Ritual Magick

As human beings we are creatures of images.  In our earliest times to the present we have been enamored of images.  We make paintings on cave walls and carvings or statues of our gods and heroes.  As we have expanded our range of mediums of imagery we seem to have become much more reliant upon external imagery than a translation of the internal to the external.  In essence, we have lost or suppressed that inner imagery for favor of the easier and less committed imagery of the external.  Instead of listening to storytellers and dancing out our myths we watch movies and play high-tech video games.  It isn’t that these more modern mediums of image expression are better or worse than those of the past, the problem is that these modern mediums have become so central that the old ways have been all but ousted.  While the modern mediums are wonderful and deeply expressive and rich in visual qualities, they lack the deep internal commitment that dancing and storytelling demand.  In many ways we have pushed away our ability to visualize and express for ourselves internally, we have to have something tangible, like a movie or a book.  For the magic user visualization is not only a necessary talent, but also a cultivated skill.
Any action executed by a human being requires visualization on the part of the person.  Even something as simple as reaching for a glass of water.  The person visualizes a glass of water in their hand and so doing, reaches for the glass and picks it up.  The same basic principle is at work in any act of magic.  Once a mage has reached the point where they have ascended and no longer need visualization beyond the basics, executing a magical act is no more complicated than moving one’s arm to collect a glass of water.  However, for those of us who are not at that step a more complicated process of visualization is necessary. 
When a mage casts there must be an internal visualization of what is going on around and inside them.  Because magic is normally an act whose effects and results tend to exist in the realm of the invisible the mage must visualize both its process and results.  This visualization shapes the spell and empowers it.  Without any shame or reservation the mage must see internally through the imagination the channeling of the power, the shaping of it, and the casting of it.   For many this may be a sufficient amount of visualization, because their imaginations are vivid enough that they are able to create enough of a personally believable visualization that they cast the spell without many external clues as to what they are doing.

              For many others however, simply visualizing the spell’s creation and use just isn’t sufficient.  This is the role of ritual in magic.  A ritual is any external process executed for the purpose of casting a spell or producing some supernatural effect.  Rituals can be as simple as lighting a candle or as complicated as month long purifications or choreographed movements and special words.  The purpose of all ritual is to focus the participant’s attention and power to a fine point.  Ritual also provides a potent structure and shape for the energies being used by the participants.  Here is an example: The reason blood and bones are such important parts of magic are that they are very powerful conductors and receptacles of energy. Partly because of their relationships to the physiology of life.  Blood carries life, bones support it.  Also, due to our perception of those relationships we are more open in our hearts and minds to the fact that these items can be used in magic.  Many times these items are more powerful than many other things, as long as we believe and make them so.  Bones and blood can be used in magic not related to the animal itself, or even a use that doesn’t deal directly with life.  It is a way of making the invisible world of magic seemingly tangible long enough to create a space in which the two worlds meet and powerful magics can be wrought. 
              This leads again to the idea of high and low magic.  First let it be said that all magic is equal in that it is shaped energy, there may be a degree of separation in that one spell may be more powerful than another, but they are equal in their potential power and thus fundamentally the same.  The idea of high and low magic is an illusion, sometimes necessary for those who choose to use it as a paradigm for their magical workings.  High magic is magic that requires ritual in order to perform and tends to have very potent effects.  Low magic is magic that requires little to no ritual and while at times potent, tends to be less invasive.  In this system low magic is magic that requires no ritual on the part of the mage, and provides room for growth in that greater magic has the potential to be lesser magic once the mage has gained enough control over the energy.
              This is an example of the self-imposed paradigms that dominate the realm of magic.  While magic itself is totally without moral and dogmatic limitations, those who practice magic are.  This is because we are human beings and have a compulsion towards structure and order.  This is why there are so many different paths of magic, “schools” if you will.  There are shamans, witches, diviners, and necromancers just to name a few.  All of which have their own styles of magic and rules to govern them.  For example, in medieval necromancy there was an emphasis on the study of magical tomes and grimoires before an adept even made the attempt to undertake a magical working.  Another example is the more modern versions of witchcraft, which insists on the illusion that all magic comes back on the caster threefold.  These are all paradigms that would not exist if no one believed in them.  Much like the laws of physics.  If we as a society chose to deny the existence of gravity as a mass relationship and defined it as some greedy god pulling everything towards it, we could not be proven wrong, just as those who believe in gravity cannot be proven wrong. 

We define magic, like gravity and physics, by its relationships because those relationships are the only reasons that we are able to perceive its existence.  Since those relationships are a multitude, the interpretations of those relationships will exist in a multitude.  Basically the belief system that one ascribes to is the one that they use to live in a defined reality, they know exactly what they are capable of and live accordingly.  Someone without a permanent paradigm walks a much harder path in that they live in a world of mystery and the unknown, but for these people the potential for growth is much more.  Metaphorically, the believer is a warrior who only trains with one weapon, and so becomes a master so long as it is with that particular weapon.  The person with no set paradigm is the warrior who is familiar with all weapons but is not a master of any one in particular, and so is never unarmed.   I have always believed that a person on the path of the mage should treat paradigms like clothing.  If it is hot, wear a t-shirt and shorts.  If it is cold, wear pants and a coat.  The same goes for rituals.  If the situation is such that the mage wants a boost in focus and power, a ritual can be done.  Or if there is something the mage wants to accomplish right away a spell can just be cast without any structured elements. The beauty of blood magick is that it has the power to transcend paradigms. Wiccans, Thelemites, Chaos Mages, Clerics, or any manner of magic user can utilize blood magick. Like gravity, blood connects us all, regardless of our belief systems or magical approaches to its use.