| 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 |
| 1 | 53 | 105 | 158 | 210 |
|
y
y
Magic in Many Guises
Parchments
Many of those who practise candle magic write out what they wish
for on a piece of parchment, using a quill or fountain pen to do so.
Some people use special inks for this purpose, available from
specialist shops or mail order companies. (Like everything else, the
parchment and inks have to be consecrated.)
The parchment is usually then anointed with any essential oil that
has been used to anoint the candles and is placed under the offertory
candle. After the ritual has been completed, the parchment is lit with
the flame from the offertory candle and dropped into a fireproof dish
(some practitioners use their cauldrons for this purpose) and allowed
to burn out. The ashes are then buried along with the stumps of the
candles used during the ritual.
Knot Magic
As interest in magic and spell casting has increased since the dawning of
The New Age, so the interest in this ancient form of magic has
intensified and once again magic makers are turning to it more and
more.
It has its roots in Mesopotamia where two or three thousand years ago
mystics would tie knots in a cord and focus their energies on it. A
suitable incantation was chanted while the knots were being tied and as
the knots were untied, thus releasing the power of the spell. Knot magic
is thought to have been mainly used for healing, exorcism and banishing
negativity and historians believe that after the spell had been cast, the
rope was burned to make sure that the problem had been permanently
banished.
Knot magic was also used to place a curse on the mystic’s enemies or on
the foes of those who paid them to cast their spells. In this case, the curse
was knotted into the rope that was then buried to ensure that it
remained active.
Knot magic spread to Ancient Greece and Rome and was used in the
Middle Ages, but as knotting was seen as a woman’s occupation, it fell
out of favour with the, usually male, masters of Renaissance magic. It
survived in fishing ports where spey wives, women with the gift of
second sight, would knot the wind into lengths of rope and sell them to
fisherman and sailors. When a change of direction was needed, the
appropriate rope was unknotted to release the desired wind and carry the
fisherman to the fishing grounds, sailors to their destinations and to
bring them both safely to port.
Modern practitioners of the art of knot magic often use cords
(traditionally nine feet long) of an appropriate colour for the purpose of
the spell. A black cord would be used for spells cast to banish
y
64
y
Page
Quick Jump
|