Reading

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Dobie Gray, "Drift Away"

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Magic Monday

It's midnight and so it's time to launch a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism, and with certain exceptions noted below, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note: Any question or comment received after that point will not get an answer, and in fact will not be put through. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 341,928th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.3 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. And further: I've decided that questions about getting goodies from spirits are also permanently off topic here. The point of occultism is to develop your own capacities, not to try to bully or wheedle other beings into doing things for you. I've discussed this in a post on my blog.

(The image? I've finished the sequence of my published books; while I decide what I want to do next, I have some memes to share.)

Buy Me A Coffee

Ko-Fi

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 either of the links above to access my online tip jar; Buymeacoffee is good for small tips, Ko-Fi is better for larger ones. (I used to use PayPal but they developed an allergy to free speech, so I've developed an allergy to them.) 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.

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.

~~With that said, have at it!~~

***This Magic Monday is now closed, and no more comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Jethro Tull, "Cup of Wonder"

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New Book: The Cunning Farmer

Some time ago I was asked by a regular reader to write a foreword for a book he'd just written. That happens from time to time, as many readers here know well, and it's something I like doing -- giving a signal boost to new authors, and not incidentally getting a little extra name exposure for myself, has always struck me as a win-win situation. So I asked to see the manuscript.

It's an astonishing work. Todd Elliot, the author, is a working farmer as well as an occultist, and he's spent years exploring the considerable overlap between those two fields. Many of us are all too used to books on "green magic" from people who couldn't reliably tell wheat from watercress and whose grasp of occult history is about as deep as what you'd find on your average TikTok video; Todd's work, The Cunning Farmer, comes from the opposite end of that spectrum. Here's the publisher's blurb:

"A guide to restoring the ancient relationship between farming and magic

• Explores how to reconnect with nature and use practical, nature-based magic for gardening and farming, fertility, and abundance

• Examines Moon work, plant magic, forest deities, Earth energies, weather magic, the cosmology of ritual, and how to work with land spirits

• Discusses folk magic traditions of North America and Western Europe, including the grimoire tradition, Western esotericism, alchemy, Kabbalah, and shamanism as well as Taoist principles and Reiki

Magic and farming, in the minds of ancient people, were not separate realms of life, but both were woven inextricably into the way people lived. Through libations, prayers, hymns, dances, sacrifices, and rituals, ancient farmers connected to the sacred forces, the gods, nature spirits, and ancestors to make the crops grow, keep the herds healthy, the weather favorable, and release energies of fertility. These rural farmer priests and priestesses of the ancient past are the spiritual ancestors of today’s cunning farmers.

This book explores folk magic traditions of North America and Western Europe, including the grimoire tradition and the practices of witches and cunning folk for increased fertility. Todd draws on Western esotericism, Taoist principles, alchemy, Kabbalah, Reiki, and shamanism to show how to use practical, nature-based magic, just like our ancestors, for more abundant gardening and farming. He shows how to work with land spirits, including meeting the place spirit of your land—the genius loci. He also explores working with Earth and Moon energies, plant magic and forest deities, and ritual. Learn how to deepen your connection to elemental and celestial forces and explore the idea of rewilding the imagination to enhance your relationship with nature and the spirits that call it home.

This book is not just a guide to farming, but to forging a relationship with the living land. It shows that we are surrounded by spiritual powers and, with their help, we can re-enchant and reconnect with the land that gives us life."

I heartily recommend this book for anyone interested in these topics. It's just now in print and can be picked up from the publisher here:

https://www.innertraditions.com/the-cunning-farmer

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Will Ackerman, "Seattle"

Entry tags:

Frugal First Friday

Welcome to Frugal First Friday! This is a monthly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up on the first Friday of each month, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course.

There has been talk about releasing these posts in print format. In case that turns out to be worth pursuing, please note: if you comment on this or any future Frugal First Friday post, you are giving permission for that comment to be included in print or other editions. This means, for those of you into the legalese, that by posting something in the comment thread you are granting me non-exclusive reprint rights to your comment, and permitting me to transfer those to a publisher or other venue. Your contribution will have your name or internet handle attached, your choice.

I also have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed. One change from the earlier frame is that if you produce goods or services yourself, and would like to let readers know about them, you may post one (1) (yes, just one) comment per month letting people know, with a link to your website or other contact info. The other rules ought to be familiar by now.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc. I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #3: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

Rule #4: don't post LLM ("AI") generated content, and don't bring up the subject unless you're running a homemade LLM program on your own homebuilt, steam-powered server farm.

With that said, have at it!

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Gustav Holst, Jupiter movement from "The Planets"

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The Hinge of Ages: Saturn conjunct Neptune, 20 February 2026

As promised, I've completed my tentative delineation of the upcoming Saturn-Neptune conjunction and posted it as a public post on my SubscribeStar and Patreon venues. You can read them here:

https://www.subscribestar.com/john-michael-greer

https://www.patreon.com/posts/hinge-of-ages-20-150048624

(It's the same text on both venues, btw.) All in all, I found the delineation rather surprising, because it has noticeably positive features. Most of my mundane predictions have been less than sunny; to be fair, that's what the heavens have had to pass on, but it's become a source of amusement to me to watch myself becoming a purveyor of bad news from the stars. This time -- well, there will certainly be disruptions and troubles, but the whole chart points forward to Jupiter in his exaltation, which is kind of a difficult hint to miss!

At any rate, since Saturn-Neptune conjunctions in the beginning of Aries happen only once every several millennia and the sample size is therefore rather low, this is a tentative prediction at best. Make of it what you will.

Oh, and yes, I know that there's also an eclipse coming up. I plan on posting that for my subscribers as soon as I get it delineated.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Alex de Grassi, "Indian Summer"

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A Little Additional Reading Matter

While I was busy packing and then unpacking, the world of occult bookselling didn't stand still, and one consequence is that Watkins -- that durable presence among British occult bookstores -- has just released a new edition of their house journal, Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine. It includes, ahem, an article by me on mundane astrology, as well as quite a few more interesting pieces on occult and spiritual themes. If you happen to be in London, by all means swing by Watkins, tell 'em I sent you, and buy a copy; if not, why, it can be ordered here:

https://www.watkinsmagazine.com/product/84-winter-2026-watkins-mind-body-spirit

It makes for good reading matter for a cold winter evening.

Minor operations; testing new serving path

Hi all!

I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.

Thank you!

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Al Stewart, "Roads to Moscow"

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Open (More or Less) Post on Covid 229

Picking up the other threads of my work online after the recent hiatus...

We are now into the fifth year of these open posts. When I first posted a tentative hypothesis on the course of the Covid phenomenon, I had no idea that discussion on the subject would still be necessary all these years later, much less that it would turn into so lively, complex, and troubling a conversation. Still, here we are. Crude death rates and other measures of collapsing public health remain anomalously high in many countries, but nobody in authority wants to talk about the inadequately tested experimental Covid injections that are the most likely cause; ~~public health authorities~~ government shills for the pharmaceutical industry are still trying to push through laws that will allow them to force vaccinations on anyone they want; public trust in science is collapsing; new revelations are leaking out about just how bad the Covid vaccines are for human health; and the story continues to unfold.

So it's time for another open post. The rules are the same as before:

1. If you plan on parroting the party line of the medical industry and its paid shills, please go away. This is a place for people to talk openly, honestly, and freely about their concerns that the party line in question is dangerously flawed and that actions being pushed by the medical industry and its government enablers are causing injury and death on a massive scale. It is not a place for you to dismiss those concerns. Anyone who wants to hear the official story and the arguments in favor of it can find those on hundreds of thousands of websites.

2. If you plan on insisting that the current situation is the result of a deliberate plot by some villainous group of people or other, please go away. There are tens of thousands of websites currently rehashing various conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 outbreak and the vaccines. This is not one of them. What we're exploring is the likelihood that what's going on is the product of the same arrogance, incompetence, and corruption that the medical industry and its wholly owned politicians have displayed so abundantly in recent decades. That possibility deserves a space of its own for discussion, and that's what we're doing here.

3. If you plan on using rent-a-troll derailing or disruption tactics, please go away. I'm quite familiar with the standard tactics used by troll farms to disrupt online forums, and am ready, willing, and able -- and in fact quite eager -- to ban people permanently for engaging in them here. Oh, and I also lurk on other Covid-19 vaccine skeptic blogs, so I'm likely to notice when the same posts are showing up on more than one venue.

4. If you plan on making off topic comments, please go away. This is an open post for discussion of the Covid epidemic, the vaccines, drugs, policies, and other measures that supposedly treat it, and other topics directly relevant to those things. It is not a place for general discussion of unrelated topics. Nor is it a place to ask for medical advice; giving such advice, unless you're a licensed health care provider, legally counts as practicing medicine without a license and is a crime in the US. Don't even go there.

5. If you don't believe in treating people with common courtesy, please go away. I have, and enforce, a strict courtesy policy on my blogs and online forums, and this is no exception. The sort of schoolyard bullying that takes place on so many other internet forums will get you deleted and banned here. Also, please don't drag in current quarrels about sex, race, religions, etc. No, I don't care if you disagree with that: my journal, my rules.

6. Please don't just post bare links without explanation. A sentence or two telling readers what's on the other side of the link is a reasonable courtesy, and if you don't include it, your attempted post will be deleted.

7. Please don't post LLM ("AI") generated text. This is a place for human beings to talk to other human beings, not for the regurgitation of machine-generated text. Also, please don't discuss large language models (the technology popularly and inaccurately called "artificial intelligence" these days) except as they bear directly on the Covid phenomenon. Here again, my finger is hovering over the delete button.

Please also note that nothing posted here should be construed as medical advice, which neither I nor the commentariat (excepting those who are licensed medical providers) are qualified to give. Please take your medical questions to the licensed professional provider of your choice.

With that said, the floor is open for discussion.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Jacques Offenbach, "Barcarolle"

Entry tags:

Magic Monday Returns

It's getting on for midnight and so it's time to launch the first new new Magic Monday in a (busy but successful) month. Ask me anything about occultism, and with certain exceptions noted below, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note: Any question or comment received after that point will not get an answer, and in fact will not be put through. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 341,928th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.3 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. And further: I've decided that questions about getting goodies from spirits are also permanently off topic here. The point of occultism is to develop your own capacities, not to try to bully or wheedle other beings into doing things for you. I've discussed this in a post on my blog.

(The image? It somehow seemed appropriate...)

Buy Me A Coffee

Ko-Fi

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 either of the links above to access my online tip jar; Buymeacoffee is good for small tips, Ko-Fi is better for larger ones. (I used to use PayPal but they developed an allergy to free speech, so I've developed an allergy to them.) 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.

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.

~~With that said, have at it!~~

***This Magic Monday is now closed, and no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: David Lanz, "Christofori's Dream"

Entry tags:

Three New Books Forthcoming

Despite the various complexities of the last little while, I've been writing; more to the point, my publishers haven't been sleeping on the job. Aeon Books thus has no fewer than three new titles on their way to print, and ready for preorders.

First out of the gate, due out in September of this year, is The Life Force Workbook, the third in the series of workbooks published for students of the Golden Section Fellowship (but also useful to students of any Western occult tradition. This one focuses on the etheric plane, and provides a great deal of detailed instruction in the theory and practice of etheric occultism. It can be preordered here, and you can get a 20% discount with the code LFW20.

Grail

Second is the new edition of The Ceremony of the Grail, my exploration of the Grail legends, their roots in Gnostic tradition, their role in the genesis ot Freemasonry, and the survival of the ritual at their heart into modern times. It will be out in October; it can be preordered here, and the code for the 20% discount is COG20.

boom

The third is the revised edition of my wry classic Apocalypse Not. This was originally written in the runup to the great non-event of December 21, 2012, in an attempt to let at least a few people know that the whole business was simply the latest rehash of one of history's all-time bad ideas: the Apocalypse Meme, as I term it in the book. 2012 has come and gone but plenty of people remain convinced that the world has got to end sometime soon so that they don't have to deal with the consequences of their own actions. This new edition may be no more successful at reaching the true believers than the earlier version was, but it may help insulate the rest of us from that particular form of craziness. It will be out in November; it can be preordered here, and the discount code is APOCALYPSE20.

(If you're in Britain or Europe, you can click on the British flag logo on the upper right of tthe Aeon website to go to the British site; the same discount codes apply there.)

Stay tuned for more announcements. This promises to be a productive year for me.