|
What is Magic
|
What is magic? There are two types of magic , that of mages and hedge magic. The mage uses the power of the will to alter reality. While not magic in the traditional sense, it often incorporates the draping of what the unlearned believe magic is in order to act as a focus or conveyor of the internal power of the mage. Through sheer force of will reality is altered and the universe is changed. It is the collective unconscious that determines existence. Rare is the person who can divert this to their own perspective. The second type is hedge magic and is composed of blood magic, spirit evocation, and altered states. While mages often scoff at hedge magic, it can be powerful if used by a skilled or spirit favored user. The hedge wizard, non-verbena witch, occultist, or voodoo practitioner all use blood rites to call on spirits for access to power or grants of the impossible. Be it Papa Legba, The Great Mother, or The Goddess; people often seek a conduit or gateway to the spirit realm. In turn they can change the collective belief it only for a limited time and area. It is thought that they are tapping into the collective consensus and its raw force. In turn this force is in all of us but lacks focus except in numbers or special grants. There is one common aspect of hedge magic as is illustrated in the following exert. "Oh, I know. The spell tonight has shaken you." "You cannot imagine." I said. "Very well, I admit it, I can't imagine. But tell me this. You speak of a realm beyond the earth and that Merrick is magical when she reaches for it. But why does is involve blood? Surely her spells will involve blood." He went on, a little angrily. "Voodoo almost always involves blood," he averred. "You speak of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as magical, and I understand you, because if the Bread and Wine are transformed into the Holy Spirit of the Crucifixion, it is magical, but why does it involve blood? We are earthly beings yes, but a small component of us is magical, and why does that component demand blood?" He became quite heated as he finished, his eyes fixing on me severely almost, though I knew his emotions has little to do with me. "What I'm saying is, we might compare rituals the world over in all religions and all systems of magic, forever, but they all involve blood. Why? Of course I know that human beings can not live without blood; I know that 'blood is the life' saith the kindred; I know that humankind speaks in cries and whispers of blood-drenched altars, of bloodshed and blood kin, and blood will have blood, and those of the finest blood. But why? What is the quintessential connection that binds all such wisdom or superstition? And above all, why does God want blood?" I was taken aback. Surely I wasn't going to hazard a hasty answer. And I didn't have one, besides. His question went too deep. Blood was essential to Candomble. It was essential to voodoo as well. He went on: "I don't speak of your God in particular," he said kindly, "but the God of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has demanded blood, and indeed the Crucifixion has come down to us as one of the most renowned blood sacrifices of all time. But what of all the other gods, the gods of old Rome for whom blood had to be shed in the arena as well as on the altar, or the gods of the Aztecs who were still demanding bloody murder as the price for running the universe when the Spanish arrived on their shores?"
|
