ecosophia: (Default)
[personal profile] ecosophia
Max HeindelIt'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!***

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Inner Plane workings

Date: 2018-10-08 04:07 am (UTC)
From: (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

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 04:08 am (UTC)
marcu: (Default)
From: [personal profile] 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.

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Date: 2018-10-08 04:09 am (UTC)
From: (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?

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Five Tibetan rites

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(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 04:09 am (UTC)
From: (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?

Gods to Pray to

Date: 2018-10-08 04:22 am (UTC)
From: (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

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Order of Essenes breathing instructions

Date: 2018-10-08 04:55 am (UTC)
tunesmyth: (Default)
From: [personal profile] 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

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The telluric current

Date: 2018-10-08 05:49 am (UTC)
From: (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

Relationships with the opposite sex

Date: 2018-10-08 06:07 am (UTC)
From: (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

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Re: Relationships with the opposite sex

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Re: Relationships with the opposite sex

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Re: Relationships with the opposite sex

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(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 07:05 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
What's the most dangerous kind of magic you can do, that's still worth doing?

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 04:26 pm (UTC)
packshaud: Photography of my cat. (Default)
From: [personal profile] 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.

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Date: 2018-10-08 07:13 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Have there ever been, or could there be, joint works by mages and mystics that take advantage of what each does best?

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 07:25 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Can you recommend some good books or other resources about alchemy?

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(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 07:34 am (UTC)
From: (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!

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 07:46 am (UTC)
From: (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.

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 04:35 pm (UTC)
packshaud: Photography of my cat. (Default)
From: [personal profile] 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).
Edited (Add "smaller scale" to the second paragraph) Date: 2018-10-08 06:44 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 07:46 am (UTC)
dreamstrike13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] 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 !
Edited Date: 2018-10-08 05:02 pm (UTC)

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Date: 2018-10-08 08:02 am (UTC)
From: (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.

Novel gods

Date: 2018-10-08 08:18 am (UTC)
From: (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

Date: 2018-10-08 04:40 pm (UTC)
packshaud: Photography of my cat. (Default)
From: [personal profile] packshaud
I strongly suspect this is the process that gave rise to the Christendom.

Re: Novel gods

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Re: Novel gods

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(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 10:22 am (UTC)
From: (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?

spell to be free of debt

Date: 2018-10-08 10:54 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] 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

From: [personal profile] syfen - Date: 2018-10-09 01:53 am (UTC) - Expand

Justice Kavanaugh and bad astrological magic

Date: 2018-10-08 11:01 am (UTC)
From: (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.

Shinto and Druidry (and magic)

Date: 2018-10-08 11:05 am (UTC)
From: (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)

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Re: Shinto and Druidry (and magic)

From: [personal profile] tunesmyth - Date: 2018-10-09 06:48 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 12:10 pm (UTC)
From: (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!

Hexes

Date: 2018-10-08 12:43 pm (UTC)
From: (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

(no subject)

Date: 2018-10-08 12:53 pm (UTC)
From: (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?

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] pretentious_username - Date: 2018-10-08 11:51 pm (UTC) - Expand

About the musical intonation of magical names

Date: 2018-10-08 01:32 pm (UTC)
From: (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?

More questions

Date: 2018-10-08 01:32 pm (UTC)
From: (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.
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