Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's almost midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. (The picture is Genevieve Stebbins, high-ranking initiate in the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, who was also one of America's first famous female exercise teachers.)

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 post is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

[omerori.wordpress.com]

What do you make of Reich's orgone accumulators? I find the concept strange, but the severity with which the FDA cracked down on it makes me think maybe there's something to it?

(It's been probably asked before... but I don't know how to search for it)

[ecosophia]

Reich stands in a long and distinguished line of scientists who had the misfortune to notice something that scientific ideology insists is not, cannot, and must not be real -- the life force. What Reich called orgone, von Reichenbach called od, Mesmer called animal magnetism, T. Galen Hieronymus called eloptic energy -- well, I could go on for a very long time. There's some evidence that the life force can be concentrated by certain arrangements of physical matter, and Reich seems to have worked out one of those. One of these days somebody is going to take the time to correlate all the various researchers and experimenters who've done work on the life force, and come up with a comprehensive system of etheric engineering; I once considered taking on the project, but other concerns were of more importance. I hope someone gets to it while I'm still alive.

Ressentiment

[(Anonymous)]

Last week, you observed that shrieking meltdowns are in vogue as the titular good people are denied the future to which they would like to become accustomed. Lately, I’ve observed and heard of upscale soccer mom types behaving in peculiar and vicious ways to direct their ire at the working class by asserting imaginary social status through sneering, virtue signaling, and littering – occasionally, with their children’s excrement. (Construction workers seem to draw special rage…) Has the yoga mat crowd been sipping something stronger from those overpriced BPA-free water bottles, or are they expressing ressentiment as described by Max Scheler, complete with the inverted pyramid of values?

Re: Ressentiment

[ecosophia]

Scheler's analysis seems useful to me, but there's also a big helping of raw status panic. Those construction workers got the president they wanted and the soccer moms didn't -- how dare the deplorables vote in favor of their own interests and values, rather than those of their betters! Since the heyday of the managerial aristocracy is waning fast, I'm not at all surprised to hear that the more disposable members of that aristocracy are losing it in a big way...

[dreamstrike13]

Hi JMG, All,

Hope your all well.

Got a couple questions on training:

1) Been working though 'The Druid Handbook (TDH), The Druid Majic handbook(TDMH) and thought 'Learning Ritual Magic' would be useful as I'm practicing alone. Fascinating book, and really love the workbook layout, but different point of view. When, if at all, would you include it if your primary focus is Druidry? Can it be augmented to change the focus?


2) If I'm doing martial arts/fitness training in the AM, would you do Elemental Cross/Sphere of protection before, after, doesn't matter? Can you repeatedly do the hand gestures over and over as if it were a kata, or is best done a single time?

3) Love meditation. Divination with cards is an odd one for me. Loved cards since I was a kid: basketball cards, animal sticker books, Majic the Gathering card game, and then played poker for a living until a couple years ago. With poker it was something that felicitated a life free from the need for a 9 -5 and provided intellectual stimulation in the form of running analytical GTO software, human psychology, risk assessment etc. However for some, a sickness that had the potential to control them.

Divination seems like it could be either one, but as a novice I feel like the later, and a bit like the guys screaming 'one time!!!' when there an underdog in a hand. It also feels like a loss of control and something that could be controlling. What am I missing?

Many thanks for any guidance you can provide!

[ecosophia]

1) It's a completely different system, and not wholly compatible with the system taught in The Druidry Handbook and The Druid Magic Handbook. It's very tempting to add on book after book, system after system -- I remember! -- but it's a better idea to focus on one system at a time, master it, then go on to something else. The Druidry Handbook and The Druid Magic Handbook are both teaching material from the same system, so you can combine them; more advanced practices in the same system will be out next year when my book The Dolmen Arch is published; but I'd encourage you to stick to those until you've got a good handle on the system, and only then assess other forms of magic.

2) It really depends on your personal schedule. Me, I do my magical training first thing in the AM, and physical exercises in the evening, but that's just what works for me. Try different schedules and see what works for you. As for trying the rituals in a kata style, give it a try and see what results you get!

3) Divination is a challenge -- learning to use it without becoming dependent on it is one of the basic tasks of the training. To borrow a phrase from another spiritual system, it can be a worthy opponent. Whether that's a challenge that's right for you right now is another matter, and one I can't answer for you.

Pluto

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

I've noticed that there's a recent Make Pluto Great Again buzz among planetary scientists who think that the downgrading was ultimately unjustifiable. But if Pluto remains downgraded as I suspect it will, how do you imagine this would affect the Pluto placement in natal charts? I have Pluto in my 7th house, for example - would this lessen or even negate all together the Scorpio impact on matters concerning my 7th house? Would it do the same re: a transiting Pluto in, say, national charts?

I've long thought of Pluto as being a higher octave of Mars, that is, it has a more cthonic, occult, "underworld" impact than do the basic physical life-force energies of Mars itself. Obviously such higher octave energies are not about to disappear because Pluto's status in the solar system has been diminished, but I wonder if if the discovery of Pluto in 1930 helped to unleashed certain cthonic energies manifested by the rise of Fascistic movements around the world, the strengthening of organized crime, the beginnings of research that would eventually lead to the atomic bomb, etc. If this is true, would you say this is a matter of "toothpaste out of the tube", that whether Pluto is diminished or not, these enhanced Scorpio energies are with us to stay?

Thank you -

Will M

Re: Pluto

[ecosophia]

I'm planning to do a post on this in the near future. Keep in mind, first, that the Pluto's effects didn't decrease because the scientists downgraded it; the scientists, being influenced by astrological factors like everyone and everything else, downgraded it because the effects are fading out. If Pluto follows the usual trajectory, it'll take about 30 years after the downgrading before it becomes an influence on a par with one of the asteroids -- that is, part of the background for most uses, though of interest to certain astrological specialists -- just as there's a 30-year period before its discovery when its influence came into play.

Thirty years from now, I expect the last nuclear reactors to be counting down the days to their decommissioning if not actually shuttered. More on this in the post!

Magic therapy for etheric body

[(Anonymous)]

You recently mentioned that posture affects the etheric body. Suppose you have a pretty severe posture issue that you suspect has been adversely affecting the etheric body. Besides addressing the posture problem on the physical plane, is there any magic that will help to support the etheric body and counter the negative effects on it?

Kevin

Re: Magic therapy for etheric body

[ecosophia]

Any of the usual forms of etheric healing, such as reiki, ought to help. Regular massage by someone who's good at it -- most massage professionals, whether they train in using etheric energy or not, pick up the skill of working with the etheric body -- will do a lot of good for both your physical and your etheric body.

[aldabra]

Thank you for the Brexit astrology. I never got as far as the bottom of the comments to say so there.

Presumably what it shows is that we're going to have a systemic shock followed by an economic revival, whatever happens. There's a lot of talk here about having a second referendum to confirm (or otherwise) the "Chequers" plan, which is the only plan that currently exists and which the EU says is unworkable. There is beginning to be some talk of a Boris Johnson coup in the Tory party; he has already called Chequers "a suicide vest", worse than the current arrangements, and giving us "diddly squat", and I have seen suggestions that he could try to revoke Article 50 in order to "do it again properly"; a more popular prediction is that he would abandon all current negotiating positions and leave with no deals in place.

The astrological chart shows the position we'll be in, nationally, and is agnostic as to the route we take to get there?

[ecosophia]

Basically, yes. Figuring out the route is a far more challenging procedure and probably can't be done astrologically with any degree of certainty. "The stars incline, they do not compel..."

Totally, utterly catastrophic horoscope of Doom

[(Anonymous)]

Well, not really. But I have a couple of concerns & questions.

(1) In my chart several planets have positive aspects, but also are afflicted, two very severely (viz., by sign). Does such a severe affliction cancel out their positive influence to a great extent, perhaps altogether, or does the upside still stand? How does one make such a determination?

(2) There are indications that I am liable to sudden accidental death. Other than watching out for banana peels and bad traffic situations, is there anything I can do about this? Also, there is some mention of danger by water. Would it be prudent to put my dreams of sailing on a back shelf somewhere, or is that overreacting? I suppose I could just as easily drown in the bathtub.

Kevin

Re: Totally, utterly catastrophic horoscope of Doom

[ecosophia]

1) The afflictions don't cancel out the dignities, or vice versa. Let's say you have Venus in Virgo trine Saturn in Capricorn. Venus in Virgo, otherwise uninfluenced, will tend to give you whopping problems with your love life -- that placement tends to make those who have it shy away from emotional and physical intimacy, and hide their feelings behind an overly critical and perfectionistic mask. The trine with Saturn means that you'll be able to get around this via a relationship with an older partner, or one who's physically unattractive by conventional standards -- in either case, one who won't set off the same negative reactions. So treat the positive aspects as ways to work around the negative dignities.

2) You are going to die someday, by some means. A sudden accidental death means that you won't spend the last decade of your life shriveling up physically and mentally in a nursing home. Why are you complaining?

[booklover1973]

I have a question about the love magic that you mentioned last week: Does the paper in the jar need to be folded?

[ecosophia]

It can be. If you fold it, fold it toward yourself, not away from yourself. If you fold it more than once, turn it between each folding so that you make every fold toward yourself.

Middle Pillar Exercise (MPE)

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

I have been practising the MPE for some time now. I have noticed that I get a tingling and tickling effet at the top of my head and in the middle of my forehead whilst carrying out the exercise. If fades away after fairly quickly.

I don't mind that as it is quite pleasant actually. My question relates to whether it means anything at all and does it indicate that I am more or less doing things as they should be?

Thanks!

Re: Middle Pillar Exercise (MPE)

[ecosophia]

That's a common experience; it simply means that you're starting to become sensitive to the flows of subtle energy. In other words, you're fine.

Natural Magic

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!

I am interested in buying your book on natural magic. However I live in the southern hemisphere where the flora, climate and plant floklore can be different than in the northern hemisphere.

(1) Is that a significant problem?

(2) Have you had any feedback from people who have used your book from the southern hemisphere?

(3) If so, can you share some of them?

Thanks and regards

Re: Natural Magic

[ecosophia]

A lot depends on where in the southern hemisphere you live. In Australia and New Zealand, a lot of European plants were naturalized in the 18th and 19th centuries, so you'll have some common ground to go on. Elsewhere, not so much.

The broader issue, of course, is that every region has its own flora and its own natural magic. My book is specifically based on medieval and Renaissance European lore, which is also fairly applicable to the eastern half or so of North America -- the Atlantic Ocean is fairly recent in geological terms, and there's a lot of shared ecology. Other parts of the world will have to work out their own herbal magic. My book may still be useful to you in terms of the techniques, but you may need to go looking for information on traditional uses of your native plants.

Insulation instead of isolation?

[(Anonymous)]

A question that comes to my mind more and more often, as our society drifts deeper and deeper into insanity is, how to insulate from it? I use this term in contrast to isolation, since that is not my goal, at least not the first thing that seems feasible and healthy for me. The best way to describe what I mean is possibly by example... Years ago, I met a person, a healer, who seemed to have reached that goal. While she was actively engaging with her environment and had lots of folks coming and going, was earning money, buying things and so on - still there seemed to be an invisible, semi-permeable barrier between her and society of which she had a certain degree control and could decide what comes through and what not. Surely there will have been limits to this, anyhow there was a clear difference to "ordinary" people. How to reach that? How to build up that barrier? (I can't ask her, because she was already old back then and is unfortunately dead now.)

Maybe I ask to much here and at the same time too little, since in a way it seems to be a kind of wrapper question for pretty much anything you write about... but I'll leave that decision to you and will be grateful for any thoughts on that idea :)

Nachtgurke

Re: Insulation instead of isolation?

[ecosophia]

There are many ways to do this. As a ceremonial mage, I tend to default to the ritual methods -- the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram or the Sphere of Protection ritual are the two methods I've used, both with good effect. Other traditions of magical and spiritual work have their own methods. Your experience with the healer shows the purpose of that kind of work: the aura (the outer layer of your subtle body) becomes a boundary that you can control, deciding what gets in and what doesn't. In an age of confusion and decline like this one, having that in place is essential!

Self-sweetening

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG!

A quick novice question if I may. I cast a love/sweetening spell on myself following the instructions from last week. They didn't mention anything about folding this piece of paper, so I didn't. Was this correct? Magically speaking, was this something that could've benefitted from a more auspicious timing than it being a random Saturday night?

Re: Self-sweetening

[ecosophia]

If you followed the directions, you're fine. Yes, you can improve the effect of a sweetening spell by doing it on an appropriate day; you can also put a small candle on top of the jar -- pink is the color to use to make yourself more lovable -- and burn it for a short time each Friday while concentrating on your goal.

Roswell Aliens!

[wonderingmagic]

Greetings on this fine night to all who read this!

My question isn't exactly a question and isn't exactly about magic, except insofar as the theory that government propaganda is a modern outgrowth of magic. It relates to UFO's, and it seems to bolster your earlier research work, Mr. Greer. I haven't read your actual book on the subject but I recall you describing your results.

My brother recommended this book to me: "Area 51" by Annie Jacobsen
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8512408/Roswell-was-Soviet-plot-to-create-US-panic.html

My brother says it offers convincing proof that the Roswell incident of 1947 was actually a propaganda plot by Joe Stalin. SPOILER for the book: the Russians had captured the latest Nazi "Flying Wing" jet aircraft at the end of WWII, and Stalin had heard of the panic caused in the US by the 1938 broadcast of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds". So Stalin concocted a plot where the Flying Wing would be brought to the US by another plane using remote control, and somewhere in public, a bunch of aliens would step out of it. Those aliens, according to this book, were victims who had been surgically altered by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, at Stalin's behest, to resemble the almond-eyed "grays" that are now so famous. But the remote control system failed and the Flying Wing crashed in New Mexico instead of Dallas, or Times Square.

Intriguing to think that two of history's greatest monsters, Stalin and Mengele, might have shaped pretty much the entire American science-fiction industry today -- by planting a dramatic suggestion about an invasion from space by LGM's. No wonder there are so many parallels between the real-life Cold War, versus much of the science fiction of the 50s and 60s. And hints of it are still found in modern sci-fi stories.

I'd just like to know your reaction to this book, or if any of your prior work threw hints in this direction. If you happen to think you can work this concept into a full-length essay instead of an offhand comment on Magic Monday, then I'd love to see it over on your other essay site.

Thanks!

Re: Roswell Aliens!

[ecosophia]

Hmm. The famous sighting over Mt. Rainier looked a little like a German flying wing, but didn't fly anything like one, and I'd want to see some evidence -- after all, the Russians have made a lot of Stalin-era files public, so if that was what was going on there ought to be a very visible paper trail. My research leads me to think that the UFO phenomenon was cooked up by US intelligence as cover for a range of aerospace tests -- high-altitude spy balloons in the 1940s, U-2 and SR-71 flights in the 1950s and 1960s, the early "stealth" planes in the era of the "black triangle" UFOs, and so on -- and the famous Grays were a much later invention. But I'll see if I can make time to read the book at some point.

Self restraint

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

After years training as an energy healer (qigong asked) I developed a certain level of skill with moving energy. Mainly through innocuous things, such as making next door neighbours stop shouting, babies stop crying, dogs stop barking.

After having come across your writings and other western esoteric texts discussing the need for restraint in the use of magical abilities. I am now convinced I have been doing myself a disservice by using my skill without others’ permission or even knowledge.

My question is, this ability being second nature to me, Could you advise how I develop self restraint to not do something that may be causing myself and others harm, even if not intentionally?

Thank you.

Re: Self restraint

[ecosophia]

There's no easy way to self-discipline; like most other human capacities, you get it by exercising it. Begin making a habit of paying attention to what you do, and to get consent before you control other people's behavior.

Basic Ogham Divination

[hwistle]

Dear JMG, two questions if I might:
1) I have just started daily divination with ogham (Murrays' cards)using the three ray spread as in the DMH. My question is how Do we interpret the past-present-future layout in connection to the events of the day? I'm tending to assume that the left card indicates events or situations from the past affecting the present day(middle card) and the right card perhaps hinting at future developments of the said present, but I'm a bit lost... I seem to remember that someone was using that spread as morning/midday/evening and wondered whether that would be a better way to use the spread from a complete beginner's point of view.
2) In the non-theistic Elemental Cross Why is Fire associated with the right hand and water with the left? I'm probably being too analytical but, if we are facing East, I imagine fire matches the South on the right but Shouldn't Earth be on the Left? Or is it not about the quarters but just the elements where sky above matches air and land below earth, leaving water and fire to fill the horizontal axis? Also, Why the front and back rays don't have any associated words/gestures? (Could they be developed without affecting the efficiency of the ritual?)

Thank you ever so much for your help!

Manuel

Re: Basic Ogham Divination

[ecosophia]

1) There are many ways to factor in time to your Ogham readings, if that's what you want to do. I find it more useful to make the first card mean me, the second the situations I encounter, and the third the outcome -- but of course your mileage may vary! Choose one way of assigning meanings to the positions and stick to that for the time being.

2) Because it is. ;-) Why does a squiggle shaped like "s" mean the sound that it does? A lot of the symbolism used in magic is relatively arbitrary; the reason it's a good idea to use established symbolism anyway is that other people practicing it the same way have established an egregor, and your practice will benefit from that.

Protecting others from energy vampires

[(Anonymous)]

Following up on my question last week on how to protect others from a known energy vampire, I now have permission to act, at least through natural magic and so resubmit the question with further details on the background of this situation.

Four years ago an elderly male not-quite-a-relative was wrongfully (and quite unethically) resuscitated in hospital, following complications from a persistant MRSA infection. During the recovery period afterwards, which has left him quite disabled, he picked up the trick of stealing life-force from other people. He is extremely afraid of his impending death, to an unusual degree, and to this end he has steadily increased his reliance on this skill, to the point of being shunned by almost everybody. Personal care assistants and other aged care professionals turn over in under a week, often refusing service after one day. He now persists through fortnightly calls to ambulance services and private hospital admissions, where he can get the required attention, and through draining my atheist mother, who is his power of attorney.

What advice can you give to address this situation please?

Re: Protecting others from energy vampires

[ecosophia]

Thank you for doing the right thing. We can now proceed.

I've seen other cases of this kind, and they never end well. Back when I worked in nursing homes this was a known phenomenon, and aides and nurses would do various things to shield themselves, or simply spend as little time with the patient as possible.

Be aware that it's possible that the soul currently in the patient's body is not the one that was there before his death and resuscitation, and you may therefore be dealing with something very nasty indeed.

If your mother is willing to wear an amulet, make one as follows: a small cloth bag, into which you put kosher salt and an iron or steel nail (any nail of white metal will do) which has been bent at an angle. That amulet should be carried on her body, if at all possible near her heart, whenever she is in the patient's presence. If not, at least try to get her to carry it in her purse. If you have any dealings with the patient, you should also wear one.

Does the patient seem to be able to drain energy from people who aren't in his physical presence? If so, you've got real trouble and there are other methods that will need to be applied promptly.

[guillem66]

Jmg, a previous message i had written telling you how i feel in the path your books on Druidry had set me on got accidentally erased, so i'll take that as a clue from the gods to cut it, and i will just thank you again for your inspiring presence and work.It has really changed my life for the good, and the fun ;)

Questions:

Im 7 months into the druidry curriculum, doing it as it is written except for the Ogham.I've been using geomancy instead.The thing is, perhaps is best to continue with it until i have mastered Geomancy, and then switch to Ogham, or i should correct that just now?


The grove ritual with the SOP inside it, i take one can use it without a specific working intention, simply to enchance the SOP basic intention?

Woul'd you say one should be cautious in wishing the alignment of the self with his destiny?

[ecosophia]

1) Get to work on the Ogham. The symbolism of the Ogham fews is important for the more advanced work.

2) Yes, you can.

3) Very much so. Do you happen to know what your destiny is? Are you sure you want to find out in a hurry?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

I recently did my first scrying, following your instructions in the DMH. I opened a grove and visited Air. I guess I had certain general expectations about what I would experience, based on all of the years of working with the SoP. I had in my mind that Air was symbolic of dawn, beginnings, optimism, newness, clarity, etc. In other words, I've always thought of it as being rather positive and light, and I expected to encounter some version of that in my scrying. However, my experience was anything but that! It was quite scary and disturbing.

I'll just mention a couple of things that I saw. First, there was a dark storm on the horizon--a huge one that was definitely heading in my direction. And, second, an image of a ruined medieval village flashed before me, dark and skeletal. But behind it was an image of what it had been like before collapsing--thriving and active. These two images were superimposed on top of each other so that I saw them both at once.

The only good part of the experience was that my guide was a golden eagle, who gave me a message that helped me to interpret was I was seeing. I have meditated on what I saw and think I understand what I was meant to learn from this. But I have to say that I'm a bit nervous about moving to Water next. I was quite shaken after this experience, and wondered if what I experienced is unusual, or if you have some thoughts on how I should approach the next elements.

Thank you for your time,
Kelly

[ecosophia]

This isn't unusual at all. There's a very common habit of thought in today's world that likes to treat the spiritual realm as all well-behaved sweetness and light, and of course it's not; what's more, elemental pathworkings inevitably bring out whatever aspects of each element you haven't dealt with adequately. You will experience frightening things in some of your pathworkings; you will probably also experience every other emotional state, since the elements embrace them all. In the process, you'll come to know the whole range of elemental energies, and learn more about yourself in the process.

Is divination mandatory?-

[(Anonymous)]

1. Is becoming competent in an established divination system mandatory? I have not studied any of the magical systems in depth, but am interested in pursuing one. I am in the poking around looking at various kinds to see which seem like the best fit. It seems that most include divination. For whatever reason, whenever I have tried various divination systems, they just make me anxious and I can’t comfortably continue. I don’t feel like I get past this into a place where communication is achievable. Is this unwarranted fear, “laziness” on my part, or something else?

As a young kid, I was extremely good at water witching with crossing bars and peach tree branches. And I was good with a pendulum and a board with alphabet and numbers (i.e. the Kreskin ESP game). Any thoughts as how I might more comfortably proceed. My most comfortable thing that I can deal with so far is to ask my questions in meditation and wait as to whether I get an anxious sensation in my chest, a buoyant feeling or nothing. Is this divination, or other?

2. Can visualizing the casting of a spell actually cause the spell to be cast? In the past couple of weeks, I have been researching better business spells. Do to my living situation; I need to keep the actual spell work private for the time being. So, I’ve been carefully reading and re-reading and then visualizing the whole process numerous times, before I actually get the physical act of gathering the materials and casting the spell. Anyway, it seems that this is already having the desired effect, or is this happy coincidence.

Many thanks for your replies and this very important service that you are providing. On a lighter note, I now actually look forward to Monday mornings.

Re: Is divination mandatory?-

[ecosophia]

1) If you're going to practice magic, yes, you need to get some degree of skill in at least one kind of divination -- the type will depend on the system of magic you practice. I'd encourage you to try to get in touch with the reasons for your fear. Get a blank notebook and a pen, and have a written dialogue with your fear; write down "Why am I afraid of divination?" and then clear your mind and write down whatever comes into it, no matter how absurd or frightening. Keep on asking questions and conversing with the imagined voice of your fear until you get a clear sense of what's behind the fear.

2) Visualization is powerful magic! Do the spell entirely in your imagination, and make it as vivid as possible; don't just visualize, bring all your senses into play -- feel the warmth of the candle flame, smell the hot wax, and so on. Make it as vivid as possible, and imagine yourself doing it, and you'll get a definite effect. (Not as much as you would if you do it in the material plane, but quite a bit of effect.)

Money and metal roof

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

Last week on Magic Monday you posted a working for earning more money. Your instructions said to start on Friday. Can it be started on ANY Friday or was it specific to last Friday (Sept 14)?

Also, must the candle be a certain type? Green candles have proven to be hard to find, and tea-light candles (about 1 cm tall, inside a plastic container)are the only green ones I've found so far.

On another topic, my house has a metal roof. Will that have any effect on magical or spiritual practices done in the house? (I'm following the practices in the Druid Magic Handbook).

Many thanks,
Another Chris

Re: Money and metal roof

[(Anonymous)]

We don’t have any green candles either—they are very hard to get except at Christmastime—so I folded a dollar bill in half, lengthwise, then again lengthwise, making it just the right size to tape around an electric tea light, (sort of) turning it green. Also, since I have no choice but to be on a commuter train at dawn on Fridays, I did it on Saturday, at sunrise for 7 minutes. Will report back. Nothing’s happened so far, but then it’s only lunchtime on Monday.

[(Anonymous)]

I've just had my fourth hoodoo bath. When I asked the tree's opinion of getting the leftovers I got a tingling, almost quivering, sense of enthusiasm, eagerness, and hunger. We thought we'd had the last plums for the year but between the third and fourth feeding, we got another two beautiful-tasting plums, one of them massive. Now I feel pretty comfortable saying the tree likes it. :) It was planted as a memorial tree for Grandma so that may have given it more potency. Mum has taken to calling it Mother Victoria after her mum and the type of plums.

The next thing I want to do is the sweetening spell on myself with the honey. You wrote the instructions as putting the paper into a jar and filling it with honey. Would it make any difference if you started with a jar full of honey and pushed the paper down into it? (Just thinking it might lead to less waste and mess as you'd only need one jar instead of two.)

Since it's something that's done once and the effect lasts for a while, I'm interested in timing making it to add an astrological charge. As long as it isn't one of those things that takes hours of work to figure out, is there a good time coming up to do it? Does being in Britain affect the timing? Once it's done, about how long will it stay effective?

[ecosophia]

1) The tree is saying thank you. Keep giving it your bath water and you'll have one very, very happy tree!

2) Yes, you can push the paper into the honey. As for astrological timing, the easiest thing to do is to use the planetary hours. Friday is the day corresponding to Venus, who rules spells of this kind; the hours of Venus on Friday can be computed using any convenient table or calculator of planetary hours -- you can find one here.

Planetary hours are good for natural magic, not least because they're easy to work out. If you want to get more complex than that, yeah, it's going to take you an hour or two. ;-)

[fluiddruid]

Hello, JMG!

today I have a silly question. If hate in our modern society is the same thing as sex was in the Victorian society, will we see hate based occultism or hate clubs disguised as occult societies? :-)

[ecosophia]

They already exist. Read Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's book Black Sun and you'll find a detailed discussion of neo-Nazi "darkside" lodges, which fit that definition to a T.

Trees

[(Anonymous)]

What is the ethical way to cut down trees for things like building material and firewood when one acknowledges that trees have consciousness?

Re: Trees

[(Anonymous)]

If I may inject some thoughts here... If you have access to a large enough woodland, you will more or less always find a few dead trees. Where I live, for example, you always find a few rather thin oaks that possibly found it too dark beneath the roof of the surrounding beeches or died by some other reason. If they stood long enough, the bark and a large part of the outer few cm of trunk and branches will be eaten up by insects and fungi but the core remains intact for decades, even in a shady and wet forest, and you can harvest very valuable and already dried firewood or you can use it as a very durable building material. If you find dead spruce (bark-beetle!), pine, or similar, you have to be much (!) quicker with your harvest than with oaks or beeches, since the wood is not so durable...

If you can't avoid to cut a living tree, you can at least see whether it's possible to improve the life of the surrounding trees giving them more light, space, etc. Also it is possible to look for damaged or unhealthy trees. Still, those dead and damaged trees feed an army of insects and fungi, so by cutting them, you take their food out of the forest.

To my mind, the best way to harvest wood ethically is to use the wood responsibly. Do not use more than you need. If you build things, make them sturdy so they last as long as possible. If your construction fails after some time (especially outdoors), use the remaining parts to build other things or use it as firewood. Do not convert wood to waste by using ugly chemical paint, laze, etc. Do not heat more, than you really need. If you take a living tree consider planting a new one, for example in a clearing. Or you could protect young trees against deer, etc. Of course you can also try to communicate with the trees and the forest to find out what's best.

Myself, I still fall short to my own expectations frequently. It always bothers me, if I notice that I wasted wood. The more wood I cut and chop and burn and build with over the time, the more I think about how to live, so that it's possible to use less wood. And the more it bothers me... And more and more I realize in what a sad state our whole society really is...

Cheers!
Nachtgurke

[auntlili]

The Dolmen Arch? Is the book about temples and agricultural fertility? I dimly remember that you were looking into something of the kind.

[ecosophia]

Nope; the book you're thinking about is The Secret of the Temple, which is out there on the bookshelves waiting for you to pick up a copy. ;-) The Dolmen Arch is an early 20th century correspondence course on Druidry I reconstructed from fragments and taught to students for a while, and it will be appearing as a book next year.

Defense and right action question

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
After reading Dion Fortune's "Psychic Self-Defense," I have incorporated several of her defenses into my daily routine, including vinegar dishes in the sleeping rooms and magic circles in the morning and night. I had suffered from pinprick wounds to the ankles and feet, and those disappeared with the vinegar dishes. I have been drawing the magic circles around the edges of our house and property, and we are sleeping much better.
I wrote several months ago about my up-hill neighbour, who has been expanding his yard by dumping rocks and branches down the slope that leads to our back yard, and then putting fill dirt on top--
Now that the rains have returned to us, he thought it would be a good idea, last Tuesday, to bring in another 5 cubic yards of dirt. When the dirt spilled down over our property line, I had an angry confrontation with him in his yard, and that's where the psychic effects come in.

During the conversation, I noticed that everything he said about his relationships with the previous owner, and everything he said about the dirt dumping project, was a lie--But it was delivered in a lulling, hypnotically calming voice. His wife started in too, with the same techniques. We left after a while, and will probably have to take him to civil court.

In my magic circle that night, I faced his property to the South of us and drew a 5-point defensive star per Fortune's instructions, saying "You must do us no harm." -- And immediately I heard his wife screaming (in my head) "No! Get out of here!"
I was a little shocked, but continued to draw the stars and say my prayers.

Mindful of your 'Raspberry Jam Principle,' my prayers for them are that they would do right by us and all their neighbors; that they would tell only the truth about what they are doing with the cliff of loose dirt uphill from us; that they would set themselves to helping the weak, the needy, and the powerless; that their special-needs son would be well-provided for and not affected by any bad and foolish things they have done.

These are the sort of prayers I pray for my own life, so I think there's nothing wrong with praying them onto an enemy.

The scream in response to the star-- Any comments?
Besides taking them to civil court, can you think of anything else I can do defensively? Am I going wrong in any way here?

--E. Goldstein

Re: Defense and right action question

[ecosophia]

Excellent! You're probably dealing with two of the many people who have picked up a basic training in nasty magic from the sleazier end of the New Age movement -- the calm lulling voice is a standard tactic in that end of things. The scream is an indication that you're getting results. Keep up the practices, and by all means take them to civil court.