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Magic Monday
It's a little after for midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. With certain exceptions, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note: Any question received after then will not get an answer, and in fact will just be deleted. I've been getting an increasing number of people trying to post after these are closed, so will have to draw a harder line than before.) 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. Also: I will not be putting through or answering any more questions about practicing magic around children. I've answered those in simple declarative sentences in the FAQ. If you read the FAQ and don't think your question has been answered, read it again. If that doesn't help, consider remedial reading classes; yes, it really is as simple and straightforward as the FAQ says. The picture? I'm working my way through photos of my lineage, focusing on the teachers whose work has influenced me. Before Gladys Plummer, last week's honoree, became head of the Societas Rosicruciana in America, her husband George Winslow Plummer was the head of the order. For all practical purposes, he was also the founder; his teacher Sylvester Gould, whom we'll discuss next week, started the ball rolling, but Gould died suddenly in 1909 and Plummer picked up the pieces and went from there. Plummer was an enthusiastic Freemason and had received Rosicrucian initiation from Gould, but not a complete system of teaching or initiation; he created those by close but not uncritical study of the Rosicrucian and occult literature of his time, and tried to find common ground between occult teaching and science. He was also a devout if eccentric Christian, and ended up being consecrated as a bishop in an independent church with connections to the Orthodox churches. Though I don't share his religion, he's one of the role models from whom I've tried to learn.
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I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.And don't forget to look up your Pangalactic New Age Soul Signature at CosmicOom.com.
***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next week!***
Minerva again
I took on JMG’s suggestion of finding a statue of Minerva, but found most of them either had Athena’s name on (does this matter? it doesn’t seem right) or they were quite horrible. Many showed her as willowy looking and distinctly underdressed, which felt cheap and disrespectful to such a strong goddess who is known for being chaste. Eventually, I came across the mosaic of Minerva designed by Elihu Vedder, who looks very interesting himself, which shows her looking strong and dignified, as well as fully clothed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elihu_Vedder#/media/File:Minerva-Vedder-Highsmith.jpeg). I’ve printed it out, found a suitable frame and will keep it in the bedroom where I can commune quietly.
A couple of things this last week made me smile. I went for a rummage in a second hand shop and in one room there were figures of owls everywhere, clustered in groups or peeking out from shelves. Then, I’m reading Robert Harris’s ‘Pompeii’ and got to the part where the aquarius has asked Pliny for the loan of a ship. Guess what the ship’s name is – Minerva.
This is all a new experience for me and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s also a real boon having somewhere to talk about it all, so thank you JMG.
Re: Minerva again
As for whether to treat Minerva and Athena interchangeably, welcome to one of the longstanding and ongoing challenges for polytheists! I don't have any definite answers for you, but I wanted to reassure you that whether similar Gods from different cultures are "the same" is something that folks have been wrestling with since at least antiquity. It sounds like your intuition has been steering you well, though, so if you don't find it an interesting question, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Cheers, and luck in continuing to build this relationship,
Jeff
Re: Minerva again
Re: Minerva again
Re: Minerva again
Re: Minerva again
(Anonymous) 2022-12-19 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)https://sanepolytheism.dreamwidth.org/1810.html
I'm not a devotee of Minerva, but I think she's very, very cool! I also know the statue you mention, and I thought it was rather disrespectful as well. I've also run into the problem of statues having the Greek names on them, which is simply because Greek stuff is more popular and in school everybody is told "The Roman gods are just rip-offs of the Greek gods" despite the existence of purely Roman gods like Janus and the Lares. I've emailed GreekArtshop (the Cretan creators of most of the great greek statues on the market) and they've said that though they can't change the old molds, all their new molds have no name on the base, so in the coming years some of their fine Athena statues may become useful for Roman polytheists. In the meantime, I wouldn't feel bad about printing out an image, since most Roman households had their Lares and household gods all painted into one small mural in an alcove on the wall.
Word of advice though, forgo candles in favour of handmade olive oil lamps made out of small metal lidded jelly jars - neither beeswax nor parafin candles are worth the hassle. They're never lit long enough during daily prayers to melt fully and they always tunnel, then the wick burns away or submerges itself shortly after being lit and it makes a mess.
Good luck, and may the gods shower you with their blessings and kind reassurance. <3