[Monday] Request for real world magic traditions.

[RangerWickett]

I know on Mondays there has often been a post about something historical, and how to fit it into your campaign. I'm asking for sort of a reverse of that. I want to know about magic in the real world, because I'm running a modern campaign, and I want things to be consistent.

The premise of the setting is that if people believe in it, then it exists, though magic is almost always hidden from the eyes of non-believers. What I want is a list of maybe 20 real-world magical beliefs and traditions from around the world, with a description of what sorts of magic you'd see from practicioners, types of monsters or folklore critters the tradition has, and perhaps the basis of the beliefs. What do people who use magic of that tradition believe they're doing?

Some key examples I'd like more information on:

Celtic magic
Chinese magic
Christian beliefs on magic and miracles
Greco-Roman magic
Modern magical beliefs - psychic powers, crystals, Blainetology
Native American magic
Norse magic
Shintoist magic
Voodoo (it's not just zombies)
Witchcraft (the Christian view of witches)
Wicca (real witches)

I'm doing a few google searches here and there, but if you know anything, or know a good place to look for information, I'd appreciate the help.

 

[WayneLigon]

Modern Psychism - Many modern ideas of psychic phenomena start in the spiritualism revivals in Victorian England and 20's North America. There are hundreds of variations on a few simple themes. The major ones is that Spirits exist and can contact the living through a gifted Medium (that's what the person literally is; he or she is a bridge between the spirit world and the material world). There are different types of mediums, but one of the common types is one that invites the spirit to inhabit his body temporarily and thus speak through it. Mediums, through spirits, can also produce a substance called Ectoplasm which spirits use to form visible bodies and manipulate objects. When the spirit leaves, ectoplasm may be left behind as a kind of spider-web-like substance that quickly dissipates. The 'I've been slimed' idea from Ghostbusters comes from that sort of thing.

Sorts of magic: Mediums and psychics of this stripe often have a 'second sight' that lets them see spirits or auras. They may 'feel vibrations' from objects, people, places, photos. It is notoriously unreliable. Some will have foresight or past-sight. Most gifts will be passive and not under direct conscious control of the user. Only later do you get broad claims of other powers, especially anything involving physical actions such as telekinesis or levitation.

Some mediums claim to leave their bodies and go to where the dead are, question them, then come back with answers. Blavatsky's theosophical works detail the astral travel involved.

Some psychics of the era will also combine some simple 'kitchen witchery' with the spiritualism, claiming to get rid of or place curses.

Monsters: Spirits can be quite monsterous on their own, manifesting dangerous abilities. A great fear to letting a spirit into your body is that it might not want to leave again; the possessed psychic can be a potent and versitile enemy, especially of the spirit had a strong personality in life. That seems to translate directly to a more potent after-life, with more powers and abilities. Dead psychics are very dangerous to deal with. Also, there might be Other Things out there, waiting for an empty body.

It's unknown how many psychics of the era actually beleived they possessed any powers beyond telling people what they wanted to hear, or engaging in outright fraud. Houdini certainly never fonud anything but fakes who knew they were fakes. At the height of each craze, gifted spiritualists could find themselves hobbnobbing with the elite and commanding vast sums for readings, demonstrations and seances. Some very famous scandals also came out of it, when someone would be revealed as a fraud.

In modern times, many spiritualists will apply a veneer of Christianity over their work, often referring to themselves as a 'spiritual advisor' or 'no occult' on a business card. In the 60's it was fashionable to apply some Indian or Buddhist flavoring to the proceedings. In the 70's is was Native American customs. In the 80's, there were UFO-based and Atlantean-based psychics - whatever was exotic or popular at the time. In a world where belief creates reality, that might well mean that additional elements from other cultures could also be present. A medium working with Native America trappings might find herseld beset by angry animal spirits, or an Indian-flavored psychic might find a rakshasha at his door.

Around about 75-85 the spiritualism stuff remakes itself for mainstream culture as the 'New Age' thing, replacing the 'occult' designation in chain bookstores. At that point it becomes a melting pot of various belief systems. Someone approaching magic from the 'chain bookstore new ager' approach could conceivably pull anything out of their bag of tricks, though they are likely to have a shallow understanding of what they are doing and no way to fix something that goes wrong or 'isn't in the book'.

 

[RangerWickett]

Wow, thanks Wayne. Great stuff.

 

[innis]

the best advice i can give you to get a genuine feel for how the ancient "celtic" people viewed magic is the old hero tales such as the ulster cycle and the fennian cycle. theres another really good tale that reflects celtic magic in a cinch, but i can't remember it...tuan something? i'll look it up and get back to you. for an authentic feel, steer clear of a lot of the new age stuff, which, unfortunately tends to bend celtic magic to the touchy feely things that they want it to be, sadly. it often gets gelled with nordic magic and repackaged as something our modern minds can cope with. although i agree that the ancients lived close to nature, i'm not sure they had a "save the trees!" agenda.

a feel for the genuine nordic tradition is somewhat harder to come across. from what i have been able to filter, there seems to have been two major recognised forms; galdr (a masculine practice of rune casting), and seith (pron. seed? - a feminine practice akin to shamanism). it is hard to find historical references to the nordic magician, though- magic seemed largely the governance of the gods, as well as the dwarves. the old viking sagas may have some useful information.

 

[innis]

wicca is actually an old word meaning male witch, but came to be used as a new movement to consolidate the practices of the old religion. they essentially revamped the fragmented practices of old religeons and patched up the rather large holes with whatever felt right at the time. wiccans practice as hedge witches or as part of a structured cove with a high priest and priestess, observing monthly rituals around the cycles of the moon where they invoke the name of the lord and lady. they see nature, and particularly all natural cycles as the sacred divine expressions of the perfect union and division of the masculine and feminine principles. a large part of the magical process for the wiccan, a fundamental practice is the construction of the magic circle, which allows the initiate of the mysteries to protect her/himself and focus their powers, to be dismissed at the end of the casting.

 

[mcrow]

Wicca (depending on what tradition) will have mix of many of the examples you listed. Wiccans will openly admit that they use and blend ideas from other magic systems. Some Wicca traditions are heavely based on Celtic Magic ,Druidism, and the Celtic Pantheon. Other Traditions use Egyptian, Greek, Nores, and many other Pantheons. Wicca (many believe) may be the oldest religion with signs of cavemen practicing magick (that is not a misspelling, it's the spelling used in the occult community to seperate stage magic from Wicca Magick). Though many Wiccans believe that it is the oldest religion in the world it appears to me that Wicca was invented in England by Gerald Gardener in the 60's (IIRC).

What do Wiccans believe Magick is?

Well since the variation throughout the community can be night & day it's hard to speak for everyone. Here are some that I have found to common, but not true to all of Wicca:

1) every living thing has some natural magickal energy. Rocks,trees, plants,dirt,gems, and almost any natural substance. So things like crystals,inscence, and water are commonly used in rituals to increase magickal energy.

2) nearly all Wiccans are nature preservationists to a point, but not all of them are activists. Since most worship a "mother nature" as well as (in Celtic Traditions) The God of the Hunt Cernunos(sp?) nature (and many other Gods & Goedess')and it's beauty and power are very important.

3) Visualizing, meditating,symbolism ,and Chanting are very common in rituals as a way to raise magickal energy. The best way that I can describbe how Wiccan rituals work is to say that they use rituals as super powered prayers. They try to heal sick people,the may use it to ward off unwanted spirits, heal depression, and many other applications. Wiccan magick can be used for bad things to , such as curses, though it is considered no generaly accepted

4) magickal beasts. Many Wiccan believe in some form of magickal animals/beasts. I have heard of anything from fairies to lions and Dragons. So for your modern campaign you could gon almost anywhere with magical beasts.

5) Magical items. Nearly any natural thing can be used as magick storage device or amulets. Uses are varied, wands to store and release energy, Amulets with somesort of charm, Rods, staff, chalice, and pentagrams.

if you are interested in more info on rituals & practices check out the book Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick). It is kind of the beginers book to Wicca.

 

[Shemeska]

Though many Wiccans believe that it is the oldest religion in the world it appears to me that Wicca was invented in England by Gerald Gardener in the 60's (IIRC).

Gardener did indeed invent it as a revival/cobbling together of dozens of otherwise disparate traditions, belief systems and pre-Christian religions, with a heavy dose of latter day making up stuff to plug holes. There's no historical link between any sort of (imaginary) paneuropean goddess culture, 'witches', or the like and Wicca as created by Gardener. People who think otherwise, or that Wicca extends back to the stoneage are delusional and don't know the history of their own 50'odd year old religion.

What I find interesting though are the links between various strains of Thelemic cults and earlier branches of Theosophy that are clear precursors to Gardnerian Wicca. The looming specter of Crowley isn't to be dismissed here either as his lore certainly played a role in Gardener's creation of Wicca, and IIRC he originated the use of a k in magick to seperate it from slight of hand and stage magic.

 

[Shemeska]

Other real world magical traditions:

Sumerian Demon Bowls - metal or pottery bowls with either prayers or invocations in real languages of the period, or in markings meant to resemble real language (given that most where illiterate at the time) to summon and bind spirits/demons. The bowls were sealed together and placed at the corners of a house or building and at entrances where evil spirits might attempt to enter the homes.

 

[mcrow]

Shemeska: I agree 100% with what you said. Wicca is not the same religion as the ancients practiced but does have some elements that resemble what the ancients did.

 

[Shemeska]

Shemeska: I agree 100% with what you said. Wicca is not the same religion as the ancients practiced but does have some elements that resemble what the ancients did.

True. As with any sort of reconstruction and blending, some of the sources are going to be more faithful to their roots than will others.