Raising Power, Part One:
Power Sources, Deity, and Self
In chapter one, we said the things that make magic work are as follows:
1. Interconnection
2. Transcending space and time
3. Intention
4. Power
Having covered the first three, it’s time at last to talk about power.
Where Does Power Come From?
Raising power is going to involve, first, figuring out where power comes from. It’s so much easier to draw water if you know where the well is. For each source of power, we can then discuss how to access power from that source.
Power comes from:
• Deity (God, the gods, the Goddess, or however you prefer to identify deity)
• The self—mind, body, and spirit
• Natural sources
• Supernatural sources
• Power saved, accumulated, or stored in something
• Words of power
Power raised for magical purposes is generally not raised from only one of these sources. A ritual can and often does draw upon every power source listed here.
Power from Deity
One of the things that I hear practitioners of magic say quite often is that magic is pretty much the same thing as prayer. I’ve said it myself—magic is prayer with more “tech.” In prayer, at least in the more famous religions of the world (I have gone on to say), you just pray, without worrying if your technique is effective. God is supposed to handle that part.
But is that true? Is magic really just prayer?
Magic and prayer are somewhat similar in that both have a goal that may be theurgic or thaumaturgic, and both access a source of power to achieve that goal. But there the similarity ends. (You might argue that all prayer is inherently theurgic—about God or the gods—but if you’re praying for something specific to happen, like an illness to be healed or the Mets to win the World Series, then that’s more like thaumaturgy, even if God is involved.)
Magic differs from prayer in that prayer acknowledges only one source of power—the entity to whom you pray—whereas I’ve offered a whole list of sources. Magic also differs in that you, the magician, are directing the outcome, whereas in prayer, at least in theory, you’re supposed to let the gods decide what happens next, and humbly accept that outcome.
Magic is not, then, just prayer. What about the reverse? Is prayer just a form of magic, raising a particular kind of power in order to achieve goals? Again, I’d say no. Prayer does many of the same things as magic, just as it does many of the same things as meditation, but it primarily involves a relationship. You pray in order to form a connection with deity, and internally, in that relationship, you exchange energy, some of which can be used to achieve goals.
But what if you don’t pray? In the introduction, I said your magic could be sacred or secular. If you are an entirely secular person and consider magic to be fundamentally atheistic, where does that leave you?
Simply, power from deity isn’t a source you’ll want to access. There are plenty of other sources of power available to you, so it’s not a concern. You can skip the following section on accessing power from deity if it’s uncomfortable for you, or you can read it purely academically.
Accessing Power from Deity
For every source of power, there are numerous ways to access that power. In each section, I’ve tried to be fairly exhaustive, although I’m sure the creative magical practitioner can find even more. Here, then, are some ways to access power from deity.
Prayer
One of the primary ways to access power from deity is through prayer. Prayer, as I’ve just said, is rooted in a relationship. Your prayer should be consistent with your relationship with the deity to whom you pray. If you don’t believe in God, praying to God is not going to work. If you have a relationship with a deity based on your humility and accepting whatever Fate brings you, then asking for power to direct your fate in some way is inappropriate.
Prayer to a deity should also be consistent with the nature of that deity. Praying to Aphrodite for love is a good idea, but praying to her for stability, less so. If you have a conflict and pray to a god of war for a solution, don’t expect peacemaking.
In other words, the relationship, and the request, should be respectful. Make no mistake—prayer is a request. Certain cultures, and certain deities, allow for a much more forceful energy exchange—the petitioner can be seen almost to threaten or make demands of the deity. An example is found in the worship of Kwan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. There is a traditional style of Kwan Yin statue with a removable hand. You can, in the course of petitioning Kwan Yin for what you want, remove her hand, hiding it until your wish is granted. Most Westerners would not consider this kind of blackmail to be a decent way to interact with a deity, as monotheistic prayer tends more toward the groveling end of the spectrum. Nonetheless, a prayer or petition is a request—you’re asking for help, whether gently or forcefully, whether humbly or arrogantly.
Magic can be monotheistic, polytheistic, or atheistic, but a magical view of deity tends to see the deity as a component of the magic and to use to the deity almost as a magical tool. What is that deity’s energy? What is that deity’s particular strength? It’s almost like you “use” Sarasvati to improve your studies, or Brigid for healing, or Hermes for safe travel. Considering how to utilize a deity in this way can be appropriate, but it can also be disrespectful. It’s important to consider what the deity’s will is in the matter, as well as your own will, just as you must consider the desires of the other members of a group if you do magic in a group.
Evocation/Invocation
While prayer or petition is the most common method of connecting to deities and therefore gaining power from them, evocation (or invocation) is also a means of raising power.
Consider prayer. You are talking to a deity—Gaia, for example—based on the assumption that she’s there and she’s listening. Perhaps you pause before you begin, and make conscious contact with her. Perhaps you even begin your prayer by asking her to be present and listen. Right there, that’s the beginning of evocation.
But the magical/ritual act of evocation (or invocation) is much more elaborate.
In the occult, the distinction is made between invoking and evoking. To invoke is to summon a deity into your own body (possession, channeling, or “aspecting”), or into the body of another person, or sometimes into an object (generally an idol). To evoke is to summon the deity externally, asking the deity to be present in your ritual space but external to anyone or anything. Here, we’ll deal only with evocation. Invocation is a much more complicated, advanced, and potentially risky endeavor, and whole books are devoted to the subject.10 In truth, though, the part we’re going to talk about is pretty much the same in either case. Invocation and evocation both involve raising and sending power, and it is in the sending that they become different. Here, we’re talking about raising power.
Evocation and invocation raise power by bringing the deity present. The energy is exchanged; you almost can’t help sending power to the deity as you call. The energy is then reciprocated and redoubled, the deity bringing much more energy than you sent. As this energy exchange occurs, one of two things happens. Either you succeed in bringing the deity present to your ritual and then receive energy from the deity for the rest of the work you do (thus effectively raising power from the deity for that work), or you continue to send back as you receive, back and forth, but now you are directing the energy toward the invocation.
Over the years, I have been part of many rituals that contained rather lackluster evocations. For this reason, it’s worth going over the components of an effective evocation/invocation:
1. Invitation or summons
2. Specificity in words and atmosphere
3. Descriptiveness
4. Praise
5. Need or reason
6. Greeting and/or thanks
Invitation or Summons: It is important to specifically ask the deity to be present, or call to the deity.
Specificity in Words and Atmosphere: This involves a number of things. First, with a deity with a very long history and many qualities, be specific about who you are calling: Kali, merciful mother, or Kali, devourer of demons? Oya, keeper of the gates of the cemetery, or Oya, winds of change?
I am not a fan of invoking a generic deity, but you may be invoking someone whose name is unknown to you (such as a Paleolithic deity or perhaps a being from a dream). In that case, you’ll rely more heavily on descriptiveness, but use whatever titles you know.
Second, specificity means that your nonverbal call should be specific as well. When I speak with Kali, I rely on my Ravi Shankar recordings and burning sandalwood to create an atmosphere specifically evocative of her. Music, scent, color, and other components of your ritual setting can aid in making your evocation specific to the being evoked.
Descriptiveness: Partly, the purpose of being very descriptive is to key your own mind into what you’re doing and to create atmosphere. Partly, it augments specificity: not just Kali, but many-armed Kali, not just Thor, but bearded and mighty, goat-rider and hammer-wielder. Partly, descriptiveness is one of the things that raises power. We’ll get to the magic of words in the pages ahead, but I think you can already feel the way flowing and evocative words create an energy when you speak and listen to them. Finally, descriptiveness bleeds into praise. When you are detailed about the deity, the deity is more responsive, and this may be because the deity is being treated with respect.
We’ve all gotten form letters in the mail. “Dear Sir/Madam” never makes us feel special. We’ve all also gotten email or snail mail in which our name is in the right spot, yet the invitation itself is still generic. A detailed, specific, and descriptive invitation makes someone (whether that “one” is human or deity) feel singled out and genuinely invited.
Praise: This is just polite. And practical. I assume that Gaia has more than one invitation tonight, so make sure yours gets her attention.
Need or Reason: An evocation should include the reason you are invoking the deity. In the case of raising power, you have a fairly specific magical purpose, although “so that I may worship you” is perfectly acceptable.
Again, consider the analogy to a human invitation. It’s much easier to accept an invitation if you know what you’re being invited to and why.
Greeting and/or Thanks: If you’ve ever taken any kind of sales classes or even studied how to do well at job interviews, you’ve heard the phrase “assumption of success.” You assume the answer is yes and behave accordingly. That means you leave the interview saying, “I look forward to working together,” not “I hope you like me!” An invocation or evocation should contain that assumption of success, and therefore it should end with a greeting. In other words, if your evocation worked, there’s a deity present. Say hello.
Sample Evocation
Gaia, Lady of the earth, ground upon whom I walk, join me here!
You whose body is the very globe, you who mother all living creatures, you who nurture and hold us, join me here!
Bring your kindness and graciousness, your love and your stability, O glorious one.
With love I call, that you may lend power to my work.
Join me here!
Welcome, and blessed be.
Create an evocation to the deity or being (angel, nature spirit, etc.) of your choice. Be sure to include the following components:
1. An invitation or summons
2. Specificity in words and atmosphere
3. Descriptiveness
4. Praise
5. Need or reason
6. Greeting and/or thanks
Note that in order for your evocation to be specific and descriptive, you have to know something about the deity. Don’t be afraid of research! And don’t just use the first source you find, either. Use multiple sources to make sure you really understand the historical or mythological material. This does honor to the deity and improves your evocation.
For the purpose of this exercise, “that I may worship you” is sufficient need/reason. After writing the evocation, find a time to use it. Ground and center, then evoke. How did it feel? Did it bring you closer to the deity you evoked? What would you change?
Offering
As with evocation, making offerings raises power by exchanging power. You give to the deity, and power is released into the ritual space as a result.
Offerings can be specific to the deity as well. A little research will tell you that Hermes likes frankincense, honeycombs, and wheat, while Ganesha likes milk and sweets. Be sure that your research includes any potential offerings that are not acceptable—for example, Demeter is offended by wine.
Offerings can be from yourself. They can be offerings of creativity, performance, or artistry. You can sing, dance, recite, or play music as an offering.
Worship
Worship is a huge subject. It’s a book in and of itself. I am treating it only briefly here. I’m addressing it for a few reasons: to be complete about power, and sources of power, as well as to analyze the whole idea of the relationship between magic and prayer, and get at some common falsehoods about that relationship.
If you were focusing your magical energy on a worship ritual or on theurgy, it would make sense to do all three of these things: evocation/invocation, offering, and prayer or petition. In that case, you would do them in exactly that order: First invite and greet, then, immediately after greeting, make an offering—again, it’s only polite. Only after giving do you then ask to receive (petition).
Power from the Self
The primary source of power to be raised, most of the time, for most people, is from the self. This is really interesting when we contrast it with power raising in most works of fiction, by the way. The self is the source that almost all fiction leaves out. We’re going to discuss other sources of power, and many of those are mainstays of pop culture: magic words, powerful objects, and so on. But, because pop culture ignores the self, or treats the self as “special” (some people are born to do magic, others are not), many practitioners are lacking in important information about the relationship between self and magic.
In the section on mind skills in chapter four, I talked about the necessity to ground whenever you’re pouring your self into magic, and now I’m saying that your self is almost always poured into magic. This should give you a hint! On the rare occasions when pop culture actually takes power-from-self seriously, it tends to get it kind of right, albeit over-dramatically. People do become exhausted, disoriented, or dizzy from raising power while ungrounded, and long-term it can affect your physical, mental, and spiritual health. If you are uncertain of your ability to ground yourself, then continue working on the exercises in chapter four before proceeding!
Raising power from the self can refer to a number of different things: You can raise power from your body, and many power-raising techniques are based in the body. You can raise power purely from the mind. You can raise power through emotions—technically, that’s also the mind, or at least the brain, but in the occult we tend to classify mind and heart as different things. Finally, you can raise power from the spirit. This is so closely intertwined with raising power from the gods—the line between higher self and deity being kind of blurry—that I won’t treat it separately in this section.
Accessing Power from the Mind and Heart
Power can be raised entirely from the mind, although most practitioners use a combination of mind and body, or mind and objects, or all three. Fiction abounds with sorcerers who furrow their brows and perhaps put a hand to their forehead, and create great magic that way. Most of us in the real world will benefit from using specific mind techniques while also employing other power-raising techniques. Most of us will also benefit from using something to help us concentrate and focus the mind, whether a candle we gaze at, or body movement, or what have you.
Remember that two of the things that make magic work are that we have focused intention and that we imbue our magic with power. The essence of “mind magic” is that we concentrate our focused intention, building the intensity more and more, until the power has reached the desired peak.
Meditation was discussed previously as a means to develop the ability to concentrate intention. It can also be used as a means of raising power: This time, though, you are meditating on your specific goal, focusing the mind clearly and intensely, pushing the thoughts toward the target.
This is where the heart comes in. Building thoughts to an intense pitch is often augmented by whipping up the emotions.
In the previous chapter, I talked about how intense emotion can both help and hinder a clear intention. You may have to temper your feelings, calm them, or set them aside while deciding to do magic and while preparing magic. But once you’re here, ready to raise power, bring feelings in. While you think about your goal, also desire it. Long for it. Develop an unshakable passion for it.
Many people say that magic cannot work without strong emotion, that it is the key to a successful spell. I don’t think this is true. Emotion is one source of power. There are many others. Not everyone has the same ability to access emotion in a cohesive and meaningful way, so that it can be directed on command. Some people who find expressing emotion awkward socially may have the same awkwardness when it comes to forming emotion magically—even though they feel deeply.
It’s also true that you will sometimes raise power for a goal you are not personally passionate about. When I am doing magic on behalf of another person, there are times when I simply don’t feel as deeply as the subject himself feels. So if Joe needs a job, Joe really, really feels it. Most books on magic will tell you that in the moment you do the spell, you must feel it deeply and want it more than anything in the world.
But it may be that the language of emotion doesn’t accurately reflect how you approach that spell. If you concentrate your mind fully and completely, if your focus and intention are there, if you have firm desire, it may be that you don’t experience that emotionally so much as mentally. That’s okay. Joe’s job, to you, is a little bit abstract—you’re not the one at home sending out résumé after résumé—and so the emotional part may not resonate as perfectly.
Another method of accessing power through the mind is through trance and other deeply altered states of consciousness. Deeper trance states can allow you to take in power from sources not accessible to the ordinary mind, and power can be sent from such states as well.
Accessing Power from the Body
The human body is continually generating a variety of energies that can be considered “magical.” This doesn’t just occur during magic. The existence of these energies can only partially be explained because, in a scientific sense, there’s barely any understanding of what magical power actually is. How is it different from ordinary energy? From an endorphin rush? From adrenaline-fueled intensity? From arousal? It’s not particularly clear. We know that all of these things can be tapped for magic and can contribute to magic. What we don’t know is if there’s a dividing line between these physical/mental conditions that are partially or entirely understood by science, and the supernatural. For now, though, let’s proceed with describing ways to access power from the body, and leave the science aside.
Movement, even the simplest movement, generates energy from the body. Indeed, many “Witch’s dances” are little more than running around a circle. This may sound stupid at first, but it’s effective and can be quite powerful, and has the advantage of leveling the playing field—the graceful and the graceless are equally gifted.
The technique of such a Witch’s dance is simple: A group starts by standing in a circle and begins to walk slowly clockwise, perhaps with hands joined, perhaps holding up their athames or another ritual tool, perhaps in the classic “As above, so below” stance of the Magician from the tarot (figure 1). The group may do an incantation, or they may sing, or one person may sit out of the dance to play a drum or another instrument, or perhaps there is recorded music.
Gradually, intensity builds. Perhaps the tempo of the drum or music increases, or perhaps the chant or incantation grows faster, louder, more intense. The walk gets faster and becomes a run. Ultimately, hands are dropped, magic posture is no longer possible, and the group is running as fast as they can in the small circle, probably shouting and whooping as they do.
A running technique is best used by the able-bodied. A Witch I knew told me her group—older and with mobility issues—found that gently swaying back and forth while standing in place was surprisingly effective at raising power.
Dance is also an effective way to access power from the body. I like to make a distinction between ecstatic dance and trance dance. Ecstatic dance is body-centered. It’s often attractive to look at, as the dancer is expressing himself through dance and is letting go into an experience of the body moving, flowing with energy, creating energy, and interacting with energy. Steps are generally improvised and varied. Trance dance, by contrast, is often simple—a few repeated steps. Although trance dance can often look to the outside observer like not much is going on, the inner experience of the trance dance transports the mind into a deeper state of consciousness. The simplicity and low effort of the steps allows such a dance to be maintained over long periods, during which time can seem to slow or stretch.
The two types of dance are actually descriptive of two ways in which power can be raised from the body: intensely or gently. Whether running or swaying, ecstatic dance or slow, trance dance, power can be raised by pushing the body hard or by simply using the body.
A third type of magical dance is a group dance of organized steps. A variety of folk dances can lay down patterns in the mind and body, generate power through movement, create group unity, and be aesthetically pleasing to boot—all of which can contribute to magic.
Experiment with movement.
In a group or with a partner, try holding hands and dancing in a circle, using a simple walking step and gradually increasing in speed. Do you feel power increasing? Do you feel energized? Is it fun? (Fun is a great source of power when used right.)
Try other kinds of movement. What is swaying from side to side like? What are folk dance steps like? What are jumping jacks like?
Working alone, do the same experiments. You might find the same techniques work differently alone.
Exercise 11: The Grapevine Step
The grapevine is a simple folk dance step that is the basis for other, more complex folk dances. It takes longer to describe than to learn!
Stand facing forward.
1. Cross your right foot in front of your left so that you’re stepping to the left.
2. Step left with your left foot.
3. Cross your right foot behind your left, again stepping left.
4. Step left with your left foot.
That’s all there is to it! Across, left, behind, left. It’s okay to sway your body with your right foot, so that you face left, forward, right, forward.
This is a great step to use in a group because everyone can learn it in about three minutes. It’s also a nice way of dancing alone. If you’re raising power alone and feel self-conscious, a few organized steps can make it go more smoothly.
Working with intensity can be exhilarating, and it is certainly powerful. The complexity comes in sending power raised this way. How do you focus? How do you remember what to send, and where? We’ll talk about this in the next chapter.
One intense way to raise power from the body is through sex. Sex magic has lots of advantages: it’s enjoyable, it’s accessible to most people, and it generates energy in an easily understood way. Sex magic can be done with any number of people. You can raise power from your body alone, with a partner, or in a group. Your own sexual preferences are your only limitations. Don’t do anything sexually for magic that would make you uncomfortable if magic wasn’t involved, and especially, don’t allow yourself to be persuaded to do something that makes you uncomfortable for the sake of magic.
One of the beautiful things about sex magic is that sex may be the place where you first understood the transcendent power of the mind and body—even before you learned about magic. In sex, we can send our consciousness soaring, we can transcend ordinary space and time, and we can feel the immensity of the power of our own bodies—all without magic being involved. Now, this isn’t everyone’s experience of sex, but if it’s yours, you’ll probably feel a natural connection between sex and magical energy.
Physical pleasure raises power from the body, whether that pleasure is sexual or not. I once participated in a ritual in which power was raised from my body by being massaged. It felt great, it was a beautiful experience, and the energy was very real. Unlike sex, this really isn’t something you can do alone!
Pain also raises a great deal of power. Many people would be loath to work with such a technique, for obvious reasons, but the power raised is very real. Working with pain doesn’t mean doing anything that is inherently dangerous. The most common techniques are flogging (whipping with thick, flat straps that hit the body bluntly) or suspension.
Working with pain is also not something that should be done alone. It’s not that you can’t inflict pain on yourself; it’s that you need someone monitoring you, protecting you, and, basically, managing you. At some point, you’ll be “out of your mind”—and that’s the goal. But out of your mind with pain poses a lot of risks—injury not least among them. You’ll need help monitoring body temperature and hydration as well.
Neither sex magic nor pain magic should be done by people who have never experienced the non-magical version. There’s a huge learning curve in both inflicting and experiencing pain safely. Even people who are sexual masochists—who crave and desire pain—have to learn how to receive pain. Otherwise it’s just ow.
The final source of power from the body that we’re going to discuss is aura work. When I refer to the “aura,” I mean the palpable field of energy that surrounds your body. In fact, “aura” refers to a number of layers of emanation surrounding any living creature—between seven and nine layers are usually described; some people include “physical body” as the lowest level. What I’m talking about here is the first level after the physical, usually called the “etheric body.” It’s about a half-inch to four inches of energy that tightly hugs the body, and it can be used to great effect in power raising.
The etheric body is considered to be a direct emanation from the physical body, which is why it’s included here.
There are a number of power-raising techniques that use the etheric body. In fact, the first power I ever raised—quite accidentally—was done like this.
Hold your hands straight up, so the palms are flat and facing each other. Bring them slowly close together, without touching. Stop when you feel a cushion of energy between them—that’s the etheric body. At first, it may feel almost imperceptible. Continue to move your hands in and out; as you do so, the energy field grows in size, and you become more adept at perceiving it. Experiment with hand movements that feel good and that help to grow the energy. Try forming a ball, or “pulling taffy,” or rolling the hands one over the other. The ball (or other shape) of energy you create is ready for sending.
You can also do this technique with a partner or in a group, passing it back and forth or round and round. The first time I raised power this way, my girlfriend and I were playing a mime game, passing shapes back and forth. She made an ice cream cone, licked it, and passed it to me. I turned it into a hat, put it on my head, took it off, and handed it to her. She turned it into a tennis ball and served it, and so on. Soon we had a huge, warm, tingling wave of energy between our hands. This was the event that first got me researching magic—I had to know what to do with that energy!
I’ve used this technique with a group in a seated or standing circle as follows (figure 2): A slow drumbeat or a one-two count is needed to get you started. Bring your hands together (not touching) on one, and then on two, bring them out to the side so that you are almost touching your neighbors on either side. Then one, and your hands are together in front of you again, then two, and your hands are connecting (through the etheric body) to your neighbors.
The etheric body can also be used for a “touch” technique. Just as massage can be used to raise power through pleasure and physical sensation, you can massage the etheric body for pleasure, healing, and to use the etheric body (the physical body’s nearest energy emanation) to move the physical body’s energy.
Use the techniques just described to explore raising power with the etheric body. How close together do your hands have to be when you start the exercise in order for you to feel the etheric body? After you’ve been working with your hands for a while—several minutes at least—how far apart are they when you can feel it?
Work with a partner. Does the energy feel the same to both of you?
Have your partner stand or sit comfortably with her eyes closed. “Massage” her without allowing your hands to touch her physical body. Do this for at least several minutes, massaging the etheric body and feeling the energy between your hands and her body.
Afterward, you can ask your partner to describe her experience. Did she feel the energy in the same spots that you massaged? Did it feel the same to both of you?
Accessing Power from the Mind and Body Jointly
I happen to think that the whole mind-body split is artificial. Every day, medical science is expanding its understanding of the mind-body connection, and I wonder if it’s a “connection” at all; maybe it’s more of a jumble. Maybe they’re as separate as the oil and vinegar in your salad dressing—you can see the separation, but the taste is still a blend. Or maybe it’s more like trying to separate the chocolate from the milk in chocolate milk—can’t be done! All of the previous “body” power-raising techniques involved the mind; trance, ecstasy, being transported out of the self—these are all “mind” things.
Nonetheless, dance is still primarily physical and meditation is still primarily mental. In this section, we’ll look at techniques that have specific components of both mind and body.
The first and arguably the most powerful of these is rhythm.
The use of rhythm has become increasingly prevalent in magical communities. When I first became involved with the Pagan and magical world in the 1980s, drummers were few and far between. Now they’re everywhere. Drumming is powerful and accessible and has an immediate effect on those who experience it.
Drumming isn’t typically thought of as a part of Western magic, although Gerald Gardner wrote about its power in Witchcraft Today and claimed the New Forest coven in England had preserved drumbeats that could affect the mind powerfully.11 Nonetheless, most drumming came into Western magic from African, Afro-Caribbean, and Native American traditions. As these communities cross-pollinated more in the 1990s, drumming became more prevalent at gatherings and the practice caught on.
Rhythm is not limited to drumming, although given drumming’s popularity, many people seem to forget that! It’s really great to have quieter rhythm techniques in your repertoire, especially if you have neighbors or housemates. These include quieter musical instruments: rattles, maracas, clave sticks, finger cymbals and other bells and cymbals, and more. Rhythm can also be made with the body—clapping, snapping fingers, stomping, and so on.
Clapping games, such as those played by schoolchildren, can be used for power raising. (The ones I remember from childhood include “Miss Mary Mack,” “Miss Susie,” and “One Potato, Two Potato,”) If you’ve ever seen schoolchildren play those games, you know how much energy they generate!
Research on the effect of rhythm on the brain is happening now, and early results are intriguing. Recent studies suggest that rhythm can sync up parts of the brain, making them function more effectively. In fact, being out of sync seems to be related to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and listening to rhythmic music seems to promote healing, although the research is still nascent. One study suggests that groups listening to the same rhythm appear to sync up their very thoughts. Former Grateful Dead drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Mickey Hart has been collaborating with scientists to understand rhythm’s effect on cognition and mood.12
What we know is that rhythm affects the brain, and that different rhythms have different effects—rhythms can variously make you calm, agitated, aroused, focused, and spaced out. By controlling your mood, transporting your consciousness, and rousing your spirit, rhythm raises power through the mind.
Rhythm also affects the body. Our bodies have a host of physical and neurological rhythms, and basic physical health depends on these internal rhythms. We breathe, sleep, wake, and walk in rhythm. Our life literally depends on the rhythmic beating of our hearts, and a heartbeat rhythm is incredibly powerful to use in ritual and magic. The body naturally sways to a good beat, and this does a lot of things: it helps raise power through movement, it lets the mind release as the body takes over, and, in a group, it creates unity as each body responds to the same beat, which also increases power. Rhythm and dance are closely related. Rhythmic sound helps the body groove when dancing and moving, and dance itself can be used to create a rhythm.
Playing a rhythm on an instrument, or with your body, or dancing a rhythm, or vocalizing a rhythm, can all be an important part of power raising, and all are easily accessible means of raising power.
Similar to rhythm is repetition. Repeated patterns soothe the mind. There’s a vast amount of literature on the pleasure of repetition, and here, too, neuroscience is becoming quite interested. Repetition promotes learning. It is paradoxically both calming and stimulating. Large patterns of repetition (daily routines) and small patterns (tapping the fingers, doing the same thing over and over) have similar effects.
Repetition is used all over the place in magic. Obviously, a rhythm is an example of a repetition, and indeed, you can take one or more complex rhythms and repeat them, overlaying the two, or overlay one or more complex beats on top of a heartbeat. If you’re a talented drummer or you have multiple drummers working together, you can ascribe different magical intentions to different beats. Suppose, for example, you are raising power for a healing. A simple, soothing beat can be used to calm and ease the patient, while a fiery tempo overlaid on top of it can represent the fire of the life force—both are needed for healing.
Repeated phrases within an incantation or evocation are hypnotic and effective. In the sample evocation to Gaia earlier in this chapter, the phrase “Join me here!” is repeated three times. When Lewis Carroll said, “What I tell you three times is true,” he was on to something. The use of triple repetition is ancient in storytelling and proverbs as well as magic. When you repeat a phrase, it reinforces it in the mind, and it creates a resonance in the body.
Textile magic is something not often discussed in the occult. It’s very ancient, although I confess I coined the phrase just now in order to discuss a group of techniques that raise power using a variety of textiles. The use of a spinning wheel, a loom, of knitting, stitching, weaving, and making knots, all have a long history in magic. They all rely on repetition and rhythm to create a trance state in the mind, while the repetitive movement in the hands (and sometimes feet, with a loom or spinning wheel) has its own impact. Later, we’ll discuss using knots to “tie up” an intention. Here, we’re concerned with the act of tying a knot or, more likely, a series of knots.
Think of how often you’ve heard of this kind of magic in folklore and myth! In Greek mythology, we have the three Moirai (Fates), who spin, measure, and cut the thread of life. The goddess Athena is a master weaver, and Arachne, goddess of spiders, rivals Athena in weaving. Theseus escaped the labyrinth by following a thread.
In Norse and Germanic myth, Frigg is associated with weaving, and Holda with weaving and spinning. The Valkyries used looms strung with the bodies of their enemies.
In fairy tales, we have Sleeping Beauty. The spell that puts her to sleep was on the spindle of a spinning wheel. The Brothers Grimm tell the tale “Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle,” in which a spinning spell brings a suitor to a girl.
Most textile magic is done alone, although knotting, braiding, tying, and shaping string or yarn can be done by a pair of people, as in a Cat’s Cradle game. Stitching can be done in a group, and a quilting bee can be magical indeed.
Textile magic uses mind and body, and occasionally group unity. It lulls and hypnotizes with repetition while creating something and transforming something, and this is what gives it its great power.
Learn how to make some simple knots with string. During meditation, make knots as a counting device—that is, use knots the way you might use mala beads or a rosary, to count repetitions of a prayer, mantra, or phrase.
Practicing knots will have magical application later, and practicing them during meditation will have a synergistic effect—your knot-making will become more powerful and your meditation will be deeper.
Music is another extraordinary way to access body and mind power together. Music, too, has healing properties that science is beginning to recognize, and is used increasingly in conventional therapies. Music seems to transcend ordinary ways of using the brain, and so can promote healing and learning. Sound creates vibration, which moves the body and causes a number of internal chemical reactions. When we chant and tone, we move vibration through the centers of our bodies. A deep “om” comes from the belly, up through the chest and through the throat, then fills the mouth and nose, and reverberates in the top of the head.
Chants, songs, intonation, and intoned sound affect the body, while the words being uttered in these songs (if any) engage the mind. As you raise power through your body in the act of chanting, and, if in a group, raise power through unity as well, a part of your mind is engaged with the meaning of simple lyrics. Because such words can have a profound impact in a magical context, I am careful about choosing chants for my work that are positive, forward-focused, and purposeful.
Sound doesn’t have to be generated by the body to have an effect on the body. A Tibetan singing bowl is an example of an instrument that is played in order to affect body and mind, inducing relaxation and a meditative state. Vibration, resonance, meditation, relaxation, and trance are all related, and all can be generated or promoted by sound.
Austerities as a means of power raising refers to the whole class of techniques in which the body is subjected to extremes, either over a period of time or during meditation, or both. Mind power is accessed through trance and deep meditative states, while the body is the instrument through which extreme states are reached. As with using pain or sex as a part of magic, austerities are for advanced practitioners.
In Hinduism, extreme austerities, asceticism, and deprivation are used to produce tapas, an intense heat from the body that brings great power as a byproduct (because in Hinduism the goal is enlightenment, not power). Simple examples include fasting, isolation, and other ascetic practices.
A more extreme austerity is sensory deprivation, which includes isolation tanks (extremely pleasant to most people) and the use of the “Witch’s cradle,” which is a suspension basket or hammock—the practitioner is both isolated (in the “cradle”) and suspended, and sometimes bound as well. Other forms of suspension are also used, and these include hanging upside down as well as combining suspension with pain (flogging, whipping, or piercing). To generate tapas, yogis will use extreme postures, such as standing on one foot for days. Bondage techniques can also be used, combined with isolation, with pain, or with posture, to produce an intense body-mind reaction.
Again, none of this is for the beginner or for anyone working alone!
10. For example, Kenaz Filan and Raven Kaldera, Drawing Down the Spirits (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2009).
11. Gerald Gardner, Witchcraft Today, 142.
12. Natasha Geiling, “Former Grateful Dead Drummer Mickey Hart Composes Music from the Sounds of the Universe,” Smithsonian (October 1, 2013), www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/former-grateful-dead-drummer-mickey-hart-composes-music-from-the-sounds-of-the-universe-265907.