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 The View Over Atlantis by John Michell. This book is the reason you've heard of ley lines and sacred geometry. One of the classics of the paperback occult boom of the late 1960s, this weird, wild book is arguably the best thing in the grand old British tradition of visionary landscape mysticism since the days of William Blake. Treat it as a source of historical fact and you'll end up wandering in circles in the mist; treat it as a vision of magical possibility, very richly laden with occult philosophy, and it leads to fascinating places. 

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.

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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)]

For JMG and the commentariat, I created a Magic Monday Bingo based on a selection of our gracious host’s most common and entertaining replies. If I may post the link: https://i.imgur.com/w6V1ow8.png

Feel free to play along every week!

[ecosophia]

Too funny. I'm going to give everyone a free square by saying "Thanks for this!"

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

1. As a professional writer, do you find the state of the industry depressing? Hundreds of thousands of people aspire to be writers, many of them quite talented, leading to a glut of books on the market, most of which will be immediately forgotten. Even those that make it struggle to capture the interest of an audience and maintain it over the long term, and the pace of work can be unrelenting. Overall, writing seems to be a very precarious and cutthroat profession, similar to the entertainment or music industries. I imagine that you went through a long period in the beginning without a light at the end of the tunnel – how did you manage?

2. Do you have any expectations of leaving behind a legacy with your writing career? Does it make any difference to you whether your books will be read in the far future or end up as curiosities in second-hand book stores?

3. Do you maintain any system for keeping track of all the books that you’ve read, and those that you intend to read?

4. What is your process for deciding to buy a physical copy of a book as opposed to loaning it from the library?

[ecosophia]

1) The state of the publishing industry hasn't actually changed much since the invention of the printing press. In Elizabethan England, writers were grumbling about inadequate income, lousy reviews, dishonest publishers, fickle audiences, and did I mention inadequate income? I knew what I was in for when I set out to write professionally, and I assumed that it would take at least a decade of hard work before I started getting any significant income. I had the huge advantage that my wife was able to support us, so I spent that decade as a househusband, combining long hours of writing with cooking, cleaning, etc. At this point I'm supporting us with my writing income in fairly comfortable style, so I can't complain.

2) For 75 years after my death, my copyrights will remain in existence, and I've arranged to have them support some Masonic charities after I'm gone. After that? Anybody's guess. I hope a lot of my books end up in secondhand bookstores, though -- I've gotten many of the books that taught me most via random browsing in such places, and I'd like other people to have the same fun.

3) No, I'm not that organized.

4) If I'm going to need to check it out repeatedly, and it's not too expensive, I buy it. On the other hand, a lot of books I need aren't available from libraries...

[(Anonymous)]

Would it be okay for a non-Christian to use the Trinity in the opening of the Christ SoP?

[ecosophia]

Sure, if you don't mind having the Christian god manifest in your life. If you invoke him, he will -- and if you do the Christian SoP, you're invoking him.

[(Anonymous)]

1) A couple of MMs ago, you mentioned sharing with us an alternative attribution scheme for the Minor Arcana to the Sephiroth on the Tree of Life that you found more useful for divination. Is that still on the agenda?

2) A while ago on the other blog, you said that investments in the form of stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments are becoming worthless because the era of growth is over. With the recent drops in the stock market this topic has been on my mind lately. Do you still stand by that assessment? From a US-centric context, I take it that you don't have a 401k, Roth IRA, or similar accounts? And following along the same line, what kind of retirement should a twenty-something today be planning for?

3) In the Encyclopedia of Natural Magic, p.21, when talking about the astrological signs, you say that in Cancer, Mars is in its triplicity - is this a typo? I thought Mars is particularly weak in Cancer.

4) The phases of the Moon are used extensively in occultism and astrology. Has anyone tried to use the phases of Venus for anything? Obviously, this wasn't possible for most of history prior to the invention of the telescope, but I'm curious if, to your knowledge, any work has been done on it since the 17th century.

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, it's still on the agenda.

2) Such investments will eventually become worthless -- how soon "eventually" is, of course, is the problem. I don't have any such investments myself because I don't plan on retiring -- I enjoy the work that I do, and expect to quit writing when they haul my cold dead fingers off the keyboard. I could be wrong, but if you're in your twenties the chance that you'll be able to retire at all seems very small to me.

3) It's not a typo. All Water signs are in the triplicity of Mars; Cancer is also the sign of Mars' fall, but the fact that it's also his triplicity makes it not quite as bad as it would otherwise be.

4) No, I haven't heard of anything along those lines. It might make for some interesting experimentation, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Last week someone asked about a Valentinian Gnostic Sphere of Protection, a interesting idea to say the least, and it got me thinking about if or could there be a Tree for Gnosticism, or rather for the different flavors of Gnosticism.

[ecosophia]

Of course you can use the Tree of Life in Gnosticism. According to Gershom Scholem, still the most respected historian of the Jewish Kabbalah, the Tree of Life started out as a Gnostic creation and only later was picked up by the Jews. You'd simply have to pick your set of aeons and figure out how to assign them to the Spheres and Paths.

[(Anonymous)]

Good evening JMG,

1. Can positive hedonism be compatible with occultism? Can a rational pleasure-seeker practice magic while avoiding the Ahrimanic pattern of evil? Can we imagine Keith Richards the archmage?

2. What, if any, are the karmic consequences of killing insects? Am I condemned to a bad reincarnation if I squash some spiders every once in a while, or put up some ant baits? I know that certain Buddhist sects advocate total pacifism, but I imagine most occultists don't go that far?

3. What are the karmic consequences of suicide due to depression? I know that this topic is very complex and distressing, but are there any generalities that can be drawn, since it is unfortunately a rather common occurrence in industrialized societies? What are the effects on the afterlife?

[ecosophia]

1) Yes, of course. Occultism is not an ascetic path. If you practice your hedonism in an ethical manner -- that is to say, make sure that everyone involved in your carouses has a good time and nobody gets messed over -- it should be no hindrance at all; you'll just have to schedule your occult practices so that you get over the hangover first.

2) All life feeds on life, and all life struggles against life. Vines choke out trees, hawks tear out the throats of pigeons, and it's a rare elephant that doesn't flatten insects with every step. The advice I'd offer is don't kill when you don't have to; it requires only a little more effort to trap the spider with a plastic tumbler and a sheeet of card and toss it out the window, for example. If you have to, be as quick and as clean as you can.

3) If you kill yourself to run away from something in this life, you can guarantee that you'll have to deal with the same thing in your next life. Also, suicides generally have to hang around waiting until they would have died naturally before they can go on, and by all accounts that's very, very dull.

[(Anonymous)]

Good evening Mr. Greer -

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to do this every Monday. Although I only rarely ask any questions, I read these threads almost every week and always walk away with something new to think about. After a years-long staring contest with the Watcher, however, I have finally resolved to take up serious study, rather than watching from the outside. I have begun working through the first volume of the Dolmen Arch, and am now about a week in. I am already intrigued and eager for more, although I’m making it a point to be patient and work through the material slowly and deliberately. I have a couple questions, though:

1) You have always been adamant that divination is an integral part of occult practice, and you have also noted previously that the Dolmen Arch system meshes with any system of divination the student cares to use. I don’t have any existing divinatory practice, and I have chosen to learn geomancy along with the material in the DA system – the big reason being your own characterization of geomancy as a straightforward-if-not-blunt oracle. Is there any reason that I should be wary of learning a divination system from scratch along with the DA system? You have mentioned before that it’s imperative to follow magical instruction to the letter and to not “mix and match” when learning a new system, so any advice you can give about whether this is prudent is appreciated.

2) Also with respect to divination, I have been casting my daily chart shortly after completing the EC+CL ritual and the first meditative exercise each day. I settled on a standard question: “what should I learn from today’s magical practice?” I have cast shield charts, and the past two days have given me the same outcome: LW Albus, RW Albus, J Populus. Today’s reading was even more striking: the four mothers were identical to the four daughters – Acquisitio, Fortuna Minor, Albus, Carcer, in that order. I feel that this is a strongly auspicious message – Albus as favorable for quiet progress, intelligence, and beginnings, Populus as favorable for quiet reflection. I also get the impression that the presence of Albus in both the past and the future (RW and LW) means that I have slowly, deliberately, and quietly grown and progressed in my other studies, and more growth awaits in the occult study I am taking up now. But as to my question as such - “what should I learn?” - I have trouble turning this into a lesson that I can act upon except “keep at it.” Am I missing anything serious here? Am I doing this right? I am asking this as an absolute novice, unaware if I’m on the right track at all.

Thanks again for all you do!

[ecosophia]

1) Geomancy works very well with every form of Druid occultism and spirituality I've ever practiced, so you should be fine.

2) That's not the kind of question that geomancy can answer easily. Geomancy's very well suited to yes-or-no questions, and it's also decent at very broad overviews -- "what is going on in my life right now?" -- but it's not really well suited for "what" questions. You may want to modify your daily question with that in mind.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

what is your view on inner plane communications/contacts?
Are those useful and should be cultivated?

Thanks!

[ecosophia]

They can be useful; they can also be one of the quickest ways to the looney bin you'll ever see. The crucial point is to remember that everything that comes from an inner plane contact is filtered through your own sphere of sensation, and thus is shaped by your assumptions, habits of thought, and experiences; it's also going to be shaped by the collective consciousness of your time. It is not unfiltered spiritual truth. Remember that, treat inner plane contacts as a somewhat more information-dense equivalent of pathworkings, and always rely on the three mystical senses that Druids cultivate -- common sense, a sense of proportion, and a sense of humor -- and you'll be fine. Otherwise? It's all too easy to get caught up in a self-reinforcing feedback loop of delusion, with megalomaniac and paranoiac fantasies the probable endpoint.

[(Anonymous)]

What's your opinion of the different Gnostic sects?

[ecosophia]

I see a lot of merit in the nondualist Gnostic sects -- the Naassenes in particular, but also the Valentinians and their ilk. On the other hand, the dualist Johannite end of Gnosticism -- "the world is the evil creation of an evil godling, we must escape from its snares!" -- doesn't do anything for me at all. Still, your mileage may vary.

[(Anonymous)]

JMG, a while back the topic of tulpas came up. The people quoted in the article seemed to me to be cultivating multiple personalities rather than tulpas, saying they could always pull the tulpa back into their own personalities. Alexandra David-Neel and Dion Fortune both said their tulpas got to the point where they had independent physical existence. What exactly IS a tulpa?

[ecosophia]

A tulpa is an artificial elemental -- a personalized pattern of energies that functions in some ways as an independent being. The people who can pull their tulpas back into their own personalities are doing a less than halfhearted job of it -- though that's probably just as well. Full-on tulpa creation involves putting some of your etheric energy (i.e., life) as well as astral energy into the tulpa, and if this is done intensely enough for a long enough time, the tulpa becomes sufficiently charged that it can begin to mess with physical matter. This isn't something I recommend doing unless you're being taught by an expert!

[booklover1973]

I have a question about adapting Merlin's Wheel into the magic of The Druid Magic Handbook: There is, as far as I know, no direct equivalent to the Pentagram ritual of invoking a single element (Bardic and Druid Grade). With what I should replace it, if anything? I assume, otherwise, the rituals can be used, while substituting the Grove Opening and Closing and the Sphere of Protection for the banishing ritual of the Pentagram and the Golden Dawn temple opening and closing?

[ecosophia]

That's correct -- there's no exact equivalent, though the Oak and Heather pentagrams in the DMH can be used for a similar purpose. Other than that, yes, just swap out one set of rituals for another. I designed these workings with that in mind.

Books and Geomancy

[(Anonymous)]

If one wanted to, this could probably be sorted into the categories "over-doing" or "over-thinking" it - why not just pick up a book and read it and then the next? Still, since I have not yet had the pleasure to consult geomancy on book issues, I welcomed the opportunity to practice and tried to find out which out of four books would be the most sensible to start with. So I did a reading for each asking the question "Would starting with book X benefit me most?" - 5th house question, obviously.

For two books the chart did not perfect. For two it did and I wonder which reading "scores higher", so to say.

Book 1: 1-amissio, 2-rubeus, 3-puer, 4-populus, 5-amissio, 6-conjunctio, 7-laetitia, 8-albus, 9-cauda draconis, 10-puer, 11-fortuna minor, 12-amissio, rw-fortuna major, lw-conjunctio, rw-acquisitio
Book 2: 1-fortuna minor, 2-fortuna major, 3-laetitia, 4-fortuna minor, 5-puella, 6-carcer, 7-rubeus, 8-rubeus, 9-via, 10-rubeus, 11-albus, 12-populus, rw-puella, lw-albus, j-carcer

Reading one perfects by occupation and conjunction, but does this with amissio, which one could interpret negatively as a "yes, but...". Still, considering the phrasing of the question I wonder whether this has to be read as a "yes, because...". After all, amissio stand for loosing something and passes to the house of limitations. The main reason I started this little reading project for is exploring the reasons for fear and limitations and possibly overcoming it, so that would make sense. Additionally the court is quite positive, which maybe does not count too much in house readings, but still... Additionally, the cardines are not too bad for this one, I'd say.

Reading two perfects by conjunction "only" and suggest to me, that with this book I could score a "quick win", but possibly would not get too much out of it. The court is not very positive and with carcer being the judge underscores the theme of not getting too much out of it. The cardines are not very positive, either. However, the figures in 1 and 5 are comparably positive ones compared to amissio for book 1.

So basically I wonder which interpretation of the first reading makes more sense since that directly ranks reading two higher or lower:

1) "Book 1 is exactly where you have to go to. You want to find out something to reduce limitations and fear, there you will find what you're looking for" or
2) "Book 1 is very important but at that moment a loss/waste of time"

A second question on reading two: Rubeus shows up fairly often in the chart but without a direct connection to the relevant figures. In your experience, can you treat the figures just as building blocks that have to be there so that the rest of the chart can look as it has to, or has such a constellation any significance beyond this?

After all I'm probably going to read both books and find out - but still, since this is a little geomancy exercise, I'd be really interested in your opinion on how to compare those two readings.

Thanks & greetings,
Nachtgurke

Re: Books and Geomancy

[ecosophia]

Yes, I think it counts as overthinking it! I'd take the readings as saying that you can read either book #1 or book #2 first, with a slight advantage to book #1, simply because it has two modes of perfection rather than one.

[(Anonymous)]

Besides discursive meditation, what helps the mind the most to develop a habit of thinking up plans and following them instead of relying on the passions or whims of thw moment?

I feel like I am rational but am heavily resistant to organizing my life in a conscious way.

I for some reason find more attractive meaning in someone else's idea or plan than my own, even if they end up being the same plan or idea!

How can I empower and make attractive the plans my own mind creates for myself?

[ecosophia]

Start by figuring out why it is that you're resistant to that. If you just try to steamroller past that emotional reaction, it'll trip you up in some other way. I'd recommend doing a bunch of journaling to figure out where the resistance is, and then you'll have a much better idea how to go about working around it.

Traps in old occult texts

[(Anonymous)]

A few times, you've said that old occult texts contained traps to weed out particularly evil or stupid individuals who tried to use them.

Do you, or maybe other readers like Robert Mathiesen, have any references for textbooks, secondary sources, that mention this idea? The more academically respectable the better.

Re: Traps in old occult texts

[ecosophia]

I haven't seen this discussed in secondary sources, just in primary texts. The Picatrix is one good example, the Red Lion of Salomon Trismosin (an alchemical text) is another.

[(Anonymous)]

I've read materialist descriptions of trepanation that explain it as releasing pressure. Breaking the hermetic seal of the skull lets more blood into the brain, allowing it to function better. What are the spiritual effects of drilling a hole in your head?

[ecosophia]

This assumes that we have a better idea of what the brain needs than nature does, and that's a very, very dubious assumption to make. As any alchemist can tell you, you don't break the seal on the vessel when the Work is under way -- you wait until it's done, at which point it dissolves of its own accord.

The Fool

[dreamstrike13]

Dear JMG,

Hope all is well with you and yours.

For a long time now I've been incredibly interested in the court fool and more recently Harlequins and the link with my particular choice of martial arts.

My schools head is in his late 80s and is the mirror opposite of what is considered 'normal' in Japan for marital arts. He trains in sweatpants, has pink hair, has tea break where he'll paint anything for anyone, and we are all able to attend his training sessions regardless of rank. Everything about training is non-standard to Japanese and Western eyes. Rank is essentially worthless, and frequently used a rope for folks to hang themselves.... or an quiet reminder your doing ok,.... or both?!? He has an exquisite way of giving everything to everyone; you want to be the big Daishihan? no problem- rank, medals etc are yours!, you want to sit in the corner and train? He'll pop over and say exactly the right thing that will invariable cause an 'aha!! moment (although not always at that point in time, sometimes later on a packed train were you start laughing to yourself, not helping the strange foreigner stereotype :P)

Training has this carnival feel to it, but when you really start to think about it- and frequently what fits in the spaces not show- it's terrifying (a feeling you get when he demos a technique on you, not what is done -which is bad enough- but what could be done, and how the folly fades to something quite leathal) all done with a huge smile and a laugh. There are also times were he purposefully teaches complete nonsense, or has extended tea-breaks if the class makeup has undesirables, or one of the alphabet soup US gov representatives based in Tokyo has shown up with their followers.

Can you think of a western school of thought, or thinker that follow this line of teaching? Folly mixed with the deadly serious? Blatantly poking fun at the overtly stiff and serious nature of something(or more perhaps how it can manifest if not done in a balanced way), while simultaneously dedicating yourself wholeheartedly to the study of it?

I keep coming back to the fool/jester and more specifically harlequins as a point of reference. Do you have any reading references about their training, or how they were able to move so seamlessly though societal strata, offer deep insight into it, mock it, and not loose their heads? Are they specifically associated with a specific mystery school? One of the themes that is frequently discussed in class is 虚実 (kyojitsu), or the interplay of truth and falsehood, which again links me back to the fool or harlequin. Bright gaudy colors, while hidden behind a mask; gymnastics and tomfoolery, which I'm sure could be quite quickly made lethal as the movements are interrelated; silly rhymes with underlying depth. Any insights appricated.

p.s while chatting to my wife trying to think of a way to write this, I made her think of this book: The Music of the Spheres: Music, Science and the Natural Order of the Universe. New York: Springer Verlag, 1995. Seems right up your street! Interesting too, how so many things can be interrelated: martial arts, mystery schools, and music! cheers :)

Re: The Fool

[ecosophia]

There used to be a lot of that in the western world in the 1960s and 1970s. It went out of fashion thereafter, partly because it made good cover for con artists, and partly because alternative spirituality became a marker of class status for the comfortable classes, and people who can cough up $10K for a weekend workshop don't like to be made fun of. You can still find some elements of it in what's left of the Discordian movement, in the Church of the Sub-Genius, and in the rowdier end of chaos magic. It's certainly a workable approach, though, and especially so for martial arts -- what you're suggesting sounds like a cognitive equivalent of Drunken style gungfu, which as I'm sure you know is superlatively lethal.

Thanks for the book reference! Once the libraries open up again I'll see if I can find it.

[(Anonymous)]

1. I'm curious about what your thoughts are on occultism and physical culture. I've noticed a distinct lack of a systematic method of physical cultivation in western esotericism. There's a certain neopagan group that shall remain nameless that seems to combine magick with weight lifting and mixed martial arts quite successfully however I do not wish to be affiliated with them. Eastern mysticism has yoga/martial arts, should there be a western equivalent?

2. Would you be willing to share your general thoughts on the differences between eastern/western systems of mysticism?

[ecosophia]

1) This is something the western occult tradition desperately needs to see revived. Fortunately there are already several options. The Five Rites aka Five Tibetan Rites (which have nothing to do with Tibet) are a set of robust exercises that many occultists have adopted; Genevieve Stebbins, a high-ranking adept in the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, wrote a very solid book on physical culture (suitable for women as well as men) which you can download for free here; there are plenty of other books on physical culture you can also download and use; and the revival of historic European martial arts has resulted in schools in a great many places that teach robust and effective martial disciplines, if that's what interests you. I've also found that some modern Asian (or Asian-influenced) martial and movement arts adapt surprisingly well to combination with Western esoteric practice -- examples are aikido, shintaido, and Tai Chi Chih. So you've got plenty of options.

2) That's really the subject for a book, not a response to a question! There's a vast amount of diversity within both of these very broad categories, and pretty much anything you can find in one can also be found in the other, but there are also cultural differences, some obvious, some quite subtle.

[(Anonymous)]

There's a type of mirror scrying that I've only seen from one source, and I can't remember what it was.

The method involved sitting in an armchair in a small, dimly-lit room. There'd be a mirror on the wall in front of you, but above your head height. So you wouldn't see yourself, only a reflection of black velvet curtains on the wall behind you. Combined with the low light, it created the effect of looking into infinite depth - a true black mirror.

I got the impression it was mainly developed for people who found seeing their own face in the mirror too distracting. There was also a funny story of someone finishing their business in the room, the next person going in, and the spirit the first one was dealing with was still there. They ended up talking to that spirit for a while before getting on with what they were there to do. :)

How common was this type of room and which groups used them?

[ecosophia]

That's not an approach that I've encountered, though it certainly sounds like it would work well.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear JMG,

1. You wrote last week in two places that GD style magic is rough on the astral plane, which shows up as emotional imbalance. Someone also wrote last week about a kundalini equivalent in Gareth Knight's system also can cause the same effect - in DMH style magic, does this apply as well? As I continue along with the DMH after awakening the two currents, I am noticing more emotional imbalance at times. I'll have periods of well-being and clarity, then for a couple of days I will be emotionally 'immature', prone to petulance, moodiness, and irritation. If this is the case, why would this be, and is there anything I can do about it?

2. While meditating on the stations of the year in the DMH, can I do color breathing for the colors of each station, even though there are new colors compared to what was introduced during the section on color breathing? For example, brown for Imbolc?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

1) Any astrally based magic will tend to bring up unfinished emotional business, so yes, that's what's going on. You might try doing some journaling about the issues that make you petulant, moody, and irritable so you can process the unfinished business and move on.

2) Try it and see what results you get!

Pythagoreanism and beans

[jaroslaw]

The Pythagorean aversion to beans has been on my mind the last few days. There have been a variety of theories put forth but I was wondering what your take on their proscription is. One of the accounts of his death says that he refused to escape to safety through a field of beans and instead faced a murderous crowd.

Re: Pythagoreanism and beans

[ecosophia]

A lot of traditions have odd food taboos, and I've never really understood why. I'd make a lousy Pythagorean; rice and beans is one of my comfort foods.

[(Anonymous)]

How certain can you be about a person's level of skill with magic? To what extent can it be measured objectively? If it's more subjective, what kind of things do you look for?

[ecosophia]

The main thing I look for, in trying to gauge someone's skill with magic, is how they're doing in terms of everyday life. If somebody parades around their magical skill but they can't keep a job or a romantic partner, or their life is a smoking crater in some other sense, you're not dealing with an adept. Somebody who's good at magic is going to fix their own problems first.

Non-Material Ethics

[(Anonymous)]

Last week you mentioned that even choices in lucid dreams have ethical consequences. Could you elaborate on that? Mainstream society's ethics are much more focused on actions and consequences on the material plane, so things like daydreams or video games tend to get something of a free pass.

Also, does it make a difference how, say, a video game frames our choices? In other words, if I create a version of Civilization where instead of letting players drop nuclear weapons on cities, they can play modern atonal musical loudly and scare off half the population, does that change the ethical implications even if the end result in the game is the same?

Thanks!

- Carnelian Exogenous Sheep

Re: Non-Material Ethics

[ecosophia]

1) The choices you make shape your character, so making selfish and cruel choices in a lucid dream makes it more likely that you will behave the same way on the material plane. By "ethical consequences," I should probably say, I mean something much more specific than most current ethical theories provide; your thoughts, words, and deeds shape your character, and your character shapes your destiny. That's the core mechanism of karma.

2) That's a question I don't think anyone has explored in detail, and as I've never played a video game, I'm probably not the right person to ask!

-- Orange Apoplectic Wombat

[(Anonymous)]

1) What is the proper way to thank your guardian spirit? (is that term interchangeable with guardian angel?) I've had the sense of being very well taken care of lately. Is prayer the best way, or are there other things that would be ideal?

2) Any suggestions for getting over the hump with geomancy? Even when just interpreting the judge and witnesses, I feel like I often don't know what to make of it, and it's hard afterward to make sense of how the day unfolded. My guess is you'll answer that the best way is just to cast and interpret lots of charts, but I'm open to hearing more! ;-)

3) When casting my druid wands one of them sometimes lands in an ambiguous way, like narrow side up, rather than either of the sides with the dots. What would you do in that situation? Recast just that one? Or recast all four of them? And likewise when one or more falls off the surface you're using to cast them on - do you read it as is when you pick it up off the floor, recast just that wand, or recast the whole lot?

[ecosophia]

1) Prayer's the standard approach. Yes, the terms are equivalent.

2) I wish I knew a quicker way!

3) If one lands on edge, I'd just recast that one. If one falls on the floor, I read it the way it lands.

[(Anonymous)]

I asked earlier about the stations of the year, another question arose from this morning's meditations, where I have been trying to understand why Lughnasadh corresponds to Air. There are a number of places in the DMH where certain things have correspondences which seem to differ in places - for example, Air corresponds to springtime and yellow, so why does Lughnasadh, which also corresponds to Air, correspond to a period in late summer and green?

I am reminded of your note that these are 'tools, not truths', so the only thing I can come up with is that correspondences work like how the same musical note means something different within different musical scales - their context changes depending on their relationships with other correspondences. Is that right, or am I missing something important?

[ecosophia]

No, you're quite correct; it's a matter of context. The hawk corresponds to air in one set of symbolism, and the color yellow corresponds to air in another, but that doesn't mean that all hawks are yellow!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG! If you were doing a working that required you to perform the same action a number of times at, for example, the same time each week, and you were sick and in pain one of those times, would you still perform the action if it's at all physically possible or would the lack of concentration and the negative thoughts and feelings you'd have due to the illness do more harm than good? And if it's the second, would you extend the duration of the working by a week or just "leave out" one of the dates? Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

[ecosophia]

I'd do it no matter what. Of course I've been doing this long enough that I could push away any negative thoughts and feelings, and concentrate long enough to do the working, even if that meant an extra day or two in bed!