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A question about blood magick

To: alt.religion.wicca,alt.pagan,alt.magick
From: PatrickVonRaven 
Subject: Re: A question about blood magick
Date: 30 Nov 1995 00:43:21 GMT

Ward Chanley  wrote:
>jsnead@netcom.com (John R. Snead) wrote:
>>3) The HP of the same coven had an interesting observation about the 
>>use
>>of blood in ritual: "Many modern magicians and witches use blood in 
>>ritual
>>because it is the only socially acceptable bodily fluid (in this 
>>culture)."
>>
>>So, how have others used blood in ritual, and what advice (practical or
>>magickal) do they have?
>>
>>Comments?
>
>Well, blood magicks for Wiccan Witches can be a touchy issue; I know 
>this is being crossposted outside of a.r.w. but I can't pretend to speak 
>for traditions outside of my own, and like all Wiccans, I speak really 
>for myself, rather than my tradition as a whole. If you'll excuse the 
>focus, here goes:
>
>So many traditions either expressly forbid the use of blood in ritual or 
>have unwritten traditions against it that we seem to lost the idea that 
>blood, like other bodily fluids and tissues (hair, nails, urine, etc.) 
>not only have a long tradition in pre-Wiccan "hedgerow" Witchcraft but 
>also that blood in and of itself is magickally extremely signifigant. 
>Red is the color of life because red is the color of blood, and blood is 
>life. Blood is also death; the most immedate psychological symbol of 
>death is it's visual representation, through blood, on a human body. A 
>clean, made-up, dressed corpse can look almost asleep. Indeed, many of 
>our Christianized funerals speak of the dead one as "resting". A body, 
>still bloodied lying either on the battlefields of our pagan antecedents 
>or on a hospital gurney in our modern age is undoubtedly dead, speaking 
>this fact to the subconcious at a visceral level. 
>
>Since blood evokes both the Mother (menstruation) and the Crone 
>(physical destruction) blood magicks need be mindful of the signifigance 
>of using blood as a magickal agent. 
>
>I can reconcile my own use of blood within the ethic of the Rede by 
>ensuring that any use of blood is understood well in advance of the 
>ritual by all parties involved, the taking of blood is wholly consensual 
>(which means that in a group setting the spell or ritual cannot *depend* 
>solely on the use of blood. Candles and so forth which may be annointed 
>with a few drops of the celebrants' blood can be annointed with a 
>magickal oil, patchouli or whatever works well, for members who choose 
>to abstain from participating in the blood rite) and no harm can be 
>allowed to come to anyone from the taking of blood. For myself in a 
>group setting this means that HIV and Hepatitis precautions are 
>observed, blood drawing is done with clean, sterilzed (or at a minimum 
>hospital-grade sanitized) instruments and the amount of blood taken is 
>never more than a few drops for the use of consecrating an item or 
>annointing a candle and so forth. 
>
>For myself, it helps, I suppose that I'm into bodypeircing and 
>tattooing. Having an understanding of the sterile procedures involved in 
>those arts can help immesurably in helping to prevent harm in the use of 
>blood magicks. 
>
>These precautions can be a bit overwhelming; I've taken them to ensure 
>that I'm comfortable with the ethic of "Harm None"; this makes using 
>blood in a group ritual rather more difficult than the classic 
>fingerpricking and recite the incantation school of ritual. As a result, 
>I've rarely used blood magick in a group setting. At home, in my 
>solitary practice, I do make a bit more common use of it, though. I'm 
>not as worried of infecting myself (in a solitary circle, this just 
>isn't an issue) and I know enough not to use dirty implements or cause 
>myself to have a lovely little tetanus infection. As I said, having an 
>understanding of the procedures involved in bodypeircing can help.
>
>I've used blood spells for love work (be careful: I don't know if it's 
>me or something specific in the type of working, but a love spell using 
>blood tends to result in great sex -- and little else), tool 
>consecrations, I once made an offering of my own blood annointed on a 
>candle after a spirit animal brought me a powerful vision that answered 
>a lot of questions...
>
>Anyway, my $.02
>Ward
>
====================
Here! Here! Well said!

==Cuchulain SongRaven



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