Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of George Van Tassel, another of the California occultists who played a central role in the creation of the UFO phenomenon. The head of the College of Eternal Wisdom, one of the many occult schools in mid-20th century California, Van Tassel was a friend or associate of just about everyone involved in the early contactee scene, and the annual meetings at his property at Giant Rock, CA were seedbeds for the entire New Age scene -- though you'll find few people in that scene who will talk about that any more. 

If you're in the vicinity, Giant Rock is worth a visit, partly for the scenery, partly for the history, and partly for the Integratron, a domed building Van Tassel said he was directed to build by the aliens. Made of wood and other non-ferromagnetic substances and incorporating a gigantic Tesla coil and split-ring resonator, it was supposed to rejuvenate those who spent time in it. I haven't been there, though I've been told by some who have that it's got really interesting energies -- yes, it's still in existence, still in use for mystical purposes, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018. That's George standing near the Integratron in the picture to the right. 

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. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here.

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button below to access my online tip jar.

With that said, have at it!

***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Do you know of any occult explanations for the phenomenon of dissociative identitiy disorder, a.k.a. multiple personality disorder? Sounds to me like it's something that originates in the astral plane but aside from that I don't know what to make of it.

[ecosophia]

The only discussions I've seen of it suggest that it may be related to possession by the spirits of the dead. I haven't studied it enough to know whether that explanation holds water or not.

Transgression

[(Anonymous)]

What could be some of the unintended and lesser known consequences of a love spell? If the intention was to be “thought of, to be psychically connected” could a particularly powerful ritual series cause infertility in the recipient when the desired relationship ends? If this “connection” around another was then released a couple of decades later would fertility be restored?

Just a hypothetical question from an acquaintance of a friend.

Re: Transgression

[ecosophia]

Okay, the usual blowback from a love spell is that the caster ends up obsessed with the target while the target can't stand the caster. Fun times! I've never heard of infertility as a consequence of a love spell on either side. There are many, many causes of infertility these days, and one of them is the simple fact that there are far more human beings on this planet than it can support for more than a short while. I'd encourage the acquaintance of your friend to accept that infertility may not be something (s)he can do anything about, and remember that there are other sources of meaning in life than biological reproduction...

[(Anonymous)]

I'm working my way through the first lesson of LRM now. It's going quite well, and I'll start lesson 2 Wednesday (I'm the one who asked about whether it mattered what day I started it on a few weeks ago). I have a few questions though:

1) Is it okay if I use the shift in lesson times as a point of making small shifts in other aspects of my life? I want to get back into being an early riser, and so I'm thinking of shifting to wake up a half hour earlier every new lesson until my schedule lines up with what I want (I will continue this for a while, since I sleep in a fair bit and I'm going to move a few time zones east soon). This way it's less traumatic, and I will also reduce the number of things I need to keep track of.

2) Is it acceptable to read the next lesson Monday, and use Tuesday to prepare anything I need for the next lesson?

3) My mind is proving quite inventive in distractions while doing the practices. One of them is that it'll start playing the songs I'm practicing on my saxophone. I'm a little worried if I push it too far in terms of focusing on what I need to focus on I'll cause issues with playing music later, so how do I balance this? Is it a matter of just focusing on magic when doing LRM and then focusing on music when I play?

4) The last few times I've done the awareness exercise while standing I've found I lost my balance. When I started this never happened. Am I correct to think this is a sign that I've started getting deeper awareness of the practice?

5) Final question: I find that the systematic relaxation provided in the book does not work for me, and may actually leave me more tense than before. I'm doing it as written, but are there pointers you may have on what I may be doing wrong? On the other hand, I find the breathing relaxation exercise very good, and so I suspect it may be a matter of one exercise working for me but not the other.

[ecosophia]

1 and 2) Of course.

3) Focus on magic while you're doing magic, and then focus on music while you're doing music. Don't let yourself encourage the distraction by going along with it.

4) Yes.

5) You're not doing anything wrong. The practice is bringing unnoticed tensions into awareness. Keep at it; after several months you'll have a better sense of the effects.

SOP energy question

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks as always for hosting this forum - I learn so much each week.

I have been yawning during the SOP, mostly between Earth and Spirit Above, so it was good to hear that that is a normal experience. My question has to do with energy movement, especially during the Elemental Cross. As I stand and visualize, about half the time I feel the energy coming down through my midline and out the front and back. But the energy pouring through my arms and hands is shocking to me, feeling hot and strong, seemingly way out of balance with the other two directions. Is this normal, and will it balance out in time? I have also wondered where this energy is headed and to what purpose. It happens both during the opening cross and the spinning cross each day.

Re: SOP energy question

[ecosophia]

Most likely you've cleared some blockages out of the channels in your arms and your body's going "Whoah! What the heck is that???" Keep doing it; after a few more months it should balance out.

[(Anonymous)]

I've found myself thinking of someone I was close to when I was younger a fair bit lately. She moved away when we were about 10, and we lost contact not long after. She was my best friend in elementary school, and we were both quite upset about the move.

1) I have no idea of how to find her again, and if we'd even recognize each other if we did meet again, so would this be something where a magical working would be helpful?

2) I am working my way through LRM, but would it be possible to do it after that, or would a working like this be too difficult for someone who just has LRM? If it's too complex, what else would you advise working through first?

3) If it would be possible to do a working of this sort, what steps would you advise (aside from divination/meditation first) for constructing such a working?

[ecosophia]

1) Possibly, but...

2) You're nowhere near the point of being able to do a working of that kind with the training you're getting in LRM. You'll need to go on to Circles of Power to pick up the magical chops involved. In the meantime, though, there are other options. First, do some divination and perhaps some journaling to get a sense of why that connection has come to mind and whether you should pursue it; then, if you get a clear sense that it's appropriate to go ahead, prayer is probably your best bet. That's more potent than a lot of people in the occult scene realize; consider giving it a try.

Druidic healing?

[(Anonymous)]

A while back on Magic Monday, you have mentioned a system of Druid Healing practice you had in the works. Is there any update on the progress on that system you are willing to discuss publicly? I am growing increasingly interested in integrating a system of healing to my practice.

Re: Druidic healing?

[ecosophia]

I hope to be announcing the publication date here in a month or so.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a friend who is eager to have a birth chart done. She knows what day she was born, but has no idea of when. Do you have sources on rectification of birth charts, and do you have any advice on the matter?

I've done some interpretations, and I have a good sense of the planets, angles, and houses, but I've limited myself to charts where I know birth time, at least roughly. Although I have done some minor rectification, this is something well past anything I've tried, and I have yet to find a good source which discusses how to go about rectification if all that is known is birth day.

[ecosophia]

The best book I've found so far on rectification is Laurie Efrein's How to Rectify a Birth Chart (Aquarian, 1987), which is readily available via online used book stores.

If you've got the date, you've at least got all the planetary placements other than the Moon, and the Moon's within 15 degrees or so. You may be able to narrow things down quite a bit if the Moon passes from one sign to another during the interval -- the difference between a Cancer Moon and a Leo Moon, say, is hard to miss! Beyond that, look for telltale house placements. Someone who has really good financial luck will probably have a benefic in the 2nd house or ruling the 2nd house cusp, for example, and if you piece all these together you may well be able to get it within a fairly narrow window. Then cast the chart for the middle of the window and see how well it fits!

[(Anonymous)]

Hey JMG,

Thank you for your time. My significant other, who most definitely has a natural sipritual/psychic talent, tends towards having nightmares on a regular basis, enough so to throw her out of well needed rest. I've done an experiment whereas she sleeps I imagine/meditate on a white energy surrounding her(without telling her). Reportedly, those nights she tends to sleep unperturbed.

1. Do you have recommendations for how to help someone who is naturally gifted on how to be protected from nightmares at night?

2. Am I actually doing anything?

Thanks, Andrew

[ecosophia]

1) Well, what kinds of magic, if any, do you know how to practice?

2) Ahem. "Every time I stick a key in the ignition switch of the car and turn it, the engine starts. Am I actually doing anything?"

What To Do

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

I've gone through the DH, then DMH up to the point of enchanting stones and tools. Since that's going to take years to complete, is this a good time to work on other related interests? There's certainly plenty to read that won't interfere with practicing this system, but I am very interested in sacred geometry and geomancy. I've occasionally done chapters in Techniques for Geometric Transformation when fancy struck. I had started reading your Art and Practice of Geomancy months ago when I noticed you mentioned in a blog post not to mix systems, so stopped cold. Your thoughts?

Thanks again for hosting this forum and sharing your knowledge and experience!
_grey_

Re: What To Do

[ecosophia]

Don't worry about it. The rule not to mix systems refers to systems of magic; while you're working on the material in The Druid Magic Handbook, until you finish it, it's not a good idea to take up any other system of magic -- though you'll have quite a bit more to work on once my forthcoming book The Dolmen Arch comes out, btw, because it's the same system. You can certainly take up other methods of divination, practice sacred geometry, or do any of the other branches of occult study other than magic -- for example, you could put the next ten years into learning astrology, say, or alchemy.

Grave Gifts

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
I recently lost a pet gander and put a lock of my hair in his grave with some rose quartz and flowers. My hope is that the lock of hair will serve as a link and, along with my prayers, be a way for him to remain in contact with me.

I got this practice from ancient Greek stories. Do you think this will work? I had a dream visit from a girlfriend who died and her husband and I both put locks of our hair with her in the cremation. He dreams of her almost nightly. Are there reasons not to do this with our loved ones?
Maxine

Re: Grave Gifts

[ecosophia]

It depends on how much contact you want with them after they're dead. Keep an eye on your health; if you start losing vitality, you're spending too much time in contact with the dead and will need to do some protective workings so you don't join them sooner than you otherwise would...

[(Anonymous)]

Is there a good source for discursive meditation like what you teach, which is not directly associated with occultism?

I often end up in conversations about meditation and bring up discursive mediation. It would be good to have a source that is Christian (or better, secular) so I can be less vague about where this comes from, and point people who want to learn more to something that isn't too occult!

Also, if there happen to have been scientific studies on discursive meditation that would be amazing to know about, but I am guessing that those have not happened.

Thank you!
-Bewilderness

[ecosophia]

A book along those lines is something I've considered on more than one occasion. It fits well with Christianity -- in fact, he first thorough discussion of it I know of is by a 17th century Anglican bishop and focuses on using it for understanding the Bible; you might see if you can find an online copy of Joseph Hall's The Art of Divine Meditation for your Christian friends. Making sense of it in purely secular terms is harder, since a lot of nonreligious people tend to say, "Oh, you're just talking about thinking" -- which is true in a certain sense, just as it's true that a baby's first steps are not wholly unlike hiking the Appalachian Trail...

[(Anonymous)]

I did the Middle Pillar today and the energy seemed to bunch up in my head, despite the fact that I was rolling it through the way I was supposed to. Finally I stopped and have been trying to drain the excess energy buildup ever since. Any suggestions?

[ecosophia]

Get someone to massage your neck and shoulders and see if that helps; it usually does.

Freyja, Odin

[(Anonymous)]

Why does Norse mythology have Freyja and Odin each taking half of the slain? How did each choose?

Re: Freyja, Odin

[ecosophia]

You'll have to ask someone who worships them. I don't claim to be any sort of scholar of the Eddas.

crosses and visualizations

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG!

1) Is it possible to mix meditation styles, for example non-discursive (e.g. Shamatha, Zazen) in the morning, discursive meditation in the evening?

2) Is there a magical component in crossing oneself catholic-style? The way I was taught it there are no visualizations or special intentions included,but learning and practicing the Elemental Cross made me wonder whether one could put more power into a regular sign of the cross, so to speak...

3) Related to this: I started crossing myself and praying one Our Father and one Hail Mary after doing the Sphere of Protection. Will this lead to any interferences or is there no problem?

4) A rather popular chaos magician published a ritual for beginners which includes an "invocation of the Four Kings", which are called Oriens, Paymon and two others. According to my resarch those guys are rather heavyweight Goetic demons. Is the author off his rocker or did I misunderstand something and actually it's all quiet harmless? Why not call the Archangels?

5) "Mindfulnesss Based Stress Reduction" has a technique called Bodyscan. You listen to a Cd-track and are led trough a meditation. They make you visualize breathing through the crown of your head through your body and out of your feet. What effect would such a visualization have?

Thank you for your time and advice!

Re: crosses and visualizations

[ecosophia]

1) I don't recommend it. Choose one and commit to it wholly; you'll get much further that way.

2) There certainly can be. Try combining the sign of the Cross with the visualizations from the Elemental Cross -- that's fairly standard for Christian practitioners of the SoP.

3) No problem in the world. Once you do the SoP, doing spiritual practices in the space thus cleared is standard, and those are certainly spiritual practices.

4) A lot of chaos magicians believe that spirits don't actually exist, and that all you're doing is manipulating arbitrary symbols. I think they're quite wrong, and would not recommend doing anything with those spirits at all.

5) It's a fairly mild way of clearing gunk out of your etheric body. I don't recommend commercial recorded meditations, though, because a lot of them have subliminal messages in them, which may have more to do with getting you to buy products than with your spiritual well-being. Learn how to do the thing without the CD and the results will be better.

SOP

[candace_k]

I’m wondering if I have encountered a “flake filter” and if so if in the interest of “Occultism Lite” if it would be worth while to review whether it is the best place for a “filter”.

I’m referring to the instructions on the SOP. I wrote it out from the previous AODA website, which was helpful when I was trying to restart my practice. I say this because the one on the current AODA website is incomplete. I realize you are no longer the Grand Archdruid for the order, but since it refers candidates to your books, I thought it might be something you might want to mention to them. For starters it says that the complete instructions are available from The Druid Handbook and The Druid Magic Handbook. Which as you know is inaccurate, because the Druid Handbook refers readers to the AODA website.

The verbal/auditory portion is also different in the differing locations. IYour books and the website say that it is intended to be adaptable to different deities or to address powers rather than deities, but is there a way to check out if the language modifications are a good choice. At one point I was including a line from (I believe) the description from the Celtic Gnostic Church, but it seemed to cause problems, (the lines “May the universe within me and the universe around me be in balance and harmony”. I probably have it wrong, because it seemed to cause something to go wrong when I said it that way. (I encountered a great deal of pettiness and low-level aggression.)

At any rate, being more of the “Occultism-Lite” persuasion (I’m a vegetarian and have a persistent mental illness) I appreciate having access to a banishing ritual, and I think it is something that would benefit a great number of people. I understand that the f”flake filters” are necessary, but I would like request that you and the other leaders of AODA consider making the SOP more accessible and save the “flake filters” as part of the further training.

I have the goal of becoming a deacon in the Celtic Gnostic Church, but I have not completed the first year candidacy, primarily because I really hate meditating. I continue to try and work at breaking down my resistance to meditating.

Thank you for having this forum.

Sincerely,
Candace

P.S. I received a notice about a new book available for pre-order. I hope you’ll mention a few more details about it in your next blog post!

Re: SOP

[ecosophia]

Yes, you've hit a flake filter. It's now up to you to decide whether to pass through it or not. You're right that it's good to practice a banishing ritual regularly; is that worth enough to you to put up with the inconveniences of learning it? Only you can decide that.

Dealing with being attacked.

[(Anonymous)]

So I have an ongoing issue with a neighbor which is complex and confusing and not really much to do with me but has my family as a target. She is obsessed about making us move and is a natural mage (with a group of young men who follow her), we can't move. I have built a fence for free and planted it up for privacy but they react whenever we go outside still, they lack normal mental boundaries. I think she has gotten desperate and now wants severe ill to happen to us to make us leave. We have had 3 near death experiences this month.

I have taken to lighting a candle and doing a prayer for protection and blessings for my home , land and loved ones daily and wearing protective jewellery. My main concern is the last close call involved my young children which is something I didn't think she would do, do you have any advice for dealing with this.

Re: Dealing with being attacked.

[violetcabra]

If I may, I wrote a bunch of protective natural magic techniques here, most of them appropriate to the situation you describe: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/56005.html?thread=4330693#cmt4330693

Also, a few months ago I recommended this video to someone being attacked with demons and that person found it extremely helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0j_ZJVxj4

Basically, my strategy in cases of evil magic is a "circle within circles" defense. Personally, I'd plant wormwood, St. John's Wort, wood betony and, if possible, holly and elder trees in the backyard as a hedge against her house, do extensive magical cleaning, have everyone carry five finger grass, jasper, and especially malachite to protect against accidents. In addition, I'd burn incense, and put big tubs of salt water under the bed to act as a decoy. I'd hang holly in all the windows, and put black pepper in everyone's shoes. Salt can go in the four corners of every room, too. Taking hot baths with teas of herbs -- especially 9 herbs 00 can help too, this infuses the aura with the power of the plants. When I was under magical attack a few years ago wormwood was what broke the collective working to harm me.

I uploaded a picture of the hexafoil I drew to wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexafoil#/media/File:Hexafoil.png . You can print this out and post it on every wall. Hexafoils work as a magical portal to divine energy and disrupts ill intent.

My understanding is with magical attack one must be active against it. If you employ a circles within circles approach you will likely prevail because even the nastiest magics can hardly cross three circles of defense. If you have five then you're in the clear.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

A couple questions this week, thanks again for the chance to ask.

1. In this time of year I get a little bit of hay fever so when I sit to do rhythmic breathing I'm a little congested. Between the outbreath and the inbreath, after switching from breathing out from my mouth and in through my nose, I feel a slight click in the back of my mouth. I've read that a clicking in the throat might show that the throat is closing, but maybe it's just congestion?

2. When interpreting Ogham readings, I have this week got myself a little confused. If one asks when doing a reading a question like 'should I do this' - should one assume that an upright card in the outcome is generally (depending on the meaning of the few) a sign of 'yes' and vice versa?

And also - I did a reading on the weekend with the standard 'what do I need to know the most about the coming day' question, and received Nuin, Saille and reversed Koad. I interpreted that to mean that the events leading up to that day have been more significant than they have appeared to me, that Saille advises for the coming day to let intuition be the guide, but as an outcome of this, reversed Koad shows that a successful prediction isn't possible due to complexity. Now, does that mean that if I follow the advice of Saille and go with the flow over the day, that the outcome will be uncertain? Or that I am advised to do the opposite of what Saille shows, and try to approach the day purposefully and ignore intuition such that a more predictable outcome should occur?

I am often not certain whether Ogham readings are acting as advice, as in 'follow what the reading tells you', or whether the fews are indicating 'this is what will happen today because you will naturally have these tendencies today'.

[ecosophia]

1) It's likely just congestion, but if it worsens you might want to consider a visit to a licensed health care provider.

2) This is what you're figuring out by writing down your readings every morning and then reviewing them afterwards. How did these readings work out in practice, and what did they turn out to be telling you?

W.O.H. Chorazin

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG
I'm really enjoying the series so far, I know I like a book or books when I have that bittersweet feeling when I finish it.
IE, is there more of that where it came from?! 😉
The question I have is, on page 6, of Chorazin, Billie Whateley brings out the boys a glass of beer each, but on page 8, Justin, drinks from a bottle.
Have I missed something?
Regards, Helen

Re: W.O.H. Chorazin

[ecosophia]

No, I and the four people who reviewed the text for editing and continuity editors missed something. Homer, in the Iliad, kills off the same hero twice; it's a rare novel that doesn't have at least one of those!

I'm glad you're enjoying the Weird. There's still a fair amount more in process -- I recently approved the page proofs for the fifth volume, Providence; volumes 6 and 7 are finished, so is The Shoggoth Concerto (which is set in the same fictive world and has cameos from a few people you've already met, but isn't part of the same story arc), and I'm about two-thirds of the way finished with the sequel, The Nyogtha Variations. There's at least one more substantial novel set in the same fictive world I'll be writing after that, too.

Sigils

[(Anonymous)]

Do sigils work and have you ever used them?

Also I notice you said that the Mass is a very ineffectual ritual (unlike the Latin Mass). What about those Protestant churches where the audience gets whipped up and starts singing and dancing? Is it no different from a pop concert or is that energy being channelled spiritually by the preacher?

Re: Sigils

[ecosophia]

1) Sigils work; they're a very simple magical technique that most people can learn to use with a little practice, and I find they work about as well as affirmations or visualized thought-forms. I prefer affirmations for that kind of work, because I naturally think in spoken language rather than in visual imagery, but yes, I've used them with good effect. On the other hand, when I hear from someone who hasn't been able to make magic work for them, these days it's almost always someone who tried to use sigils for the kind of heavy lifting they aren't powerful enough to do.

2) It depends very much on the service and the preacher. Some Pentecostalist ministers know exactly what they're doing; others are simply addicted to the rush, and end up grounding out the excess life force in the time-honored way.

Annoying a god

[(Anonymous)]

I use to recite the orphic hymn to Athena in my daily practices, but some strange happenings had made me wonder if i could be annoying the deity by reciting the poem with no other objective that evoking her glorious traits. The answer of the deity in this same question seemed to confirm this. What's your experience in the matter?

Re: Annoying a god

[(Anonymous)]

Are you by chance a Druid? My experience is that the Athena does not like working with Druids. Period, full stop. She has outright told me to "frack off" before, and that as far as she's concerned Druids should not approach her.

[(Anonymous)]

I've got a few qustions about witch bottles.

Does the lure have to be urine or would things like hair and nail clippings work as well (and leave extra space to fill with vinegar)?

You've mentioned making them on the hours of both Mars and Saturn. Does each optimise the bottle for a different purpose?

Does it make a difference if you bury it in the front or back garden?

It may be worth putting the full instructions on the FAQ so it's all in one place and the subject comes up a lot.

[ecosophia]

1) Follow the recipe if you want reliable results. If you want to experiment, and don't mind the risk that it won't protect you at all, by all means try alternatives.

2) Nobody knows. Here again, you can always experiment.

3) You should bury it under the house if at all possible, or stick it in a secluded corner of the basement if that's what you have.

4) That's a possibility I'll consider.

[(Anonymous)]

In the piece you wrote about the history of the next 10 billion years, would previously human souls reincarnate in the corvid and mollusc civilisations? What would happen to the souls that hadn't moved on by the time all life on earth ended?

[ecosophia]

1) No, human bodies will still be available as long as human souls need them. Another 11 million years, the time frame I gave our species, ought to be enough time for all of us to move on -- well, except for...

2) According to one very detailed tradition of occult lore, that's where demonic spirits come from: souls who have become so deeply mired in their own imbalances that they can't proceed on even when the world dissolves around them. They end up in the rubble and waste at the very fringes of existence until they finally either work their way out of it or go that little bit further into nonexistence.

LBRP/feng shui

[(Anonymous)]

It's just another Magic Monday... (Wish it was Sunday...'cause that's my fun day!)

Ha! Been wanting to sing that ever since you started this AMA.

But Sunday wasn't my fun day...my father-in-law showed up about 10 am yesterday all but unannounced. With a friend we didn't know and weren't expecting. My kids don't care for that particular grandparent and his friend definitely moved the needle on my skeezometer, but we did our best to be kind and accommodating.

Until the conversation, after about 15 beers each for them, turned to how I wasn't keeping a close enough eye on my daughter, and how there are abductors and rapists lurking behind every azalea, and hadn't I heard about so-and-so who went missing for 6 months, and...

I tried to quell his fears: you know, we live in a tight-knit neighborhood in a small town where everyone looks after each other. Our daughter is a very strong and independent girl with 2 years of jiu jitsu under her belt, and knows every shopkeeper within walking distance of our house. How I refuse to be a helicopter parent. Etc.

The more I deflected his concerns the stronger his objections got. Until I just walked away and did something else. It frankly creeped me out. What you contemplate you imitate and all that.

I've been a devoted student of yours for over 7 years now, practiced feng shui at least as long, practiced natural magic and divination for over a year, and have recently taken up a daily LBRP. As in, for about a week now.

One thing my wife and I noticed about her dad and his friend was that they seemed to have a really hard time coming inside our house. Or staying in for long if they managed to make it inside. They were late to both meals we set out yesterday and also first to be excused.

It's hard to imagine that a week of banishing rituals is responsible. Maybe more the feng shui...but neither of them could bear to relax inside our house. They had planned to spend 2 nights with us but stormed out drunk around 10 last night, headed for Florida, acting like gibbering toddlers, neither having even laid down on the beds we made up for them. And I have to wonder if that was the last time we will see my wife's absentee father (he went to prison when she was 8 and didn't reconnect for 20 years. Been an annual visitor since we had children.)

Mostly I just needed to vent, so thanks for being here. But how likely do you figure it is that our protective efforts chased bad guys out of our house last night? It was a bizarre experience to say the least!

Tripp

Re: LBRP/feng shui

[robertmathiesen]

Hoo boy!!! Tripp, that really sets all my alarm bells ringing loudly.

Your FIL's friend could easily have been several men in older generations in my family. ("Girls, run and hide! Here comes you father!" great-grandmother would call out to my mother and her sister every time she saw their father approaching their house.) I'm really sorry you and your family have to face this.

As I read the behavior you've described, your FIL's friend was fantasizing about raping your daughter the whole time they were at your house, and he was hoping all the alcohol would give him the courage to act on his fantasy. If I had to guess further, your FIL was trying to dissuade him, but might also have been somewhat conflicted, as his friend might have managed to infect him, too, with the fantasy of violent sex with your daughter. If that was so, then, the friend was probably the dominant man in their friendship, not your FIL.

Even so, I suspect considerable props are due your FIL for resisting his friend's pressure and refusing to go along with the idea. It seems likely that they were quarreling bitterly beneath the surface, and that their early departure was due to your FIL's refusal to give in to his friend.

If it were my daughter and she were old enough to begin (even to begin!) to understand such things, I'd have a very very frank talk with her about this danger, and particularly about how for a considerable number of men violence itself is often orgasmic quite apart from sexual attraction, and in consequence violent sex is far more satisfying for such men than any sort of consensual sex. And that she should beware of your FIL's friend if ever she so much as sees him somewhere in the distance.

It would almost certainly be helpful for your wife to hear this, and especially the part about orgasmic violence and violent sex, too; a certain number of grown women seem not to be as aware as one might wish of that detail of male psychology of orgasm.

I'd also be on the lookout, too, for your FIL's friend to show up (quite likely without your FIL!) near your house more than once in the future.

If you can, do find out and make note of the friend's name and where he lives. Your FIL might even tell you, if you handle it right, when his friend is not around. He, too, may want to protect his granddaughter from his friend.

Music

[(Anonymous)]

I've been thinking about music quite a bit lately, and specifically its use in ritual, and could use another opinion [or several!] I really like the dies irae from Mozart's Requiem, but because it has specific imagery [I can't follow the Latin but am familiar enough with it the piece] and was written for a specific purpose, I wouldn't use it in say a working of Mars, although I might use music from Holst 'The Planets'. Something along your lines of magic isn't whatever you want it to be, I feel the same way about music. Art too, come to that. I can't see myself using an image of Mary as an image of Demeter, because the intent of the artist would seem to discourage that. Or, as always, I might be thinking too concretely...

Re: Music

[ecosophia]

I've used specific movements of Holst's The Planets as part of making and consecrating astrological talismans, with excellent results, but yeah, I'd be careful about using music or art in ways radically at variance with the intentions of the creator. Fortunately there's a lot of both that are well suited to magical workings -- some of it created by competent occultists. For example, the chorus "O Isis und Osiris" from The Magic Flute works very nicely with Golden Dawn-style ritual working with Egyptian deities...

Please don't hit me

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
I know your suggestions in the Magic Monday FAQ about kids and magic, but I am curious about the receptive and active workings that are provided in connection to each element of the SOP. Are those considered “complex magical workings”?
Thank you

Re: Please don't hit me

[ecosophia]

No.