Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

Midnight is a little past, 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've finished the sequence of my published books; while I decide what I want to do next, I have some memes to share.)

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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

Prayer, Queens and Druids

[(Anonymous)]

(1) You have mentioned at https://www.ecosophia.net/the-flight-from-thinking/ an elderly woman's prayer and meditation routine:

"One of the most spiritual people I’ve ever met, an elderly woman I knew many years ago, read a chapter of the Bible every morning, meditated on it, and prayed. That was her practice, and it took her places I hope I’ll be able to reach someday."

I remember you discussing her precise methodology somewhere but I can't find it. Could you point me in the right direction? Did she also do a banishing ritual?

(2) Apparently Queen Elizabeth II was a druid https://royalwatcherblog.com/2017/08/06/princess-elizabeths-bard-initiation/ after being initiated by one Archdruid Cryws Williams of the Mystic Circle of Bards. Is that an organization you have dealt with before? It seems that druidry had percolated to the upper reaches of society which makes the following Guardian story strange:

(3) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/27/druids-college-religion-lifestyle
Here, some lads are claiming to have invented druidry in the 60s as some prank. I had thought the modern druids had formed in the 19th century? I guess these kids did not do their research?

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[ecosophia]

1) I should probably put that into the FAQ page sometime! Here's how it goes.

First, when you first wake up, before doing anything else besides using the bathroom, read one chapter of the Bible every day. (Rules for choosing the chapter are below.) Second, think about what you just read. Third, pray about it, ending with the Lord's Prayer. That's it. Do this every single day, first thing in the morning

As for choosing chapters, don't start with Genesis -- even if you get through the "Begats," as the woman in question used to say, your good intentions will get lost in the Wilderness with the Israelites somewhere in the second half of Exodus and never be seen again. Start with the Gospel of John. When you've finished it, go on to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in that order; then Acts, the epistles, and Revelation, followed by the Psalms. Repeat this three times (this will take you several years) until you have the habit of daily Bible reading well established. Then read Genesis and the first half of Exodus, then jump to the last chapter of Deuteronomy and go through the rest of the Old Testament, then the New Testament. Repeat this three times. Then you'll have gotten good enough at extracting insight from Bible texts that you can tackle the three and a half books -- 2nd half of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy -- that are mostly laws.

2) The organization to which she was admitted is the ritual side of the Welsh National Eisteddfod (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru), which you can read about here. The short form is that it's a competition for Welsh poets dating to the Middle Ages, but enriched in the early 19th century with Druid Revival trappings to provide local color. It's very establishment; other initiates include past Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

3) Tsk, tsk -- if you read the article more closely you'll find that they're talking about American Druids, not British ones. As usual for the Grauniad, they're wrong -- the first Druid organization in the US, the Society of Ancient Druids, was founded in 1798 -- but the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA), the order they talk about, does exist; in fact, I'm a Third Order initiate of it.

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[(Anonymous)]

Not the OP,


Q1. Did the lady ever explain the reasoning behind the order of the Bible sections?


Thanks to you, JMG. And to the OP for bringing this up!

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[ecosophia]

Yes, as I tried to explain above, it's to keep those who haven't done Bible reading from bogging down. The Gospel of John has the liveliest beginning of the Gospels, the New Testament as a whole is easier going for most people than the Old Testament, and every other part of the Bible is less dull than the pages upon pages of rules and regulations that make up half of Exodus and nearly all of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[brendhelm]

This order also provides a better framework for Christians specifically (particularly those who know the more colorful Bible stories from e.g. childhood Sunday school, and honestly St. Stephen's speech in Acts is a decent reminder/introduction to some of the more critical elements of the Old Testament) to think about Jesus and God.

Gospels - Who is Jesus? (We'll give you four accounts.)
New Testament - What does He want out of us?
Psalms - Who is God?
Old Testament - What's the background for all of this? What makes what Jesus did so important?

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[ecosophia]

Interesting. Yes, I can see this.

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not particularly Christian, but I've always seen the New Testament as amongst the most radical things ever written, I mean, right at the heart of it all is Jesus saying "the path to salvation lies within", nothing about a church, perhaps not even anything about more powerful gods, and yet, around it, a giant superstructure has been built that is often ignorant of that simple truth. It's powerfully hidden.

I also found that during hard times, Ecclesiastes plus stoic literature was useful. We've been here before, and will be here again, the only constant is the sun, whatever that is :)

Re: Prayer, Queens and Druids

[(Anonymous)]

Personally I would put all the Prophetic and Poetic books before Genesis.