Real-world magic, paganism and Earth religions

[Jitter]

Thank you Northman!

I recently came across a very interesting recent case, where a spring was consecrated as a holy spring in 2015 in Lapland! I’ll try to write it up later.

[Jitter]

From our very own Róisín on October 24th 2019. In comment section  about page 174 of Adventure 2, where Reynir is painting a great big ward on the ground when the team are making camp. The discussion was about how does Reynir know what to do in a dangerous situation when he’s only been schooled in farm magic. Róisín’s comment however contains several real-world examples of warding an area for protection.

”If Icelandic magic is anything like Celtic magic, there will be basic patterns that can be adapted for use to work in a particular situation. Our patterns are mostly words, music or knotwork patterns rather than sigils, though there are a few of those. For instance, in the circumstances shown here, a Celtic mage might make a poem defining the boundaries of the area to be protected, naming the things to be protected against, and calling on the land, the trees, the landspirits and the gods to reinforce the wards, keep watch and give warning of incoming danger. They would walk around the area to be protected singing the spell, and/or draw or carve protective symbols on particular rocks or trees.

Whereas an Australian marngit might walk around the area marking things with ochre, defining the area, and calling on the land and the local landspirits and the relevant guardian ancestors to give protection. Or if very skilled they might dance the spell.

One year back in the early days of the Mount Franklin Pagan Gathering we had a practitioner of Native American magic who came along with the West Irish Druid whom he was visiting, and showed us how he would do it, with smoke from a charring bundle of sweetgrass, boreal wormwood and white sage carried around the circle while speaking suitable words. And the Sussex Craft witches at the same event did it by setting up a circle using the cardinal points as anchors.

There are at least as many styles of doing such things as there are systems of magic, I guess.”

[Vaska]

Well I guess I might as well hop in here since it was what attracted me to the forum in the first place, and since protecting a space was the last thing mentioned....

How I do it depends on a lot of factors, honestly. For religious ritual, I usually make 3 circles around the space to purify it carrying fire. Indoors, candles are fine, but outdoors you need more of a torch situation. While I do this I say certain prayers to Thor and, depending on context, the ancestors. The idea is that fire burns away the "infected" or unwhole part of the land and Thor drives out and protects from the malevolent spirits that may have taken up residence in the place. Once this is done, we usually put up a rope fence or lay down stone markers to keep the place separate from the unpurified world.

For witchcraft though, I get pretty creative. I've cast circles in a semi-wiccan fashion, starting from the east. I've also done very impromptu rituals that basically consists of turning in circles with a makeshift flamethrower yelling "Okay, get out of here, you nasties!". So there's kind of a spectrum of how "professional" it is, which varies based on whether or not I'm going to be doing direct interactions with spirits on that particular job.

For the dead it's a whole nother matter- I usually just wear protection on my person and ask the ancestors to watch over me. Seems to work.

And my go to for protecting houses is wards on doors and windows- this has been everything from animal heads, symbols drawn, iron nails, and concoctions I made from various kinds of dust.

[Róisín]

Salt and iron are pretty good for housewards, though in my experience basing the wards around  a living tree is best. On the other hand that is how I do, because it suits my style. Some people use a stone or a carved or painted icon of some kind - depends on culture/religion/magical system involved. Many cultures also use salt water, holy water, light, fire or sacred herbs to make a boundary or barrier. I’ve even seen copper wire used.

One pattern I have found useful for both personal and area protections is very simple. Not sure if it could be properly called a spell, more like a meditation/concentration exercise. What I learned to do was to first find the spot where my awareness of self is based in my body. For me it is within the body, around the solar plexus, for many people it is in behind the eyes, or in the heart, throat or base chakra areas. For a few it seems to be under the feet, or even outside the body or floating above the head. Varies vastly from person to person.

Once you have determined the location of that point of self-awareness, the usage I learned was to picture a small bright light there. Some people use a flame or spark image, I use a small white star. Once you have that well pictured, expand it out, evenly in all directions, until it reaches a natural boundary, pushing out ahead of it anything dangerous or unwanted (some use this method to control and cast out rage or fear as well as things from outside yourself). Again, this varies among individuals. Mine is roughly me-shaped and a few inches outside my skin. For some folk it is a glowing sphere yards across, for some it stops at the skin. Once the shell of light reaches that boundary, tell it to stabilise there and reflect any dangerous or hostile energies. If you want to strengthen the protection, send out more shells of light to reinforce it.

Simple and not requiring a lot of equipment and fuss.

Also meant to mention about the rain calling we did last week: small success, several small sprinkles of rain that night and early the next morning. A bit cooler and lower winds than had been expected. Not a huge result, but some. Mind you, there were only three of us plus a few old trees. Me, the marngit friend I mentioned, and a Buddhist nun. Each of us worked in our own style of invocation or prayer, doing what we could to reinforce the other two as they were working.

[Róisín]

Further about the weather working: I think having the trees on side has helped a lot. We have now had several days of gentle misty drizzle. Not enough to break the drought, but enough to lay the dust and smoke from the air, help to damp the continuing fires a bit, and keep plants alive without damaging ripening fruit. I was worried about the cherry harvest, which can be utterly destroyed by storms or hail at this time of year, but everything seems to be okay so far. Here’s hoping!

[Jitter]

Hello all! In the spirit of the festive season, would you like to describe some of the celebrations for e.g. the Solstice?

[Róisín]

Most Solstice celebrations that I know of involve light and fire. Winter and Summer both. This year I kept Solstice with a mixed group down in town, since my own folk are far away from where I am at present. This group are several styles of neodruid and two oldfashioned druids, as well as myself (ollave/bard with only sixteen full years of training out of the 21 years considered proper in my own tradition; my life has been far too busy and full of obligations to spend a lot of time on fulltime study), plus several Sussex craft and Cornish craft witches (the Cornish craft guy being the senior of the company, who has worked for some years with one of the neodruids to organise things, the rest of us contribute as we can). Adelaide pagans are somewhat eclectic, we cooperate with one another and in some cases with the local marngits.

We have crafted a mixed ritual that works for everyone, calling on the quarters and the elements in Wiccan style combined with the Druidic prayers for peace and accord, and acknowledging the land that supports us. It seems to work and not offend anyone or anything. We follow the formal ritual with an Eisteddfod where everyone presents a work appropriate to the season and our intent, and follow this with a shared feast. I usually make a new song or poem, and a pastry or dessert for the feast.

For myself, I plan to spend today watering my garden and trying to keep things alive.

Edit: I should have mentioned that in some places I have lived the Solstice is celebrated with the usual feasting, light, fire and music, but also with a staged battle between the Oak King and the Holly King, which symbolises the tipping points between the light and dark halves of the year.

[Jitter]

I’m continually impressed with the way you work together between the various faiths and traditions. If only the big religions would manage the same!

Although of course I assume there is the small proportion of extremists among the pagans as well, but with the overall small number (in comparison that is) of practitioners the small minority of a small minority becomes so small you have to know them in person to know id them.

[Róisín]

There are isolationists/separatists in most faiths, I suppose, but we don’t have many. And some who are solitary practitioners by choice. Working together isn’t always easy, but I find it good, for us and for the return we make to the land.