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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 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 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.
***This Magic Monday post is now closed, and no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***
Re: big questions on heavy matters
To begin it was just like being a ship facing into a storm, and a dream I had made a big impact - I was drowned by a tidal wave but still lived, torn limb from limb spinning in the wind but sill alive even though my body was spun apart in all directions, then buried and crushed under the earth and yet still aware, then burned to a crisp and scattered as ash but still, after all that, I was still 'aware'.
I took that dream and employed it in my meditation and energy work - remembering that I'd been 'destroyed' so many times and yet somehow endured. No matter what seemed to happen some part of me continued, and when I started thinking about that I discovered what seemed like a vast stillness inside, and that beyond that stillness there was 'something' - a bit like being outside of all the emotions and stuff and just observing it. It didn't result in life turning into a happy-clappy-joy-joy-feelings-fest, but it did allow me to continue and explore more.
The stuff seems to come and go in waves and I am not sure what is going on - at the moment it is taking some work to maintain balance; the general atmosphere of the world seems out of kilter, almost like a shattering.
I've ended up in a place where all my practices are still 'there' but a strong feeling that I need[ed] to go beyond methods and really explore things more. So, for example, I could take the Dolmen Arch three cauldrons exercise and tree of light cosmos breathing and add an extra element; turning awareness 'in' to call to my higher self - I'm not getting any profound experiences, but focusing on the inner core (divine spark?) has given some respite and help. Sort of like being an observer and participant at the same time. The emotions and feelings are all still there, but it seems like there is, if I pay attention, a choice of how to ride the storm.
By no means have I yet mastered it, but when it seems like my carcass and mind has been getting sandblasted into nothing, there is a 'knowing' - instead of just Mastering the Opposites or Taoist Fusion of Five Elements handling emotions and states, it feels like something more is coming into play.
Sorry, it is hard to put into words... from one perspective it seems things are pretty crap (destructive), but there is another perspective holding me up [so to speak] that is more creative.
It is taking work and some days I am reduced to simply enduring and doing physical work to ground me while the storm passes.
Perhaps it is astral climate instability; if so I look forward to a new dynamic balance being established - currently it is hard work.
Re: big questions on heavy matters
Earthworm,
If this can happen to _you_ then may the heavenly powers help us all! This sounds like the textbook description of a shamanic initiation and the report from a ten-day Buddhist silent meditation retreat mashed up with Neo's finding the stillness in the Matrix.
Reading your reply gives me the impression of being a fly with all its simultaneous points of view. Are those instances of destruction from many past lives? A metaphor for a single life? Showing you the continuity of the spark anyway. The focus seems to shift a lot more than we are used to: disconcerting.
And, Earthworm, you were already one of the commenters out there at the front of the field in creative work and exploring syntheses. Is there no limit?
Posting exception requested
I didn't see your response until after Magic Monday had closed (there is only a short window here in UK) - will reply with a message via your dreamwidth ID.
This reality is extraordinarily weird. Hang-in there!