Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Midnight is upon us 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 seventy-fifth published book, the sequel to The Witch of Criswell and thus the second Ariel Moravec occult mystery.  Once again, it's eighteen-year-old Ariel and her adept grandfather on the case, investigating the theft of a rare magical book and a trail of clues that might lead to a pirate treasure hidden somewhere in the odd old East Coast port town of Adocentyn. Ariel and Dr. Bernard Moravec aren't the only ones on the trail, though, and the others will stop at nothing to get there first...

In case you can't tell, yes, I'm having enormous fun with these. You can get a copy here if you're in the United States and here elsewhere. 

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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

Re: Great series.

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds good about South Adocentyn...

... and thank you for this spell. This is the kind of thing I was looking for. I have the income, but the outflow has been a bit heavier than I'd like and its been harder to save. Thanks so much!

JPM

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

[ecosophia]

You also might want to check out St. Patrick's Lorica, which is a Christian prayer of protection -- BoysMom cites her experience with it further down the page.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting! I was taught burial in the front yard to attract (because that’s the direction things enter your house from). I’ve heard back yard to disperse, or back yard to keep things close and secret (contradictory, I know). For negative work (if I did it) I wouldn’t bury in my own yard, just for things I worked for that have served their purpose. For anything I felt had negative energy I’d probably take it to the crossroads.

[ecosophia]

Well, what kind of magic do you know how to do?

Re: SOP with planets?

[ecosophia]

Yes. I know people who pray using the Orphic Hymns to the planets, who also invoke the planets in their SoP workings, and get good results.

[ecosophia]

This is one of the many reasons it's a good idea to practice a basic protective ritual, such as the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram or the Sphere of Protection, every day. Doing that will dispel such energies.

[ecosophia]

That's the claim made by Theosophy and related traditions. In the Druid teachings I follow, no, we don't go en masse -- we evolve one at a time, by our own personal efforts, and rise to other planes of consciousness as we earn the right to be there. Which version's right? We'll probably have to wait the few million years necessary to find out!

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

[open_space]

Of course! It has been interesting to see how the same phenomena (this current downward trend in the decline) manifests in two very different societies. I've been learning astrology from your patreon and a course I am taking with the Fraternity for two years now and I am really interested in seeing the ingress charts for mexico and comparing them with the ones you make for the US. I think the Wulmnath have made their lairs in some egregores and I want nothing to do with them. Physical distance is very important in my case because I tend to pick up things very fast --one of the downsides of having psychic tendencies, its good for learning, very bad for such scenarios. Not that I need that many reasons to step out of situations I dislike though.

By the way, regarding blessing a forest. I don’t expect one group is enough to bless the 1500 hectares that disappeared to the flames in a few days, but is the appropriate deity Hesus or Esus perhaps? He is the chief of tree spirits and corresponds with water after all.

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

[earthworm_uk]

Here is an adaptation, perhaps of use to those who do not follow a Christian tradition:
https://earthworm-uk.dreamwidth.org/

The framework opens itself to adaptation (of words) and also unfolds beyond simple prayer as the outline of a 'working'

Re: The Well and the Ancestors

[ecosophia]

Okay, first of all, remember that the hexagram was an ancient holy symbol long before it was picked up by the Zionists as their emblem, and it's been revered in many lands; it's one of the ways that Chinese Taoists, for example, symbolize the interplay of yin and yang. You might meditate on it until you can see it, not as an emblem of a political movement you dislike, but as a geometrical symbol with its own rich heritage of meaning unrelated to politics.

Second, Dion Fortune makes a crucial point in her book The Magical Battle of Britain -- you overcome evil magic by invoking a stronger good, not by descending to its level to fight it. That was the basis of her successful magical defense of Britain during the Second World War. (Notice that the other side, despite having a much more robust and government-funded occult branch, failed; that happened because they got mired in fighting what they hated instead of supporting what they loved.)

Third, and crucially, always remember that what you hate, you imitate. Keep your attention firmly on the gods and virtues you want to uphold, not on who you blame for this or that bad thing in the world. Bless the wells by all means, in the name of every appropriate deity, but don't do it to squabble with the Christians; do it to bless the wells. That way lies power and peace.

[ecosophia]

Yes, and in fact they were used for that very purpose for centuries in Greek and Hellenistic cultures, so they've still got a robust egregor along those lines that will help you out.

Re: American Spirits: The Famous Fox Sisters

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Fascinating. I'm delighted to hear this.

[ecosophia]

Depends on who you ask. The way I learned it, you only vibrate the divine names, but I know other people who also vibrate the archangelic names, and they also get good results. My advice? Experiment and decide which you like best.

[ecosophia]

He's using it in a grubby way, but it's a natural and normal process. When people focus all their attention on you, whether they do so out of love and admiration or hatred and loathing -- and love and hate are not that far apart, of course -- they're pouring out their energy toward you, and you'd have to be a complete turnip not to pick it up on some level. I discuss some of that in my book on polarity magic.

I'm not at all sure Tate was wise to admit the secret of his power in public, though. Now that he's done so, it wouldn't greatly surprise me if he suffered a sudden fall from grace...

[anonymoose_canadian]

You've trained me well: as soon as I say this, my first thought upon reading these was "Hold up. That's a binary!" Hmm. Well, one obvious way to make a ternary would be to note that our actions help and hinder others as well as ourselves; which means that those souls that advance faster make a path for others to follow; while those that fall behind can count on help from those further ahead. This maps out with Dion Fortune's tracks of space rather well....

I'm going to have to mediate on this, aren't I? ;)

[ecosophia]

1) The difference isn't much. Both dissolve etheric forms, though they do it in different ways.

2) Some people get much better results with one than with the other. If the LBRP and Middle Pillar work better for you, by all means use them!

3) You need to do some journaling and figure out why you remain obsessed with this person. Get a notebook and a pen, write the person's name at the top of the page, and then let yourself write whatever comes to mind. Don't edit or censor anything. Do this for fifteen minutes a day and let the bottled-up thoughts and feelings out; many of them may not have anything to do with the person in question, but will relate to unresolved issues from your past. Keep doing this until the emotional charge around the person has been released.

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

[anonymoose_canadian]

Even if you are an occultist, this can be a a great help; I've found that reading myths about the gods I worship before prayer helps a great deal with attuning myself to them.

Re: Meeting dead people in dreams

[ecosophia]

This isn't a field I've studied at all; I'm doing dreamwork these days, but it's a relatively new venture for me, and I haven't worked with the dead at all. Thus I'm not qualified to advise you. Anyone else?

[ecosophia]

You certainly can do so if you like!

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

[ecosophia]

Yes, Esus is the deity I'd invoke for that. As for the Wlmnath, they're infesting a lot of places these days!

Re: Meeting dead people in dreams

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you anyway!

Just for completeness sake, since both times happened at that weird time when one isn't really sleeping anymore, but also not awake yet either, I suspect this could also, or maybe even better, be cultivated as a 'daydream' practice, i.e. by going into a deeply relaxed state while being awake. Maybe somebody has (or you have, of course) any pointers about this, too.

Christian Banishing Ritual

[readoldthings]

Hi JMG and Commentariat,

In a comment above the issue of Christian protective magic came up, including the unwillingness of many modern Catholic priests to even provide house blessings for parishioners in need of spiritual support. On my substack blog I've begun the process of publishing versions of traditional magical rituals using Christian, and particularly Roman Catholic, symbolism. If you don't mind, I'd like to share the link to the pentagram ritual, which some here may find helpful. The ritual itself, with both banishing and invoking forms, can be found here:

https://sacramentalmagic.substack.com/p/christian-ceremonial-magic-the-pentagram

This is a revised version of the ritual. An earlier post, with slightly sloppier Latin, has a detailed discussion of the structure of the pentagram ritual, which some might find helpful:

https://sacramentalmagic.substack.com/p/christian-ceremonial-magic-part-1

(I should probably note: Like most traditional pentagram rituals, this includes four angels, with Uriel at the northern quarter. Since many Catholics are under the impression that they aren't allowed to invoke Uriel anymore, I should probably take a moment to point out that this isn't correct. There is at least one manual with the church imprimatur which provides prayers for the seven highest angels, written by Antonio del Duca in the 16th century and recently translated into English by Father Robert Nixon. Even more to the point, however, Uriel is invoked by name in the Byzantine rite within the Roman Catholic Church. If you could legitimately invoke Uriel at, say, the Church of Saint John Chrysostum in Pittsburgh, you can invoke him in your own living room.)

Re: Curses and priests

[readoldthings]

JMG got it right: The hierarchy at this point is thoroughly Modernist, and many are effectively atheists. They don't believe that sacramentals like house blessings actually do anything, so why bother? The laity go along with it out of force of habit; because, for many American families, the Catholic church is their last link to their culture of origin (Irish, Polish, etc); and because the only alternative is a "Traditionalist" movement whose tradition is actually Jansenism.

Divination Aptitude

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I saw you talk about learning divination with some other people and I recall you advised that for someone learning tarot it often takes a couple years before they start making draws that they can interpret in any sensible way. I've been using tarot for a bit over a year now and I started consistently getting meaningful draws a few weeks in and now for the vast majority of my draws I can easily see what they're indicating about the query. Only around 1 in 20 I'd say are "duds" that lack a clear meaning. It's been a great tool to steer through some sticky situations. Would you say my learning process has been unusually fast? Thanks.

[jenniferkobernik]

If you have a character flaw or harmful habit that seems to be related to an afflicted planet in your nativity, what approach have you found most useful:

1) strengthening the afflicted planet

2) propitiating the afflicting planet if there is one (for instance a malefic aspecting the planet in question)

3) pretty much ignoring the problematic planets and just working with the strong/dignified planets in your chart