Magic Monday
Mar. 2nd, 2025 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
Midnight is just a few minutes away 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-eighty published book, and -- like some of the other things I've written -- it landed me in a certain amount of hot water. I noticed, not long after I started doing the kind of intermediate astrology that involves tracking transits of planets across natal chart positions, that most of the resulting predictions worked very well, but that those involving Pluto didn't. I then noticed that political and economic predictions involving Pluto -- not mine, in this case -- also flopped spectacularly. That launched me into a research project that convinced me that Pluto is in fact not a planet, but that it functioned like one in birth charts and mundane charts during the short period while astronomers mistook it for one. That led me to write The Twilight of Pluto, which talks about the complex way that planetary discoveries and downgradings relate to astrological prediction.
The reason this got me into hot water is that Pluto has a huge astrological fan club. It's weird; no other planet has that kind of frankly addictive emotional hold on people. No other planet sees people make one false prediction after based on its movements, and just keep on doing it, without ever noticing that they're making fools of themselves. I didn't get into that in this book, but Pluto fans took offense anyway because I dissed their favorite planet. The book's sales have been slow, though a remarkable number of people seem to know about it. I still think it makes a valid case, I don't use Pluto in my political astrology...and, ahem, my predictions are more accurate than those who do. If you're interested, you can get copies here in the US and at your favorite book outlet 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 all next week!***
Re: Glamour or something like that?
Date: 2025-03-03 11:03 pm (UTC)Re: The Body’s Four Elements
Date: 2025-03-03 11:08 pm (UTC)First, the "rainbow body", or the transformation of the body at death, is a feature not only of certain sorts of Buddhism, but also Taoism. Of the several sorts of Taoist immortals, some leave nothing behind except nails, hair, and perhaps a kind of film or residue). And not all Vajrayana/Dzogchen rainbow body transformations are absolute: in some cases the body is greatly diminished or otherwise transformed. It also seems to exist in certain Indian subcontinent traditions.
Analogous to this are the products of what might be called "holy suicide" or "attainment suicide", in which practitioners will adopt a regimen that will gradually embalm their bodies while they are alive, with the result that their cadavers are lighter, incorruptible, and so on. This is documented at least in Taoist contexts in China, and in certain Buddhist contexts in Japan. No doubt other examples exist. Certainly some of the Taoist mineral elixirs can give this result. Yogic suicide is also documented in Indian/tantric contexts -- from the more gross (throwing oneself off a cliff) to the more subtle (meditative dissolution of the energetic structure of the body).
There is at least some indication that the "rainbow body" or "light body" cultural complex came into central Asia, and thus into Tibet and points east, in connection with the spread Nestorian and Manichaean influence -- see Francis V. Tiso's Rainbow Body and Resurrection: Spiritual Attainment, the Dissolution of the Material Body, and the Case of Khenpo A Chö. Tisot provides an erudite survey of the history, and suggests, not at all mischievously, that the first documented case of this transformation is widely celebrated in a holiday coming up in about a month.
By now there are a scad of books and other items about rainbow body practices, and teachers of the same, to which one needs to apply what is sometimes called "the first virtue of the path" -- discrimination, or critical evaluation.
LeGrand Cinq-Mars
Re: Aphantasia
Date: 2025-03-03 11:10 pm (UTC)Re: Cultivation of Virtues in Western Occultism
Date: 2025-03-03 11:13 pm (UTC)Re: The Body’s Four Elements
Date: 2025-03-03 11:17 pm (UTC)1. My old guru was an example of someone who was uniquely himself, no matter what was happening or whomever else was around him. Sort of like Gurdjieff attesting that a person treading the path has to go against the grain of the world, “against God”.
2. In my own system, the etheric body is attached to the organ of the mind (Sanskrit “manas”), and it is the intellectual center and body that we lack, but need to develop. — I have been noticing more and more often that individual people in society subtly influence each other on an etheric/mental plane. My current task has been to remain myself, emotionally/intellectually/spiritually, amongst the inner influences around me.
3. I would assume that, as the above writer says, we should create as positive a mental sphere around us as we can.
Universal Gnostic Anthology
Date: 2025-03-03 11:18 pm (UTC)Maybe Magic Monday isn't the best place to post this question, but when you sought suggestions for the Universal Gnostic Anthology, did you end up getting the replies/suggestions you were hoping for?
Re: Ecosophia Prayer List
Date: 2025-03-03 11:21 pm (UTC)May Jennifer’s newborn daughter Eleanor be blessed with optimal growth and development, and may her tongue tie surgery be smooth and successful with a full recovery.
Thank you! And thank you again to all who prayed for us during pregnancy.
Re: Glamour or something like that?
Date: 2025-03-03 11:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-03-03 11:39 pm (UTC)Re: Universal Gnostic Anthology
Date: 2025-03-03 11:42 pm (UTC)Re: Ceres and Romanticism
Date: 2025-03-03 11:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-03-03 11:54 pm (UTC)Is it just me or have questions about the advisability of dealing with demons gotten more frequent lately?
That could be a bad sign (more people being tempted to deal with demons) but it could also be a good sign (people are hesitating before they just jump in).
Re: Q
Date: 2025-03-03 11:54 pm (UTC)So, people who have NDEs and report visions that are presumed to be of the afterlife (aka astral plane) often talk about green fields, flowers, etc. Presumably these are not the souls of grasses hanging about, but artificial simulacra -- set design, so to speak, for what those people would find a good "wish fulfillment dream" to use Dion Fortune's term. But PETS seen there, on the other hand, are developed enough to have an astral form so it really is good ol' Fluffy and not the astral equivalent of a robo-pet. Is that right?
Re: Cultivation of Virtues in Western Occultism
Date: 2025-03-04 12:01 am (UTC)Re: Blocked energy centers
Date: 2025-03-04 12:01 am (UTC)(I have been studying Desda Zuckerman's more complex schema in Your Sacred Anatomy, which seems to me promising, but I can't say that I've yet grokked it.)
SDPM
(no subject)
Date: 2025-03-04 12:02 am (UTC)Thank you for your answer regarding the question which school or group of works are complementary to The Way of the Golden Section in terms of learning magic.
You recommended The Druid Magic Handbook. Could you point to other schools compatible with The Way of the Golden Section?
As always, thanks for your help!
Re: The subconscious/The Shadow
Date: 2025-03-04 12:23 am (UTC)I see that it is a reasonable price for used copies, I still get sticker shock at how expensive it is for used copies of some of the books I see referenced on here.
Wrt 2) I guess I am still misunderstanding the roles of the elements in some of this work. I would have thought that Fire would help lift the hidden stuff into a more conscious statebif I am overindulging in self-reflection, but I guess that is backwards. The volatile elements represent the parts of manifestation that are closest to the Unmanifest, ie the parts of the mind closeat to the unconscious?
Re: The subconscious/The Shadow
Date: 2025-03-04 12:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-03-04 12:34 am (UTC)Re: The Body’s Four Elements
Date: 2025-03-04 12:35 am (UTC)I'm given to understand that deities are safer to do that kind of cultivation with than a concept like "positive" is, but I'm not sure how to relate to that thought.
... That reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask about something the Charismatic Christian Agnes Sanford reported in her autobiography "Sealed Orders", about four different incidents where someone involved in Spiritualist mediumism unexpectedly died shortly after she prayed with them or for them. Guessing from the Christian-inflected explanation she relayed, in the terminology I see around here, it would maybe have something to do with how badly solar/telluric conflicts tend to go in a "state of nature", or maybe with how low-grade the chthonic powers associated with Spiritualism tended to be (at least at the time toward the end of the movement, around 1930-1950). However, the passage is several pages long and it would take a while to condense it into a single comment to ask about that in more detail. But it was a category of situations where bringing in more of a generally-speaking good divine influence actually made things at least superficially much worse.
Re: The subconscious/The Shadow
Date: 2025-03-04 12:37 am (UTC)I've been trying to practice a form of your advice in 1) related to myself since I noticed this pattern, namely, that when I start getting in trouble I isolate myself, so I've been trying to consciously engage with humanity, but this is still so recent I am not sure about results. I will look at this resources though. I especially like the sound of that book you mention, as I suspect that much like many men of the last couple generations I have insecurities about my masculinity.(well, I know I have insecurities, can't speak for anyone else).
Wrt 3) I am hoping to complete my CGD Ovate initiation within a couple weeks, and I imagine there will be more of that material in the next grade, so maybe I can experiment more.
4) I would say my problem is the exact opposite. I am far too prone to lapse into inaction via getting stuck in imagined scenarios, and I have always loved baths, probably too much if I'm honest. In thinking about it, it is out of character in some ways, as I am Aquarian by horoscope so Airy in many ways, but baths are my secret pleasure. Somehow I repress the emotional stuff anyway.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Geoff
Re: Q
Date: 2025-03-04 12:38 am (UTC)2) The vegetation seen in astral experiences isn't a collection of simulacra -- it's how minds used to material forms experience certain of the simpler entities of the astral plane. They're not plants, but we perceive them that way because they have the same vibe. Fluffy, though, has a well-developed astral body -- most human pets are mammals or birds, which are the bodies for highly evolved animal souls, and some have evolved the first trace of a mental sheath, which means that when they next incarnate they'll enter the bodies of humans, porpoises, or one of the few other animal forms that are transitional to the next level up. So if you treated Fluffy as a person, and noticed that she seemed to be "almost human" and could understand some words, you bet you'll meet her on the astral...and the two of you may well be born into the same family, or otherwise come into close and affectionate contact, when you reincarnate.
Female Occultists
Date: 2025-03-04 12:38 am (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: Ceres and Romanticism
Date: 2025-03-04 12:39 am (UTC)1. Jupiter itself (to whom I believe Europa is tidally locked)
2. The Sun and the three other Galilean moons
3. The other true planets
4. The other Jovian moons
5. Dwarf planets
6. Asteroids etc.
Re: Upper Planes and Flames
Date: 2025-03-04 12:39 am (UTC)Ron M