Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of a portrait statue of En no Gyōja, the traditional founder of the Japanese occult tradition of Shugendo. Born in 634, he devoted his life to herbalism, ascetic practices in the high mountains, and a free mix of Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist magical disciplines, earning a reputation as one of Japan's greatest occultists. Shugenja, as practitioners of Shugendo are known, still revere his memory and practice various forms of the occult tradition he founded. He's still sufficiently famous today to appear in anime from time to time; think of him as Japan's Merlin and you won't be too far off (though Kobo Daishi, who will doubtless be featured in an upcoming Magic Monday, also has a good claim to that title). 

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 I'm going to have somewhat limited email access tomorrow and it may be Tuesday or even Wednesday 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 -- and yes, that means you. See you next week!***