I dare not suggest these are the only two methods for magical practice or execution, but they effectively present a broad view of what contemporary magicians do.
Magical Form and Approach
In my own tree of magical categorization I begin with the branch of magic, either practical or esoteric, then consider the class of magic, which will be high or low magic. Thereafter comes the method, which can also be called magical form or the approach used to enact magic.
My personal method utilizes both of the approaches I’m about to briefly cover.
Think of these as two very different styles for performing magic. They are frequently divided with the terms high and low, a reference to the complexity and even cost of practicing the respective method or approach. Either form can be deployed to accomplish the same task but often with very nuanced intentions or for specialized results.
Ritual Magic
Ritual magic, a form high magic, is formalized work based on structured and repetitive procedures of varying complexity, often carried out at specific times or through ceremonial performances. A great deal of technique and lore are involved in ritual magic and in the process of development and application of these techniques the magician learns to sense and direct the various energies and currents involved.
Imagine a rite to bring courage in an upcoming confrontation. For this one would draw upon the swift, fearless, and passionate qualities of elemental fire. A proper clearing and banishing of stagnant and unwanted energy is first performed. Next a magic circle is raised. A basic circle will do, perhaps calling initially on all four elements from the four cardinal directions, beginning with air in the east and circling all the way around to earth in the north. Here the attention is returned to the fire quarter in the south, where symbols of the fire agent can be drawn on the ground, on paper, or traced in the air as named spirits of the fire quality are called upon. An appropriate incense, juniper or ginger or one of a dozen other fire scents would be burned and one or more incantations and/or other magical acts carried out, all with the intention of directing the earth energies towards the aim of the ritual.
There is ample time and space herein for highly specialized intentions within the broad goal to be addressed. Focusing the incantations, delivering succinct sigils or symbols, and calling spirits with clearly defined attributes allow the magician to tailor the forces conjured to do precisely as he or she wills.
Specific statements of the nature of courage to be produced and how it will be used could be etched into a red candle, along with symbols of fire and Mars, then burned top down so the phrases can be incinerated in the order they would be read. Ancillary spirits may even be called forth and tasked with diminishing the courage of the adversary to be confronted, especially during the waning moon phase.
The entire victory scene, or desired outcome can be as fine-tuned and scripted as you are willing to make it. Ritual operations can carry on for an hour or more if one has the energy for such work and the attention span to do it justice.
If spirits are called upon they will be the focus of the magician’s direction, after which the spirits will drive and deliver the elemental energy of earth unto its purpose. The ritual is concluded, another clearing/banishing takes place, and the ritual area is tidied up and closed down.
Natural Magic
Natural magic, a method of low magic, is mostly performed outside the bounds of ritual space and involves much less complexity than high magic. While stones, herbs, and other natural things may be involved, we are not talking here about the “natural magic” so-called because of its reliance on articles from the forest or local environment. That is a more niched approach common within folk magic systems. Natural magic in the broad sense is the art of weaving an energetic web, field, lattice, etc. via correspondences and the magician’s personal power and will to achieve the desired outcome.
That may need repetition and emphasis so here we go…
“Natural Magic” as a form or method of low magic is not necessarily about making magic with twigs and herbs and frog parts and stones. That brand of natural magic, or “green magic” as it is often called these days, is a specific discipline of magic commonly (though not always) derived from folk magic. “Natural Magic” in the context of this post, i.e. as opposed to the method of Ritual Magic, simply means informal, even spontaneous magic based on the work of assembling items of correspondence, along with intention, to raise a specifically charged field of magical energy through which the magician casts his or her will to create the desired outcome.
Correspondences or items thereof are objects or other things (sounds, scents, colors, etc.) of varying nature chosen for specific energy or frequency they hold which is aligned with the purpose of the operation. As usual, this aspect of magic is easier explained through example.
Suppose you wish to bestow courage upon someone in need of that virtue. Commonplace within natural magic are amulets or charm bags. These are often small drawstring bags filled with items that generate the appropriate energies to create the magical effect. You might take a red bag or pouch and fill it with juniper cuttings, small garnets, a tiger’s eye, a bloodstone, a pinch of ginger plucked with essential oil of elemental fire on the fingers, a few hairs from a bulldog, and two small pieces of folded red paper upon which you have made the Thurisaz rune and the planetary sigil of Mars. This would be quite a collaboration of fire quality correspondences, blessed with the attributes and Martial influence of the red planet. Having gathered all this potential into one tiny pouch, you could affix to it elemental fire by drawing about it, either on a large red poster board or using your finger to trace in the air, the pentagram of fire, encircled, along with a brief incantation. Your courage amulet is now ready for gifting to and use by the beneficiary of the operation.
In this example work you surely could add specificity to the mix through the words and symbols you choose. Quite a lot of the time I think natural magicians are content to work with more general currents, but this needn’t be the case if you wish to focus your efforts. It is my opinion and likely nothing more, that ritual magic is better suited for very highly focused or extremely specific work due to the sanctified sacred space and inherent degree of high complexity when compared to most common natural magic procedures.
As stated, this could all be in my head. It hardly matters to the aim of this post, which is to introduce or review the concept of the two main and distinct forms of magical work covered in today’s literature.
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