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 of Western occultism is Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice by Robert Lawlor. One of the books that launched the modern revival of interest in sacred geometry, this contains a historical and philosophical introduction and then a series of practical lessons that take you step by step from basic constructions into some fairly advanced geometrical patterns. This and John Michell's quirky and visionary The View Over Atlantis -- yes, I know, you'll have to look long and hard to find two books more different, but there it is -- were what convinced me to take up the systematic study of sacred geometry. 

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!***
 

And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

What a coincidence! I've been working through Lawlor's book for the past couple of weeks now. The book is quite approachable for a beginner in sacred geometry, and the insights are both profound and stunningly obvious once they're explained to you, to the point where you wonder how you could have missed it. Mathematical education being what it is these days (Paul Lockhart has covered that ground pretty extensively in his Mathematician's Lament), it's amazing that most students subjected to it escape with any appreciation for the subject at all.

A couple of more personal questions this week:

1. Where do you get your news from? I’ve been looking for a while for an outlet that avoids the pitfalls of current discourse and hasn’t gone overboard with clickbait and sensationalism. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground in the media ecosystem between corporate propaganda, paranoid doom-mongering and vacuous clickbait.

2. Did the career of a writer differ in any ways from your initial expectations? What were the most significant obstacles on the business side of things? Did you have any trouble with the human element, such as relationships with contributors, editors, publishers, etc.?

3. Is it possible to reach a balance between doing what you love but can’t make money from, and what you have to do to earn a living? Unfortunately, many people can’t combine what they love with what pays the bills (myself included). This leaves you with the option of doing what you love in your spare time, and spending most of your waking time on something you would rather not be doing. The problem with that, obviously enough, is that many jobs are so draining that you barely have the energy to do anything else. How did you manage before you were a full-time author?

4. What are you reading right now? What problems are currently on your mind?

[ecosophia]

1) I read exclusively foreign news sources these days -- the US media is a complete waste of time. I like to balance competing viewpoints against each other: for example, BBC vs. RT -- they almost always take opposite sides on any question of importance. World news also takes on a very different shape if you see how it looks from India, Japan, East Africa, or what have you.

2) By the time I actually started my writing career I had a good idea what I was in for -- I'd read quite a few books on the business end of writing. The major problem I faced was figuring out how to find suitable publishers on the fringes who were interested in the kind of weird things I like to write. As for the human element, well, of course -- as someone with Aspergers syndrome I'm not good at that.

3) My approach was to work in low-paying, grueling, miserable jobs, so that I had an extra incentive to get published!

4) Right now I'm rereading John Crowley's novel Little, Big and Matila Ghyka's The Golden Number, a book on sacred geometry. The problems on my mind? Fine details of the plot of a novel I've recently started, my first post-tentacle novel; certain elements of another book I'm working on, a manual of occult training; and the upcoming Cancer ingress and its political and economic implications.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

1. Is there a 1-to-1 relationship between the Spiritual Self, the Higher Self, and the Personality in Incarnation? In other words, for each Yechidah at any given time, is there is a single Higher Self, and for each Higher Self, a unique Personality? Or could a single Higher Self be in charge of multiple Personalities, and similarly, could a single Yechidah be directing multiple Higher Selves?

2. Do you consider YHVH to be omnipotent and omniscient, and if not, are its believers simply mistaken?

3. Does the work in the Golden Dawn tradition, on which your books LRM, Paths of Wisdom, and Circles of Power build upon, commit the practitioner in some way to the Judeo-Christian God? Is some kind of relationship or attachment formed that can’t be broken at a later stage?

4. In The Middle Pillar, Israel Regardie mentions off-hand that one could do the LBRP two or three times a day to get additional practice. Is this useful for a beginner, or in general? It seems a bit excessive, sort of like taking two or three showers a day. (I assume that it wouldn’t be a good idea to do the Middle Pillar two or three times a day)

[ecosophia]

1) According to the occult philosophy I'm familiar with, it's a one-to-one relationship all the way down.

2) How could you possibly tell if a being was actually omnipotent and omniscient? Nobody's yet come up with an omnipotentiometer, or what have you. All you can say for sure is that a given god appears to be very, very powerful. Since the miracles attributed to YHVH in times recent enough for good evidence to survive are no more remarkable than those attributed to many other deities, yes, my guess is that his worshipers got caught up in what Alfred North Whitehead called "metaphysical flattery" and attributed to their god qualities that no being has, or can have.

3) No. It helps, when you're doing that work, if you have a working relationship with that god, but in my experience he's not the jealous one -- it's some of his human believers, especially those who depend on a full collection plate for their income, who get bent out of shape.

4) I don't recommend it for beginners. If you're an experienced practitioner and are doing healing work with subtle energies, as Regardie was and did, it's probably safe, and might even be helpful.

[(Anonymous)]

1) The Pythagorean Brotherhood is known to have used a signet ring with a pentagram and the word “Health” in Greek written on each of the five points. How effective would this likely have been as a talisman? Do we have enough knowledge to recreate something like this today?

2) Does the method of burial have any impact on the afterlife? The Ancient Egyptians certainly seemed to think so. What would be the difference between, for example, burial vs cremation? In certain countries with low living space and high population densities (for example, Japan) cremation is basically the norm for everyone, which might have some interesting implications.

3) Let’s take a hypothetical person that has no inner development whatsoever, no contact with their Higher Self. What would such a person be like? Would they operate purely at the astral level, and have no capacity for memory, will, or imagination? Are these the people that stare blankly into Las Vegas slot machines?

4) If someone like Aleister Crowley can reach the pinnacle of magic, would I be justified in stating that an individual’s moral character is irrelevant for magical attainment? As long as someone is aware of the less savory aspects of their personality instead of repressing them, so that the self-awareness gained through magic doesn't overwhelm them, the powers of the universe don’t seem to care about someone’s moral purity. You can be a jerk and still be an effective magician.

[ecosophia]

1) Such talismans currently exist -- I've seen several -- and we have ample knowledge about how such things are made and consecrated.

2) Normally it's not a big deal. Egypt, like some other ancient societies, had an archaic technology that allowed some specially prepared souls to step out of the cycle of reincarnation; that was later abused by people who saw it as a way to cheat death, and eventually the techniques were lost and it simply became a burial ceremony gone through by rote, with no effect.

3) Such people aren't hypothetical -- they make up the majority of our species. People don't begin to contact their Higher Selves, even subconsciously, until they've finished learning the lessons of the human level and are getting ready to move on. They have memory, will, and imagination, but only in reflected forms, so the memory is fragmentary and unstable as Hod, the will is mostly submerged in the passions of Netzach, and the imagination simply rehashes the existing stock of images in Yesod, the Treasure House of Images.

4) Aleister Crowley didn't reach the pinnacle of magic. Come on -- he started out life rich, intelligent, talented, handsome, and charismatic, and ended up as a burnt-out drug addict in a small town nursing home with an estate worth 16 shillings and a name that he had personally made a laughing stock on three continents. If that's the result of a life devoted to magic, you're doing it wrong. Crowley crashed and burned on the rocks of his own overdeveloped ego; it's a common occupational hazard of those whose magical practice isn't guided by a good clear sense of magical ethics.

[(Anonymous)]

It's the former Japanese monk again:

1) I left out a detail from the post on the main blog, which is relevant: it was my past life that crafted the ritual which was intended to bring the Japanese emperor back to power. My divination indicate that yes, there is a connection between it and the fact Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only two places to have been nuked, but also that it's not done working its way out yet. My divination also says it will be done by the time Pluto fades out, and so I'm a little concerned what it might finish with. More importantly, it means I am in some sense responsible for the deaths of millions and horrific destruction (including, as it turns out, the monasteries where the ritual was cast).

a) Am I correct to think I probably still have a lot of negative karma from that?

b) How can I safely go about addressing the leftover karma? I'm not particularly interested in my next 150 years being as nasty as the past 150 years.

2) The monk life was born in Chiba, and home appears to mean there for him. Based on my divinations, if I go anywhere near there, I will end up there, and I will die there shortly after I arrive. It will not be a pleasant death either, but rather a nasty, horrific one.

I've also determined that that fate awaits at least one lifetime, so if I'm willing to embrace it, go there knowing that's the fate that awaits me, would that ground the working and allow my future lives freedom from it?

3) My last life also did some spiritual work which brought up a lot of past life memories which she absolutely wasn't ready for, and which are coming back to me as I remember being her. Is it safe to assume that if those memories come naturally to me, I'm ready for them, or has that decision caused me issues for any lifetime which remembers being her?

[(Anonymous)]

1) A rather disturbing possibility has suddenly occurred to me: it's possible what's left for the working is for everyone who cast it to suffer death from a nuclear attack. Since my life at the time wasn't in Japan, I escaped it, but that just put it off for a while.....

[(Anonymous)]

1) I would like to use the candles thing for help with vibration, for Celtic Golden Dawn practice. Is it possible?

2) There is an updated edition if Michell's book, called The New View for Atlantis. Is this one of the cases where the old one is better?

[ecosophia]

1) I'm not sure what you mean by "the candles thing." Any hints? ;-)

2) I prefer the older edition for reasons that are mostly literary in nature. The newer one has some of the mistakes of the original edition corrected, but it's not quite as colorfully written or as wildly visionary!

[(Anonymous)]

Why is a Ouija board dangerous but a seance isn’t, or at least I’ve never read of one causing Ouija-like problems?

[ecosophia]

Seances can cause serious problems if the medium isn't properly trained; fortunately most spiritualist churches and organizations follow tried and true methods of development and avoid most of the potential problems. With an Ouija board, though, the people who are using it generally have no training at all, and have no way to select what kinds of entities come through, so they routinely land in trouble.

[(Anonymous)]

We haven’t applauded our generous host’s donation of his time for a while.

👏👏👏👏👏

[ecosophia]

Thank you.

[vitranc]

Hi JMG,

I have question about exchanging energies with trees. Yesterday I tried to do it for the first time. I found a nice pine at the edge of a forrest, went to it, touched it with my hand and asked, if it was ok.
I did not feel any negative Response, but I should mention, that I am a muggle and usually feel next to nothing.
I proceeded with the technique from the Druidry handbook, I took a sitting position with my back to the tree and relaxed. I imagined the tree and its life force.
Since the atmosphere was clear, peaceful and refreshing and I had a bit of an developing headache, I went on and tried to „clear it“ I concentrated on the headache and how it went away.
12 minutes passed and I went back inside and after an hour and a half developed a splitting headache and exhaustion. Thinking I did something wrong I even consulted my daily divination, which did predict, that I will rush ahead into trouble. Great. I asked if I did something wrong and got MOR-, PHAGOS-, STRAIF+
Something unexpected happened, because you did not head the wisdom, results of ones own actions.

- did I impose on the tree and got a retaliation?
- or did I ask for this myself, since my intentionally was focused on the headache in the negative?
- or was the exhaustion a consequence of my inexperience?
- I sleept it off and am feeling better. What did I do wrong and how can I cure it?
- did I in any way harm the tree and how can I make it good?

Best regards,
V

[ecosophia]

Since I wasn't there at the time I can't tell exactly what happened. You might consider doing divination to answer each of these questions; you might also take your Ogham with you when you next go to interact with a tree, and use a one-card reading to get a "yes" or "no."

Similar Courts in 2 Charts

[(Anonymous)]

I cast 2 geomancy readings on Sunday, each for a different job I applied for. The second followed right after the first.

This is a hard time to be applying for jobs, and I was quite worried over the weekend -- I already went through a few interviews at other roles, and the recruiters told me they were putting hiring on hold for the time being, but would try to contact me again soon.

Anyway, I ended up with two charts with very similar Courts.

1) LW: Tristitia, RW: Rubeus, Judge: Acquisitio
2) LW: Tristitia, RW: Albus, Judge: Fortuna Major

The Court for 2) seems a bit more positive.

My interpretation with Tristitia as LW for both charts indicates that the companies are "stuck" in some way, and experiencing delays. However, the judges are both positive.

As the Witnesses weren't very positive yet gave positive Judges, I also looked at the Reconcilers for both charts.

The Reconcilers are fairly positive for both charts:

1) 1st Mother: Conjunctio, Judge: Acquisitio, Reconciler: Fortuna Major
2) 1st Mother: Via, Judge: Fortuna Major, Reconciler: Fortuna Minor

My interpretation is that I have a good chance of getting both jobs. However, there might be delays, and while the jobs might be good for stability, but I might otherwise be disappointed in other ways. Overall, it looks like I will end up fine.

Is this a reasonable interpretation?

Re: Similar Courts in 2 Charts

[ecosophia]

That's how I would interpret both of them.

[booklover1973]

There are supposedly cases where a person, that has attained Gwynfydd, chooses to incarnate again in a human body to help other people, like bodhisattvas. Can it happen that such a person creates negative karma, does somethong bad, or the like? What would be the consequences

[ecosophia]

Yes, because the attainment of Gwynfydd doesn't mean you're perfect; you can still mess up. Such a soul would likely have to incarnate as a human repeatedly until it had worked out the karma and was ready again to move on.

Strange memory

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,
A few years ago, I was talking with some friends and started spouting strange things about Robert E. Lee. I am Canadian and have never studied your Civil War or much of your history at all.

I did not understand why I was saying what I was saying but the words tumbled out of my mouth with a will of their own. I said Lee was a great man, a superior general, a paladin and I wanted to say he was against slavery but that seemed too strange. Later, I looked up a couple of biographies of General Lee and he was everything I had said about him and he was indeed against slavery.

Some time later, while doing Kundalini yoga, the music in the studio changed to a sad violin solo and I had a vision of a pair of shaggy black horses in the winter hauling a wagon with an empty box. Neither the horses nor the wagon had any insignia on them but I was pretty sure I was seeing a scene from the American Civil War and I was overcome with sadness, guilt and self-loathing. I think the wagon had either unloaded bodies or coffins. I wept and I can go for years without shedding tears. Later, I recalled the vision was from my left eye only.

I stopped doing Kundalini yoga as I think it was bringing things up before their time. My question for you is, do you think this was someone showing me things from their past or was I remembering things from my past? I have tried to do divinations on this but have received odd, inconclusive answers. One witch friend said I was haunting myself, that I was the soldier and another incarnation at the same time.

I believe this could be an ancestor as one of my Grandmothers came from the States as a child a very long time ago. He, or another man in a cape, (I think people might have been seeing the cape-shouldered great coats favoured in that war) has been seen here by a couple of friends and he or some other male disembodied person greeted an empath friend while I was helping her on with her coat. My daughter could smell a man, very strong, rank smell, in her room one night. I apologized on his behalf, explaining he had a very rough war.

These things have all happened over a number of years. Sometimes, ages go past here without a single oddball thing happening.

Please let me know what you think.
Maxine

Re: Strange memory

[ecosophia]

It sounds to me like a past life memory surfacing.

Lost in the Woods, Trying to Find the Path Again

[boulderchum]

Salutations JMG! If the subject is sacred geometry, might I recommend the Constructing the Universe series for those who like workbooks? Here's some quick questions and then a larger question I'm wrestling with:

1) I've heard some people say the Donald Tyson edition of Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy has been modified according to Tyson's own tastes. At the very least, a Youtube review channel shows that the printing is horrendous (some pictures - inserted for flavour and not part of the original text - are so degraded they consist mostly of flat black ink, as if they're the product of 20 photocopies of photocopies). Joseph Peterson is a very respected scholar, but I can't seem to find a printed version of his translation of the Three Books. What version of the Three Books is sitting on your shelf?

2) In Geomancy, when trying to choose a new form of magical practice, is that an 8th or 9th house issue? The 9th is "occult philosophy and divination" but what if you're doing more than just studying out of books such as performing daily rituals? Wouldn't that classify it as "magic performed by/for the Querent" as part of the 8th house? This leads into the big question...

3-Big Question) I'm feeling unsure as to what magical path to choose. I've been sporadically working Bruce Frantzis' Water Style Qi Gong in addition to Geomancy and trying to meditate consistently, but I'm starting to think that maybe I should first ground myself in a more complete tradition first before going on to experimental magic. I see a great deal of worth in Taoism, both in its philosophy and practices that seem way more powerful and unique than anything I've seen. But it's difficult to break into as a westerner, and there is no self regulating system with checks and balances like Golden Dawn based systems. My plan was to develop my energy body with Qi Gong (my energy body seems about as responsive as clay) and move from there to a system of Astral Projection and Energy Work that is also fairly Qi Gong inspired, then once mastered move to Franz Bardon's system. Note that I'm not jumping around from system to system, but I've previously thought that each system is a prerequisite to waking up my sluggish energy body and giving me the tools to work the next system even more effectively. Like I need to learn metalworking to forge a shovel, and I need a shovel to begin gardening, and I need to begin gardening to grow herbs, and I need to grow herbs to make a fine tea.

I'd love to experiment with the way Taoist practices interact with Western Energy work, but should I try getting established in a more accessible tradition first (even if it doesn't inspire me)? Or is this a test that I should meet by knuckling down and continuing with my Qi Gong practices?

My goal with magic is to become psychic/clairvoyant enough that I can experiment and observe directly the energies of the human body and living things. So I guess I'm looking for a tradition that is fairly etheric focused like Qi Gong.

Sorry for the shotgun spread of text, I thought if you understood where I'm coming from you might know how best to point me. Here's some bullet point questions:
3a) Is staying the course advisable, or would I benefit more efficiently from a tradition that is more complete than Taoism and designed to be learned by westerners in solitude from a book?
3b) Does the Celtic Golden Dawn work with the etheric, etheric/astral projection and developing clairvoyance? It seems to me the Golden Dawn traditions are very Astral/Mental plane based.
3c) Will working with the Qi Gong circuits lock me out from practicing western styles of magic (and vice versa)?

Re: Lost in the Woods, Trying to Find the Path Again

[ecosophia]

1) I used Tyson when that was what was available. These days, when I want to consult Agrippa, I check a PDF of the Latin text. I know that may not be too helpful to you!

2) Magical practice is 8th, magical theory is 9th. If you're looking at taking up practice, that's 8th.

3a) That's something only you can decide.

3b) No, its techniques are standard Golden Dawn-derived, thus primarily astral and mental. There's a significant etheric component via alchemy, but not the sort of thing you're working with.

3c) Very probably yes.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear John,

I have been a long-time reader of your writings, sincere thanks.

I have recently started working through the lessons in "Learning Ritual Magic". I would like to request your advice on two things:

1. I am a more-or-less practising Hindu, would this conflict with the practice and the lessons?

2. While doing the LBRP, I'm not exactly sure how to visualise the archangels, i.e., which images to use. Are there any canonical images for this?

Many thanks.

[ecosophia]

1) As long as you can also deal with the Judeo-Christian god, as Sri Ramakrishna did, there should be no trouble at all.

2) This is one of those areas where Hinduism has a huge advantage -- your tradition is very good with imagery, much more so than most others. (The Egyptians were on the same level, but I can't think of another example outside the Indian subcontinent and cultures influenced by, say, Buddhism.) There aren't really canonical images for each of the archangels, outside of the basic elements (robed, winged figures with halos about their heads and the standard symbolic objects in their hands). Do your best.

Astrology in German

[bendithfawr]

Hi JMG and comentariat,

I'd like to get into astrology and JMG has been recommending the old edition of "A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator".

A question for German-speaking readers: Does anyone know of a good German introduction on astrology in the spirit of the above-mentioned book? I don't mind reading in English but I'm a bit daunted by the specialized vocabulary.

Thank you in advance!

[(Anonymous)]

How would I replace the god invitation of the SOP with something meaningful if I don't have a relationship with any Pantheon?

Or..what might be a good Buddhist substitute for them?

Thanks a bunch.

[ecosophia]

What school of Buddhism do you practice? If it's one of the mantrayana or vajrayana schools I may be able to help you.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Sir and Druid,
What consequences are there of using goofing powder on someone’s head in a dream? I do not know this person, and they were trying to pick my pockets when I realized that I had a bag of goofing powder in my hands. I broke the bag open over their head and I forcibly woke up as the powder was landing on their head.

[ecosophia]

If it's a dream, it's symbolic, not real. Have you considered meditating or journaling about it and seeing what you can figure out?

DA SOP

[tunesmyth]

Hello JMG,

I have some questions of procedure with the Sphere Of Protection as given in The Dolmen Arch.

Q1. The movements to the four points of the Elemental Cross are performed with just one hand, is that correct? So one hand hangs down at the side while the other moves up, down, right, and left; and then finally move both hands when crossing the hands over the chest.

Q2. When invoking the third and fourth powers (the horizontal axis), are the names spoken while touching one's appropriate shoulder? Or is the hand stretched out to the side? Or some place else? The description for the third power seems to suggest the former, but the description for the fourth power also includes a part where one visualizes a ray flowing from the solar plexus "flowing through your left side and across the palm of your left hand in a straight line", which doesn't make sense if the hand is one the shoulder, and doesn't jibe with my assumption back in Q1 that the Elemental Cross is performed with just one hand.

Would you mind clarifying here just a little bit?

Re: DA SOP

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, that's correct.

2) Hmm! That's an edit-o. Ignore it -- it'll be removed in the next edition. You simply touch each shoulder with the right hand.

LBRP & SOP

[(Anonymous)]

Hello!

I have been learning and studying LRM for a number of years and I have completed the course. Only the initiation is left to be carried out.
I regularly do the ritual magic exercises of LRM and all I get is a rather pleasant tingling sensation in the forehead.
I also practice discursive meditation and divination.
I am pleased with DM + DIV as I get good results.
However the LRM ritual gives me pretty much muted results compared to what others have been reporting.

(1) I was wondering whether I should give the SOP ritual a try and compare the effects?

(2) If I give SOP a try I would like a version that does not involve invoking gods, I'd prefer one which does not refer to a particular religious tradition. A version that could be suited to persons of different faiths and coming from different religious backgrounds for instance. Is that possible?

(3) I would be interested in introducing some form of ritual magic + DM & DIV to my wife and may be a few selected friends. If ever I do that I'd need a version that is acceptable to people of diverse backgrounds because my wife is of a different faith as me and where I live there is a lot of religious diversity. It is impossible NOT to bump into polytheists one minute and strict monotheists the next.

PS: Yes, I'd like to found a lodge one of these days where I live and such a lodge could attract people of very diverse faiths. Finally, given your perspicacity and intelligence you might very well be able to identify me. Please keep it confidential if ever for where I live magic is considered either as foolish, superstitious or outright demonic. And yes I intend to do some divination about the matter!!!!

Many thanks - I really appreciate your comments and dedication to teaching sane occultism.

Re: LBRP & SOP

[ecosophia]

1) Once you've completed the initiation in LRM, yes, you might want to spend six months or a year practicing the SoP and comparing the two.

2) Easily done. The version covered in this series of posts can be done without specifying or invoking deities -- just leave out references to them.

3) The SoP is very well suited to that sort of thing -- it was the standard ritual in the Universal Gnostic Church, which has as a basic tenet the rule that every member chooses what he or she worships.

And I'll go out of my way not to notice, or mention, who you might be. ;-)

DMH progress

[sea_spray]

I've been progressing very slowly through the DMH (5 years so far I think) but as you say there's no such thing as too slow. I'm living in a house with young kids and another on the way, so unless I find somewhere else to do magic I'll be sticking to the grove from your druidry handbook and the SOP for a while.

1) Should I hold back on the more advanced rituals than the SOP and Grove until I've got the symbolism of the wheel of life memorized.

2) If I do an SOP and then the druidry handbook's grove would it be workable to do path working in that open grove?

3) Do you have any thoughts on a divination deck with the Ogham few's and 8 stations of the wheel of the year for 33 cards in total?

I'm in the process of making an oak staff from a branch which came off a living tree in a storm. It felt quite wild and powerful (which I've since noticed is how a living oak tree feels) as I was taking the bark off though now that it's sanded smooth it's much quieter. I'm planning to coat it in linseed oil to protect it and use it as a walking stick while going tramping where I will use it to help me connect to the energies of nature and do the SOP. I feel like it is for powerful rituals outdoors and that I need to grow to be able to work with it properly. Once the staff and I are ready I'm planning to use the ritual in the DMH to enchant it.

4) Will there be any issue that you can see with exposing it to sunlight for long periods as in your ENM you said it can wear off other enchantments.

5) Similarly would there be any issues with it having contact with other people who may not have any idea what it is. I've had the intention that it should be safe to be around for others, keeping it's power locked up until needed so to speak.

5) Would Esus be the one to ask to learn the "tree magic" you say Oak is used for in the ENM or are there other sources. Would you be able to briefly describe it for me, is it for helping trees grow, working with trees to do other magic or something else?

Hopefully that's not too many questions. Many thanks for your books and guidance

Re: DMH progress

[ecosophia]

1) No, you can go ahead with the ritual work before you finish memorizing the symbolism.

2) Yes, very much so. That's always the way I did it.

3) Yes. You might be interested to know that that's also the number of cards in the Sacred Geometry Oracle...

4) Wood and stone are both good at holding onto enchantments -- the stones of many stone circles are still powerfully charged, and think about how much sunlight they've been exposed to! -- and oak is particularly good at holding energy. You should have no trouble.

5) That should also be fine.

6) Yes, you'd invoke Esus for that. Tree magic is the branch of natural magic that uses the leaves, bark, wood, seeds, etc. of trees the way a herbalist uses herbs, for magical purposes.

Self-hypnosis et al

[(Anonymous)]

In a response on the other blog, you said you had used magic not to get the universe to send you goodies, but to make yourself into the kind of person who does the things you wanted to do.

I wish to do something similar. I mean to use affirmations and self-hypnosis, which I have practiced hitherto at a modest level of attainment. I am familiar with basic HOGD ritual, using Hellenic divine names and imagery.

Can you suggest anything more, or particular ways of employing these methods? Do sigils have a place in this? What kind of regimen should I try to establish? Are there pitfalls to avoid?

My available references include your "Circles of Power" and "Celtic Golden Dawn," so anything that can be adapted from those I should be able to manage. Thanks for any suggestions you may feel inclined to offer.

Re: Self-hypnosis et al

[ecosophia]

If you want to use magical methods in addition to affirmations and self-hypnosis, the basic triad of practices -- a daily protective ritual, such as the Hellenic LBRP; a daily session of discursive meditation; and a daily divination -- provides the foundation for that work. Once you've established that basis and made it a routine part of your life, you can start using the more advanced methods of ritual magic to transform yourself to become the kind of person who gets the life you want. Always do divination in advance of any working to make sure it's a good idea! Other than that, if you study Circles of Power closely you should have all the tools you need.

As for for sigils, I never found them particularly useful, but your mileage may vary; some people get very good results from them.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

So I'm over a year into the DMH, just awakened the two currents for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if the situation described here is related to that, or just psychological issues.

I notice how very often the default state my mind goes into is either daydreaming or worrying. Any menial errand I'm doing, or if I go for a walk, my mind automatically goes into its normal ruts. Based on observation, these ruts include: wondering whether if I had X or lived in Y whether life would be better, how to prepare for worrying-scenario Z, or less counterproductively, engaging in more harmless daydreams, or better, going over material in things I've read or meditated on. These latter two happen less frequently than the former two, and especially the last seems like a positive thing.

What's interesting is how often my mind goes into these ruts, it's very difficult to choose to either think of something different than usual, or just be in the present moment and observe reality around me.

I got so frustrated about this last week and in the past that I felt like I wanted to rush with the DMH, that I wanted to go ahead to the Grail working to get 'fixed' and so I've clamped down on that desire in order to proceed at a natural pace.

If the tendency of the mind to fall into these sorts of ruts is something that magical practice is in part meant to help overcome, how can one avoid this habit? Just by being aware of it?

Thank you!

[isabelcooper]

I have something of the same tendency--for me, it's likely part of an anxiety disorder (and possibly inattentive-version ADD)--and what I've found helpful is performing a version of the Fourfold Breath. The need to count and pay attention to my breathing on its own tends to disrupt whatever "hamster wheel" my thoughts have been on, and then it's easier to either find another subject or be present.

Of course, that requires me to notice what I'm doing and have the willpower to stop and do the breathing, which is another kettle of fish, but it's a help.

For wondering about different lives...two things come to mind. First, if these are changes you can make, you might want to sit down and make a list of realistic pros and cons--"If I move to Wisconsin, I'll be in some very pretty country, but I'll miss my friends here," for example--and then let that sit for a month or two before reading it. If the pros still outweigh the cons, hey, maybe start trying to do that thing!

If the things you're thinking about aren't possible, try and keep in mind that we almost always can imagine the good parts of those situations. We often don't think about how they might not turn out well, or not turn out much better than what we have now--and we can't really see all of the things coming up for us that we might miss if we *did* have X or Y. Again, I struggle with keeping that in mind at times, but when I can, it's useful.

(It makes it easier if you can think of a parallel case where you were really disappointed at the time but two or three years down the road saw that it was for the best: I was devastated when one of my HS boyfriends dumped me right before college, for example, but after sophomore year, I realized all the cool things I'd gotten to see and do that probably wouldn't have happened if he and I were still dating, for a number of reasons. And then I read over his letters to me *from* when we were dating and realized that, while the guy in question was perfectly nice, there was nothing there I wanted any more. When I can keep that in mind, it makes similar "but IF ONLY" situations easier to weather.)

[(Anonymous)]

What were the original Golden Dawn terms for Abred, Gwynfydd and Ceugant?

[ecosophia]

There aren't any. The Celtic Golden Dawn system uses Hermetic GD technical methods but all its symbolism and philosophy come from the Druid Revival traditions, which have their own odd and Druidical way of looking at things. If you're familiar with the Cabala you can probably find things that more or less match, but "more or less" is the operative phrase -- you won't find a straightforward one-to-one match.

[(Anonymous)]

With Christian rituals, would you want to do a Summoning Ritual of the Cross, or stick to the Banishing Ritual of the Cross until you were ready for the Christian Middle Pillar? I'm thinking the last one could do with a rebrand...maybe Column of Light? Pillar of Light?

[ecosophia]

Stick with the banishing. Then add in the Pillar of Fire exercise -- yes, that's what I'd call the Christian Middle Pillar exercise, with reference to the pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the Book of Exodus.

[(Anonymous)]

I had an idea about getting around the 'conservation of karma'. If someone decided to to the karma clear ritual, would it make a difference if they retreated into the wilderness and became a 'karma hermit'? Then when they were devoured by voles, or whatever horrific thing, the karma would be discharged without landing on another person. The game of karma pass-the-parcel would be broken. Could that work?

[ecosophia]

I suppose, but given the wry sense of humor that seems to govern this world, the isolated wilderness where you decided to retreat to will be just the place that three crazed murderers who've escaped from the nearest penitentiary happen to choose for their hideout...

[(Anonymous)]

Are there such things as evil gods? For example what's the deal with gods who want human sacrifice?

Is the sacrificee's afterlife or next incarnation different because of how they died?

[ecosophia]

1) No, but there are occasionally very powerful demons. They don't tend to last long but they can do a lot of damage before they implode.

2) Only to the extent that they succeeded in working off some bad karma.