This week I finally made a leap with the tarot. The cards came alive!  Until now, my experience of the cards had a static quality. Not sure why it has taken so many years but one morning last week The Magician card just had this look to it. Like it was not just a picture of symbols but a "living" symbol of sorts.

Since then I am able to see a story in each card. Not the same story either for subsequent drawings of the same card.

Maybe there was a block I needed to work through? I don't know. As I am exploring the runes though I see this shift is going to be really important with them, too.

The blue light filter setting on my monitors must be working! I am going to see what @ecosophia thinks about the following in a Magic Monday but am curious if others have experiences or insights to share. I also see today there is a post on ecosophia.net in the book club regarding talismans which might relate.

What happened is I recently have acquired a leather bound blank book. The book was originally going to be used in the practices which are part of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose course. Maybe still will be?

An idea has come to me.  It might be interesting to fill the book with the various symbols I use or have used in my practices.  Maybe other symbols as well which I feel are significant magically. One page per symbol possibly? Rituals, too?

Restarted my free-writing practice today. Fifteen minutes. My goal is to do it everyday after my ritual-meditation-divination routine. Today I mostly wrote a fiction scene. Which was pretty fun!

Also, finally got my blog in order. After volunteering to host Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose for @ecosophia I figured I better settle a few of the open questions I had around niches, look and feel, and what to do with the old content.

The site, Magick Lore, is linked on the sidebar.

I went ahead and dropped my programming site to focus on magick and the occult. The motivation is gone. My age might have something to do with it too. As I get closer to my 60th birthday I just don't feel the same motivation for incesting my time in computer tech like I had 40+ years ago.

So magick it is for my blog. And since it is my blog I have decided it is okay to include my cringe worthy posts from the archives as well as random thoughts on life now and then.

What I really like is the theme for the blog. It is super simple. Not fancy at all. Super fast to load because it is simple and doesn't having any privacy invading tracking scripts. I also like how it looks on my iPhone. More focus on content so easier for me to read.

I do think this work I have been doing in The Dolmen Arch is helping. My clarity in making choices is growing by the week. Helped also no doubt by increasingly low expectations of modern culture.

Some tech talk:
The tech I am using for my blog is the static site generator, Hugo. Basically I can write posts much like this one and when I am done I have it regenerate my web site so I can upload it anywhere. If my web host is taken down by post-apocalyptic zombie hordes I can just copy it elsewhere. Or run it on my own system. Just as important backups are quick and easy on my local computer with a remote copy on my laptop and at Gitlab.

Back to the writing. My plan is to do the free writing for a while and begin to develop my content ideas for the blog. Hosting occult courses is on the list, for sure. As is looking into the past for resources on how people lived with less energy, especially the occult aspects.

 First off I must confess I have been a white knuckled, word hoarding blogger. The biggest factor in my lack of publishing more of my thoughts has been fear. So many manifestations of fear have come out of my psyche I can't believe there has been room for much of anything else in my head.

My writing practices of late have  been:
1. Notes regarding my course work in and around The Dolmen Arch.
2. Ten ideas a day about anything.
3. Free writing. Not consistent but not completely neglected either.

Items 2 and 3 get erased immediately after creation. 

Turns out the most important practice for me at this point is writing whatever I will write and hitting the delete key. Why? Fear. I am not entirely sure where this fear of losing words or their value(?) came from exactly.

A dragon sitting on a pile of treasure is the image which comes to mind when I think about what is going on. A dragon which is not doing me any favors by being so protective of the words in my head. I mean if I was sitting with a friend having a chat I wouldn't be economizing my thoughts out of fear of losing word gems.

Breaking the chains on the writing dragon has really started to open the creative flow. Stopping fearing the loss of ideas or thoughts or somehow wasting time is allowing more ideas and thoughts to show up. Very  tricky.

The delete key is my friend. At least as long as I don't tap it too much while writing. There one wanders into the realm of the editing dragon. Another dragon for another post. 

 For the last few months my tarot readings have been telling me in no uncertain terms to embrace solitude. As someone with a kid still in the house, a new puppy, and a wife working full time at home (I keep the tech side running for her) finding solitude looked like it was going to be a bit of a challenge.

As I considered and accepted the message from the cards something curious happened. Instead of needing to head out to a cabin in the woods or a remote stretch of coast I found solitude right here in my own head. At least, a sort of solitude. While a remote beach would definitely been wonderful doing some inner and out housecleaning appears to have been sufficient.

What worked to clean my inner house?

Getting very clear on what has worked an not worked in this incarnation for one. Staying on the fringe of society because it is the only place I can tolerate. I have demonstrated a distinct inability to spend 8 hours a day in a cubicle, for example. No matter how effective I am at my job or how much money I am making I just can't do it. Not that I ever made a ton money though didn't do too bad.

Politics and meaningless work are the killers after the cubicle. I mean I made some doctors a butt ton of money with my database skills but do I care even a little? Especially given the lack of profit sharing and having to punch a clock in a cubicle? Just can't do it.

Given I am a malcontent relative to society now what? What can I offer to the world outside myself? What am I willing to have and not have in exchange?

While getting groceries today I saw the store was hiring for a wine something or other. That might be cool. Other than something like that then what? 

Firmly planted on the fringe I noticed my attempts to share my explorations with the outside world via blogging were often rather jointed definitely lacking continuity and disjointed. Where did this come from?

Being a solitary intuitive explorer for so many years is the main culprit. Forty years of spirit guided curriculum really does not lend itself well to spontaneous sharing.

Now, as I work through the Dolmen Arch the gaps in my training are filling and I am assembling a more structured view of magic. This structure is helping me conceptualize and hopefully communicate hopefully in a way some find helpful.

So ... as part of my seeking solitude initiative I deleted all my blog posts on my main blog. Refocused with a clean slate, druidmagick.com is a place I will now explore and share themes of interest instead of mostly spontaneous experiences and insights as I did previously.

Ditching, as I continue, any profit oriented expectations is another important shift. While not opposed to making money I do find expecting money will be made off my blogging shifts my mind into evaluating if a given project is a waste of time or not. Which leads to inaction as everything turns into a waste of time in the short run. Where is my reader in this thought process? Lost in the forest of dollar signs just out of reach.

Getting back to solitude. The simplifying and clarifying in conjunction with my meditations appears to have had a similar effect as going to the isolated beach or embarking on a solo sailboat trip in the San Juan Islands. Clearing and sorting mind stuff can happen anywhere.  Allowing time for processes to be organized and meditating on the writing  process is key. Physically getting away can certainly make that easier. But there are other options if you can't get away.

With a natal chart (from my early attempts at understanding) pointing to magic and the occult on one hand and teaching on the other as inclinations I am sticking with magick related blogging. Finding my perspective to share which is not just going along with the herd and writing my million word of bad writing is what I am in the middle of doing. Practice, practice, practice. 850000 words to go.

Related. Turns out focusing a blog on the occult (occultra.com will be archived soon) is way too broad of a non-focus. As an alternative in an attempt to narrow my own focus I bought a few more domain names. Again. The re-branding really is as much for me as for anyone else. I can get so distracted by ideas a deep freeze settles in and nothing gets created. 

Druidmagick.com and DolmenArch.com are the new domain names. (Though it is quite possible only one of the names is necessary down the road.)

Since I am going to be going all the way through the Dolmen Arch program at least once I figured I could play around with a journal focused on the educational process and see what develops. Maybe a forum too. Even without other people chiming in I like how a forum can be a good spot for capturing ideas in a sentence or two. If people engage even better.

As far as the other domain, I have been a Druid in everything but name for a very long time. Druidmagick.com  may work well for capturing everything else which captures my druidic sensibilities and isn't dolmen arch related. 

I can feel a direction for all this writing stuff.  The picture ahead is a bit fuzzy is all. More writing, meditating, and conversations with the Powers That Be are in order.

Time is a fascinating concept to ponder. Working with time like one might work with one of the standard physical dimensions has an occultish appeal. Certainly I have had some productive meditations lately on the theme of time.

Recently, a relevant book focused on time was brought to my attention. The book "An Experiment with Time" was written by a British innovator in aircraft design, J.W. Dunne. Originally published in 1927 two more editions came out in the 1930s. This is important to note as there were some substantial additions to the third and final edition based on continued experiments and observations by the author. I would highly recommend getting the 3rd edition for this added material as there is quite a bit.

Right off the bat, I have to admit I couldn't get myself to read the book in depth. The book chapters predominately cover either the authors theory of time or his experiments and observations with precognitive dreams. Having done quite a bit of dream work already I felt pretty good with skimming and diving deeper where inspiration struck.

Still, what I found in this regard was actually pretty good. I think anyone interested in investigating precognition in dreams could do worse book-wise.

The explanations of time are also worth spending energy on. As I was reading and puzzling out what he was putting forth I started thinking about a more contemporary explanation of how the Now works in a Universe where relativistic rules apply.

I suspect there is some link between his notion of infinite levels time dimensions due to observer observers reference dimensions and that Relativistic Now explanation I read somewhere else. The idea was I think that a common Now between observers is elusive and hard to pin down due to frames of reference and the speed of light. Might be some meat on this soup  bone for the practicing occultist. A worthy meditation theme.

One chapter was worth investing in the book. And that was the experiment in getting the equivalent of precognitive dream results while awake.  I think he was using a book and active imagination to gather symbols relating to the future. I am going to go back to read that chapter a few more times to get his procedure down. I have this intuition about symbolism and the manifestation of Reality which he might be tapping into here. Could be some fun experiments of my own to run.

That's where things are at for now. Off to run some errands.

Fitting square pigs in muddy round holes is not for me. 
I am letting go of this habit with much pent up glee!

You should see the looks on the pigs faces!

Exhibit 1

Clarity is coming as I make my journey on this path of mine.
Last week I began writing in single sentence paragraphs.
Then the sentences began rhyming so fine.

While I don't ever expect to be mistaken for a pedigreed poet,
I am really enjoying my freedom of thought,
Paragraphs can really tie my brain in a knot!

Once they arrive the rhyming words will not depart.
I feel as if I have started channeling the great Dr. Seuss' art.

Yes, my writing is changing and very intuitively that.
My articles are transforming as fast as a witch's cat.

Exhibit 2

On the most recent Magic Monday post by @ecosophia on Dreamwidth there is a question regarding intuitive magical systems.  As in what are examples of such?
JMG deferred as he is of a cerebral nature so the systems he uses and writes about are also cerebral instead of intuitive.

Ahhh Haaa!

Insight has struck.

From early on in my life I was groomed to take a rational approach to the world, mostly by my father. Spock from Star Trek was a hero to him.

I also have some strong intellectual skills and abilities. Resolving comlex problems, delivering profitable solutions for employers, rewiring and replumbing the house, and more all benefit from those rational problem solving skills.

For all that, my entire life path has been strongly intuitive. Yes, I have pursued interests and careers of a cerebral nature.
Enjoyably so even.
Until they are not.
At which point my mood is like snot.

As a child I felt the subtle pull of the moon on the ocean tide.
In my body.
Early on I was definitely aware of my intuitive side.

No surprise my path in the energetic, spiritual, occult, and magic has been primarily intuitive. On all levels!
Teachers arrived as needed. Not a moment sooner and nearly always after Creation delivered the lesson.
Still I felt I was missing something.

What has been driving my search?

Turns out, not a system or formal teaching but an appreciation of my own nature!
Teachers and systems are very helpful of course.

But I do not have to defer my intuition to the cerebral!
Certainly I can continue to use my intellectual capacity to explore and learn.
But make it a god?
Considering how poorly I have done in my adoration,
the god of the rational realms could surely have smote me by now.

I don't even have to properly format rational essays and articles for my blog!
I can format them, compose them as I will or maybe even share them with my dog!

We all have our place at the table of creation.
Just as we are and are becoming.
Sharing who we are and what we see is key!
Those who are meant to see will see!

I can go back to the intuitive path I was always on. With more tools in my toolkit.
Now I am on the hunt for a description of an intuitive magical system.

I wonder what Jung has to say?

Monday Divination is done see you next week!

Please use the comment section below for your questions to the Coelbren.* A general "How will my week go?" is fine. I appreciate the opportunity to practice and any feedback on readings is a big help in my learning process.

Thanks!

*No questions having to do with medical advice. Please see a medical professional.

Donations while appreciated are certainly not required. If you wish to donate click the button and I will gratefully indulge in my occult book buying addiction.

Monday Coelbren Divination is open.
See you next week!
I am offering free divination using The Coelbren Alphabet. We'll get started in the morning.

The Coelbren are an alphabet like the Runes but Welsh in origin. They have been quite effective for me in my personal practice. The alphabet combines a mix of motion and energy symbolism with fairly definitive meanings.

Please use the comment section below for your questions.* A general "How will my week go?" is fine. I appreciate the opportunity to practice and any feedback on readings is a big help in my learning process.

Donations while appreciated are certainly not required. If you wish to donate click the button and I will gratefully indulge in my occult book buying addiction.


Thanks!

*No questions having to do with medical advice. Please see a medical professional.

To get things started I want to take this opportunity to share my daily divination this morning. For some background: I have a strong link with runes. Power, magic, vibration, good gods they are a presence. They will not be ignored.

I suspect a dream I had many years ago is related to this link with runes. In my dream I flew over a vast island, maybe a continent it was so big, with mountain ranges covered in snow, surrounded by ocean. This island I was told was my home. I wonder if this island and runes are linked for me?

While I am enjoying learning and developing my skills with the Coelbren the runes are still here. Why don't I use the runes for divination? Frankly, the power I feel has made me question whether using them for divination was appropriate. In the past, with tarot for example, card selection and reading was highly guided. The cards were a medium for a message not the source of guidance. The Coelbren are somewhat like the cards though with more individual personality beginning to show through as I do more readings.

The runes feel like they are doing the guidance during the reading. Kind of the other end of a spectrum from the tarot with Coelbren in between. The few rune readings I have done have been insightful for sure. Though they come across rather dramatic and big picturish to me. More readings might hone this aspect. I don't know.

To the divination:
"What do the Runes hold for me?"

1. Situation Ray: Gi - I am closely connected with the runes at depths I have not explored. 
2. Action Ray: Ddi - My ability to affect the situation has limits. Which I take to mean my relationship with the runes is not arbitrary. As such, we have work to do together.
3. Resolution Ray: W (Looks like a V) An abundance of possibilities or maybe decision time. Opening further with the runes will lead to possibilities which there is no closing the door on once I am there.

So explore the runes it is! For now I will keep doing Coelbren too. If you feel adventurous I will do a rune reading on request.