Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight as I type this, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. This week's classic book of Western occultism is Ceremonial Magic by Israel Regardie. Regardie's a major presence in modern occult literature, and at least one of his other books will be featured in an upcoming Magic Monday, but this one deserves to come right after The Golden Dawn; it's a manual of magical training centered on the Watchtower Ritual, a core GD ceremony, and a couple of years of regular practice of the disciplines in this book will give you the same degree of initiation into the Golden Dawn current that you'd get from going through the initiations in a Golden Dawn temple. (I've done both and so can vouch for this.) 

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

Beware the 18th of March?

[(Anonymous)]

I was checking my farmer’s almanac for good days to do various tasks in the garden when I noticed that the 18th of this month has Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto all conjuncting the Moon in Capricorn. That’s a whole lot of conjuncting going on! Some of them are conjuncting each other as well. Whoa! Forget the garden – what’s going on between the 18th and the 23rd that us U.S. folks ought to be looking out for?

An earthquake? The end of the petro dollar? Or (hopefully so) people refusing to obey the pesky Daylight Time changes? Anything? Nothing particular, just BAU?

I went scrounging on the ‘net and found dern-all about it. Altho’ one website said the last time there was a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn was two months after 95 Theses were nailed to a door in Wittenberg. Are the heavens tolling a slow, solemn bell over our heads?

Re: Beware the 18th of March?

[ecosophia]

The Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn will be a significant factor in this year's Aries ingress charts -- I've got three of those up on my Patreon and SubscribeStar accounts already, for the US, Britain, and India, and will have Japan and Australia posted as soon as I get them finished. The Mars-Saturn conjunction is further off -- it perfects on March 31 -- and Jupiter and Saturn don't perfect until December 21, which marks a major shift in political astrology. The Moon's just doing its usual thing, conjuncting every planet in a given sign within a couple of days. It'll be there again a month later.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, thanks as always for doing these Q&As every week!

In the Irish pagan tradition, it's standard to invoke the elements of Land, Sky, and Sea instead of the familiar Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Wondering if you know of a ritual--similar in focus to the Sphere of Protection--that could be adapted to make use of that three-element structure?

[ecosophia]

I don't know of one. Four elements is pretty much a minimum -- the Sphere of Protection uses seven, including Spirit Below, Spirit Above, and Spirit Within. It's also challenging when you don't have a set of traditional directions to use. The Irish magical workings I'm familiar with, the system worked out by William Butler Yeats, uses the four directions and elements.

Rings of Existence

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for hosting this as always, JMG. I’ve been fascinated by Iolo Morganwg’s concept of the rings of existence since I read about it in your Druidry Handbook a couple of years ago. I’m wondering: is there precedent for that idea elsewhere in occult philosophy, or is it original to Iolo? I can’t think of an analogous idea in the major world religions, but maybe I’m wrong? Was he the father of that sort of inverted neo-Platonism where existence is emanating from low to high?

Re: Rings of Existence

[ecosophia]

Iolo's system as a whole doesn't go from low to high -- that's just the path walked by individual souls in the course of their evolution. In Iolo's vision the creative impulse comes from the Divine at the highest level, in Ceugant, and creates souls at the lowest level, who then journey up through the circles of being toward their creator. That's a vision that goes way back in the more esoteric end of Christianity; think of Dryden's "Song for St. Cecilia's Day":

"When Nature underneath a heap
Of jarring atoms lay,
And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high,
Arise ye more than dead."

Combine that with with the Platonic idea of the soul rising toward the gods through many lives -- see the Myth of Er in The Republic -- and with the classical testimonies of the ancient Druids' belief in reincarnation, and you've got a pretty fair equivalent of Iolo's vision. Did he have other sources? Quite possibly, but nobody knows at this point.

Peladan

[(Anonymous)]

Dear jmg

I recently got the book by peladan called “how to be a mage” and I’m intrigued by his suggestion that since each person is under the rule of a planetary energy then that planetary energy determines the process and form of success for that person, particularly in relation to spiritual attainment.

Does any other occultist talk about this?

J.L.Mc12

Re: Peladan

[ecosophia]

It's found in some of the older astrological literature, as I recall, but Peladan's discussion is the best one I've encountered. I'd encourage you to take it as a basis for meditation.

Rosicrucians

[(Anonymous)]

I'm looking to have a basic general reference on Rosicrucianism - I might explore the path in depth later but for right now I just want enough to understand what they are about and have a place to start if that path calls. I've found Fama Fraternitatis, Confessio Fraternitatis, The Chemical Wedding, and the Manual, but I'm wondering if JMG or the commentariat could recommend a book giving a Rosicrucian course of initiation for the solitary practitioner.

Also, can anyone vouch for the English translation of the Rosicrucian Trilogy by Joscelyn Godwin et al? The 'about the authors' section doesn't mention any of them actually being part of an Rosicrucian order, but Rosicrucians don't seem to worry too much about affiliation, so I don't know if the lack of affiliation with an order is actually a problem.

Re: Rosicrucians

[ecosophia]

I don't know of any publicly available book that presents such a course, other than the Golden Dawn literature, and that's Rosicrucian only in a fairly specialized sense. You pretty much have to enroll in one of the orders. As for Godwin's translation, he's a first-rate scholar and his work is reliable -- I've looked at the originals of those texts, and never once found an error in his work.

If you can find a copy, by the way, The D.O.M.A. Manuscript edited by Manly P. Hall is a very good addition to a Rosicrucian library.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,
You mentioned "initiation into the Golden Dawn Current" above. What benefit is there to initiation? And, once initiated into Golden Dawn (or any other occult discipline), if one decides to look into something else, is it necessary to de-initiate, or would initiation into one discipline interfere with future efforts in another?
My thanks to you and all commenters!

[ecosophia]

Initiation puts you into contact with specific sources of energy and guidance from higher planes. Once you've initiated yourself (or been initiated) into a current, you have access to forces you'd have a hard time accessing otherwise, and you can also tune into your contacts on the inner for guidance. No, you don't have to de-initiate -- quite the contrary; I have a good dozen sets of initiatory contacts, and that's extremely helpful when working magic.

[(Anonymous)]

What are your correspondences for the Norse Cabbalistic Tree of Life? I've seen some pretty whacky ones online, but so far I think Kether is best represented by Odin, Chesed by Thor or Frey, Geburah by Tyr, Tiphareth by Baldr, Netzatch by Freya, Hod by Bragi, Malkuth by Jord... Ginnungagap is the Unmanifest.

[ecosophia]

I'd have to go digging to find my notes -- I've been swamped with other projects for so long that I don't have the details handy. Sorry.

Hoodoo Bath Video & New Orphic Hymn

[kimberlysteele]

I made a video of my own version of the hoodoo bath:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZtQMmZi72I&t=5s

It's another case of me being a visual learner and thinking others might benefit from seeing it presented bluntly and plainly. Had there been anything out there that I could find that was similar to the no-frills presentation of this video, I would not have made it. Though I enjoy watching videos, I'm not altogether keen on creating them. Hope this helps someone.

Also, I posted another one of my Orphic hymns with free PDF sheet music in the description:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmde1fh5vho

At Bandcamp:

https://queeniemusic.bandcamp.com/track/orphic-hymn-to-jupiter

Re: Hoodoo Bath Video & New Orphic Hymn

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you Kimberly for your work with the Orphic hymns. They have really helped me with my new daily practice!
Related to both parts of your post, have you used Khernips in preparation for worship? It has a very similar effect to the hoodoo bath in my experience.
Gawain

Prayers

[kimberlysteele]

To all of those who granted me permission to pray for them, including Maxine, Violet, LunarApprentice, and others, I've been doing it, often including those prayers in my nightly musical practice of the songs I wrote dedicated to Greek gods/Orphic hymns. Thanks for the opportunity, and thanks JMG for this forum.

Re: Prayers

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you Kimberly,
I will be happy to return the favor to you whenever you like.
Maxine
PS Your prayers must be working as all is very quiet here with no one waking me or bumping around in the night.

[(Anonymous)]

A few questions today.

So I did a shield chart, a simple yes/no question, "Will ___ share the secret if I tell them?" The Judge was Carcer, a nice clear no after all Carcer is not only unfavorable but a figure of isolation. But I got to thinking, since Carcer is favorable in matters of security, does that mean Carcer should be taken as a yes instead?

Another, unrelated divination perplexed me, after spending a hour on it I had what I thought was a clever idea, a single figure reading asking if my interpretation was correct. Conjunctio was the answer and I immediately thought the answer was "no" as I remembered it was unfavorable in matters where clarification is needed and I was asking for clarification right? But I'm not sure...

Keeping with the trend, I was thinking of starting the Sphere of Protection, the version with the names of Jesus,but I'm having difficulty coming up with the appropriate imagery as I'm not exactly well read when it comes to the Bible. (But am nonetheless sure that's the version I should do.) Some are easy enough, others, which are more abstract, are leaving me baffled. I'm wondering what you would suggest?

[ecosophia]

1) Depends on the other figures in the chart. A single figure by itself is almost impossible to interpret accurately.

2) It really isn't that complex. If you get a favorable figure, the answer is yes; if an unfavorable figure, the answer is no. The temptation to overthink things is one of the obstacles to effective divination.

3) Don't worry about the imagery for now. Simply use the names as given, and while you're at it, put the necessary time into Bible study so you can choose imagery that works for you!

SOP versions

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there JMG
I've begun studying the early chapters of the DMH whilst continuing my practice of the blog-version SOP. I'm thinking of following the DMH lessons in full. I noted your comment last week that the Elemental Cross is more suited to the DMH and Dolmen Arch than the other opening, so might I ask:

1. is there anything else in the blog version SOP that ought be changed for me to follow the DMH, or is it just the opening?

2. If possible I'd also be interested to know why the Elemental Cross is more suitable?

3. Finally, I may try the more complex Closing at some point too. For both of these SOP changes I suppose I can just swap them in and carry on as normal (I would do so one at a time)?

Kind regards. 
Morfran.

Re: SOP versions

[ecosophia]

1) If you can do the more complex closing, that would be helpful. I recommend it to anyone who can do it.

2) Partly because you're tapping into the existing egregor, partly because the DMH system is very strongly focused on elemental work and so having that fourfold pattern right there at the beginning is helpful.

3) Yes, exactly.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Do you know why Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor strictly rejected the idea of reincarnation? Is it because of their feud with Theosophical Society, or some other reason?

[ecosophia]

Reincarnation was a huge hot-button issue in late 19th century occult circles, largely because of the very strong overlap between occultism and Spiritualism on the one hand, and between occultism and Christianity on the other -- both these had the notion of a paradise after death for the good people, of course. Also, bluntly, I get the impression that a lot of people in the late 19th century hated their lives and were horrified at the thought of having to return to this world; certainly the furious denunciations of reincarnation I've read in the occult press of that time gives that impression.

[(Anonymous)]

(Tolkienguy)

So...I think I may have had a TSW moment last week-or I may just be crazy. I'll let you decide since you know more about this stuff than me.

As I think I've mentioned on the other board, I work in a warehouse as a stockman, and when I get a new batch of clothes to stock, I have to scan them all in with a scanning gun, which then tells me where in the warehouse they go. Normally, upon scanning an item, the gun displays a "processing" message, then goes back to a blank screen so you can scan the next item. Last week though, the guns started glitching-on random items, usually every 3rd or 4th item, the gun, after processing the scan, would display an error message, then back out of its scanning function entirely (leaving me to spend several seconds going through three different menus to get back in, which was annoying). I asked my supervisor and he said it was just a network bug that he couldn't do anything about, so I decided to try something else.

From what I've read about magic, I understand that one of the major components of it is visualization, which I understand to mean picturing an outcome that you want in your head, then focusing on it with as much concentration as possible. So, upon getting my next batch of items, I decided that, every time I scanned an item, I'd look at the scanning gun and imagine it processing the scan correctly and returning to the blank screen. I concentrated as hard as I possibly could on that image of the gun processing the scan correctly, and tried as hard as I could to make myself certain this was what was going to happen.

The batch I tried this on, the gun-which had been glitching 5-10 times on batches that size-only glitched twice. Seeing it scan item after item correctly, which it had previously refused to do that night, was almost surreal.

Is this the sort of thing one can achieve by magic, or am I being delusional? I've done banishing rituals before, but this is the first time I've seen something had such an effect on the material world. I'll admit, for the next few days afterwards, my inner scientific materialist kept screaming that there's no such thing as mind powers and that letting myself think otherwise was a one-way ticket to insanity. But what do you think?

[ecosophia]

Electronics can be influenced by the human organism. Every well-informed ham radio operator knows about "hand capacitance" -- the influence that the electric field around your hands can exert on electronic equipment -- and experienced hams use it to fine-tune their gear: hold the hand right here, and the static drops off. That's a simple example of something that can become a lot more complex. As for your inner scientific materialist, well, ask it this: is the mind part of the natural world? If it is, then it can influence other parts of the natural world. If it isn't, then your inner scientific materialist has just admitted the existence of supernatural realities.

Musings

[scotlyn]

I'm not sure this is a question, but I want to explore a theme a bit out loud, and if it elicits feedback I'd be happy.

First, thanks for the astrology advice a few Mondays ago for electing a date on which to leave my job. In the event, I felt way too green to follow them, so I engaged Chris Warnock, and he has provided me with a favourable date in about two weeks time.

Anyway, the theme is: ways of playing around with the seven cantrevs in Dolmen Arch.

One way I found was to treat each "set" (EW, NS, AboveBelow) as a ray, crossing them to place the seventh at the centre. So far, so ordinary, a I've done is set them into their places in the SOP. But I did notice that my three rays gave seven "directions" (including centre), but also provide 12 right angles, if you consider the angles made by any two outgoing rays and the centre. What lies on these twelve angles I intend to meditate on a few times.

But, whether it had anything to do with the Tai Chi seminar I was at, I couldn't help seeing this as a dynamic system in which the centre is eternally here and now, the only possible place in which will can be effective. And, in the magical, or martial sense, a threat coming from any of the directions MUST arrive at the centre (here and now) from which a ready will can deflect it outward along another direction lying at right angles to the first, and allow it to continue on its way. If evil, its "way" will be outward to the ring-pass-not.

Anyway, Monday, Will day, HereNow day, strikes me as Druid Day, and I think from henceforth I will do my groves on Mondays, and cultivate the and strengthen the centre. Thanks for the Dolmen Arch!

Re: Musings

[ecosophia]

Hmm! Interesting. I could see that.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

There's no real question this week, I just wanted to report that, according to my journal, last week marked the one year anniversary of my start on the DMH practices. I'm up to part where I'm waiting for the Ogham to give me the go-ahead to awaken the two currents.

It's difficult to quantify how much doing the daily practices have helped, but they definitely have. I still deal with deep set psychological issues which still flare up from time to time (a desire for approval, a tendency to be fearful) but generally I have a deeper sense of acceptance of all aspects of my current situation in life.

More specifically, the daily SOP clears my mood in the mornings and acts kind of as a psychological reset. I'm getting a better sense of when an element is strong or weak during the SOP, which sometimes correlates to the Ogham reading I do afterwards. I've sometimes been able to predict when a few will come up during my daily reading, albeit only occasionally - I'll get a sense that a few will come up, and it will.

Meditation has been very useful, I've sorted through a number of things in the DMH with many useful insights, and I think I now need to start meditating a bit longer per day. That said, if I'm short on time in the mornings, then I usually drop or shorten meditation, according to my journal, I miss 1-2 meditations per week, so I need to work on that.

The Grove Ceremony, which I do roughly once a week, acts as an intensifier of the SOP, for a day or two afterwards it helps strengthen my ability to visualize. I've had useful results from both scrying and doing the transformative workings outlined in the DMH.

Anyhow - just wanted to touch base about how things were going, I'm very happy that I picked up the DMH and started working with it! Thanks very much!

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome, and thank you for taking the work seriously and making it part of your life.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Archdruid,

Is there any equivalent of the "three veils of negative existence" in Druidry?

[ecosophia]

Depends on which Druid you ask. ;-)

Remember that Druidry has been reinvented over the last 300 years or so out of a gallimaufry of raw materials, and it has no fixed dogma and no uniform theology or practice. That I know of, nobody's yet found the need to work with the three Veils in specifically Druid terms -- but then a lot of Druids over the last century have had at least some background in ceremonial magic, and anyone who needs to discuss that as a part of their experience of the cosmos can as well reference Dion Fortune.

[(Anonymous)]

This is more of an open question, how are people going with their Tentacular SoP and related worship? Any visits from the beings that live in the space between the spaces we know?

[(Anonymous)]

Worshiping the Great Old Ones is substantially more impactful than using the raw elements. I can't compare the Tentacular SoP to one with 'real' gods because I haven't tried the later.

The Old Ones seem to have distinct personalities and resolving my personal conflicts with these entities seems to grant further access to the associated element to which I have assigned them. Lovecraftian deities, with the exception of Nyarlathotep, lack a friendly face, which makes them more difficult to relate to, but the added difficulty seems to be reflected in better magic when I actually manage to connect with them. I usually take a few moments after vibrating the name to check in, say hello, ask them for anything I need, and ask them for what they need when I'm feeling generous.

Since starting the SoP, I've gotten contact from a certain Goddess who seemed to approve of the creation of new gods. Apparently, gods appreciate seeing new faces, even faceless ones. This makes me wonder if creating a god is more like putting out a 'help wanted' ad and then whatever divine force is aligned with the intention of your working puts on the listed identity like a set of work boots.

I have noticed that Great Old Ones seem to not be as 'proactive' as 'real' gods. They show up when invoked and prayed to, and they seem to get work done when you're not looking, but I've never 'gotten a call' from one of them in the middle of the day, like I have working with established deities.

In my mind the only thing 'horrific' about the Great Old Ones is that they have goals of their own that have nothing to do with humans. Like other gods, you can offer them what they want and get for some of what you want in exchange. It's much like working with any other set of gods, which is much like working with a friendly set of people.

Views

[(Anonymous)]

I have a budding interest in magick, druidry, occult practices, but am still somewhat reluctant to dive in based on lingering irritation with religion (strict-ish evangelical Christian upbringing which has since turned me off to organized religion and anything which smacks of the supernatural, and there is a lot of emotional baggage I'm still carrying around, as can probably be discerned from this message). My atheism of the last few years has been fed by Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, making it hard for me tolerate anything which seems even remotely woo woo. But, as mentioned previously, I have an interest in the occult. I like the idea of an increased awareness of moon phases, of the sun, of nature.

This is a long set-up for the question, which is how do you see the stories, mythologies, etc. of the various practices you've engaged in (Golden Dawn, druidry, Freemasonry, etc.)? Given my upbringing and rejection of it, all religious stories and texts seem about as interesting as Aesop's Fables (teaching a simple moral for children).

Tangentially, if I heard you correctly on some podcast recently it sounded like you are working on a Norse version of the Golden Dawn. If so, do you have an expected publication date?

Thank you.

Re: Views

[ecosophia]

1) The classical philosopher Sallust outlined what is to my mind the best way to think about traditional stories in very straightforward terms: "Myths are things that never happened but always are." They're not meant to be taken literally, but they're also not just simplistic moral fables. It's possible to communicate an immense amount of insight in narrative form, and to do so on many different levels. The next time you read a myth, ask yourself: what else could this mean?

Here's an example. In Iolo Morganwg's Druid writings there's a legend about Einigan the Giant, the first of all created beings, and three rowan sticks on which he wrote down all the knowledge that ever was and ever will be. Later on, people worshiped the rowan sticks as gods instead of learning from what was written on them, and Einigan was so distressed by this that he burst apart and died. A long time later, Menw, the founder of what became the Druid tradition, found the skull of Einigan lying abandoned in a field, and the three rowan sticks had taken root and rose up through the eye-holes and mouth of the skull.

Did any of these things actually happen? Of course not. In fact, the business about people worshiping the rowan sticks rather than learning from them is a warning against that kind of fundamentalism. But there's a lot more going on here than that. The skull of Einigan is also the dome of the sky, and the three rowan staves are the shadows cast by a standing stone at midsummer, spring/fall equinox, and midwinter sunrise -- the basis for the old solar astronomy practiced by the Druids. There's much more -- all of it woven into the imagery and events of the tale. Approach myth that way and you'll start to glimpse why it's actually important.

2) That project's been on hiatus for a while, but it's going to be on the top of the stack shortly. I don't have a publication date yet.

Charm

[(Anonymous)]

A close relative found a charm on their kitchen counter three days ago made of a penny, cut counterclockwise along the edge so that it formed a sharp curled stem, with a flowerbed made with three short incisions on the uncut quarter of the edge. I immediately thought of hoodoo or something similar. It turns out He had recently separated from a lover hailing from the Delta region who was sad over the breakup.
Not able to find any information about this charm so far, I had him bury it in his front yard and take a hoodoo bath.
Three related questions, a) anyone familiar with this specific work, b) was my advice appropriate, c) is there an encyclopaedia of charms? Google nor Lucky Mojo weren't helpful. I'm a novice LRM student, finishing up today actually with self initiation.

Re: Charm

[ecosophia]

That's what I would have advised, though I'm not familiar with that specific charm and I don't think there's an encyclopedia of them -- it would not be in the interest of rootworkers to have all their secrets in one convenient place...

Central Ray and Ovate Temple

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

Thanks for being available for these questions.

Is there a way that the Rite of the Central Ray fits into the Ovate temple or are they completely separate exercises?
I felt like doing the Rite I’d the Central Ray as the meditation within the temple, is that ok? And if so, do I do the LRPB first or leave it as I have done LRPS in the opening of the temple?

What would you recommend?
Many thanks
Edward

Re: Central Ray and Ovate Temple

[ecosophia]

You can do the Exercise of the Central Ray in any magically prepared space; doing it following the LBRP is just the simplest option. Go ahead and do it right after you've finished opening the temple and before you sit and meditate, and leave off the LBRP.

On perfection and foxes

[(Anonymous)]

Many thanks for answering all these questions every Monday, it's been splendidly helpful. I've got into the habit of reflecting over mine during the week, and this week I have one specific one on geomancy and a more general one about a class of problems which I hope you have some insight on.

The geomantic question is about perfection by mutation. I cast a house chart earlier in the week and being rather distracted by the question could only see two aspects coming to the fore. I then realised the repeated figures were next to each other on the chart and that actually I was looking at perfection by mutation. So far, so obvious. However, thinking about it afterwards I realised that mutation could introduce up to two aspects; I'm not entirely sure if the minimum is one or zero.

[It wouldn't be hard to write a program to find out if anyone was interested; there are only 16^4 charts, and 11 variations on each one, for questions involving houses 2-12. That's around 721,000 distinct answers.]

Anyway, the question was simply, if you find perfection by mutation - do you take any aspects into account or do they confuse matters in the same way that witnesses and judges can with a house chart?

The second question is about discouraging poor behaviour. I've recently cleared some land for an outbuilding and a vegetable garden where there was a wood before. The wood contained foxes and in an entirely natural way they are now coming into the cleared space. I don't mind foxes; they are a nuisance for farmers and livestock holders but I don't think they are inclined to menace my carrots. Also, there's a certain insouciance about them that's quite attractive. Sort of dog shaped cats in a way.

Unfortunately, they do tend to leave byproducts behind that are really very smelly indeed. Not quite Skunk level but pungent and wet weather simply enhances the effect. I don't want to stop them coming round, and in any case that would be expensive and probably ineffective, but I would prefer them to handle the earthier aspects of fox life in the woods. As bears do.

A similar problem arises with my new neighbours who are hogging a shared resource - I'm afraid it's street parking - I'm not yet able to give up driving entirely. I'm new in the area and I haven't raised it in person with anyone yet as the chances of souring relations at such an early stage are quite high, there's also the practical problem that people are not often around, I've yet to meet some of them. On the other hand it would be nice to be able to park nearby occasionally, I'm often carrying heavy items.

The internet is full of banishing and binding spells, and noting your comments on malformed enchantments I suspect they range from the ineffective to the downright counterproductive. Even if I was able to make one of them work I don't actually want to banish or bind anyone. What I actually want is a slightly improved attitude to a shared resource

Both these situations share some commonalities, first of all they are utterly trivial and scarcely worth bothering with in the usual way of things, certainly not the sort of thing I'd bother a deity with, nor usually even an archdruid. Secondly they both require the communication of the basic concept 'please respect this space' where communication is difficult. I don't speak fox and my neighbours are not around much to chat with. Thirdly, I've developed the feeling that these are actually challenges that have been presented to me in order to push me in a particular direction. It means that I have to confront the ethical problem that since I've concluded TSW, I need to be sensitive about how I approach it.

I've been brooding on this and concluded that - if possible - the only approach is to change myself rather than try to change the world. It neatly sidesteps the issue of consent, and modifying my own conscious is at least possibly within my grasp.

So (at last), the question becomes have I reached a reasonable conclusion? If I have - where do I start?

Andy

Re: On perfection and foxes

[ecosophia]

1) I treat aspects as minor factors, commenting on the modes of perfection, but I do include them in a chart that perfects by mutation. If you have a chart that perfects via mutation, and there are some negative aspects (say, the mutating figure squares the significator of the querent), that tells you that the situation will work out but there will be some difficulty involved -- what kind of difficulty can be determined by the nature of the mutating figure and the house from which it squares the significator.

2) You might consider invoking Mercury in both these cases, and asking for help resolving the situations.

[(Anonymous)]

If I may ask, what the heck is going on with the Coronavirus scare? Do you think there’s some sort of magic at work here? I saw your link on the other blog about how the flu has already killed many Americans this winter, but I just saw that there is panic in the stock market now, too, though I guess that’s also because of the Saudi decision to pump more oil. It’s hard to know how to react: I find myself buying extra supplies every time I go grocery shopping, not because of the virus, but because I am not sure how other people are going to react. I’m basically getting dragged into this...

[ecosophia]

Partly, the media loves panic because it's great clickbait, and since a lot of major media outlets are losing audience share at an astonishing rate, they're desperate. Partly, panic is a normal human response to sudden uncertainty. Partly, this epidemic is mostly a risk for old people, and so the Boomers are panicking -- and since they control so much of our national discourse, when they panic, that panic gets broadcast everywhere. The price war between the Saudis and the Russians has definitely added to the fun and games -- but we'll see how it all works out.

Dolmen arch

[(Anonymous)]

Concerning the Seven Cantrefs... if you choose deities other than the examples you listed, does that change or affect the other attributes of the cantref? Sorry I don't have the book in front of me to be more specific...would you take into account the attributes of the cantref and more or less 'match' a name to it? Thanks for your time.

Re: Dolmen arch

[ecosophia]

Yes, you need to be fairly careful in assigning deities to the Cantrefs. I'd encourage you to consider using the original set for now, and bring in others after you've learned enough to be able to reassign the cantrefs on the basis of some degree of knowledge.

[(Anonymous)]

To Bogatyr and 'Another Aussie', thank you both for your kind words last week.
A parenI didn't see your comments til after cut-off time.
Here with Mum now, (9.40pm) my sister is combing her hair to make her sleepy enough that we can get her to bed without too much fuss.
Regards, Helen in Oz

Gods and children

[(Anonymous)]

My daughter is 7, almost 8, and was always very interested in religion. About 6 months ago I discovered that gods are real with help from Psyche. So a few months ago I told my daughter about it - I gave her a tame version of my experience, but she knows it's been pretty dramatic.

Then she wanted to start praying too, so every night she prays the wording you suggested and that I first used: ‘I hope and believe there is a deity out there willing to work with me, please let me come into contact with that god or goddess.’ I did warn her that I did that for ages on and off until I got a response (at least one that I noticed), that we don’t know why gods do or don’t do things, but I think she inherited my lack of patience!

I was raised Catholic but am in totally uncharted territory now. You suggested to other people to read myths from different pantheons to see which ones appeal. I’ve read her books of myths for children, but I don’t want to suggest that to her because she really, really wants to have a special god like I do, so she’d just pick anyone.

I asked Psyche about it even though she doesn’t really talk to me, but afterwards before sleeping I was idly watching the white lights/astral static that I can always see in the dark and I asked again. I’m pretty sure they formed into an owl, twice. So I thought maybe Athena/Minerva was the answer. And when I read up on her, she sounds a bit like my daughter actually! But I did a divination next day to ask if that’s who she should pray to, and it gave me Colled. Right witness was Pobl and left witness was also Colled. On the other hand, divination hates me and the feeling is mutual…

How do deities relate to children? Should she pray to a whole pantheon, or wait for an answer from some specific god? And how would she choose a pantheon? Would it be ok for now if she just prayed to Psyche like me? I’m conscious that her path might be very different from mine and I don’t want to steer her the wrong way.

Dot.

Re: Gods and children

[ecosophia]

It depends on the deity, but Athena is one of the deities who traditionally was very close to girls -- she was served by young girls in some of her rituals, for example -- so she'd be a good choice. If you were an ancient Greek and saw the image of an owl take shape in the darkness, after asking that question, you'd accept as a matter of course that Athena was happy to accept your daughter's prayers. So I'd suggest you tell your daughter about what you saw, talk to her about Athena, and see if that works for her -- and if that does work out, your daughter's going to grow up to be even smarter and more self-possessed than she is already, which is not a bad thing...