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To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org
From: Solis  Gerald del Campo
Subject: GdelCampo: Magical Use of Blood

[edited slightly for obvious typos - tn]

Magical Use of Blood
	by Gerald del Campo

Since the beginning of time blood has been looked upon as the Life
Force.  The Aztecs considered it a privilege and great honor to be
sacrificed to their Sun God; who had a great appetite for human hearts.
In many primitive cultures, the child sacrifice was important in
assuring that the seasons would be conductive to a good harvest. Much
documentation survives pertaining to the tribal use of child sacrifice
as a means of  guaranteeing a victorious outcome in the battle field. 
The ancient Jews slayed cattle to YHVH., and there is recent
archeological indication that some of the tribes of Israel may have
practiced child sacrifice; until the Law of Moses prohibited the act of
ritualistic murder.  (See the story of Abraham.)

New aeon magicians bring this practice into their rituals by spilling
their OWN blood; as they are aware that the only sacrifice worthy of the
gods is SELF SACRIFICE... and that blood must be the blood of a King.

Blood has been used in sacrifices in order to appease the gods, as a
sacrament to ones Higher Self, and as ink in talismans, sigils and other
ritualistic communicatos where one wishes to align one's self to a
particular principle by signing a promise or contract with it.

In simple terms; the spilling of ones own blood is a gesture of
devotion.  It is NOT the method of wizards and sorcerers to sell their
souls, or anything else to the devil.  This myth is implied in the 15th
century work of Christopher Marlowe's: "Doctor Faustus."

The act of spilling blood communicates to the subconscious a seriousness
regarding  the operation or object of  worship.   It indicates a
willingness to sacrifice ones time and energy in order to accomplish the
task at hand.  The crucifiction of Jesus, and the mysteries of the Mass
allude to this phenomena.

Bleeding is extremely unpleasant for most people as the act releases
painful memories of situations associated with pain; the thought of
causing ones self to bleed borders on the irrational, and the
willingness to go through with it indicates the intensity of ones
devotion.

Since blood is connected to life, the act of willingly spilling it is a
gesture that one is willing to sacrifice in order to succeed.   When
done as an act of devotion to a deity it is regarded as a surrender like
no other.

For this reason, tattoing and body piercing have become instruments for
many new aeon magicians to communicate the seriousness of their
intentions or initiations to their  psyche.  Pain and bleeding are so
closely connected to the survival reflex that they  provide instant
access:  the only thing that comes close in  matching the effectiveness
of these is sex, or rather: orgasm.

As an ink, blood has also been used as a medium to "animate" ones sigils
and talismans.  Again, the "life force" qualities in the blood are
believed to make living things out of inanimate objects.  Also, it has
been used very effectively for the purpose of signing ones name on Oaths
of Secrecy.

Menstrual blood, or Blood of The Moon is believed to be very powerful,
as the alchemists of old believed that the passing egg might be
fertilized and kept alive for an undetermined period of time,  while the
spirit of an elemental was be invoked into the dividing cell.  This
elemental would then do the bidding of the magician while  "alive" in
the physical plane.  Sex magick evolved out of these thories.

This kind of operation necessitated the fusion two types of blood:  The
Blood of The Moon, illustrated in alchemical texts as Silver,  and the
life blood of the Sun: sperm, or life blood, represented as Gold.  The
operation is symbolic of the union of the Sun (male, sperm) and Moon
(female, menstrum). 

In his opus "Magick and theory and Practice"  (Magickal  Childe),
Crowley claims to have practiced the Bloody Sacrifice of "A male child
of perfect innocense and high intelligence" for "an  average of 150
times every year between 1912 e.v. and 1928 e.v."   He then quotes J.K.
Huysmans:  "It is the sacrifice of oneself spiritually.   And the
intelligence and  innocense of that male child are the perfect
understanding of the Magician, his one aim, without the lust of result. 
And male he must be, because what he sacrifices is not the material
blood, but his creative power."  

This is an obvious insinuation to masturbation, and the spilling of
sperm.  There are still large numbers of people who are convinced beyond
doubt that Crowley was able to abduct (on the average) one child every
other day for 16 years for the purpose of  sacrifice;  without ever
drawing the attention of the local authorities.  One would think that
with that number of children being reported missing every week someone
would have eventually knocked on his door... no one is *that* crafty.

In modern times, the "blood is life" metaphor survives in the Catholic
Church, whereby partaking of wine and bread are symbolic of the Blood
and Body of God. Metaphorically, by assimilating these talismans into
their bodies, it is believed that some of the  virtues of the God they
represent might become prominant  in their lives.  In essence, they will
eventually become that Diety.

Crowley's  Liber XV:  The Gnostic Catholic Mass and The Mass of The 
Phoenix are good examples of the ritualistic use of blood, and a the
tremendous potential of their use.

EOF