In the ongoing series of long answers to frequent questions. Pardon my formatting difficulties, please:
Linguistically the word means 'a spoken charm or incantation',
and so we could limit its meaning to 'the spoken component of a magical rite'.
That isn't what people mean, these days, though.
Allow me to begin at the end, and attempt a definition of a spell – we’ll see
whether it’s the same at the end.:
“A spell is magical or spiritual work with a specific intended effect and
usually a specific target”
In traditional
magical literature ‘spells’ are most often small ritual patterns, involving a
combination of natural objects, spoken words, proper timing, ‘occult’ symbols
and often the aid of specific gods or spirits. Folk magic tends to quietly bury
these elements in traditional rules, that often don’t accompany the
transmission of spoken charms – one is supposed to know the rules. More formal
ritual magic instructions may make a spell seem like a complex working of its
own, by listing the work in detail and sequence. Both of these approaches can
be practical and correct. I tend toward the latter.
The whole business of using magic to obtain a specific goal may involve
multiple smaller sub-rituals, offerings etc. All these ‘spells’ together are
often described as a ‘working’.
In our post-European, post-Christian USA
there is that tendency to want products neatly packaged and labelled with
instructions. So many who ask for ‘spells’ in internet forums seem to want the
proverbial ‘magic words’, that make things change in the blink of an eye. This
is, in fact no more likely in magic than in medicine, and spellcraft can
involve multiple ‘appointments’ to accomplish a goal.
Here it may be useful to quote and discuss my favorite definition of ‘magic’.
It comes from the Greater Key of Solomon
“Magic is the Highest, most Absolute,
and most Divine Knowledge of Natural Philosophy, advanced in its works and
wonderful operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult virtue
of things; so that true Agents being applied to proper Patients, strange and
admirable effects will thereby be produced. Whence magicians are profound and
diligent searchers into Nature; they, because of their skill, know how to
anticipate an effort, the which to the vulgar shall seem to be a miracle.”
Allow me to paraphrase:
“Magic is the study of the secret and spiritual forces of nature, their
character and powers, so that by applying proper force at the proper place and
time effects can be produced which have been called ‘magical’. So magicians
learn to predict effects by knowing cause, which makes them seem to be
wizards.”
Can I tighten it up?:
“magic is the knowledge of the hidden (occult) powers of things, and of the
spirits, and the application of those powers to produce effects.”
So spells are a specific application of
this principle – the application of the occult powers of natural and spiritual
things to work personal will.
Spellcraft Inside Polytheist Religions
In many world traditions of polytheism and animism the use of religious
symbols, rituals and skills for the immediate personal gain of worshipers and
their families is a normal part of the work. These traditions teach rites for
prosperity, health, fertility and inspiration, much the same as the desires of
modern magic-users.
A symbolic arrangement for a sadhana |
The
Sanskrit term ‘sadhana’ can be translated as ‘a specific practice or form’. In
dharmic religions the term is used both for the prescribed spiritual practice a
teacher might set for their student, and also for specific sets of practices
intended to produce results. The latter are patterns that may include proper
herbs, proper colors and numbers of candles, proper offerings of incenses,
flowers, etc and of course a proper spoken incantation (i.e. ‘mantra’ in
Sanskrit). These patterns are often transmitted through what amount to
spellbooks, and are an orthodox part of Hindu and some Buddhist religion
Offering array for an Ebbo |
In
the post-African religions of the New World ‘Ebbo’ is a word meaning offering
or sacrifice. It can be applied generally to religious offerings to the
spirits, but it also refers to specific patterns of practice intended to
produce specific outcome – i.e. spells. The forms of some such ritual offering
are determined by the spirits themselves, but there are also specific
traditional forms, including arrangements of specific numbers, types of fruits,
colors of candles, etc., arranged in the proper way, place and time, with the
proper invocations. Again, by the terms of western magic, this amounts to a
‘spell’.
Late
Classical Paganism
Remnants of traditional
Euro-middle-eastern polytheism and spiritism were preserved in the important
proto-grimoire called the Picatrix. This ritual manual focuses primarily on the
Planetary powers, themselves remnants or reflections of Olympian Gods. The rites
usually center around an image or idol of the spirit, and then use number,
color, type, etc, to determine a proper set of offerings. This style of
offering-ritual, preserved for us in text over the past 2,000 years or so,
bears a remarkable resemblance to other forms of spirit-based devotional spellcraft.
A planetary rite of offering |
This style of devotional, offering-based
ritual seems ready to introduce into our modern polytheist efforts. Drawing on
lore, tradition and the inspiration of the spirits rites of this style could be
devised in nearly any ethnic system. Of course ethnicities will each have their
distinct customs, which can add to the depth of such designs.
Folkloric and Popular Spellcraft
Offering-based spells that draw on the spiritual power of core cultural gods
and spirits are one side of the coin of traditional spellcraft. The other is
the vast body of lore that employs the ‘occult' (i.e. hidden or little-known) powers of natural things’, along with the
basic principles of mechanistic spellcraft.
The latter were defined by Frasier as
“sympathy” –like affects like; and “contagion” – that which has been in contact
continues to influence the contact. These are not so much the actions of
spirits but natural principles, which operate regardless of the spiritual
environment in which they are used. These techniques, plainly called ‘tricks’
in some traditions, become dressed in the mythology of whatever culture takes
them up.
For instance, the ‘packet talisman’ – a small bag or wrapped packet containing
herbs, stones, seals etc. can be identified in the 16th century
scholastic occultism of Agrippa, yet it also arrives in the New World through
Congo ethnic custom, producing the ‘gris-gris’ or mojo-bag of the hoodoo
tradition. Such a charm-bag employs sympathy by using herbs and stones of the
proper resonance, and employs contagion by the wearing of such a charm next to
the user’s skin. Charm-bags are made with prayers to saints, invocations of the
polytheistic gods, or even animistic address to the aggregated spirit of the charm
itself. This is icing on the basic mix that makes the spell.
Colored candles or lights, proper incenses and perfumes, traditional or
discovered magical sigils and seals, all of these are part of this category of
spellcraft. Image-magic, the old hair-and-fingernails gag, the use of
photographs, drawings or even the written name of a target, all of these use
sympathy and contagion to ‘transmit’ the intention of a practical spiritual
work. Often these methods are employed along with offering and invocation to
direct the power of whatever spirit is offered to.
Wrapping Up
So, then, a spell is a ritual or set of rituals intended to employ spiritual or
occult power for a specific practical goal. This sort of practice may exist as
part and parcel of a religion or spiritual tradition. If it doesn’t it almost
certainly exists just outside of it, relegated to some category like
‘witchcraft’. In my opinion our Neopagan religions, as we construct them, can
benefit from making such techniques integral to our spiritual work.
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