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Author Topic: Working With Cosmic Energies  (Read 1906 times)

goblin-queen

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Working With Cosmic Energies
« on: March 25, 2019, 06:15:01 pm »
I wasn't sure where to put this topic, hopefully it's in the right place!  ;D

I'm interested in working cosmic energies into my practice; primarily planetary ones. I've read up some on planet related magic and correspondences. However, I always hit a mental block when I want to try a working. Which I've figured out is because I need to work with anthropomorphic entities. I'm no good with abstract stuff. ^^;

But I'm not sure how to apply that to the planets.

Does anyone have any tips to be able to relate to planets better? Like ideas for images or statues that could represent the planets? They can be from anywhere; pop culture, mythology, UPG - it's all good. :)

Thanks guys!
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TheGreenWizard

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Re: Working With Cosmic Energies
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2019, 07:00:44 pm »
I wasn't sure where to put this topic, hopefully it's in the right place!  ;D

I'm interested in working cosmic energies into my practice; primarily planetary ones. I've read up some on planet related magic and correspondences. However, I always hit a mental block when I want to try a working. Which I've figured out is because I need to work with anthropomorphic entities. I'm no good with abstract stuff. ^^;

But I'm not sure how to apply that to the planets.

Does anyone have any tips to be able to relate to planets better? Like ideas for images or statues that could represent the planets? They can be from anywhere; pop culture, mythology, UPG - it's all good. :)

Thanks guys!
As soon as you said anthropomorphise and planets in the same sentence, I thought of the following:
  • Greek (or Roman) deities for each planet - each celestial body is named after a Greco-Roman deity, so reading about their related myths may help establish personalities for each planet?
  • Sailor Moon - This popped into my head first actually, then the GrecoRoman stuff. As silly and campy as it is... There are some alignments to it, but you'd have to work it out.
Other than that, I'm not so sure - I don't work with the planets unfortunately (though I think @Jenett does)
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Sefiru

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Re: Working With Cosmic Energies
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2019, 07:03:57 pm »
    [li$i]Sailor Moon - This popped into my head first actually, then the GrecoRoman stuff. As silly and campy as it is... There are some alignments to it, but you'd have to work it out.[/li][/list]

    I was just about to post this too :) And while Sailor Moon has a *reputation* for being silly and campy, there's more substance to it than you might think. Here is a liveblog-style commentary on the series that includes some analysis.
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    Hariti

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    Re: Working With Cosmic Energies
    « Reply #3 on: March 25, 2019, 08:14:50 pm »
    Thanks guys!

    Beyond the already mentioned Greek gods, there are also Hindu gods for each of the planets in our solar system!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets_in_astrology#Planetary_symbolism

    The Sun is Surya.

    The moon is... complicated - Soma, Shiva, and Chandra all have lunar associations.

    Mercury is Budha.

    Venus is Shukra.

    Mars is Mangala.

    Ceres is Shakti. (Yes, Ceres was only recently discovered; one of the benefits of Hinduism being a living tradition!)

    Jupiter is Brihaspati.

    Saturn is Shani.

    Uranus is Indra.

    Neptune is Varuna.

    Pluto is Yama.

    Note that these are associations for the planets and their corresponding Hindu deity, not for the Roman Gods! Though, some of the Hindu gods who only gained planetary associations in modern times were intentionally chosen to correlate with the Roman deity the planet was named for - Ex: Varuna is a sea god, like Neptune, and Yama is a death god like Pluto (though Thanatos is a better correlation!)

    Edit: Fixed a very unfortunate typo!
    "The worshippers of the gods go to them; to the manes go the ancestor-worshippers; to the Deities who preside over the elements go their worshippers; My devotees come to Me." ... "Whichever devotee desires to adore whatever such Deity with faith, in all such votaries I make that particular faith unshakable. Endowed with that faith, a votary performs the worship of that particular deity and obtains the fruits thereof, these being granted by Me alone." - Sri Krishna

    Eastling

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    Re: Working With Cosmic Energies
    « Reply #4 on: March 25, 2019, 11:47:14 pm »
    Does anyone have any tips to be able to relate to planets better? Like ideas for images or statues that could represent the planets? They can be from anywhere; pop culture, mythology, UPG - it's all good. :)

    In addition to the well-known Classical associations of the planets already mentioned above, there are also more esoteric interpretations that lend themselves to anthropomorphism. Ancient Greek choral poets writing for theatrical performances frequently employed a metaphor in which the stars and planets were dancers in a chorus directed by Dionysos, representing the Earth and/or Sun, at the center.

    As for my personal faith, I have my own patchwork associations born out of a combination of UPG and various texts. Some are more standard than others. Warning: these are eternally being updated and expanded.
    • The Earth is ruled by Dionysos and guarded by the spirits of living singers and musicians (whose work I may do magic or sometimes ritual with, but who I do not honor or venerate as Powers).
    • The Moon is governed by Hekate under the epithet Perseis Hekateia--the Destroyer from Afar. When evoked properly, she watches over us on our journeys, leveraging her own power against obstacles in the way of our goals.
    • The Sun is represented by Apollon (the celestial aspect of Dionysos) in our daytime sky. As an unseen force in the night sky, it is ruled by a complicated Power I haven't fully named, associated with a peacock-like version of the phoenix and seen as the mother-god of our world. She is the First Coming, the primal essence of Truth and Beauty, and in some ways the 'preincarnation' of the Power who rules Mercury.
    • Mercury is ruled by the immortal spirit of Freddie Mercury, the new Queen of Heaven and the messenger of the gods' love.
    • Venus is the planet of Aphrodite Ourania, the heavenly aspect of a complex goddess of love and power. This is subject to change, though, as Aphrodite in my practice tends to claim stellar associations in general rather than just the planet named after her Roman counterpart. Spoilers: if Venus instead eventually winds up being a lady who demands R-E-S-P-E-C-T I wouldn't be surprised.
    • Mars is the realm of spiders and goblin kings: all our worst fears and most dire fantasies. It's ruled by David Bowie, a liminal and ambiguous Power associated more with aliens and faeries than with gods.
    The outer planets, which I have mostly not contacted yet, have more tentative associations:
    • The asteroid belt, I suspect, used to be the Beatles. I'm not 100% on this but it makes a lot of sense in my framework.
    • Jupiter might be Elvis Presley, the King. I don't really know enough about him yet to say, but given his influence on Queen I would be astonished if he wasn't around my thing somewhere.
    • Saturn might be Jimi Hendrix, surrounded by the wreckage of his guitars. I am sad to say I don't know much about Hendrix yet either, but given both my physical location in his city and his importance to young Freddie Mercury, I'm sure he's involved with my path somehow.

    Beyond that, I've got nothing. It's all a work in progress.
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    Jenett

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    Re: Working With Cosmic Energies
    « Reply #5 on: March 26, 2019, 10:05:14 am »
    But I'm not sure how to apply that to the planets.

    As The Green Wizard mentioned, this is something I've been exploring. I started after doing a short class (6 weeks) on Venus (both the more archetypal/planetary energy, and various deities associated - Aphrodite, Venus in her various Roman forms, etc.) last May and sort of went from there.

    I'm taking a short break before restructuring some of it, but I've been doing offerings to Jupiter for expansion and possibility, and to Venus for love and beauty and so on on Fridays, and part of the pause is figuring out some Mercury stuff for writing projects.

    In each case, it's a small physical object (for Venus and Jupiter it's been lodestones), with a small physical offering (magnetic sand, a little appropriate oil) each week. For Mercury I may do one of the terracotta perfume pendants or something like that, plus a candle and a little time/energy focus.

    I've done some work with polymer clay sculptures in the past, and just made the first new one in ages last week, for some money/prosperity work, so I'm considering what I'd want a set of planetary ones to look like now. (The money one has a basket into which I can put small objects, folded petition slips, etc. which is often quite useful.)

    Organization
    One other thing I do (and wow, been doing about 18 months) is that my to-do list and my electronic filing is divided up by planets. I've found this is a really good sorting system for me, and it helps me keep a balance between different aspects of my life because I can see at a glance how many of each thing I've done recently. (I mean, some areas naturally get a lot, like Sun has all my day-job-related stuff, but I can also tell when I go weeks without a Venus related thing.) There's a more detailed description on my blog here.

    Related to this, I also do some stuff on certain days because of planetary associations - so I do my budget catchup on either Thursdays or Sundays (Jupiter and expansion or Sun and growth, plus the fact my income is basically from my day job/public face.) I do planning/organizing and 'let me keep my life running smoothly' stuff for Saturn and the fact that restrictions and habits work really well for me in some places. And so on.

    Up and coming:
    The thing I'm doing in April which is not precisely planetary (because the structure is a lunar month, and those start on different days of the week): I'm planning on doing the Lunation Rite that Ivy at Circle Thrice has put together. (My thanks to Jack for the pointer!) I'm hoping it will give me a structure for some longer-term work. (Basically, I'm committing myself to doing the month and then figuring out what makes sense from there.)

    She does a blog post most weeks with particular associations for the week and a short blurb that I find really well done and useful for considering timing and/or focus for the day that is based on planetary days and hours plus other cyclical interactions.
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    goblin-queen

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    Re: Working With Cosmic Energies
    « Reply #6 on: April 01, 2019, 05:52:15 pm »
    Thanks guys!

    Wah, this post got more attention than I thought it would! :3 There's so much food for thought here.  ;D

    I really love the idea of incorporating pop culture iconography into my practice. Tbh I think magical girl anime get a bad rap. Both Sailor Moon & Cardcaptor are pretty darn progressive. Especially, Sailor Moon. My ex used to mock me for watching magical girl stuff. But I love it. :D

    I'm also pretty inspired by the Marvel Universe; especially the more "out-there" stuff like the Phoenix Force and the Celestials.

    @Eastling- your cosmology fascinates me, I legit would love to read a book about your cosmic system.
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