Ask Me (Just About) Anything
Jan. 20th, 2025 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jprussellHowdy,
I don't actually expect many folks to have much to ask me, but an anonymous commenter over on JMG's Magic Monday asked me a question and I didn't see it until the deadline for it to close, so I figured I'd put up a post for him or her to post the question here, if interested, and while I was at it, I figured I'd open the floor to anyone who might have follow-ups on earlier blog posts, would like to know more about me, or whatever else.
If it helps to spark any questions, obviously most of the time on here I write about Heathenry and occultism, in my day job I teach business communication (so, mostly public speaking, some writing, and a grab bag of other topics like listening, difficult conversations, running meetings, and that kind of thing), and I have an interested layman's knowledge of military history, ancient history, historical linguistics (mostly Indo-European), roleplaying games (especially older flavors of D&D, but I went through a phase with post-Forge indie/story games), and various other geeky topics. I'm also a dad, a veteran, and a former management consultant.
So, with that, ask away. I'll keep this open until 11:59 pm central time January 21st.
Cheers,
Jeff
I don't actually expect many folks to have much to ask me, but an anonymous commenter over on JMG's Magic Monday asked me a question and I didn't see it until the deadline for it to close, so I figured I'd put up a post for him or her to post the question here, if interested, and while I was at it, I figured I'd open the floor to anyone who might have follow-ups on earlier blog posts, would like to know more about me, or whatever else.
If it helps to spark any questions, obviously most of the time on here I write about Heathenry and occultism, in my day job I teach business communication (so, mostly public speaking, some writing, and a grab bag of other topics like listening, difficult conversations, running meetings, and that kind of thing), and I have an interested layman's knowledge of military history, ancient history, historical linguistics (mostly Indo-European), roleplaying games (especially older flavors of D&D, but I went through a phase with post-Forge indie/story games), and various other geeky topics. I'm also a dad, a veteran, and a former management consultant.
So, with that, ask away. I'll keep this open until 11:59 pm central time January 21st.
Cheers,
Jeff
no subject
Date: 2025-02-13 10:11 pm (UTC)1. I have indeed. Besides more general spiritual insights and growth, they've also greatly deepened my understanding of the fews for divination. For clarity, I've followed the system in the Druid Magic Handbook, with each Few assigned to a path between one of the stations of the Wheel of Life, though for the past few months I have stalled out for personal reasons, and so haven't quite wrapped up the Forfeadha.
1a. Sort of. The Fews are, so far, the only symbols that I have scried in the context of "paths" between nodes on conceptual framework, but I have done scrying a bit more widely - each of the seven gates of the Sphere of Protection, each of the Fews of the Ogham, each of the stations of the Wheel of Life, and a handful of other "places." Perhaps more directly related, when I was first starting to follow JMG's "tripod of magic" (daily ritual, meditation, and divination), I followed some guided "pathworkings" on the Runes from The Teutonic Way: Magic by Kveldulf Gundarsson. These aren't exactly pathworkings as JMG uses the term, but rather a method of scrying with a script - each Rune has a little imaginal journey associated with it, and the idea is to follow along with it as described and take note of how you feel about it and what else pops up. While I think this approach has limited value, I have to give it some weight, as it was during one of these scryings that I had my first religious experience where I felt the presence of a Goddess. Nothing explicitly with the GD or Cabala as yet, though, so I'm afraid I can't offer direct comparison. Overall, though, I'd say that such scrying has been tremendously aluable to me.
1b. Very much yes to both. For a good, solid 2 years, I did daily readings with the Ogham of the form "What do I most need to understand about what happens in the coming day?" with a spread of "Knowledge, Power, Peace." Lately, I haven't been as consistent with this, but I have found it to provide some good insights for myself, and for a few readings I've done for others via this journal. For what it's worth, in my own experience, the Ogham seems especially well-suited to "spiritual" questions, and the Runes for more "practical" ones (or those directly having to do with Heathen religion), but others (including JMG) have found the Ogham perfectly good for more prosaic stuff, so that might a personal style/preference thing.
Hope these answers help!
Jeff
no subject
Date: 2025-02-18 01:03 am (UTC)(OP again)
Thanks again for answering my questions, I really appreciate it.
Have you read any other books on Ogham?
Thanks in advance.
Much peace to you.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-18 04:48 am (UTC)Cheers,
Jeff