ecosophia | Magic Monday

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Magic Monday

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 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!***

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I really like all three so far. You know, writers get rich by keeping a series going for decades. Take counsel from your greed and our pleasure pretty please with sugar on top?

Scarlet Slithy Gerbil

Thank you! I've got plenty more in process -- the fourth, The House of the Crows, is at the publisher already and will be out this coming fall, the fifth, The Sign of the Phoenix, is a little over 3/4 done right now -- I worked out a tricky scene this evening; the sixth and seventh, The Greater Key and The Marble Sphinx, are in outline with chunks of prose, and the eighth, which I haven't named yet, is in outline. Nor will that be the last -- Ariel's story is still very much picking up speed, with new story arcs coming into the picture as I go. There's quite a bit still to learn about Theophilus Cray's backstory, for example, and those curious letters from the Heptasophic Order are setting the stage for something interesting...

I have some items in my possession that I’ve realized carry a negative energy for my present circumstances. I was considering selling them, but I understand that if I really want to remove the energy and qualities these items represent from my life, there’s natural magic tricks that are stronger. I have tried burying the items in my front yard as a means to release the energy from my life. I appreciate your advice on if that was an appropriate method.

Yes, that's quite traditional in hoodoo -- you bury it in the front yard so that the energy will disperse. Generally speaking, burying something will draw the energy from it, since the earth composts etheric as well as material substances.

Dear JMG, what is your take on the current astral/etheric disturbance, as in, do you think it's landed fully on the physical plane. I am certainly noticing some odd behaviour in people, almost as if they are disconnected from reality, and a lot more of the blue screen of death stare in response to anything other than rote or routine activities. I feel myself a vague anxiety or foreboding, although, as I've ramped up practices (SoP) since the beginning of the year, it seems to be largely occuring around me, as if I'm in an odd sort of bubble that's harder to penetrate. Negativity doesn't seem to land as easily on me.

But that's just my take. I'd be interested in knowing yours, and other readers?

Hi JMG,

My to-the-point question: Is there a history of elocution as a form of magical training/practice?

It’s dawned on me, after having watched a lot of British television shows via PBS in my youth, then eventually VHS tapes, DVDs, and now video on demand, that I often feel soothed (disarmed/pacified?) when listening to particular British accents, and certain British actors and actresses in particular.

I have listened to British audio recordings of royal biographies, many spy thrillers, various short stories and novels, as well as a Trollope novel that I have no interest in, and still I am soothed when I’m listening. I’m guessing I’d come under the same effect with an autopsy report and a crochet book.

This, plus my amusement that the British Royal Family seem to have an unusually large fanbase in countries that gained independence from their Empire, has led me to grossly speculate that the Received Pronunciation accent/elocution of the British Empire’s ruling class was a deliberate and conscious magical practice.

I have a similar feeling/attitude with the RP-related Transatlantic Accent.

I often wonder if a politician whose views I disagree with would get more persuasive traction with me if he or she spoke like FDR or Orson Welles.

Thoughts? :-)

-Eugene

What I've seen suggests that it's well into the astral, quite possibly hitting the middle astral now. On the one hand, that means that many people are responding even more in that weirdly mechanical way we've discussed in this journal, with "blue screen of death" reactions becoming more common; on the other, as the uppermost parts of the astral begin to clear, people and groups that are more aligned with the spiritual side of things seem to be coming out from under a cloud. The next thing to watch for is sudden odd disease outbreaks, especially those that seem to involve a sudden collapse of health in large numbers of people; that's one way things could work out on the etheric plane.

The SoP really does help, doesn't it? I really do recommend a daily protective ritual for everyone as a basic necessity during times like these.

That's a fascinating question to which I don't have an answer. I've never encountered anything suggesting the conscious practice of elocution as part of a system of magic, but secret traditions tend to be, well, secret...

Another fan here.

When I was a kid, I loved the Trixie Belden series, I have no idea what happened to all those books...

There were 38 in the series, can you match that?

We will see!

Regards
Helen in Oz

Who has now gone down the rabbit hole of growing leafy greens with hydroponics, thanks to our esteemed host!

☺️☺️

I have no idea how long the series will go; 38 might be difficult due to simple issues of longevity, as my attempts to make the philosopher's stone haven't gotten far, but I think there will certainly be rather more than a dozen. We will indeed see. Glad to hear you're having fun with hydroponics, too.

I have been banishing twice a day for a few weeks now, otherwise I feel angry for no reason related to myself. It might be a local thing, mexicans are pretty angry at trump for some reason I can't understand. Well, the guy is a jerk with us in commentary, granted. But is he really a terrible man for, you know, enforcing the law? I will never wrap my head around at someone really trying to demand rights when entering a country illegally and then being offended for being kicked out; or being angry at someone putting tariffs in their own country. Anyway, so yeah, banishing distances me from that and other aspects of the astral.

In my experience it is still trickling down to the material and at least were I live, its manifesting as more than usual brutal violence and forest fires. A lot of blessing work is being done but damn, things do feel like they are coming apart in big chunks and most of what I can do is see the splash. I am fortunate to be far away from the thick of it; it doesn't seem to be slowing down yet to me.

This is more of a data point than anything else, though if y'all have ideas . . .

I have a devout Catholic friend who has been enough of a public figure to attract some hostile attention in politics and arts. My friend has been incrediably ill for some years now (definitely not CoVax: very much finds that using products developed or tested with fetal stem cells is being complicit in murder). Today my friend found out another close friend and professional associate had been badly burned in a housefire a few days ago. A couple others from the group have also had events . . . "once is bad luck, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action."

Now, a couple months ago my friend and my friend's spouse were woken on a clear, stary night by their housecats throwing a hissy-fit (five housecats, large hissy) at their sliding glass door, while their surveillence camera insisted there was something there. Then the cats ran and hid. There was nothing visible to the human eye, but the surveillence camera footage shows what appears to be a driving blizzard. Again, clear starlit night to the eye. The storm vanished at the pre-dawn twilight.

I urged them to get their house blessed by their priest at that time, and they said their priests did not believe in doing that sort of thing as it encourages superstition.

Today my friend connected the dots and asked if I thought someone might have cursed this group of associates. I said that I was certain that some of their adversaries had tried. Scratch half a dozen politically active arts folks and you'll find at least one who will attempt such folly, after all.

St. Patrick's Lorica, prayed by a larger group of friends on the hour, helps quite a lot, and we spread the hours among us. When we started it was to help the child of these friends deal with a hostile professor, and the child became effectively invisible to the professor at that point. The intent was that the child know that the child had support. The result was surprising and completely unexpected. I can highly recommend this discipline and prayer. We chose this prayer because our types of Christians are very different, and some find prayers addressing saints or angels to be idolatrous. St. Patrick's Lorica met the essential religious requirements for all participants while not violating anyone's principles.

However, what is up with Catholic priests refusing to do house blessings? Is this not a contender for most absurd thing of the year? They wouldn't even do blessed chalk! A priest who is not prepared to do house blessings or give his parishoners the tools for it, seems to me (not a Catholic) to be failing in his trust.

BoysMom

Oh there might be other ways of achieving longevity. Dion Fortunes efforts with The Moon Priestess come to mind.

Hmm, yes, yes it is. I see a lot of resignation in doing what the system tells them they should be doing. The whole society feels like it is forcefully frozen into a 2023 state. I do not see overt blue screen signs, but the low key resignation adds up.
It is like a sinister fog and I can second the feeling of anxiety and foreboding, it is trough the roof.

jmg
I have had good results with SoP, prayer and MoE practices in bracing myself in this times. It gives me a feeling of being a bit removed from the madness.
But what can one do for others like close friends and relatives, partners, who are not themselves performing, or are even interested in performing banishing rituals, devotions or such. Most of them are not even in the know that I do them, either out of interest or for occult reasons.

Best regards,
V

Dear Mr Greer,

I'm going on a trip of a few weeks and I was wondering if there was a simple working I could do to protect my home against theft, break-ins and other calamities.

Thanks in advance!

Thank you, I will put extra power into my SoP. I also wonder too that the more people who do the SoP means a stronger egregore attached to it. I can't imagine it'll ever get as string as the LBRP, but a bit stronger would be nice.

Would the Sphere of Protection work, adapted to the seven planetary spirits?
"teal malodorous oroborous"

Hello JMG,

Someone in my housing block (close to me) committed suicide in his house. It is someone I don't know we'll. I feel that it might have left bad energy. It is now some weeks ago. What can I do to cleanse the environment? My house and maybe other surrounding. I am not sure I can get into his house.

Greetings

(Not the OP) What happens if you bury them in the back yard instead? Does that bring any connotations of hiding something or it doesn't matter, since it's the burial itself that does the trick?

Thanks!

Dear JMG and commenters,
Have a good start to the week, everyone!

Do you think we will simply leave this planet to head to another planet or another spiritual plane together, as if we were a swarm of souls?

JMG Thanks for all you do. I have a question about symbolism, but first a pre-amble.
I am 60 this year a late convert to a magical view. The first magic book I read was " The Druid Magic Handbook" I am a practicing Folkish Odinist running a small hearth in Glastonbury,but I also follow many aspects of your type of Druidism. A particular focus for me is ancestor veneration.
I live in a beautiful part of England the Cotswolds. Locally in and around the surrounding villages and towns, it's still a high trust society and still mainly unspoiled.
I have been protecting the local area with enchantment rituals for 8 years or so, things like being against housing developments and keeping natural areas natural. recently thought I would go to the head springs of the local rivers and streams and drop into them talismanic Crystals to aid this purpose.
My main ritual site is in some woods overlooking an ancient lake, both my parents ashes were scattered here and also of other relatives and faithful pets. Across the valley is the local church the site of my Grandparents resting place.
I should have realised that the springs feeding this lake are the Bisley Wells. The wells were reconstructed in the 1860's and every year since they have held a procession to the well by the school and locals on ascension day. A fine looking traditional event of which i approve, loads of picture online, google "Bisley Gloucestershire dressing of the wells".
My world view is Zionism in all it's forms causes many of the world's ills .Looking at last years photos, the female priest wearing a rainbow sash/scarf thing well I'm not Christian so.. But the children make floral symbols and letters as they always have, the words ascension the letters AD and two Stars of Davids, as far as I am concerned Zionism's symbol. So the questions I have are 1. How is this Star symbol affecting the unaware people. It's obviously affecting me.
How can I transmute my perceived negative feeling that I feel are flowing into "my" ancestral lake. Should I just bless the Wells beforehand and afterwards? maybe on behalf of Aqua Solus or Nerthus or a counter symbol of some sort either something unobtrusive at the wells, or closer to the lake. Any thoughts?
Cealin.

I'd like to add a few observations - I don't really know if they relate to this - do they?

1) Breakdown of old structures - Starting in late spring / early summer last year, many old structures finally broke down. This covered a wide range of things from chicken-keeping to old friendships. We were forced to restart and reinvent, sometimes almost from scratch. Some attempts failed, but most things are slowly picking up steam again.

2) Coming out from under a cloud - yes, maybe. Sometimes it can be described as standing on a hill watching the mists pooling in the valleys below. It becomes increasingly clear (to me, at least), how thin the layer of rationality that is crusted over something different really is for many people - which might become a source for a lot of confusion and turmoil in the time ahead, even more than it already is. This perception comes with a sense of pity and compassion, but also fear.

3) A singular, but weird perception - I have a not-quite visual sense which might perceive on the astral and/or etheric plane. Sometimes, especially before falling asleep this occasionally turns fully visual. A few days ago I "saw" something like a very brief, but very intense flash while standing in full sunlight in a quiet environment. Startling.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Nachtgurke

Anon: 'I am certainly noticing some odd behaviour in people'
Yes - odd behaviour like people are distracted or something - like they are in a holding pattern and not quite functioning in the world.

"I feel myself a vague anxiety or foreboding"
A feeling that 'something' is 'in process' has been coming and going for a while but has picked up just recently - but that might just be me looking at the state of the world.

Usually I do meditation practices first thing in the morning, but this morning I woke from a deep sleep and was surprised to find myself already working/practising; accompanied with a very (very) strong feeling of the importance of doing so.

JMG: "seem to be coming out from under a cloud"
Practices have been getting increasingly strong and almost like taking on a life of their own. This morning particularly so where it seemed my waking self was picking up on and continuing something but I'm not exactly sure what!

If coming out from under a cloud includes changes in and intensity of work, then yes (but not in the form of sunny happy clappy weather); this started towards the end of last year and has picked up speed in the last month or so. However, it has been going on at the same time as having a strange sort of 'disconnected from the world feeling' myself - it feels fine and I'd just put it down to the some of the practices I've been doing... but this morning was definitely something new and made a big enough impression that my first words to the missus were "It's really important to do stuff' (where 'stuff' is whatever internal/spiritual practices one might have).

Edited (clarity) 2025-04-28 11:17 (UTC)

Im just finishing up "The Witch of Criswell" and I had so much fun reading it, I ordered the other two. I have to thank you-- I haven't been into fiction since the 90's when I would pull books from my father's "Dragonlance" collection :)

Bene Gesserit - The Voice?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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Magic Monday

Great series.

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Etheric / astral disturbances

A query on particular accents/elocution

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Re: Great series.

Re: Great series.

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Curses and priests

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SOP with planets?

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The Well and the Ancestors

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

Re: Etheric / astral disturbances

Re: Great series.

Re: A query on particular accents/elocution