Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of Apollonius of Tyana, one of the most famous occultists of the ancient Roman world, who was among other things one of the first people we know of who revived an extinct occult tradition. As a teenager he read about the Pythagorean Brotherhood, and decided that he wanted to be a member. The minor fact that the Brotherhood had been extinct for most of five centuries didn't slow him down at all; he found out everything that was known about them, and proceeded to put himself through the traditional course of training, including the five year vow of silence. Approach occultism with that kind of determination and I promise you that you'll get good results; he certainly did. 

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. If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here.    

With that said, have at it! 

***This Magic Monday is now closed -- and yes, this means you. See you next week!***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

1)I want to get into astrology, and part of this is working with my own chart. I'm unsure of when I was born: my mom says I was born around 9:00 pm, while my grandparents insist they arrived the day I was born and I was already born when they got here; my dad says that doesn't make sense since he is adamant he brought me to the airport when they got here, so he's pretty sure they got here later.

I started the process by looking at the possible ascendants. There's one ascendant that fits me quite well, and places the significator in an accurate spot: it has Uranus and Neptune conjunct the ascendant, Neptune in the 12th house and Uranus in the 1st; and Saturn in the 2nd. This fits me quite well: finances are important to me, but I've never been very bold with them; while I'm clearly eccentric, spirituality is important to me, even if somewhat hidden.

This also gives me a fifth house stellium (The Moon, Mercury, Venus and the Sun), which fits quite well as well; the areas ruled by the fifth house are very important to me, and my identity and emotions are strongly connected with them.

However, this chart has a sun-moon conjunction in Cancer, within less than one degree; anything which moves the moon out of that range moves either Uranus into the 12th or the sun into the 6th. Neither of these fit me at all. However, a conjunction between the sun and moon also fail to fit me: I can easily take my emotions as a study of thought: they are not central to my identity at all.

Additionally, I seem to fit a Gemini moon much more than a Cancer one; and yet by the time of this ascendant the moon is clearly in Cancer. I thus thought about looking at a chart for a day earlier, and found it fits me perfectly: it gives me a Moon-Venus conjunction, which seems to describe me to a T.

I'm a little hesitant though, because this means I was born at around 10:15 the night before the day on my birth certificate. When I looked up how often the time on a certificate is wrong, though, I found one article talking about it, which featured a woman sharing my birthday.

a) Am I right to think the article might be a synchronicity telling me I'm on the right track?

b) How can I go about checking the chart? Is it best to look at transits to the spot the moon would be in this case?

2) Tomorrow, I'm going to start to work my way through the SoP and meditation exercises you've posted, and learn divination. Would there be an issue if I posted weekly updates here for a few weeks so you can warn me if I'm making any beginner mistakes?

[ecosophia]

1) Mothers are notoriously inaccurate as a source of birth times. That's understandable, as they're usually very busy doing something other than watching the clock! Of the witnesses, your grandparents are least likely to be flustered at the time, so they tend to be a little more accurate. Still, you need to do some rectification to find out. (a) might be a synchronicity or it might be chance. As for (b), that's one way to go about it; another is to learn how to progress your chart -- the basic rule is that each day (as in, exactly 24 hours ) minutes 0 seconds) after birth corresponds to one year. Take the year of your first serious illness, progress your probable birth charts to that year (by taking the chart as many days after your birth as you were years old at the time), and see if that brings the Moon or one of the swift-moving planets into a hostile aspect with another planet in the chart. Do the same for the year you lost your virginity and see whether you get an aspect involving Venus, and so on.

2) Sure, but the mistakes are part of the learning curve!

[(Anonymous)]

If, as someone suggested last week, Pluto is the demon associated with fossil fuels, then it follows that Plutonic themes should be apparent prior to 1900, at least in wealthy countries.

Do you think the moral panics around sex in the Victorian era, which were take to the most extreme in the US and UK, could be such a manifestation? It lead to a fairly large increase in secretive behaviour, and organized crime was tied into the prostitution business. The phenomena also looked like prior attempts to suppress a basic element of human existence, but taken further than any prior....

[ecosophia]

That's an intriguing question which would need very close astrological study. I may find time to do that, as I'm working on a fiction project that focuses on the bizarre sexual-spiritual demonization of women in late Victorian culture -- it's a rewrite of Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan," to be precise -- and thus reading a lot of studies of the era.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks very much for doing this, John!

What do you think the main advantages/disadvantages are to pursuing magical and occult studies vs other spiritual disciplines? In other words, if there are a lot of roads to gwynfyd, what recommends one road over the other, in your opinion?

Some background on my question: I’ve been reading your blogs for several years, mostly for your political and philosophical content, but I’ve found these magic Monday sessions to make for fascinating reading. I’ve had very little spiritual practice in my life for the last few years (having three small children more or less eliminated my free time), but I’d like to reengage. I was reading some of your essays from the Well of Galabes this weekend, and the description of Eliphas Levi’s view of the astral light reminded me so very much of Gregory Palamas’ views on the uncreated light of God that I thought “well, they’ve clearly interacted with the same phenomenon, but I wonder what would make High Magic a better choice than Hesychasm if one is trying to develop spiritually?”

Thanks again!

[ecosophia]

That's a valid question, of course, but the answer has to come from within you. To put things in Christian language, each soul is called to God along a different path; mystical paths such as Hesychasm, magical paths such as the Golden Dawn, and the path of ordinary service in everyday life are among the countless options. Since I'm an occultist and not a mystic, I'm not really qualified to compare what I do with Hesychasm, or any other mystical path.

What I'd encourage you to do is read books from various paths that appeal to you, and read biographies of people who've committed themselves to those paths. Ask yourself: are these practices the sort of thing I want to spend my life doing? Is this person the kind of person I want to become? Combine that with prayer -- lots of prayer -- and you'll find the right path for you.

Pathworking

[(Anonymous)]

Hiya JMG,

I've been meditating on the Tree of Life and am path working a bit now. I've done the 32nd path and am about to start on Yesod soon. I hope to use this as a way to gain guidance and knowledge from the beings there, particularly for information on astral travel and rituals for increasing motivation, etc. Any tips or suggestions, particularly about if it's generally safe to test out any ritual work received from inner-plane beings like that?

Re: Pathworking

[ecosophia]

I'd encourage you to do ahead and pursue Pathworking as an initiatory practice first, letting the opening of each Path have its natural effect on your subtle bodies. Don't get into the practical applications right away, or you'll hinder the broader process of inner development. Also, be careful about that slippery word/concept "motivation." Motivation is a means, not an end; what are you trying to motivate yourself to do? Are you sure that it's a good idea, and that there aren't good reasons why you're not motivated to do it? Meditation, divination, and journaling on questions along those lines may just spare you some grief.

Day and hour of Mars

[(Anonymous)]

What are they actually good for, if you are not involved in competitive activities like sports, or physical labor employment?

I am not and avoid using them for anything important, including communicating with family members who have a history of bad temper, or anything I'm concerned could turn into a struggle.

Mars seems to be the most dignified planet in my chart but I don't see Mars related things as my friend. Irritability is something I have to work hard to control and I have been actively doing so for a number of years.

Re: Day and hour of Mars

[ecosophia]

You may want to work on that. Mars has gotten a really bad rap in popular culture in the Western world these days, and the lack of good strong Mars energy is responsible for a lot of problems in our societies.

Mars is the planet of energy. He's the source of courage, vigor, and will; he's the force that makes change possible, and gives you the strength to replace bad conditions with better ones. He's the surgeon that leaves wounds clean enough to heal, and the guardian who stops the dishonest and the violent in their tracks. He also tells you when something's over and done with, so that you can walk away and do something else with your life.

Use the day and hour of Mars for any of these things, and for anything else where you need strength, focus, firmness, and courage.

[booklover1973]

When doing divination about a magical working, there can be a positive or a negative answer. But what does it mean when the divination spread consists of a mixture of positive and negative symbols, for example, when a Ogham divination for a working results in Beith reversed, Ruis reversed, Onn?

[ecosophia]

It means that the working you have in mind is a mixed bag, and you might want to spend some time thinking about how to revise your intention. Me, I tend to take Beith reversed as a "don't go there!" signal -- basically, "don't begin" -- so if I got that reading, I'd take it as "there would be some positive consequences, but all in all, no."

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1. I recently started reading Dion Fortune's novel The Sea Priestess. What a great book! Early on, her protagonist Wilfred writes: ...and it seemed to me that there were two worships, one of the sun, and one of the moon; and that my love of the moon and the sea was the older and was to the other as the other is to us. And I could believe that the druids, priests of the sun-cult, must have looked upon the strange sea-fires of a forgotten worship as we look upon the barrows and dolmens.

Is the lunar/sea magic described in the Sea Priestess similar to the Druid magic system in the DMH, given the importance of the lunar current in Druid magic of that system? I'm curious why she refers to Druidry as a sun-cult (and thus a solar-current based system).

2. I recently came across this quote by a scholar named Gregory Cajete which alludes to your posts made about tamanous on the other blog, and also neatly connects the 5 elements of the DMH: It is in the landscape that contains the memories, the bones of the ancestors, the earth, air, fire, water, and spirit from which a Native culture has come and to which it continually returns. It is the land that ultimately defines a Native people. I can't find the source. Have you come across this quote before?

Thanks as always!

[ecosophia]

1) No, the old Atlantean sea magic is something else again. If the traditional lore is right, it was the "old religion" in Atlantis, overlaid by a sun-cult that came in with agriculture and the building of pyramids. The system in the DMH is later still, a blending of the solar magic with an earth-based rather than sea-based magic from points much further east. As for the ancient Druids, well, it depends on who you ask; we don't know a lot about them, but my best guess is that they came into being out of a bunch of disparate influences: a pre-Celtic sun cult with Atlantean roots, the folk religion the Celts brought with them from their Indo-European ancestors, and then an overlay of Pythagorean and proto-Pythagorean teachings that spread north from Massilia (modern Marseilles), as Nora Chadwick suggests in her very good book on the Druids.

2) No, I've never encountered that before. It's a very traditional statement, though!

Sphere of Protection questions

[(Anonymous)]

Does it matter in what direction the sphere spins, or if you change directions?

Is it ok to use Awen in the final part if you are not invoking Celtic gods?

Re: Sphere of Protection questions

[ecosophia]

1) It's best to choose a set of directions and stick to them, but which ones you choose doesn't seem to matter much.

2) Druids don't just invoke Celtic gods! Druidry, especially modern Druidry, is open to just about any form of worship you care to name; I've met Christian Druids, Heathen Druids who worship Norse or Anglo-Saxon deities, Shinto Druids, Hindu Druids, you name it. Druidry is more a philosophy and a spiritual path than a religion as such, so it makes room for a great many religious variations. All of which is to say that sure, it's okay to use the word Awen; as the word by which the worlds were made, it embraces all.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello. I've been doing SOP for a few months. Today I did it by visualisation when traveling by train. I noticed for the first time a pressure between my eyebrows when I visualised the light from above. It lasted the the entire time I was doing the SOP. I took it to be a positive sign. A couple of questions;
1. Does it sound like a good indicator?
2. It leads me to wonder if doing SOP by visualisation is actually more powerful than I expected. What's your view on that?

[ecosophia]

1) You were giving your third eye center a workout!

2) It's best to do it with the physical dimension as well, since that brings the energies all the way down into manifestation, but it's good to do the visualized version regularly as well.

[(Anonymous)]

You often refer to the 'subtle bodies'. May I ask what that means - what are the subtle bodies? Thank you!

[ecosophia]

In occult philosophy, your physical body -- the one made of meat, bone, blood, etc. -- is only one of several bodies you have. The others are less perceptible to the ordinary senses, so they're called the subtle bodies. Along with your physical body, you have an etheric body, which is the body of life force -- what martial artists call qi or ki and practitioners of yoga call prana. You also have an astral body, which is the body you experience in your dreams, and also plays a role in imagination, most kinds of thinking, and memory. Finally, you have a mental sheath -- not yet a mental body, though it will become that eventually -- which is the body through which you relate to the universe of meaning. There are other levels beyond the mental, but you don't have bodies on those planes yet; so the etheric body, the astral body, and the mental sheath make up your subtle bodies.

[(Anonymous)]

Would you happen to know what the significance is of Mars being conjunct Antares on a Natal chart?

On the one hand they are both malefics, so might strengthen each other, but on the other hand I believe that Antares is the opposite of Mars, so I wonder if it weakens the effect of Mars.

[ecosophia]

As I understand it, Antares is not so much the opposite of Mars as his rival, and so having the two conjunct will strengthen Mars in your chart somewhat. Fixed stars are relatively minor factors, though, so you should take this in the context of Mars' placement by sign and house, the aspects affecting him, and any planets present in the houses he rules.

Energy centers

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you wrote that the throat center was the center that allowed for communication with beings above the human level once awakened. Could you please give an explanation of the powers associated with the rest of the centers of the middle pillar in the same fashion?

Re: Energy centers

[ecosophia]

Sure. The ground center between the feet connects you to the material plane and makes it possible for you to draw on earth energies. The genital center connects you to the etheric plane and gives vitality and health to your body. The heart center connects you to the astral plane and gives you the power to perceive and act on that plane through your sphere of sensation (aka your aura). The throat center connects you to the mental plane and makes it possible for you to interact with beings beyond the human level. The crown center connects you to the spiritual planes and opens the way for you to contact your higher self and, through it, your Higher and Divine Genius.

[(Anonymous)]

Planetary colors for different days of the week were mentioned last week. Would it make sense to correspond the development of the Ruach for different days of the week?

Here is a sketch:

Monday: errr Magic? Also physical exercise? You could also use this day to prepare the tasks for this week:
Tuesday, Will: This is the day to plow through all those jobs that you have been putting off or know you will put off. Just get it done and free up time for:
Wednesday, Intellect: Mentally challenging material to be tackled head on here.
Thursday, Memory: Store the successes of the previous days in the memory! Load up for next week!
Friday, Emotion: Music!? Working/playing socially, community. Or if you are in a bad mood, just take the day off (it is basically the weekend anyway).
Saturday: Day of rest, relaxation, spot of gardening?
Sunday, Imagination: Get that novel/painting/design done!

[ecosophia]

Yes, you could certainly do that. Monday is a good day to work on being perceptive and fluid, and to sort out the tasks waiting for you during the week to come. Saturday is a day of rest, yes, and Sunday is also the day you relate to spiritual realities, thus the tendency to have church services that day.

Geomancy

[(Anonymous)]

I really liked the extended story about Apollonius of Tyana in "The Occult Book." It was one of those stories I always knew existed, but didn't know about specifically.

On to geomancy, following on last week's discussion, I cast another shield chart with the simpler question "Should we sell our homestead?" No time frames or qualifiers this time.

Ended up with Albus on both sides and then of course Populus as the Judge. IMO, kind of a weak answer to such a pointed question! So I know you recommended to another novice geomancer last week that we look at nothing but Judge and Witnesses for a while, but to me this chart needed a little upstream help. And it's a strange chart to begin with. Not only are the witnesses the same, the entirety of both halves of the chart are identical. As Nieces I have Fortuna Major and Tristitia on both sides, and above that, all active Fire lines terminate the Way of Points.

So here's what I think it's saying: selling the homestead will bring us plenty of money, but also plenty of sorrow. But in selling (and suffering) we will be able to reinvest the money (and our hearts) wisely in our new property in town and impact many more people with our example of collapsing in place than we will ever accomplish out in the sticks. The fact that the double Fortuna Major and double Tristitia are on the Niece line says to me that, ultimately, it's not about the money, nor the suffering; they are both just means to an end.

What's your take on my interpretation? And are there any general lessons to be had in a chart that copies itself on both sides?

Many, many thanks for all this every week. At this point I can't help but feel a bit like Ron Weasly in the Harry Potter movies talking about "the wonky cross thing" in the tea leaves in the bottom of my cup..."you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna enjoy it?"

Tripp

Re: Geomancy

[ecosophia]

That seems like a pretty good interpretation. Have you yet done a chart about not selling the homestead, to see if that gets a stronger response one way or the other?

I've never found a specific meaning in charts that copy themselves, but geomancy is still in need of centuries of intensive work and research to work out all the little indications like that.

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG,

In a Geomancy casting using the Shield Chart ...

The question was: Will I be happy if I move to the new house that was offered?

R.W. = Cauda Draconis - I’m done with the old house, time to move.
L.W. = Rubeus - Passionate involvement in the new neighbourhood.
Judge = Amissio - Losing the old house? Or losing my heart for the new house which by the way is roomier than the one I live?

Am I being too optimistic? How would you read it?
Thank you

[ecosophia]

Um, no. You've got three generally negative figures here. I read that as "you're giving up something that matters to you, the loss is going to hurt, and somebody's not being honest with you about something involving the new house."

[(Anonymous)]

Part of the AODA curriculum is to read nine books about the natural history and ecology of your local area. Did you repeat that when you moved to Rhode Island?

I went to Cliffe Castle in Keighley and the natural history display is localised, so the maps of ancient continents show where Yorkshire was in Pangea. :)

[ecosophia]

I've lived in three different ecosystems since I did the AODA apprentice work! I'm curious about natural history, and I read a lot, so yes, I did the reading about southwestern Oregon, the north central Appalachians, and southern New England in turn.

[booklover1973]

Am I right in my assumption that the practical magical applications of the Sphere of Protection in the Druid Magic Handbook are quite a bit more powerful, so that in this case, meditation and divination are necessary precaution measures, in contrast to the active and passive workings for the elements, where careful wording of the intention is necessary, but divination and meditation are not yet mentioned as necessary? My experiences are yet limited to the passive and active elemental workings, which do seem to have effects, not in every case the expected one.

[ecosophia]

Good. Yes, that distinction was deliberate. It also helps that by the time the student gets to the practical applications of the SoP, they've usually had an active or passive elemental working go sideways on them, so they tend to take seriously the rule about meditating and doing divination before doing a working!

[(Anonymous)]

Question about genesis of egregors:

This past night I had a dream featuring Pennywise, the clown who is the major antagonist of Stephen King's "IT." I am concerned that, given (1) the popularity of the movies and the book in question (and the clown-suit mimicking shortly after the first movie came out) and (2) the fact that you once inadvertently invoked Batman, Pennywise might have manifested an egregor.

Is this a possibility, or am I simply reading too much into one single image in a dream? (It's worth noting that I did recently re-read "It," so it could just be fresh in my memory, and that transiting Moon was trine my natal Mercury in Scorpio as I had this dream.)

[ecosophia]

I'm sure Pennywise has an egregor at this point -- pop culture these days is fairly good at spawning egregors, and some of them have proven to be fairly enduring. Still, you probably just dreamed a bit from your recent reading.

DMH, Alan Leo & Astro Dienst

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions.

I have been working with the DMH-SOP system since the beginning of the year, with daily discursive meditation, SOP, prayer and Ogham. I have yet to move on to the "transforming yourself" exercises in the SOP, because I am not clear on what my weaknesses are and how to phrase them clearly.

So I pulled up my natal chart from Astro Dienst and bought Alan Leo's The Key to Your Own Nativity. Thus far, the paragraphs relating to my natal chart have been dead on, putting things I've vaguely known about myself into concrete descriptions. I was thinking of using each of these numbered paragraphs as a theme for meditation.

1. Do you think such a beginner in DMH should be doing this? At this surface-level, it does not currently feel like I am stretching myself too thin.

2. The Astro Dienst natal chart has more in it than Leo's book describes, so I'm leaving those extra things alone. However, I can't figure out the conjunctions...are they the triangles? The asterisk is benefic, and the cockeyed figure eight is adverse.

3. I was thinking of meditating on each of my paragraphs until I really understand my natal chart, and only then venturing into the progressed chart to see what is happening to me now. Does that sound good?

4. With only this level of knowledge, do you think prayer is the only option in determining the best date to self-publish for the first time? Ogham has been able to tell me when the book isn't ready yet, but asking the date is such an open-ended question. Or if you know of a number of days before the end of the year that might be good, I could ask Ogham about each of those. Thank you.

Re: DMH, Alan Leo & Astro Dienst

[ecosophia]

1) I see no reason why not, if it interests you.

2) Okay, stop, go back, and learn the symbols of the different aspects and what angles they represent. Otherwise you're like someone who's trying to read but hasn't yet learned the alphabet. Here's a basic introduction. When you know the symbols by heart and recognize at a glance what they mean and how they relate, you can start making sense of your chart.

3) That's certainly worth doing.

4) Okay, electing a date astrologically for something like that is a complicated process, which takes a fair amount of work. A much simpler version is to use the planetary hours and the Moon. Self-publishing is ruled by Mercury, so the day and hour of Mercury is your best option; do it when the Moon is waxing, i.e., after the New Moon but before the Full Moon, for best results.

[(Anonymous)]

I forgot earlier to add another observation about The Sea Priestess. By the way, I am pretty sure I found the recommendation for that book from you on Magic Monday, but if you haven't read it, sorry for the questions!

In the book, Wilfred ends up making a set of 4 paintings of the sea in Morgan Le Fay's new seaside home, and there's a lot to unpack in those passages about art and Wilfred's process of getting to know the sea. What Dion Fortune seems to be getting at is how art is another way of deepening one's understanding of the elements, Wilfred's own relationship with the sea is deepened through his paintings of it.

It resonated deeply with me, because last year I made a musical piece about the wind, in which I listened and watched the wind in all its moods and states, similarly to how Wilfred did the same with the sea. In the end, the resulting artwork was actually less important than the process of observation of the elements, of strengthening one's relationship with them.

The book is very good and is helping me to understand magic more and more. I have to be careful though, I am not yet finished with the DMH, and I don't want to be led astray.

[ecosophia]

I've read The Sea Priestess many times, as well as the rest of Dion Fortune's writings -- she's influenced me probably more than any other occult author. The techniques she uses aren't the same ones I do, but the basic approach to magic is basically the same.

The interface between magic and the arts was explored in great detail back in the day, and it's worth pursuing.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

I recently started doing phase 2/relaxing unnecessary tension part of learning discursive meditation. It makes me yawn, a whole bunch! This didn't happen during phase 1 at all. How do I stop these giant yawns?

Thank you for your time.

[ecosophia]

You don't. Your body is trying to let go of old tensions and teach you how to breathe deeply. Let yourself yawn, leave the rest of your body as still as possible, and breathe more fully; it's a passing phase.

SOP questions

[(Anonymous)]

Estimated Archdruid,

I have worked with your Druid Magic for several years, slowly and steadily, and asked you several questions about it, including about preparing for surgery. Following your reply to one commenter last week that every ritual work should be prepared for by meditation and divination, I wanted to check back with you...

I've done the SOP for years now, and successfully done several versions of the ritual "Transforming Yourself", prepared for as you said. Lately, I've been thinking about adapting the daily invocation and banishing formulas more freely, according to the needs of the day, or the daily divination. It feels like adapting a daily prayer. Is this possible without specific meditation and divination?

Many thanks and greetings from Central Europe!

Re: SOP questions

[ecosophia]

Depends on what you have in mind. Have you done meditation and divination to see if the entire project of adapting the formulae is a good idea?

Err... and one more SOP question

[(Anonymous)]

Someone mentioned yawning... I just got strong hiccups at Spirit below, that continued on until the end of the ritual. Is my etheric body telling me something? In my country, it is said to mean "someone is thinking about you."

Thank you as always!

Re: Err... and one more SOP question

[ecosophia]

That sort of thing happens when your body has a lot of stuck tension and unwanted energy in it. Yawning, hiccups, sometimes belching or, shall we say, other expressions of gas in the digestive system -- it can get embarrassing if you do public meditation early on! (I've been told that Zen monasteries are used to it.) It's a passing phase -- pun not intended.

Herbal Medicine

[(Anonymous)]

Good day!

Do you have a suggestion for a good book on herbal medicine? I live in New England if it makes a difference.

Thank you!

Re: Herbal Medicine

[ecosophia]

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about herbal medicine -- the alternative medical practices I do are biochemic tissue salts, which are an offshoot of homeopathy, and Do-In, which is an offshoot of acupressure. Anyone else?

Shrine cabinet

[(Anonymous)]

Good morning JMG,

I'm at the point in Experience of the Inner Worlds where I'm putting together a shrine cabinet. Can the magical symbolic resonance that this tool is intended to accumulate be disrupted by my daily banishing rituals? If so, does closing the wooden doors of the cabinet provide sufficient insulation or should I line them with silk or something?

Thanks for your help and for hosting this space!

-Fred N.

Re: Shrine cabinet

[ecosophia]

I'd line the inside of the cabinet with silk or linen to protect the energies from unintentional discharge.