Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's midnight as I type this, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. This week's classic book of Western occultism is The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie -- far and away the most influential book on magic published in the 20th century. Regardie, an initiate of one of the successor orders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, gathered up everything he could find of the original order's papers and published the lot in four volumes in the late 1930s, providing the most extensive and detailed curriculum of magical study ever made public. Republished regularly in a single volume since the 1970s, it's about ten years of daily practice and hard work in a single package. 

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

[(Anonymous)]

Several Magic Mondays ago, you commented that ancestor veneration was fine as long as one didn't try to summon the dead. Is there a difference between summoning and merely inviting or welcoming? Also, is it okay to perform a banishing ritual in the same location as one's ancestor altar?

[nodrog]

Well, thank you!  I’m writing a wartime home-front spy romance novel, and for reasons of her own the heroine is in the Hermetic Order, but my research time has been limited.  This looks like “one-stop shopping” for what I need!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, JMG- no question this week, just a data point and expression of gratitude: I just finished performing the self-initiation ritual found at the end of LRM for the fourth time (have done it on each of the past four nights), and was startled at how moving and powerful I found it each time- an order of magnitude moreso than my experience with any of the previous exercises. I've always struggled with visualizations, and my experience with most of the course leaned towards the dry, intellectual and "head-y", but when performing the self-initiations each time after the first, my visualizations were clearer than they'd ever been (still not very), almost as if I were getting help with them in some way, and I felt a clear sense of *presence* when imaginally dealing with the archangels that I'd never experienced before. And, afterwards, a clear sense of how all the preceding coursework worked together to make this possible- in retrospect, the entire work seemed like an extended rite of initiation. Afterwards my banishings have felt cleansing in the way I'd heard described but hadn't experienced before, and in general I have a sense that some kind of contact was made and a door was opened. I was really not expecting this! So...TSW, I guess, and thanks for making this possible- I never would have considered undertaking something like this without your book, your previous writings, and the opportunity to ask questions here! I'm taking the next 40 days off from hermetic study to focus more exclusively on spiritual work for Lent (though I'll continue to banish and meditate), but then I'm excited to begin working my way through Paths of Wisdom.

(Also, a happy clean Monday tomorrow to the Orthodox Christian readers here... I know there are a few!)

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, there's a difference between summoning and welcoming. In the latter, you're just inviting your ancestors to be present in the way that they are normally present. In the former, you're trying to force a bridge between the realms of the dead and the living so that the dead will be present in a way that they're not normally present.

2) Yes, that would be a good idea, in fact, because it will keep anything unwanted from hanging around your ancestor altar.

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome. You might also want to find a copy of Ellic Howe's waspish but well-researched The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, which is a good solid history of the order, and if your setting is in the Second World War you might want to consider reading a bio of Dion Fortune, who was the most influential British occultist before and during that conflict -- her bio will give you a good idea of what the British occult scene was like at that time.

[ecosophia]

I'm delighted to hear this, and will pass it on to the other two authors of LRM, who will be just as pleased.

[nodrog]

Noted!

        For information on the Golden Dawn today visit:
        Golden-Dawn.org
        EsotericGoldenDawn.com
        HermeticGoldenDawn.org

- was nice but not what I was looking for.  A Crowley’s Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4 was what I would have worked from.  I didn’t want to just make it up, y’ know?

[deborah_bender]

Also, Mary Greer's Women of the Golden Dawn.

[booklover1973]

Am I right in my assessment that, nonwithstanding the benefits which the Sphere of Protection offers, it won't protect from having a bad day sometimes?

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1. On the open post this week, a commenter asked about positive evil in the undisciplined person, and you responded that an undisciplined doesn't realize "that a goal pursued via evil means inevitably takes on the evil itself."

I've not read Fortune before so I hope I'm not misunderstanding the concept, but I wanted to check whether a situation I'm in corresponds to it. I recently took on a promotion to low level management at the company I work at. I've also been working through the DMH and been practicing daily the SOP, meditation, divination, etc.

The job has pros and cons but frankly, I don't know what else I can do to earn a living, so I have justified it by applying what I learn in the DMH to my job - doing it well as a kind of practical application of my spiritual practice by being attentive, not treating my job as something to resent, etc.

But I already find myself using the de-humanizing language of management (referring to people I manage as 'resources' during management meetings, etc) simply because that's the lingo that the other managers use, so I'm worried this might be positive evil starting to influence my thought processes. This type of abstract language seems somehow counter to the philosophy of the DMH in that it 'de-enchants' things and people into cogs in business processes. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Do you think that this is the case, ie, have I understood positive evil correctly? If so, how can i protect myself from being corrupted in this way?

2. I just received the Dolmen Arch in the mail (it is a beautiful-looking book). A few questions about it:

a) Is it 'cheating' to read it fully first, ie, are you not supposed to read ahead until doing the exercises in a chapter?

b) On the open post, you pointed out the difference between a mage, mystic and occultist. The Dolmen Arch looks to be an occultist work, designed to help cultivate wisdom, is that right?

c) I'm about halfway through the DMH after about a year, and as I go through it, I realize that my interest is essentially working to create the lunar current in myself, rather than enchanting objects or doing magic for practical purposes. I understood that the lunar current is related to the soul and its powers, and to enlightenment. In terms of the terminology you set out (mysticism, magic, and occultism), is creating the lunar current the same as the quest for wisdom?

d) I'd still like to finish the DMH, but I took it on originally ignorant of the distinction between occultism and operative magic, and now I'm pretty sure self-development, getting in touch with the higher self, and learning to perhaps one day actually a bit wiser than I am now, are my real goals. It looks like the Dolmen Arch is tailored for that. If that's true - can I do the Dolmen Arch and the DMH at the same time, and if so, do you have suggestions about how best to do so? It looks like the issue would be the need for multiple sessions of discursive meditation per day, because there's so much to meditate on in both systems.

Thanks as always!

Leap year

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps a too general question, but is the 29 February (leap year) astrologically significant in some way?

Tidlösa

Stephen Skinner

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

Dr. Stephen Skinner seems a very prolific author about magic.
What is your take on his approach to the subject and some of his books like "Techniques of Greco-egyptian magic" & "techniques of Solomonic magic" for instance.
Regards

Ars Notoria

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

According to Skinner Ars Notoria is "Ars Notoria is a mediaeval grimoire, it contains detailed techniques to enable the practitioner to absorb whole subjects very rapidly, and to understand very complex subjects on first reading, as well as remembering whatever has been read."

Do you agree with the above and if so how would you approach the subject?

Many thanks

[(Anonymous)]

1) I had a rather weird experience during meditation last night: I felt the concept I was meditating on looking back at me. Did I accidentally make contact with something? Is this normal?

2a) What's a reasonable upper limit for a beginner to aim for with meditation? I'm planning to increase it until I'm at a half hour a day, but I'm worried that might be too much.

2b) How can you tell if you're doing too much?

3) I'm working my way through the 1st degree of the AODA, and found that I'm writing more on meditation than everything else (SoP, time outdoors, lifestyle changes, bardic work). Is there something I'm missing with the other material, or is it normal to find it worth recording way more with meditation than other material?

4) Do you know good sources on horary astrology?

Two questions

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for your books and for hosting Magic Monday. I have two questions:

1. In one of your books you refer to Marsilio Ficino and his theurgic work on dealing with depression. Is there a particular work of his that focuses on this issue?

2. I've been doing the SOP and praying to Minerva daily for seven months now. I've recently been experiencing some people's strong emotions second-hand, like a 'contact high'. I've also had repeated experiences - two or three per week - where in a conversation I've had a thought which has then been the exact next thing out of someone else's mouth. I've been praying for guidance, but do you have any recommendations for maintaining my boundaries and respecting other people's?

Thank you for your help.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG and all, not a question, but a request for any of you who wouldn't mind a prayer or two thrown my and my family's way.
For some context, on February 9 last year, Mum had a stroke, causing vascular dementia. Since that day we have spent every day, (hospital, care home, her home and new care home) with her, in a shift rotation, as she cannot be left on her own. (Fall risk and meltdown without at least one of us there) My shift is the early evening, til she's asleep in bed. ( I'm back home now after Monday night's) My sister is in before me, but stays with me as it's a two person job, managing her through the nightly process of keeping her awake,calm, (showered if she wants one) changed and finally, ready for sleep.
I could go into more detail, but suffice to say, we are all pretty exhausted by it. I work full time, and social activities, friends, hobbies etc have been put on hold.
What worries me is an already very complicated situation may possibly be made worse if coVID causes a lock out in the facility and we can't be with her, or one of us gets it and is therfore unable to go in and do our shift for a few weeks, when we are already stretched so tight as is.
Her passing is not what disturbs me, I actually feel it would be a release and a blessing given the life she has now. It's her being alone. She just wouldn't cope.
On that last point, I do sometimes find myself wishing that she could slip away in her sleep. JMG you have said what you contemplate you imitate. Is it wrong to wish, that my 90 year old mother, who, if she understood her situation, as well as the toll it has taken on all of us, would be horrified, could be taken on to the next stage of her journey?

Regards, Helen in Oz

[(Anonymous)]

First, thank you for hosting these, as always.

What is the distinction between the planetary spirit symbols as used in the Picatrix and the ones commonly seen elsewhere? I have, out of ignorance, I suppose, always used the ones in the Picatrix, and they seem to work fine...

Invoking again

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you helped me with this answer: "You can expand that section: "By the hawk of May in the heights of morning and in the great name HU, I invoke the air, its gods, its spirits and its powers! May the powers of the element of air bring me...""

I have added this a few times and I feel like I would prefer to ask for bringing after banishing. In more powerful experiences of the SoP banishings I have quite often had imagery of bad things being shed and got rid of, and something new and improved arising. It feels like that point might be better to put into words something to invoke or improve.

But I am just someone who has been doing the SoP for several months, I don't have the experience with it and other magic you have to know how or if this would fit into it.

[(Anonymous)]

I've been lately considering egregores as consciousnesses that arise from smaller ones; that is, that they might have their own thoughts and agency.

Derived from that, I'm thinking that it may be possible to talk to the spirit of a country this way--say, by invoking Columbia, in the case of the United States, to check what she has in mind, and what she expects for the future.

I spoke of possibility because invoking Columbia strikes me as an idea worse than invoking Batman.

That aside, am I on the right track? Perhaps the collective mind of a country can act by itself, not only as the result of actions by the parts that make it? I'm starting to see consciousness and action everywhere.

New house and safe space

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

We’re looking at moving and I had some. questions. What might be a good question to ask the wands about the new house (bigger, same village)? something like:
Will “x address” nurture our family over the coming years?

Also it has a garage that is built into the house. However it has no direct access from the house, just an external side door. As my children are under three, and will not go into the garage, will this qualify as a separate enough space? The only down side I see is that there are no windows in it!

Any other advice on choosing a new home from a magical perspective? I’m in the Bard stage of CGD just looking at meditations and middle pillar at the mo.

Best
Edward

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm, maybe there is a class of sorts moving along the LRM track just now. I noticed three or four comments last week from fellow travellers who were close to the finish line. Your comment mirrors my journal entry from this morning though I'm a week behind.
I've enjoyed the increase in "density" of the visualizations and presence of the AA. What I didn't expect though was the enhanced sense of smell that developed. I think I'm most grateful for much improved memory and general sense of wellbeing.
Master Greer, please accept my most sincere thanks for LRM and this space. Its been a life changing journey.

Gawain

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings JMG and commentariat,

I’m currently working through LRM (Lesson 6), and through experimentation and trial & error my daily practice has evolved into something like this:

Morning session

- [OPENING GESTURE]
- Relaxation variant 1 (lying down on a hard surface)
- Relaxation variant 2 (stretching the muscles/ligaments in the torso and solar plexus)
- LBRP (beginning and ending with a Qabalistic Cross)
- Attention exercise (on days without meditation) OR
- Attention exercise in preparation for meditation; followed by
- Meditation
- Will exercise
- [CLOSING GESTURE]

Throughout the day

- Number exercise (thinking about how the number applies in my own experience)
- Reading and study (reflecting on the daily sentence)
- Tree of Life symbolism memorization (new Path or Sephirah every 3-4 days)

Evening session

- Reading and study (reading a new sentence)
- [OPENING GESTURE] (just before going to bed)
- Daily recollection
- [CLOSING GESTURE] (if still awake, otherwise done the next morning)

Does this seem reasonable? The main thing I’m unsure about are the relaxation exercises:

a. Are both variants necessary every day? It's not really a big time commitment because the second variant takes about 30 seconds.
b. Is it a good idea to start the day with the relaxation exercises, even before performing the LBRP?

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

I have a question today of a more philosophical nature. Many religious and philosophical traditions, among them Buddhism, Gnosticism, and to some degree Christianity (possibly Hinduism as well, but I'm less familiar with it), conceive of the material world as an error, illusion, or fundamentally unsatisfactory, a place of sin and suffering, and make it the goal of human life to transcend it and achieve a perfect spiritual state beyond matter (consider, for example, the Buddhist description of this world as dukkha, or the Christian description of it as a vale of tears). Do you think there is any merit to these views? What is your response to the problem of evil?

Often, my own life has seemed to me like a punishment, a harsh learning experience of some kind, a making amends for previous faults and mistakes (and this is while living a fairly privileged life in the upper middle class of a first world democracy), so it’s hard to shake off the idea that I am here to be tested, in preparation for rejoining a higher state of union.

[(Anonymous)]

Concerning discursive meditation:

I find it to tell when I'm properly doing discursive meditation and when I'm simply musing or making far-fetched and implausible associations trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.

What should I pay attention to in performing this exercise? My train of thought? I tend to be led far afield towards topics that have no possible connection to the object of meditation. Or is it the subtle emotional impression that the object (let's say, a Tarot card) makes?

Effects of worship

[(Anonymous)]

Happy Monday! Sometime within the last few weeks, you commented to the effect that invoking a god tends to strengthen the qualities of that god (both negative and positive) within the invoker over time. I failed to locate the exact quote, but I recall that being the gist of it. The conversation that followed noted that this effect is mitigated by the polytheistic worship of balanced pantheon.

I found myself curious - if the worshiper is only praying to a god and honoring them in non-ritual ways, does this concern still pertain?

-Accidental Mystic