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October 2 through October 8, 2023

This is a great week to stop and reflect, assessing where you may be out of balance and working to restore optimism and goals for the future. Monday’s Taurus Moon makes this the most productive day of the week, allowing you to catch up with any projects or obligations that may have fallen to the back burner during September. Relationships take center stage under Tuesday and Wednesday’s Gemini Moon, punctuated by Mercury’s move into Libra for a three-week visit. Communications thrive and new ideas and plans are sure to come to life. Relationships can be brought back into alignment and if you are single and looking, this is the perfect time to seek out new partnerships and connections of the heart. Things flow along smoothly under Thursday through Saturday’s Cancer Moon, and though we may not get much done, this is the ideal time to restore order to your home, try out that new recipe you’ve been wanting to tackle, or simply catch up on correspondence or streaming series. The Moon will enter Leo and Venus marches into disciplined Virgo on Sunday, which could promote a clearing out of closets or a major organizing task!

The Moment of Magic: The Importance of Magical Timing, by Frater Barrabbas

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Many people work magic when the urge or the need prompts them to do so. Sometimes people will acknowledge the cycle of the moon to plan their workings accordingly. Yet overall, the timing of a magical working is hardly considered as an important part of the magic. If the magic to be performed is working with energy, spirits, or engages with the Gods, then the timing of the rite is not particularly important. However, if the magical working is dealing with a form of planetary or celestial magic, then paying careful attention to the astrological auspices and planetary day and hour becomes much more important. I would also point out that any magical working that is focused on a strategic outcome in the life of the practitioner should also include a greater awareness of the auspices of the moment or event of the magic.

What I am proposing here is another magical model, known as the temporal model of magic. This model is not readily known to many Witches or Pagans, but those who wish to work planetary magic or seek to make a dramatic change in their lives should learn to master this important model. You might ask, why is the timing of a magical working so important? How does the temporal model work? If we consider that there is no implicit destiny operating in individuals and the collective of human life, then we would have to assume that life's meaning and direction are determined not by some external pre-ordained process but by our own initiative. We create our own destiny, and that destiny can be shaped and changed over the span of our lifetimes. There is no predestination in life—only possibilities and potentials.

The temporal model of magic is a method for determining the potentials for a given outcome based on an elective event for working magic. Using this model goes against the modern quest for immediate gratification, but I have found that such impulses are a tragic distraction to careful planning. While magic cannot produce miracles or what are called "black swan" events with any kind of assurance, knowing the potential of the moment can assist one in determining when magic can be used to influence or bend probabilities so that a desired outcome can be achieved.

How we can make that determination depends on our level of expertise in the use and analysis of astrological charts. We can examine the astrological transits, moon phase for an event and then schedule it during the best selection for planetary day and hour. We can cast an elective chart for that event and scrutinize it, and we can compare that chart with our natal chart to get a complete picture of the astrological potential at work at that moment. While these kinds of analysis may seem rather complex, the more knowledge that we have about the event for a planned working then the better will be the possible outcome. Knowledge of the moment is powerful determinant for the practitioner.

Astrology is the only system of divination that can accurately determine when something might occur. All other forms of divination can reveal a sequence of events, but for the timing of a potential possibility, only astrology can reveal that mystery to us. There are two similar points of view at work in astrology. The first point of view is that astrological occurrences are ever-changing, based as they are on the rotation and orbiting of the planets around the sun from the perspective of an earth-bound observer. Like the hands of a clock, the positions of the planets and the orbit of the earth around the sun is continually changing. The other point of view is a snapshot of the moment within that continually changing process. While the constant changing and interacting planetary aspects might be overwhelming, that single moment can be examined in detail to determine its meaning and significance.

It is that moment, or snapshot of time, that is significant in natal astrology, elective astrology, and horary astrology. Yet there is another point of view that is operating in this art, and that is the moment when an astrologer casts a chart and delineates it. When an astrologer casts a chart, the patterns and auspices of that moment are revealed. Since predetermination is known to be a false assumption, then the moment when an astrological chart is cast and interpreted by an astrologer becomes the most significant moment. It is part of the divinatory magic that also occurs when rune stones, I-Ching coins, geomancy sticks, knucklebones, or dice are tossed, tarot cards shuffled and laid out, or a pendulum is deployed against a map or cloth of symbols. All these systems of divination contain a wealth of symbolic correspondences and meanings, but they are only activated when the reader deploys them. The same is true with astrology and magic. The moment when the reader or magical practitioner deploys their art, that is the crucial moment when meaning is generated and potential possibilities realized.

Whether we pay strict attention to that moment when magic is performed or ignore it altogether, there is still a significant importance and meaningfulness associated with that event. To focus on that moment and to gain whatever degree of knowledge we can based on our knowledge of astrology is to fully realize what is occurring and what might be the outcome of that moment. That knowledge can also be used to select the best time to perform that magical working, and it can also assist one in properly selecting the best kind of magic to deploy. What lies behind this knowledge, of course, is the reason for performing this working. What is the objective of the magic and what are we seeking when we work it? All these considerations work together to help us assemble a magical working at the most optimal time and utilizing the best magical methods.

Celestial magic, or magic employing the planets, signs or even the fixed stars, relies heavily on the use of the temporal model of magic. Without analyzing and determining the date and time to work this magic then the powerful meaningfulness of the magic as determined by the moment will be lost. This is particularly true when working with talismans. Since they represent a perpetual emanation of magic, determining the optimal date and time to perform the working to generate them is critically important. We want a talisman that will empower our objectives in the most auspicious and significant manner possible. Generating a talisman that has either less potency or one that might produce an inverse or negative outcome would be something that we would want to avoid. Because is talisman is active 24 hours a day, seven days week for perpetuity, then ensuring a good outcome in the moment of their generation is a critical consideration.

When we add to these considerations to timing for either a lunar mansion or an astrological decan then determining the optimal time can be limited by finding an occurrence where the moon is waxing, and the astrological auspices are optimal. Determining that special event may force a practitioner to schedule it months in advance when celestial attributes are adequately or even perfectly aligned. If the magic is going to produce a strategic change in one's life, then carefully selecting a time when it can be performed should not be a problem. It should be part of the discipline of working this kind of magic. All other kind of approaches that ignore this critical consideration can not only produce mediocre results, but it could also produce malefic ones as well. This might be useful to generate a talismanic field that operates as a curse to be projected on a malefactor or opponent; it would not be helpful if one is seeking a constructive outcome for oneself.

As you can see, the temporal model of magic is important when a magical working is being performed to make a strategic change in one's life, or in the fashioning of a talismanic artifact. It was part of the rigor for working talismanic magic as it was done before the 20th century, since all celestial magic relied on the precise moment when an event occurred to passively expose a talismanic artifact. Since the Golden Dawn introduced the hexagram and pentagram devices to generate planetary and elemental fields whenever required, the need for determining the auspices have become less important to some. However, using the temporal model when working celestial magic when deploying the hexagram and pentagram devices will ensure that the moment of the magic will be captured and fully determined. It will make a potential probability more likely to occur.

In my new book, Talismanic Magic for Witches, I fully cover not only the theory of the temporal model of magic, but also the myths behind it and its practical application. I show the Witch or Pagan who aspires to work talismanic magic how they might go about selecting the optimal time and date for a working. I show the reader examples and how a given actual date might be examined for its potentially enhanced outcome or whether the auspices might force one to elect a different date. All these factors are thoroughly covered so that the reader can effectively and confidently choose the optimal time to perform a working without having to be an astrological expert. Knowing astrology is important, particularly knowing your own natal chart and how to determine your strengths and weaknesses, but this knowledge is readily available to everyone without having to study for years before attempting a competent talismanic working.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2023. All rights reserved.

I'm both a psychic and a yoga teacher, and am wondering what you think about the connection between physical fitness and psychic ability. It seems to me that being healthy and fit would enhance our psychic abilities, just as it enhances every other area of our lives, yet I see many psychics who are riddled with health problems and terribly out of shape. What do you two think?

- Andrea

Astrea:

The strange ancient ritual of the Sin-Eater may help me explain what's happening here. In ancient times, people would place a feast on the body of the departed, for it was thought that the Sin-Eater would come and eat the feast and thus take the sins of the departed soul away.

This guaranteed the departed would go right into Heaven with all his sins forgiven. Though this is a really creepy idea, I think it will help me explain why many psychics are in awful physical and/or mental shape.

Just as modern vampires suck energy from others instead of blood, today's psychics take on the problems and ailments of all the people we read - unless we take proper precautions so that doesn't happen. Most of us do, but some of us don't know how.

The psychics you encounter who suffer from various health conditions are the ones who weren't taught to protect themselves against taking on the problems and issues of their clients.

For most of us psychics alive and working today, no one in the family was familiar with protection rituals because psychic ability was frowned upon by most organized religions and banned completely from others. Those of us who came into our abilities in the sixties had to discover our own protections, and some of us did better with this than others.

Every psychic has to find a personal way to connect, read and help clients and yet keep their problems and illnesses at bay, and this can be harder in some situations than in others.

Sometimes the client comes to us in such a weakened, unhappy state that our hearts reach out before we can take time to protect ourselves. At those times we're vulnerable, and many psychics will choose to take that heavy energy on instead of sending it back to the person suffering. We all do this occasionally whether it's intentional or not.

Even those of us who know better sometimes forget to protect ourselves; everyone gets sick once in a while. Part of being human involves taking on illness to strengthen our immune system. Now that there are vaccines for measles, mumps and chicken pox, people don't get all those childhood diseases. Similarly, we're not as accustomed to fighting off psychic germs as we used to be.

That is changing, however. More and more awareness is coming through now, so I predict that the next generation of psychics will pay as much attention to their physical well-being as they do their psychic abilities.

Fewer of the new kids are going to be plagued by the old ills because they're being taught how to not take on the physical and mental problems of the people they help.

*****

Susyn:

You address a very important issue. Having personally experienced both sides of these health issues and how they affect our abilities, I can clear some of this up for you.

I struggled with an eating disorder most of my life, and it wasn't until I got a handle on it that my psychic gifts began to emerge.

I had been fascinated with psychic phenomenon from an early age, but I grew up in a time when those sorts of activities were discouraged. I feel there was a direct link between that repression and the appearance of my eating disorder.

I encountered my first psychic experience at the age of seven, and by the age of eight, I was putting on extra weight. By the time I went to high school, I weighed well over 200 pounds.

I have heard this referred to as psychic puffing. In an effort to squelch or protect our gifts, many of us have a tendency to bury or hide them behind walls of extra weight or other bad health practices.

We must keep in mind that many of us had negative experiences as psychics in past lives, and unless healed and released, the memories of our suffering carried over into this lifetime.

If we were psychics, astrologers or witches in past lives, many of us were run out of town, imprisoned, hung or burned at the stake. That would make anyone think twice about recognizing, exercising or revealing their gifts!

You are correct in saying that the healthier we are, the stronger our spiritual gifts become. Most people have the desire to be healthy and in shape, but are working through their own fears and issues in an effort to reach a point where they can make a commitment to better health and maintain that commitment.

In addition to battling those inner issues, of course, we are all dodging the constant bombardment of food ads, endless encouragement to indulge (Super-size me!), and the misinformation everywhere regarding food, diet and health.

One of the gravest problems is how food producers who are driven by hunger for high profits laden most of what we eat with sugar, antibiotics and hormones. Even when we attempt to eat healthy, there are many hidden poisons in our food that keep us addicted to the very stuff that is making us unwell.

So eating healthy and staying fit is a challenge for all of us, not just people who are obviously struggling with their weight.

It's great that you're leading by example. While you may not be able to help all those psychics who are ailing, you can encourage your clients to replace unhealthy habits with exercise and spiritual practices, and remind them that in doing so, they will gain many physical, emotional, mental and spiritual gifts.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.