Magical ritual
To set the scene, let us begin with an account of a magical ritual from before Wicca was born or even the “Golden dawn” and their off shoots came in to play. This is the account as told in the C19 by the Revd. R S Hawker of a ritual exorcism of the “Botathen ghost” (on the north Cornwall/Devon border) by Parson Rudall of Launceston in the January of 1665. The tale of “The Botathen ghost” appeared some years before as told by Daniel Defoe. In the earlier version this following account of a magical ritual was absent. One can only assume, from the extraordinary detail in the account, that that this addition was drawn either from a first-hand account or something that the Revd. Hawker actually experienced himself. An old exhibit label in the Museum of witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle (the artefact itself has long since gone), penned by its original owner Cecil Williamson suggests that the good Revd. Hawker had considerable knowledge of the magical artes and spent more time with the local witches than was generally thought fitting for a man of the cloth! Whichever way you look at it however, this extract from “The Botathen Ghost” is a wonderful account of a magical ritual.
“At early morning, then and alone, for so the usage ordains, I betook me towards the field. It was void and I had thereby due time to prepare. First I paced and measured out my circle on the grass. Then did I mark my pentacle in its very midst, and at the intersection of the five angles I did set up and fix my crutch of raun (Rowan). Lastly I took my station south at the true line of the meridian, and stood facing due north. I waited and watched for a long time. A last there was a kind of trouble in the air, a soft a rippling sound, and all at once the shape appeared and came on towards me gradually. I opened my parchment scroll, and read aloud the command. She paused and seemed to waver and doubt; stood still; then I rehearsed the sentence again, sounding out every syllable like a chant. She drew near my ring but halted first outside on the brink. I sounded again, and now at the third time I gave the signal in Syriac – the speech that is used, they say, where such ones dwell and converse in thoughts that glide.”
Footprints of former men in Cornwall – Revd. R S Hawker 1870
With the notable exception of the Quakers and some Buddhist sects (and some say that they make a ritual out of not having a ritual!) most spiritual traditions seem to employ some kind of ritual practice of one kind or another at their heart. This is certainly true of the western magical and pagan traditions; although it changes and morphs over the years, ritual practices have always been its mainstay.
When we think of Ritual magic we tend to think of the use of ceremonial regalia such as robes, candles, incenses, wands and swords etc, all being wielded about in ceremonies rich in ritual actions and incantations. This is however sometimes but not always the case. Ritual magic is a much maligned and misunderstood practice, often unfairly caricatured as being overly complicated, elaborate, obscure and extravagant. This in-part comes from looking at the great convoluted rituals of the Golden dawn or the lengthy orations of the grimoires. To be fare these are all the product of a time and a place and a wider context; in their own worlds they make sense, but they are by no means indicative of all spiritual/magical ritual practice. Whenever we express the hidden mysteries in a physical form, we have magical ritual.
Magical ritual can take many forms; In masonic and ceremonial magical traditions we see the elaborate use of temples and symbolic paraphernalia, in Wicca we see rituals such as circle casting or the ‘calling down of the moon’, in neo-Shamanism we see the use if drumming, “Smudging” and chanting, in paganism we see the dramatic enactments of the myths of the passing of the seasons, in folk magic we see the ritual use of magical objects and spoken charms (find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck). In all forms of magical practice, some form of ritual practice is present; in fact one could say that it is one of its defining features.
So what is it that defines a magical ritual? First and foremost it is something that one ‘does’; not just in the mind, but also in some kind of physical action: this may be simple or complex, one one’s own or in a group, according to the way in which one chooses to operate.
Magical ritual must have a physical element. It must involve the body (and the land) and by extension, the use of physical gestures, movements, words, sounds and magical paraphernalia. The physical ritual must however be linked to an inner otherworldly counterpart reality. The two halves of a ritual, outward and inward, work together as a single whole. If this is not done then the ritual is but a broken circuit or an empty gesture! The actual magic takes place in the unmanifest otherworld. The physical ritual is the way we channel and regulate this.
One may well ask how does one link up these two separate worlds of physical ritual and the inner hidden mysteries to which it pertains. This is done but means of the use of symbolism. A ‘symbol’ is a physical (usually visual) representation of an unmanifest principle, idea or reality. In ritual, symbols serve to bridge the gap. For example if a witch wishes to attract or banish a particular otherworldly force, then they may draw using their hands and their visual imagination the shape of a pentacle in the air before them. In this ritual act; the will of the operator, the physical ritual and the force on which it is intended to operate upon are linked through the use of the activated symbol of the pentacle. The symbol of the pentacle being imbued with its own particular virtues by means of tradition. Some more post-modern magical systems (Chaos magic for example) however believe that the actual symbols one uses are subjective and that all that matters is that one believes in them at that particular moment, but either way symbolism forms the basis of ritual. Thus it could be said that magical ritual is a tapestry woven of symbolic threads.
Magical ritual can never exist in isolation. The magical world has borrowed a very useful word to describe the nature of ritual from the anthropologists, and that is “praxis”: that is to say a practice that is done in the context of a wider belief. In magical terms this means that a magical ritual is usually drawn from an extant magical tradition.
The idea of ‘Tradition’ has become something of a tricky concept in the world of magic. One runs the gauntlet of falling prey to the endless overblown claims of ancient lineages etc, and their equally overblown critiques …both of which are little more than a sideshow to the main event. There is a positive side to the idea of tradition, so let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. The idea of tradition is integral to magical ritual in that it reminds us that what we are doing is not just a personal subjective practice, but that we are stepping out in to a wider and deeper world that is quite objective and external to our being. The “Thee’s and thou’s” and other archaic anachronisms one often finds in ritual are a reminder of this, but within this is a double mystery. It ‘links’ us to the power of the greater magical traditions. For example, going back to the ritual use of a pentagram, each time one uses it one is drawing upon the power of all those who have used that particular symbol before …and one adds to its potency for other users of that symbol to come.
Their incongruity and mild absurdity is also a reminder that the use of ritual is something that maybe we will personally outgrow, and like Prospero in “The tempest” we cast away the tools of our arte. Until the time is right however, I think one discards the magical ritual praxis at their peril.
This presentation emerged after a conversation between myself and Haija in town about a month ago. Haija commented on how many social media posts she was coming across from pagans who were completely rejecting the use of ritual. I too had noticed a trend in this direction from the talks and presentations I had been giving over the last years. With this I have heard references to ‘not needing ritual’ and of “taking an intuitive approach instead”. It is I trend I must say we both found puzzling to say the least.
I can see how things have been going in that direction. After the reformation, from the C16 onwards ‘ritual’ was severely frowned upon and seen as a sign of closet Catholicism; this suspicion of ritual is still very much ingrained in our culture. In addition to this we have the 1980’s “Satanic ritual abuse” wave of persecutions (of which ironically there was no Satanism, ritual or any real evidence). As a result ‘ritual’ once again became a dirty word. In 1989/90 with the publication of “A witch alone” by Marian Green and “Hedge witch” by Rae Beth, we saw the advent of the idea of the “Hedge witch”. This heralded something of protestant reformation within paganism in which ritual, esotericism, the Coven structure and initiations were all rejected in favour of a simple, ‘folksy’, exoteric and personal and relationship with nature. This combined with the millennials distrust of the tradition, exclusivity and the “not particularly safe-space” inherent in ritual praxis, and also the prevailing post-modern belief that all realities (and presumably their associated practices) are equally real and valid. I can see how this has happened, but I cannot help but feel this is also heralding a tacit rejection of magic, whilst still clinging to its trappings?
But …to me this begs three burning questions –
1. With their rejection of ritual praxis, are they massively over estimating their own innate magical abilities or am I massively underestimating mine?
2. Why would you want to regect the praxis of magical ritual? Personally, ritual practice is the vessel with which I have navigated my way through my magical life. It has taught me and other people around me so much and has so much to offer …I cannot imagine why would you wish to reject it?
3. Once ritual has been removed from magic, what is it that we are left with?
This got me thinking about ritual praxis, which has been a defining part of both my initial magical training and indeed my life. As a result here is my brief manifesto of why I think ritual matters.
(This was originally a paper presented to the “Falmouth and Penryn Pagan Moot” Thursday 17th February 2022 in the back room of the “Cuttysark”)
A manifesto for the praxis of magical ritual.
Why magical ritual matters!
© Steve Patterson
“At early morning, then and alone, for so the usage ordains, I betook me towards the field. It was void and I had thereby due time to prepare. First I paced and measured out my circle on the grass. Then did I mark my pentacle in its very midst, and at the intersection of the five angles I did set up and fix my crutch of raun (Rowan). Lastly I took my station south at the true line of the meridian, and stood facing due north. I waited and watched for a long time. A last there was a kind of trouble in the air, a soft a rippling sound, and all at once the shape appeared and came on towards me gradually. I opened my parchment scroll, and read aloud the command. She paused and seemed to waver and doubt; stood still; then I rehearsed the sentence again, sounding out every syllable like a chant. She drew near my ring but halted first outside on the brink. I sounded again, and now at the third time I gave the signal in Syriac – the speech that is used, they say, where such ones dwell and converse in thoughts that glide.”
Footprints of former men in Cornwall – Revd. R S Hawker 1870
With the notable exception of the Quakers and some Buddhist sects (and some say that they make a ritual out of not having a ritual!) most spiritual traditions seem to employ some kind of ritual practice of one kind or another at their heart. This is certainly true of the western magical and pagan traditions; although it changes and morphs over the years, ritual practices have always been its mainstay.
When we think of Ritual magic we tend to think of the use of ceremonial regalia such as robes, candles, incenses, wands and swords etc, all being wielded about in ceremonies rich in ritual actions and incantations. This is however sometimes but not always the case. Ritual magic is a much maligned and misunderstood practice, often unfairly caricatured as being overly complicated, elaborate, obscure and extravagant. This in-part comes from looking at the great convoluted rituals of the Golden dawn or the lengthy orations of the grimoires. To be fare these are all the product of a time and a place and a wider context; in their own worlds they make sense, but they are by no means indicative of all spiritual/magical ritual practice. Whenever we express the hidden mysteries in a physical form, we have magical ritual.
Magical ritual can take many forms; In masonic and ceremonial magical traditions we see the elaborate use of temples and symbolic paraphernalia, in Wicca we see rituals such as circle casting or the ‘calling down of the moon’, in neo-Shamanism we see the use if drumming, “Smudging” and chanting, in paganism we see the dramatic enactments of the myths of the passing of the seasons, in folk magic we see the ritual use of magical objects and spoken charms (find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck). In all forms of magical practice, some form of ritual practice is present; in fact one could say that it is one of its defining features.
So what is it that defines a magical ritual? First and foremost it is something that one ‘does’; not just in the mind, but also in some kind of physical action: this may be simple or complex, one one’s own or in a group, according to the way in which one chooses to operate.
Magical ritual must have a physical element. It must involve the body (and the land) and by extension, the use of physical gestures, movements, words, sounds and magical paraphernalia. The physical ritual must however be linked to an inner otherworldly counterpart reality. The two halves of a ritual, outward and inward, work together as a single whole. If this is not done then the ritual is but a broken circuit or an empty gesture! The actual magic takes place in the unmanifest otherworld. The physical ritual is the way we channel and regulate this.
One may well ask how does one link up these two separate worlds of physical ritual and the inner hidden mysteries to which it pertains. This is done but means of the use of symbolism. A ‘symbol’ is a physical (usually visual) representation of an unmanifest principle, idea or reality. In ritual, symbols serve to bridge the gap. For example if a witch wishes to attract or banish a particular otherworldly force, then they may draw using their hands and their visual imagination the shape of a pentacle in the air before them. In this ritual act; the will of the operator, the physical ritual and the force on which it is intended to operate upon are linked through the use of the activated symbol of the pentacle. The symbol of the pentacle being imbued with its own particular virtues by means of tradition. Some more post-modern magical systems (Chaos magic for example) however believe that the actual symbols one uses are subjective and that all that matters is that one believes in them at that particular moment, but either way symbolism forms the basis of ritual. Thus it could be said that magical ritual is a tapestry woven of symbolic threads.
Magical ritual can never exist in isolation. The magical world has borrowed a very useful word to describe the nature of ritual from the anthropologists, and that is “praxis”: that is to say a practice that is done in the context of a wider belief. In magical terms this means that a magical ritual is usually drawn from an extant magical tradition.
The idea of ‘Tradition’ has become something of a tricky concept in the world of magic. One runs the gauntlet of falling prey to the endless overblown claims of ancient lineages etc, and their equally overblown critiques …both of which are little more than a sideshow to the main event. There is a positive side to the idea of tradition, so let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. The idea of tradition is integral to magical ritual in that it reminds us that what we are doing is not just a personal subjective practice, but that we are stepping out in to a wider and deeper world that is quite objective and external to our being. The “Thee’s and thou’s” and other archaic anachronisms one often finds in ritual are a reminder of this, but within this is a double mystery. It ‘links’ us to the power of the greater magical traditions. For example, going back to the ritual use of a pentagram, each time one uses it one is drawing upon the power of all those who have used that particular symbol before …and one adds to its potency for other users of that symbol to come.
Their incongruity and mild absurdity is also a reminder that the use of ritual is something that maybe we will personally outgrow, and like Prospero in “The tempest” we cast away the tools of our arte. Until the time is right however, I think one discards the magical ritual praxis at their peril.
This presentation emerged after a conversation between myself and Haija in town about a month ago. Haija commented on how many social media posts she was coming across from pagans who were completely rejecting the use of ritual. I too had noticed a trend in this direction from the talks and presentations I had been giving over the last years. With this I have heard references to ‘not needing ritual’ and of “taking an intuitive approach instead”. It is I trend I must say we both found puzzling to say the least.
I can see how things have been going in that direction. After the reformation, from the C16 onwards ‘ritual’ was severely frowned upon and seen as a sign of closet Catholicism; this suspicion of ritual is still very much ingrained in our culture. In addition to this we have the 1980’s “Satanic ritual abuse” wave of persecutions (of which ironically there was no Satanism, ritual or any real evidence). As a result ‘ritual’ once again became a dirty word. In 1989/90 with the publication of “A witch alone” by Marian Green and “Hedge witch” by Rae Beth, we saw the advent of the idea of the “Hedge witch”. This heralded something of protestant reformation within paganism in which ritual, esotericism, the Coven structure and initiations were all rejected in favour of a simple, ‘folksy’, exoteric and personal and relationship with nature. This combined with the millennials distrust of the tradition, exclusivity and the “not particularly safe-space” inherent in ritual praxis, and also the prevailing post-modern belief that all realities (and presumably their associated practices) are equally real and valid. I can see how this has happened, but I cannot help but feel this is also heralding a tacit rejection of magic, whilst still clinging to its trappings?
But …to me this begs three burning questions –
1. With their rejection of ritual praxis, are they massively over estimating their own innate magical abilities or am I massively underestimating mine?
2. Why would you want to regect the praxis of magical ritual? Personally, ritual practice is the vessel with which I have navigated my way through my magical life. It has taught me and other people around me so much and has so much to offer …I cannot imagine why would you wish to reject it?
3. Once ritual has been removed from magic, what is it that we are left with?
This got me thinking about ritual praxis, which has been a defining part of both my initial magical training and indeed my life. As a result here is my brief manifesto of why I think ritual matters.
(This was originally a paper presented to the “Falmouth and Penryn Pagan Moot” Thursday 17th February 2022 in the back room of the “Cuttysark”)
A manifesto for the praxis of magical ritual.
Why magical ritual matters!
- Ritual creates a link between our physical being and the great unmanifest beyond. Magical paganism if founded upon idea that the physical universe, our bodies and the land are not evil, but an emanation of the divine. Ritual is a tool given to us that we may use the physical world as a means of our own transformation.
- Ritual ‘gets things done’, but also teaches us what it is in really actually ‘needs to be done’. It is often said that magical ritual is a means of achieving particular ends. This is only part of the story. The power of ritual is that it exists on many different levels and teaches us the great paradox that magic is not about achieving …it is about ‘being’.
- Magical ritual is a craft. It has to be learned and practiced. As with all forms of exercise and training it teaches, heals and transforms you along the way. The long hard road of learning the arts of ritual are in themselves a magically, mentally and physically transforming process.
- The magical world can be a strange and unknown place. Ritual gives us a map that we may safely navigate this weird frontier and tools to negotiate what one encounters along the way. If things go wrong it provides a good base for troubleshooting and if things go well it is a space where the fruits of the spirit-world may be savoured!
- Ritual is a testing ground: A praxis where our ephemeral subjective fancies are weeded out and our connections to the divine are strengthened. Ritual provides an actual indication of what goes on in our inner worlds and the otherworld.
- On a higher spiritual level it gives us a framework by which one may contemplate the infinite. It provides us with a means of engaging with mysteries I believe would be hard to approach in other ways.
- Ritual is a way of connecting with our fellow travellers along the way. It is a way of learning and sharing our learning and there is also great fellowship and great power in shared practice.
- Ritual is a way of connecting with our tradition, our ancestors and our Gods. It is said that all paths have a preceding spirit, an “Egregore” and to walk that path one enters in to the influence of that particular egregore. It is said that as each egregore gives according to their nature, so they require certain practices in return. The presiding spirits of witchcraft and the pagan paths seem to demand the practice of ritual. It is the language we speak to the gods and the language in which they speak to us. If ritual is removed …what is left?
- Ritual focuses ones spiritual and magical beliefs upon a point from which one may actively engage with the universe. Without this are we not just left with a Morpheus and purely intellectual stance.
© Steve Patterson
