Magic Monday

[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 sixty-ninth published book, and I'm annoyed to say it's currently out of print, even though it's been in print for only a little over two years; the original publisher, Llewellyn, dumped it a short time ago without warning or explanation even though there were still hundreds of copies in the warehouse, and the new publisher, Aeon, is waiting on my revisions and edits before bringing out a new edition.  There are still copies of the original version in the sales pipeline for the moment, but if you want a copy you'll either need to move fast or wait a year and a half or so. 

This started out as a sequel, more or less, to my earlier volume The Secret of the Temple. As so often happens, though, it spun away into unfamiliar territory, touching on the Gnostic origins of the Grail legend and the survival of the ritual at the center of that legend into relatively recent times. In the process I worked out the Greek gematria of the Grail stories, explored the fascinating history of a region on the border between England and Scotland that may have been the last surviving Pagan sanctuary in western Europe, and was able to draft a reconstruction of the original Grail ritual itself. It was a wild ride. My Bookshop store is out of copies and so are some other venues; if you want a copy, you'll have to see what you can find online or off. 

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

Comments

Other Solar Systems

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG! A few Magic Mondays ago, you wrote that the laws of physics were patterns laid down by the Lords of Flame.

This implies that the laws of physics are different in other solar systems that have different Solar Logoi and different minds emanating from them.


Moreover, what we see of the wider cosmos might just be the Solor Logos' conjecture on what those other star systems could be like from the limited information He recieves from those other Gods and therefore unreliable.

If so, what modern modern astronomy says about the universe beyond the solar system (i.e. earthlike exoplanets, stellar life cycles, the Big Bang, neutron stars, black holes, spiral galaxies, etc.) is not true or at least in doubt.

Patrick

Re: Other Solar Systems

[ecosophia]

Oh, it's worse than that. What we see of the wider cosmos is a set of inkblot patterns that scientists attempt to interpret on the assumption that the laws of nature are the same everywhere. That routinely lands them in all sorts of trouble -- when, for example, red shift measurements imply that distant galaxies are moving faster than light, or when it turns out there's no way to make measurements of cosmology fit into a single model. It's a real mess.

[(Anonymous)]

I wanted to ask about the emotion of hate. You have mentioned that your take is that hate is a distorted form of love, and is also a repressed emotion in our current society.

1. What is the purpose, if any, of hate in our evolution? Why does it exist as an emotion? One perspective I have read was that the utility of hate is to identity whatever we see as a long-term threat to ourselves. But I do not understand why, using your definition as the definition of hate, a form of love leading to imitation of that which one hates would be a useful reaction to anything that threatens our sense of security and/or identity. Disdain or disgust may be more useful emotions in such a situation, as such emotions serve generally to separate one’s self from that which triggers the disdain or disgust.

2. Why is the current zeitgeist of our society one that seeks to repress hate?

3. Is it hate specifically that is being repressed, or certain forms of anger, disdain and disgust? In my reading of the news, I would say, succinctly, that anger is repressed among young men in society today.

And one more unrelated question:

4. Is there a way to keep track of the times and transits of the planets over days without reference to a transit chart calculator? How was this accomplished in earlier times? I’m curious how I could keep track of planetary transits against my natal chart if, say, I was in an isolated location without computer access.

Thanks for your answers to learn from and muse over!

[ecosophia]

1) Hate is a normal, healthy human emotion; it's the natural response to a threat or rival on our own level -- as distinct from disdain or disgust, which is the natural response to a threat or rival we perceive as beneath us. Because the one we hate is on our level, we can learn from him, especially if he knows tricks we don't! Hate can change to love precisely because rivals can become allies and friends.

2) That's a complicated question. I think a lot of it is that the dominant classes of our society can't stand the thought that the people they abuse might hate them for it, and so put plenty of energy into encouraging their victims to embrace love and kindness and passivity instead.

3) At this point the whole range of negative emotions is tabooed, but note that every taboo has its exceptions! People are supposed to feel hate, disdain, disgust, and anger toward anyone who threatens the privilege of the dominant classes, such as a president I could name...

4) Good gods, yes. I do it myself the old-fashioned way every morning. You'll need an ephemeris -- a pamphlet showing the places of the planets at 24-hour intervals for a year. I use the Rosicrucian Ephemeris, which you can get here:

https://www.rosicrucian.com/bookstore/index.html#astro

Each morning, I look at the day's planetary positions and work out my transits -- it takes just a few minutes -- and note them down in a notebook. Back when I was learning, I looked up the meanings of each position in my copy of Llewellyn George's A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator, and then I was good for the day.

[(Anonymous)]

Happy Monday to you John,

I'm glad to read you're feeling chipper.

A few questions:

1. How much value or importance should concepts like the Absolute, Ein Soph, or the One have in the life of an occultist? Being allegedly impersonal and ineffable, prayer and meditation respectively would seem like futile methods of approaching the Absolute. Being the very ground of being itself, I would suspect that every thought, speech, and action of literally every single entity would partake equally in the Absolute, meaning that self-development efforts, while valuable for various other reasons, would make no difference in the relationship between It and the individual. Do these concepts have any practical relation to our work, or are they limited to just being a sort of philosophical underpinning of existence?

2. Could you please share a few of the ways that your thoughts on Cabala have changed over the years? I'm curious because I've read previously that were you to rewrite your book, Paths of Wisdom, there would be important changes made.

3. Are there alternative labels for the lunar current (other than aur & auric force)? Weird question, I know, but I'm trying to experiment with something.

4. Your Golden Section Fellowship book mentions od, ob, and aur/or as alternative titles for the solar, telluric, and lunar forces respectively. Where might I find these terms in the occult literature?

As always, thank you for hosting MM.

JR

[ecosophia]

1) Such concepts are philosophical underpinnings. Since the Absolute is beyond time and change, no, nothing you can do can affect it. (It already knows everything you will ever do, and did so before the cosmos came into being.)

2) That's a complex question. Fortunately I have a book coming out later this year that explains the whole thing. Stay tuned!

3) It has a vast number of terms and labels. Maybe you can be a little more specific so I can help you.

4) Old books on Cabala tend to reference them.

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

Do you have a preference among the various translations of Marcus Aurelius meditations?
A friend just got the Gregory Hays translation which has inspired me to get a copy. Sadly that's a paperback version and there's a nice hardback "modernised, up to date version of the classic George Long translation." But I'm suspicious of the modern take contaminating it.
Any recommendations?

I've also been receiving help from Thor in learning some life lessons that have been arranged for me. It's spurned me to start wearing a Mjǫllnir pendant. I'm wondering how other people have found he likes to be honoured or thanked. I don't drink alcohol which I suspect is a classic way. Would buying a nice cider for him and poring out a glass on the grass every now and again sound right?

I feel a need to selfishly ask if anyone would be able to share successes they've had in finding a good relationship with Aphrodite's help. I won't bore you with the details but the life lessons mentioned above involve patently waiting for an uncertain relationship outcome while anxiety calls for anything but patience. I have been asking her to "help me become the man who finds the woman who's right for me" for some years now. The message I'm getting at the moment is "let her come to you". Easier said than done.
Thanks to anyone who can offer companionship on that.

Sea spray

[ecosophia]

1) The one I've always used is George Long's, largely because it's in the set of Harvard Classics Sara brought to our marriage. I haven't read the others.

2) I've poured out whole bottles of good dark beer in his honor more than once!

3) There I can't help you, as I'm also between relationships.

Vitality

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

One of the things I’m currently struggling with is developing a strong will to improve myself and be more productive. I seem to lack a quality that one psychoanalytic writer I follow calls “vitality”. My life is currently stable and secure but I worry that might change if I don’t sort this out soon.

Do you have any practices, reading, or otherwise that you could recommend?

I’ll note that I have performed the Middle Pillar Exercise a couple of times, but I got a bit spooked at the strange sensations in my body that resulted. Nevertheless, I can resume that practice if you think it may help with this.

Re: Vitality

[ecosophia]

1) Start by doing some daily journaling with the following prompt: "Vitality scares me because..." Write down whatever comes to mind, unedited and uncensored. Vary this in whatever way seems useful, but keep doing it until you have a good idea of the emotional blockages that keep you from being vital.

2) Yes, it will help. Those "strange sensations"? Those are vital energy stirring in you.

Prayer ethics

[hedgerow]

Dear JMG,

I am a novitiate in the Gnostic Celtic Church and have been drawing inspiration from Caitlin Matthews' Celtic Devotional in my prayer practice. I have also worked through the Dolmen Arch system and The Occult Philosophy Workbook.

I resonate with the idea that every soul incarnates and experiences life circumstances necessary for its current stage of growth. On your recommendation to another commenter, I acquired a copy of Self Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization and have meditated through this text. I also resonate with Hall’s teaching that each person’s cross is fitted squarely to their own shoulders—and that if we considered the totality of another’s life experience, we would not trade places with them. However, alongside this understanding, I feel a spiritual yearning to offer prayers on behalf others, sometimes when request permission might not be possible.

I was meditating on this prayer from the Celtic Devotional:

"I remember all innocent victims of abuse, neglect, and violence, especially [...] May a father’s protection rescue them from danger. May a mother’s love heal them of their hurts. May the support of friends restore their confidence to live with joy."

I find myself questioning whether a prayer to the divine for somebody named or not to be rescued from danger is an interference with the necessary life experiences that person must undergo.

1. I have meditated on this quandary at length but remain at an impasse. May you offer some guidance?

2. I recall an earlier comment that life on earth swings from times of relative war to times of relative peace, and that memories of or hopes for a golden age are but descriptions of the periods when the pendulum is closest to the pole of peace. If I accept this concept, am I correct in thinking that my prayers for peace on earth are a valid and necessary contribution, albeit on an infinitesimally small scale, to the swing of this pendulum towards peace — and are therefore worthwhile and not futile?

In gratitude, Gavin.

Re: Prayer ethics

[ecosophia]

1) I'm not a fan of that Devotional for that reason among others. The Divine knows what each person needs; you and I do not. Nor is it ever ethical to pray for someone without their consent. If you want to pray for someone, and they have given permission for this, then by all means pray for them with all your might -- but this kind of prayer for entire categories of people seems arrogant to me.

2) Here again, I have a different view. Terrible as it is, war is sometimes necessary; pleasant as it is, peace is sometimes disastrous. Periods of prolonged peace in history are generally periods of increased repression and tyranny -- as the Taoist philosopher Chuang Tsu pointed out a very long time ago, tyrants love peace, since peace makes it much easier for them to hang on to what they've stolen. Once again, the Divine knows what the world needs; you and I do not.

There's a character in Dickens' Bleak House, Mrs. Jellaby, who spends all her time and energy on schemes to benefit the people of the distant African country of Borriobooli-gha, while her home, her family, and her community all suffer from neglect. It's a clever satire on a very common habit, and one that pervades our culture's ideas about spirituality in particular. "World peace" is an abstraction; it can also be a distraction; and taken as an abstraction, without qualification, it need not be a good thing at all. (A world beneath the heel of a powerful tyrant with efficient secret police would be a very, very peaceful place, after all!) Thus I recommend that you consider focusing your prayers and your blessings on the people, places, and communities you know, so that you can build peace and the other social virtues from the ground up.

[the_arcane_archivist]

I've seen people asking you about Tarot and AI, I actually tried it myself in order to learn more, the most card it gives you if you ask for random cards, are usually Tower, Devil, High Pristess, Hangman, the rarest are Temperance, Hermit and The Hierophant.

When trying them ChatGPT even refused to make an image of the Hierophant. Interesting because Hierophant represents tradition and Tower represent going away from tradition.

I have a question for JMG, is it possible that at this stage of civilization where we automated the transactions of abstractions. Make me think of a Vedic parallel or Wizardry parallel where incantation and spells into a functioning culture where replace by dry repetition of certain formulas just for money?

[ecosophia]

Yes, I see the current craze for automating everything (with large language models, the basis of so-called AI, as a great example) as an example of the collapse of meaning into the mindless repetition of formulas.

MOE Healer attunement; blessing offer

[milkyway1]

Good morning,

And I hope you had a good and enjoyable weekend.

This is just to remind people that I'm going to offer an MOE Healer attunement on Sunday, March 30th:

https://thehiddenthings.com/moe-healer-attunement-2025-03-30

There are two different times on offer, but I require at least one person to raise their hand for each of the two attunement times, or I will not perform them.

Also, I'm going to perform a formal blessing again this Wednesday, as I do each week. I would be grateful for signups, as this allows me to practice my blessing skills: :-)

https://thehiddenthings.com/categories/weekly-blessings

I hope everybody had a good start into the week,

Milkyway

Glastonbury

[hwistle]

Dear John,

Hoping that your UK visa is coming into manifestation smoothly and that there're no last minute hiccups in getting you to Glastonbury! I know it's early days yet but do you have an idea of what the program is going to be? Not so much in terms of the subject matter, but in terms of timings and kind of events: For example, are you planning to kickstart on Friday morning or evening? Saturday and Sunday morning and evening? Are we expecting mainly lectures or are you thinking also walks or meals? Trying to figure out my logistics for the trip.

Many thanks!

Re: Glastonbury

[ecosophia]

I'm glad to say that I got my Electronic Travel Authorization promptly and without the least difficulty. As for the schedule, the walk around Glastonbury on Friday will be after lunch, but I'll be there Thursday evening through Monday morning. There will be two lectures, probably Saturday and Sunday afternoon/early evening, but I also want to make plenty of time for Essene attunements, UGC ordinations, and just plain hanging out with people.

Astrology

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

I have ordered your book on mundane astrology and cant wait to get into it. I originally learned astrology from a person in the project hindsight crowd, heavily influenced by hellenistic astrology and using whole sign houses. The mundane charts using these techniques never made sense to me and dont seem to be able to predict much of anything. The natal charts of people seem to at least provide some useful information, but even that is quitea bit of guesswork. I understand that you use Placidus for mundane charts, would you do the same for a natal chart? If so, can you reccommend a good book for natal astrology using more precise techniques?
I have also heard you on podcasts mention elections for sending of a manuscript and other important activities, can you reccommend a good book on electional astrology?

/Fredrik

Re: Astrology

[ecosophia]

1) I don't have a lot of background in natal astrology, but I've studied the books by Alan Leo, which are all out of copyright and readily available, and Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson, which are harder to come by but very good. Yes, I use Placidus for all purposes these days.

2) Vivian Robson's Electional Astrology is helpful, but there isn't really a good book yet in print on using transits over your natal chart to elect times for practical purposes -- which is what I do. I'm about halfway finished with a book on that!

A ride from Bristol to Glastonbury

[guillem66]

Hi,

I'll be flying to Bristol from Spain to attend the convention on june, and i wad wondering if anyone can possibly pick me at Bristol?

It will greatly help me to cover those last 40km, without having to worry about finding the bus in an unfamiliar country.

I can contribute whatever amount is required to pay for the gas.

I can be contacted at my dreamwidht account, or at gmateoroca mailofgoogle.com (you know what mail i mean)

Thanks,

Guillem.

Re: A ride from Bristol to Glastonbury

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Guillem

I can put people in touch with each other via email if they are coming via Bristol airport so they can share taxis/cars if possible. I plan to email everyone on the list this week.

Bridge

Technophilia as a means to introduce ideas abou non-materialism

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning everyone,

I had a thought the other day that I thought I would share/ask about in the context of occult philosophy. I can't remember where I read the concept(maybe JMG's Cosmic Doctrine writings), but basically it was about how when cosmic cycles change, and a new way of thinking needs to be introduced to humanity, it will start just bubbling out all over the place. This got me thinking about the obsessions the world has had since the computing age, and whether this was a mechanism to get people thinking about there being more than just the material plane.

For example, the way the cybersphere is imaging in popular culture, as kind of an alternate dimension that people can journey to through their modems, seems akin to a concept of the astral plane. Or the obsession the last few years about AI and UFOs, as a means to introduce the idea of non-human intelligences. I'm thinking specifically about how there is persistent belief in parts of the UFO community that extraterrestrials have saved us from launching nukes at least once, but if you were to suggest that it was angels or higher plane entities, you'd probably get a lot of skepticism even from people with religious beliefs open to that.

I was just curious if this would make sense to people who are open to those ideas, or if I'm being crazy in this line of thinking.

One other thought I had since it's topical. I recently listened to a book of Celtic Mythology that included the Christian saints of Britain, and I guess I was not that familiar with St. Patrick, but it feels like half of his career was putting death curses on people. I would bet money that if you changed the names and details so it was about Baltazar the sorcerer of Marduk, many Christians would think he was a black wizard instead of a holy man. It was a good example of the relative nature of good and evil, death curses being acceptable depending on context for some people.

Re: Technophilia as a means to introduce ideas abou non-materialism

[ecosophia]

1) I don't think you're crazy at all. The last century has seen a lot of cracks open up in the walls of materialism, and the various tech-fantasies have been among the vehicles for that.

2) Celtic saints were like that! Yeah, a lot of "holy people" were holy only if you ignore what they did to the people who disagreed with them.

4 worlds in CGD

[(Anonymous)]

Celtic Golden Dawn

Hi John Michael Greer,

In the Celtic Golden Dawn, is there described and named in Welsh the four worlds, Atzilut, Beriah, Yezirah, and Asiyah?

Thank you,
JML

Re: 4 worlds in CGD

[ecosophia]

No, it uses a three-world system because that's part of Druid cosmology.

[(Anonymous)]

A kvell, a kvetch, and a question today, if you don't mind, JMG. The kvell is that I happened to be browsing Goodwill's online auction site, and found a copy of the Angel Tarot by Travis McHenry (!). It was a Buy Now at a great price so I snapped it up, and it arrived in practically new condition with all cards accounted for. It was a fantastic find!

The question is: I presume that deck was sent to me for a reason, so might you have some thoughts on using it? I practice the SoP and have experience with divination and natural magic, but up to now have not committed to ritual magic, though I am very open to the idea--I own and have read most of your books, including "Learning Ritual Magic" (Celtic Golden Dawn is right out, alas, because our landlord lives on the property and would have a nervous breakdown if I was using fire for spagyrics 🔥😁🔥). Of course, being a divination deck I could just ask it, I suppose...

The kvetch is that I have an elderly friend I've known for about 30 years; she's of Scandinavian descent and very much an old-school rationalist atheist (although get her on the subject of Pres Trump and she's an irrational diabolist, but that's another matter...). It's stuck in her head that Heathens are all r@cist neoN@zis, so yesterday I was trying once again to educate her about modern Heathenry, when she suddenly gave me a funny look and asked, "Do you actually take the Norse Gods seriously?" Mind, when we met I'd already been Dianic Wiccan for a decade, for 4 years I commuted 270 miles one way every other month for ritual training, I've been wearing head coverings for my patron deity for several years, I'm always wearing religious jewelry, and I regularly criticize media/the SF community for disrespect to the Gods. So I said, "Yes, I very much take Them seriously and consider myself *religious*," which seemed to stun her. Mainly this incident is a sad comment on the quality of that friendship, but it also drove home how far polytheism has to go to garner respect as a real religious option. I am so grateful that you wrote "World Full of Gods," so that if she does pursue the conversation, I have an excellent resource at hand!

--Sister Crow

[ecosophia]

1) I'd definitely recommend asking the deck! Each oracle deck I've worked with has had its own very clear ideas about how I should use it, and for what.

2) Yeah, I've encountered that. Rationalist atheism is a religion; it worships Man, and insists with Old Testament fervor that thou shalt have no other gods before Him. Some atheists are fairly mellow about non-Biblical religions, since the god of the Bible is the one they mostly disbelieve in, but if they realize that you actually believe in any deity and aren't simply engaging in dress-up games, no question, they get freaky.

Q

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG,

Couple of questions for you:

1) Will you share more about hieros gamos? A lot of the stuff online about it speaks only in generalities.

Is it the same thing or distinct from what is referred to as the union of male and female?


2) I tried to ask this last week but I guess it didn't get posted:
How do the sephiroths on the tree of life interact with the archetypes?

I understand archetypes to be more internal psychic reflections of the noetic objects, but are these noetic objects the same or contained with the sephiroths? for example, when the self archetype fully activates, its a type of activation of tipereth, a union of the higher and lower self? Would it be correct to say that tipereth is thus activating itself through the archetype of the self (which goes from the mental body to the neurological level of the body)?

Re: Q

[ecosophia]

1) Depends on what you mean by that phrase -- it has multiple meanings. Perhaps you can explain.

2) The archetypes, as I understand them, are reflections of the sephiroth in the microcosm of human consciousness. What Jung called the activation of the archetype of the Self is a reflection of Tiphareth in one person's consciousness. Beyond that we can't really say much, since noetic objects, sephiroth, and archetypes all transcend the descriptive capacities of language!

Kundalini awakening or plain old menopause?

[(Anonymous)]

Has anyone here experienced (what gets called) Kundalini Awakening, and is that what this is? I just had a weird night. My sleep hasn't been great since I started going through The Change a few years ago (I'm 56), but last night my insomnia just felt ridiculous, with some akathisia thrown in for good measure (I tapered off antidepressants a couple years ago, but still have occasional attacks of akathisia).

So I finally got out of bed around 1:30am to go and sit zazen in the front room--something I do when my insomnia is particularly bad. (Note: I've been practicing both yoga and zen meditation for about 20 years, but very irregularly. I trained at an Aikido dojo {Ki-Aikido, aka Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido} for about 3 years back in the late noughts, and sat zazen more regularly then.)

For the first 45 minutes everything was its usual nutball zazen experience: I sat quietly and observed, while my brain behaved like a circus of monkeys trying to reenact the Muppet Show. In other words, my usual experience. Eventually my brain quieted down. But then the akathisia came back. I've never struggled with akathisia during zazen before, so this was new. I decided to quietly observe these intense urges to move, which started coming on waves, a few a minute.

Then the waves turned into an intense energy pulse that flared about every 10 seconds, emanating from my sacral/pelvic region. It was uncomfortable, but I was able to remain still and observe the pulses. Over the next 10-15 minutes they seemed to migrate up my spine until I could feel them all through me, from my thighs up through my neck.

These were nothing like the hot flashes I occasionally get. They initially felt like my old SSRI-induced akathisia attacks, but turned into something different that I can't quite describe. I found myself praying out loud (I describe myself as a heterodox Christian who reads weird books). Then I felt an urge to put music on, which I never do when I'm sitting zazen. I found a YouTube channel with singing bowls and resonant full natural tones, amplified and sustained -- not something I would ordinarily listen to, but last night I felt like I craved it, needed it, even.

I continued like this for another twenty minutes before finally feeling like I needed to stop and go back to bed. Then I slept for two hours, woke up groggy, dressed and went to work. Thank God the boss is working remotely today and I'm mostly alone in the office. Gah. I feel like something significant happened last night (although I'm not sure I want a repeat).

Anyone have any insight?

Re: Kundalini awakening or plain old menopause?

[ecosophia]

It's quite common for women going through menopause to have kundalini effects. Once the sexual energies are no longer directed to the womb center for potential reproduction, they're free to go elsewhere, and straight up the spine is one natural route. Yes, what you went through sounds like one of the forms of kundalini experience, and since it resolved naturally you're probably going to be fine. If you can get a full body massage sometime soon that will help make sure none of the energy gets stuck anywhere in your body; other than that, plenty of rest and nourishing meals will help. It may or may not happen again; if it does, prayer and meditation are good responses.

Non-religious discursive meditation

[(Anonymous)]

Does discursive meditation have to be on a religious or spiritual theme? I naturally "meditate" on all sorts of things (problems I'm dealing with, projects I'm working on, etc.) when I go on walks or as I lie in bed and I'm wondering about adding some discipline to this by starting a formal discursive meditation practice. I don't have a spiritual practice, though (and don't feel called to find one at this point), but would still like to develop my intellect with this technique, if that's possible.

Re: Non-religious discursive meditation

[ecosophia]

You can use discursive meditation on any subject you like. Have fun!

Sloth and its Consequences

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I was wondering whether in your experience the dangers of lax cleansing and banishing become greater with magical attunement. I've been working on my practice for over a year now with near-daily sessions of meditation and banishing and I find that skipping days feels unpleasant while skipping a week can bring on significant unease and bad luck. Does magical practice and the attentive etheric and astral sensitivity attract more nasties than an average person does? Thanks.

Re: Sloth and its Consequences

[ecosophia]

Yes, very much so. It's partly that you'll attract more nasty energy, but partly that you're awake and will perceive the nasty energy more clearly.

The Ceremony of the Grail

[yogaandthetarot]

Good Day JMG!
No question but just wanted to comment that The Ceremony of the Grail was, I believe, the first book of yours I’d read. I have a friend who is mad for “all things Grail” and as we often read esoteric tomes together, she suggested this one. I can’t wait to re-read it (don’t have it with me currently) so thanks for reminder (and for EVERYTHING you’ve richly provided in my life) the two years later since that great discovery of your work.
Best to you and all
Jill C

Re: The Ceremony of the Grail

[ecosophia]

You're welcome and thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Were tuning forks used in older occultism?

[ecosophia]

Yes, by those schools that used chanting on specific notes for occult purposes.

[isaac_hill]

Back from 5 weeks in India studying Jyotish, puja and getting deeper into those esoteric currents. I came back with books recommended by my teachers, and finding a whole new world of authors such as Arthur Avalon/Sir John Woodroffe and Mark Dyckowski(who unfortunately passed away this winter - just before I got to Varanasi, though I'm studying with a student of his). I'm wondering if you've been aware of them and if there's cross pollination with Western esotericism through those lines? Reading Sir John Woodroffe, a contemporary of Dion Fortune, I see so many parallels.

[ecosophia]

Arthur Avalon? Good heavens, yes. Everyone who was seriously into the Western occult scene in Fortune's time read Woodroffe. I wasn't familiar Mark Dyczkowski, but he seems worth reading.

Modern Order of Essenes Healings

[kylec]

If you would like to sign up to receive healing hands this week, please reply here or PM me. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to practice.

For those who haven't heard of it, this is a spiritual healing modality from the Modern Order of Essenes. It is free and requires no action on your part other than being receptive to healing in whatever form that may take in your life. Have a lovely Magic Monday.

Re: Modern Order of Essenes Healings

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Kyle,

Yes, please and thank you!

Matt

[thinking_turtle]

To share, for those who wonder what DIY, CGD or GW mean, a list of abbreviations used on Ecosophia. I'm also tracking the little capsule summaries of books.

[tamanous2020]

Hi JMG,

Not a question but a request this time around. My brother's australian shepherd dog, Scarlet, recently got out of surgery and the prognosis isn't great. They found enlarged lymph nodes throughout her mesentery and she's lost a very significant amount of weight. We have her on meds but any prayers by you/the community for her health, recovery, and reinterest in food (to regain weight) would be greatly appreciated.

[ecosophia]

Positive energy en route!

DMH Wheel of Life

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious about the Wheel of Life in the DMH, with its symbols and paths and Ogham associations. It occurred to me that the 8fold Wheel of the Year was developed in the mid-20th century, so the Wheel of Life can't be older than that. (Or can it?) Are the symbols (crown, circle of candles, etc.) and the Ogham paths your own work, or do they have some other source?

Also I have a comment... or maybe a question... about geomancy. To have a simple practice I can do quickly, I've tried casting a single figure every day, the way people may pull a tarot card for the day. I only started this 3 days ago, and every day so far I've thrown Puer. I'm not angry or reckless, and have no current issues of love or war. That is, the figure doesn't seem to reflect anything about my day. So maybe this is just not a good use of geomancy... Do you think using one figure this way is a poor idea?

Thanks, I appreciate your time.

Re: DMH Wheel of Life

[ecosophia]

1) I invented it in the 1990s, so it's certainly not older than the eightfold wheel!

2) You're getting a very clear, specific reading: "You're trying to rush things, and you don't have enough experience to do that in a useful way." That's one of the things Puer can mean! I recommend casting all four figures, generating the shield chart, and then interpreting the witnesses and judge. That doesn't take too long...