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-eighth published book and nineteenth novel, a stand-alone (so far) tale set in 2095 or so. You could call it cli-fi (the current cute label for climate change fiction) if you like, or deindustrial SF; I'd call it a deindustrial noir Shinto science fiction spy thriller with Gnostic overtones. Jerry Shimizu, the two-fisted, gun-toting, half-Japanese tough guy who narrates the story, and the world in which he lives are interesting enough, at least to me, that he may get a sequel...but we'll see.  If you're interested, you can get copies here in the US 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!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

There's a prepper concept in vogue at the moment of having a 'war cupboard'. (Personally I feel it's a missed opportunity for calling it a war cabinet) The idea of which is to have the all of your patrol equipment and logistics staged and ready to go at a moment's notice. Do you think it would it be a good idea to include a small shrine to Mars or another God/dess of War in this concept, or is that simply guaranteeing that the cupboard will be needed?

[ecosophia]

It should definitely be a war cabinet, and a statue of Winston Churchill wouldn't be amiss. ;-) Having a deity of war -- well, that depends on the deity. Mars would be a good choice, because he's as much a guardian as a raider. Some others? Not so much. If you want a classical deity, though, the one who comes first to my mind is Athena, a war goddess but also a goddess of intelligence and protection.

Wierdness this Saturday and Sunday...

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, JMG, for hosting this space!

This Saturday night and the first two thirds of Sunday, I felt massively off-- very cranky, brain foggy, and almost sick. Sunday morning it literally felt like I was under attack. Sunday late afternoon I ate a carnitas burrito (i.e. red meat) and worked on my chinese herbs page, and the crankiness sailed away to be replaced by my usual, much better mood.

Did anybody else notice something over this weekend, or was it just me/my local environment?

Thanks!

Re: Wierdness this Saturday and Sunday...

[ecosophia]

Interesting. I was out of town this weekend, and put the somewhat rough time I had down to the strain of teaching a fairly advanced class.

[the_arcane_archivist]

I was wondering for a long time and keep forgetting to ask:

Are there any books that show how to draw an astrological chart, birth chart etc without a computer, I suppose there is some serious algebra involved, you need some tables, trigonometric table, for coordinates etc...

Thank you,

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, yes. Every book on astrology published before 2000 or so has those instructions in it. Fortunately you don't need to know the spherical trigonometry; if you get an ephemeris (a book with the positions of the planets on each day) and a book of astrological tables, basic math is all you need.

[jenniferkobernik]

JMG,

Is there a reliable book of natural magic correspondences you would recommend in addition to yours?

[ecosophia]

I wish I knew of one. Anyone else?

SoP and ToL

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

I was wondering if there is a direct relationship between the SoP and the ToL or is it just a coincidence that the SoP has 10 slots/spaces to for divine names/qualities?

Re: SoP and ToL

[ecosophia]

John Gilbert never mentioned any such relationship to me. That doesn't mean there isn't one -- just that it wasn't part of the teachings I received.

A Data point, and a question

[(Anonymous)]

A while back you said that your impression of Trump and Musk was that (especially with the latter's Pepe-posting) Musk seems to have taken on the mantle of "The Changer", while Trump seemed to be in the early stages of channeling a different archetype.

The data point I have to offer is this: While, for years, "Trump = Hitler" seemed to be the national anthem of the deranged would-be resistance, a great deal of that energy seems to now be directed at Elon Musk. I hear about his alleged Nazi Party Membership almost as much as I hear about Trump, at least from the portion of that scene where I can have my ear to the ground. So, that much seems to be bearing out.

My question: What Archetype do you believe is now being channeled by Trump? Personally, I hope that it is some sovereign spirit of America that will get us pointed in a better direction, but I am trying not to let that cloud my vision!

Thanks again for all of these.

Re: A Data point, and a question

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. I recently had to socialize with a bunch of “woke” academics and they mentioned their seething hatred of Elon Musk several times, but completely ignored/never mentioned Trump at all. It felt notable. They did not even speak Trump’s name. I thought it was odd and notable.

non-human spirits in human form

[xcalibur_djs]

Last week, there was a rather fascinating comment to the effect that not all humans have human souls, and that there may have possibly been an influx of alien etheric beings into human incarnation, and this is the reason for all the religious cults and artistic expressions communicating the idea that "we don't belong here, our home is in the stars". Not only that, but there's a conjunction which is finally allowing them to take the cosmic bus back from earth, and this will be a significant change, since these beings have been mingling with us for a few thousand years or so.

In addition to this, I remember an earlier comment somewhere that various other entities can incarnate as humans, which is not limited to the alien swarm above.

So I'm wondering, what sort of non-human entities can incarnate in human bodies? Elementals, trickster spirits maybe? Other stuff? Presumably not demons, since they're locked out of reincarnation due to screwing up so severely that they ran out of second chances. I assume also that the fey/fair folk can't be human since they're on a different path than us, I believe. Also, any specific reason why this happens? Too many human bodies to be filled? Their own intentions, devious or not?

I don't mean to overload you, these are just prompts for the sort of knowledge I'm after.

Also, if this is true, it would explain why some people have a sort of inhuman quality to them. Ppl joke about Zuckerberg being an android, and that's one example, but there's also a certain prominent politician who comes across ice-cold and without conscience (on the left, not the right; I'm not worried about that western gov't, but don't want to cause issues, since you said you plan to visit). Donald Trump, ftr, is fully human, and possibly the reincarnation of King Henry the VIII, but that's just wild speculation on my part. Ppl have also speculated that Trump is the return of General Patton, given their similarities and the proximity of their lives.

That was going off on a tangent, but as always, I'm interested in all relevant details.

Re: non-human spirits in human form

[ecosophia]

Traditionally it's possible for nonhuman souls to enter into human incarnation in various ways. Elementals do this more often than others, but sometimes souls from the fairy realms do this, and sometimes it happens with beings from further off -- for example, planetary spirits. Demons become incarnate very rarely, but it does happen. None of these tend to live long.

As to why it happens, there are a great many reasons why it can happen: glitches in the system of incarnation, basically. As far as I can tell, it's not more common during periods of high human population -- that normally causes a lot of animal souls who would become human eventually to end up in human bodies prematurely, which is why periods of high population are also periods of greater than usual human stupidity and mass-mindedness.

The vision I described last week is a different matter. The souls in question came en masse something like six thousand years ago, and were able to make the necessary changes to allow them to incarnate in human bodies in the normal way. They came because they thought they could accomplish something here that they couldn't do in their world, or anywhere else on the sixth Cosmic plane; they failed, and since then, yeah, they've wanted to return home.

As for Zuckerberg et al., I don't think they belong to the class of spirits I have in mind. I'm guessing that they're a more ordinary class of nonhumans, which explains their lack of human feeling and their inability to relate to the needs of other human beings.

Sea and salt air

[(Anonymous)]

I know you've mentioned this before. I noticed my myopic eyes feel better at the sea, as of course does everything else generally. Aside from obvious benefits, is there a good source of occult lore on sea air, water, and time spent there? Thank you, Celadon

Re: Sea and salt air

[ecosophia]

I don't know of any detailed discussion of this, alas. All that salt spray, though, tends to cleanse the ethers -- the process of crystallization absorbs dense etheric patterns, so salt water splashed into the air scrubs the etheric atmosphere clean. (Holy water works in part by the same process.) So that's one factor.

Augury

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I don't know how much of an expert you are on augury, but I will ask anyway.

About 4 years ago, I started a new job and a day after starting, a crow arrived on the fire escape staircase on the outside of the building near to my desk and started cawing loudly and tapping on the glass door. After speaking to other colleagues, this had apparently never happened before. The crow was there for an hour or so every day for about the next week, then came back every couple of months for a few days over the course of those 4 years.

Fast-forward to April this year, and a day after I have received an offer for another job, there is a European buzzard (I'm in the UK, so a buzzard is a big hawk-like bird of prey, not a vulture) sat on the fire escape instead. Again, the buzzard sat out there for about an hour (long enough for me to take a photo through the glass fire escape door as evidence) and left. Then, on my final day at the company a month later, which also happened to be the day that a round of mass redundancies (also known as lay-offs in the US) was announced, the buzzard was back again for an hour.

I also had a blue tit fly into our conservatory room at home the day after I'd finished working there (I helped it escape again).

This is all clearly a series of omens, but I may be a bit thick when it comes to augury and have no idea what it all means, so could you or anyone else explain what the likely significance is and whether there's anything I should heed from this?

I should point out that I'm actually quite a fan of crows (and also hawks/other birds of prey, as well as blue tits), so none of the birds have any obvious negative association for me. We also had (presumably a different) buzzard perching on a fence post at the end of our garden not long after we moved into our house about 5 years ago as well, and a magpie flew into the conservatory about the same time then as well.

Thanks for any advice/assistance.

Re: Augury

[ecosophia]

Augury isn't a subject I've studied at all, so all I can say is, "Wow. That's fascinating."

Anyone else?

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, Mr.Greer!

In the past you've mentioned that people suffering from heart disease and/or high blood pressure should refrain from learning and practicing ceremonial magic and energy work. With the necessary caveat of not being professional medical advice, would you call advanced parts of John Gilbert's system safe for someone with one of those conditions? Or, if not, can you recommend a comprehensive system of occult training that avoids the potentially dangerous practices?

[ecosophia]

John's teachings avoid all the dangerous stuff -- like many other classic occult teachers (Manly P. Hall is another that comes to mind), he focused on the gradual awakening of wisdom rather than the more risky pyrotechnic stuff. You should have no trouble with his teachings.

[(Anonymous)]

Thinking about the visionary experience you mentioned last week, I remembered a song I heard from Sinead O'Connor which had strange lyrics. I think the song is about more than just suicidal ideation.

You know I'm not from this place
I'm from a different time, different space
And it's real uncomfortable
To be stuck somewhere you just don't belong

It can be heard here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8jjudZBWSI

She also died 2 years ago at the age of 56. I wonder if the covid vaccine will lead to the massive die off you mentioned over the coming years. I guess time will tell. If the ones that die from it were from this other planet, then I suppose you could say there was a purpose to the MRNA vaccines after all, apart from making tons of money for Big Pharma.

[ecosophia]

That sense of being a stranger in an unfamiliar world has been fairly common over the last few millennia. I doubt the vaccine dieoff will be that selective, but those whose souls are from this world's evolutionary track will reincarnate here; if the vision has any least scrap of truth to it, those who aren't, may not.

High magic in the age of steam

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG

I recently bought an interesting book titled “High magic in the age of steam” by Jeffrey S. Kupperman. It is essentially an introduction to Victorian-era occultism and a manual for applying it to the creation of steampunk characters and worlds. I was just browsing it, and discovered that it cites you as a source.

https://www.crossedcrowbooks.com/shop-crossed-crow-books/p/high-magic-in-the-age-of-steam

J.L.Mc12

Re: High magic in the age of steam

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Delighted to hear it -- not least because real magic makes better fiction than Bertie Scrubb schlock...

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you mentioned a vision that said a lot of souls will be leaving human existence in the near future. Do you think part of why so many people seem utterly indifferent to the long term consequences of their actions is that at some level these souls know they are about to leave? It would make an uncomfortable amount of sense of why so many people seem almost eager to ruin our world: after 6,000 years their about to be free, and so they can finally take out all their rage about this without needing to worry about the next life...

[ecosophia]

That seems quite plausible. Of course they'll take their karma with them, and they'll also be returning to a world that's been through 6000 years of changes of which they know nothing, so it's going to be a rough ride anyway...

ICYMI: Call of the Old Gods (Christopher McIntosh)

[(Anonymous)]

Inner Traditions has just published The Call of the Old Gods: My Occult Journey on the Pagan Path by Christopher McIntosh., who has written extensively on western esotericism.

There was a time when McIntosh believed that a spiritual path should fulfill four centers: the soul, the mind, the heart, and the belly. He later discovered, however, that there was a fifth component to this mystical equation: the feet. The land on which we stand and to which we feel a profound relatedness is the key to wholeness and inner peace. These subtle but significant realizations about connection to the land and nature inspired McIntosh and ultimately led to his following of what he calls "the Fivefold Path." He also recounts pivotal meetings with Pagan luminaries and important figures from esoteric scholarship, the arts, and the occult renaissance of the twentieth century, including Colin Wilson, Joscelyn Godwin, Keith Critchlow, and Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, as well as offers an evolving portrait of the occult scene of the late twentieth century.

LeGrand

Re: ICYMI: Call of the Old Gods (Christopher McIntosh)

[ecosophia]

Delighted to hear that it's out! McIntosh and I discussed this a while back in a podcast; I expect it to be a heck of a read.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

A.E. Waite founded the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, but was that before or after he started the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn? I wanted to see the chronology and how the rituals in the book Complete Rosicrucian Initiations of the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross compare to the tradition passed down from John Gilbert

[ecosophia]

It's a little complex. The Holy Order of the Golden Dawn was Waite's first GD offshoot, founded immediately after the original GD blew itself to smithereens in 1902; the FRC was his second version, much revised, and was founded in 1915. Juliet Ashley, though, apparently got a charter for the Holy Order from him in 1939. I've received the first five degrees of the FRC -- it's still a living tradition -- and the rituals are very different, but there are important common elements: for example, in each elemental grade of the FRC, as in John Gilbert's system, the new initiate is installed as one of the officers of the temple.

ICYMI 2: un-deracination

[(Anonymous)]

May of us have long been aware of the way in which what came to be regarded as "occult" and "suppressed knowledge" in the 18th and 19th and 20th centuries was actually pretty much everyday stuff in the Medieval world. I suppose that a significant part of the revival associated with Eliphas Levi had to do not only with his connections with Polish and other refugee circles in Paris, but also with his library work, and his access to obscure texts through his involvement with Migne's Patrologia Latina (now available at archive.org).

Sasha Chaitow, at her Substack site, has been discussing even more precise and extensive material in the Greek cultural sphere, especially with respect to the early Solomonic tradition, and the continuation of the proper pronunciation of the PGM voces magicae of the Papyri Graecae Magicae within the tradition of Greek Orthodox liturgical chanting. There's too much to summarize, but at https://thyrathen.substack.com/p/solomonic-magic-and-astrology-in she touches on such things as the planetary hours as canonical hours, and at https://thyrathen.substack.com/p/how-to-pronounce-the-voces-magicae she touches on some liturgical matters. And then there are the folk traditions.

Needless to say, to assess or pursue this line of inquiry one would ideally have the training of an Orthodox scholar-cleric, and personal roots in the world of Greek folk culture. I suppose there are few Orthodox clerics who would care to pursue the subject, and even fewer who would care to be known as caring about the subject. But to the extent that her inquiries bear fruit, they make a good case that there is far less discontinuity between the Classical, Hellenistic, Christian, and esoteric-magical traditions than people are used to assuming.

LeGrand

Re: ICYMI 2: un-deracination

[ecosophia]

Fascinating. I didn't know that Chaitow was into that; the last time I caught up with her work, she was still mostly promoting her take on the Sar Peladan.

Breaking the spell of the Internet

[(Anonymous)]

This year, I broke a 20-year habit of surfing the Internet on work time, which caused me a lot of anxiety and guilt, so I'm repeating the steps that helped here:

1. I started a daily meditation practice (doesn't have to be huge amounts)
2. I put up a picture of Minerva's face in my cubicle so she's watching me at work. (I've been praying to her for some time.)
3. I quietly offered each day to Her as an offering at the beginning of the work day.
4. I found a 'substitute' activity for the anxiety and boredom that drove me to the Internet - pulling up a work-related document onto the screen and staring at it for a bit. This resulted in me getting back to work much more quickly than a 'quick Internet break'.
5. I bought myself a small treat (book or wine) at the end of each week that I succeeded.

It's not easy to break an Internet habit in an office environment, so good luck to everyone else out there with the same issue.

Re: Breaking the spell of the Internet

[ecosophia]

Congrats, and ave Minerva! Thank you for posting this.

Astral overlap?

[(Anonymous)]

In the last few years, I've experienced an odd phenomenon where I have an idea or statement in my head, and a few seconds later someone near me will say it out loud. It started with my husband but has recently occurred with family as well. I understand that this might be me picking up ideas in the astral around me, so if this is correct, what can I do with it now? Thank you for your time.

Re: Astral overlap?

[ecosophia]

Don't "do" anything with it. It's a sign of ripening psychism, and if you simply let that process unfold naturally, it will awaken you to a much wider world.

Pet Soul

[timhackman1]

Hi JMG,

I recently lost my dog. I know this topic has come up before but what happens to the soul of a pet? Do animals proceed along a evolutionary pathway like humans?

Will I see him again, perhaps in a different form?

Thank you for your work.

Re: Pet Soul

[ecosophia]

First, please accept my condolences. I know how difficult that can be.

Animals belong to the same evolutionary pathway and swarm of souls as humans. We're just a little ahead of them -- and in the case of animals as intelligent and sensitive as dogs, the gap isn't much. One of the benefits that animals can receive from companionship with human beings, in fact, is that if they're close to making the leap to our level, our presence and company can jumpstart the process by a kind of induction. Thus you may very well see your friend again -- and next time he may be in a human body.

[jenniferkobernik]

JMG, I think I recall you saying something amounting to the idea that having a full-time class of people (basically monks/nuns) praying constantly helps remediate a society’s collective karma. Why does it have that effect?

[ecosophia]

By putting out positive influences to balance out all the negative influences being produced by others. Many monastics also practice austerities; these are among other things ways to take on some of the painful consequences of collective karma and work them out in controlled way.

[jenniferkobernik]

Have you seen any indications that a group lodge of the Golden Section might be working its way toward manifestation any time soon?

[ecosophia]

I wish. No, all I've heard so far is of individuals -- a fair number of them -- working with the system. If there are ever three other people in southern New England who qualify for the Golden Section temple work, by completing the relevant portions of The Way of the Four Elements, I'll make room in my schedule to start a temple on the spot.

[(Anonymous)]

I have shared a few thoughts related to your vision but I want to ask something I've been wondering about since last week: is there a way for a soul that crossed over to stay? I have a strong intuitive sense your vision is accurate, that I am one of the souls that crossed over, and that I will be better off if I stay. I know I will be fighting some pretty powerful forces, but do you have advice here? My current plan is prayer and to try to learn some pretty heavy duty magic and see if what I need is in there. I know this may not even be possible, but I know with every fiber of my being I need to try, and if you have any suggestions I would really appreciate them.

[ecosophia]

I don't know. First, I want to reiterate that I have no idea if that vision should be taken literally, or metaphorically, or with a wry chuckle at best. Second, what I saw didn't cover that. The sense I had was of the souls that crossed over fleeing back home with cries of tremendous longing and relief; whether there would be any constraint for those who didn't want to return wasn't addressed by anything I experienced.

beginning DMH

[(Anonymous)]

I'm beginning work through the path of the Druid Magic Handbook. In the sphere of protection, I'm wondering how I should think about mixing deities.

I'm interested in working with the druid revival deities at some point, but i feel like I don't know them yet, and I have a strong working relationship with several others. Mostly greco-roman because the amount of information has helped me understand them with more nuance. I also am an esoteric christian, and using Christ as spirit within has an appeal.

Does it help keep balance if deities are somewhat from the same pantheon? At least in the different segments, like same pantheon for the cross, same pantheon for the main elements, same pantheon for the spirit?

I think I see a few options and if you would give your opinions on them I would appreciate it.


a) Maybe I should just use the SoP as an introduction to druid revival deities? (Side note: do you have any resources to suggest for more lore on them?)

b) Or maybe I can put deities I have an existing connection to in where they're appropriate, and use the druid ones for the rest?

c) go all greco roman to maintain balance and see if druid deities speak to me to switch later as I go through my druid training.

Re: beginning DMH

[ecosophia]

I would recommend using deities from a single pantheon for now. Once you know the SoP thoroughly and have practiced it for a couple of years, you can experiment with mixing pantheons. As for which pantheon to use, have you considered divination? That's the traditional way to settle such questions.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

Does your book on polarity magic contain exercises for the solo practitioner? I am single, male, and have long been interested in the possibility of channeling unused sexual energies and desires into constructive channels, but haven't had a clue where to begin.

Thank you

[ecosophia]

No, it's specifically a book for partner work. There's an exercise on page 44 of this book that might be useful to you, however.

https://archive.org/details/rosicrucianmanua00plum/page/44/mode/2up

Last question!

[jenniferkobernik]

In your Geomancy book, Hasmodai is listed as being friends with Taphthartharath, but Taphthartharath is listed as being enemies with Hasmodai. This seems to be the only asymmetrical friends/enemies pairing. Typo, or is the enmity one-sided? Thank you!

Re: Last question!

[ecosophia]

That's what the sources I used at the time said. For what it's worth, Cornelius Agrippa gives those two as mutual enemies.