Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

 As noted on the blog last Wednesday, instead of an "ask me anything" post this week on ecosophia.net, I'll be hosting a "Magic Monday" today. What does that mean? It means "ask me anything about occultism, and I'll post an answer here." Since this Monday is a busy day for a lot of people, being sacred to two popular religions -- Christianity on the one hand, and Consumerism on the other -- if comments trickle in on Tuesday et al., I'm not going to be a stickler for the point. 

That said, have at it! 

***PLEASE NOTE: as of midnight, 26 December 2017, this Magic Monday has packed its tents and gone away. If you have questions you haven't posted yet, please save them for the next Magic Monday on January 1!.***

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I have loads of question stored up so feel free not to answer them all and sorry I'm late!

How would you know if you’re seeking Gwynfydd to get away from unresolved issues in your life or because you’re ready for it? I have loads of mess in my life that I know was mostly caused by my personality and upbringing and I’m working on fixing that and magic is helping. I’m also just really curious about Gwynfydd. But another part of me would really like to not be a social primate anymore at all, so that’s kind of a motive of wanting to escape. If you have mixed motives what does that mean?

On a related note, I’ve read people saying that aiming at self-improvement is a distraction from achieving enlightenment and can get in the way of it – that’s it’s just a game the ego plays. I think this is more Eastern, buddhist-influenced mysticism than the tradition you come from. Is that attitude a rejection of the world as it is, an attempt to stop people from confusing morality with spirituality, or something else?

Also, I read a blog by a girl who claims to be enlightened and described a state of what feels like love all the time. But then she said that years later she’d discovered that there are things beyond that and she’s not in that zone anymore. Is there some ‘mystical’ experience that’s the source of the idea that God is love?

And what is the truth about that? I come across Christians, New Age types, Buddhists and lefties who all share this idea. Usually what they mean by love is basically compassion although they all have different names for it. Christians on a forum I’m on insist that agape is the ultimate reality, Buddhist-influenced types say it’s loving kindness, lefties say it’s solidarity and unity. Leaving aside that whenever I get to know such people I usually find they’re among the nastiest you’ll ever meet… are they right on some level? I’m extremely disagreeable by temperament so maybe it just grates on me that my natural disposition is apparently so un-God-like!

The Christians tell me that what they mean is that something like agape is the closest reflection at the human level of the divine spark. But then they believe in an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent creator god too, which I don’t, but I don’t want to discard everything they say either. I’ve been reading Eliphas Levi and I think to the extent Jesus existed he was probably a pretty advanced initiate. And he was the one who started the whole ‘God is Love’ thing as far as I know. I don’t think anyone ever said Zeus was love.

Thank you,

Dot.

[ecosophia]

Mixed motives are pretty standard among human beings! If you're making an honest effort to deal with your troubles rather than just turning your back on them, you're going about things the right way and will attain Gwynfydd without any undue delay.

Self-improvement doesn't have to be an ego game. It can also be a constructive and compassionate response to the experience of living in the world. The pursuit of enlightenment, for that matter, very often gets turned into an ego game! It's important not to confuse morality with spirituality, sure, but that doesn't mean morality is irrelevant -- far from it.

The "God is Love" notion strikes me as profoundly unbalanced. Why not "God is Justice" or "God is Wisdom" or even "God is Life"? For that matter, why does the religion that insists most loudly that "God is Love" so often get so frantically bent out of shape when it comes to the normal, natural, healthy physical expression of love, i.e., sex? I think there's something very out of kilter there.

Prayer

[orathbone]

Hi JMG, you mention you use ‘prayer’ as a means of communication with higher powers. Could you go into some greater detail on this?

Re: Prayer

[ecosophia]

It's very simple. Talk to a deity the way you would talk to anyone you respect, and then listen for an answer. Regular practice is essential, and so is the right attitude -- you're wasting your time if you do this to try to force a deity to prove to you that he or she exists, for example. If you approach regular prayer the way you'd approach a regular conversation with someone you respect profoundly, and let the experience and the relationship deepen, the practice itself will teach you what you need to do.

[jbucks]

Apologies if this comes too late. I have very little experience with magic, I recently bought a copy of the Druid Magic Handbook and I've read Mystery Teachings of the Living Earth, but because of life events I don't have the time to do it yet as properly as you suggested in the introduction to the former book, so I'm holding off until I do.

Part of the reason for that is I spend what free time I do get learning to write music - which leads me to my question: I quite naively wonder what connections exist between playing musical instruments, writing or improvising music, and magic? Are there ways to connect somehow the learning of both simultaneously?

There is something that just draws me in with trying to compose music that is hard to explain - your comment in a reply to something I wrote in another thread about 'music as a way of knowing' comes close.

[ecosophia]

Not everyone is meant to be an operative mage. You may be meant to be a musician and composer instead. Music (like all the arts) can also be pursued as a deep and intense spiritual practice; if you pay close attention to how your music affects your state of consciousness and that of your listeners, it very quickly approximates magic. That may well be your proper path.

Enchantment and equipment

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Archdruid;

I have several questions, but they are all related. So perhaps they are permissible as one?

Suppose one would enchant a standing stone with the DMH ritual, then later the same stone would be enchanted with, let's say, a DOGD ritual. Would this have adverse effects? Is enchantment 'stacking' inherently a bad thing, or are some systems compatible? Can one adjust the initial enchantment to accept later input from a different system?

In the same vein, can a wand, or sickle, be used for various traditions of magic, or is it best enchanted and used for a single tradition only?

Finally, suppose two people in the same house are working through the DOGD curriculum together, what implements can be shared? I know the divination tools shouldn't be touched by anyone else. But can they both use the same altar?

Yours in Druidry,
Brigyn

Re: Enchantment and equipment

[ecosophia]

a) Don't mix enchantments. If you enchant a stone with one set of energies using one ritual, the only way you want to reenchant it is to use the same ritual over again to strengthen the force. Otherwise you just end up with a muddle.

b) If the wand or sickle is enchanted, it needs to be used in the tradition in which it was enchanted, and there only. If not, it can be used more generally. (I have an earthenware cup that's been used in rituals in more than a dozen different magical systems, but it's never been enchanted or consecrated.)

c) The altar and all its furnishings can be shared. The Druid Wands and, when you get to the Druid Grade, the working tools need to be individual.

[(Anonymous)]

John Michael,

Thanks for this opportunity to ask questions!

I am thinking about the fact that you wrote in the Galabes: "“The whole of magical theory and practice,” the great English magical teacher Dion Fortune wrote, “turns on two points—autosuggestion and the astral light.”" and the post on surfing astral light is probably my favourite, and I was hoping to see the second one about the other point.

I am working with Bardon's system and the theoretical explanation of unconscious is that it's opposite and enemy of conscious mind. This approach (my sub-conscious is an enemy) does yeld useful results and I cleared a lot of negative behavioral and mental pattern using Bardon's methods.

But still, I am noticing that unconscious have a lots of positive aspects too. What are other approches to conceptualize unconcious mind from occult perspective?

Changeling

[ecosophia]

Most 20th century occult systems deal with the subconscious mind. I don't find it at all useful to see the subconscious as the enemy of the conscious mind -- if that's the case, you've got major problems! Rather, it's simply the mind we all inherit from our primate ancestry: a very well adapted social primate mind, dealing somewhat awkwardly with having a cerebral cortex and a complex conscious mind loaded on top of it. You can establish cordial relations with it, train it, listen to it when you should, overrride it when that's the better option -- it's very much as though you have a large pet dog who's been very badly trained and has bad habits, but is still willing to learn.

Rosicrucianism?

[smwils1]

JMG,
the Rosicrucians meet monthly here in Lexington, and that made me interested in them. However, in reading their literature, I've found some things that concern me about them (possibly thinking that the planes are not discrete--overconfidence in the ability to change the world, endorsements, etc.) and was wanting your opinion or experience of the Rosicrucians (AMORC)

Re: Rosicrucianism?

[ecosophia]

I don't have a lot of experience with them, but they've always struck me as Occultism Lite. Still, your mileage may vary.

A change of tone

[(Anonymous)]

OK, this one's cheating because it's not Monday and it's not about magic. So, I'm not expecting a reply. But.

JMG, it seems to me that your voice (in written form) has changed since you hung up the Big Archdruid Hat. It seems to be a bit more emotional, and rather earthier, than when you were speaking ex cathedra, as it were.

Is it just me? Or do you actually feel freer to use a more personal voice than you did before?

Cheers,

Bogatyr

Re: A change of tone

[ecosophia]

Bogatyr, no, you're quite correct. Back when I was Grand Panjandrum of AODA I always had to keep in mind that whatever I said would reflect on the large public Druid order I headed. Since I stepped down, that hasn't been the case, and I can relax and unbelt a bit.

polytheism

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, thanks for hosting and for allowing some trickle over into Tuesday. If this question doesn't make your time cut-off, so be it.

The book of yours that's impacted me most has been A World Full of Gods. Ever since reading it, though, I've been curious about how you personally reconcile the polytheism you describe in that book with your involvement with Freemasons and the Golden Dawn. As far as I understand, both those traditions require acknowledgement of a single supreme being, do they not?

I'm guessing the creation of the Celtic Golden Dawn has had a lot to do with how you've thought through this question. Perhaps there's a 'both/and' answer that I'm unaware of.

- Dylan

Re: polytheism

[ecosophia]

Every polytheist pantheon I know of has one deity who's more or less the leader of the pack. The phrase "supreme being" can be applied just as clearly to such a deity as it can to the sole and exclusive deity of classical monotheism. The Golden Dawn, by the way, doesn't require belief in a supreme being -- it does use Judeo-Christian symbolism, but it also uses symbolism from the ebulliently robust polytheism of ancient Egypt.

quaternary-plus thinking

[(Anonymous)]

JMG, in The Blood of the Earth you say:

"The same traditions that taught (and teach) ternary thinking [...] teach more advanced students how to use a range of whole numbers [...] as abstract models of thinking, each in its own proper place and each with its own distinct effects" (p. 110).

Over a couple of years now, I actually did profit a lot from practicing a variant of what you call ternary thinking, and can only marvel at the further possibilities you mention here. Would you discuss which traditions these are, and do you know of any publicly available literature on quaternary-plus thinking?

Many thanks!

Re: quaternary-plus thinking

[ecosophia]

The traditions in question are mostly French. The one decent source I know of in English is Mouni Sadhu's strange but useful book The Tarot, which is a very mixed bag but contains a lot of classic occultism.

Rosi crucianism

[(Anonymous)]

What is your take on Rosicrucianism and its practices? I have been reading on it and I must admit I am not particularly impressed with what they have to offer. It seems, to me, more like a kind of moral philosophy with a little bit of occult lore here and there.

They don't seem to give much credence to the much richer non-material universe you have painted lately with nature spirits for example.

Their non-material universe looks like it has been cleared of any spirits leaving the divine quite alone.
Thank you.

Re: Rosi crucianism

[ecosophia]

That depends on which Rosicrucians you're talking about. There are several dozen organizations that use the term and claim the legacy of the original Rosicrucians, and they have radically different teachings. Which sources have you been reading?

Everyday Magic vs "Temple Magic"

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JAG, hope a Tuesday straggler is okay...

I have noticed that the effectiveness of magical techniques varies pretty widely for me depending on whether I am doing a ritual or a kind of "ad hoc" practice in the field.

For example-- a few years ago I started using energetic techniques to accomplish various things. I visualized my central column expanding until it made contact with the person I was looking for (lost cat, girlfriend in a crowded department store, etc.) Or I formed an "energy ball," charged it with a thought, and sent it to the person I wanted to communicate with. My experience has been that these types of techniques work startlingly well the first time I think to try them, then experience a sharp drop off in efficacy, and then rebound to a sort of middling level.

On the other hand, a banishing pentagram ritual is a banishing pentagram ritual, every single time. Do you have any thoughts on why this is?

I was the one that asked about a heptagram ritual above, by the way-- in haste, from a phone, at the airport. Thanks for your response-- I was thinking of a Hermetic Golden Dawn working.

-Steve Thomas

Re: Everyday Magic vs "Temple Magic"

[ecosophia]

When you do a magical ritual that was created by someone else, and that has been practiced for a while by other people, the egregor -- the subtle energy body of the ritual -- is already established, and your working both draws on it and feeds it. That's a source of stability. When you come up with something from scratch, it has no egregor until your regular practice gives it one, and that's what produces the unsteady effect you've noticed.

[smj]

Hello JMG

In your reply to Violet about a buildup of energy in the lower astral plane, you mention that the current buildup is "unparalleled since the days of a certain legendary and long-drowned civilization", and the buildup will be discharged by way of natural disasters. Any ideas what caused that previous buildup?

SMJ

[ecosophia]

The same thing that caused it this time -- the activities of an advanced civilization lethally detached from the natural cycles and realities that supported its existence.

A comment for those feeling the bad vibes

[(Anonymous)]

If I may;

The bad vibes have been some of the worst that I've experienced, but I've found myself more resilient to them than at other times in my past. Why? Well, mostly because of one remarkable herb.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) was favored by Paracelsus, the great Alchemist and forebear of Western Medicine, who believed it would recharge the mortal oil from which the wick of life burns. More to the point, we can turn to the great English Renaissance herbalist who, in 1652, writes:

"Seraphio says, it causes the mind and heart to become merry, and revives the heart, faintings and swoonings, especially of such who are overtaken in sleep, and drives away all troublesome cares and thoughts out of the mind, arising from melancholy or black choler; which Avicen also confirms. It is very good to help digestion, and open obstructions of the brain, and hath so much purging quality in it (saith Avicen) as to expel those melancholy vapours from the spirits and blood which are in the heart and arteries, although it cannot do so in other parts of the body. "

The vague, nighmarish, dark quality to the lower astral makes me think that it has somewhat of a melancholy quality, and so our friend Lemon Balm is helpful for girding the vital spirits and heart. This I find true in my experience, and from reports of others. This I combine often with St. John's Wort, which is of ancient repute for clearing away hostile spirits and energies. When I walk at night I carry a spray bottle of St. John's Wort. If the vibes get spooky I spray the air and it is like sunshine in a bottle; the spirits leave me be. The contemporary herbalist David Winston combines Lemon Balm and St. John's Wort for the winter blues, and finds this combo highly effective, something I have verified in my practice.

Re: A comment for those feeling the bad vibes

[(Anonymous)]

Ray Wharton

Thank you for this comment, happily both are on my seed order list for the coming season, and this stokes my enthusiasm for them.