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Magic Monday
It's just shy of midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of Elias Ashmole, one of the great figures in the British tradition of alchemy. An extraordinary scholar interested in just about everything, he was among other things fascinated by alchemy, and put together and edited several important collections of English alchemical documents from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A capable astrologer, he was also one of the first people known to history who joined a lodge of stonemasons without being in the building trades, and his initiation is thus one of the early mileposts in the emergence of Freemasonry. 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. 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 -- and yes, this means you. See you next week!***
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My therapist is a former witch (that is to say, she's still a witch, she just stopped doing ceremonial magic) so my 'shadow work' has a magical as well as psychological dimension. Recently I came into contact with a very old, semi-sentient part of myself that existed as scared, frustrated ball of despairing rage.
I told him I wanted to bring him into the whole of me. He was scared. I responded--and I'm shocked that this worked--by telling him that he was not just a part of me, but a god dwelling in all of humanity, and he would not be annihilated by releasing this incarnation. I instantly began to feel bliss as the negative emotions were sublimated into me.
So far, so good. The trick is that I've now gotten the attention of the god/demon that this negative aspect is a part of: Mephistopheles (which is to say, I know it likes that name and iconography).
Since I have no desire for a Faustian 'bargain' (my life is already better than I could have hoped after nine months of daily SoP), I'm kind of at a loss about what to do concerning this invitation.
On the one hand, I can see the wisdom in just politely declining. On the other hand, I feel deeply that a lot of men in American culture are suffering and locked in a losing war with the same darkness I've learned to work with in a healthy, loving way. Is it crazy to ask a demon to help you heal others? What does it mean if it says yes?
I'm sure I can figure this out on my own, but I'm interested in finding resources everywhere I can, and you are a treasured font of wisdom in my life.
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