Magical Use of Blood, by Gerald del Campo Options

Magical Use of Blood
by Gerald del Campo

Since the beginning of time blood has been looked upon as the Life Force. The Aztecs considered it a privilege and great honor to be sacrificed to their Sun God; who had a great appetite for human hearts.

In many primitive cultures, the child sacrifice was important in assuring that the seasons would be conductive to a good harvest. Much documentation survives pertaining to the tribal use of child sacrifice as a means of guaranteeing a victorious outcome in the battle field.

The ancient Jews slayed cattle to YHVH., and there is recent archeological indication that some of the tribes of Israel may have practiced child sacrifice; until the Law of Moses prohibited the act of ritualistic murder.

New aeon magicians bring this practice into their rituals by spilling their OWN blood; as they are aware that the only sacrifice worthy of the gods is SELF SACRIFICE... and that blood must be the blood of a King.

Blood has been used in sacrifices in order to appease the gods, as a sacrament to ones Higher Self, and as ink in talismans, sigils and other ritualistic communicatos where one wishes to align one's self to a particular principle by signing a promise or contract with it.

In simple terms; the spilling of ones own blood is a gesture of devotion. It is NOT the method of wizards and sorcerers to sell their souls, or anything else to the devil. This myth is implied in the 15th century work of Christopher Marlowe's: "Doctor Faustus."

The act of spilling blood communicates to the subconscious a seriousness regarding the operation or object of worship. It indicates a willingness to sacrifice ones time and energy in order to accomplish the task at hand. The crucifiction of Jesus, and the mysteries of the Mass allude to this phenomena.

Bleeding is extremely unpleasant for most people as the act releases painful memories of situations associated with pain; the thought of causing ones self to bleed borders on the irrational, and the willingness to go through with it indicates the intensity of ones devotion.

Since blood is connected to life, the act of willingly spilling it is a gesture that one is willing to sacrifice in order to succeed. When done as an act of devotion to a deity it is regarded as a surrender like no other.

For this reason, tattoing and body piercing have become instruments for many new aeon magicians to communicate the seriousness of their intentions or initiations to their psyche. Pain and bleeding are so closely connected to the survival reflex that they provide instant access: the only thing that comes close in matching the effectiveness of these is sex, or rather: orgasm.

As an ink, blood has also been used as a medium to "animate" ones sigils and talismans. Again, the "life force" qualities in the blood are believed to make living things out of inanimate objects. Also, it has been used very effectively for the purpose of signing ones name on Oaths of Secrecy.

Menstrual blood, or Blood of The Moon is believed to be very powerful, as the alchemists of old believed that the passing egg might be fertilized and kept alive for an undetermined period of time, while the spirit of an elemental was be invoked into the dividing cell. This elemental would then do the bidding of the magician while "alive" in the physical plane. Sex magick evolved out of these thories.

This kind of operation necessitated the fusion two types of blood: The Blood of The Moon, illustrated in alchemical texts as Silver, and the life blood of the Sun: sperm, or life blood, represented as Gold. The operation is symbolic of the union of the Sun (male, sperm) and Moon (female, menstrum).

In his opus "Magick and theory and Practice" (Magickal Childe), Crowley claims to have practiced the Bloody Sacrifice of "A male child of perfect innocense and high intelligence" for "an average of 150 times every year between 1912 e.v. and 1928 e.v." He then quotes J.K. Huysmans: "It is the sacrifice of oneself spiritually. And the intelligence and innocense of that male child are the perfect understanding of the Magician, his one aim, without the lust of result. And male he must be, because what he sacrifices is not the material blood, but his creative power."

This is an obvious insinuation to masturbation, and the spilling of sperm. There are still large numbers of people who are convinced beyond doubt that Crowley was able to abduct (on the average) one child every other day for 16 years for the purpose of sacrifice; without ever drawing the attention of the local authorities. One would think that with that number of children being reported missing every week someone would have eventually knocked on his door... no one is *that* crafty.

In modern times, the "blood is life" metaphor survives in the Catholic Church, whereby partaking of wine and bread are symbolic of the Blood and Body of God. Metaphorically, by assimilating these talismans into their bodies, it is believed that some of the virtues of the God they represent might become prominant in their lives. In essence, they will eventually become that Diety.

Crowley's Liber XV: The Gnostic Catholic Mass and The Mass of The Phoenix are good examples of the ritualistic use of blood, and a the tremendous potential of their use.

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The warrior castes of the celtic peoples of Pritain (Britain) used to consider that their prowes in battle would be enhanced by use of sacrificed male spirit. Semen was mixed with woad (instead of pig grease) and the magical runes were painted onto their bodies before battle. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/butcher.gif)
The ancient priest caste of the druids practiced two forms of sacrifice, the lesser of which involved animals or POWs. For the most important occassions they made a blood offering from themselves. This went from the basic act of blood letting, to the highest act of sacrifice 'the death of three deaths', partial strangulation, partial drowning and then the slitting of the throat. This highest of honours was reserved for the either nobility or members of the priesthood, used only in times of dire peril or need. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/8.gif)
I often find that self blood offered to the Morrigan (I started out in the warrior caste) in conjunction with the feathers of a particular bird and Bark of a particular tree, has the potency to draw upon the energies of the greatest nature spirits. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wandwizard.gif)

In the celtic ways misteltoe represented semen and Holly - menstrual Blood unified by the strenght, power and wisdom of the Oak. Hence the importance of these binding forces in druidic magic

This post has been edited by Crom Cruach: Mar 22 2005, 05:08 PM