Magic Monday
Nov. 3rd, 2019 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
It's just past midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of Khaemwaset, the fourth son of the pharaoh Ramses II. Unlike his older brothers, who took up military careers, he entered the priesthood and became famous for his scholarship, his restoration of historic tombs and temples, and his mastery of magic -- so much so that stories of his occult exploits were still being told a thousand years later, and have been preserved in two documents dating from well after the Greek conquest of Egypt. Under the name "Setne Khamuast" -- the closest translation of his religious title and name yet available in the early 20th century -- he was an important figure in the legendary history of Dion Fortune's Fraternity (now Society) of the Inner Light. 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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***This Magic Monday is now closed -- and yes, this means you. See you next week!***
(no subject)
Date: 2019-11-04 02:49 pm (UTC)Okay. It's embarrassing, I don't want to admit it because it likes going unnoticed, but I should probably drag it into the light.
I was a nerdy kid with a dysfunctional family and escaped hard in the "knowledge is power" direction. A few years after moving on to a dysfunctional world, I discovered occultism, and the appeal of a whole new area of study and experimentation that was separate from the world I knew but that still held out the promise of truth can hardly be understated. To the point, unfortunately, that I suspect I've been neglecting my material affairs in favor of the same sort of hungry, escapist research that has always called to me.
How do I bring these into balance? I'm sure it's not the first time someone's done this. Clearly there's too much reading, but can I keep my divination going, or banishing, or should I scale back to prayer? Or drop all of it and look it in the face that the people in my environment are almost entirely concerned with how many sandwiches they can get for a dollar and it's going to be a long, trying, materially focused process to get to somewhere better? Currently I'm yo-yoing about, getting drawn back in over and over, which seems the worst of both worlds.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-11-04 11:52 pm (UTC)That probably means you're going to be poor for a while. (I certainly was.) It also means that people who aren't on the bus, magically speaking, are going to look at you with some degree of pity or contempt. (I went through plenty of this.) This is normal. Mages have had to put up with it since the temples of Egypt closed their doors. The secret is that if you manage to strike a working balance between magic and life in the world, you'll find unexpected possibilities opening up. In my case, it was a writing career; other people find other niches, but there's always a way.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-11-05 01:52 am (UTC)What you describe here pretty much sums up a large chunk of my past, too. You're definitely not alone!
And thanks to JMG for this response. It's such good advice. My younger self would have been greatly comforted and encouraged by it had she been so advised. Perhaps I will read it again and send it back in time to her in thought :)
If you can work out a balance, very interesting possibilities do indeed appear!
With good wishes to you both from a bona-fide artist, mage, and theater professional,
Bonnie