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 not be put through.  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 eighty-first published book, the third entry in my series of occult detective novels starring eighteen-year-old Ariel Moravec and her adept grandfather Dr. Bernard Moravec. As I think I mentioned here already, I didn't intend these to be young-adult novels -- I simply wanted a protagonist who was in a good situation to begin occult training, and had plenty of entertaining problems of her own. Nonetheless I was delighted a while back to hear from a reader whose young daughter, a fan of these novels, has begun calling them "Nancy Druid stories." 

In this third installment, Ariel and her grandfather are caught up in a mystery surrounding a strange artifact from pre-Roman Italy, a bronze plaque with wolves and an inset moon of carnelian. The Heydonian Institution wants it for their collection of ancient magical items, but somebody else is after it, too -- and circumstantial evidence suggests that the somebody in question might just run on all fours and bay at the moon on certain nights. As Ariel researches the truth behind the old myth of the werewolf she hurtles toward a dangerous confrontation on the night of the full moon...

Copies? You can get them here if you're in the US and here elsewhere. Owoo! 

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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 post is now closed, and no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

JMG, i just wanted to post this and ask if this would affect the atmospheric energies, and if so would doing the SOP or other methods of clearing help with it?
it does look pretty ominous to me!

https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/satellite-streaks-block-out-canadian-skies-space-photo-of-the-day-for-june-20-2025

[ecosophia]

No worries. Bits of junk fall into the Earth's atmosphere all the time -- most of them are natural junk left over from the creation of the solar system, i.e., meteors, but many of those are made of metal, you know. It's not an issue.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
I wouldn't normally trouble you for advice on readings, but this is ... odd.
I'm in communication with the tax authorities in the country where I live, and they answered a question of mine (not very clearly) adding that if I wanted to send them a couple of extra pieces of information, I was welcome to do so. I was wondering if it was worth the effort, so I cast (on-line) a Geomancy Oracle, with the question "supposing I reply will that be of value?"
The reading was 1st witness Rubeus, 2nd witness Albus and Judge Conjunctio, with Conjunctio also as Reconciler. Weirdly, of the remaining tiles of the shield, 9 were Populous, and all the rest were Rubeus or Albus. The Oracle is clearly trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what. Grateful for any views.

[ecosophia]

Don't do it! Rubeus and Albus together means that there's some kind of trap and you're much too innocent to see it.

[(Anonymous)]

How do you recommend disposing of the salt and nails from the etheric cleanser (the jar kind for a room)? Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Dispose of the salt by turning on the cold water in your sink and washing the salt down the drain with it. Dispose of the nails by burying them, preferably close to a road or path.

Athena devotional resources?

[(Anonymous)]

For some time now I've felt a calling towards Athena. I've done a little research on how to interact with her and the Hellenic deities but I have no idea where to begin. I was raised without religion so I have no real framework for a religious/devotional practice (I've never regularly prayed, for example) so all of this is quite new to me. I've been thinking on this for years now though, and after some divination indicated it would be a good idea, and an unrelated long work trip to Athens next month presented itself, I decided it was time.

Can you recommend some resources for engaging with the Hellenic deities, especially Athena? So far I plan to visit the Erechtheion and chant the Orphic hymm to Athena on my trip to Athens but beyond that I am lost.

Re: Athena devotional resources?

[ecosophia]

Get a statue of the goddess and make a little shrine -- this can be as simple as a nice cloth across the top of a small bookshelf or what have you, with the statue on top of it. Get an incense burner and some incense -- stick frankincense is good. When you want to pray to her, burn some incense, repeat the Orphic hymn to Athena, talk to her as you would to an older and wiser friend, and then clear your mind and listen for a while. It really is that simple.

Earth Elementals

[scottyc]

The recent Glastonbury tour has inspired me to write a short fictional story that may, or may not see the light of day and this brings me to ask anyone here that has worked with earth elementals to describe or summarize your interactions with them. The only experience I have is summoning the earth as part of the daily SOP.

Re: Earth Elementals

[ecosophia]

They really are earthy: placid, stubborn, unsentimental, unyielding. Imagine that a boulder opened a pair of stony eyes, considered you, and then decided to say something.

[lukedodson]

Hi JMG,

I have a somewhat non-magical question this week, if I may, which I have saved since the lively Q&A on the Sunday of the Convention, as the session wrapped up just beforehand.

As regards writing fiction, my stumbling block is this: I am often quite capable of coming up with an interesting setting or backdrop for a story, but the actual meat of the story - the plot and characters - seems to evade me. Characters emerge as half-formed, hazy fragments of myself rather than tangible *characters*, and as for plots... well, forget about it. I have tried plotting out the arc of a story before writing, and just ended up staring at a blank page.

Do you have any suggestions for unclogging this block?

Many thanks,
Luke

you need a protagonist with a problem

[mskrieger]

Hi Luke,

Obviously I'm not JMG, but I'm a professional writer, and the best advice I can give you is this: every story starts with a protagonist with a problem. The meat of the story is how the protagonist tries to solve that problem, fails, fails again, and finally succeeds.

Some examples...

Moby Dick: Captain Ahab was injured by the White Whale and seeks revenge.

Ivanhoe: Ivanhoe must rescue Rebecca from the Templars and redeem his good name.

Star Wars: Luke must save the Galaxy from Darth Vader and find his real family. (Many good stories have both an exterior problem--saving the Galaxy in this case--and an interior problem--here, finding his family.)

A great setting and background help to shape the kinds of situations the protagonist find him- or herself in, but the driving force of the story is the problem and the protagonist's efforts to solve it.

I hope this helps, and good luck to you.

--Ms. Krieger

The Mystery of Roy Jay

[xcalibur_djs]

There's been a strange occurrence -- the appearance of a minor comedian from the 70s/80s, who seemingly hasn't existed until recently. I'll port in the official summary from /x/ (redacted to keep Magic Monday PG-13):

"
A speedy disco roydown on the situation so far:
>An anon posts a thread on April 4, 2025, titled "this is a demon writing itself retroactively into pop culture history", with an image of a man in pajamas
>The OP explains that "you'll remember him from your childhoods soon enough"
>Anons begin searching for Roy Jay, but no Wikipedia page is found, no image results, nothing
>Within a couple of days, Roy Jay content flooded the internet and anons began finding increasingly older references to Roy Jay
>He suddenly has a Wikipedia page, photos, TV spots, albums, and even a Facebook fan page
>Much of the content is bizarre: stories range from Roy {redacted}, to deep frying a slipper while working a food van (and {redacted})
>Replies to Roy's content online seem overwhelmingly fake: odd profiles of dubiously real people all claiming to have known Roy personally
>An anon bought and provided photos of a vinyl and news clipping, both (potentially) proving Roy Jay's past existence upon this earth
>A different anon emailed the crematorium where Roy's funeral was supposedly held, only to be told there is no record of Roy Jay's funeral there
>Many new photos have emerged on Roy's Facebook page, despite not being there when investigations started weeks ago
>A YouTuber named "Grayy Man" released a video briefly explaining the current circumstances, only to be bombarded by more NPC profiles claiming to have known Roy
>the content continues to grow, with more evidence of Roy's existence popping up every day
"

So there you have it. Personally, he would've been before my time if he was real, but I've consumed loads of content, and surfed the seven seas of the internet, yet I never came across a single trace of this dude until all this happened. I can also confirm that there's youtube comments from a decade ago from supposed fans, and they all seem rather fake. As the summary mentions, others distinctly recall not finding anything on him, then seeing all this backdated content just materialize somehow.

So, what's your take on this phenomenon? Is this really an entity, demonic or otherwise, retroactively writing itself into the timeline? Did he exist, but was censored until recently? Is he a giant AI-generated hoax?

Whatever Roy Jay was, would it be hypothetically possible for an entity to alter history in this fashion?

Re: The Mystery of Roy Jay

[lukedodson]

If I may, I think the general consensus from what I can see is that this is a real, one-hit-wonder comedian from the 1980s who ended his career after a disastrous episode in which he drunkenly flashed an audience, and that some 4chan prankster decided to weave an inventive creepypasta type narrative around him. The possible inspiration is the 'Parasite' episode of Rick & Morty, which features similar entities that insert themselves via false memories into other people's lives. One of the Parasites is named 'Sleepy Gary' and wears pyjamas similar to the ones that Roy Jay sometimes wore on stage, which may have inspired the 4chan post.

The Google searches might be explained by the fact that 'Roy Jay' is probably a difficult name to Google as it's so generic. Same with the funeral record - his real name was Roy Jorgensen, so 'Roy Jay' wouldn't show up any results.

Having said all that, there was something very trippy and disconcerting about my first encounters with the whole meme, and I was momentarily open to the possibility that it was some strange AI-generated prank/psy-op. I do find all of this a very interesting development in contemporary horror-fiction of an ARG-type - the use of found material to weave new stories that play on our inability to fully trust mediated content in an age of advanced technological foolery.

christo-druid sop

[(Anonymous)]

Hiya!

I've been working the DMH SoP with a roman pantheon for a bit (janus and vesta made a really powerful vertical axis for the opening!)

I've come to realize that for best results my SoP should be expressing my pagan christianity directly instead of translated to related roman names. It was helped along by seeing you mention other druids also see a "green christ" (which is who I was kinda handed off to by dionysus and led to my anglican path)

I'm thinking I'll use the sign of the cross as the opening, do you have any notes to keep in mind to make it particularly compatible with the later workings? I have in mind to focus on the solar plexus center and head center, but not sure if I should be doing anything with the "holy ghost" touches on the shoulders.

for the elements I've got welsh/brythonic deities in mind, most of whom I've had around for years, for the classical elements. Then christ, the true vine, for below and mary, queen of heaven, for above. I was wondering about invoking the archangels with the welsh deities in the other quarters, or if thats a bad idea

Thanks for any feedback you have!

Re: christo-druid sop

[ecosophia]

Just insert Christian holy names in place of the others, and beyond that, leave things as they are. You should be fine.

Transplant and organ donation

[(Anonymous)]

DearJMG,
Have been wondering if and how organ donation and transplant is considered in a spiritual perspective, or if has any significance in the different planes of existence.
Thank you!

Re: Transplant and organ donation

[ecosophia]

This question comes up often enough that I should probably put it in the FAQ. The organs in your body are just meat -- there's about as much spiritual importance as there is when you eat beef or pork.

Smoke alarms

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I've had a really strange occurrence with smoke alarms recently (about the last year or so) - when I'm meditating sat on my bed, or sometimes when I'm just drifting off to sleep, one of the smoke alarms in the house will go off. I've replaced the batteries several times, and bought new smoke alarms, which are the photoelectric rather than radionucleotide type, but it still seems to happen. It's not every time I meditate, but annoyingly it's usually whenever I'm in the deepest state of concentration. As my bedtime can vary by a couple of hours each night, it doesn't seem to be that it happens on a schedule, but is consistently when I'm meditating or drifting off to sleep.

Have you heard of this type of thing before, or do you have any ideas what it might be? I'm guessing some kind of etheric effect?

Thanks for any info.
Scintillating Ultramarine Octopus

Re: Smoke alarms

[ecosophia]

It might well be an etheric effect. I'm not sure what to suggest, as I've never had to deal with that myself.

Bigfoot

[(Anonymous)]

What do you think of Bigfoot? I’ve heard eyewitness accounts on various documentaries (and in person), and I know a lot of Native American tribes have lore about them too. My feelings are closer to the “passport to magonia” brand of phenomena, as a lot of stories about them seem supernatural…

Thanks in advance!

Re: Bigfoot

[ecosophia]

As usual, there's more than one thing behind such sightings. I think that some Bigfoot sightings are actually of large apes, but others seem to be paranormal beings.

[(Anonymous)]

Do you use a ritual when making an astrological talisman or item using an elected time? I've noticed a wide range of methods from minimal (a few words w/suffumigation ) to what I would consider elaborate. Would certain procedures make the crafted item more effective or does that belong more to the election? Any comments appreciated.

[ecosophia]

When I make and consecrate Renaissance-style astrological talismans, I simply repeat the relevant Orphic prayer while suffumigating the talisman, state the intention, and call it good. The results are quite reliable that way.

[jenniferkobernik]

In your experience, are planetary talismans prepared by one person for another effective, or is the act of preparing the talisman itself a major part of its effectiveness?

[ecosophia]

They're entirely effective -- astrological talismans don't require the personal touch.

[(Anonymous)]

1. I have been praying the Rosary more or less daily for two months now. I am praying it for a few purposes, but among them, in a time with as septic an astral atmosphere as ours is, it seemed to be that praying the Rosary may be helpful to cleaning up one’s personal astral surroundings and perhaps to helping strengthen a powerful established ritual for cleansing oneself astrally in America. Do you believe this is accurate?

2. If people become what they call themselves and think of, I imagine that the subset of the LGBTQ community that actively calls itself “degenerate” as a sort of means of recapturing the label for themselves, would unfortunately have a worsening effect on those calling themselves it? One should, to my mind, focus on imagining positive visions of what they are and what they can be called, and that word has centuries of negative energies behind it. I feel sympathy for what they’re trying to do - foster self-acceptance - but it’s an approach that will only backfire.

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, it's much used for that purpose in some schools, and seems to work.

2) Well, yes. They'll enact the full meaning of the word.

[mole_end]

In the CGD system, Coel and Sul share the second/ninth (depending which direction you're counting) sphere of the Tree. Does this mean, according to the symbolism, that they are consorts, or not necessarily? Also, are Ced the earth mother ("the principle female deity") and Hu the Mighty ("the principle male deity") mated in this system? (I remember Manly P. Hall in The Secret Teachings... said something to the effect that Hu and Ced were a kind of Celtic Isis and Osiris.)

The reason I'm asking is that if so, these pairings seem to be different than the ones in the DH and DMH. Now that's totally fine with me; there's no reason in my mind why the mythology of the druid revival pantheon couldn't and shouldn't be as varied as any of the others are. I was just making sure I'm not reading things into the symbolism that the deities didn't put there in your meditations.

[ecosophia]

As with all things Druidical, ask three Druids and you'll get at least five answers! I encourage you to meditate on this, pray to the deities in question, and see what they have to say.

Magical tools

[numinosum]

Good evening!

I have a hand-made hunting knife, very sharp with a lovely antler handle. I would like to consecrate it as a ritual knife, but I may have used it before - for very little, but it’s not entirely new. I know if you use a magical knife for a mundane purpose, it becomes desacralized, but unclear about the custom going in the other direction.

Re: Magical tools

[ecosophia]

So long as you never use it for any nonmagical purpose once it's consecrated, it should be fine.

Manly P Hall Book Q

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

Today I started reading Manly P Hall’s “Self Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization”

I have so far only read up to the section “Inward Perception” in which Hall warns the reader: “if you already have practiced occult exercises given out by schools, movements, or individuals, it is asked that you discontinue these during study of this book”

I am a daily practitioner of the Sphere of Protection ritual for over two years now and have found it beneficial for myself.

Would you advise to stop the SOP as I read this book? I’d like to respect Hall’s work, but I also feel connected to and grounded by the SOP.

I chose to read the book to understand how to strengthen discipline, and better understand meditation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

J.

Re: Manly P Hall Book Q

[ecosophia]

To my mind, Hall was too rigid about this. I practiced the SoP and several other disciplines straight through my most recent pass through this otherwise excellent book, with good results.

Light of Britannia

[threerays]

Recently came across "Light of Britannia" by Owen Morgan. Was curious if you had any thoughts on this tome?

Re: Light of Britannia

[ecosophia]

Yes, and in fact I wrote an essay on the subject:

https://druidry.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/THIRD-MT-HAEMUS-LECTURE-.pdf

Cool down angry feelings?

[(Anonymous)]

For quite some time I and mine have suffered the appalling effects of what Jim Kunstler aptly calls the matrix of rackets that runs too much of the polity and economics of the United States. As a result I’ve developed some serious anger, not to mention fury and rage and a desire for vengeance.

I know this is not good. It’s affecting my thoughts adversely and taking me places where I know I don’t want to go. Might you have any suggestions for calming inflamed emotions and putting the mind on pleasanter thoughts?

Re: Cool down angry feelings?

[ecosophia]

Sure. In the teachings I learned from my teacher John Gilbert, anger is identified as a secondary emotion -- it's always over the top of some other, deeper emotion, such as grief, shame, or fear. That's why anger is so difficult to get over -- you have to deal with the deeper, primary emotion, or the anger just comes back. I recommend journaling, focusing on experiences from your past, especially in childhood, that remind you of what you're feeling now. Process those old feelings and you can respond to the tangled mess our society has become, not with anger (which just gets in the way of effective responses), but with the clarity, insight, and understanding that will let you run rings around the defenders of the existing order of things.

Consciousness

[(Anonymous)]

I've been working on developing self-insight / awareness for some time now. I've been unpicking a lot of behaviours and tieing them to early life experiences and socialisation - reactions built into my nervous system.

I'm feeling quite a bit unnerved though. The realisation that most people I know are sort of mindless drones - spending their entire lives reacting on the impulses and patterns that were built in their early life. My question is, what is the name of the part of me that is identifying my patterns/triggers, questioning them and choosing to adopt new behaviours. And why is it missing in most people? When does it develop in life?

Re: Consciousness

[ecosophia]

In occult terms, thinking can range up and down the regions of the astral plane. The lower the region where it operates, the more automatic, predictable, and mindless your thoughts are; the higher the region, the more creative, insightful, and thoughtful they are.

The capacity to operate on the upper astral has to be earned, not merely learned. It comes through self-knowledge, reflection, and self-mastery, and it generally takes many lives to learn. The people you see around you haven't gotten there yet. Be kind to them -- you were once in the same place, in previous lives -- and accept that they're doing the best that they can for now.

The Astrology of Nations; Twilight of Pluto

[(Anonymous)]

1. Thank you for writing The Astrology of Nations. The ingress charts I've been casting have been predicting major events, despite me being a novice astrologer.

2. However, in my natal chart, Pluto is functioning as a planet. Looking back, nothing major happened with a transit Pluto square natal Saturn, but the transit Pluto conjunct natal Neptune (and likely my ascendant) was huge. My natal Pluto is in an angular house, but not near one of the angles or in aspect to a personal planet. So I am not sure if Pluto's influence will fade out.

My natal Ceres placement accurately describes me despite her not being tightly conjunct one of the angles or a personal planet, so she is more powerful than asteroids are generally thought to be.