to aim to bring blessings into one's life, such as health, prosperity, positive social interactions, or new opportunities, making the distinction seem a bit fuzzier.

Is the core difference in:
A) The type of spirits contacted
B) The intended outcomes - manipulating the external world vs personal transformation
C) The attitude taken toward the spirits (high-handed binding/commanding vs respectful collaboration/learning/participation
D) Some combination of the above
E) Some other factor I've overlooked entirely?

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions!

- Fred N.

Re: Distinguishing invocation from goetia

[ecosophia]

First, if you're trying to command and bind any spirit, from my perspective, you're going about things the wrong way. Even if you're doing an exorcism, the goal isn't to bind the spirit but to unbind the person who's obsessed or possessed, and send the spirit on its way.

Second, if you're trying to change the world so you don't have to change yourself, you're going about things the wrong way. Since we constantly co-create the world we inhabit, the most powerful and effective way to get the life you want is to change what you put out into the world so the world will respond to you in differently. Trying to get entities to do the work for you is wasting their time and your own.

Re: Distinguishing invocation from goetia

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, that makes sense! The second factor makes me think of the traditional warnings in some Eastern systems against chasing after the siddhis rather than focusing on enlightenment. Presumably developing one's own inner capacities is always a better path to lasting results. Focusing on external results instead could be seen as the spiritual equivalent trying to bribe the building inspectors to look the other way rather than fixing the structural problems with your house.

Re: Distinguishing invocation from goetia

[ecosophia]

That's a very good metaphor! Yes, exactly.