Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's almost midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is Max Heindel, founder of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, one of the big four American Rosicrucian orders during the golden age of American occultism -- that was most of a century ago, in case you were wondering.

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

Inner Plane workings

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!

I am currently working my way through LRM. I would like to know what is the purpose of inner planes workings. Will this exercise develop certain latent faculties?

Many thanks

Re: Inner Plane workings

[ecosophia]

Yes, but it's more specific than that. The imagination, as it's called by the general public, is understood by traditional occultism to be the sense organ that perceives the astral plane, and is also capable of acting on astral substance. Inner plane workings help you develop the ability to perceive and act on the astral level of existence, which is essential for success in ceremonial magic.

[marcu]

Dear Mr. Greer,

I was wondering if you have any advice (within the context of the theme of this blog) on making large life decisions?
With my limited understanding I can see that discursiveness mediation and the Tarot might be useful but I don't feel that my abilities in these areas are up to scratch at this stage.

[ecosophia]

There's no simple formula for making the important decisions! By all means use divination and meditation to inform your choice, but when it comes right down to it, you'll simply need to make the choice as best you can.

[(Anonymous)]

First!...
I have a question about the five Tibetan rites.
I’ve always been curious about the first exercise, which is essentially spinning clockwise in one spot.
I have a theory that the purpose of this is to try and increase the practitioners ability to withstand “dizzy spells” which I think people get as they age, is that plausible?

[ecosophia]

That's one of the effects, and it's a useful one, but the Five Rites aren't purely physical exercises -- they also work with the subtle body, and the First Rite helps clear away stagnant energy from the aura and awaken the vortices in the energy body. If you can find a copy of the original book on the Five Rites, The Eye of Revelation by Peter Kelder, it includes some useful discussion of the energetic basis of the exercises.

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen discussion of Kentucky's egregor on the other blog, and I have a theory as to what it might be: the US seems to be obsessing over the civil war these days, and so I wonder if that's having an effect on the egregor.

Kentucky in the civil war was the only state that managed the distinction of being invaded by both sides. I could see that causing a lot of dysfunction today if the country's egregor is turning back to the civil war period. I'm unsure of any way to test it, but does it make sense as a theory?

[ecosophia]

Interesting. I don't know enough about state egregors to be sure whether or not that would work!

Gods to Pray to

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I have been practising the ritual and meditation in Paths of Wisdom for just over a year now. I have always practised prayer, coming from a Christian background, but I always feel a little uncertain about who I should be praying to.

I’ve been praying to ‘Yeshua’. I guess that my Christian upbringing kicks in and makes it feel awkward to pray to anyone else, besides the Christian God. Who else can I pray to in the Golden Dawn tradition besides ‘Yeshua’?

Thanks,
Dan

Re: Gods to Pray to

[ecosophia]

If you're working with Paths of Wisdom, all the Hebrew names of God given in that book are names of the deity that Christians call God the Father. Jesus in his human incarnation will have learned and prayed to every one of these names -- they're all found in the original Hebrew version of the Old Testament.

Order of Essenes breathing instructions

[tunesmyth]

In the breathing practice instructions in the Order of Essenes materials, students are asked to lie prone and "lift up or puff out the triangular space just below the sternum (breastbone)." I am not sure if "up" of "out" means towards the ceiling or toward the head. I have tried it both ways, but in either case -- even or especially when I try to follow the instruction of pushing my muscles so I feel a pressing outward high on the side of the ribs -- I seem to be making it more difficult for air to fill up my abdomen. I can't seem to find a position which does a better job of allowing more air into the abdomen than lying relaxed while prone.

I understand that I'm attempting to maneuver muscles which I'm not used to focusing on here, and there is value in simply focusing my awareness there and continuing to try. Beyond that, though, do you have any advice to offer that may enlighten as to how to attain the correct position?

Re: Order of Essenes breathing instructions

[ecosophia]

That's probably a function of systemic tensions in the musculature of your body core. Keep trying, and don't worry about it too much; that's a detail, not the heart of the practice.

The telluric current

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, Ynnothir here.

Given your new project on telluric magic, this seems like a good time to finally ask about something that's perplexed me for a while.

First some relevant background. I studied jujitsu formally for several years during the 90's and kept practicing through the the mid 00's. At that point I was forced to stop by a rare autoimmune/neuromuscular disorder.(My immune system is attacking specifically and only the myelin sheathing of my peripheral motor neurons. It's called MMN, for the curious.)

My sensei didn't teach us anything about ki. He would answer direct questions about it in a concise and neutral manner and that would be that. However, at some point during my study of "the art of flowing", I became aware of its influence and started putting it to use.

That was fortunate, because now my lower legs are like toothpicks and that's where balance is brought to bear.

But I've never fallen, despite the fact that I share my home with a number of cats who love affection and don't really grasp how bipedalism works. (My neurologist doesn't even ask about falling anymore) That's because I have this trick where I blow ki out of the palms of my hands like highly maneuverable, independently operating turbofans. Part of the balancing effect comes from the weight of my arms shifting my center of gravity, of course, but that's not even half of it. I should know; I've been a jujitsuka for twenty-six years and the owner/operator of a human body for at least twice that long.

Now here's where I can't really fit things together conceptually. When I gather solar energy I can feel, usually, a slight warming in my palms. This is whether I'm inside or out. That seems about right; this is an astral current, and it's not necessarily something you'll even feel at all. But when I draw on the telluric current it feels like ki. I mean, there ain't no maybe sí, maybe no, I could about put this stuff in my mouth and chew it. Doesn't that mean it's etheric? And yet everything I find in the literature about the solar and telluric currents seems to consider them to be complimentary aspects of the astral plane.

Can you help me make sense of this?

Many thanks

-- Ynnothir Coll

Re: The telluric current

[ecosophia]

Sure. Remember that each plane of existence tends to shape the plane below it. The telluric current is astral, but it's pulling etheric energy along with it. You might consider deliberately trying to draw ki into your palms from the sun when you absorb the solar current, and see what results you get.

Relationships with the opposite sex

[(Anonymous)]

Is there a divination or other method to determine if you have blockage preventing you from finding someone appropriate for a romantic relationship? I suffer from the common lament of not being able find anyone with whom I have much in common. I can meet women no problem, but meeting someone who holds my interest is another story. I've prayed on it, and the Goddess who looks after me helps me in innumerable ways, but not [yet] this one. Any way to determine if I am self-sabotaging or being repellent somehow? If there is, that would give me a starting point to work from.

Re: Relationships with the opposite sex

[ecosophia]

This is an extraordinarily challenging time for human relationships, and that has to be factored in to any question of this kind. Still, I think you're partly answering your own question. The difficulty, as you've indicated, is that the women you meet don't hold your interest. What exactly are you looking for, that the women you meet don't fit? And why is that so important that you're not willing to have a relationship if it's not present?

This is the kind of question that's often best approached through journaling. Get a blank notebook and a pen, and start a conversation with yourself about the relationship you want, the women you know, and so on. Ask yourself questions and then write down whatever comes to mind, without censoring anything, no matter how absurd or unpleasant it might be. Give this fifteen minutes or so a day until you have a pretty clear idea of what's going on inside your head; then put it away for a month or two; then take it out again and do some more journaling. Most of us have a lot of oddities packed away in our thought processes; getting them out into the open is an important first step in self-knowledge, which is essential for successful magic.

[(Anonymous)]

What's the most dangerous kind of magic you can do, that's still worth doing?

[packshaud]

I can think of a lot of stuff I would not touch because of the danger. Ocean magic, kundalini, Enochian, doing magic workings with the Good People. Even basic practices have risks--working with elementals may tempt you to work more with your favorite element, which can lead to catastrophic results--a risk that also is embedded in the work with the fae, which overlaps with elementals to some extent. Even Hermetic Golden Dawn is not entirely safe. It is not necessary to comment on what Thelema did to Crowley.

[(Anonymous)]

Have there ever been, or could there be, joint works by mages and mystics that take advantage of what each does best?

[ecosophia]

Not that I know of, because mystics don't do workings. They pursue their spiritual disciplines, whatever those happen to be, and the divine energies they work with do things through them.

[(Anonymous)]

Can you recommend some good books or other resources about alchemy?

[ecosophia]

Sure. The best way to start is to get some basic knowledge of spagyrics, the branch of alchemy that deals with herbs; the spagyric literature is fairly sane, which is more than can be said about most other modern writings on the subject! Having some experience with hands-on alchemical work also makes it much easier to make sense of the texts; Jung would have written far fewer absurdities on the subject if he'd spent some time practicing some basic form of laboratory alchemy.

Mark Stavish's book The Path of Alchemy is a very solid introduction to spagyrics, and the book I recommend to beginners; other important spagyric texts are The Alchemist's Handbook by Frater Albertus and Spagyrics by Manfred Junius. Meanwhile, for a broader education on the subject, Adam McLean's gargantuan alchemy website is your go-to place. The old alchemists used to say Lege, lege, lege, relege, ora, labora, ut invenies -- "read, read, read, reread, pray, work, and you will discover."

[(Anonymous)]

Do you have any experience or wise words to say about servitors? I am thinking about creating one for a specific purpose and would like to know your opinion.

Thanks!

[ecosophia]

I don't use them. When I have a specific purpose I want to accomplish magically, if it's a single event, I do a working to bring it about; if it's something that needs to work over the long term, I create and consecrate a talisman to get the thing done. Those have always been quite adequate for my purposes, and they don't run the risk of your creation developing a mind of its own and messing with you, which can sometimes happen with servitors.

[(Anonymous)]

Is it known how ancient people originally learned how to do magic? For example I'm thinking of the archeology programmes I've seen about standing stones. I don't remember them ever talking about evidence stones were pulled back up and moved to new locations, which you would expect if they were testing things and learning from experience.

[packshaud]

One wouldn't move huge stone blocks without a very good reason--the same that made it unlikely to change stuff. These projects were also "expensive", in terms of the resources beyond survival allocated to them. And when the societies that built them collapsed, there was no way anymore to do any changes to them.

Anything smaller might have been disassembled and repurposed, which would explain the lack of smaller scale examples.

Talking with spirits and experimentation account for the building of knowledge on magic. The problems to dismantle the larger structures possibly account for their survival bias.

Sudden revolutions against exploitation might have done abrupt stopping to the use of temples (it is already bad to think of the cost of building them, with the consequences of the use being possibly worse, given that humans tend to turn into corruption anything they touch. Think Pharaoh being buried with all his servants).

[dreamstrike13]

Hi JMG, all

Hope everyone is well!

Found some cool stuff and thought you might find it interesting.

A went to train with a guy I loosely knew while I was living in Japan and he's spent serious amount of time studying the occult. He was telling me about a book 神伝武道 (Shinden Budo) were a Martial arts master (think it might be Shin Kage Ryu, but not 100%) compared Western and Japanese occult. Said acquaintance has offered to translated it but got no response, might do a chapter on his blog, I'll keep you posted. I'm going send him the link you put up on reddit if that's OK as he's talked extensively with our schools Grandmaster about Japanese occult, Budo and the like. He also translates for the Gandmaster so his Japanese is very good. Seems like a good fit for your edited book.

This is all very exciting, however. One issue is he's unlucky on a scale I've never seen before. Like hitting every branch on the way down the unlucky tree. perhaps just life run bad, perhaps dabbling with things he shouldn't. On the one hand I'm thrilled to have someone who is interested in the occult and Budo nearby, on the other my gut says be weary. That said I don't want to be an ass and treat him like he's cursed, perhaps all he needs is some help? What signs, or symptoms might be warnings for you that he's strayed from the light so to speak? Or is it a case of just being polite and listening and then sticking with my own path and training? Somewhat paranoid it's contagious, but even if he has and it is, he seems good at heart, how can I help without getting mixed up in something that's way beyond me. Or perhaps I'm being paranoid....


Paying respect, where respect due. I feel I've had a guardian angel throughout my life, how do I find out who it is and how to thank them/it and how to do in a way that is respectful and meaningful? In your opening of the grove section you talk about offerings, for example food or wine. I feel like an offering would be good, but that it would have been a big deal back in the day, as in food that would have been needed but folks offered it anyway. I feel I'd cheapen that process by going done the store and picking up a bottle of wine, how about fasting? Something that stings a bit my end. Or perhaps they/it needs an assist on the physical plane? Meditation, Ogam cards? Still a complete rookie and this seems like a pretty advanced thing but I want to do it right.

Many thanks for any pointers!

p.s couple of other books I'm going to check out, just in case anyone else is interested Japanese topics:

Shugendo: Essays on the Structure of Japanese Folk Religion

The Fluid Pantheon: Gods of Medieval Japan, Volume 1

Protectors and Predators: Gods of Medieval Japan, Volume 2

also found this, Mountain monks and there 100 consecutive hill marathons!!!!

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/darumamuseum004/conversations/topics/192

All the best !

[ecosophia]

1) The guy's bad luck may be karma, or it may be something else; unless he asks you for help with it, it's not something you should mess with.

2) Every human being has a spiritual protector of the sort that Christian mystics call a guardian angel. Yours will reveal itself to you when you're ready for that. In the meantime, the occasional prayer of gratitude is a good idea.

[(Anonymous)]

(standing stones continued) The standing stones not being moved didn't sound right so I looked it up and apparently the stones of Stonehenge were moved around a lot. So they didn't already know a way to get it right first time.

[ecosophia]

Yep. Stonehenge was also fairly late as a megalithic monument -- work started there around 2950 BCE, while the nearby circle at Avebury got under way around 3500 BCE, other megalithic sites go back to 4200 BCE, and there was some kind of structure of tall wooden posts on the site of Stonehenge around 8000 BCE, roughly as far back before Stonehenge as Stonehenge is before us. So there was plenty of time for experimentation!

Novel gods

[(Anonymous)]

Suppose I'm writing a novel and want to dream up a totally new religion with its own mythology etc, but I want it to feel authentic, persuasive and plausible. Any advice?

Additionally, say my novel got really popular and some people start invoking my invented deities in their prayers/magical workings, would they be praying to an egregor or might a real deity or spirit jump in and start identifying accordingly to soak up the magical energy? If the former, would invoking it achieve any effect? If the latter, would the entity then behave as prescribed in the novel?

(Sorry for any overuse of conditional tenses.)

Re: Novel gods

[packshaud]

I strongly suspect this is the process that gave rise to the Christendom.

[(Anonymous)]

Can the cut and clear spell be used against a more general target than a single person, something like 'the bad times'? Can it also be enhanced with planetary hours and a coloured candle?

[ecosophia]

Good question. I'd say give it a try.

spell to be free of debt

[syfen]

Archdruid,

I’m going to cast a spell today to help my girlfriend who is under significant finanical and physical strain due to her student loan debt. I’ve gotten her permission and have done a divination, which resulted in a positive signal.

Just wondering if this spell is properly designed?

The focus of the spell is to give her a chance to earn extra money to
supplement her current income and pay off her debt quickly.

Focus: Work to make money to pay off debt quickly.

Here is the spell:

Start with ritual cleansing – SoP.

Invocation:

while imagining a white light descending from the heavens

“Shakti om” recited three times.

Picture each of the tri murthy in your minds eye and recite their names 3 times.

“Lady Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity

Lord Ganesha, most wise keeper of the vedas, remover of obstacles

Lady Saraswathi – goddess of knowledge and the arts.”


“Devas/Asuhras – all noble and benevolent beings I seek your guidance
and blessings for (girlfriends name). I ask that you clear her path to
prosperity and financial security, to guide her as she frees herself
from debt, to open to her opportunities for labor.”

“On her behalf I mark the seed with the color of prosperity.” Mark the
coin with a red dot.

“On her behalf I light the flame of ingenuity.” Light the Candle.

“Let the flame give life to the seed.” Safely hold the coin over the
fire, while visualizing a flow energy from fire to coin.

“On her behalf I plant the seed within the soil, may it bear for her
fruits of wealth.” Plant the coin into the soil and place the candle
upon the soil, over the covered coin.

Bow three times.
Once a week on Monday, have girlfriend light an incense stick and
plant it into the soil.

Materials:
Red marker
Coin
A clump of earth
Candle

Re: spell to be free of debt

[ecosophia]

A nice crisp working. I'd say go for it. Caution your girlfriend, though, that if at all possible, so long as it doesn't involve ethical problems, she should take the first new opportunity to make money that comes her way. That will help anchor the working and bring more opportunities her way.

Justice Kavanaugh and bad astrological magic

[(Anonymous)]

In your earlier post 'How Not To Do Magic Revisited, or, How’s That Spell Working For You?' you mentioned several problems with the magical attempts by those in the radical Left to derail Justice Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

I would agree that it seems like bad magic and would add the following issues:

1. Asking Venus for favours when she is retrograde (the Picatrix tells us that retrograde planets reject petitions) and the use of a mirror seems like a good way to end up having your curses bounce right back on you. (Personally I believe that this will have a detrimental effect on women in general who will now face much tougher consequences for real rape allegations and not ones that have been conjured out of thin air for political purposes.)
2. Not taking into account the fact that Saturn is the significator of judges (and is also ruler of the 9th in the Libra Ingress) and he has his own plan for them
3. The general attitrude of completely ignoring the actual astrological role of the planets in the world and believing that they can be compelled to do whatever the "witch" wants

That said, do you believe that it's possible that there are people in President Trump's circle that practice magic on his behalf? It seems rather curious to me that every attempt at cursing or binding him and his agenda has rebounded rather spectacularly.

Ben.

Re: Justice Kavanaugh and bad astrological magic

[ecosophia]

A solid analysis of the astrological issues involved! As for Trump, though, whether or not he has people in his circle doing magic, there are plenty of people on the alt-Right who have taken up chaos magic and are doing workings for his benefit. (I've had some of them comment on my blog posts and journal entries.) Since they aren't dumb enough to post the details of their workings where their opponents can read them, they have a major advantage over the radical Left; several of the alt-Right mages who've commented have also displayed a degree of magical knowledge that goes way past anything I've seen among mages on the radical Left, so I think the latter really are bringing a peashooter to a gunfight...

Shinto and Druidry (and magic)

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid,

To my great delight there is a Shinto shrine near me, and I intend to start visiting and praying there regularly.

I know you are familiar with Shinto yourself, so perhaps you can help me with this: Do you happen to know if Shinto rituals and meditation conflict with Western magical practice?

I am doing the entire SOP (including the grail workings) daily, as wel as the Nine Hazels Druid Qi Gong, and I intend to eventually do DOGD workings daily, too.
I know that Japanese martial arts mostly dropped the energy-circulating practices they inherited from China, and are thus wonderfully compatible with Western Magic. Does this extend to Shinto?


Yours in Druidry,
Brigyn

Re: Shinto and Druidry (and magic)

[ecosophia]

Participating in Shinto rituals in no way conflicts with magic or Druidry; I did both for several years with entirely good results, and would still be doing so if there was a Shinto shrine in Rhode Island! I don't know how the distinctive Shinto meditation practices, such as chinkon gyoho, mesh with Western magic or Druidry, as I didn't experiment with them, but regular attendance at a shrine is perfectly safe, and spiritually beneficial.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG, a few months ago you recommended several psychology books to me (REBT, Games People Play) which I'm pleased to report have been some help to me.

A further question along these lines, if I may. Last week another commenter asked you about the personality types that should avoid New Thought work and other magical work as well, and you responded that Golden Dawn magic unbalances those with unstable egos.

Unfortunately, I have one of those unstable egos. I've known for some time that I have some form of strong social anxiety (never diagnosed) and your comment about ego inflation led me down a winding path of research which seems to indicate that I'm at least a little bit of a narcissist, too. It does not goes as far as desiring to manipulate others, but I do seem to have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and desire for praise/admiration. When I read the list of symptoms for narcissism, I identify with a quite a few of them, which is saddening. Although it does often alternate to its opposite sometimes, to having too little confidence. It seems weird to be socially anxious and narcissistic at the same time, but what they have in common is too much focus on the self.

Does this mean I should stay away from magical training? Or is there some kind of magical training that could help to balance things in my personality, to reduce the overinflated focus on the self? I have not yet started any training, I do have your Druid Magic Handbook. If magic is something I should avoid, then what other possibilities are there for this?

I remember you saying before that with magic, it helps to have a specific idea of what one wants to achieve. For me, it would be to bring myself into balance so that I'm not so self-obsessive.

Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions, and for your time!

[ecosophia]

Actually, one kind of narcissism is a reaction against a damaged self-image, and that usually involves social anxiety and a need for praise. I would advise staying away from Golden Dawn magic, as it can interact badly with that kind of psychology. On the other hand, the magical workings in The Druid Magic Handbook don't have that problem; I'd encourage you to combine them with the meditation practice in The Druidry Handbook for best results. Druidry tends to focus attention on the cosmos rather than the individual, so may be what you're looking for.

Hexes

[(Anonymous)]

This question is about hexes, but specifically what someone can do when they believe that another person is either purposefully or unconsciously doing black magic against them. I have been the victim of pretty extreme mental and emotional bullying by a co-worker and my manager for about a year now (I have a date early next year when I can leave this job). I have never been so physically and emotionally and mentally "ill" in my life. My co-worker identifies herself as a sort of Aztec priestess or something similar. Interestingly, both my co-worker and manager also suffer from many physical illnesses, and just don't seem quite right in the head. They are also extremely caught up in TDS and card carrying members of the ctrl-left, and have decided I am the "enemy".

Do you have any specific courses of study you recommend for protecting oneself against an attack of negative energy?

Thanks,
Tude

Re: Hexes

[ecosophia]

Yes. The standard hoodoo protective bath is a good starting place: half a tub of water as cool as you can handle it, a quarter cup of kosher salt, a quarter cup of vinegar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stand in the tub, and with a clean cloth, wash downward from above. When you're done, towel off and get dressed, and take a pailful of the water from the bath and throw it on the roots of the biggest, healthiest tree you can find. Do this at least once a week; you can do it daily if you need to.

Second, a protective amulet. Get a little red cloth bag on a cord, sized so that you can wear it around your neck. (You didn't mention your gender; if you're a woman, you can also simply tuck it down the center of your bra.) Into the bag goes half a teaspoon or so of kosher salt, and a bright iron or steel nail (i.e., white metal, not brass) that you've bent at an angle with two pairs of plyers. Wear that whenever you're going be around the people in question, as close as possible to your heart. The iron discharges certain kinds of nasty magical energies; the salt absorbs the discharges so they don't affect you.

Those will give you protection immediately, which a course of study won't. If you decide you want to study magic in order to learn how to protect yourself from toxic energies, well, depending on what your spiritual beliefs are, I may be able to recommend a book or two... ;-)

[(Anonymous)]

I watched the PBS documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America and it featured a rap song that described US prisons as 'concrete slave ships'. Could that be an egregore that's been sticking around developing for hundreds of years, changing in form but still basically encouraging doing the same things?

[ecosophia]

Or it could simply be that it's a metaphor that comes readily to mind among African-Americans...

About the musical intonation of magical names

[(Anonymous)]

I read on Cicero's addition to Regardie's the Middle Pillar book, that the vibrations of the mames can ve done with the corresponding musical notes to each letter. How useful is this? I'm having some trouble memorizing the melodías. Should I just vibrate on a monotone?

Re: About the musical intonation of magical names

[ecosophia]

You can use the musical patterns or not, as the case may be. I normally vibrate in a monotone.

More questions

[(Anonymous)]

Good day to you, JMG!
I have a few questions for you today.
1. First question is about how to approach divination. Since I am a novice, when I perform a divination I need to look up the possible meanings of the fews. From there, should I consider what comes to my own mind for a connection with my life to figure out what the fews are telling me?

2. You said that you have magical workings around your books for unauthorized use, such as using a pdf from online. Would that carry over to using an electronic library copy such as borrowed from Hoopla Digital or reading from google books?

3. How would you order your mediation, divination and sphere of protection practices?

4. My second grade son was learning about the ancient Celts this week in school and parents were encouraged to take their kids into nature and talk about how the Celts based their religion around nature. We ended up talking about rivers and trees and then found a large fir tree who's trunk split in three and brought the image of the three rays of light to mind. We shared nwyfre with the tree and I asked my son what he "heard". He said "the tree knows my name...all the trees do." That surprised me in a "kids are so much more in tune than adults" kind of way. What do you think?

Many thanks.

Re: More questions

[ecosophia]

1) Yes. You should also always write down your interpretation, and then go back over it the next day and see how well you did. That way you'll quickly figure out what you're missing, learn from your successes and mistakes alike, and develop your own sense for what the fews are saying.

2) If it's legal, you're fine. Both of those are exempted from my working.

3) I cast the Sphere, then meditate in the space cleared by the ritual. I usually do divination a little later in the morning, but you can also do it right after the meditation.

4) I think your son hasn't yet been bullied into not noticing realities that our culture insists aren't there. Good for him, and for you!