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

Buy Me A Coffee

Ko-Fi

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

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG -

Last week you recommended that I burn candles to Mercury and Jupiter as a way to support a new internet-based business. I forgot to ask what color candles should I use? Internet searches gave me quite a variety of choices.

Thanks, as always.
Dave

[ecosophia]

In the traditions I learned, orange is the color of Mercury.

A rough and emotionally-turbulent October

[nightsgate]

Hi John and all,

I don't normally write longer posts or share too-personal details here, but this is unusual. There's no one in my personal life who would relate with these things, and MM readers might find some of this interesting.

Late in September I received the following in an email from an astrologer:

The focus in October is on communication and emotions. At the beginning of the month you will need considerable sensitivity and patience; these qualities will help you harmonize the two areas, especially under the Aries Full Moon. Mid-month, relationship matters take centre stage, and your longing for self-realization grows stronger. The Libra New Moon invites you to dedicate yourself to beauty and harmony. The most intense phase arrives toward the end of the month, when a powerful water trine may set strong dynamics in motion, bringing consequences that are difficult to predict.

I re-read this yesterday after my wild ride of an October. I don't know about everyone else, but this paragraph makes a fairly accurate summary of my month to date.

Here's the story:

A few weeks ago in MM I mentioned that I had a message come to me about a long-lost acquaintance.

This person was a young woman with whom I had an intense, very brief, romantic fling, right at the end of last century when I was a young man. We met through some happy accidents while on a college break, and for a few days we were inseparable. At the end of our trip, we shared contact info. She even made the first move to contact me after we'd gone home. My 19-year-old self decided that his best move was to snub her. I don't even remember why. Knowing who I was back then, I'm confident it was a trivial and likely petty reason. The last day on our trip was the last time I ever saw or spoke to her, which is now over 26 years ago.

The day after receiving and acting on the message to look her up, I got sick with a fever which put me in bed for two days in a half-delusional state. During that time, I vividly relived the memories of my time with her, with full knowledge of what I was going to do. It was like opening up an emotional abscess that had been left to fester for over 25 years.

Ever since, I've felt an overwhelming rush of guilt and remorse and grief and a persistent sadness.

Not unusual in itself, maybe, but I have spent many hours journaling, meditating, in prayer, casting geomantic charts for guidance, and sitting with the memory and the suffering around it. It has helped, some; there have been real insights and healing out of this experience. I get the sense that this was a much-needed reckoning.

I'm fairly convinced that a higher power wanted me to face up to this unaddressed baggage. (Even the Octagon Society work didn't fully get this out of me.) I've left out some personal details and very odd synchronicities, from the past and in this latest episode, that support this.

This experience has rattled me, and I mean big time. I've only had a few of these identity earthquakes in my lifetime and I recognize this as one of them.

It's left me disoriented about most every life decision I made between now and then, and questioning what I want out of my life from here on. Only in the last few days has the emotional upset even started to settle down. The work helped to process, but not to dim the emotional impact.

I considered contacting her to say "sorry", for whatever that might be worth now, but both mundane and occult signs are warning me off that option. I've made my peace with her, and I don't even know the middle-aged woman who has lived an entire life since we knew each other. If she and I are meant to reconcile that way, I'm leaving that in the hands of whatever agency sent this to me. (I doubt anyway that I can pursue it without making it real awkward for everyone.)

But this isn't really about my jilted fling. She's a symptom of older and deeper wounds in my self-image that have festered all this time. The end the 1990s and the early 00s were a dark and nasty time in my life. I didn't like myself, and I acted in ways consistent with that, which made the self-loathing even worse. I'm latching on to her as one of the few joyful memories from an awful time.

I've been grieving for a romanticized life I "could have had" had I been a different man, and feeling regret and guilt for not walking through a door that closed long ago. Then kicking myself all over again for being the idiot who slammed the door shut.

As you always say John, I became attached to my own suffering. My original bad decision to snub her came from habits of self that I can trace back to events in childhood and adolescence. The stinging irony is that those patterns, which have me kicking myself now, are the same patterns that led him/me not to call her back. That's a tough pill to swallow after all this time, but necessary to accept.

Really I'm just sad and very bummed out about the whole thing. When those memories came back so vividly, the decision to snub her feels like it happened a few hours or days ago and I can fix it. When I realize how long it's been, it's a fresh punch in the gut. There's a nagging voice telling me to go make it right, and the helplessness when I can't is triggering intense frustration. I don't see any option but to sit with the feelings and ride it out. I guess that acceptance, and eventually forgiving myself, is one of the lessons I'm meant to take from this.

The emotional wave of guilt and regret has started to ease somewhat in the last 2-3 days after reaching a peak about 5 days ago. That jives with the astrologer's forecast for an intense end of the month.

This may be coincidence, but in that same time, I've also noticed a "loosening up", a greater intensity and quality of the invoked powers, while doing the morning SOP. Things felt more constricted in the earlier weeks of the month.

I don't even know if there's a question in there. I'm so exhausted by it all that I can hardly focus.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Re: A rough and emotionally-turbulent October

[ecosophia]

It sounds to me as though you needed to deal with some karma the easy way. Yes, that kind of emotional eruption -- painful and shattering as it is -- is easier than the alternative, which is going into another life with that karma hanging over you and getting smacked in the face by it, perhaps repeatedly, until the lesson is learned. Accept the emotions you're feeling, do your best not to identify with them, and be ready to move onward and live a less burdened life from here on.

Self healing

[(Anonymous)]

Hiya JMG and others,

I was recently advised by a clairvoyant that I have a break between my etheric and astral body around my heart chakra caused by something that occured in a past life. This makes complete sense to me and explains my constant battle with my emotions and health and is rendering me heavily restricted.

I have a lot that needs healing and am doing SOP which helps, and am also taking hawthorn for something else which occurs to me, may also help. Is there any particular ritual or anything else that might be advisable that might help encourage healthy processing and healing of this?

Thanks 😊

Re: Self healing

[ecosophia]

Well, what kind of magic do you know how to do? Rituals aren't standalone practices -- each one has a place in some specific system of magic.

Three Questions

[3bmend_135]

1. To reduce fire risk, can I use tea lights on my CGD Ovate altar?

2. I would like a quick divination method I can use on the go, if I need to make a decision quickly. What options do I have for that?

3. What inexpensive incense correspondances are there for each of the seven planets? I get my incense at an occult supply store on the route home from my job, and they don't know about planetary correspondances for incense and the Internet might be an unreliable source.

Patrick

Re: Three Questions

[ecosophia]

1) Of course. You can use electric candles, if it comes to that.

2) I tend to use geomancy for that. It's quick to cast, and if you just pay attention to the judge and witnesses, it gives clear readings.

3) The ones I used back when I didn't have much money were these:

Moon: Jasmine
Mercury: Lavender
Venus: Rose
Sun: Frankincense
Mars: Dragon's Blood
Jupiter: Cedar
Saturn: Myrrh

In those days, at least, you could get all these as stick incense quite cheaply.

D&R

[(Anonymous)]

Good evening,

I was wondering if you have any future plans to publish your commentary series on Levi’s High Magic?

As a student of that book and a great fan of your commentary, I would pay to hold a hard copy in my grubby paws!

Re: D&R

[ecosophia]

It's already been placed with Aeon Books and will be released next year. Stay tuned!

[(Anonymous)]

First of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge. I truly appreciate it. Thanks to that I've been practicing the SOP for nearly a year and my life is still getting better, albeit more slowly than at first.

I have chronic health issues, for context, and sometimes the amount of internal energy moving in the SOP feels overwhelming. Sometimes I have to steady myself throughout, or even perform it sitting down. It seems to raise my body temperature noticeably. There have been a few times when it made me feel really sick, but always temporarily. I would like to continue learning more magic and initiate into a system using the SOP, if divination agrees. However, I am wondering about the effort required for various rituals and how to evaluate it before jumping in, beyond whether or not any particular one is a good idea for me.

So my first question is just that: is there a way to judge how strenuous a ritual will be ahead of time? Although if you have general advice on whether it is a bad idea for people with physical health limitations to practice ritual magic, I would certainly listen to it.

Secondly, I have taken it into my head to learn Bruno's system of memory more or less exactly as he wrote it. And I didn't think it likely that his system has an active egregor, but, well... I have had an experience so far that makes me wonder if it might. I can't give specifics, unfortunately. At any rate, I have not yet begun learning Latin, so I am turning to you, and I hope it's an acceptable question for Magic Monday.

In what sense is Bruno using the words usually translated as subject and adject? As far as I can tell, they are the roots for the English subject and adjective and literally mean the same grammatical ideas. Would it be reasonable to assume that, apart from how he is using them technically for the creation of images, Bruno intends the connotations of subject and adject as grammatical subjects and adjectives?

[ecosophia]

1) It's impossible to tell how challenging a ritual will be for any given practitioner, since that depends on conditions of the subtle body that are difficult to diagnose in our current state of knowledge. All you can do is experiment.

2) The English word "subject" comes straight from Latin subjectum and they mean exactly the same thing. The English word "adjective" -- well, that's amusing in a way, because for some reason English didn't use the Latin word adjectum, which would have given us "adject," but instead took the adjective form adjectivum, which normally calls for a noun -- verbum adjectivum, "a word that functions as an adject," is a long-winded say of saying "adject." Still, in answer to your question, both these words are primarily grammatical and Bruno chose them for that purpose, since the adjects in a memory image relate to the subject image the way that adjectives in a sentence relate to the subject of that sentence.

Daily Banishing Rituals

[(Anonymous)]

Has anyone to your knowledge ever compiled a list of the various daily protection rituals various traditions use? I am getting interested in starting this as a daily practice. I know you are a big fan of the sphere of protection, but I was wondering if there is a reasonably comprehensive list of various such rituals and the traditions which they are affiliated with.

On a related note, for those interested in working within a Christian framework do you think it is better to adapt the sphere of protection to Christianity, or do you think it would be easier to just use one that already came from the Christian tradition?

Re: Daily Banishing Rituals

[ecosophia]

1) I know of no such list, and one would be very useful.

2) It depends on personal preferences. The SoP has very often been adapted to Christian use, but there are also Christian banishing rituals; which one any one person uses really is up to them.

Ecosophia Prayer List

[ecoprayer]

At this page is the full list of all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared at ecosophia.net and ecosophia.dreamwidth.org, as well as in the comments of the prayer list posts (printable version here, current to 10/20). Please feel free to add any or all of the requests to your own prayers.

If I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom a relevant person holds power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below.

* * *
This week I would like to bring special attention to the following prayer requests, selected from the fuller list.

May Mary's sister have her auto-immune conditions sent into remission, may her eyes remain healthy, and may she heal in body, mind, and spirit.

May Marko have the awareness and strength to constructively deal with the situation.

May 5 year old Max be blessed and protected during his parents' contentious divorce; may events work out in a manner most conducive to Max's healthy development over the long term.

May the abcess in JRuss's left armpit heal quickly.

May Brother Kornhoer's son Travis's left ureter be restored to full function, may his body have the strength to fight off infections, may his kidneys strengthen, and may his empty nose syndrome abate, so that he may have a full and healthy life ahead of him.

May Corey Benton, whose throat tumor has grown around an artery and won't be treated surgically, and who is now able to be at home from the hospital, be healed of throat cancer.
(Healing work is also welcome. Note: Healing Hands should be fine, but if offering energy work which could potentially conflict with another, please first leave a note in comments or write to randomactsofkarmasc to double check that it's safe)

May HippieVikings's baby HV, who was born safely but has had some breathing concerns, be filled with good health and strength.

May Trubujah's best friend Pat's teenage daughter Devin, who has a mysterious condition which doctors are so far baffled by necessitating that she remain in a wheelchair, be healed of her condition; may the underlying cause come to light so that treatment may begin.

May J Guadalupe Villarruel Zúñiga, father of CRPatiño's friend Jair, who suffers from terminal kidney and liver damage, continue to respond favorably to treatment; may he also remain in as good health as possible, beat doctors' prognosis, and enjoy with his wife and children plenty of love, good times and a future full of blessings.

May DJ's newborn granddaughter Marishka and daughter Taylor be blessed, healed, and protected from danger, and may their situation work out in the best way possible for both of them.

May Kevin’s sister Cynthia be cured of the hallucinations and delusions that have afflicted her, and freed from emotional distress. May she be safely healed of the physical condition that has provoked her emotions; and may she be healed of the spiritual condition that brings her to be so unsettled by it. May she come to feel calm and secure in her physical body, regardless of its level of health.

May Pierre and Julie conceive a healthy baby together. May the conception, pregnancy, birth, and recovery all be healthy and smooth for baby and for Julie.

May Frank R. Hartman, who lost his house in the Altadena fire, and all who have been affected by the larger conflagration be blessed and healed.

* * *
Guidelines for how long prayer requests stay on the list, how to word requests, how to be added to the weekly email list, how to improve the chances of your prayer being answered, and several other common questions and issues, are to be found at the Ecosophia Prayer List FAQ.

If there are any among you who might wish to join me in a bit of astrological timing, I pray each week for the health of all those with health problems on the list on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun's rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join me.

Re: Ecosophia Prayer List

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this as always.

How to return cards to a devination deck?

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I am using the SGO for devination, and wanted to ask, after drawing the three cards, how do you return them to the deck after you are done with the reading?

Re: How to return cards to a devination deck?

[ecosophia]

I just put them on the back of the stack.

[linden_matryoshka]

Hello JMG,
I have a divination question. On Friday morning and Saturday morning, I asked, "What will I encounter today?" and got the following cards:
Friday: The Star reversed, Death, 8 of Swords reversed
Saturday: King of Cups reversed, 8 of Wands, The Emperor reversed
I spent 2 quiet days with nothing remarkable happening. However, this morning I learned that my high school sweetheart and a lifelong friend died suddenly of a heart attack on Saturday morning (Saturday night his time, which is 10 hours ahead of mine). I'm zeroing in on the Death card, but the timing is off. I spent today crying and trying to put myself together again, and didn't do any divination. Was it possible that the Death card was answering the question I didn't ask?
Also, I called my friend's wife to express my condolences, and she told me that a few hours before her husband's death, a wrist watch she was wearing, which was his gift, stopped working, and she felt such a strong burning sensation that she had to take it off. Would you have any possible explanation for that?
He always had good luck, was healthy, and had a very sunny disposition. I would never guess...
Thank you for MM.

[ecosophia]

First, please accept my condolences. What a horrible shock!

Second, weird events surrounding death are surprisingly common. Nobody is quite sure why, but psychic perceptions, visions, synchronicities, and unexpected events surround the dying process in folklore and in fact. The experience of your friend's wife reminds me rather strikingly of a traditional American song, "My Grandfather's Clock":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Grandfather's_Clock

Relation between astrological gods (planets) and druidic gods (ecological or cultural origin?)

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve been studying druidry from your books, and simultaneously learning Hellenistic astrology.

My general sense is that it would be healthy and good magical hygiene to keep the practices relatively distinct and separate. But, I wonder if cultivating a moderate degree of healthy mutual support and synergism is reasonable.

For example, I took advantage of a recent Saturn election to ask support for the consecration of my druid’s wand (Saturn being associated with initiation and cultivation of magical power). The request appeared to be well received, and the ceremony also went very well. I was encouraged that the circulation of light, using the wand, had a newly acquired sense of potency.

In contemplation of the nature of druidic and astrology deities, I feel that the druidic pantheon must be of a different nature than the planets themselves. If the planets have consciousness and embody the archetypes we ascribe them, they are immensely ancient and powerful, and must have been influencing events on Earth from the beginning. I am imagining Mercury initiating the creation of DNA from primordial soup, Venus and Mars initiating the processes of reproduction and competition, Jupiter stewarding periods of evolutionary expansion and innovation, Saturn to mass extinctions, etc…

Even if the druidic gods emerged from ecological forces and processes (the Hawk, Stag, Salmon and Bear of Hu, Sul, Esus, and Elen, for instance), rather than human culture, and are thus millions of years old, they must still be comparatively smaller and younger than the planets, in their great immensity and age. Conversely then, it occurs to me that the druidic gods are closer to us, more likely to notice and appreciate our offerings and devotions, and also, perhaps, more likely to be directly invested in our efforts to live harmoniously within Earth’s ecology. Is it reasonable to explore this line of thinking?

There’s been some good discussion in this space on the nature of gods in occult practice, and of instances where they may merely be egregores. In cases of true deity, that don't happen to be planets, where does the god's consciousness reside and whence did it originate? Being relatively new to all this, there’s probably some context I’m missing. Any suggestions for good general references to improve my understanding, would also be welcome!

Re: Relation between astrological gods (planets) and druidic gods (ecological or cultural origin?)

[ecosophia]

Interesting. I tend to think of the Druid gods and goddesses as deities of the earth -- what the Japanese call kunitsu no kami, the kami of the earth -- while the planetary gods and goddesses are amatsu no kami, the kami of heaven. So we're basically using the same scheme. I pray to both, for what it's worth. As for where gods "reside," why, you and I, being mere human beings, are unlikely ever to be able to get a clue about that!

Finance and Numeric Divination

[ignatiust]

Hi JMG, I've spent some time training in financial analysis according to the Elliott wave principle:

https://www.scribd.com/document/543148857/Lesson-1-10

This has been mentioned in your comments before. It's a form of numeric pattern analysis and because Elliott waves can be distorted in many ways, it depends on a great deal of human intuition to be effective. I've also noticed that spiritual practices like meditation and banishing are valuable in performing consistently when using this method to analyze markets. Would you say that using principles like these constitutes a form of divination? It would square with the importance of spiritual health to the productive use of the technique.

Further, can you draw any sharp line of demarcation between numeric methods that constitute divination and mere statistical analysis that doesn't involve higher planes of existence? Perhaps that's impossible since numbers themselves are manifested in the mental plane. I was thinking of the analytical methods used by the big investment banks, who make trades based on dizzyingly complex models with millions of inputs. If this is also a type of divination carried out within a hard materialist paradigm, I wonder if it represents an invitation to destructive forces in the global financial system.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Re: Finance and Numeric Divination

[ecosophia]

I think in all cases, these are divinatory methods; the fact that big investment banks don't all make the same trades at the same moment shows that there's always wiggle room in there. I'm intrigued to hear that Elliot Wave divination responds well to spiritual practice -- but not really surprised.

[thinking_turtle]

To share, for those who wonder what MM, GW, or ADF mean, a list of abbreviations used on Ecopsophia.

And here are the covers of the books our host published so far.

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this as always.

Brain death, vegetative states & Occult theory

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John Michael, 

Yesterday a friend of mine was found unconscious and not breathing.  Although he was revived, he is for all intents and purposes brain dead and is being kept alive by machines. There is a slim chance that he may recover enough to be in a permanent vegetative state, though this is unlikely. 

As distressing as it was to see him in this state, there was a part of me that felt "he" (whatever that means) had already left his body, though I wonder if this was my way of avoiding dealing with the reality of death.


What does Occult theory say about death in the context of brain death or remaining alive in a vegetative state? Is the soul or identity considered to remain in the body if brain death has occurred? Can you suggest books to learn more about this? 

I have to say that the whole experience left me shaken up and questioning my beliefs around death and survival after death. Is there an Occult practice that can help one prepare for the moment of their own death? 

Thanks as always, 

P

Re: Brain death, vegetative states & Occult theory

[ecosophia]

1) According to occult teachings, once brain death takes place, the soul is gone. The body can be kept more or less intact in a state of vegetative life, but there's no one home.

2) Begin by reading up on occult ideas of death -- Dion Fortune's book Through the Gates of Death is a good source for this, and can be downloaded free of charge here:

https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/through-the-gates-of-death-ebook.html

Then let yourself think about it. Keep the occult idea of death (the separation of the soul from the material body) in mind, replacing the ignorant materialist idea of death (the annihilation of the person). You might also visit your public library and see what it has in the way of books about near-death experiences. The best way to prepare for death is to understand it, because then you won't fear it, and when it happens, you can then deal with it constructively and go on to the next stage of your existence.

Treat Yourself to Being Who You Want to Be

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG,

A thought has been swirling through my head: Treat yourself to being who you want to be. I've realised that several "reward" habits of mine aren't particularly conductive to my longterm goals (or indeed shortterm beyond the current day). Those being relevant to longterm (or, again, all-but-the-shortest-term) happiness, working towards them seems like a better reward.

As much as that is a simple and perhaps obvious lesson, applying it hasn't exactly been easy, so I've been trying to turn it into an affirmation. My favourite reward is being who I want to be is what I've landed on, but it's not exactly short and doesn't really fit into the in-breath/out-breath pattern, so I wanted to ask for alternative suggestions.

—David P.

Re: Treat Yourself to Being Who You Want to Be

[ecosophia]

How about "I treat myself to being...who I want to be," with the dots marking the transition between inbreath and outbreath? It's always best to frame it as a declarative sentence stating the goal as though you already have it.

[adara9]

Hello,

In _The King in Orange_, you mention an occult view of emotions that considers anger not primary. I'm interested in reading about occult views on emotions, if you could recommend some resources, please.

Thanks,
Heather

[ecosophia]

I wish I could. This is something I learned from my teacher John Gilbert, and I haven't seen it in other sources.

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG and commentariat.

1. I believe you've mentioned in the past, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that the time around Halloween is when the veil between the living and the dead grows thinnest. Do the other three cross-quarter days also have occult 'properties'?

2. Have you ever heard of the Imbolc school correspondence course (https://imbolc.com/) or interacted with one of their students or teachers? Their ten year program appears thorough and comprehensive, but the tuition cost is a bit on the expensive side which raised an (not quite red but shall say) orange flag. Services that provide value ought to be compensated financially, but one can't exactly look up Yelp reviews on an occult school to see if they're the real deal you know.

Blessings be upon you, should you consent to receive it of course ;).

JR

[ecosophia]

1) Indeed they do. Just as Samhuinn (November 1) is the point at which the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest, Bealteinne (May 1) is when the veil between the living and the not yet born is thinnest -- that's why "the merry month of May" was once so famous for marriages and less formal couplings alike. Imbolc (February 2) is the birth-time, the point at which the energies of life take the lead over those of death, and Lughnasadh (August 1) is the point at which the death-energies take the lead, ushering in the fall.

2) No, I don't believe I've heard of that school.

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG. Thank you very much for hosting this every week. I've learned a ton.

I've been working through the SOP as you laid it out on deamwidth. I'm wrapping up my final week having added spirit within.

I had a few questions. Really one question that has a few different aspect that all center on “the beam of light” and some confusion I have around it.

1. In the Opening 1. Is it correct to imagine that the “beam of pure white light descending from infinite space” is the same solar current that later invoke though the purple gate? Or is it something distinct and different? If it IS different should be we seeking a different sensation in the opening then the one we feel when invoking Spirit Above? They feel the same to me. I experience both as a tingling/ chilling/ shivering feeling in my nervous system starting in my head and moving downwards.
2. In the Opening Part 3 – Is the Light that “rises up again from the heart of the earth” the telluric current that you later invoke through the Orange gate? Or is it something distinct and different? Is it the “same” beam from part 1 making a return trip? If it IS different should be we seeking a different sensation in the opening then the one we feel when invoking Spirit Below? They feel the same to me. As a gentle warmth that spreads from low to high in my body. .
3. Do you maintain the beam of light and the light radiating from you in your imagination after the conclusion of the opening and through the invocations? Or do you “shut them off” and go on the next steps.
4. If you do shut them off, when do you “turn them on” again for the closing?
5. In Phase 5 – Orange Gate – When we invoke the Spirit Below and ask to be empowered by the Telluric Current, when we “Draw the energies of Spirit Below into ourselves” Do we imagine the actual telluric current passing through us and is this the current we will use in the closing? Do we maintain this imagery and connection through Phase 6 and 7 or do we shut it off and then turn it on again the closing?
6. In Phase 6 – Purple Gate – When we invoke the Spirit Above and ask to be empowered by the Solar Current, when we “Draw the energies of Spirit Above into ourselves” Do we imagine the actual solar current passing through us and is this the current we will use in the closing? Do we maintain this imagery and connection through Phase 7 or do we shut it off and then turn it on again the closing?
7. Closing - And I thing this is where a lot of my confusion here comes from - in the closing where you state “ Imagine the beam of light forming a small sphere of light there. Feel this as the meeting place of the current of light of light descending from the sky and the current rising back up from the heart to the Earth. Now imagine the sphere of light expanding fed by the two currents flowing into it.”

What currents of lights are these? Are they the Solar/ Telluric Current. Or the unnamed white light from the opening. The closing seems to suggest that there are two power sources, coming from different sources and directions that we are combining to create the SOP. Where as in the opening it seems like there is one beam of light that is coming down from the sky and then bouncing back up from the center of the earth. Have those two beams been there since the opening and we need to keep them in our active imagination? Or are they turned back on only at the closing?

I hope this makes sense. And thank you very much for your time.

Donnie

[ecosophia]

It's very important not to overthink rituals of this kind, or try to set hard and fast rules on what each of the symbolic visualizations mean. Formulate each image where the ritual tells you to do so, let go of it when the ritual moves on, and relax -- you don't need to understand it to make it work.

Revisioning the Tree of Life

[arth_cerdded]

JMG,

Thank you for hosting these MMs.

I have a question about two of the images in "Revisioning the Tree of Life".

On page 170 & 171 the images seem backwards from the text. I just want to get verification that they are correct and when I get to this point I need to meditate on why this is or if this an actual flipped image in the book.

Apologies if this has been addressed already and thank you!

Regards,
Bert

Re: Revisioning the Tree of Life

[ecosophia]

They're correct in my copy, certainly. The first image shows the light descending from Awareness to Harmony, and the second shows the light ascending from Manifestation to Harmony to meet the first current.

Dolmen Arch

[trubrujah]

Here is this weeks post on the Dolmen Arch group work, this time with our meditations on Maen, the fifth Cantref.
https://thelongdescent.substack.com/p/maen

JMG, thank you as always for this place to post to.

Re: Dolmen Arch

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this!

[kylec]

Hello! I'm offering healing hands to all who would like to receive this energy healing at a distance modality. Just reply or PM me with your name and request.

Additionally, if you need attunement in one of the Modern Order of Essenes grades please pm me to schedule something.

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Kyle,

Couldn't message you, so I'll just place my request here: please include me in your practice, I have caught a bad flu and am having a hard time recovering.

Thank you so much!

Anna

[(Anonymous)]

Does anybody have recommendations for books and other resources on electional astrology?

[ecosophia]

Vivian Robson's classic text on the subject is out of copyright and available for free download:

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.128090

That's the book I used to learn that branch of the art.

[(Anonymous)]

I wanted to share this:

French Artisan Group Announce the “Guardian of Liberty” Statue — Could Become Tallest Statue in the Western Hemisphere to Honor America’s 250th Birthday

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/10/french-artisan-group-announce-guardian-liberty-statue-tallest/

i know that ppl ask sometimes about what would be a good representation to honour for the spirit of America..
and i was wondering, do you think this is a good one..?
to me, it seems sort of like Atlas before shrugging or something..
do you think it would add to the spirit of America at all?

[ecosophia]

It seems like a bad idea to me, precisely because of the sense of being burdened. Still, we'll see.

Swordsmanship

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
Any words of wisdom for an aspiring swordsman?
I start my classes today studying the Thibault method under a teacher where I live in Oregon .

Re: Swordsmanship

[ecosophia]

I'm not much of a practitioner, though I did work through some of Thibault's art in the process of doing the translation. Thus I don't have any real advice. Are you studying in Portland or Phoenix? Please say hi for me to Jeff and/or John, as circumstances permit!

Orlog book released

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG and all,

I'm sorry to read that you're feeling 'blah,' JMG; perhaps some enjoyable discussion with people on this blog will ease you out of that state! Thank you so much for offering this, and to all the participants as well, who bring it alive.

I'm announcing the release of my latest book, "Orlog Yesterday and Today: The Shapings of the Norns." If people are interested they can find out more by looking up the title on my website, HeathenSoulLore.net, under the menu header "My Books."

Best wishes, especially for reaching an un-blah-ed state!
Winifred Hodge Rose

Re: Orlog book released

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this. As for me, it's no big deal -- I just ran myself too hard traveling, and came down with a cold, which is gradually ebbing. The last stages of a cold are always the most boring. ;-)