Daily Reflection 2.2.21
Feb. 2nd, 2021 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
readoldthingsA blessed Calan Myri, Imbolc, Candlemas, and, most importantly of all, Groundhog's Day, to one and all.
Sun Tzu tells us:
I want to take these one or two at a time, over the next few days.
Let's look at the first essential now.
When and where are we able to take the offensive, and when should we retreat and take a defensive position? And what do these look like?
Someone mentioned on the Ecosophia blog that public places run by either the government or nonprofit agencies seem to be especially bad these days, in terms of hysteria around Covid. This is my experience as well. Last week, my wife and I went to a local thrift store run by members of the Episcopalian Church, a church which is, at this point, little more than the spiritual auxiliary of the Democratic Party. The energy was so bad I felt dizzy and nauseous and had to leave after a few minutes. A while later I went back in to check on my wife, and found her being lectured about Covid safety protocols by the woman behind the cash register. Both of us felt energetically drained and moody for the rest of the day.
The Powers of Chaos were strong in that place. Retreat was the best option, and in the future I will simply avoid going in that store.
On the other hand, in our own homes and personal spaces, fighting is nearly always the best option. And it can look like many things. The simple act of tidying up and sweeping the floor can do a great deal all on its own to purify the energy of a room. But there are many layers that can be added to this: Essential oils or a mix of salt and vinegar can be added to water to create a magically effective cleanser, incense and simmer-pots can be added to cleaning, and candles dedicated to saints or deities can be lit to bless a home. Of course, for those involved in ceremonial magic, a greater range of options exists.
Most physical spaces exist between these two extremes, and the balance of forces will vary depending on the presence of other people, ongoing news events and astrological phenomena. There is a time to fight and a time to take the defensive.
Regarding defense-- there are times when public places and energetically toxic spaces and people are unavoidable. Given this, it's very useful to have a basic knowledge of magical defensive techniques and the ability to apply them. More on this as we go on!
Sun Tzu tells us:
There are five essentials for victory:
1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
3. He will win whose army is animates by the same spirit throughout all its ranks
4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
3. He will win whose army is animates by the same spirit throughout all its ranks
4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
I want to take these one or two at a time, over the next few days.
Let's look at the first essential now.
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
To this, our translator appends the following commentary:Chang Yu says: If he can fight, he advances and takes the offensive; if he cannot fight, he retreats and remains on the defensive. He will invariably conquer who knows whether it is right to take the offensive or the defensive.
Let's consider this with regard to the spiritual warfare we've been discussing. (I have half a mind to start describing this as a war against the Powers of Chaos, and I may start doing so. Why? Because it sounds cool. If I think something sounds cool, I'm going to want to keep doing it; in this way, the general inspires his army and unites their will to that of the sovereign.)When and where are we able to take the offensive, and when should we retreat and take a defensive position? And what do these look like?
Someone mentioned on the Ecosophia blog that public places run by either the government or nonprofit agencies seem to be especially bad these days, in terms of hysteria around Covid. This is my experience as well. Last week, my wife and I went to a local thrift store run by members of the Episcopalian Church, a church which is, at this point, little more than the spiritual auxiliary of the Democratic Party. The energy was so bad I felt dizzy and nauseous and had to leave after a few minutes. A while later I went back in to check on my wife, and found her being lectured about Covid safety protocols by the woman behind the cash register. Both of us felt energetically drained and moody for the rest of the day.
The Powers of Chaos were strong in that place. Retreat was the best option, and in the future I will simply avoid going in that store.
On the other hand, in our own homes and personal spaces, fighting is nearly always the best option. And it can look like many things. The simple act of tidying up and sweeping the floor can do a great deal all on its own to purify the energy of a room. But there are many layers that can be added to this: Essential oils or a mix of salt and vinegar can be added to water to create a magically effective cleanser, incense and simmer-pots can be added to cleaning, and candles dedicated to saints or deities can be lit to bless a home. Of course, for those involved in ceremonial magic, a greater range of options exists.
Most physical spaces exist between these two extremes, and the balance of forces will vary depending on the presence of other people, ongoing news events and astrological phenomena. There is a time to fight and a time to take the defensive.
Regarding defense-- there are times when public places and energetically toxic spaces and people are unavoidable. Given this, it's very useful to have a basic knowledge of magical defensive techniques and the ability to apply them. More on this as we go on!
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Date: 2021-02-02 03:48 pm (UTC)Now I can go out without all the elaborate outer protection that I once needed because there is less within me that resonates to the chaos. This experience of intensive journaling and working out karma through the pen & the page got me to reconsider my entire approach: the candles, the floorwashes, and the amulets all work, and I employ all of these techniques in specific contexts. The most profound space we can work is, as you've mentioned many times, within our own souls. Of course, I've written on my thoughts on journaling quite a bit on my blog and in the secret manuscript that you have a copy of. Journaling combines well with natural magic; it combines well with devotional work and is especially nice done by candlelight. I think many divinities really enjoy helping a devotee when the devotee prays earnestly for guidance & protection for working out spiritual problems and then journals while the candles burn on the altar. Journaling also combines well with putting on some good tunes: I've found it especially helpful to listen to music that reminds me of painful time periods of my life when I journal about those times. Really the possibilities are endless!
To employ your metaphor, I consider the working out of the chaos with journaling something that can get us fit as soldiers for the long march to victory!
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Date: 2021-02-02 04:03 pm (UTC)For whatever it's worth, I don't like this. As in so many things, I don't think "order" is good and "chaos" is evil: like all extremes, they are both damaging! A purely ordered universe would be static and crystalline (and useless), while a purely chaotic universe would be a nebulous mess (and useless).
In computer sciences (which study process using logic), we find that everything interesting happens at a magic balance of order and chaos. I recall reading that neuroscientists suspect that human brains work that way, too. And didn't Empedocles stress that Love and Strife needed to be held in tension?
Indeed, the COVID lockdowns strike me as a disease of too much Order, rather than too much Chaos. We are stifled by rules, rather than falling into incomprehensibility. (Even as those rules are, themselves, ridiculous.) I got this in a particularly direct way for a divinatory reading the other day, where my spirit contact characterized the government as an overly fussy and anxious mother who couldn't understand why her children didn't appreciate everything she does for them.
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