There is much confusion and substantial posturing on the subject of ritual magic. Sadly, there is also considerable ignorance and prejudice…not only from opponents such as fundamental religionists, by from proponents who have a personal vested interest, an axe to grind, a dogma, a favourite writer or teacher to praise. So into this tangled and heated maze, I intend to briefly venture. When I do so, I will try to avoid some of the standard explanations and dogmatic statements about “what magic is”, as you can find them repeated, often thoughtlessly copied from one another, in many books.
The simplest way to begin is to consider not what ritual and ceremony are today, but what they were in the ancestral cultures. Why so? Because much of our attitude toward magic, friendly or hostile, is conditioned by our living in a post-Christian modernist culture. If we can step aside, so to speak, and look for a moment at a collective consciousness untrammelled uninhibited and unconditioned by Christianity, we might gain some insights. The 19th century occultists, from whom 90% of contemporary literature on magic is derived, had difficulty making this step. They were either reverent towards the conditioned Judeo-Christian worldview despite their occultism, or they were in extreme (even childish) reaction against it. Today, in the 21st century, and as a result of their pioneering work, their suffering and genius in some cases, we are now less conditioned, and, hopefully, more aware that the world is very different to that of either religious or modernist propaganda.
Ceremony and Ritual in the past
Magical ceremonies were conducted in ancestral cultures for two primary purposes: to commune with and draw upon spiritual powers and presences, and to mediate and present such spiritual powers and presences to the community. The first purpose was, and still is, jealously absorbed by political religions. The second purpose is the historical origin of all theatre (including the modern film and television industry), but at a deeper level is the ultimate aim of true magical ritual.
Ideas such as “self-development”, “control of supernatural forces” and so-forth are materialistic and modern. All ancestral magic, be it formal and complex such as the ancient Mysteries of the classical or Egyptian civilisations, or the relatively simple folkloric magic of the ordinary people, was deeply involved in ideas such as participation, relationship, transformation through interaction, and, especially, with the resonance of spiritual forces out to the greater world. The now popular concepts of the isolated would-be-superman, who changes things according to his will, or the elite occult group that influences politics and money, came into shape in the 19th century, and have continued in various forms to this day. Most of these are either a) fiction, or b) egocentric wishful thinking.
What is a ritual?
A ritual is a pattern, comprising words, movement, sounds, and intentional content such as clothing, implements, and a wide range other factors. The two key concepts are pattern and intentional content. The most important consideration, however, is that this ritual pattern is shared between humans and other beings…humans and spiritual beings. You cannot have magic without the harmonious exchange between humanity and other orders of life. A ritual, a ceremony, is a special pattern that enables this exchange.
There are of course, two modes of magic, co-operative and coercive. In this article, we are discussing co-operative magic. Similar principles apply to both modes. However, I have never grasped the sense of a type of magic in which humans attempt to force powerful spiritual beings (more powerful than the human ritualists) to do their will. Does this not seem to be absurd…not to mention childish and illogical?
When is a ceremony not a ritual?
In some sense we could define any intentional gathering as a ritual or ceremony. But what distinguishes a magical ritual is that the intention always involves spiritual beings. They may be ancestors, faery races, gods or goddesses, trans-human beings compassionate to humanity, the spirits of the living creatures in nature (often rather loosely called totem animals), or conscious entities from remote metaphysical dimensions. If they, whoever they may be, are not part of our ritual, it is not magic. It is merely an empty ceremony.
A ritual and a ceremony are essentially the same thing. The ceremony is the outer form, while the ritual is the magical pattern-making. Hence the popular modern definition that “ceremonial magic” is the complex stuff with fat scripts, many implements and much arm-waving, while other forms of ritual are somehow more direct or simple. This is not true, of course, but is widely published. A very simple ceremony lasting a minute or two, such as placing an offering of wine upon a dedicated stone, can be a powerful and complex ritual involving humans, spirit beings, forces of nature, ancestral consciousness, stellar awareness! Do not be fooled by props…or propped by fools.
Magic for the future
Some years ago, during a famous interview, the late Robert Graves was challenged by a religious presenter, regarding Graves’ interpretation of myth and history. Graves responded that there are three ages or eras: first that of matriarchy, or of the collective past, then that of patriarchy or of the collective present, and, next, the age of magic. For Graves, the age of Magic was that which is about to come into being, as humanity evolves from the polarisations of female and male, and becomes androgyne. But he was also referring, more immediately, to contemporary liberation from religious stereotypes, and the increased opening of spiritual imagination and awareness. Being both a poet and a satirist, Graves then floored the smug presenter by saying (something like) “But you sir do not know the difference between magic and necromancy, so there is nothing further we can talk about”.
I doubt if anyone can improve upon Graves’ definition that Magic is always of the future. Through ritual and ceremony we create new interactions between the metaphysical and physical realms: this is how the future is generated. It is not a simplistic linear future, but a future of many potentials. Some of those potentials do not manifest, others do, though often in a surprising manner. Ritual Magic is very close, in practice, to the theories of quantum physics, in which consciousness affects outcome of any event or series of events.
And a last word of warning
Am I going to warn you about demonic influences or drugs and magic or moral issues of sexual spells? No…that is all puerile nonsense. But I would urge you to heed this warning: we are privileged. We are privileged to be able to practice magic, in any form. I am privileged to be able to write this article, you to read it. In most parts of the world, right now, this would be illegal. It may become illegal here. Therefore, and thus far, we enact our magic, our ceremonies, and our rituals not merely for ourselves, but from a place of privilege whereupon we stand, on behalf of others. For those others who cannot, who are not, allowed to do so. Do not let your privilege and freedom be eroded. Work magic for the sake of liberation through magic.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Thomas Moore - Candle Magick For Love
Aleister Crowley - The Initiated Interpretation Of Ceremonial Magic
Scott Cunningham - Cunninghams Encyclopedia Of Crystal Gem And Metal Magic
Walter Scott - Letters On Demonology And Witchcraft
Arthur Edward Waite - The Book Of Ceremonial Magic
