Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. (The picture is Paschal Beverly Randolph, the first African-American occultist to break through the color barrier and become a major figure in the American occult mainstream.)

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

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 the button below to access my online tip jar. 

With that said, have at it! 

***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

First!....

Hey jmg, what do you think of the controversy behind slender man?

[ecosophia]

Well, actually, I haven't paid any attention to it. I don't follow pop culture at all, you know.

[(Anonymous)]

That makes sense, slenderman is some internet horror story meme (they call it a “creepy pasta”) which somehow inspired two preteen girls to murder another girl.

[ecosophia]

Fair enough. The thing is, people have been getting caught up in media memes with lethal effects for a very long time. Back in 1774, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published a book called The Sorrows of Young Werther; it was more or less the Twilight of the late 18th century, a slobbery mess of overdone emotions that turned into a runaway bestseller. (Goethe went on to become a first-rate writer, poet, scientist, and statesman, so there's hope for Stephenie Meyer.) The main character falls in love with a married woman, mopes about it for a while, and then kills himself. It sparked a wave of copycat suicides, in which young men who were frustrated in love dressed up like Werther and killed themselves the same way he did. Thus it's not surprising to hear that another meme has claimed a victim...

unary <-> binary <-> ternary

[jmaurice]

Hello,
good morning.

In this essay,

www.rachel.org/files/document/On_reading_Globalize_Liberation.htm

In the part about quantitative levels of Relationship (or something like that, to my limited understanding) you say a few words to the effect that, mages prefer to opt mostly for unary, binary or ternary levels of thinking instead of opting for the higher numbers (four and onwards). And also to the effect that the levels can be switched mostly in a certain order (unary <-> binary <-> ternary... and so on).

These two effects you say to have complex reasons, too complex to be detailled in the essay.

Would you mind perhaps elaborating on that here? I suspect the complexities would involve in part some occult philosophy, so asking this here would be relevant.



I was also wondering, on an unrelated line of thinking, what would be the occult theory behind the act of automating an action through a tool, or through a machine ? Is there a difference in kind between the two ? I guess you covered that in your old ADR posts about the human machine, but then what are the respective occult implications of the two ?

And how would some of the common religions react to it? For instance, perhaps automating through a machine could be a sin in some cases, for some of the Christian religions, but it could also become a holy action in some other cases... I guess this is really a gray area, probably overlapping with the ethics of work in general, and we could use a set of frameworks through which assessing one's subjective values about it.

Re: unary <-> binary <-> ternary

[ecosophia]

1a) The main reason the first three numbers are central to magical strategy is that it's very difficult for the human mind to keep track of the interactions once you go beyond that. With three elements, you have a total of seven possible factors -- a alone, b alone, c alone, a + b, a + c, b + c, and a + b + c; if you go to four factors you've got fifteen, and beyond that it really piles up. So if you're going to have a strategy that you can understand, a threefold pattern is about the largest you can use.

1b) It's not unary <-> binary <-> ternary, it's unary -> binary -> ternary -> unary. Not a two-way relationship, in other words, but a one-way process that cycles back around to the beginning. In occult philosophy that's the basic formula for manifested existence -- as the alchemists put it, "out of the one comes the two, out of the two comes the three, and out of the three comes the one again as the fourth." Thus everything in existence will tend to follow that same pattern.

2) There's a difference between a tool and a machine; you might want to read Ivan Illich's classic work Tools for Conviviality in this regard. A tool is a device for amplifying human capacities, while a machine is a device for replacing human capacities. When you use a tool, you get skilled at it; when you use a machine, you lose what skills you might have had. As for common religions, you'll have to ask them; I don't belong to a common religion!

Middle Pillar Exercise (MPE)

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Micheal

I had been practicing LBRP for some time and the MPE,then stopped.
Now I have restarted by practises by doing the LBRP regularly first.
I feel I am ready for the MPE and have restarted it.

I'd like to know what benefits will accrue from a regular practice of MPE.

Especially concerning the energy centres. What does it do to them?

Thank You

Re: Middle Pillar Exercise (MPE)

[ecosophia]

The Middle Pillar exercise is basically a workout for your energy body. Most of us, unless we do some kind of energy practice, have flabby, unfit energy bodies clogged with the etheric and astral equivalent of waste material. Waking up the energy centers and circulating energy through the aura, which is what the Middle Pillar exercise does, clears away the gunk and strengthens and tones your entire energy body, resulting in improved mental and physical health, and in greatly expanded capacities for magical action.

[ganeshling]

Dear JMG,

Last Magic Monday you've recommended someone to exercise affirmations and mentioned that this practice came out of New Thought movement. Could you recommend a book covering the subject in detail? I've used the practice with good results and recommended it to others. I failed, however, to find any decent reading material on it. It is just too popular these days, making it hard to find anything in the piles of fluff.

[ecosophia]

I'm not at all sure what books to recommend. I got my training on the subject from an old correspondence course -- the Order of Essenes course written by Burks Hamner -- which I'll be making available shortly online. (Stay tuned for an announcement.) Yes, there's a lot of fluff out there in print!

valley magic

[(Anonymous)]

Most Wise and Exalted Magus,

My wife and I got incredibly lucky and are renting a house in the back of a beautiful valley. Our neighbors include a Buddhist temple and a Catholic church, along with several other religious places nearby. Given the recent subject of religious ceremonial magic, how do you think this could affect my Celtic Golden Dawn practice? The same stream of water flows through all our backyards.

Also we found a beautiful old Butsudan and want to put it to use. Can I incorporate it into my current Celtic Golden Dawn practice? It does have three spaces on the inside that could represent the three rays of light as well as storage for incense, wands, and caldrons. I could make a stand for it that houses my altar underneath.

Or would it be better in another part of the house to use more traditionally as a place to leave offerings for friendly neighborhood spirits, talk with ancestors, etc?

The possibilities are very exciting, and I definitely got the feeling there's a lot to work with there. Thanks in advance for your answer.

Re: valley magic

[ecosophia]

1) Presumably the Catholic church and the Buddhist temple don't interfere with each other, so you should be fine.

2) Ask the spirit of the Butsudan! Yes, you really can do this. Ask it, and try to sense its response.

SOP for another

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning!

Is is possible/ethical/productive to perform the SOP for another person who is unable to do so for him- or herself due to physical and/or mental limitations? If not, is there something preferable to do to protect such a vulnerable individual?

Re: SOP for another

[ecosophia]

You can certainly do the Sphere of Protection for another person if you have that person's consent to do so. Simply visualize the person in the center of the space in which you're doing the working, and invoke and banish for that person. If you don't have that person's consent, unless you're that person's parent or guardian, you don't have the right to do magic for them, period.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm going to try the hoodoo bath in the next few days and want to clarify a few things. When you stand in a tub, does that mean the bath or could it be a plastic washing up tub that you can just fit both feet in? That would use less water and make the ingredients more concentrated. When you have finished do you dry yourself normally, air dry, or can you have a regular bath straight afterwards? Does the cloth you use need anything done with it afterwards or can it just go back into normal use? I don't have access to any really big trees, so would small but stocky fruit trees or vigourous bushes welcome the left over water? What about vegetable beds?

[ecosophia]

Hoodoo baths used to be done in old-fashioned tin washing tubs, so you can use something smaller; a higher concentration, though, isn't necessarily a good idea. (Do you want a high concentration of cayenne pepper on certain sensitive portions of your anatomy?) It's best to air dry, but you can towel off; the towel should be laundered before being used again, and the same is true of the washcloth. As for trees, it should be a tree -- something with a strong vertical trunk; the larger the better, but if a good healthy fruit tree is the biggest tree you can find, that's good. Don't put it on your vegetable beds, because then your vegetables will be charged with the negative energies you were trying to get rid of!

[(Anonymous)]

I've read in a couple of sources that the official formation of the Soviet Union in 1922 was timed to create an astrological chart with a pattern called the 'occult star'. If this is so, why did they do it and what effect did it have?

[ecosophia]

I'm not familiar with the pattern. Can you point me to a source that explains this in more detail?

[(Anonymous)]

Parts of the second chapter (Some Practical Applications of Occultism) of Dion Fortune’s book “Applied Magic” really struck a chord with me. But I’m not sure how exactly to apply her suggestions.

The issue she describes here very much resonated with me:

“We think we would be happy if only certain things were changed; but no, the conditions are in ourselves … When I was working in a nerve clinic we saw this happen over and over again. The same sort of trouble kept recurring in the same life. … Or again, a woman may be continually falling under the power of a bully … There must be some prominent factor in our own make-up which draws from the invisible forces.”

She later offers the following remedy:

“The only way to deal with these is by changing your character by meditation, by building thought-forms or by deliberately destroying what we call the thought-forms which are the channels of the undesirable things towards you. These are the practical applications of Occultism, and we do not need to be adepts to apply these.”

My question is, is there a systematic method a person should follow to change their character by meditation and to build helpful thought-forms? Is there a book you would recommend to learn more about this?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Sure. W.E. Butler covers it, among many other things, in his useful book Apprenticed to Magic. The short form, though, is that you start by meditating on the unhelpful patterns in your life, trying to understand (a) how you help to create those patterns, and (b) what emotional payoff you get from doing so -- because there's always an emotional payoff; that's what keeps the pattern in place. Then you imagine yourself doing something different.

In the case of the woman who keeps on falling under the power of a bully, she might start by meditating on how that's happened in the past, and what emotional payoff she gets from being bullied and being under someone else's control. Then she imagines a situation in which she encounters a bully, and instead of letting herself be dominated, she stands up to the bully in one way or another. She does this again and again, paying close attention to the emotional reactions she feels -- these can reveal previously hidden emotional payoffs or childhood patterns that feed into the situation -- but over and over again, building in her imagination forms that portray her as strong, as self-confident, as able and willing to resist bullying...and those thought-forms will inevitably express themselves in her outer life.

Geomancy

[jpc2]

JMG

I have too many of your books:-) Don't have some of the really early ones. All are good. Some get reread fairly regularly. Most have been read at least twice. Of the non fiction, 'World Full of Gods' is the one I go back to most.

I find the books on Druidry and Magic very interesting in an intellectual sense but not an I need/want/could do this sense. The exception is 'The Art and Practice of Geomancy'. I started following it for a short bit about 3 years ago. But LIFE happened a now I ready to try again.

It has been about 10 years since you wrote it. Is there anything you would update/add/change to the basic path you laid out?

Coop Janitor

Re: Geomancy

[ecosophia]

Not a thing. Both my books on geomancy -- the earlier one, Earth Divination, Earth Magic, will be reprinted shortly -- cover the system as I know and practice it today.

Suicide

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
I am reading Dione Fortune's, "Through the Gates of Death," and it is fascinating. I understand she was a devout Christian and probably not in favour of suicide.

That said, if one, in due time, decides to end their own life rather than experiencing living far too long in illness, will such an act, done soberly and thoughtfully, have any negative repercussions to the journey of the spirit?

Thank you so much for Magic Mondays.
PS My cousin woke me again last night but I asked him three times to stop it because he was hurting me and he desisted. I will have to get on with consecrating that knife and learning how to cut an energetic cord.
Max Rogers

Re: Suicide

[ecosophia]

The standard occult teaching on suicide is that if you kill yourself to get out of something, you'll just have to go through the same thing all over again in your next life. Karma is karma, and it's not optional.

Ogham few order

[(Anonymous)]

I recently bought the Celtic Tree Oracle set of divination cards, which are really beautiful, and I think will be useful for me in learning ogham. I was unaware before purchasing though that the ordering of the first aicme is BLVSN instead of BLNVS. It seems as though it is only the few assignment that is different, and the tree symbolism and general divination meaning is similar to how you assign it in the Druidry Handbook. Will the different few ordering have any effect on divination? I would like to follow your examples in the Druidry Handbook to be consistent, so my plan is to just follow the tree and name on the card and ignore the different few assignment in the first aicme. Do you think this would be alright?

Re: Ogham few order

[ecosophia]

I use that very deck, and I do exactly what you've said you'd like to do, so I think you'll be just fine. :-)

Aikido

[(Anonymous)]

I know you have mentioned in the past that some martial arts systems, like tai chi, may not mix well with western occult practices. I have considered taking up some martial arts instruction in the next year or so because I think it would be good for me to ground myself in a physical discipline to balance my tendency to focus more on abstract mental and spiritual activities. I am a few months into a path to work through your Druidry Handbook and Druid Magic Handbook and was wondering if you thought that practicing a martial art such as Aikido might conflict with this. From my limited perspective on both practices, it seems like they could mesh well together as they both work with the life force. What would be your recommendation on pursuing both at the same time, and if Aikido would not be a good choice, do you know of another physical activity that works with the life force that would not conflict with druid magic practices?

Re: Aikido

[ecosophia]

Aikido ought to fit very well with the material in The Druidry Handbook and The Druid Magic Handbook. While aikido has a strong esoteric element, it (and the Japanese esoteric traditions from which it derives) doesn't use the kind of energy-circulating exercises that can mess you up if you combine them with Druid spiritual practices and magic.

Another art that combines well with Druidry, in my experience, is shintaido. It's far less common than aikido, but it's another modern Japanese martial art with roots in Japanese esotericism, and its philosophy meshes very well with that of Druidry.

magic and tai chi

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Over the last several months I've been establishing daily practices inspired by your writings- first daily tarot divination, now adding daily discursive meditation on the Cosmic Doctrine. It's starting to feel like I'm going somewhere, however slowly. Now to contemplate adding the third leg of the 'cauldron', some form of ceremonial magic or energy work.

I'm starting to feel a draw toward Dion Fortune and her work. (I'm now reading Psychic Self-Defense in addition to Cos. Doc.) Since I'm not familiar with the current scene, do you have a sense of where the Society of the Inner Light is at now and whether that would be a good system and scene for a newbie with no connections?

My alternative at this point is trying again to take up Tai Chi practice with a reputable teacher here in my town. I know that's worked well for you, but you've recommended not mixing Tai Chi and magic. Any advice for me in deciding between the two? Thank you.

Dylan

Re: magic and tai chi

[ecosophia]

The Society of the Inner Light is a very solid option if you live in Britain and are able to attend events at their headquarters there; they also have a correspondence course for people who live elsewhere, and I've heard good things about the course. Another organization that might be worth considering is the Servants of the Light (SOL), which was founded by Fortune's student W.E. Butler and teaches a system very closely derived from hers; it has lodges all over North America and Europe, and a very extensive correspondence course. I know a number of members and have worked with an SOL lodge in ritual, and can highly recommend the organization.

The decision, though, has to be yours. Have you considered doing tarot divinations on the subject?

[fluiddruid]

Greetings, John.

you mentioned before that magic is a way of moving away from the world. That had me scratch my head a few times. The context was that (you said) maybe some people aren't ready for magic and they want to move into the world rather than away from it.

Just to clarify, did you mean moving away from the world of humans? Not away from the world in general? Because where would that be, a place away from the world? I wouldn't want to move away from the world in general, the world is beautiful, however the human world is a mess. I wish I could be something more interesting than human.

[ecosophia]

I used that phrase as shorthand in a specific context, and yeah, taken out of context, it's kind of hard to understand. Basically, the point is that the first part of your life -- roughly from birth to somewhere in the early 20s -- your main focus should be coming to grips with the world into which you've been born: getting used to your body, interacting with family and friends, getting an education, starting the process of finding a career, and so on. It's "the world" in the sense that your attention needs to be outward, toward your surroundings.

After that, it's time to begin turning inward, and coming to grips with yourself. If you don't do that by the time you hit middle age, you get the classic midlife crisis -- which itself is simply a reflection of the basic process of ripening that will end in physical death. That's what I was talking about.

Egregor

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
In one of your comments (Post - “A Heathen Lesser Ritual Of The Pentagram”) you say:

“...That will also help build the egregor, so that when the book comes out, complete novices to magic will find a good solid egregor in place to guide and protect them while they work through the basics and get to the point where they can stand on their own two feet, magically speaking...”

A couple of comments before yours, somebody had suggested the book
“The Secret of the She-Bear by Marie Cachet” ( as a source for reincarnation in Heathenism).

I looked up the author and found she is married to Varg Vikernes, a Norwegian musician, blogger and writer of a series of books on Paganism but a controversial person having served 14 years in prison for murder (1994) and also convicted for inciting racial hatred against jews and muslims (2014).

My question is:

Could these pagans behaviours load the egregor with negative vibes?

Thank you.

Re: Egregor

[ecosophia]

Sure. The Heathen tradition has had to do a lot of work to distance itself from those corners of it that get mired in negative energies. Fortunately that's been fairly successful. Nearly all spiritual traditions have at least a little of this to deal with; it's simply one of the things you learn to cope with, and there are fairly straightforward ways to keep from being influenced by the negative energies so long as the tradition isn't completely corrupt.

[(Anonymous)]

You said the revival Druids came up with the concept of evolution before Darwin. How much detail did they go into and how close were they to how the theory turned out?

[ecosophia]

Well, remember that what Darwin worked out wasn't evolution, it was natural selection -- the process by which evolution takes place. The Druids of the Revival didn't anticipate that. In a variety of 18th and early 19th century writings, though, Druids argued that all life begins with single-celled organisms and proceeds from there through ever more complex forms. They didn't cover it in a lot of detail but the idea was there.

Sports and Games

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks again for this Magic Monday opportunity.

My question today is sparked a bit my interest in sports and Cuchulain. As the story goes, Setanta sets out down the road to his uncle's with a stick in hand hitting a ball and dart to make the travel seem faster. When he arrives in Ulster, he then wants to participate in the game of hurling with the other kids and because of this delaying him to the feast of Hulain, he later kills the hound guarding the premises and becomes known as Cuchulain. With this story in mind, I'm curious how games and sports may have any relation to the occult? To your knowledge, are there any games or activities which one can participate in to better help gain understanding and knowledge of the occult?

Thanks,
Prizm

Re: Sports and Games

[ecosophia]

That's one of those branches of occultism that got lost at the end of the Renaissance and hasn't yet been revived. The martial arts, Western as well as Eastern, are about the closest we've got at this point -- that, and the substantial overlap between old-fashioned strength training and occultism. Beyond that? You've got your work cut out for you.

Statue of Liberty connection to occult?

[slclaire]

Hello JMG,

Awhile ago in a Magic Monday post you answered a question about drawing the Sphere of Protection symbols by suggesting a trial with keeping one's fingers in place while reciting the words that go with each symbol. Having tried this, I have found that when I inscribe the circle for Spirit Above in the invoking form and recite the invocation I get a sense of the Statue of Liberty, with her right hand holding the torch corresponding to the solar current being invoked. I am wondering if that is coincidence or if you are aware of any connection to occultism its designer, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, may have had? Even if there isn't, he may have sensed something about what appears to me as the solar character of the US that he expressed in the form of the statue.

Re: Statue of Liberty connection to occult?

[ecosophia]

Bartholdi was a Freemason, at a time when French Freemasonry had extensive links to the occult, but that's as much as I know about him. On the other hand, whether or not he was an occultist, it's a powerful and evocative image, and if it works for you, by all means work with it.

Where to start?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

How do I figure out which one of the paths is the one more suitable for me? I'm just wondering where to start: Druid Magic Handbook, Celtic Golden Dawn or else?

Is there a divination or something I can do to get some guidance? I'm a complete newbie.

Many thanks!

Re: Where to start?

[ecosophia]

Read the books all the way through, and try to get a sense of which one appeals most to you. Remember that after you've finished the course of study in one, you can go back and do the other; remember also that ultimately it doesn't matter that much -- however you learn the basic skills of magic, the important thing is that you learn them. If it comes down to it and you just can't decide, flip a coin and go with the answer -- that'll be good training for the will.

Flex time and tarot

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG

I started the tri-element practice in April.
-Since few weeks I noticed that time sometimes seem to stretch, when I do something ordinary and somewhat assign a certain duration to it, then realize it isn't that late yet as I expected. This is unexpected as usually it was the other way around and I felt always short on time. This is quite welcome and pleasant. Unrelated or have you come across similar experience?
-Tarot: I ask daily of three cards " myself, situation, outcome". I noticed sometimes the "myself" seem to describe not me but my husband's day. I never ask of that. Is is possible or am I just reading it wrong?
-also Tarot: the cards build a story over several days it seems, particularly the ones on the ends, so the personal card builds a theme usually over 4-5 days, the outcome cards can go on for even longer. So I started to look at the pattern of a time band connecting the outer cards as well. Again, am I reading too much into obvious developing things or can I learn how to utilize that?
- my Tarot displays dark humor and even irony, or is it me projecting my own personality? I use Morgan-Greer, it's probably too abstract for a beginner but the art is very compelling.

Thank you as always!
Anne

Re: Flex time and tarot

[ecosophia]

Time factors are complicated in divination and magic, so what you're experiencing is pretty much normal. As for the tarot, remember that the cards tell you what they want to tell you, which may not be exactly what you want to know. The divination process is very much like a conversation with another person, and it's when that dimension of it develops that you know you're getting somewhere with the practice.

Meditation

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I was wondering if you have any tips for avoiding drowsiness in meditation. I often have to fit my daily meditation in shortly after waking or shortly before sleeping, and I frequently wind up drifting into sleep or half-sleep. Even when I don't completely fall into slumber the intrusion of hypnagogic imagery into my thoughts really impairs my concentration.

Thanks,
Fred N

Re: Meditation

[ecosophia]

That's a common problem in the early stages of meditation, and it's caused by your mind trying to weasel out of the hard work of meditating. It can help to make yourself a little physically uncomfortable. When I was learning to meditate and had trouble with that, it happened to be winter, we couldn't afford to heat the apartment beyond the minimum necessary to keep the pipes from freezing, and I habitually meditate seated on a folding metal chair. When sleepiness showed up, I'd simply strip naked and meditate that way, and the temperature did the trick. I didn't have to do it often, either -- aversive therapy really does work in some contexts.

Banishing ritual for someone

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

My partner has asked if I can perform a banishing ritual for her. She has her own practice (not Druidical) but wants some support as she thinks a bad spirit got into her through a dream last night.

Is that something that is a) possible for me to do?
And b) a wise/useful thing to do?

Would love your thinking on that? And if it is ok, what else would I add to the ritual given its for someone else?

Many thanks,
Edward

Re: Banishing ritual for someone

[ecosophia]

You can certainly do a banishing ritual for someone who asks for your help. As long as you have their consent, that's fine, and it's something I've done many times. You should have her sit in the middle of the space, so that you can do the banishing around her; have her face east, and stand just behind her when you do the opening and closing gestures, so that she benefits from the calling down of the energies.

Pick a Planet, Any Planet

[(Anonymous)]

I’m preparing to follow your advice, on the magical and material planes, to gather the funds necessary to move, and so - I hope - improve my situation.

As before, I mean to use the planetary magic in Regardie’s “The Art of True Healing.” Hence I must pick a planet to work with.

So far I’ve had unsuccessful outcomes with Mercury and Jupiter, due to mistakes on my part and for reasons relating to my horoscope, respectively. Venus will not serve; my chart makes this clear. Among benefics, that leaves the Sun.

My natal Sun is the best-placed planet in my chart. Regardie’s text seems to suggest this would be a suitable choice. In your opinion, is that the case?

I may return to the other planets eventually, but currently I don’t feel confident about working with them, given the foregoing history.

Kevin

Re: Pick a Planet, Any Planet

[ecosophia]

Give it a try. You might also look into other forms of magic, since so far you haven't had good results with that one...