Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

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.

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

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, it's probably very common just now.

2) Yes, it would. The malefic spirits will be trying to keep that free lunch coming. \

3) Three for three. The internet has become a major vector for craziness, in this and other ways.

4) That as well. I'd be surprised if those who don't break that habit live out a normal lifespan.

5) Good. It's much subtler than it looks at first glance.

[(Anonymous)]

6) Is it wise to put nearly everything else on hold to get rid of a malevolent spirit?

7) Given that the internet and TV both serve as vectors for demons, do you think it's possible that it's not their own thoughts so many Westerners can't stand to be with these days?

[ecosophia]

6) No, not at all. That's another victory for the spirit -- it's succeeded in paralyzing other aspects of your life.

7) Good. Very good indeed.

[(Anonymous)]

7) Frankly, this is a brilliant move by these malevolent spirits: we'll harass you, and there's only one way to make it stop: coming into our territory....

Are they always this clever?

[ecosophia]

They are smarter than we are. That's something to keep in mind: human beings are far from the most intelligent entities around.

[(Anonymous)]

How do we defeat them, especially once they've gotten into our minds, if they can outsmart us? Is it a matter of pure stubbornness, or is there something else to it?

[ecosophia]

That's why it's a good idea to work with deities. They're smarter than demons.

[(Anonymous)]

In my personal experience, praying the Rosary every day, with the traditional closing prayers "sub tuum praesidium" and the prayer to St Michael was massively helpful (as in, went from finding it impossible to go a week without masturbation to finding it easy to live without long-term.) Praying it with full attention (following the directions for meditation from earlier this year, and visualizing the mysteries) is ideal, but usually I pray it while driving to work and that suffices.

The Virgin Mary and St Michael are not deities in Catholic understanding, but would definitely be deities in any polytheist understanding.

In case the details are of interest: I use the three traditional sets of mysteries on their customary days (Monday and Thursday-Joyful; Tuesday and Friday - Sorrowful; Wednesday and Saturday - Glorious; Sunday according to the season - Joyful in Advent, Sorrowful in Lent, Glorious otherwise). The goal is to meditate on the mysteries, not just repeat the prayers--I have a symbol I visualize for each mystery--but even if I just say the prayers and state which mystery I'm praying, it helps a great deal.

SamChevre

[ecosophia]

Thanks for this. To my mind a great deal of the apparent conflict between monotheist and polytheist faiths is a matter of quibbling over words -- specifically, the words "deity" and "worship." Catholics like to stress the distinction between the supreme object-of-veneration of their pantheon and the others, and use different words for the reverence directed toward the two categories; polytheists acknowledge the distinction -- read what Homer has to say in the Iliad about the difference in power between Zeus and the other deities -- but use the same terms for all and sundry. If there's a serious difference beyond that, I don't see it.

[(Anonymous)]

3) If the internet is such a major vector for craziness, why do you use it so much (Reddit, weekly blogging, and Dreamwidth)? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep your interactions to the absolute minimum?

4a) How much shorter do you expect them to live?

4b) What about people who do it for years and then quit? Will we be shorting our lives?

[ecosophia]

3) It's what's available to do the work I need to do. If we still had lots of weekly occult magazines, trust me, I'd publish in those instead.

4a) Depends on a lot of variables which I'm not going to try to judge en masse.

4b) Again, depends on a lot of variables. Once you quit, I'd recommend that you be careful to eat a balanced, healthy diet, get plenty of sunlight and fresh air, and take up some kind of daily exercise regimen, so your etheric body has the chance to recharge and heal itself.

[(Anonymous)]

3) Fair enough. I really wish there were more alternatives to the internet myself. It'll come before too long though.

4a) Fair enough again.

4b) I'm not going to worry about diet too much aside from avoiding processed foods (since it's such a mess right now I think I'll likely do better by avoiding the topic than trying to follow any particular set of advice); sunlight and fresh air are easy enough to come by for me; and I do a bit of martial arts. If, as seems likely, I'll have more energy once I'm free, I think it'll be easy to step it up from 3 times a week.

I think I'm set then.