Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. (The picture is George Winslow Plummer, co-founder and for many years the mainstay of the Societas Rosicruciana in America, a lively and still-surviving American esoteric school.)

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

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 the button below to access my online tip jar.

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That you know off. Do the beings we call gods communicate to other entities outside of the solar system?

[ecosophia]

I have no idea. I don't think any human being knows.

[violetcabra]

Many, many thanks for Magic Monday,

I've been doing regular mediation and ritual now since February and it feels like more and and more gunk has been expelled from my subtle bodies in a 'detox'. It's exhausting! But feels very important to my development as a person. It really is wonderful even if it is simultaneously hard and extremely painful at times.

As this process continues, I've been feeling by a sense that there is something I need to *do*, that feels important for my Individuality -- but I have next to no idea what that is! Again, I imagine that this experience of a spiritual 'waiting room' is normal and healthy (although of course I'm not sure), and I so I ask you do you know of a good way of figuring out what that important thing that needs doing is? Or if it's just a matter of doing *something*? Or is it best to wait until there is clarity? Meditating on some different ideas has led me to think many of the ideas are worthwhile, but I've not yet had the emotional satisfaction of finding the 'right' one, the one that clicks and makes my life make more sense. This too, though, could be an unduly limiting illusion, and so I'm asking for your experienced opinion.

[(Anonymous)]

What is the general internal outcome of western esoteric practices? You said "Eastern" goals of "enlightenment" or "awakening" aren't the only game in town last week. I know each tradition probably leads to a different mountain but if Buddhism is aimed towards "awakening" an individual through, for instance, direct experience of "no-self" what is the aim of, for instance, Golden Dawn training?

[ecosophia]

It isn't about "doing." The best metaphor I've yet encountered for the work of spiritual development is the way you grow a plant from a seed. You don't have to "do" the growing; you provide the seed with the conditions it needs -- soil, water, a suitable temperature -- and it does the growing all by itself, without strain or stress. In the same way, you provide your spirit with the right conditions through appropriate practices, and it unfolds in its own time.

In the same way, and even more importantly, there is no "right" idea. The process of meditation will lead you to explore many ideas, and one of the things you'll learn is the very imperfect fit between human ideas and reality. The process is the thing that matters.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear jmg
Have people ever used magic to discipline or control their children? (E.g. make them stop having tantrums, want to succeed in the career the parents chose for them ect)

Meme Wars

[(Anonymous)]

What do you think of fashionable liberal women invoking Kauket to “counterbalance” Kek and restore the old order that supported their worldview?

[ecosophia]

In the Golden Dawn tradition, the self we normally experience, the ordinary personality or ego, is called the Lower Self. There are two higher aspects of the self, one of which is called the Higher Self, and the other the Higher and Divine Genius -- the word "genius" used to mean a guardian spirit before it meant somebody with unusual mental talents. The Higher Self consists of all the potentialities of the individual that we don't yet experience, while the Higher and Divine Genius is our link with the divine. The goal of Golden Dawn training, then, is to unite the Lower and Higher Selves, so that the initiate is able to access the whole range of his or her potentialities and is no longer stuck in the limited views of the ego. When this happens, the combined Self is in direct contact with the Higher and Divine Genius, receiving its guidance and energies.

Egregor?

[(Anonymous)]

I’m the cheerful fool writing a fraternal rite for the Green Wizards’ Benevolent and Protective Association. The project is getting its own dark and harvest-y personality. (Possibly because we are gleaning ideas in the autumn of modernity…?) So, should we arrange meetings around harvest aspects of the Moon and astrological signs? Rusty

3 questions

[(Anonymous)]

1) what do you think of Aurum Solis? Are they credible? And would you recommend certain individuals avoid them for a specific reason (like mental illness, for example)?

2) In the spirit of the other blog, what is the earliest use of magic by European settlers in the Americas that you know of?

3) (this one is for the community at large) in a previos magic monday, a poster conplained about their tarot deck which was air-wands and fire-swords. What deck was that? Or can anyone recommend tarot decks with those associations?

Thanks!!!
Sincerely
Jessi Thompson
anotheramethyst

[ecosophia]

No doubt, but I don't recommend it. Dominating anyone's will using magic is a slippery slope that leads to very unwelcome places.

Re: Meme Wars

[ecosophia]

I think they need to learn a lot more about Egyptian mythology. "Counterbalance" does not mean "oppose;" Kek and Kauket are a syzygy, a pair of balanced energies sharing a common function, and if they invoke Kauket and strengthen her influence, that'll simply make it easier for that common function to manifest itself in the world.

It's quite possible that the Kek-Kauket syzygy is luring them into this work...

Atlantis redux

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

Continuing with the Atlantis theme: I've come across speculation that at some point in their civilizational development the Atlanteans acquired a great racial pride, probably stemming from their tech/psychic prowess which gave them easy sway over other nations and peoples. Flash forward some 16 thousand years or so to late 19th-early 20th century when, it is speculated, a great number of former Atlanteans were incarnated in .... Germany. Great racial pride? Check. Tech prowess? Check. Fascination with the occult and the psychic realm? Check. Desire to hold sway over Europe, if not the entire world? Definitely.

I know that in German occult circles, "Thule" was considered the Germanic mythic Homeland, but could they have been conflating this with Atlantis? Do you suppose such a mass incarnation of former Atlanteans could have occurred in Germany, even though there may have been no bloodline ties with Atlantis? Or did the rise and fall of Nazi Germany basically manifest a destructive Atlantean archetype, a fate to which all peoples might be subject?

Thanks in advance - Will M

Re: Egregor?

[ecosophia]

In a perfect world, sure. In the world we live in, it usually works best to choose a date on the ordinary calendar -- for example, the third Thursday of every month, or what have you.

Re: 3 questions

[ecosophia]

1) To the best of my knowledge it's a solid and fully functional magical system, very close to that of the Golden Dawn. As with any other system of ceremonial magic, it should be avoided by people who have mental problems sufficiently severe that they need more than the mildest kind of medication, or any kind of serious heart problem.

2) All the European settlers who crossed the Atlantic brought their own folk magic with them; I don't recall what exactly the oldest magical working was, but the English settlements, for example, had plenty of ordinary English folk magic going as soon as they arrived.

3) I'll leave that for the readership!

Re: Atlantis redux

[ecosophia]

Hmm. Where did you encounter this? Dion Fortune insisted that a lot of Atlanteans were incarnating in late 19th and early 20th century Britain, and I think it was Edgar Cayce who believed that lots of them were incarnating in early 20th century America. Given how long ago Atlantis was, I'd doubt that anyone who was around then is still around now...

[(Anonymous)]

What happens with magic and karmic backlash if the working you do won't kick in until after your death? Like the Ancient Egyptian 'if anyone messes with my tomb, may he be eaten by crocodiles' kind of thing.

[(Anonymous)]

With your understanding of reincarnation, how does the Buddhist goal of getting off the wheel of life and death work? Is it another way of describing reaching Gwynfydd or is it something else entirely?

Druidry and Hermeticism

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid,

Your comment on converting Hermetic spiritual techniques into Druid spiritual techniques has left me thinking over the weekend.

So far I have found no trouble in applying Hermetic principles to my Druidical cosmological views. The same goes for most classical occultism I've studied (but not practiced), from Regardie to Fortune to Butler to Bardon.

What are, in your view, the most noticeable differences between Hermeticism and Revival Druidry? (I understand a book could be written on the topic, but is there anything that stands out in your mind?)

Respectfully yours,
Brigyn

Re: 3 questions

[(Anonymous)]

3. I'm pretty sure that The modern spellcasters tarot uses these associations.
Sacred Seed and The Truth in Story both have YouTube run throughs of the deck and accompanying book

[(Anonymous)]

Concerning the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram for Heathens ritual you posted - you wrote in an earlier post on doing this ritual as a polytheist that you can perform it by using the name of your patron and four deities with four letter names. Does that apply here too, could I, for example, use the name FREY instead of RIGR? And if so, should I substitute the objects named later in the ritual ("Before me the Spear Gungnir...") as well or are they chosen for a specific reason? Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

How do you protect another person from a known energy vampire? Is there a natural magic approach that can disrupt it?

[booklover1973]

Hello, JMG! Am I right to assume that in the course of reincarnations as a human, the Individuality ripens from a state of ordinaryness and primitiveness by human standards toward wisdom, character and ripeness; in a similar way to the ripening of an individual human being from the ebullinence and naivete of childhood to the wisdom, knowledge and restraint of old age? W. B. Yeats wrote something roughly to this effect. Thanks!

Whispers

[ferngladefarm.com.au]

Hi John Michael,

Thanks again for providing us with your thoughts and wisdom.

The other day I was reading about a business, a very large business in fact, that to my opinion has quite exploitative employment practices. It was quite shocking to read the firsthand accounts of the people who worked there, and I knew that I would not cope with such an environment, and would probably employ a Sun Tzu technique. Anyway, the person who runs the place is extraordinarily wealthy.

I was quite outraged at the goings on, and then something whispered into my minds ear that the wealthy person in question is labouring under a curse.

And then the whole situation looked different somehow.

I won't mention names or anything like that, but it was such a strange way of looking at the situation. And it made a weird sort of sense. You mentioned years ago that you spotted a bumper sticker which claimed something along the lines of: "if you had enough, how would you know?"

It seems like an important question for sure and one worth asking - and also one that I have reflected upon long and thoughtfully. But I was curious about whether you reckon some people labour under a curse? And whether they're even aware of it? Sorry, that's two questions.... Oops! :-)

Cheers

Chris

Re: Atlantis redux

[(Anonymous)]

Monsters is one of my favorite books because of its lusus serius approach. I like how some concepts are introduced there.

In the same way, I will speculate on this reincarnation, based on how Buddhism seeks to reincarnate people, with techniques developed to enhance memory retention between incarnations.

I will guess that aspects of one's prior lives are brought back by the context of the current life. A person would remember aspects of a past life as a hunter in the current one, even if there as no connection with it for several lives.

I guess that maybe the Atlanteans had some sort of method like this, or not; in any case, the current cultural environment is very similar to the one that brought the downfall of Atlantis due to climate change and exploitation of technology; it would be reasonable to expect that this similarity would resonate with the Atlantean mindset and it would tend to "bring them back". The examples mentioned in the post and in your reply seem to point that the resurgence of Atlanteans is global.