Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's almost 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.)

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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

[rhydlyd]

1. Might you point me to some reading about the Occult Police and hunting lodges described by Fortune in Psychic Self-Defense? I’m thinking the synchronicities leading me to this passage are pointing me to policing myself, (I’ve ordered the OSA Octagon Society Lessons, among other things.) but, I’d like some background since my staves said Mor when I asked what to know or notice about this sequence of thoughts and events.
2. Am I reading Fortune’s description in the same passage correctly? A black Cavalry cross in a black circle on a red field? And, BTW, should or could that be a similarly shaped sword?
3. Speaking of malefic magic and relating to your comment on lefty comedians (“teeth rattle” I believe): A mis-key on my car radio landed on a roundtable of supposed journalists failing to see any problems with immigration to the US right now beyond the fevered ravings of that lout in the White House… who nobody believes anyway. Thing was that they didn’t seem to be stuck on talking points (which never sound sincere). Instead, it was like listening to a rousing chorus of “Blerwm-Blerwm” with “I Don’t Believe in Spooks” for a descant. Having grown up with heroes like Woodward and Bernstein and Hunter S. Thompson, I was horrified. I’d noticed a trend of ostrich-headed pronouncements, but this one was extraordinary. Whether the speakers labored under a spell or their own folly, I can’t tell, but are you or the commentariat noticing an accelerating trend of catastrophic groupthink on the left? Should I remain convinced it is a product of the political economy alone?

[ecosophia]

1) Fortune is the only English language source I know of. My guess is that the "hunting lodges" were a short-lived phenomenon, probably an offshoot of the Golden Dawn scene.

2) I know it's a quibble, but "Calvary," not "Cavalry." Jesus was not crucified riding a horse. (Yes, the image is correct.)

3) They're frantically trying to defend the indefensible; people do odd things in that situation.

Sacred Homemaking: A Magical Approach to a Tidier Home

[kimberlysteele]

Exciting news! My book is available for pre-order!

Sacred Homemaking: A Magical Approach to a Tidier Home has come to fruition much more quickly than I thought it would and I could not be more delighted. Thanks to the amazing team at Aeon Books, Sacred Homemaking is my dream literally coming true.

In Sacred Homemaking, I seek to bring a fresh voice to the tidying genre as popularized by Marie Kondo (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up) and Swedish Death Cleaning that delves deeply into magic, including the foundational magic of gratitude. It's not just about sorting stuff and getting rid of stuff -- to make a sacred home involves the cultivation of sensitivity and balance that has been all but discarded in our current era of spiritual leprosy.

It is much easier to clean and maintain items that you have appreciation for, and when we treat the things and spaces in our life well, we start treating the people like they matter too. Gratitude is what connects us to the spirit of place, and though many seek to dismiss talking to the spirits of place and objects as woo, that strange habit weaves a net of spells around you and your surroundings that is the ultimate natural magic without ever having to pick up a wand or wear a funny hat.

Use the code SACRED20 to get 20 percent off until April 30, 2026!

Re: Sacred Homemaking: A Magical Approach to a Tidier Home

[elevated_insights]

Congratulations Kimberley! I had a go at your toilet cleaning challenge once and immediately recalled some unused subscriptions for a website and domain for a project I never stuck with. Cancelled them and saved a few hundred bucks at least. TSW.

EI

[(Anonymous)]

a) I've recently started doing the LBRP daily, and noticed a very odd effect: my ability to stand energy drinks has vanished. In the space of a few days they went from a normal part of my life to being viscerally unpleasant, tasting unpleasantly chemical, and leaving a very nasty feeling when I actually drank one. This has given me a huge problem, because I've suddenly cut down on my caffeine (and other stuff), and have had withdrawal symptoms, but it also suggests a troubling possibility that there is something unpleasant here.

Banishing has not affected my ability to enjoy eating various other forms of processed foods, nor other forms of caffeine (including straight caffeine pills, tea, and coffee), nor impacted other mind-altering substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, vaping, kratom. It seems this effect is unique to energy drinks.

Do you know if there is some link between energy drinks and noxious energies of some kind? If so, it's mildly alarming how popular these drinks are....

b) There is a company called 2wai that is making news due to a remarkably creepy advertisement that has me thinking about a really creepy possibility. The advertisement was of a child talking to "grandma", updating her with his life as he aged. Then it turned out that it was not her, but a model her daughter had built by an AI company before she died.

This sort of digital necromancy seems very creepy to me, and raises some profoundly troubling thoughts that tie into Magic Monday (and a galaxy more that don't!). The first is that it's not at all clear to me that this sort of tech, assuming it works, would be safe, for metaphysical reasons: it seems to me it could run the risk of making contact with beings we'd rather not interact with. It could also, depending on what sort of effects this has, disturb and bother the dead.

Then the very dark thought that occurred to me is that the deceased souls of all these people who are making this nightmare world might, when they wake up on the other side and realize they will have to face the consequences of their actions, might end up trying to inhabit these models, their own or someone else's, to avoid passing on. In a twisted sort of way, then, all this talk of uploading our minds to machines might actually be possible: but it would almost certainly not be an existence any of us would want, and it would not be at all what anyone expects. It would actually probably be hellish beyond imagination, but the quest for immortality has often lead that way.

I have no idea if this would be possible, but if it is...

[(Anonymous)]

I've noticed the same thing, but the other things on your list are equally foul (cheap hotdogs and energy or meal bars are double-extra yuk).
Yankee switchel provides a good alternative to energy drinks. For the unfamiliar, add to one quart of cool water; 1T apple cider vinegar, 1T blackstrap molasses and a pinch of ground ginger. Stir well. Be careful of the ginger in the dregs - it's a bit hot.

Let’s suppose

[pointwithinacircle]

Let’s suppose for a moment that man’s greatest fear is that the world, in and of itself, is actually meaningless. Suppose all of the things that we fill out lives with are actually just distractions from the truth that we live in a meaningless empty void. The question then becomes, how do we find a purpose and direction for our consciousness? What do we do with our lives?

From the time we are conceived we form attachments to people, places, things, and ideas. Do these things have a reality apart from our own interpretation or is it our attachment that gives them reality in our own minds? One can certainly say that we project value onto them by our own actions. Others can observe our actions and imply that the object of our actions must have a real value or else why would we bother. But what are they really seeing? Is it the real object as I see it, or is their interpretation of the real object colored by the actions of myself and others?

How does one determine where to focus one’s attention when “reality” is so subjective?

I will end this thought here since this is my first post on this site and I am not sure if this is the type of thing which is normally discussed here. I look forward to reading the responses of those who are interested enough to comment.

Re: Let’s suppose

[ecosophia]

No, this isn't really the point of this open post, unless you can find some way to relate it to occultism.

Your supposition is an odd one, and I find it highly unlikely myself -- I don't believe the cosmos has or can have any objective meaning, because "meaning" is not an objective quality. It's a relationship between an experience and a conscious individual experiencer, and the same experience can be meaningful or meaningless to different individuals. Is "Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon" meaningful or meaningless? Depends on what you bring to the relationship.

Thus meaning is always something that emerges from a relationship, and it is always subjective. (So is everything else. The claim of "objective reality" is always and only an attempt to privilege one person's subjective experience over others'.) If you have a shortage of meaning in your life, examine your relationships to the various experiences that constitute your world and change them.

Hypnosis

[(Anonymous)]

What is the relationship, if any, of hypnosis to occultism and to the practice of magic? You may have covered this in your post on Anton Mesmer a few years ago, but if so I don't recall the specifics.

I'm currently using some of the practices advised by Emile Coué to deal with some health problems. Coué was adamant that his technique of autosuggestion was not magic at all, but rather dealt with the nature and potency of the subconscious mind. On the other hand, Poke Runyon has said that "if you want to do magic, you've got to learn hypnosis." What's the connection?

Once I've dealt with the health issues (and I'm getting better every day), I want to apply the same techniques to matters of personal success. So I find the topic to be of considerable moment.

Re: Hypnosis

[ecosophia]

Hypnosis is one way to cause changes in consciousness in accordance with will. It's not the way I do things -- with all due respect to Runyon's long experience, he's wrong, and there are many other ways to work magic. You can use it if you want; I prefer other means.

An affirmation review request

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Before reading your 08-30-2019 Dreamwidth post "Affirmations: An Introduction" (https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/64539.html), I had been trying for a long time to counter my negative self-talk with "I am not" statements, with predictable unsuccess. Even after reading that post, I still reflexively resort to "I am not" statements. One of these statements is: "I am no longer that person anymore."

In attempting to conform to your Seven Laws of Affirmation, my best attempt so far has been: "I am shedding my old self." I feel that I resonate more with "I am shedding my old self" than "I am becoming a new person."

Although I believe "I am shedding my old self" does not violate the letter of the Seven Laws of Affirmation, the statement may nevertheless violate the spirit of the Seven Laws, particularly #4 ("Put affirmations in the present tense") and #5 ("Use positive language").

Although my statement is not in the future tense, I refer to the past by saying "my old self." And although my statement does not use negative particles, there is a negative connotation in the phrase "my old self."

May I ask for your short critique? Or perhaps in other words, does my negative mind need to accept "I am becoming a new person" as valid?

Thank you,
-E.

Re: An affirmation review request

[ecosophia]

"I am shedding my old self" is a well-formed affirmation. It's in the present tense ("am shedding" rather than "will shed" or "have shed") and it's positive in that it contains no explicit negations ("no, not," etc.). That's all I was saying. If your goal focuses on freeing yourself of something linked to your past, then yes, you do need to acknowledge that in the affirmation!

[elevated_insights]

Hi JMG and all,

I am looking to get some more experience with geomantic readings and test out some of the methods in 'The Art and Practice of Geomancy'. If interested, please head over to my Dreamwidth page.

https://elevated-insights.dreamwidth.org/

EI

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks in advance for Magic Monday JMG

I listen to near death experiences sometimes and it seems a lot of people come back with a different aura or energy that attracts people to them. The last account I heard a nurse was telling the NDE patient all the doctors on the floor spend a strict 10 minutes with each patient, but for some reason three or four doctors at a time would spend an hour or more with the NDE patient talking about anything other than his condition. The nurse was in awe of this phenomenon.

It reminded me of a question asked of you a few years ago about performing the conjurations from the Heptemeron for each day of the week. I was doing them everyday in the morning and went to work one day shortly after and everybody literally came running towards me at once to tell me something as soon as I arrived. This was highly unusual. Your advice was a most once a week for this and I pictured you with a raised eyebrow from the tone of your reply. I’d like to think I have a lot more of an understanding as to why now.

Does the same kind of thing happen after doing a daily banishing for a few years? Can you give some clarity as to what might be happening in these instances and could there be something in common between them?

[ecosophia]

It's quite straightforward. People who enter into contact with the higher planes, whether through near-death experiences or intensive spiritual practices, end up with auras charged with life and light. Most people find the experience of being around such people very pleasant, since they can feel (even if subconsciously) the greater closeness to the source of their own existence. Banishing doesn't have quite the same result -- it cleanses the aura and charges it subtly, but it doesn't supercharge it the way more intensive work will do. The cleansing will actually drive some people away, which is another benefit -- banish regularly and thoroughly sleazy people will find you uncomfortable to be around.

An experience

[3bmend_135]

On Saturday night, while listening to a Youtube video about the beginning of Tolkien's Silmarillion, I briefly imagined quartz-like crystals transmitting harmonius light or vibrations to our material world, and my mental activity became uncharateristically calm for several minutes afterwards. I have no idea if that was a real spiritual experience and I wonder if glimpses of crystals transmitting harmonius energy are relatively common among occult or mystical practictioners.

Patrick

Re: An experience

[ecosophia]

It sounds to me as though the deeper levels of your mind came up with a representation of the Ainulindale to the nearest approximate metaphor.

Scrying + some technical questions

[mediawakeboard]

1. I started going through the Way of the 4 elements this fall after the initiation. During yesterday's scrying a second entity appeared alongside the Angel of Water. This being the day of my guardian Angel, I thought it was him. However, after some talking I asked for visual aid to help me remember the lessons. We sat in a kind of medieval tavern, the Angel turned to the second person and said something like "Be gentle with him Mike" and Mike proceeded to show me some scenes in our Reality. Me, in my chair, then the city, Ze president, some of my friends, my gf and finally the war, rockets, territories exchanged, etc. After this we exited the tavern into the ocean and to, my surprise, it was you, JMG, with the angel. First I thought it was my mind noise disturbing the reception. But, after I thought that, you said your name, patted me like a cop, and said to write about all of this to you)) Then you pressed on the point between my eyebrows and the point below my navel, turned me upside down and pushed me through the space, like a torpedo.

   wonderful stuff. Also the 'JMG' character said 'These are the waters of the blue blue sky, and these are the rivers of the empty vessel', which sounds wiser than any thought I had I my entire life. Similarly, a few session before this one, the Angel asked me to write down 'I am one with what had been, and I am many of what is to become'. All of this is to say, I don't quite feel, like this was just my will conjuring up stuff.

2. After doing the scryings on the principals of water, the order of signs struck me as odd. Then I checked the other elements and they all have Fixed-Cardinal-Mutable order, but water has Cardinal-Fixed-Mutable, for square-triangle-circle respectively. Is this intentional, or is it a typo, or did I just misread something?

Re: Scrying + some technical questions

[ecosophia]

1) If I did it, it must have been during sleep and I don't recall it. According to occult teachings, once you become an initiate you spend part of your sleep time in contact with inner plane influences, first learning, and then helping to teach; the memories don't start to come through for a while, and even then they can be very fragmentary.

2) It's a typo. I'm sorry to say a lot of those got through in the books I wrote during those years, for reasons having a lot to do with my personal life at that time.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I remember you saying you were studying the lessons of Clymer's group, the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis. Without violating any confidences, what can you say about your experience with them? Do Clymer's books give a good idea of the group's teachings, or are there important secret beliefs? I'm wondering whether an outsider can ever really know what they believe and teach.

[ecosophia]

So far it's been a charmingly old-fashioned occult-school experience. The FRC expects you to send them a note when you're finished with each pair of lessons, so they know you're still studying; they do have extensive secret teachings, some of which I've begun to receive. The nature of those teachings -- well, since I've taken the usual obligation I can't speak to that. So far, though, I have no complaints; what I've received so far is very basic, of course, but it's clearly presented and the practices are simple but useful.

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG,

1) Two Mondays ago, I asked about energy movement and feeling weird at a concert. Last Friday, I was at another concert and while I had a lot of fun later, I didn't enjoy the first support. Thinking about the energy angle, I decided to experiment and did an astral LBRP.

Almost immediately, I stopped registering the music. I obviously could still hear it but it left absolutely no impression. The music, ahem, passed over me and through me and where it had gone, there was nothing. Only I remained.

After some while, I realised that I was standing completely still and probably looked a bit weird. I tried to at least nod along, to blend in a little, but it was just plain impossible. I still heard the music but I couldn't even approximate the beat, nor follow the movement of the crowd.

Fortunately, the effect subsided after that band and I could begin to enjoy myself when the second support started playing.

2) How important is getting the cardinal directions right in the LBRP? For lack of a compass or visible sky, I arbitrarily declared the direction in front of me to be East. It worked, so I'm inclined to think that it doesn't make much of a difference.

3) Now coming back to the subject of my question last week, I'll need to do some research on faery lore for a story idea. Do you happen to have some good resources you'd recommend to start with? This question also goes to the commentariat—I'd be grateful for any response but especially so if some of the resident Heathens have sources that focus on a Germanic perspective.

4) This is somewhat off-topic but I just collected my copy of Heathen Soul Lore Foundations and I'm a tad amused to see you described as "author of A World Full of Gods" in your review. It's obviously true but it also seems like a bit of an understatement.

—David P.

[ecosophia]

1) You just gave yourself a temporary case of mild autism. That's why I don't go to concerts. Yes, the LBRP will do that; it's very useful in some situations.

2) It's wholly arbitrary.

3) Katharine Briggs is the author I recommend first; she was an English folklore scholar who devoted much of her career to traditional British faery lore. The Anatomy of Puck, The Encyclopedia of Fairies, and The Vanishing People are all worth your while.

4) That's the book of mine that's most popular in Heathen circles, so -- for those who aren't sure who I am -- it was the one I thought I'd cite. I've always been mildly annoyed by those writers who stick long lists of their books after blurbs.

On the Significance of Place in the Severing of a Bond

[charliedusk]

Dear JMG,

Ripley, my dog, is approaching the end of her life, and I’m trying to understand whether the locus of her passing carries any real consequence within the subtle architecture of things. She’s not afraid of the vet; this isn’t a question about comfort. My concern is with the nature of our bond and what unfolds, energetically and psychically, when that bond is severed, depending on where it occurs.

For years she has functioned as an external stabilizer for me, an anchor of instinct, joy, and coherence during a long period of psychic strain. As she declines, my psyche has already begun the work of withdrawal and internalization: dismantling projections (dreams), reclaiming regulation, and reshaping identity as the roles she carried return to me. It feels deliberate, but initiated from deeper layers rather than consciously chosen.

From your understanding, does the location of a deeply bonded companion’s death matter? Is a passing within the home distinct from a passing in a neutral space like the vet? And beyond my own psyche: does the locus of death influence the trajectory or orientation of Ripley’s spirit once it’s unbound from her body?

I’m not looking for symbolic comfort. I’m asking about the mechanics: whether the site of transition has genuine implications for both the human psyche and the departing spirit.

Also, I vaguely recall old MM queries about the duration between death and the departure of the spirit from the body. Can you remind me about this, and is it the same for non-human animals?

Finally, just thank you. You've made a significant and definitely positive impact on my life, and likely many others.

Re: On the Significance of Place in the Severing of a Bond

[ecosophia]

The place is irrelevant. It would be a very good thing if you are close to Ripley when she passes, as it'll make the transition much more comfortable for her to know that you're with her, but the other details don't matter in the least.

The process is the same for any mammal as it is for a human being. As the material body shuts down, the soul and the other bodies drift loose from it; clairvoyants can see what looks like a silver cord connecting the soul in its other bodies from the material body. Once the material body actually dies, the cord dissolves and the soul moves out of our ordinary three-dimensional space. For a nonhuman animal, this is easier than it is for a human being (or the handful of other creatures that also have mental sheaths), because they still have collective oversouls on the species level -- that's the source of what scientists call "instinct." The oversoul will gather up Ripley and help her through the process of shedding her etheric body, processing her life experiences, and preparing for her next incarnation.

Finally, please accept my condolences. That's a difficult thing to go through.

[booklover1973]

Some Magic Monday ago there was discussion about the position data of a visible comet; I don't know anymore if it was comet Swan or comet Lemmon. Have you gotten any further insights into its possible astrological significance?

[ecosophia]

I'm sorry to say I haven't had time. I've been scrambling to stay atop other calls on my time.

[(Anonymous)]

In Revisioning the Tree of Life, you wrote that before one should try to develop any of the astral senses, one should first develop common sense, a sense of proportion, and a sense of humor. How does one develop common sense and a sense of proportion?

[ecosophia]

Usually through the school of hard knocks! You can accelerate the process a bit, though, by reviewing your life from time to time, thinking about times when you blew things out of proportion or acted in a way you now see was clueless, and learn from the lessons those experiences teach.

[thinking_turtle]

To share, for those who wonder what R+C, CGD, or JMG mean, a list of abbreviations used on Ecopsophia. Now featuring IM, CM, ASC and DESC from astrology.

And here is a list of the books our host published so far.

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this as always -- but anyone who's reading this and doesn't know what JMG stands for hasn't been paying attention. ;-)

birthday rituals and discursive meditation

[kenkyuusha]

hello JMG!

1) this sunday is my birthday. i remember you mentioned that for example when it is winter equinox, there is a special meditation and diagram for that week. in the same way i thought maybe there was some ritual or practice to profit from the birthday day and any energies around it?

2) it has been a month of daily discursive meditations following "the occult philosophy workbook" and i found out that it is extremely hard to think about some diagrams. for example the one on lesson 3, with 7 planes of being, just did not provoke any thoughts and cause i know nothing specific about each plane, i was just thinking that, like "well i do not really know what is each of those planses and how do they interact, how would i proceed to getting to know that? ..." etc. the week of that diagram made me doubt i am doing it "correctly". this week's diagram is about the etheric body though, and this one proves more fruitful in terms of reflecting on it.

thank you!

Re: birthday rituals and discursive meditation

[ecosophia]

1) There isn't really anything like that in the occult teachings, but there's no reason why you couldn't work something up yourself.

2) The diagrams are like that -- some people will find certain diagrams particularly useful, while others will get little out of those but learn a lot from others. Don't worry about doing it correctly -- just work through the process and let your own experiences guide you.

Dolmen Arch

[trubrujah]

Hope you had a relaxing turkey day.

Here is the next installment of the Dolmen Arch group: https://thelongdescent.substack.com/p/pwyll-weds-rhiannon

This week we will finish up meditating on the First Branch of the Mabinogion.

Re: Dolmen Arch

[ecosophia]

Thanks again for this!

Natural magic and queries about occultism

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John, I wanted to tell you and the other people who might read this about my experience with natural magic and ask you some questions.

My dad lent me your book on natural magic and I found it extremely helpful! The first amulet I made was the protective amulet made of kosher salt, a shiny nail surrounded by red cloth.

That amulet seems to have given me perfect sleep. Normally, I have a lot of trouble getting asleep and waking up. With the amulet, I fall asleep fast and wake up rested. I know that it’s the amulets doing because that has not happened in years. I had perfect sleep for the two weeks I wore it.

The amulet also seems to be helping with the SoP. My visualizations during the closing were stronger.
Naturally, when I noticed the effects of this simple amulet, I made another one. This time I used Jupiter in Leo as my correspondence (I wanted some help with my job-hunting). I combined crushed almonds, saffron, and frankincense in a purple bag during the day and hour of Jupiter, said a prayer where asked him to bless my amulet and offered him some traditional Swedish glögg. It’s wine infused with spices, usually enjoyed in the winter, served hot with almonds in it.

That amulet seems to be working well too. The day after I made it, I got a strong hunch to apply for a job I normally wouldn’t feel confident going for. An hour later I got an email inviting me to an interview the following Monday. That interview went well, and now I’ve been called to a second one. That interview was today and I got the job!

I don’t know much of this is me using the amulets as affirmations and the amulets affecting consciousness in accordance with their will, but either way I like the results!

Here are my questions:
1) When I made the second amulet, I discarded the protective one because I wasn’t sure how they might interact. Are the amulets alright to mix? I want my perfect sleep back (haha).

2) Is it appropriate to bless your amulet multiple times to make it even stronger?

3) What’s your opinion on meditating more than once a day? There is so much to meditate on, the thought of dedicating an entire day to meditation and occult study seems really cool to me.

4) How do you go about taking on the work of multiple orders? Do you do them in sequence or do you do them in parallel? I’m specifically thinking of doing the work of the Golden section and FHR.

Re: Natural magic and queries about occultism

[ecosophia]

1) Of course you can have more than one amulet, as long as they don't have conflicting purposes -- for example, don't make one amulet to help you be more kind and sympathetic and another to make you more fierce and competitive! The protective amulet will go with just about anything.

2) By all means experiment with this and see how it works for you.

3) Beginners often want to do this. It's not a good idea, because it can make you spacy and unable to function well in the rest of your life. For beginners, 15 minutes once a day is a good maximum.

4) One at a time, always, so you can focus on each order's lessons!

[(Anonymous)]

I have a question about the Psalms.

I’m an Orthodox Christian, and for centuries it has been standard practice for monastics in our church to chant and pray the entire Psalter regularly, in some cases daily.

In recent years a version of this has trickled down to the laity. It has become popular for Orthodox churches to form lay Psalter reading groups in which individuals commit to praying sections of the Psalter nightly during the church fasting periods, mainly Advent and Lent, usually cycling through the whole Psalter twice in a 40 day fasting period.

I’ve now participated 3 times in my church’s fasting period Psalter groups, and the uneasiness I’ve felt about the practice since the beginning has never gone away. There are individual Psalms that I love beyond words and that are precious and powerful to me, and are worth meditating on, and yes, praying.

But I have been unable to get over my alarm and wariness around praying the imprecatory Psalms that are, quite frankly, curses. It feels all wrong. My sense of wrongness and danger increases with each round.

This opinion of mine is heavily taboo within the church, and the standard response to qualms like mine is to say it isn’t cursing at all, but rather all metaphorical, and the “enemies” that the imprecatory Psalms are calling down destruction upon are not people but abstract sins.

I don’t buy it.

My sense right now is that this Psalter prayer practice might possibly have merit within the context of monasticism and dedicated ascetic life, but as lay people it’s playing with fire. I committed to joining the current Advent group, and am in the prayer list and supposed to be praying my assigned psalms nightly, but I’ve not been fully participating.

My questions:

1.) Do you have any insight into or opinions regarding the dangers and risks (or benefits) of Psalter prayer practices that include the imprecatory Psalms? Do you think my intuitive revulsion towards the cursing Psalms, and my sense they are real curses (not abstract “struggles against sin”) is correct?

2.) I agreed to participate in this Advent group, and I’m not. Any thoughts on blowback from that or ways of mitigating it? I’ve considered praying nightly for everyone on the list, but not praying the full Psalter.

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

1) Oh, they're curses, all right. Two of the magical traditions in which I'm initiated include the Psalms as magical resources, and there are quite a few of them that I won't use under any circumstances.

2) I think praying nightly for everyone on the list, and choosing one Psalm with which you're entirely comfortable and praying it nightly as well, would be a good choice. Next year, though, you'll want to beg off.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, mr JMG.
If a powerful black magic spell has been cast on an apartment, will it continue to work after the building is demolished? Or will the spell be broken?

[ecosophia]

Depends on the fine details of the spell and the nature of the material basis that anchors it to that apartment.

Dolmen Arch Next Steps

[cs2]

At this time last year I finished my first pass through the DA curriculum that took me five years. My mentor at AODA encouraged me to consider becoming a mentor. I then took a year to intensively review the entire curriculum so I could feel more comfortable about any questions that might come my way. I have just finished that.

I was thinking I'd do a third pass through the DA and stick to the two-year timeline, but I am cognizant of your advice to not be monolingual in spiritual traditions. I was therefore thinking I'd look at whichever of your curriculums contains the Blessing Walk and wanted to confirm it builds on the kinds of skills I've already started in the DA. Thanks for your time.

Re: Dolmen Arch Next Steps

[ecosophia]

The Blessing Walk is from the Modern Order of Essenes teachings, which you'll find available for free download here:

https://octagonsociety.org/archives/modern-order-of-essenes/

Since you've already activated your palm centers with the work of the Dolmen Arch, you'll find it easy to work with, and yes, it's entirely compatible. You'll likely find the healing material very useful if you want to develop your energy healing skills further.

[(Anonymous)]

The name "Aelzebub" has come to me in a few of my meditations / journalings, and I'm wondering if you had any ideas of what its significance might be.

I checked chatGPT for some associations and in addition to the obvious "Beelzebub" connection, it associated "Ael" with the Semitic root for god "El."

I'm interpreting this as a call for shadow work: an archetype representing the transformative fusion of the best and worst parts of myself (I'm currently slogging my way through the 12 steps of AA, so it makes sense in that context!)

It seems straightforward with this interpretation... but do you have any other thoughts on where this name might be coming from? Have to admit it's a bit scary to have this name come to me in this way!

PS: Great song!

[ecosophia]

That's very interesting. "Beelzebub" in Hebrew, ba'al zebub, is "lord of the flies" -- yes, that's where the title of that book came from -- and Aelzebub, in Hebrew el zebub, would be the very similar name "god of the flies." I'd be very careful with that, as not everything in the spiritual world is part of yourself, or should be integrated.

As for the song, thank you. I'm listening to a lot of classics on vinyl these days.

[linden_matryoshka]

Hi JMG,
Happy Monday to you!
Would you venture any general advice on how to read reversed cards? Recently, I've been doing not a daily divination, but the Celtic Cross covering a certain period of life (usually about 2 weeks), bookmarked by events that are somewhat significant in my life. A couple of days ago, I spent a lot of time organizing a trip only to come up against the wall (no go, full stop, red light, not going to happen), and then I remembered... The Chariot reversed in the position #7 (self). I laughed. What was I thinking? This is a clear case, but I'm searching for a more general approach. The same spread also contains The Devil reversed (#3)and the 6 of wands reversed (#1), and I am still scratching my head...
Three days ago, Saturn stationed direct and will hit my own seasick Saturn again on December 23rd... oy again...Any survival tips?

[ecosophia]

My take on reversed cards comes from one of the first books on tarot I studied, Eden Gray's Mastering the Tarot. (It's a fine book.) The Devil card reversed is a favorable indication -- it means that the burdens you think you're under are at least partly a product of your own imagination, and you can walk away from them. (In the Rider-Waite deck, the chains around the necks of the man and woman are loose enough that they could take them off and walk away.) The 6 of Wands reversed means that rewards are delayed, travel is postponed, someone else gets the triumph. Generally, take the meaning and turn it upside down, and there you are.

[executedbygandhi]

Hello JMG,
1. I am currently meditating with your “The Occult Philosophy Workbook.” Do you have any recommendations for good follow-up reading?
2. A few weeks ago, I wrote that I suffer greatly from perfectionism and asked for a suitable affirmation. Instead, you advised me to keep a journal and look for the causes. I have done this and have come to realize that my tendency toward perfectionism and superiority over others stems from my relationship with my grandfather. I grew up with him and he was an impressive man who survived World War II, fleeing and losing his family. He had a very strong aura, great self-confidence, and was a typical doer and protector. I feel that life has not given me the trials to emulate him (which in some ways has been a good thing). Nevertheless, there is this little boy in my head who wants to be like my grandfather, which explains some of my negative traits.
Do you have any advice on how I can deal with this relationship?

Thank you.

[ecosophia]

1) If you want to get into the same tradition in more depth, Dion Fortune's The Cosmic Doctrine or any of her collections of essays will get you there.

2) You've taken the first step by making the source of it conscious. Keep journaling, and focus on why you find your grandfather's image so appealing.