Posts filed under “Magic Theory”
Magic Toxicity
Is magic messy? Some authors make a lot of noise about how you need to clean up after yourself magically. Magic is some dangerous force that must be properly contained for your safety and sanity – and for those around you. The result of this kind of hype is less magic practice and more excited [...]
Magic in the 22nd Century
An essay of mine just went live at the Humanistic Paganism portal. It addresses a mainly skeptical, nonmagical crowd and asks the question, Let’s assume you believe magic never works. How then should you view people who practice or believe in it? /serious This may be the most important article I’ve written this year. Given that [...]
Familiars Part 6: Bonding with Spirits
This is the final part of a series on familiar spirits. You can see the previous entry here or start with the first one here. Let’s say you’ve conjured a big ol’ mess pile of spirits using the Feast. Now what? Getting contact with spirits is easy, but forming a close relationship with one can be significantly harder. [...]
Familiars Part 5: How to Call Them
This is part of a series on familiar spirits. You can see the previous entry here or start with the first one here. Getting a familiar is a big job. Throughout this series I’ve referred to spirits “answering your call.” Summoning. Where do you start? Summoning can be an overwrought affair. Special diagrams, custom incenses, don’t pronounce [...]
Familiars Part 4: Protection
When you’re inviting strange spirits to come for a visit, some would say you need to protect yourself. I guess that’s reasonable. For an easy way to do this, Google “protection spell” -WOW -game and use the first thing that looks good to you. There are so many protection methods out there that I can’t [...]
Familiars: Question Mark?
I’ve been writing a series on familiar spirits (see the last installment). I said that in the next section I would talk about how to summon a familiar for yourself. That’s run into a snag. It’s funny. I actually consider familiars to be a specialization of mine; having worked extensively with them, I assumed it would [...]
Familiars Part 3: A Day with My Familiar
This is part 3 of an ongoing series on familiars. Check out Part 1 and Part 2. I have a familiar spirit. I hesitate to share too much about him because it’s a very personal relationship, but there are things I can say. Let’s call him Agrippa. Agrippa first came to me in response to a [...]
Familiars Part 2: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Demon
If you didn’t see Part 1, it’s about why a cat, dog or other animal is not really what I call a familiar. Take a look if you like. So what’s the alternative? A spirit, which is what most magical traditions mean when they say “familiar.” Magicians should be trained and ready to deal with spirits [...]
Familiars Part 1: Not a Cat
By popular request I’m kicking off a series on how to summon a familiar. People talk about familiars in two different ways: as an animal, or as a spirit. I’m not talking about animals. I know there are plenty of magicians who treat an animal as their familiar, and I raise my scotch to them. But [...]
A Scroll of Conjuration
Magic is very closely connected with my spiritual practice. It took me a long time to realize this isn’t true for every magician. A client once approached me to commission a love spell. I asked her what kind of man she wanted to attract. “My husband,” she said. I frowned. I asked her why she [...]