I've Got A Theory, magickal ingredients Options

I've got a theory which a few people may disregard entirely, but I wanted to get some views on it. I read some essay on the internet a while ago that got me thinking about the classique Macbeth-esque spell ingredients - Eye of Newt, Wing of Bat, etc etc etc. Most people nowadays have ruled such things out as a folk names for herbs used in the older days of low magick. Here's a thought: what if things like Eye of Newt are actually Eye of Newt?

Consider: Asian cultures use parts of animals in food that us of the western hemisphere aren't exactly savvy with in the taste test department, because they observe that such animal parts have important medicinal and quite possibly magickal properties. To those cultures eating eyes and tongues other freaky stuff (no offense anyone of the above stipulated culture) wouldn't seem as unusual as it would to people on this side of the world.

Also, consider: magickal inks used for writing certain types of spells. Dragon's blood ink is generally used to increase the power and energy of written spellwork, which makes sense considering the general use of the herb itself. The other two most well-known are Bat's Blood Ink and Dove's Blood Ink. Nowadays they're both made from cinnamon and myrrh resins and some other stuff, but originally they were both composed of actual blood from a bat or a dove and probably an anti-coagulant herb of some sort. Bat's Blood Ink is known to be used for curses and Dove's Blood Ink is known to be used in love spells, which indicates that the magickal properties of the two would have to be completely different. Therefore, if the magickal uses extended past the most basic biological makeup of the blood cells, there's no reason to think there aren't certain properties within other parts of other animals.

My theory is that the plants believed to be the literal terms of folkloric spell ingredients carry very similar properties, possibly not the extent of the power within the originals, but enough to make the spell work (which is really the point). In some cases the original ingredients may not have been available, given the time of year or the part of the world, and so the magician would have to use whatever was available to make the necessary substitutions. Using these substitutions regularly would eventually cause the original spell ingredients to fade into myth, and now there aren't really any spells readily available that call for anything of the sort.

So let me know what you think. Also, if anyone knows of any spells that call for traditional cauldron-stirring ingredients, definitely something I'd want to see. Cheers

Greetings Thorn,

I like your theory. You are right, it does seem that with the advent of the scientific process, the chemical properties of plants and animals has come to replace the symbolic aspects.

Nonetheless, the use of 'strange' animal parts was undoubtedly a literal element of western magic in the past. It is all about the correspondences, so for example Dove's blood ink caries with it all types of meaning including the sacrifice of a 'pure' animal associated with the air element. All this adds to the magic formula and makes it more powerful in the minds of those that believe.

We can find present day examples in some Asian cultures that use dried tiger penises as a remedy for impotence...nature's Viagra! Indeed, think of the rich context of magical correspondences: a tiger is a potent animal, the alpha predator of many regions, he is a symbol of strength, vitality, and power those very elements that are believed to be lacking in the floppy member ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banana.gif) It does not require a far stretch of the imagination to see the magical link.

As for another example lets look at cultures that practice ritual cannibalism. In many of these cultures, upon the death of a father, the eldest male was expected to consume a part of the deceased reproductive organ as symbolic of transferring the "family seed". Women are expected to do the same with their mothers. Now they don't eat the whole thing, but the tiniest portion...just enough to symbolize the magical transference of generational power. As I said, it is the correspondence that counts, as this is the language of magic. Hmm, is not the symbolism of the Catholic Eucharist a reflection of this belief so ingraned in our psyche that we have forgotten the underlying ritual cannibalism? The formula passed down through the ages is quite simple, to gain power consume something that symbolizes that power!

I find it absurd that westerners write off these 'strange' 'Macbeth-esque" ingredients as fictitious. Now let me be clear, I'm not advocating that people should toss out there supplies of Viagra and start poaching tigers for their willies. But the idea that our ancestors did not engage in such forms of sympathetic magic is steeped in a superiority complex characteristic of the early-days of anthropology where the west believed itself the torchbearer of civilization as opposed to the "primitives" and "savages' of non-western cultures.

This post has been edited by Faustopheles: Feb 7 2007, 01:41 AM