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)]

How would you go about formulating a hwptagram ritual to work with planetary energies?

intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG

You’ve mentioned in a few places how different magic systems make use of different energy centres/symbolism/techniques/etc because they have different goals. Could you describe the overall intentions which shape such factors in systems you are familiar with?

Also, on the Well of Galabes, I think there is mention about a future post on the drawbacks of the Golden Dawn, which I would be curious to hear more about if an additional question isn’t too greedy.

Merry Magic Monday!
Bewilderness

[(Anonymous)]

Regarding breathing in light/CGD I'm having a bit of trouble with the visualization. Not getting the ocean of bright colorless light as much as blobs of translucent jelly, kinda like when you break a glowstick. Tried to go more by feeling instead of visualization which seems to help, but want to make sure that's okay.

Three-planet problem

[(Anonymous)]

How do you interpret the effects of closely conjunct stellia in a natal chart?

Alive but "already gone"

[quietmagpie]

JMG,

A lot of the previous thought about spirits, the will, and death has led me to a question. A number of people in my social circle have had to deal with friends and relatives who are suffering from Alzheimers. One of them described the experience as having to watch their mother die twice, because although she was still technically alive "she" was gone. I was reading in the Divine Comedy that Dante meets a number of souls in hell who's bodies were still living on earth and it got me thinking: is it possible for the part of the self that wills beyond simple instinct to pass on while the body is still alive and even speaking and walking?

[ecosophia]

Well, are you working within the Hermetic Golden Dawn tradition or any of its offshoots? If so, you'd want to begin with the LVX signs, then trace a heptagram in the four quarters, then finish with the IAO analysis. The heptagram? You'd take that from the ceiling of the Vault -- look at color plate 6 in the new seventh edition of Regardie's The Golden Dawn for a handy diagram. The points are labeled in Hebrew with their Sephirothic correspondences, so you can take the planetary correspondences from that.

If you're not working within the Hermetic Golden Dawn tradition or one of its offshoots, you can still do the same thing -- the number of groups utterly unrelated to the Golden Dawn that make use of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram is pretty impressive -- or you can borrow equivalent symbolism from your own tradition. I'd have to have some idea of what you're working with to be able to make any more constructive suggestions.

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

That's a huge issue! Very broadly speaking, the midline of the human body is like the string of a musical instrument -- say, a violin, because it doesn't have any frets built in. Wherever you put your finger on a string, you define a note, and the different scales you can play require different placements of your finger. In the same way, the human energy body resonates with different levels of existence at different points along its midline, and wherever you concentrate, you bring out that resonance.

So if all you want is the particular set of resonances that make you a good martial artist, you concentrate strictly on the point along the midline that's about two finger widths below the navel -- thats the hara or dantien, the energy point used in most East Asian martial arts. If all you want is a certain mode of intuitive clairvoyance, you concentrate on the point between the eyebrows, and so on. If you want a more balanced set of results, you work with a series of points.

Symbols and techniques are the same way. What do you want to achieve? If you want visionary experiences, there's one set of practices; if you want the capacity to move and shape subtle energies, there's another; if you want the kind of transformative experience generally known as "enlightenment," there's another, and so on. All roads emphatically do not lead to the same place, and if you're in New York and want to get to Boston, you don't take the highway headed south.

As for the Golden Dawn, that's actually fairly simple. The rituals of initiation are keyed to the Spheres of the Tree of Life, and that results in a very predictable kind of blowback if you take an initiation for a Sphere you haven't already integrated. The usual problem comes with the Adeptus Minor ritual, since very few people have integrated the Tiphareth level of consciousness; when they take the initiation, unless they can successfully coordinate the influx of energy with their existing state of consciousness -- which does happen, fortunately, but not as often as one would like -- the initiate manifests the Qliphothic side of Tiphareth instead, and becomes an arrogant jerk convinced of his own omniscience.

That's why there are so many people like that in the Golden Dawn scene; it's an unfortunate side effect of the structure of the grades. That's also why Dion Fortune and so many other offshoots of the Golden Dawn tradition scrapped the existing grade structure and replaced it, usually with a system of three degrees not linked to the Tree of Life; you get the same positive effects without the blowback.

[ecosophia]

Yes, it's okay -- in fact, it suggests that you're developing astral clairvoyance, which is a very good thing to have. Keep practicing, and you'll notice that the blobs spread and merge, and eventually you'll get the ocean of light.

[(Anonymous)]

(Violet)

Many thanks for hosting this! In the past few weeks I've spent a goodly amount of time with dice, doing geomantic readings about possible paths I can take in the near term future. While doing this, I've been noticing that I struggle to imagine a path, or even a destination. It's like the future is extra-foggy.

For about 9 years I've practiced different systems of divination, and the last time I had this sort of uncertainty was during the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis. I'm concerned that it may be difficult to 'see' into potential futures because of disruptions in the normal flow of emanation from spiritual plane on down, or put differently there is a kind of 'storm' in the anima mundi, or the part of the anima mundi that relates to human groupings. Sometimes of a future imagining has, seemingly led me, to its realization on the physical. My guess would be that I feel some sort of contraction of possibility in the near term future. My question is: how does one best proceed when the future is murky, and it's hard to even get a good visual? How does one proceed when the amount of possibility, rather than just desirability or pragmatics, is hard to discern?

Communicating with gods.

[(Anonymous)]

At the moment I am reading Iamblichus and he talks about dreams being a major way of communicating with gods. What methods have you found most successful?

Re: Three-planet problem

[ecosophia]

Is the Sun involved? In that case the other planets are combust, and their influences are partly subsumed into that of the Sun. You'd expect in that case that the native would have a hard time differentiating things under the planetary rulerships from his own identity. For example, I have Mercury very close to my natal Sun, so my personal identity is very much wrapped up with my ideas and my thoughts.

If the Sun's not involved, you get the same intermingling without any one planet being dominant. The aspects of the native's life ruled by the planets in the stellium won't be easily separable -- for example, if Mercury and Venus are part of the stellium, the native will have a hard time keeping thinking and feeling separate. The basic rule is that in a conjunction -- and this is true no matter how many planets are part of it -- the planets mingle their identities and influences.

Re: Alive but "already gone"

[ecosophia]

If there's speaking and walking going on, there's more than simple instinct present, and that means there's still at least some connection between the material body and the personality. In Alzheimer's, as I recall from my days working in nursing homes, there still seems to be some connection until the last voluntary actions stop and you've got an empty shell lying in a bed.

[ecosophia]

How does one best proceed? Very, very carefully! Occult tradition has it that as a society drifts further and further into delusion and dysfunction, one consequence is that the lower astral plane -- the end that resonates with corrupt emotional states, degraded thoughtforms, and the like -- becomes overloaded with energy. That makes it very difficult for ordinary astral functions such as clairvoyance and precognition to operate. (The reason psychic phenomena are so much rarer and weaker today than they were in earlier times, according to the theory, is that the modern era has seen a buildup of static on the lower astral unparalleled since the days of a certain legendary and long-drowned civilization.) That proceeds until the corrupted energies find a way to discharge themselves into matter, usually by way of disasters of various kinds. These become more frequent and damaging until finally the lower astral is reasonably clear. I think you're right that a "contraction of possibility" is approaching -- that's a useful phrase, by the way! -- and divination may be of limited use until it passes.

Re: Communicating with gods.

[ecosophia]

I've never had much luck working with my dreams. Some people find that very effective, but here as so often, different people have different gifts. Myself, I find prayer the most useful method, but that may have a lot to do with a standard Golden Dawn training in the use of the imagination as a means of perception; I pray, and then I listen, and generally there's an answer.

Magic Monday Greetings!

[ferngladefarm.blogspot.com.au]

Hi John Michael,

Thanks for this opportunity to ask open questions on occult lore! Your reply over at Ecosophia about the timing of ceremonies has given me much to ponder and consider.

A couple of weeks back we spoke about the perception of time becoming more fluid if the mind opens to the possibility of where country (i.e. the land) has been and where it is going to. As usual that has left my mind with more questions than answers, but I was wondering whether you reckon we are trained to ignore consequences and possibilities and instead focus on abstract concepts, so as to ignore that faculty of the mind? Dunno, but it is a possibility?

Cheers

Chris

[(Anonymous)]

I'm having a difficult time visualizing the organization and interrelationships among the various planes. I work better with diagrams and mathematics, unfortunately. Could you give a quick overview and/or point to some diagrams summarizing the structure? I'm also about a third the way into _The Cosmic Doctrine_ and I'm afraid I don't have a much clearer picture than when I first started.

And thank you for this open occult question session today.

Association of elements with directions

[(Anonymous)]

Hi John, and thanks for this opportunity to ask questions.

How important is the association of the elements with the four cardinal points? Traditional Golden Dawn has Air, Fire, Water and Earth in the East, South, West and North respectively. However, other systems associate them differently, e.g. inverting Water and Earth. Similarly, some people invert the associations with the tarot suits, so Air/Swords and Fire/Wands are often coupled instead: Air/Wands and Fire/Swords.

What are the bases in occult theory for these permutations? Is it just 'what works' or is there a logic that can be explained?

Gigoachef

Incarnations and Pan

[(Anonymous)]

JMG, Happy Holidays and a Merry Ole Magic Monday Sans Christmas Music Treacle -

(from Will M)

Two questions - you mentioned that, according to Druidic perspective, a soul must corporeally incarnate until every human experience is indeed experienced, this before the soul can move on to higher realms. I'm wondering tho if by Druidic perspective a soul by dint of desire and the will-power to see it through, can skip certain incarnations, can spiritually elevate itself in one incarnation so that other incarnations do not have to be experienced. Or is it absolutely necessary that the soul experience everything no matter how elevated it might become in any one incarnation?

Also, going back to your Death of God post - though the god Pan "died" with the advent of Christ, would it be fair to say that Pan really took a back seat to the New God in terms of immediacy and power? After all, people have continued to see and experience Pan albeit in isolated cases. I imagine that Christ will continue to exist similarly, with a depleted immediacy and power, perhaps to be integrated into a new god and religion.

Druidry and Daoism

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, this is Bogatyr.

As I’ve mentioned before om WoG, I’m from the same town as Iolo Morganwg. I’ve walked the same woods and fields that he knew, and drunk in the same taverns. I read the Mabinogion over and over when I was younger. The Druidry that you’ve presented in your recent blogging resonates with me, and I’d like to explore it further.

However, as you ay have gathered, i live now in China. My Green Wizard, learn-a-skill-for-decline plan is focussed on learning Chinese Medicine, specifically acupuncture and qigong. The forms of taijiquan and yiquan that I’m learning include a lot of neigong. So, I’m doing a lot of energy work in the Chinese tradition.

To what extent are these compatible, given all that you’ve said previously about combining Western and Eastern energetic systems? (What would be great would be a handy guide to what’s safe, what’s not, and where to progress with caution - but that’s too much to ask!)

Would the OBOD course be OK (safe?) for someone doing a lot of neigong?

Thanks for the work you’re doing, and thanls in advance for any thoughts you may have on this topic!

Re: Magic Monday Greetings!

[ecosophia]

It's more than a possibility. Education in the modern industrial world is as much a matter of teaching people not to think in certain ways and not to pay attention to certain perceptions as anything else. A fixation on arbitrary abstractions is central to modern education, and I don't think it's accidental; the gap between the world people actually experience and the one that modern ideologies insists people ought to experience is so vast that convincing people to pay attention to the right abstractions rather than to the evidence of their (more than five) senses is pretty much the only way to keep the circus running.

[ecosophia]

When you read The Cosmic Doctrine, do you take the time to imagine each visual image as clearly as possible before you go on? That's essential to working with the text; as the book says, it's there to train the mind rather than informing it. As for the planes, you may be overthinking it. The planes relate to one another the way that the different sections of the electromagnetic spectrum relate to one another: they're all present in the same space, but you tune into one or another at a time. There are various ways of dividing the spectrum, but they all fit into a continuum reaching from pure spirit to solid matter; it's just a matter of where you draw the dividing lines.

Re: Association of elements with directions

[ecosophia]

It's more or less arbitrary; different systems use different correspondences. What's important is to use the specific set that goes with whatever magical tradition you're working with, as it'll have been chosen for good reasons, and unintelligent tinkering with established systems is one of the primary sources of failure in magical practice these days.

Re: Incarnations and Pan

[ecosophia]

The teaching doesn't say that you have to experience all things in every incarnation. Since you don't know what you've already experienced in previous incarnations, don't worry about it. If you've reached the point that you want to elevate yourself spiritually to what the Druid teachings call Gwynfydd, the luminous life, then you've probably already had the experiences you need -- otherwise you'd be longing for those, or for the things that would bring those about, rather than aspiring to Gwynfydd.

The one very notable exception to this rule is if you're trying to attain spiritual elevation in an attempt to run away from unsolved issues in your life. That doesn't work. If you're longing for Gwynfydd because you think it's easier than dealing with relationship problems, or your difficulties with work or money, or what have you, stop and deal with those first. It's when you've experienced what incarnate life has to offer and are ready to go on to other things that you're ready for Gwynfydd.

Re: Druidry and Daoism

[ecosophia]

I don't know a lot about the current OBOD curriculum; the original version doesn't conflict with taijiquan and qigong, but I can't guarantee that the newer version won't. Since you're studying a coherent, effective system of spiritual training, I'd encourage you to stick to that when it comes to practices, and pursue Druidry only as a philosophy and a spirituality. The basic rule of thumb is don't mix energy work. Since Iolo didn't teach any energy work -- that all entered the Druid Revival tradition after his time -- you're on pretty safe ground there, and since there are some fairly intriguing parallels between Druidry and Taoism, you ought to have fun becoming a Taoist Druid. ;-)

Re: Communicating with gods.

[(Anonymous)]

I just finished reading T. L. Luhrmann's _When God Talks Back_ which is about the Vineyard and related new style evangelical churches. The main thing she studied was the way in which they taught prayer as a technique and a skill that required work and practice. I was amazed to learn that these evangelical Protestants have started using the Spiritual Exercises devised by Ignatius Loyola (founder of the Jesuit Order). These exercises involve concentrating on imagining oneself into Scripture scenes, seeing, touching, hearing, smelling. Luhrmann then devised an experimental study of the effects of different prayer training: passive listening to pink noise, active imagining scenes and a control group that just listened to a taped lecture on Scripture. Really interesting work.

Luhrmann's first work as an anthropologist was among magicians and Witches in England, leading to the book _Persuasions of the Witch's Path_. Warning, the book is quite dense with anthropological terminology that may be fairly opaque to the
outsider.

Rita