Magic Monday
Sep. 29th, 2019 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
It's getting on for midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of Andrew Jackson Davis, one of the most influential American occultists of the 19th century. He was one of many figures in the American occult scene of the time to be strongly influenced by Mesmerism, and proceeded to develop an extensive body of occult philosophy and practice based partly on Mesmer's teachings and partly on his own visionary experiences. Much of his work was picked up and elaborated by the Spiritualists of a later generation, and remained standard in American occult circles until the heyday of Theosophy. 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.
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***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions -- and yes, that means you. See you next week!***
I'd like to see Manly Wade Wellman or John Hohman
Date: 2019-09-30 04:43 am (UTC)sympathetic ancestors
Date: 2019-09-30 04:44 am (UTC)My questions are to do with paying respects to, and requesting help from, one's ancestors.
My impression from reading this and your other page is that departed people retain an interest and influence in/on their descendants' affairs for a certain time and may evolve into the position of gods to those descendants.
Now, to the extent I have understood this correctly, could you outline your understanding of what bearing one's previous relations with such people, and their erstwhile personalities, have on subsequent interactions?
For instance, I knew 3 of my grandparents. From my sense of their attitudes and values, I'd predict that 2 of them would disapprove of me and my present activities and hence not be interested in helping my magical and spiritual development. The third, though, would likely be sympathetic. The one I never knew I infer from the family stories I would not agree with over much.
But I am concerned about raising resentment or jealousy from the others if I pray to only one. (Yes, they were rather thin-skinned types in life.) Further, is there a case for trying out the three I don't expect would wish to help me? And what about approaching the spirits of people who aren't my ancestors but I'd maybe wish had been?
Thank you!
Re: I'd like to see Manly Wade Wellman or John Hohman
Date: 2019-09-30 04:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 04:59 am (UTC)Re: sympathetic ancestors
Date: 2019-09-30 05:13 am (UTC)If your grandparents have been dead less than 33 years, according to this tradition, you can pray to them individually. If they've been dead longer than that, simply include them in prayers to your ancestors collectively. Do pray to all of them, whether they would be sympathetic to you or not -- but you can choose what you say to each of them on the basis of their personalities in life, i.e., ask for general blessings from the less sympathetic ones and for help on specific projects for the more sympathetic ones.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 05:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 05:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 05:22 am (UTC)Candle flame
Date: 2019-09-30 05:29 am (UTC)In a separate question: due to a lung ailment I can no longer tolerate the smoke of incense. With respect in particular to the Rose Cross ritual, is there a workable alternative, or will I just have to make do without?
For such invocations as mentioned above, I am thinking of using a blotter with essential oils appropriate to the planet.
Kevin
Birds - updated
Date: 2019-09-30 05:46 am (UTC)Thank you for your help. Are there any sources of Druid lore about birds that you would recommend to a beginner, and how do I communicate with them?
Re: I'd like to see Manly Wade Wellman or John Hohman
Date: 2019-09-30 06:25 am (UTC)Ogham Reading Layout
Date: 2019-09-30 06:57 am (UTC)You mentioned in a previous MM regarding Ogham readings:
"I find it more useful to make the first card mean me, the second the situations I encounter, and the third the outcome..."
In this three-card spread, are you doing them simply from left to right (1. me 2. situtation 3. result) or are you putting them into the three rays spread: first card for ray of knowledge on left, second card (situation) for ray of power on the right, and then the third card drawn as the ray of peace, in the center?
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 07:33 am (UTC)Thank you for your advice last week with regard to the obod course and it’s lack of banishing as part of the standard ritual. I have a copy of your Druid magic handbook and I’m wondering if the sphere of protection would be a useful element instead of the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram?
Many thanks
Averagejoe
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 07:39 am (UTC)Chiron
Date: 2019-09-30 07:57 am (UTC)As someone who - if Chiron is significant - has a bucket chart where Chiron is the handle, this interests me a lot.
If the importance of these objects is connected to trends in history, Chiron seems related to the primacy of psychology.
In any case, I have found your outlook on birth charts very helpful, that they are a set of possibilities, and not fated. It is an antidote from an authoritative person in the field, following an encounter with a practitoner some years ago whom I talked to at a particularly difficult time in my life, and who talked about charts in his own tradition as fated, and that left me with some issues.
Ramping up and misc questions
1) I am on the very early stages of anything spiritual and I am still finding my way around it and trying to identify what calls me the most so that I can settle on something and deepen on it. Last time I asked about mixing yoga and the practices in LRM and you mentioned Hatha seems ok but Kriya is not good to mix it with. I’ve been following along some practices of Isha foundation and took the introductory course called Inner Engineering where they initiate the participants into “Shambhavi Mahamudra” kriya. So it has the word kriya on it... but by reading their blog (link bellow) and hearing Sadhguru (the founder which developed the practice. Have you heard about him? I am seriously impressed by his efforts) talking about it seems to be a stripped down, at least from the occult perspective (his words), version of a kriya which is provided massively. So my question is, is there a way I could reverse engineer the practice or somehow notice something about it to see if I can actually mix it safely with LRM? The practice itself involves alternate nostril breathing, aum chanting, then rapid fluttering of breath and in the end tightening (locking) the neck, abdomen and pelvic floor muscles in that order and then holding until comfortable and in the end just open monitoring of breath while lightly staring at the area between the eyebrows. Does it ring any bell or know where I could start researching? I would like to keep doing it until I find an equivalent version on a different "tradition" since well the IE course was pretty nice but I feel I can deepen more easily following LRM and suggested readings, since well I can actually read about it and use my thinking brain in ways I was not expecting, per your discursive meditation series I mean. Another Wow. Thank you for writing them by the way!
2) Having said that. What is it that gets mixed up? Is it the way the energy is moved while doing the practices? By reading some other MMs it sounds quite dangerous to do it. Is there a way to section them or contain certain areas of ones practice? Say for example do ritual magic and a martial art in a safe way for example?
Thank you for hosting this and wish you the best!
P.D reading Weird of Hali volume 1. A third Wow.
https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en/wisdom/article/unique-about-shambavi-mahamudra
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 08:58 am (UTC)You’ve helped me before and I spoke about you to others and they have some questions. It seems that magic is known by more people than seem obvious!
Friend 1 asks, I have moved to a new area which is not very urbanized. I have become friendly with the locals & they mentioned that there are very-much-alive mythical creatures in the forests around. They seem serious and very sincere to me. As taking long rambles is a hobby of mine, do you have any references (books/posts/advice) for what to do when or if I meet such creatures? I would hate to give offence.
Friend 2 asks. Recently I was gifted a lovely staff of birch which I have sanded and oiled. Your ENM says (my copy! (OP))that birch is used for magicians who work with the faery realm. Where can I find out more about this?
Thank you very much for your MMs. They are a great resource of knowledge, not only from you but also from other commenters. I always take time to read every reply.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 09:05 am (UTC)A bunch of weird sychronicities involving butterflies led me to Psyche a couple of months ago so I started praying to her specifically with incense and wine libations. I think she helped me with some things but I wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not.
Anyway, last Friday after the usual prayers I asked if she could let me know if she was there and listening to me. I stood and waited, not for long. Then my vision started to go funny, it was sort of pixellated. Then my stomach started to hurt and feel a bit nauseous. There was a huge pressure coming down into and through my head. It was the same as I've felt doing the LBRP and Central Ray except stronger. In rituals it's always a bit blocked at about stomach level but not this time. My vision went starry and the force was so strong I couldn't keep standing so I lay down on the floor before it knocked me over. I was back to mostly normal after lying down a few minutes but the crown of my head stayed sore a while.
So that was crazy! There's no possible physical reason for it. I'm not a fainter, wasn't hungry, sick or tired, no funny herbs or drugs. What I was wondering is do you think that means she's angry with me for some reason, or did she just decide to go for an answer that even sceptical me couldn't argue with? I didn't get any sense of emotions good or bad with it, except my own slight freaked out-ness.
Also, why would gods pay any attention to humans? Why would they have any use for one of us? I do ask if there's anything she wants me to do in return for help with my laundry list of problems but I've never noticed an answer.
Sphere of protection
Date: 2019-09-30 09:07 am (UTC)Thanks
Intense Training
Date: 2019-09-30 09:10 am (UTC)I am a young occultist who only recently started to practice ritual magic. However, I would like to go above and beyond what an average magician does in his training, I want to reach the summit of magical attainment and push the boundaries of what’s considered possible, to conquer the world and remake it in my image. There has to be some intense but reasonable training course which doesn’t end with me being in a madhouse or in an early grave.
You once said you’d prefer to see an excessively ambitious pupil over a sycophant, so there you go.
With the SoP as my basic ritual what would my training regimen for the next 10 years look like?
Yours truly,
Lord Moldywort ;-)
Protective SOP and retroactive divination
Date: 2019-09-30 09:45 am (UTC)1) Do you know of an SOP design for protection against magical attacks that can be used (along with amulets and hoodoo baths)?
2) When asking what I should know about the day to come, it happens a lot that the reading corresponds more with the previous day. This happens in series and no matter which time of day I practice. Is it just a matter of bias?
Thank you as always for sharing your wisdom!
Combining practices
Date: 2019-09-30 10:00 am (UTC)Now that my Druid work has advanced, do you think that I could carefully try again at combining both? Maybe in separate spaces, at separate times of day, or in stretches of one month each or the like?
Discursive meditation and personal issues
Date: 2019-09-30 10:02 am (UTC)Thank you for your time and wisdom!
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 10:04 am (UTC)1. At the risk of seeming like splitting hairs...would the ovate or bardic temple of the Celtic Golden Dawn be safe for someone with a child under three? If not, would doing it while they're out of the house make any difference?
2. A while back you mentioned the karmic cause of Asperger's/autism but I don't recall where or what exactly. Would you mind explaining it again? I'm pretty keen not to deal with it again in any future lives.
3. What effect would growing magical herbs in a steel garden bed have on their magical properties? Steel beds seemed the most durable and least wasteful choice for someone stuck in an apartment, but have I shot myself in the foot?
Thanks again for magic Mondays!
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-30 10:16 am (UTC)Another quick question about the mechanics of planetary charity, if I may: In contrast to wearing the planetary colors in succession over the course of a week (a standard practice at the Mughal court, incidentally, as an expression of imperial universalism), I assume that charity for the various planets should not be combined, especially with opposing pairs like Saturn and Jupiter, lest their effects be neutralized? That is, it's better to first complete a course of charity for any one planet before beginning the next, correct?
And speaking of which, what form of Jupiter charity would you recommend? While folks in law and banking don't need my cash, needless to say, as a historian who works in higher ed I can testify that money is extremely tight in the humanities, so I'd much prefer to support that. But would supporting a scholarship program do the trick, or does the money need to go to a teacher rather than a student?
A somewhat related question: A colleague of mine is working on a 12th-century Arabic astral-magical procedure for personally incarnating each of the planets in succession, over a period of years, the end goal of which is the ability to transcend the terrestrial realm at will. But the process itself involves certain, ah, rather intense, even illegal, undertakings. Thus the operation for Venus culminates in a bisexual orgy for three days and nights, and that for Mars in the murder and decapitation of a man, the consumption of his flesh and the parading of his severed head in public (i.e., precisely as Mars is often depicted in horoscopes). And yet those who developed and presumably personally tested this procedure include some of the greatest religious and legal scholars of the era, who surely wouldn't have made an exception for cannibalism. Do you think it's possible or rather likely that such operations were meant to take place in the astral realm, not the physical? The same principle applies to the more grisly operations in the Picatrix and elsewhere: do you really need eye of newt and wing of bat, or actually have sexual intercourse with a cow, or may these be simply visualized to be effective? After all, achieving transcendence is nice, but so is staying out of jail...