by Lionel
The spell worker lights the selected material and then concentrates on the flames, thinking deeply about what the power of the fire is to achieve, what he wants the fire gods, the Loas and Orishas of flame, to do for him or her. Some fire magicians endeavour to go into a flame-induced trance at this stage to release their mind powers. Once the flames have died down to embers, the enchanter adds more aromatic herbs and expresses the purpose of the spell in words of intent and prayers. One format uses the phrases, “Hear my wishes and my prayers, O great and wise ones. / Of your goodness and kindness grant me the blessings / Of love, joy, health, safety and success in all that I do.”
The third and concluding part of a fire spell such as this one is to make a thank-offering to the Loas and Orishas on whom the priest-magician has called. Some enchanters add paper currency to the fire; others give incense, tobacco, a cigar, or a few drops of rum or liqueur. They also regard it as very important to thank the Orishas and Loas on whom they have called.
The Republic of Suriname (formerly called Surinam) in the northern region of South America has a significant number of the descendants of former African slaves among its population. Many early members of this group had intermarried with the indigenous peoples of the region and syncretized ancient African beliefs with the old, established local faiths.
An eyewitness account of a fire-dance ceremony in Suriname records how a virgin priestess went into a trance while participants danced among the flames and stepped barefoot over very hot embers without injury. It was believed by the dancers, however, that if the priestess was woken from her trance suddenly, or unexpectedly, they would no longer be immune from the effects of the fire.
Joseph Chilton Pearce’s theories in The Crack in the Cosmic Egg deal with alternative realities that can, perhaps, be invoked by mind power. His ideas about such reality shifts are as interesting and significant as J.W. Dunne’s famous theories on the nature of time. In one of these hypothetical alternative realities, suggests Pearce, fire would not burn in the way that it does in our experiential, terrestrial reality. Was the entranced virgin priestess creating a temporary, localized, alternative reality in which the fire dancers were safe — as long as she was maintaining the parameters of their alternative reality?
Fire-walking plays a significant role among the Voodoo rituals in the Caribbean, and Trinidad has fire-eaters as well as fire-walkers. Haiti is also noted for the large numbers of fire-magicians of various kinds who follow the traditions of the syncretistic mystery religions.
Dr. William Sargant (1907–1988), the brilliant author and psychiatrist, studied Haitian Voodoo for many years. He saw connections linking Haitian Voodoo not only to ancient Congolese belief systems, but via Arabian traders, through Asia Minor and Persia, all the way back to ancient shamanism as practised by Tartars and Mongols. In the course of his extensive researches on Haiti, Dr. Sargant studied ceremonies where the participants felt that they had to fulfill the wishes of Ogun Badagris by drinking a fiery mixture of rum and pepper, and by dancing on live coals.
Fire magic of these various kinds has always been understood — again in accordance with the law of similars — to be symbolically associated with the metaphorical fires of human love and sexual passion. In Santeria, Obeah, Voodoo, Lucumi, and most of the other syncretized mystery religions, love and marriage spells abound. One particularly popular and allegedly successful spell of this type begins with selecting a red rose. The client requesting help from the spell worker is then instructed to write the name of the loved one on the petals of the flower. A very thin brush and silver or golden paint is thought to be especially effective for this. Once the petals have been duly inscribed with the desired person’s name, they are dipped in rose water either by the magician or the client. During this baptism of the petals, which is believed to give them additional magical powers, they are strewn near the house of the loved person — ideally by moonlight.
Money, and the power it can bring with it, is the central objective of many spells incorporated into Santeria, Voodoo, and similar religions. Two of the principle ingredients are what are usually described by the ritualists as “mysterious African soap” and “mysterious African candles.” These are obtainable from a range of specialist “magical” shops found all over the world, but especially in Haiti, the Caribbean, Africa, and South America.
An Orisha or Loa surrounded by candles.
The client seeking money has to rise early in the morning on the day of the full moon. The law of similars can be seen operating here because the full moon resembles a very large silver coin. Before speaking about anything else, the magician’s client has to say how much money he or she wants. The client then bathes from head to foot using the mysterious, magical soap. Nothing else has to be done until midnight. The client then takes an egg that has been boiled hard and lights the mysterious, magical candle. An important incantation then has to be repeated: “May money always surround me as the silver-white of this egg surrounds the golden-yellow of its yolk. May the money that surrounds me make me safe and secure — as the shell of this egg protects the white and the yolk.”
A black candle of the sort often used in spells.
The shell is then removed from the egg and the client places the whole egg in his or her mouth. The tradition emphasizes the importance of not cutting up the egg before placing it in the mouth. (Obviously, great care must be taken not to choke on the egg at this point.) The candle is then extinguished. The ceremony is repeated twice more on successive nights.
In addition to acquiring the specific magical ingredients such as candles, flower petals, eggs, bones, herbs, and spices, spells are believed to work at their fastest and strongest when the appropriate magical instruments are used in the right way, at the right time, and in the right place.
Priest-magicians who practise Santeria, Voodoo, Obeah, and the other syncretized mystery religions will use magical implements and instruments very similar to those used by spell workers all over the world — and throughout many millennia. These magical tools and accessories include an altar, a censer, a chalice or sacred drinking vessel of some kind, a tripod, a sacred sword, a wand or magical staff, a trident, and a cauldron or mixing bowl. All of these need to be made from special materials as prescribed by the oldest and most expert enchanters, and sanctified by special rituals and liturgies before being used.
A Seer using a crystal ball.
A cauldron used in magic.
Human skulls featured in spells.
Another important aspect of spell casting in Voodoo, Santeria, Lucumi, Obeah, and the other syncretized mystery religions is the importance of numbers. As well as being a brilliant pioneering mathematician, Pythagoras (580–490 BC) was also a numerologist. He argued that numbers enveloped, impregnated, and percolated through everything in the universe — the spiritual worlds as well as the physical ones. For Pythagoreans, the number one stood for unity and God. Two was the number of duality and represented an evil force — the devil, Satan, Lucifer, or his equivalent — something that was opposed to God and to the divine, loving plan for the well-being of humanity.
Pythagoreans regarded four as a very sacred and holy number, and it was the number on which they swore their most solemn oaths. Five was the number that signified marriage. Pythagorean numerologists also allocated numbers to the celestial bodies and to the elements of their creation theory. The sun, like God, was allocated the number one. The moon, with its sinister influence, shared the number two with the forces of darkness. As well as symbolizing marriage, five was the number of fire, harmonizing here with earlier ideas about the ecstatic fires of love, as well as the flames of fire the element. Earth was given six for its number, and the Pythagoreans associated air with the number eight. For them twelve stood for water.
Later numerologists, such as Cornelius Agrippa writing in the sixteenth century, had very different ideas from the Pythagoreans. For the numerologists among the Santerians and similar syncretistic religious groups, three and seven ar
e particularly good and important numbers. They frequently figure in spells. Nine is the source of inspiration from Loas and Orishas. Ten represents completion and fulfillment, and twelve (which adds its one and two to make the very powerful and benign three) is the number of signs in the zodiac, tribes of Israel, the apostles of Jesus, and the gates of the ancient holy city of Jerusalem.
The spells used by the priest-magicians of Santeria, Voodoo, Obeah, and similar syncretistic mystery religions are based on sympathetic magic and the laws of similars. They also involve word magic and secret incantations. They are mixed from strange ingredients and they employ special magical instruments and implements. Times and locations are thought to make them more powerful in their effects. Trance, or at least semi-trance, states are often resorted to by the spell workers, and elements of subconscious and supra-conscious mind power are often in evidence. Numerology also has a significant role in these spells. The spell workers believe that their Loas and Orishas are the real power behind their spells, the paranormal entities who control the forces that make the spells work. The Orishas and Loas concerned with literal fire and flame — as well as with the metaphorical flames of burning love and passion — are believed to have major roles in making Santerian spells effective.
Chapter 14
SEXUAL MAGIC
An in-depth understanding of the powerful sexual element in magic benefits greatly from a survey of the personality theories of Abraham Maslow (1908–1970). His 1943 publication A Theory of Human Motivation sets out the idea that there is a hierarchy of needs that every human being experiences simply as a consequence of being human. There were a few important thinkers like Manfred Max Neef, the distinguished Chilean philosopher and economist, who disagreed with Maslow, but no criticism of Maslow’s basic hypothesis succeeds in totally dismantling the truth of his largely sound and well-reasoned argument.
At the foundation of Maslow’s pyramid of needs is the physiological one. First and foremost, human beings need oxygen to breathe, water to drink, sleep to restore and refresh them, procreative sexual activity, biological homeostasis, and excretion of their waste products.
After those vital, basic physiological needs have been met, Maslow argues that the next stratum up consists of human safety needs. He lists these as bodily security, security of employment — including self-employment or being independently financially wealthy — moral security, and the security of an individual’s health, family, and property.
Maslow’s third layer up is categorized as a need to belong, a need to give and receive love, a need for close, warm friendships, and for a higher level of sexual intimacy that expresses love as well as raw desire and is more refined and sophisticated than the simple, basic mating urges included among the fundamental physiological needs on level one.
The fourth level of Maslow’s pyramid is concerned with the need for esteem. In Maslow’s mind, people need to give and receive respect. They need to develop a high level of self-esteem — to see themselves as having real value — and to learn self-confidence. They need to achieve things and to have those achievements recognized. The great C.S. Lewis phrased it this way: “When we have learnt to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves, we are then permitted to love ourselves as much as we love our neighbours.”
Sex god and goddess.
The final layer that reaches all the way up to the summit of the pyramid of needs is normally defined as self-actualization. When human beings have satisfied every other need, says Maslow, this is what makes them truly and fully human. It is here that they gain satisfaction from solving problems, from understanding morality and ethics and living by whatever their own idiosyncratic standards demand of them. They accept facts boldly and bravely; they are creative, autonomous, and spontaneous.
How do Santeria and the other syncretized mystery religions set out to fulfill human needs as described by Maslow? Part of Santerian charity, ethics, and morality is to see that as far as possible, homeless people are sheltered, hungry people are fed, and sick and injured people are nursed and healed. It would be an integral part of the ethics of a loyal and devout Santerian to protect anyone who was vulnerable — especially children, the frail, and the elderly.
With the exception of the special and unusual religious duties of a virgin priestess at a fire-walking ceremony (and that is a role she is free to leave and to pass on to another celebrant, if she later wishes to marry and lead a normal life), Santeria and similar syncretistic religions discourage celibacy for both clergy and laity.
The ancient African roots of the faith can be traced back to a dynamic, prehistoric hunter-gatherer culture in which frequent and vigorous sexual activity contributed to racial survival and was also practised as part of their fertility religion.
As their level one and two needs were satisfied, those Paleolithic peoples, among whom Santeria’s deepest and most ancient African roots grew and developed, discovered a need beyond simple survival and safety. They wanted companionship, friendship, and intimate sexual activity that reflected their love as well as their urge to procreate.
If the concept of the purpose of magic as a way to fulfill human needs is linked with Maslow’s pyramid of needs, it may be suggested that magic attempts to fulfill the sexual needs of level three as well as the more basic ones at the foundation level. How do Santeria, Voodoo, Lucumi, Obeah, and the rest of the syncretistic mystery religions approach these human demands?
A general theory of sexual magic that is widely — but not universally — held is that human sexual energy, or libido, is the most powerful drive a human entity has at his or her command. If this energy can be controlled, harnessed, focused, and directed — then the magician in charge of it can reach goals and objectives that are not normally attainable.
Sexual magic approaches the use of the orgasm in two different ways. The first theory suggests that it is the power of the orgasm itself, as a massive release of energy, which somehow empowers the magic. This hypothesis considers the magical objective, say a wealth or power spell, to be the missile. Orgasmic energy is then regarded as the essential, explosive force, the equivalent of cordite or TNT in a cartridge, which launches the projectile. The orgasm is seen as the powerful wind that fills the sails of the magician’s boat and carries the spell to its destination. Another particularly relevant and appropriate analogy is the archer’s bow: tension builds up as the bow is drawn back. That tension is suddenly released at the moment of orgasm and the energy so created speeds the arrow-spell towards its target.
The archery analogy of orgasm.
Parallel thinking can often be detected between the oldest forms of European Wicca and the syncretized mystery religions including Santeria, Voodoo, Lucumi, and Obeah. There is a strong probability that they shared a number of primeval sources going back as far as the oldest of the African, Egyptian, and Chaldean roots of magic and the wisdom known to have existed in the Indus Valley since time immemorial.
Sexuality in creation stories.
Wiccan sexual magic centres on what is referred to by practitioners as the Great Rite. In its oldest, purest, and most genuine form, this consists of actual sexual intercourse. The priest represents the male lover god, while his priestess represents the maiden goddess. Variations involve a male god of the sun or sky with a female partner representing the earth, nature, or the terrestrial biosphere.
In its ritual form, semiological representations of intercourse are often employed. The priest inserts the athame, a ritual knife, wand, or magical rod — prepared from one of the Wiccan sacred trees — into a magical vessel filled with wine and held by the priestess. Members of the congregation can be called upon to perform either the direct rite or the symbolic rite under the direction and guidance of the officiating priest and priestess.
Samael Aun Weor (1917–1977) was what would have been called a true Renaissance man had he lived a few centuries earlier. This brilliantly intelligent Colombian philosopher was also an anthropologist, psychologist, occultist, and academ
ic esotericist. His expertise extended to an analysis of sexual magic and the place of the orgasm in such magic. In Samael’s view, the explosive release of sexual energy via orgasm did not achieve the best and most effective magical results. He believed that sexual energy should be sublimated into what he thought of as higher, purer, creative spiritual energy. Samael did not regard the ecstatic physical pleasure of an explosive orgasm as merely the power that carried magic to its destination — for him, sexual power had to be translated and transformed into creative spiritual magic.
Another man with great understanding of the sexual elements in magic was the American Dr. Paschal Beverley Randolph (1825–1875). He was a competent and caring medical man as well as an expert on occult matters and a prolific writer. His medical qualifications and experience gave him an objective and open-minded approach to sex, and he is also reputed to have been one of the first Rosicrucians in the U.S.A.
As a young man, Randolph worked on a sailing ship and his travels took him as far as Persia, where he learned a great deal about mysticism, the occult, magic in general, and the sexual elements of magic in particular. In the course of these travels, Randolph recorded that he had met a group of fakirs near Jerusalem, possibly even a branch of Nusa’iri, an ancient tribe from Syria with a long history of secret wisdom.