Magic: (1) the art that purports to control or forecast natural events,
effects, or forces by invoking the supernatural; (2a) the practice of using charms, spells, or rituals to attempt to produce supernatural effects or control events
in nature; (2b) the charms, spells, and rituals so used.[1]
So What Is Magic?
The word magic comes from the Latin magicus, which in turn comes from the Greek magikos, which was in reference to the “magical” arts of the magicians, or magi, the Zoroastrian priests of ancient Persia.
Magic could be viewed as an unseen force that surrounds us all, a cosmic web of energy that is just waiting to be tapped into. You do not need to be of any one religion, class, or creed to make magic manifest in your life, and later in this book we will see just how much magic we already use in our everyday lives. Magic is everywhere!
There are so many different definitions of magic floating around in the world, it would take about half the book to cover them, but to put it very, very simply, magic is the process of influencing events through spiritual force or energy, or the manipulation of energy to create a desired effect.
The Magical Basics
My first magical tutor used to say, “Magic is as magic does.” (And no, I had no idea what she was talking about either … at first.) In a nutshell, she was demonstrating that magic is all about cause and effect. Still confused? Follow me …
When we want to create a magical effect, we need a bundle of things to make it happen. Scott Cunningham, probably one of the most famous writers on Paganism, once said that “to perform effective magic, three necessities must be present: the need, the emotion, and the knowledge.”
My similar advice includes the following steps:
Intent: The desire to create change and also the belief that it will work.
Knowledge: Knowing what it is you wish to achieve and how to achieve it.
Creation: The way you create the change through a spell, ritual, or prayer using the appropriate methods.
Sounds simple? It is, but there are a few things you may want to know before you get started. Here are some rules that most practitioners of magic believe are the right way to go:
Ground Rule #1: Harm No Other
The intention of your spell, ritual, or prayer should be of sound morals—e.g., do nothing that would harm another creature.
Ground Rule #2: Avoid Outward Manipulation of Another’s Will
The intention of your spell, ritual, or prayer ideally should not manipulate another into doing something that is against their beliefs or that is morally reprehensible.
Ground Rule #3: Keep Your Magic to Yourself
It is often best to avoid telling all and sundry what spell you have done. Aside from the fact that some people get very antsy over the word magic, talking about it can essentially dilute the energy and strength of the work.
Can Anyone Do It?
Absolutely! Magic is not restricted to any particular religion or spiritual path. Many Christians, Jews, and nonsectarian people “do” magic as well as Witches, Pagans, and Wiccans. Magical energy is something that has been in our lives for millennia, and it certainly does not discriminate! The ancient Egyptians were firm believers in magic, or heka, as they called it; they had no concept of the supernatural—they firmly believed it was just natural, an everyday occurrence in their lives. So whether you believe in one god/dess, many god/desses, or no god/dess, you can draw upon the abundance of universal energy that is there for us. Isn’t that great?
Magic is believing in yourself—
if you can do that, then anything can happen.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There are, of course, many different belief systems all over the world—not just the main four religions of Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam, but myriad spiritual paths that permeate our separate cultures, each with their own way of doing things. So which one is right? Probably all of them! We have discovered over the centuries that almost all spiritual paths hold some wisdom in common, something that is often referred to as parallel or perennial thinking or tradition. More recently, we have found that many of the different belief systems from cultures scattered across the globe have very similar concepts, even though it is impossible that they could have passed on the earliest ancient traditions via oral transmission. So that shows that there is definitely a spiritual link between the collective human unconsciousness, which we still have to fathom a bit further but which is incredibly exciting!
A Magical Web:
Weaving the Wisdom
Magic is not a practice. It is a living, breathing web of energy that,
with our permission, can encase our every action.
—Dorothy Morrison, Everyday Magic
Some people like to visualize magical energy as a kind of cosmic spider’s web. This comes from the ancient Anglo-Saxon magician’s concept of what they called the way or web of Wyrd. They believed that everything was interconnected, and whatever occurred on one level reverberated on another, rather like a shudder along one strand of a spider’s web would make the rest of the web tremble. This is also seen in the Hermetic tradition that originated in ancient Egypt; followers of this spiritual path use the premise of “as above, so below,” meaning that what happens on earth is reflected in heaven and vice versa, and that we should strive to make heaven on earth by living a moral and uncorrupted life. This all ties in with the ground rules of magic—that you use your magical skills for positive or creative change and not for negative, destructive chaos.
It’s a Kind of Magic!
Did you know that many of the things we do in everyday life are well within the realms of magic?
How many of you have made a wish when you blew out the candles on your birthday cake? A little bit of candle magic performed on a very special day—your solar birthday!
Have you ever eaten a hot cross bun, an Easter egg, or Passover bread? These are great examples of magical food—incorporating a symbol/energy into something that you then ingest and digest throughout your whole being.
Hands up—who has saluted a solitary magpie to avoid bad luck or recited the poem “one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told,” meaning however many magpies you saw would bring you the associated item?
Many superstitions or folklore are what we would call sympathetic magic—magic based on imitation, using correspondences and/or items to represent the magical energy. A correspondence is something that is believed to influence something else based on its resemblance or relationship to it—the idea being that like affects like.
A simple example would be using a symbol to connect with the focus or energy of something—a picture of the moon would conjure aspects of the magical energy that the moon represents, such as emotions, dreams, or femininity. Some traditions use physical objects such as wands, poppets (little dolls), or other fetishes to link with the energies; many use charms, mandalas, and other sacred artwork.
Sympathetic Magic
The idea of sympathetic magic dates back to prehistoric times, when drawing a scene on a cave wall of a successful hunt would put the hunters in a positive-belief frame of mind so they would go out and be triumphant in their quest. Magical thinking can often describe how we see the world when we are children—we do or say something in the belief that it may happen, but that is not to say that magical thinking is childish. It is a simplistic way of effecting either a mental or physical change. And this is how we will use a lot of the spells and charms for henna magic—by drawing a design to tap into the magical energy that is associated with the particular symbol. Later in this book, you will read about how henna designs have been used throughout history in all manner of ways to celebrate, protect, cleanse, and much more.
Making Magic:
The Mystical Melting Pot
Symbols
We use symbols for many things in our everyday life—on signs to instruct, warn, or guide us; on books, food packets, and leaflets to educate and enlighten us. Historical and religious buildings are often covered in symbols, and of course we also use them for bodily decoration such as jewelry, clothing, and tattoos. Each symbol has a meaning and draws our attention to what it is trying to tell us, linking in to our deep unconscious. In magical practices, the symbol combined with our intent creates a stronger association and makes the magic stronger.
Scents and Senses
Have you ever smelled a fragrance and been transported back to your childhood, to a treasured holiday destination, or had a specific perfume conjure a vivid image of a favourite auntie? I’m sure you’ve all smelled something that has made you instantly think yuck as well! Well, that is also how our senses work in respect to magical work—a symbol, scent, or colour can link us immediately with a concept, persona, or place. It is a wonderful way of helping the mind to focus on the intent and desire while also creating a great atmosphere for magic. We will use essential oils and herbs in our henna recipes later in the book, along with other ideas for creating your perfect space for spells and magic, such as making it into a ritual.
Amulets, Charms, and Talismans
People have been using amulets, charms, and talismans since the dawn of time—so what’s the difference?
Amulet: An object with an intrinsic power of protection, believed to absorb negative qualities and protect the wearer. Examples of traditional amulets are crosses, ancient Egyptian symbols such as the ankh or Eye of Horus, or other deity-related symbols.
Charm: An object (or words) constructed or enhanced with the magical power to enchant; usually a magic spell is cast to make a statue, piece of jewelry, or other object have an effect on others and may make it behave in a way that it shouldn’t. The Harry Potter books are filled with charms for making broomsticks misbehave, cars fly, and hats talk!
Talisman: An object made with a specific intent—they effectively act as a generator of energy to achieve a specific goal. Talismans are made specifically for the wearer, often incorporating elaborate designs of magical correspondences such as angelic, elemental, or planetary sigils to empower the intended result.
What Is Ritual, and Why Do We Do It?
Ritual is described in the Oxford Popular English Dictionary as “a series of actions used in a religious or other ceremony.” Rituals can be performed at various special times dictated by tradition or a religious holiday, in a group, by an individual, or by a whole community. It can be done inside, outside, in public or private; in fact, anywhere the need takes it (within reason, obviously)—that is the beauty of doing a ritual! Some examples of rituals that we see around us all the time are:
Cultural traditions: Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Diwali, Ramadan, Chinese New Year.
Religious services: A very obvious and simple way of demonstrating faith and the components or traditions of that faith.
Rites of passage: Presidential inaugurations, graduations, marriages, bar mitzvahs, confirmations, funerals, dedication ceremonies, coronations.
These are all rituals, as they follow a set format that is symbolic yet confers certain energy, whether it is of a spiritual or more physical type.
As the nature of ritual is symbolic, that means there are hardly any limits to the actions, or “ingredients,” that can be used:
- Gestures, words, song, dance, music, costume ...
- Food, drink, plants, herbs, oils ...
- Objects such as candles, feathers, stones, mirrors ...
The list is almost endless and gives you great scope for making your own very special ceremony. So ritual is a wonderful way of making your magic more potent and real. It also allows you to put due care and thought into what it is that you require or need—and that is where the next bit comes in.
Correspondences:
What Are They, Which Do I Use, and When Do I Use Them?
Since the student is a man surrounded by material objects, if it be his wish
to master one particular idea, he must make every material object about him
directly suggest that idea. Thus in the ritual quoted, if his glance fall upon the lights, their number suggests Mercury; he smells the perfumes, and again Mercury is brought to his mind. In other words, the whole magical apparatus
and ritual is a complex system of mnemonics.
—Aleister Crowley, Liber O
Correspondences are objects, beings, or concepts that are thought to be linked through magical or supernatural means, as already explained in the passage about sympathetic magic. Often they are shown as a table of correspondences, which is effectively a list showing how all the items or ideas fit together, and they are really useful tools when creating magical spells and rituals. All these things help to create a link with our chosen desire; once we are aware of the connections between the correspondences, it produces a profound effect on our thoughts and senses. Correspondences can include symbols, elements, angels, planets, colours, astrological signs, numbers, days of the week, plants, oils, herbs, gemstones, and deities; also included are the negative and positive mental, physical, and spiritual attributes.
Let’s use the planet Mars as an example of how all those things can be joined in some way and used for magical work.
mars
Colour: Red
Astrological signs: Aries, Scorpio
Numbers: 2, 3, 5, 16
Day of week: Tuesday
Element: Fire
Metals: Iron, steel
Minerals: Jasper, garnet, ruby, bloodstone
Gods: Horus, Ares, Heracles, Mars
Goddesses: Brigit, Anath, Morrigen
Angel: Samael
Tarot card: The Tower
Herbs/plants: Garlic, ginger, tobacco, pine, basil, asofoetida
Oils: Pine, pepper, ginger, galangal
Qualities: Power, protection, strength, energy, ambition, victory, motivation, medical issues, lust, anger, war, conflict, upheaval, destruction ...
Useful for: Promoting courage; physical, mental, and spiritual strength; sexual energy; protection during surgery and for postoperative healing; protective magic; banishing others’ negative energies; and so on ...
As you can see, there are endless ways that you can mix and match the different correspondences to use for your spells. You do not need to use them all; you can just decide you need Mars energy for your spell to help you get that job, and then add two red candles, some pine incense, call on one of the god/desses or angels for help, and do your spell on a Tuesday using a symbol associated with your aim. Voilà!
[1] From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/magic.