Power Spellcraft for Life by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

Author:Arin Murphy-Hiscock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Provenance Press
Published: 2011-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

8

Methods of Magic

This chapter takes a look at a variety of spellcasting principles, such as sympathetic magic and imitative magic, as well as techniques such as candle spells, knot spells, color magic, and so forth, that can be used alone or in combination for positive change.

In The Golden Bough, a late nineteenth-century study of magic and religion in various cultures, social anthropologist James Frazer notes that there appear to be two very basic laws by which a practitioner operates while spellcasting:

If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not. Charms based on the Law of Similarity may be called Homoeopathic or Imitative Magic. Charms based on the Law of Contact or Contagion may be called Contagious Magic. (Frazer, 1951, pp. 12–13)

Both the Law of Similarity and the Law of Contagion function on the principle of sympathetic movement: like produces (or attracts) like, and will continue to do so even at a distance.

Let's look at these two laws in more detail.

THE LAW OF SIMILARITY

The Law of Similarity states that “this is that.” In other words, an object that is unrelated to the subject of the spell is visualized, seen, and treated as being that subject. This means that whatever happens to the magical object, happens to the subject.

This is one of the most familiar methods to practitioners of spellcraft. With this type of representational spell, you establish a relationship between two objects, drawing a connection between the objects used in the spell or charm and the focus of the spell or charm. For example, creating a doll (also known as a poppet ) to represent the person you intend to heal is an illustration of imitative magic, as the doll will serve as a focus for your spell, a physical representation of your goal. Imitative spells for conceiving and bringing a child to healthy term might include mimicking the physical signs of pregnancy, birth, and tending to an infant.

THE LAW OF CONTAGION

The Law of Contagion states that “this was that, and still is.” Using a lock of someone's hair to help connect a spell to her is an example of contagious magic, as is using a piece of clothing worn by the target. Whatever happens to the object will also happen to the person, even though they are no longer in physical contact.

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