Rev. Jessica A. Olson
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Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2
1. Describe the difference between a "magical" ritual and a "religious" ritual, including if there is a difference and why there is or is not. (min. 150 words)
Generally the word “religion” refers to a system of established beliefs. Magical practices are common in religions where one of those established beliefs is that supernatural powers can be compelled or influenced, to act in certain ways by using the appropriate ritual formulas. Religious ritual usually contains some elements of magic and magical rituals often contain elements of religion. It is a very Western idea to separate magic from religion, as Western academics were the first to propose that magic and religion were early steps in the evolution of cultures as they progressed toward science. It is very unlikely that our ancestors drew much of a distinction between the two. Religious rituals commonly fulfill societal roles by providing opportunities for the members of a society to reinforce their belief. They are meant to remind members of society of their place in the cosmos and support systems of belief but they can also be the vehicle for magical work. They also often contain some magical elements, such as transubstantiation of sacred wine into the “blood of Christ” in the Catholic Church. Magical rituals are designed to influence beings or energies with greater power than our own to do our will. However, they have greater meaning to those who use them if their own system of belief is involved in the process. This is not to say that magicians do not find the systems of other cultures meaningful or powerful, just that those that a magician feels affinity for or believes in will be more likely to be powerful and successful for him. Magical formulas often call the ancient magicians of the past to give them strength or to remind the powers being invoked that there is a precedent for the request. In short, magic and religion can not be completely separated from one another. However, there are certainly rituals that are more focused on the religious or spiritual, as there are rituals that are more focused on the magical elements of religion.
2. Describe magic as it exists in one non-Indo-European culture, describe how it has influenced or could influence the magical system of an Indo-European culture, and describe what lessons you could take from the non-IE culture into your own personal practice. (min. 200 words)
The Saami traditions of Finland (also found in Sweden and Russia) are of great interest to me. In the Saami culture, the Noaidi (spiritual leaders) used a drum beat to enter a trance state where they could go into the past and visit their ancestors or go into other worlds to learn from the spirits. In the Saami culture the world was inhabited by many spirits and humans had to cooperate with these natural forces to live successfully in a very harsh environment (Lehtola 88). “In the old culture, human relationships with the two realms of reality, the physical world (‘this side’) and the spiritual world” were mediated by their Noaidi (Lehtola 28). In the Vatnsdoela saga, a Saami seer named Finna, prophesizes the future of Haraldr Harfagri (Vatnsdoela saga Ch. 10). In this same passage Haraldr Harfagri calls upon three Saami to do a trance journey in search of a talisman he is looking for, “I will give you butter and tin, and you are to carry out a sending-journey to Iceland to seek out my talisman and tell me about the lay of the land” (Vatnsdoela saga Ch 12.). Not only did the Saami practice trance work, they may also have influence the magical practices of the Norse people they came into contact with. The Seidhr ritual mentioned in a number of sagas and most extensively described in the Eiriks Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 saga raua, describes a very similar shamanic practice that was either adopted by the Saami or borrowed from the Saami (Stromback, “Sejd:Textsudier” 117; Stomback “Sejd och andra” 135; DuBois 128). The powers credited the “Finnish” sorcerers, actually Saami, are often those of the seið-worker. The “Finnar” were also said to shapeshift into a variety of animals in order to take spirit journeys to other worlds in search of information (Vatnsdoela saga). Likewise, the seið-worker is often said to send forth her spirit in the form of an animal, to look for certain items, scout a paths, find information about enemies, or to protect something (Ellis-Davidson 29). It is also interesting to note that the “Finnar” mentioned in the sagas are often associated with the Vanir in current academic work. I am not a seið-worker but I have used some of their techniques in my own trance work. Given that this practice may have originated with the Saami, I’d say I’ve already incorporated some of the Saami practices into my own personal practice. Additionally, one of the core tools used to enter an ecstatic state by the Saami is the drum, which is both a map (the designs drawn on the drum) and a rhythmic device used to carry the consciousness of the Noaida into the other world. I too use a drum, sometimes a tape and other times a drum I made myself. While the designs of my drum do not look much like those that the Saami used to draw their maps, it does have a depiction of the cosmos with the tree of all seeds in the center of a lake in High Hara (a sacred mountain of the Avestans), the branches of the tree of all seeds extend into the heavens and the roots extend below into the otherworld, with a bridge (which I made into a rainbow despite the fact that the Avestans do not describe it as such) that extends into the heavens. I suppose this could be considered a road map.
3. (Crossover Requirement) Keep a journal for five months detailing the trance work that you have done. Write an essay based off those journals that examines your practice over the time you journaled. The essay should describe how you use trance for your magic, whether trance has helped your magic, and particularly how trance and magic have played off each other in your personal work. Entries occurring less than weekly will not count toward completion of this requirement. Your journal must include work from the exercises found in the support material for this course. [This requirement's journal matches up with requirement 10 in Trance 1: see required and recommended reading for that course for further information] (min. 1000 words)
As a kid I tranced all the time and was often accused of daydreaming. Later as a teenager I began to see a counselor who was convinced that I had been sexually abused because I was so quiet and withdrawn. She did hypnotherapy on me which "revealed" that I had repressed memories about being raped at 13. My family felt I was lying and I was nearly thrown out of my home for it. I was shipped off to live with my loving but very irresponsible biological father for the summer and when I returned there was a lot of anger in my household over this "revelation." As an adult I began to recognize there were strange gaps in this memory and little bits that didn't make sense. When I began to study psychology at the UofA I learned why. I was a victim of false recovered memory syndrome. My therapist believed so fervently that I had been abused that she planted that concept in my mind and my brain made up a story that never happened. It felt just as real as any other memory I have, even now. Ever since the hypnosis she performed on me I have been resistive to trance. I distrust being in that state and often have flashes of this false memory when I enter it, unless I am Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 dancing. I have even gone to a good friend of mine, who I trust, to have him perform hypnotherapy on me to reverse some of the harm she did and he feels that I am resistive to professional hypnotism. My initial results were less than effective and often left me frustrated and crying over this memory that pops up. Since my only time for this work is during my lunch break this was a problem. I work with male veterans in a government office; I cannot be seen to have a moment of weakness there. I considered taking my friend Fred’s hypnotherapy certification course in order to better understand how it works and possibly be able to figure something out but there are three levels and each costs close to $700. I couldn’t afford it but talked to my friend to see what he had to say. After talking to Fred I decided to proceed with my work despite my concerns. I took a CEU course in hypnosis and am now a “certified” hypnotist. I can honestly say that doesn’t mean much since no state or federal laws require any type of certification to perform hypnotherapy. However, I will never actually use these skills on anyone but myself. Now that I understand it better I don’t fear it as much but I am even more opposed to every using it on anyone else. As per Meredith’s suggestion on the Ecstatic Trance list I tried starting with taking a trance journey to well-known spots, starting with the walk from my house. So I took a walk in the real world first to get things firmly in mind. I usually drive this route and I don’t want to implant the suggestion of trancing while I drive so I felt it was a good idea to walk it since walking gives me a different perspective on things. I had read through the book, The Way of the Shaman, and am thoroughly convinced that it is pure commercial plastic medicine man trash. So, I’m not using it or the exercises in it for this journal. When I lived in New Mexico my ex-husband’s great aunt, Tia Fash, called me to learn with her because she had heard through the family that I was a bruja (witch). Tia Fash was a curandera, a Mexican healing woman. I was trained for about eighteen months in the practice of curanderismo, the practice of traditional Mexican healing. Fash was an espiritista, a healer that works on the spiritual level, and yerbera, an herbalist. She taught me a technique that she called, viaje de espiritu, soul travel or journey of the soul, and this is what I will used instead of Harmon’s techniques. Fash used Damiana often in viaje de espiritu. I have used it a few times as well for these journeys but I will refrain from using it for this journal because I am trying to learn new things, including how to journey without such substances.
Sonic Driving – December 2008 This technique fits under the Sonic Driving exercise. In Fash’s journeys I would drum a heartbeat for her (she said I was really bad at this after a while and began using a drumming tape from a sweatlodge she attended years ago). So, I found a poorly recorded mp3 of a drumming circle I had attended a few years ago and started with that. I later purchased the song Shamanic Journey from the album Earth Drums by Blue Eagle and found I had a better result with that. Since Shamanic Journey was 30 minutes long I lengthened my trance sessions from 15 minutes to 30. I used this method for the first month of my Trance work, every Tuesday and Friday at noon for the entire month of December 2008, except for a couple of days because I had lunch Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 appointments and interfaith council meetings on those dates. I did Trance work 2-3 times each week. Typically, I listen to the recorded drumming and begin breathing exercises. Eventually I do usually end up experiencing something, sometimes right away, other times after mentally battling my demons for a while. At first the doubts and guilt came flooding into me almost immediately. This often happens when I sit still enough for my mind to take over. As Fash taught me I battled each of them with logic and mentally squashed them. Sometimes I would imagine hitting them like a baseball player with my bat. Other times I imagined I had a magic wand and I zapped them out of existence. I saw them as dark crawling blobs trailing after me and one by one I defeated them. Then when I had beaten them all and was thoroughly exhausted I’d find myself somewhere else with no sign of the demons. The experience of the demons became easier and easier each time with less demons every time. I also found that the experience of being somewhere, other than the battle, got longer and more detailed every time. Most of the experiences I had involved being in nature and communicating with various animals. I might have called them spirit animals or totems if I believed in such things. They changed frequently, rarely re-appearing more than a handful of times, and most have not reappeared since I returned to these exercises.
Auditory Confusion - January 2009 For this exercise I used the drumming song from the previous month’s exercise and a piece of recorded waves crashing on a shore during a storm. I thought it would be an easier transition for me since I had already grown familiar with the drumming song. The experience was interesting but not particularly different from the first exercise, except that I ended up near the sea more often than in the woods or the desert as I had before. I decided then to change things up a bit because the two different types of music blended too well together. For the remaining two weeks I played a combination of two different books on tape into different ears. This produced a completely different experience and instead of journeying I seemed to just be in a very still white place. I did not “see” anything during these experiences, rather it was like being in a white space that was no where and everywhere, no time and every time, and it stretched out forever. I did not like it and was afraid to leave the spot I arrived at for fear that I wouldn’t find my way back.
Trance Journeying – February 2009 As a Neopagan I’ve done a lot of trance journey work in the past. I do them almost every month with the Clergy Council and also during rituals with my Grove. I also did it for the month of February. For this I used the script in question 10, combined with my drumming music and a recording of the creek from Pulga (where our permanent Nemeton is). My reflections of that experience are outlined in question #10.
Dance Trance –March 2009 I have often found myself trancing while dancing around a fire or just dancing to music at home. I think the rhythm and movement are really key for me. They really help lift me out of my head enough to experience the other more effectively. The Café Culture, a café and dance club where we hold our monthly study groups has trance dance sessions once a week and I began attending them in February of 2009. During these sessions they play a lot of percussive rhythms, combined with musical soundtracks that have an otherworldly quality to them. They also give Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 out blindfolds to the participants and turn the lights on very low. The experience is not as good as dancing around a fire to the Druid drums but it is better than going to the college-kid, techno hangouts we have around here. In between weekly sessions I used a similar tape I made using a drumming circle tape and a (supposedly) brain wave altering musical CD. I cleared space in my home to dance and turned all the lights out, leaving a few candles on the shelves, and then I lit some incense and turned the music on. The experiences were vague but useful. I think a lot was lost from not having the energy of others around me. Dance trances seem to bring me more experiences that have something to do with Medb than other trance work. She is more likely to come to me when I am dancing, or doing other activates that stress my body. I don’t know if that’s because I am more receptive to her at that time or if physical activity is required to connect with her but I found it interesting.
Chant/Mantra – April 2009 I have heard a lot of interesting things about how mantras work. Apparently it is used extensively in transcendental meditation but I don’t hold much faith in this form of meditation as research into its efficacy is all over the map. For my daily mantra I chose the Ashem Vohu (invocation of Asha). Asha is both the divinity of truth and the Avestan word for cosmic order. I repeated this mantra nine times each day in Avestan, luckily avesta.org had an MP3 I could listen to so I could get the chant right (avesta.org).
Ashem Vohu (Avestan): ashem vohû vahishtem astî ushtâ astî ushtâ ahmâi hyat ashâi vahishtâi ashem.
Ashem Vohu (English translation): Holiness (Asha) is the best of all good: it is also happiness. Happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness
I should note here that during this month my life began to seem more ordered. I began to organize my home more, got in the habit of delegating more duties, cut back on my activities and resigned from a few obligations that had been holding me back from completing other projects. I did not “see” anything during these exercises or experience any earth shattering Unverified Personal Gnosis. I have continued to work on various trance techniques since completing this requirement and have made entries for Trance 2. I know it is only option for CTP 3 but have decided that I probably will need to enhance my understanding of mystical practices at some point and will likely continue on to the Initiate’s Program when I’ve completed CTP 3. Through this work I learned that Trance work and Magic have a lot of elements in common with Cognitive Behavioral psychology (my pet theory). I’ve also been studying the psychology of religion, mythology, and magic. Since I’ve begun this research I’ve been better able to incorporate magic and trance work into my personal practice. I have only done three workings since starting on this requirement but that is more than I usually do in five years so I definitely see this as an improvement. Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2
4. Discuss the role of the Three Kindreds in magic, particularly in your personal practice but also in ADF's cosmology. (min. 300 words) The three Kindred are such an integral part of ADF cosmology it seems only natural that they would be a part of our magical systems. Ancient magicians would use spells to coerce the kindred into doing their bidding. These spells were designed to compel the beings that were invoked to do what the magician requested. This is not the way ADF generally views magic. In ADF we form a relationship with the Kindred. We offer them gifts and ask for their assistance in return. By the laws of *ghosti, a theoretical word for the Proto-Indo-European law of reciprocity, the Kindred are compelled to comply with our requests but they are generally not coerced but propitiated instead. The Kindred have more power than we do and under the traditions of the ancient client-patron relationship, he who has the most power or influence is expected to make the greater gift (Thomas). We give the Kindred offerings and ask for a gift in return, sometimes a specific one. The Kindred then give us their blessings or gifts. This can be done in a ritual setting or in personal magical workings and household rites. If one were doing work on healing the earth in a particular local they might call upon the spirits of nature, if they were doing weather magic they might call upon deities involved with weather, for healthy childbirth they might call upon mother deities. In many of these cases one might call upon the Ancient Wise or other ancestors to lend their aid in the working. This is something ancient Priests in the Avestan texts would often do during spell casting. They would call upon a famous ancient magician to aid them with their work, thus also reminding the “evil” being they were combating that the Priest’s magic had the potent power of that famous ancient magician to back them.
5. Discuss three different instances of magic done in every ADF ritual, how the magic is accomplished, and what makes that particular work magic. (min. 150 words each instance)
There are several categories of magic. According to Ian Corrigan “one basic set of categories divides specialized spiritual arts according to intention. Theurgy (Gr. ‘divine working’) is the use of spiritual skills to produce personal and group religious or spiritual experience at will. Thaumaturgy (Gr. ‘wonder working’) is the use of spiritual skills to create specific effects in the world.” (Ian Corrigan, Magic in the Grove-– The Place of Magical Arts in ADF. New GOH). Most of the practice of magical arts in ADF is focused on the theurgic work of our Order of Ritual. According to Ian, the type most often employed in ADF rituals is Theurgy. However, some instances of Thaumaturgy are used in rituals, particularly when a “magic working” is requested.
Opening and Closing the Gates- In order to talk to the Kindred better we need to make the veil between their world and ours thinner. This is accomplished by opening the gates. This sends a message to the Kindred that we are seeking to establish a relationship with that we are calling to them.
In ADF rites we see the three hallows of fire, well and tree as gates to the other worlds. When we open these gates to the other world we call upon the Gate Keeper and ask him to join his magic with ours so that we might connect the worlds. The Gate Keeper is able to be called without Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 having opened the gates because he is often a psychopomp and therefore presumably able to travel between the worlds more readily than other beings. He is often a figure involved in magic or communication and is especially suited to helping us open the gates to the other worlds because of his regular travel between them.
Re-creating the cosmos- To create sacred space we must recreate the order of the universe emanating around a central point (usually an Axis Mundi). This is what we are doing when we recreate the cosmos.
When we recreate the cosmos we are recognizing the vertical axis of the three worlds (heavens, midworld and underworld) and the horizontal axis of the three realms in the midworld (the land, sea, and sky). Where these axes intersect is the Sacred Center.
The Sacred Center is where magic is at its most potent and recreating it in our ritual space allows us to communicate more clearly with the Kindred.
When we recreate the cosmos, we are basically reminding the world how it is supposed to behave. We are strengthening creation and order by re-enacting the creation of the cosmos. We are also reminding the participants of their place in the cosmos at this same time, which helps create order in their own lives and in the rite.
The Return Flow- The Return Flow is the part of the ADF rite when the Kindred give their blessings to the participants of the rite. Most ADF Groves ask the Kindred for blessings in return for all the sacrifices that have been made throughout the rite. It is at the time of the Return Flow that we ask the Kindred to make those gifts manifest in our lives.
In Feather River Grove rites, we do an omen to determine what blessings we will receive from the Kindred. The participants are asked to think about the power of the blessings (omens) in their own lives and how they might affect the Grove. The Water of Life are then prepared by pouring the waters (usually juice or mead) over the sickle into the Blessing Cup (we use a Druid sickle to symbolically cut them off from mundane waters). We then call for the blessings of the Kindred to manifest and the participants are often asked to visualize those gifts descending into the Blessing Cup like a mist. Participants are then reminded that when they drink of the Waters of Life the blessings will become manifest within us.
By some, the Return Flow may be considered transubstantiation, with the Waters of Life becoming the blessing themselves. However, I prefer to view it as a catalyst that may cause the blessing to become manifest in the recipient’s life, if the recipient chooses to take the correct steps in their life to make it happen. In this way the Return Flow pushes along the intent of the Kindred but if the recipient is not prepared to receive it they can not make use of those powers.
6. Discuss the use of song and poetry in magic within your hearth culture, and explain how you have used music and poetry in your own work. (min. 300 words)
It is difficult to say how poetry or song affected magic in the Avestan hearth culture. While we have many texts that survive today it is difficult to determine which of these were pre- Zoroastrian and which came after Zoroaster’s reformation. The texts that do survive also do not Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 tell us if they were sung and offer very little in the way of stage directions, presumably because it was written down after a very long oral tradition that would have taught these things in person. The oldest Avestan compositions are seventeen intricate poems (Gathas) among these we find the largest concentration of magical spells. There are many references in Persian literature to “singing” the Gathas. The Denkard says, “be it known that he who has the best knowledge of religion and who sings the Gathas and instructs (the people) most fully in the Mazdayasnian faith is a (man) of great value (Book 3, 395).” This might imply that the poetry of the Gathas was sung or chanted. Research shows that the Gathas were orally transmitted for many, possibly thousands, of years before they were written down. Some of these researchers have also identified a characteristic “ring composition” to the work which is most often found in oral traditions. Ring compositions have radial concentricity with “stanzas arranged symmetrically with respect to those at the centre of the hymn” (Hintze 39). The middle stanzas usually correlate with the first and last stanzas and often summarize the predominate theme of the hymn. It also seems likely that they were sung or chanted. Chanting or singing is an often used memorization device for orally transmitted knowledge. Not only do the Gathas contain the largest number of magical spells in the Avesta, but there are references to the Islamic conquerors outlawing singing and chanting because it was the work of the Pagan sorcerer. Since the soothsayers, who were also poets, of the Pagan Iranians chanted their oracles and verses, the laws of Islam forbade both chanting and poetry (Farmer 60- 65). The Arabic word Sha'ara, which means “poet” also means to perceive hidden or occult things (Farmer 60-65). This would imply that singing and chanting were closely linked to magic in Pagan Iran. I have used the Gathas as templates for my own work, often employing similar metrical or poetic devices in writing my own invocations and frequently drawing upon the mythology implied in the original texts, combined with a healthy dose of personal gnosis. I use poetry to connect more deeply to the beings I am calling upon, the Gathas contained spells and often included lines that were meant to compel the deities to do the bidding of the Priest. I feel that using similarly worded new materials may be more familiar to them and perhaps have a higher likelihood of reaching them. Again, this is personal gnosis on my part, but I have found it to be effective.
7. Detail your understanding of why self-understanding and introspection are critical for the magus at any stage and how you intend to pursue a course of self-understanding. (min. 200 words)
Any person using powers that may affect the lives of others must understand himself and his motivation. This includes those with positions of power, such as doctors, lawyers, peace- keepers, and spiritual leaders. For this reason most people in these fields are held to higher standards in the form of professional codes of ethics. They are often also required to take courses in ethics and cultural sensitivity in order to receive their licensure and continue in their employment. An introspective person may be more likely to make an ethical choice when faced with a difficult decision because they understand their own motivations and emotions better than others typically do. I believe that if we better understand our selves, including our emotions and personal motivations we are less likely to allow ourselves to unwittingly affect the opinions and Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 beliefs of others. We may be less likely to manipulate the feelings or values of those around us and perhaps we may be less likely to abuse our power for personal gain. Understanding your self also helps you deal with unexpected emotional reactions and figure out where they came from, what purpose they serve or have served, and mitigate or eliminate them if they are no longer serving a useful purpose. I have already begun on the course of self-understanding. As a psychology student and a student of Curanderismo I spent a great deal of time evaluating my own motivations and desires. This is sometimes through meditation and other times done as unexpected or undesirable emotional responses manifest. I’ve learned that when I have a strong or surprising negative emotional reaction, I need to evaluate it and learn where it comes from, how it manifests itself, who in my past does that emotion most emulate, what sets that emotion off, and why does it effect me that way. Once I understand that, I journal every occurrence, sometimes combating the emotion with a logical response in my journal that supports the values I am currently practicing. Eventually, I automatically combat the emotion or negative thought without journaling and it eventually dissolves away, leaving emotions that echo the values I am practicing now.
8. Describe three workings you have done that had demonstrable, intended results. Explain what those results were, how the working was conducted, and how the result appeared to manifest. (min. 150 words per working)
I generally don’t like to do magic so this requirement was very difficult for me. When I hear the word “magic” I think of the ridiculous little witchcraft spell books everyone was selling in the 80s and 90s. I have, however, done some workings when I felt it was very necessary, either for my survival or for the safety/survival of others. The first working I will describe is probably the only exception to this. Just after my divorce I had planned to remain single for some time and really explore myself but I also wanted companionship. While at Wellspring that year I decided that if I wrote up a spell for the perfect mate and s/he came along that would be great but if not I’d have fun being single for a while. So into the spell I wrote a list of all the attributes I wanted in a mate. I wrote that I wanted her/him to be polyamorous, kind, thoughtful, interested in sustainability, a geek or a nerd, not too uptight, not type A, about my age, and a lot of other things. I also said that I wanted her/him to have curly hair and green or blue eyes, to love traveling, and be very attentive. I called on all the deities of love and lust and recited the spell, asking them to draw this person to me if he existed, as I made my offerings on the mound. A week later Craig came to the Pagan meetup group that I was in charge of and my friends pressured me to go on a date with him. I soon realized that Craig was all the things I’d asked for in my spell and more. A few months later I finally admitted that I was in love with him and we moved in together. We will celebrate our anniversary together just after this year’s Wellspring. When Craig and I first moved to Chico we were homeless. We lived in my car for a while and then in a hotel for several months. We really needed jobs and an apartment. So, I again turned to writing and performing a spell. Craig didn’t care for this at all but I told him that they can sometimes be effective if you believe in them. I gave many offerings to the gods of the hearth and home. I also gave offerings to deities of fortune. Then I recited the spell I’d written and prayed that it would work. Shortly after that I got the job I have now and Craig found employment. We also ran into a local VW club who were having a meeting down the street from Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 our hotel. I got involved with them and one of the members helped us find an apartment. When it came time to move our things from our storage unit they also showed up and helped us move. One of the most powerful workings I have done involved asking the Tishtrya, the Iranian god of the gentle healing rains, to bring gentle rains to our area after the fire. It was Imbolc 2009 and I was concerned that if we got a deluge we would have huge mud slides and more damage. So our Grove visualized gentle rains coming from the sky and touching the earth. We visualized bright green grasses and native plants sprouting up and holding the soil firm with their roots. We called on Tishtrya to let down the rains from the Varukasha and gave him many sacrifices to give him the strength to battle the demon of draught Aposha. We visualized Tishtrya in the form of a glorious white horse with golden hooves and ears battling the demon Aposha in the form of a dark grey horse with black ears and black hooves on the banks of the Varukasha. We saw Tishtrya overcome Aposha and cheered when he did. The next day, or maybe it was the day after that, the rains began. We did not have a day without rain for over thirty days. The greenery came back and strengthened the soil, preventing erosion and mud slides. I really felt that Tishtrya heard us and that our magical working did the trick.
9. What three modes of magical work do you find most appealing, and why do you find them so interesting? How have you used these modes? (min. 200 words for each mode)
As I mentioned before magic is not at all appealing to me. So I have difficulty with this question. I can however explain those magical practices that are the least distasteful to me.
Sex Magic Sex magic is probably the type of magic I have used the most often. My matron is Medb, a Goddess of the land, war, and of female sexual power. For me sex is a sacred act, a sacrament for me and a sacrifice for her. Since sex magic is a very powerful energy exchange, linking those who engage in it together, some might say forever, I am not indiscriminate about my partners. In fact, I am very particular about my partners; there must be chemistry, mutual respect and genuine empathy for one another. There also may not be an unfair power dynamic, so I do not choose partners in ADF who are above me or below me in the chain of command or those who live within the Northwest region. Since Medb is my matron this particular form of magic had deep spiritual and religious meaning for me and I refuse to taint it by engaging in a sexual act with anyone who does not meet these criteria. The orgasm is one of the most powerful forces humans experience in life. It is a moment of pure power, love, and creation. In sex magic, the moment of orgasm is the point at which intent can be channeled and sent toward a specific focus. It is incredibly powerful and I am of the opinion that it should only be used for very important and personal workings. In my case it is most often directed toward Medb as a sacrifice to her, though I have occasionally used it for other purposes of a personal nature.
Sympathetic Magic I also sometimes use sympathetic magic, most often in public rituals. I think I find this type of magic very interesting because it is very primitive, and has been used by cultures all over the world for hundreds of thousands of years. Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 Sympathetic magic is the principle that, if an act is performed on an object that represents another object (the object of focus), then the same thing would happen to the object of focus. The two types of sympathetic magic are imitation and correspondence. Imitation usually uses effigies to affect a being or the environment of a being. Creating an image of an animal that you are intending to hunt and ritually “killing” it, for example, might be believed to ensure a good hunt. Correspondence it the belief that you can influence something based resemblance or relationship to another thing. In Avestan belief hair and nail pairings had to be carefully disposed of to prevent sorcerers from using them to cause harm to the person they came from. I probably use Imitation more than correspondence, particularly in doing weather workings with my Grove that call for rain. We call upon Tishtrya and ritually reenact the battle between him and the demon Aposha. Then when Tishtrya is failing he calls out for the proper sacrifices, we pour the libations on the fire to him and he overcomes Aposha. We follow that up with lots of rain sticks and rattles as Tishtrya raises his arms to the sky and lets down the rains of the Varukasha. The reenactment of the battle and the rain sticks are imitative magical workings.
Theurgy Finally, I often use theurgical magic; this is really unavoidable in public ADF rites anyway. According to Luck, theurgical magic is exclusively performed in a religious context (20). In ADF it is typically used with the intent of requesting the presence or action of one or more powers (the Kindred), particularly with the purpose of uniting with those powers. This is often used in rituals or in personal rites when the Kindred are called upon to aid us. I use this type of magic in ritual and in personal devotionals to call upon the Kindred. Without theurgical magic ADF rites would probably have very little substance, the whole rite is built around building ties and communicating with the Kindred. Theurgical magic allows us to do that. Usually this type of magic is used in ADF to call upon the Kindred to witness our sacrifices and to ask them for things in return. Sometimes the gods are also called upon to witness or uphold oaths or to give us the strength for certain undertakings. They may be called upon to lend their strength or magic to ours when we are preparing to do other magical workings. This unites us with their powers, giving us the ability to do workings that may be beyond our normal level of ability.
10. Explain how you determine if a magical working is the proper action in the situation you wish to apply it to. Describe your method of determining the proper magical course of action, from start to finish, as well as any particular exercises (such as divination) you go through to ensure that your actions are correct. (min. 300 words)
Most of the time I prefer a pragmatic, mundane approach to my personal problems; however, I sometimes feel compelled to take to magical means. I take the decision to use magic very seriously. So much can go wrong and the Kindred I am invoking may interpret my request differently than intended so the wording must be specific and leave little room for interpretation. So before considering the use of magic I look at the problem from as many angles as possible, brainstorm ideas about what I can do about it, and consult close colleagues, family, or friends for other alternative choices. If I find that the problem can not be solved readily by Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2 mundane means or I feel especially compelled to do a magical working, I will then start planning out the working. I should note that there are a few times that I have felt compelled to do a magical working. At those times the format of the working, including the words, often sprang nearly full- formed into my mind. This is how I often write poetry and short stories. It’s as if the words were already there, known by heart but somehow forgotten until something triggers it. I must emphasize that this happens very rarely but I have often thought that if I spent more time working with the magical side of things it might happen more often. When I do feel that magic is warranted, and the formula does not come to me in a burst of inspiration, I spend a lot of time meditating on it. I also spend time thinking about what exact wording I will use so I can mitigate any unforeseen consequences. I even find myself researching magic and how existing methods can be adapted to my purpose. I may write the spell or magical working in the form of a chant or song and I always include offerings. I also will usually couch the whole thing in a mini-rite, if not a full core order rite.
11. How can the magician serve modern society? (min. 300 words)
I’m not convinced that magicians can serve modern Western society in any tangible or measurable way. It seems that most Neopagan subcultures believe that any practitioner can do magical workings himself without the assistance of a trained magician. It also seems that our society is currently moving away from spiritual, magical and divine concerns and more toward practical scientific inquiry. Certainly, some members of ADF may wish to employ a Priest or magician to provide a working for them. Though in ADF and most Neopagan traditions it is generally believed that the individual does not need an intermediary to communicate with the Kindred or to effect the elements. It might be appropriate for a magician to do a working for the greater good of society, but who’s version of the greater good? What if a conservative magician who was against gay marriage did a magical working to prevent homosexual couples from marrying? Certainly he believes he is doing something for the greater good on mankind but I know that millions of people, if not billions, would disagree. What if a magician was to do a weather working to change the weather patterns so he could have a nice outdoor ritual with his Grove and that working resulted in the provinces to the East of his region getting flooding rains and mudslides? That is certainly not for the greater good of society. I think that some magic can be done for the betterment of society but there may also be unforeseen consequences and the choice to use magic should be very carefully considered beforehand. For this reason I think that the place of the magician, at least in a professional or semi-professional sense, is waning in our society. We may see a resurgence as people begin to rebel against the pragmatism of science and start to yearn more for the sacred and magical side of life. Rev. Jessica A. Olson ADF Member #: 2934 Clergy Training Program 2; Magic 2
References DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. Print. Ellis-Davidson, Hilda R. “Hostile Magic in the Icelandic Sagas.” In: The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of Scholars in England Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katharine M. Briggs. Ed. Venetia Newall. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1973. Print. Farmer, Henry George. The Religious Music of Islām. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1952. 60-65 Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.