Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's midnight 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

MOE Healing and omens of salted pork

[vitranc]

Hi JMG,

I have been having some disjointed questions and remarks of late:

1.) For and to MOE practitioners, when healing someone, or something, with either the healing hands or bridge of light; Do you do it just once, or use several repetitions. If so, how many times, or over what kind of timespan? Inquiring healers would like to know.
2.) I do admit this is not exactly magical in nature, but I used to work for the german automotive industry. Soo, I recon this be an ill omen. But hope springs infernal I guess.
3.) I have been having the most interesting set of synchronicities as of late: Due to life circumstances I have taken up an evening course and certification in farming. It is an interesting course lasting for a whole year with a LOT of practical lessons. And next to discussing soil microbiology, and I shale you not “Farmers of forty centuries” came up in the discussion, we also get to learn how to process a whole pig, with a double unit focused on processing and salting the hind quarters. Just the week after learning about this little challenge in the curriculum I have been having a heated discussion with my family about selection of traditional local Christmas hams. Now, three days after learning that my HAM radio certification will be released in two weeks’ time, I get to have a pleasant conversation with a dear friend about his love of Christopher Lloyds performance in Back to the future movies while enjoying a nice prosciutto sandwich. Oh wise druid, what are all this omens? What does it all mean? 😊
Best regards,
V

Re: MOE Healing and omens of salted pork

[ecosophia]

1) In my experience, at least, it varies from healer to healer and from case to case. If the illness goes away, you don't need to do the healing again. If it lingers, by all means consider repeating.

2) No reference to economic viability in either article...

3) Probably that pigs are tasty. ;-)

[rhydlyd]

You might recall that I reported a favorable experience and result while learning the Rousing of the Dragons for the TOL… which may not be the usual experience. So… while rousing (which strikes me as a risky since I don’t like being roused) I had an altered state fade-in where I found myself in a nice lake in a cave deep underground facing a young woman who was floating chin deep. An alligator? I was terrified, but I kept a poker face. I said, “You’re the White Dragon!” She answered, “Yes.” I said, “Your grace,” bowed politely (a trick while treading water) and faded back into the mundane world carrying a sense of, “Right. Answer.” Ah, um, well…what happened? (I’m guessing this might be a little unusual.)
Many thanks!
Rhydlyd

[ecosophia]

The only person who can interpret your visions is you. Take it as a theme for meditation, and unpack it!

Hoodoo

[(Anonymous)]

Which Hoodoo working do you prefer for attracting large sums of money without relying on a family member passing away and leaving you an inheritance?

Last week there was a discussion here about a massive Hoodoo book—around 4,700 pages—but I forgot the title. Is that book actually practical and useful from a hands-on perspective?

Re: Hoodoo

[ecosophia]

1) I don't do workings of that kind. Workings that attempt to get money without earning it aren't quite as predictably disastrous as love workings aimed at a specific person, but I have yet to see someone have good results from such a working. Very often what happens is that you lose some substantial amount of money or valuables, via theft, accident, or what have you. Remember that for you to get money without earning it, someone else has to earn the money and then not get it; thus you're trying to increase the total amount of economic injustice in the world, and that's very likely to blow back on you good and hard.

If you want to do a working to earn more money, especially if you want to wake yourself up to opportunities to make money, that's quite another matter -- I've done very successful hoodoo workings for that using a green candle dressed with crown of success oil and magnet oil, and a spell paper under the candle five-spotted with those same oils. Start it on a Friday during the day and hour of Venus.

2) Sure, if you're willing to put in the time to study it. The collection (which you can find here contains well over 13,000 spells; if you can't learn something from it, you're not trying. It consists almost entirely of interviews with professional hoodoo doctors and rootworkers in the South and Midwest.

About praying for the dead

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

(I'm hoping that I didn't already ask you this question ... I've become very absentminded lately)

I recently found out on Facebook that a former classmate passed away about 8 years ago. It's my belief that I had missed the e-mail notification about her passing, and until recently, I had not looked at her FB page in at least a decade. Although we were not particularly close, (we were at best friendly acquaintances), I was still sad when I learned of her passing.

In addition to feeling awful that 1) she died prematurely and 2) I only found out about this 8 years after the fact, I also prayed for her soul. She was also Catholic like me; however, I am still admittedly in need of remedial re-education in my faith that can't be learned via pop culture.

That got me thinking: unless I'm mistaken, it was my impression from past MMs that prayers for the dead were “most effective” while the soul was shedding its etheric and astral bodies.

Am I mistaken about this?

I am assuming that even after these bodies have been shed, prayer is still "effective," but perhaps qualitatively different?

Thank you,
-E.

Re: About praying for the dead

[ecosophia]

Prayer is very helpful for the dead as long as they are between lives. While it has important benefits to souls that are shedding their etheric and astral bodies, it also helps souls who are processing the memories of the life just ended -- this experience is "hell," "purgatory," or "heaven," depending on what kind of choices the soul made during that life -- and has another set of benefits to souls who are preparing to reincarnate. These days, with fertility rates dropping sharply worldwide and births peaking or declining in most parts of the world, it's likely that your friend is still between lives and so will benefit considerably from your prayers.

Rose Geranium

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Everyone,
A number of years ago, I was caught in a gossip storm on my little island and I felt very uncomfortable. I was having a magic bath of cold water and felt like putting some rose geranium oil in the bath. I felt so good after that bath, as if it had washed off all the hexes off me. I felt very clean and happy in moments from feeling very much the reverse.

Since then, I have used rose geranium oil to refresh myself and lift my spirits with very good success. A girlfriend gave me some rose geranium plants and they grew like mad on my porch. They smell lovely and I used them in cleansing, protection and comforting spells with good success.

I looked up the folkloric uses of this plant in Southern Africa where they come from and people there like to grow hedges of these scented plants around their houses to keep bad things away. Bad things do not like good things.

I also made a tincture of the leaves and added a little honey into the tincture and it tuned out to be one of the nicest liqueurs I have made. It also seems to be very helpful for the treatment of headaches and low spirits.

The plants themselves have typically shaped geranium leaves and tiny pink flowers. They leaves contain the glorious fragrance. If you can get this plant for your garden or house, I highly recommend you try it.
Maxine

Re: Rose Geranium

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this. It's from experiential reports like this that the body of magical knowledge grows.

Daily practice

[3bmend_135]

The past couple days, when I did the Rite of the Three Rays, it felt more powerful yet broader than usual. Instead of narrow bolt, it feels like washes of energy flowing through my body and arms. Am I being sloppy, or are the rays supposed to feel like that?

Patrick

Re: Daily practice

[ecosophia]

There isn't a "supposed to" in this work. Depending on the intensity of the energies and the condition of your etheric and astral bodies, there can be quite a lot of variation, and that's fine. The fact that you're getting more power is a good thing.

Christian banishing rituals

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

While reading your October 2025 "Fifth Wednesday" post "A Few Notes on Psychic Self-Defense," I had misread what you had written about the Rosary:

"Any form of meditation that involves concentrating on a single thought or a sequence of thoughts will do the job. Five minutes a day is enough; thirty minutes a day is too much for most people. ... (Oh, and if you’re Catholic and aren’t yet praying the Rosary daily, get off your rump and on your knees. The Rosary is, among other things, a fine method of meditation.)"

In misreading and misremembering what you had written, my mind thought you had classified the Rosary as a banishing ritual.

After realizing my mistake, I began to wonder if there are any Christian prayers that are actually bona fide banishing rituals, yet were somehow saved from the Inquisition or other movements to purge Christianity of as many of its occult-like elements as possible. I know that you aren't Christian, but I am curious if you, or any Christian occultists you know, have any information on this.

Additionally, it is my understanding from your Dreamwidth posts that the Sphere of Protection can be tailored to Catholic or other Christian sensibilities. I'm assuming the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram cannot be so tailored?

Thank you,
-E.

Re: Christian banishing rituals

[ecosophia]

1) I hope Robert Mathiesen comments on this -- he knows of a whole flurry of late medieval and Renaissance books of prayers that were used to banish evil spirits in the name of Christ. I've lost the references, but they're free for the downloading on Archive.org.

2) The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram is a Christian ritual. It begins and ends with the sign of the Cross, invokes God by his Hebrew names, and calls on the four archangels. About the only way you could make it more Christian is to replace the Hebrew names with ישוה, the Hebrew spelling of Jesus (Yod, Shin, Vav, Heh).

The eternal spiritual sun

[(Anonymous)]

I have been curious about the Eternal Spiritual Sun in the context of the work of the golden section. I'm not currently following any religion so that is what I've been calling upon for the work.

So my questions are:
1.) Why did you choose to use that name for divinity?
2.) Is there a particular tradition that uses that term?
3.) Is there some book I could read on the subject?

My googling isn't turning up much on the subject. Thank you in advance and also thank you for answers you've given me in the past.

Re: The eternal spiritual sun

[ecosophia]

I borrowed the term from one of the older Druid Revival traditions I've studied, partly because I liked the sound of it, partly because it resonates with Dion Fortune's writings about the Solar Logos, and partly because it resonates with the cult of the Sun among the old Pagan Neoplatonists. Dion Fortune's The Cosmic Doctrine and the writings of Iamblichus might be of interest, but the Druid tradition in question has essentially nothing in print, as far as I know.

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve just realized that solar and telluric animals, when taken together in their lunar fusion, form the pair of the snake and the eagle from Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. Nice!

Do you have any recommendations for people with ADHD? I find the focus on the will in modern occultism relevant for me because of issues with filtering information and constantly switching between the things I’m obsessed with. Because of this, I decided to expand my spiritual practice, which until now has been daily zazen (su soku kan / breath-counting) and Friday–Sunday sesshin every month with an experienced Zen priest.

I’m Ayurvedic vata, so I learn very quickly but forget just as easily. The art of memory has been immensely helpful here. I’ve tried to memorize all the definitions and axioms from Spinoza’s Ethics so I can work through the inferences myself in idle moments. It was really fun. Improved retention is a blessing, but the way it trains my imagination has me truly hooked.

I’m going through your Occult Philosophy workbook and slowly assembling practices from the Way of the Golden Section. Because I’ve studied philosophy and have been practicing Eastern styles of meditation, discursive meditation clicked very quickly for me, and I’m having real fun with it as well as some genuinely interesting insights. Journaling and divination are also helping me find new ways to adjust myself when facing unfavorable situations, instead of falling back into the same patterns.

I came up with an affirmation: “My will is unified; my mind is clear; and I maintain sustained focus.”
I work part-time as a janitor, so I have plenty of time to repeat it without interruptions.

Do you have any suggestions on what I should focus on more or add to this?

[ecosophia]

1) Also the eagle and serpent on the Mexican flag. The old Nahua knew a lot.

2) It sounds to me as though you have a very good set of practices already! I'd encourage you to add the Sphere of Protection as time permits. It really does help.

[thinking_turtle]

To share, for those who wonder what AFA, HOGD, or SoP mean, a list of abbreviations used on Ecopsophia. And I've compiled a list of the books our host published so far.

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this as always.

About affirmations

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

In re-reading your 08-30-2019 Dreamwidth post “Affirmations: An Introduction” (https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/64539.html), it dawned on me that this was one magical practice that I often did in the past, when I regularly attended Co-Dependents Anonymous meetings.

Now, I admittedly wish that you could review the 35 affirmations listed on CODA’s website (https://coda.org/affirmations/helpful-affirmations/), candidly confessing that my self-esteem is so low that I can’t fully trust myself to evaluate correctly each affirmation according to your Seven Laws of Affirmation.

But I am hoping you will indulge me by reviewing my evaluation of one affirmation listed on CODA’s website according to your Seven Laws: “10. I am grateful for what I have and who I am.”

1. I am not trying to get the world to cater to me. Having been so ungrateful has prevented me from taking full advantage of opportunities in the past because I underestimated what I had and therefore also overestimated what I lacked. OK

2. “Avoid the language of entitlement. ... Choose something that motivates you to act and change, not something that inflates your ego and encourages you to sit on your precious pink rump contemplating your supposed wonderfulness.”

Well, on the one hand, I have often focused on what I lack as an excuse not to act. So I assume that by shifting my focus to what I have in terms of skills, resources, and qualifications, I will also start thinking, "What can I do with this?" Which should lead me to act (differently) and change.

But on the other hand, I can also say that instances of past contentedness has resulted in me sitting on my laurels.

I’M LEANING TOWARDS NO.

3. This affirmation is too broad and not specific enough. ALSO LEANING TOWARDS NO.

4. This affirmation is in the present tense. OK.

5. This affirmation has no negative particles. OK.

6. I can imagine this affirmation being true. OK.

7. N/A

Conclusion: I believe that Law #2 disqualifies this affirmation. When I try to make the affirmation more specific, like “I am grateful for my skills,” it feels too much like self-satisfaction.

Thoughts?

Thank you,
-E.

Re: About affirmations

[ecosophia]

I see this as a well-crafted affirmation. It's meant to foster a very specific change -- making the emotion of gratitude a more substantial presence in your life -- and it focuses on that. Keep in mind that changing your own emotional state counts as change, and in many cases is a more important change than something more obvious! You're not sitting on your rump, because using this affirmation means that you've realized that the habit of ingratitude is a problem you have, and you've chosen to fix it.

[(Anonymous)]

I don’t tend to like drawing attention to myself so this isn’t a working I’d be likely to want to do, but do you think a working to do something like the opposite of an invisibility ritual could work? Something similarly designed to the GD invisibility ritual but (I would guess) invoking the Sun or maybe Venus in order to stand out more and become more noticeable.

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, yes. It's a solar working; a lot of celebrities and performing artists work out their own ways to get this effect, but yes, you can also do it using the full toolkit of ceremonial magic.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

thank you for Magic Mondays!

I have 2 questions that I'd like to ask, but before that I'll have to give a bit of context, as it might be important and I'm still trying to make sense of it. Apologies if it will be a bit long.

I've been going through Octagon Society materials, and around the time I started working on the Law of Acceptance, I felt the strong need to pray to Archangel Raphael. When I was looking for some appropriate prayers, I came across Novenas (I was vaguely aware of what they are) and the one that I felt "pulled" or "guided" to was a Guardian Angel Novena. When I started praying it, nearing the completion, I felt that I should continue and repeat the prayer for 9 times and for the intention I should say "To get closer/in contact to my Guardian Angel". As I was praying, I felt like a gentle hand was put on my shoulder. During the rest of the days of praying the novena, very often I would feel either a touch on the top of my head, a touch on my cheek, a touch on my shoulder or a very pleasant sensation in my chest (I feel similar sensation sometimes during a Blessin Walk). I am not certain of this, but if I remember correctly, the last day of Novena also turned out to be the day I was finishing the Law of Acceptance. After I finished the last prayer of the Novena, what is clearly an angelic name appeared in my thoughts and it stayed there for the next 2 days.

Now for the questions:
1. I did a Sacred Geometry Oracle reading, asking if this was the name of my Guardian Angel - what I got was Square upright (which basically flew out of the deck as I was shuffling), Triangle upright and Octahedron upright. How I understood it was "Yes, but you will need more structure. Adapt to what comes your way and don't push." Would that be the meaning, or did I misinterpret it?

2. After that experience, I feel an intense need to pray daily and I also feel drawn to Rosicrucianism. In the past, I read the Rosicrucian Manifestos and Chymical Wedding, but apart from that I didn't do much research into it. Last week, I picked up C.R.Dunning Jr.'s Rose Croix Oratory and while reading through it, I started thinking that I would like some guidance on that path. Do you have any suggestion on where to look for it?

[ecosophia]

1) That's more or less how I would interpret it.

2) There are several of the old Rosicrucian orders still up and running, but they don't provide much in the way of personal guidance -- their focus is on providing opportunities for correspondence study. Three that I would recommend, if that interests you, are Builders of the Adytum (bota.org), the Societas Rosicruciana in America (sria.org), and the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis (soul.org).

gnosis and other things

[kenkyuusha]

hello JMG!

thank you so much for all the information you put out there!

i have a number of questions and when i tried to put them all in writing, the note turned out a bit long, sorry for the verbosity.

i am sasha. this summer i had the Experience. it was a very strong sensation, made me feel happiness, incredible level of unity with the world, incredible level of love for all beings + realization that there is smth more to me than just my body, smth that will not die when i die. it’s hard to verbalize, was more like a feeling/knowledge. also felt like a bomb exploded in me, but this energy was not overwhelming/destructive, rather smth i could control, very pleasant feeling, i felt powerful and super charged, and could feel another layer on top of my skin, like 1 cm above. a friend who was there with me had previously told me he realized he was a god, i used to dismiss it as crazy talk, but when this thing happened i was not so sure any more. he laughed a lot and said “welcome home” and that i experienced gnosis/enlightenment. do you agree with that assessment?

the next day he started giving me gnosis 101 talk, and turned out he was a practicing mage, thelemite from OTO. he said what happened to me was my own merit, not his, but what he did was “holding the space for me” during the experience. then he gave me a list of books and blogs, advised to purchase any tarot deck (i went with [[thoth tarot]]) and to start working on divinations using it. your blog was in those recs, that is how i learned about you and your books.

1/ do you think having experienced this is an advantage when learning magic? my level of energy definitely dropped from the days of the experience but is higher than pre-Experience baseline, and some things changed and never went to the pre-experience level. f.ex., situations where i text someone and they say “wow i was just thinking about you” have become way more recurrent. i would definitely like to make more sense of it all and integrate it properly.

2/ i read your book “a magical education”, where you said that it is nice to have a foreign language to be able to read texts in it and solid general knowledge of all the natural sciences, history etc. my background is that i am russian, and by virtue of life paths’ also speak french, serbian (currenly living in serbia) and actively learning japanese, so i wonder because of all that should i pay particular attention to russian/serbian - basically, slavic - magic? like is there any particular connection based on roots that make some magical traditions more “suitable” for someone? also, based on the fact that person who was there with me is a thelemite, does it mean that i might also find thelemic tradition more efficient for me? i realized that i had crowley’s books on my bookshelf from as long as 2016 (they are in russian though, and even in russian, which is my native language, i could not make much sense of the content unfortunately)!

3/ i read your section in the book “llewellyn’s complete book of ceremonial magic”, and you mentioned that one should pick up a pantheon to work with for all the rituals, and the patron god/goddess should be from that pantheon too. i have an inexplicable attraction towards japan, that is why i started learning japanese even before the Experience, and when i was reading those lines, their goddess Amaterasu Oomikami immediately came to mind. now, do you think it is a good idea to pick up shinto pantheon for working with, say, hermetic rituals? i read a bit further and you say there that gods need to have 4 letters in their names, it is a bit weird in japanese, one god could have different spelling in kanji, and some of them might have 4 kanji, some 5 - does it count as valid if i pick up the variation with 4? for example, amaterasu can be spelled as 天照大御神, but also 天照大神 or 天照神. i am a bit lost here . so far i am only practicing the circle of presence, vibrating Amaterasu Oomikami, mostly feel nothing.

4/ i am currently going through two of your workbooks, one is “learning ritual magic - fundamental theory and practice …”, just found it a couple of days ago, another one is “the occult philosophy workbook”. do you think this is the correct way for now and i can do two of those simultaneously? i am 32, so have some time to do a good amount of magical education/work, trying to outline a roadmap though to make sure i am on the right track.

5/ when you wrote that doing magic is hard on the body, what is meant by that? one thing is that during the experience and more recently every day i see the world through a filter in my eyes that looks like sepia. it does not prevent me from seeing anything, does not distort anything, but is just there. are you familiar with that effect?

wanted to thank you once again for all that effort you put into education people and spreading the knowledge, really appreciate it!

Re: gnosis and other things

[ecosophia]

1) This is what Zen masters call kensho and the old Western occultists called "the trembling of the Veil" -- the sudden dazzling glimpse of higher realities. It can be an advantage, but it's important not to pursue more experiences of the kind -- let them happen when they happen. I think it was Robert Graves who pointed out that the pursuit of enlightenment experiences can very easily degenerate into an extremely refined form of masturbation!

2) That really varies from person to person. If you find that Slavic occult traditions work for you, great, but you're not required to limit yourself to your cultural or ethnic background.

3) Mixing systems like this can be a very complex matter. If you want to invoke Amaterasu Omikami, why not learn the Shinto way of invoking her, and use that?

4) Yes, you can use those together. Learning Ritual Magic focuses on practical skills, while the Workbook is mostly theory.

5) That's not one I've encountered. Have you seen an eye specialist to make sure it's not something medical?

SOP Karma-culmination with chronic ilnesses?

[emily07]

Dear JMG and commentariat
as you might know, I‘m a certified OT in my day-job. AFAIK every Person has a sort of „space-requirement“ around oneself, otherwise one feels uncomfortable. This requirement varies a bit per person, but also per culture. apparently Indonesians signal friendship through being close to the friend.
A client of mine lies on the other side of that particular spectrum, and I wonder if the SOP in some form or other could help him. I discussed it in superficial terms with him and he would Like to test such a practice. The person has a chronic multiple sclerosis and I wonder if the usual Karma-culmination would be unhelpful in such a situation and if there are other -magical or not - technics that might help that person to have the space needed around the person whilst doing sport.
At the moment I lack a divination device (will remedy that in the evening).
Ever comment welcome, thanks for considering!
Best wishes, Emily07

Re: SOP Karma-culmination with chronic ilnesses?

[ecosophia]

I'd definitely recommend doing divination for that, but just picking up the SoP for a practical reason needn't trigger karmic culmination -- that usually requires some form of commitment to spiritual development.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,
About five years ago, I was contacted unexpectedly by Thoth. With your encouragement, I pursued the relationship, buying a figurine, downloading a picture and finding a traditional prayer in praise of the god, which I repeat every day.
About six months ago, while doing the LBRP I became aware of Thoth's ghostly image in the room: not saying anything or interfering, just watching. Eventually, it became clear that he was saying, in effect, "what about me then?" After further contact, it seemed that Thoth was saying that, since he had made the contact in the first place, he was waiting for me to ask for his help. That makes a degree of sense, because I'm involved in Thoth-type activities such as writing, teaching administration and travel.
However, it immediately made me feel uneasy because since childhood (for reasons I well understand) I have been very reluctant to ask anyone for anything, and I feel bad abut it. I have done some planetary charity, but never for my own narrow benefit. Thoth has been rather irascible on this point: Look: I'm a god, let me decide what I want to do. Ask me for things and I'll decide whether to give them to you. What took you so long to understand this? I've timidly sought his help in making sure travel arrangement go well--which they have--but I have no idea what to do next.
So I turned to geomancy. The first question was what the result would be of asking Thoth routinely for help on all sorts of issues both great and small. The result was L Witness Tristitia, R Witness Caput Draconis, Judge Conjunctio and Reconciler Populous, which didn't seem specially favourable but which I didn't understand. So I then asked if I should ask for help with important issues only. I then got L Witness Via, R Witness Amissio, Judge Acquisitio and reconciler Puer.
So I'm rather unsure what to do, but I still feel Thoth's presence around, rather like someone drumming his fingers. Do you have any advice?

[ecosophia]

My advice is that you should follow his advice. He knows what's going on better than you -- or me. Set aside your qualms and give it a sustained try.

Supplementary Material for Natural Magic

[s33k3r]

Hi JMG,

in addition to the practices of the Golden Section Fellowship I wanted to learn more about natural magic and thus acquired your encyclopedia on it. It's been really instructive thus far. However, as you note in it yourself, you haven't (for reasons I can understand) added any ritualistic elements for use in natural magic. Since I deliberately chose to not work with a ceremonial magical system like that of the Golden Dawn I don't really know how to address my desire (need?) to add at least add a little spellwork (if not simple rituals) when working in the framework of natural magic.

(Of course I could simply come up with my own "spells" which I did do occasionally. But I am not that experienced in cooking up my own rituals and would thus at least like to learn a bit more about how others with firmer foundations go about doing that.)

I did some digging and came across two books by Scott Cunningham that seem to fit into that gap: "Earth Power - Techniques of natural magic" and "Earth, Air, Fire and Water - More techniques of natural magic". From what I could gather these two books aren't specifically Wiccan but seem to be geared towards natural magic as such.

But since you neither used one the three encyclopedias that Cunningham wrote (I specifically mean his works on herbs and gems) as source material for your encyclopedia nor are a huge fan of Wicca in general I wanted to ask your opinion on using those books alongside your encyclopedia of natural magic.

Maybe you (or the commentariat) know other sources I could use to that end. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks!

- Florian

Re: Supplementary Material for Natural Magic

[ecosophia]

Oh, you can use Cunningham's rituals if you like them. It was his knowledge of herbs and plants that was embarrassingly flawed.

Thanks as always!

[corrach_the_blue]

Good morning John!

I have a couple of questions this morning.

1. I have recently been assigned to a cubicle position at my mundane job. A couple of weeks after moving into my cell...I mean cubicle I noticed a penny lying very nearly in the center of the entrance to my cubicle. Seeing that it was tails up I flipped it over to heads and left it where it was hoping to pass that good luck on to someone else. The next day I came in to find the penny moved slightly and flipped back to the tails side. My Google-fu skills have not turned up anything (though admittedly the search engines have been nerfed over the years) related to using a penny to cause someone to have bad luck, but I can't shake the feeling that the penny was placed in my cubicle for nefarious purposes. I had the feeling the first time I noticed the penny, but I chose to believe that the penny was there accidentally. I haven't encountered anyone in particular that's been hostile. In fact everyone from our CTO down to my Senior Admin seems thrilled that I've been brought into the central office from the field and that my career is taking positive steps. Are you aware of any traditions of using a penny like this?

2. I have recently started singing the Orphic Hymn for the planetary day as part of my morning ritual work (using Kimberley's amazing recordings as I have no musical talent). I get up before the Sun however and if I understand correctly the planetary days starts at sunrise. My thinking runs along two lines: sing the hymn of the previous day so this morning, I would have sung the hymn to Apollo rather than Selene. Or, I assume that the planetary intelligences are, well, intelligent enough to understand that in our current culture we count days differently and recognize my intent.

Thanks!

Re: Thanks as always!

[ecosophia]

1) No, but then there are literally millions of folk magic spells out there. It's quite possible that it was left as positive magic; since you seem to be doing well, I recommend leaving it alone.

2) Go with intent. The intelligences are intelligent!

Self and Meaning

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG,

If the universe (not the various gods and entities that inhabit it but the universe itself) is essentially devoid of personhood and objective meaning, then how did it give rise to entities such as ourselves who are largely defined by our individual personhood and perception of subjective meaning?

JR

Re: Self and Meaning

[ecosophia]

It's an old Greek superstition that something has to be present in a cause if it appears in the effect. That's not true at all -- there are no pancakes in a cup of flour, nor was the theory of relativity present in Einstein's ancestors -- but it still has a weird grip on our collective imagination. Au contraire, given billions of years of time and a universe's worth of matter and energy combining and interacting, everything that's not actually impossible is probably going to pop up somewhere.

There's an interesting refutation of atheism that makes use of that; I first encountered it in one of Gene Wolfe's science fiction novels, of all places. It runs like this: either the universe had a beginning, or it has existed since infinite time. If it had a beginning, then something had to begin it; ergo, at least one god exists. If it has existed from infinite time, in all that vastness of time and space, at least one intelligent being would inevitably have achieved the characteristics we call "divine;" ergo, at least one god exists. QED!

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

I seem to remember you sharing instructions at one time for an older version of the SOP in which the actual sphere was formed by beams of light spinning at infinite speed to create first planes of light, then spheres whirling. However, I cannot for the life of me find the original post or any description of this version of the ritual; everything that comes up in my searching references a sphere of light expanding like a bubble from the solar plexus.

Have you deliberately switched away from the older version because you consider it inadvisable to perform in some way - less effective or safe than the newer version, perhaps?

If not, do you happen to know if the instructions for the older version are still available online somewhere?

And one unrelated question: do you consider the higher self and the Holy Guardian Angel contacted by practices like the Headless Rite frim the PGM or Crowley's Liber Samekh to be distinct entities or one and the same?

Thanks and blessings!

[ecosophia]

1) I don't know of any place that has it online, but you can find it in my books The Druid Magic Handbook and The Dolmen Arch, volume 1. I stopped teaching it because so many people had trouble with the complex final visualization, and the simpler version seems to be just as effective.

2) No, as I see it they're two different entities. The higher self or Individuality is who you really are, the real person behind the mask of your personality. The guardian angel or guardian genius is a spiritual being distinct from you who helps further your spiritual development -- in the terminology of Dion Fortune's The Cosmic Doctrine, it's an emanation of the Solar Logos, the supreme god of this solar system.

Geomancy help

[(Anonymous)]

I got a geomancy reading that really has me scratching my head, and I'd be glad to hear your take on it. The question was whether a particular deity would be my patron (so, 9th house). I got Rubeus in the 1st house, and Amissio in the 9th--also in the 10th and 11th! But RW = Populus, LW = Fortuna Minor, J = Fortuna Minor. So Amissio in 10 and 11 would form both a sextile and a square to the 1st house. No other mode of perfection. With Rubeus in 1, maybe it's just not a good question. Yet the judge and witnesses were positive. What would this say to you?

Thanks much.

Re: Geomancy help

[ecosophia]

The moment you see Rubeus in the 1st, it's time to stop. That means you're not being honest with yourself; very often, it means that you already know the answer and are trying to hide from it. Put down the geomancy tools, get out a notebook, and do some journaling until you've sorted out your tangled feelings and can approach the question honestly.

John Lamb Lash, "Not in His Image"

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

Are you acquainted with John Lamb Lash and his writings, specifically his popular book "Not in His Image"? In the book he begins by basically tearing apart whatever good reputation the prophetic religions might have by citing examples, such as "the death of Hypatia" in Alexandria, where a mob of Christians murdered this female scholar. Lash argues that until such events, the gnostics were influental pretty much all over Europe at least, but were purged out by Christians, their teachings with too.

Since I know you have extensive interest in the history of ideas, I thought you might have encountered this. If so, did it go down like that, and did the gnostics really worship this feminine entity, Gaia Sophia, the planetary intelligence herself?

Re: John Lamb Lash, "Not in His Image"

[ecosophia]

No, I haven't read his work, and what you've described doesn't make me any more likely to do so. Sophia, the goddess of wisdom worshipped by the Gnostics, is not Gaia, not the planetary intelligence, nor anything like that. If you take some time to read scholarly works about the old Gnostics -- I recommend Bentley Layton's The Gnostic Scriptures, a fine collection with good commentary and annotations -- you'll find that that's a little like claiming that Christians believe that Lucifer, when he was thrown out of heaven, was incarnated as Jesus Christ.

There's a lot of richness in the Gnostic tradition, which has survived right up to the present in some places in the Middle East and elsewhere. Did the orthodox Christians murder a lot of Gnostics? Sure, but the story's much more complex than that.

Sleep

[(Anonymous)]

Does occultism recommend any specific practices to aid falling or staying asleep? I struggle to get a full night's rest. I usually awaken after 5 hours.

Re: Sleep

[ecosophia]

I wish I did. I haven't really slept well since my late wife passed.

Druid concepts into Heathen concepts

[forturso]

This is a request for both JMG and the commentariat- how far off is the following. Thank you in advance for any input.

Strongbear D'Amarbero

This is intended as a sort of “elevator speech”, not a detailed dissertation.

My path includes revival druidry as well as Heathenry; there is more, but these two have been the source of a “side project” I have been working on for a little while. This project is how I would explain some of the druid concepts to a Heathen. Terms such as Abred, Gwynfydd, Ceugant, Awen, Nwyfre, Gwyar, and Calas. As with most terms and concepts related to religion and spirituality, these are nuanced terms that do not lend themselves to direct translations. But I wanted to give it a try. This is what I have so far.

Ask three druids a question and you will get 9 different answers. Is a statement that has proven itself true many times over the years; you could switch out “druid” with “heathen” and lose none of the truth of the statement. However, in this instance, I am referring to concepts attributed to Iolo Morganwg, a Welshman who was influential in the early druid revival.

Lets start with the three levels of existence, Abred, Gwynfydd, and Ceugant.

Abred- the material world of existence, struggle, and experience, known as the "Circle of Necessity". It is the realm where the soul undergoes reincarnation to learn and evolve. It is associated with Matter, the Midworld, and the past.

Probably the easiest answer I could give for this as a heathen is “this is Midgard” because it is the middle world where everything is manifested, although it could be argued that all nine worlds compose the field of existence I would argue more towards Midgard being the closest Heathen term for Abred, but probably also include consideration of wyrd and orlog- the consequences of our actions and choices and the rules or laws of our existence). So, Abred is roughly equivalent to Midgard plus wyrd and orlog.


Gwynfydd- the spiritual realm of perfection, peace, and unity with the divine, achieved when the soul is liberated from the cycle of Abred.

“A hall she sees standing, fairer than the sun,
Thatched with gold, at Gimle;
There the noble fighting-bands will dwell
And enjoy the days of their lives in pleasure”
-Voluspa 61, Larrington translation

This verse, to me, probably is the closest correlation to Gwynfydd since it survives Ragnarok, unlike Valhalla and Sessrumnir, which most people might associate with a paradisiacal type of place.

Ceugant- the unmanifest, unknowable realm of the Godhead, transcending all created existence. It is the ultimate source from which all else emerges.

This is probably the easiest of the three. Before time there was a “yawning gap” between the primordial realms of Muspeheim and Nifelheim- Ginnungagap. The beginning began when the fire and ice met in the middle. So Ceugant is Ginnungagap.

Awen- flowing Spirit, divine inspiration. It is the creative force or "holy breath" that grants wisdom, poetry, and artistic skill.

Is there a Heathen concept that pretty much literally translates into “inspiration, ecstasy, frenzy”? Oðr is that word. Odrerir is the name of the mead of poetry- need I try to find a better word/ term?

Then there are the elements of creation (in a broader creation level sense rather than the familiar air, fire, water, and earth- which “come later”).

Nwyfre is the "Life Force" or "Spirit," which can be found in the Heathen concept of the Soul/Self.

Heathens have fire and ice, which are the elements at the level of Gwyar and Calas.

Gwyar is generally movement, flow, fluidity, and change. The realm of constant movement is Muspelheim, the realm of fire that has been here since the beginning.

Calas is the form that allows life to exist in a secure, stable, and predictable manner. The realm of solidity and stasis is Nifelheim, the realm of ice that has been here since the beginning.

Re: Druid concepts into Heathen concepts

[ecosophia]

Hmm. I'm far from sure this works; you're kind of treating Druid traditions as though they were chunks of the body of Ymir, to be chopped up and used to build something rather different from their source! For example, I don't know of a Norse tradition that Ginnungagap was the place of the highest deity, but that's exactly Ceugant's role -- it's "the empty circle" because nothing but Hen Ddiheniaidd, the ultimate godhead, can be there.

Let me toss this question at you: why do you think it's helpful to redefine Druid concepts in Norse terms? Why not instead say, "okay, Abred is the realm of living things incarnate in material bodies -- the Druids believe in reincarnation, you know. Gwynfydd is the realm of beings who are in spiritual bodies, and Ceugant is the realm of the Absolute Divine." I think most Heathens would get that!

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG,

1) Sigils have been stuck on my mind, which is perhaps appropriate for such a "sticky" subject. This week, I'm wondering whether there is a meaningful difference between affirmations and sigils.

In my own experiments with sigils, before I understood that I don't know what I'm doing, I largely tried to affect change in the world, with predictable results: enough effects to prove that something happened, not enough to actually make a difference.

Contrasting this with Gordon White's advice (who, incidentally, has a tasteful activation method that I'm partial to in his Chaos Protocols, that includes a banishing, prayer, and then staring each sigil until it feels "active"), who recommends that one first does shadow work to actually become clear on what one really wants and what's preventing that and then moves on to sigils that effect inner change, I'm reminded of your own advice, which more often than not seems to boil down to "journal to figure out what you want and why you're not getting it, then use an affirmation to change yourself into someone who does get that."

Would it be fair to say that sigils and affirmations are largely analogous?

2) Last week, I was at a (metal) concert. About halfway through, I started feeling… weird. I'm not sure if it was unpleasant but it certainly wasn't pleasant either. My body moved pretty much automatically, which isn't unusual by itself: I've probably become aware of this at about half the concerts I've attended so far (most of them sober, I should perhaps add). When this happens, the music fades into the background and I withdraw into thoughts. This usually isn't at all unpleasant but after a minute or so, I realise that this quite defeats the purpose of going to a concert and return to being present.

This time, though, I noticed that I wasn't really reacting to the music but to the crowd. I clapped along with them and made the appropriate rhythmic movements but it felt as though I was missing some impulse and I also spent some while just staring off into space unmovingly. This is the second time this happened. The first time led straight into a panic attack; this time, it was just mildly interesting, perhaps because I was already familiar with such a situation, perhaps because I was completely sober (unlike the first time, though I only had two or three beers then), or perhaps simply because friends were close by.

You've mentioned before that concerts involve energy movements from the audience to the band and, at least at good concerts, back from the band to the audience. Given that my friends didn't really think the concert was better than alright either, could this be what I felt?

—David P.

[ecosophia]

1) Sigils and affirmations are two ways of using the same magical effect; sigils do it visually, while affirmations use hearing (or imagined hearing). Gordon's right, btw -- figure out first how you're unintentionally using magic to create the current situation, and stop, before you try to use magic to change the current situation.

2) Very likely, yes -- though that's a guess on my part. One of the symptoms of my autism is that I'm insulated from those energy flows, which is why concerts, sports events, etc. bore me.