A discussion came up on a
Facebook Forum, Ceremonial Magic School, in which someone asked about options
to use in magic different from incense. Sometimes people are in places where candles,
or incense might not be options. For some people, incense may be an irritant.
The original poster
suggested that incense was a representation for fire, and wondered if you can
use a candle for fire, and then oil passed through a humidifier to represent
water.
This starts at a good
place. The question addresses the purpose of the item being changed and what
else would change along with it. Anytime we’re changing things in a ritual,
that’s the first step. One of the better things grimoire purists say is that we
can’t change what’s in the grimoire because we don’t know why it’s there. They’re
partially right. If we don’t know why a ritual says to do a thing, or at least
what that thing is accomplishing in the ritual, then we can’t change the thing.
If we change things without understanding we might remove components that are
needed without creating something else that does what the component was needed
for.
We’ve all seen this with
the countless bad re-workings of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram that used
to flood the internet, and now still sometimes infect some newer books of
Ceremonial Magic. People look at the base thing they think the ritual is for
and change things based on that, rather than looking at the specific components
and their purpose in context to understand how to tweak those.
So, can we tweak the
grimoires? If we know how the thing we want to change works and why it’s there,
then yes, sort of.
Can we know why something
is there and how it works since the texts don’t explain that?
Well, sometimes the texts
kind of do if you really read them. The prayers, the consecrations, the
description of how things are used, they can begin to inform us. If we spend years
studying a text, studying related texts, studying the texts that led to it and
the texts that came from it we should over time develop some understanding. If
we study the theology and metaphysical ideas that form the context of the
grimoires, the liturgical corollaries, the earlier forms of magic that led to
them and later forms of magic that grew from them, we should over time develop
some understanding. If we learn other parallel traditions of magic and work
earnestly and ardently at the traditions described in the grimoires, over time,
we should develop some understanding. If we don’t, what are we even doing?
Now, if we understand how
and why something works, we can address whether or not it’s needed or helpful
or superfluous.
If it’s needed, we might
not be able to change it. If we can change it, we’ll need to change it to
something very similar and we definitely can’t omit it.
If it’s helpful, we can
probably make a change to something that does something similar. We might be
able to make a change to something that helps differently and might be better
suited to our goal. We might be able to omit it, but it will probably reduce
some element of effectiveness or make the work harder for us if we admit it.
If it’s superfluous we
can omit it, we can keep it if we like it, we can change it if the change doesn’t
impede what we’re doing. I would be least inclined to interpret something as
superfluous, unless it really clearly is demonstrated as such there is a
possibility you’re missing an element if you’re finding things you want to get
rid of to be superfluous.
While we can analyze
things and figure out stuff that can be tweaked and substituted…we need to
understand that those tweaks and substitutions will make a change. If you have
a chicken tender, you might sweeten and moisten it with barbecue sauce. If the
pepper in barbecue sauce irritates you, then you can sweeten and moisten it
with honey mustard, or even just honey. All three will do the job, but they’ll
all do it differently. They each bring different things to the table. The
result will be different, but they’ll each be effective. You might even prefer
the changed result.
So, in the example posed
in the original question, the incense was being used to represent fire. So, if
we’re setting up an altar with representations of the elements, we’re probably
not looking at grimoire magic. Something influenced by Golden Dawn magic, or some
kind of standard NeoPagan ritual magic would generally have a candle to represent
fire, a bowl of water for water, incense for air, and a stone or some physical
thing to represent earth. The question is probably being asked in that vein.
So, if we’re swapping out incense, we’d need something else to represent air. If
we’re looking to just represent air, a fan, or a feather might suffice. It we’re
looking for something to bring substance, life, and character to the air, then
we need something that more closely mimics incense and provides a scent. If we’re
looking to provide a substance for the powers we encounter to use, then incense
might need to remain our choice.
Some of the options that
came up involved using oil, and one poster mentioned plans to try Luminarium
with oil, and so I thought it might make sense to talk about some options for
tweaks in Luminarium, since one of the points of the text is to be adaptable.
Incense. In Luminarium,
the incense is used partially to tinct the space and bring it into harmony with
the nature of the forces being conjured, and in part it is used so that the
fire is transmitting substance into the spiritual to give some benefit to the
spirit. It harmonizes the nature, pleases the spirit and helps to empower it,
and it creates some link between the earthly and the ephemeral.
Three options can help with
this. Oil in a diffuser would help tinct the space, although perhaps more
slowly and not as potently. It would not have the thick and powerful diffuse
presence of smoke, nor would it have the heat to agitate the space. The scent
might still be pleasing to the spirit, but the way the incense helps empower
the spirit might not be as present here. The link between the earthly and the
ephemeral would also be there but maybe not as clearly, you’re not moving
something from solid earthy material to smoke by the power of fire.
We can offset some of
these missing elements. Maybe add a candle for the elements fire would add to
the incense. Maybe a shot of alcohol, or an offering of flour to help feed and
empower the spirit.
Maybe instead of an oil
diffuser we use an oil warmer with a candle. The scent might be more powerful,
and you’d still have tincting the space. You’d have the warmth of the fire to
help agitate the space and bring heat to building the space. The scent would
still please the spirit. You might have some of the same empowerment, but you’d
still use the substantive nature of the incense smoke, so maybe not as much.
The movement between the material and the ephemeral would be more present than
with the diffuser, in my opinion, but not as clearly indicated as with the
incense.
Oil dissolved in alcohol
like a cologne might be an option. You could spray some around, but also leave
some to evaporate. The alcohol is going to evaporate more readily so the movement
between phases of being and the connection to the spirit world that gives might
be clearer, alcohol is often used for this purpose in many traditions. The
alcohol itself can also be an offering, but something substantive might be good
in addition. Adding a candle might still be useful, but obviously, don’t spray
alcohol into spaces with flame.
Alternative to adding a
candle, instead of spraying the alcohol with the oil dissolved in it, some books
on witchcraft used to talk about making a blue fire on the altar with cologne.
The blue fire being a representation of sacred presence. The fire carries the scent
of the cologne. The various benefits of the oil or incense and the benefits of
the fire used with the incense would largely be there, but it would lack the
smoke and the substance the smoke brings to the ritual.
An added element of using
a sacred flame would be the option to combine this with the lamp. The light
from the fire could be used similarly to the light from the lamp with the
Guardian Angel invoked through this flame. If choosing this option, you might
want to use your temple incense, or an oil matching your temple incense, to
scent this alcohol rather than your planetary scent. You’d still need something
for the planetary scent if doing this.
We’ve talked previously
about using a candle instead of the lamp. This wouldn’t be dissimilar. The only
real loss by switching either to the candle or the sacred flame would be the
inability to adjust the level of light case by the fire like you can with a hurricane
lantern or other adjustable wick lantern.
If using this method,
using the sacred flame, you might be able to lean into tweaks to make the ritual
more pagan. If you’re looking for ways to reduce the Christian components and
increase the Greek ones, or even go with some other pagan tradition, or blend
Luminarium with Wicca, the fire would more easily fit that structure than the
lamp.
In some forms of pagan
rituals, the sacred flame is the presence of the divine. It is often divine in
and of itself, for example, Hestia is embodied in the temple flame and the
hearth fire. Some view Bride to similarly reside in the flame in Celtic ritual.
The flame in those cases can be viewed as a beacon for the gods as well as the
portal through which they interact with us. This is pretty similar to how we
use the lamp to interact with the Guardian Angel. The light of the lamp becomes
a vessel through which the angel can illuminate us and it is then able to help
communicate with us and with the spirit so that we may more clearly see and
understand the spirit.
I would still advocate
working with your Guardian Angel in a pagan context. The sacred flame can be a
vessel for your angel, or you can work with the god of the flame along with
your angel for additional sanctification and protection. The god of the flame
can also help open the space between the spirit world and our world. This is
not dissimilar from the use of flame to provide heat so the spirits can break
through the sea between worlds and speak with us. But in this instance the
divine power within the flame intentionally opens the space rather than the power
of the flame being offered to the spirit to use.
Depending upon what
spirits you’re attempting to call, this kind of tweak may make a lot of sense.
If you’re calling on spirits that remain tied to pagan cultures and beliefs
instead of those from Christian, Judaic, and Islamic cultures creating tweaks
that lean into the pagan elements present in the ritual may be well suited to
your goal. If you’re calling angels it might be less the case.
Again, whatever tweaks
you make will change elements of how it works. So the flavor will shift a bit.
That can be good, or it can be bad, it depends on what you’re doing and what
effects you’re looking for.
Now if you read through
this and thought “this is getting really eclectic and is starting to move
further outside of the grimoire tradition,” that’s good. These examples are
drawing on sources from a few magical strands. It’s good to be aware of that. Depending
on what you’re doing you may want to keep things tighter. You might be better
off going a bit wider in your influence though. Again, it’s going to depend on
the system with which you’re starting and what your end goal is. It’s going to
depend on the character of the communication you want, the types of spirits you’re
calling, and the type of effect you’re looking to get from working with them.
It will also depend upon your needs.
Doing things by rote isn’t
understanding or mastering them. Changing things needlessly or willy nilly is
also problematic and may not be effective. The balance is developing
understanding and negotiating reasonable changes when they make sense.
Negotiating can be a matter of exploring your needs and desires and making
informed choices suited to those. Negotiating can also be approaching the
spirits, working with divination, or working through a diviner with a
relationship with the spirits, and grasping what changes and substitutions they
are willing to accept…as has been done in traditional cultures with traditional
magic throughout the world.
Would you like to Follow us for Updates or Support our Work?
If you enjoyed this please like, follow, and share on your favorite social media! We can be followed for updates on Facebook.
If you’re curious about starting conjuration pick up my new book – Luminarium: A Grimoire of Cunning Conjuration
If you want some help exploring the vast world of spirits check out my first book – Living Spirits: A Guide to Magic in a World of Spirits
Sign up for our free online publication: Minor Mendings Magical Magazine
More Opportunities for Support and Classes will show up at Ko-Fi
No comments:
Post a Comment