Natural Magic
Apr. 20th, 2024 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lostianvsNatural Magic
As my natural magic "thesis" project nears completion, I wanted to reflect on my understanding of natural magic as presented by Agrippa in TBOP Book I.
What is Magic?
Magic is the study, prediction, and manipulation of hidden forces, also called "occult virtues." This definition is rooted in pre-modern notions of philosophy and the occult. Philosophy preceded the sciences as the application of reason and empirical observation to the study of the universe. Natural philosophy concerned itself with the rigorous investigation of manifest reality in the sensible world, in other words physics (and chemistry, zoology, biology, geology, etc.). Therefore, occult philosophy, or magic, concerns itself with the rigorous investigation of manifest reality in the insensible world. Consider that at one time effects such as magnetism or static electricity may have fallen under the purview of the occult, which just means "hidden." So, perhaps one way magical practitioners can conceive of the hidden forces with which we work is as underlying the material universe (like electromagnetism) instead of above it.
Magic is an art. The ways in which hidden forces reveal themselves to magical practitioners are myriad. Where one person sees a leopard, another sees a jaguar. The jaguar camp may eventually concede to the leopard camp's version of reality, but this concession implies nothing about the hidden force behind both versions of the story. The only fact on which we can rely is that both leopards and jaguars are faces of the universal force known as Danger, and that Danger may yet be another face. This inherently subjective nature of reality offers practitioners a lot of leeway when it comes to the application of creative expression to the study and execution of magic.
Reality Maps
The subjective nature of the universe allows the adoption of many possible models of reality. We can test the utility of these models through magical experimentation, but not their veracity. The consistent application of a particular model can be beneficial, so long as it doesn't devolve into unquestionable dogmatism. A dogmatic witch is a willfully blind witch. Dogmatism unnecessarily restricts us to a handful of models among an infinite universe of possibilities.
Any practitioners claiming to know the true nature of hidden forces is lying, either to us or themselves. The inherent subjectivity of the universe precludes direct access by normal waking consciousness. This does not mean that hidden truths are "unknowable," but that any attempt to pass along hidden truths, by any means other than direct experience, will be confounded by a requirement to resort to analogy. The true nature of things is inherently mysterious.
All of this is to say that the descriptions of the universe presented by Agrippa may be flawed, but that the hidden forces he describes are nonetheless "real." Practitioners may benefit from adopting a poetic perspective while reviewing models of reality. Let's not mistake the map for the territory. A reliance on literal interpretation is a sure path to dogmatism.
Agrippa's Universe
The universal model proposed by Agrippa is largely informed by traditional astrology. This model entails a transcendent divine realm that transmits effects to our natural realm through successive celestial realms. These effects take on four poetic qualities: hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. Hot refers to effects that are expansive or rising, whereas cold refers to effects that are contractile or sinking. The interaction of hotness and coldness gives rise to dryness, which refers to rigidity and a resistance to change, and moistness, which refers to flexibility and a tendency to change. These four primary qualities are transmitted through the celestial realms to the natural realm where they mix to form the four philosophical elements of fire (dry hotness/constant expansion), air (moist hotness/erratic expansion), water (moist coldness/erratic contraction), and earth (dry coldness/constant contraction).
Agrippa further postulates that everything in the manifest sensible world must originate as a potentiality in an insensible hidden realm. This is because the universe contains everything by definition, including everything that does, did, or will exist. Since the world of senses is limited by Time, everything in the past and future must "exist" in some insensible realm. Ergo it stands to reason that because the natural world contains living beings with some level of intelligence that the hidden realms contain the same, but in a more abstract fashion. In other words, the universe is alive and intelligent because living and intelligent beings exist and these beings are a part of the universe. Consider that when we look at images of the early universe from space telescopes, that a piece of the universe (us!) is literally looking back in time trying to remember where it came from.
If the universe is alive, it must contain individual actors analogous to the cells, molecules, and atoms that make up our physical bodies. Much like how the group dynamics of cars and livestock can give rise to the more complex entities of traffic and herds, the constituents of the hidden realms give rise to more complex hidden entities. The overarching animating principle is called the World Soul and its constituent animating souls are known as gods, titans, nymphs, dryads, naiads, sylphs, undines, gnomes, salamanders, primordials, demons, angels, daimons, daemons, and other types of "spirits."
Our bodies and minds operate according to some observable principles, and so the universe must operate according to hidden principles or hidden reasons. We observe that if you drop a rock into a pond it sinks according to the interaction of gravity and buoyancy. If you are alive, your breath oxygenates your blood according to the principles of physiology. In other words, the processes described by physics reflect a rationale or "mind" of the sensible world. Analogously, the spirits that make up the World Soul interact according to their own principles the summation of which acts like the "mind" of the universe. Agrippa calls this "mind" or set of rules the World Spirit.
"Natural" Magic
Most authors post-Agrippa seem to limit natural magic to the magic of non-human materials such as herbs, stones, and animals. This limitation seems rooted in a misunderstanding of what constitutes "nature." As alluded to by the pre-modern study of natural philosophy, "nature" relates to anything in the sensible world. So, "natural" magic concerns the discovery and manipulation of hidden forces via interfaces that we can discover using our ordinary senses. Natural magic works because there is a two-way connection between the hidden forces that give rise to the material universe and the material itself.
For example, if you wanted to run faster you could use things that interface with the hidden powers that give rise to speed, legs, feet, and/or stamina in the sensible world. This might involve the collection of items related to speed like a falcon's feather, a sailfish's scale, or the sweat-drenched towel an Olympic sprinter used just after winning a foot race. For all magical intents and purposes, the speediness of these items originates from and is equivalent to the same hidden force. These items offer access to hidden forces other than "speed," owing to the mixed up nature of the elemental sphere. We might extract Success, Stamina, or abstract Stench from the Olympic sprinter's towel. The discovery of connections to hidden concepts using our ordinary senses and logic is the origin of concepts like the "Law of Correspondence" and the "Doctrine of Signatures."
Language
The last piece of the magical puzzle is the practitioner. Intelligent life has the particular ability to transform its personal occult virtues. The power of thought, emotion, and instinct can inspire a change in the individual that brings them into alignment with certain hidden forces or out of alignment with others. Human beings can accomplish this feat in the natural realm through the use of spoken incantations, written words, and symbols. For the right person, a good poem or song may yield more energy than a cup of coffee. The words and symbols themselves are also imbued with inherent virtues, just like other sensible components such as herbs and crystals.
Planets
What are these hidden forces that underlay the material world? Agrippa hints throughout Book I that these forces are the planets of the celestial realm. The planetary seals given in Book I are hidden within the material universe. These seals transmit planetary influence through different materials with varying efficacy, analogous to how different objects have different resonate frequencies. Agrippa does not elaborate greatly on what the "planets" actually are in Book I. However, he hints at a 7-fold system of categorization that we can use to organize sensible virtues as we discover them. I personally use "key words" for each planet to indicate the general flavor of the planet and its magicks.
Moon - Perception
Mercury - Transmission
Venus - Motivation
Sun - Generation
Mars - Action
Jupiter - Organization
Saturn - Dissolution
If I were to categorize the virtues of a tree I might say that the tree's color, roughness, and scent are Lunar. The tree's rate of growth or ability to spread pollen is Mercurial. The direction of the tree's growth (up towards the sun) is Venusian, as is the way the tree makes me feel. The oxygen the tree generates is Solar. The tree's ability to displace soil or shade the understory is Martian. The rings that make up the tree's structure are Jovian. Finally, the tree's ability to uptake water, CO2, and minerals and transform them is Saturnian. We could leverage any of these virtues for all kinds of magical operations. The fact that someone else might assign an entirely different set of tree virtues to completely different planets is a feature of the universe, not a flaw.
A Promotion Spell
I earn a fixed salary, so most money spells take the form of "promotion spells" for me. I'd like to inspire my boss to promote me to a higher earning position in the company, but I'd also like to avoid too much extra work. I'm a bit of a "Type A", so I do enjoy having something to occupy my time. In the context of the above description of natural magic, I might begin by tapping into the hidden forces behind my boss. He has a habit of biting his nails that reminds me of the way some people mindlessly eat sunflower seeds and spit out the shells. He also has a dry sense of humor and a pallid complexion that reminds me of wood ash. He's also human in form like a poppet or doll.
Step 1. I placed some sunflower seeds, wood ash, and a slip of paper with my boss' name on it into a poppet. From now on I treat the poppet as if it were my boss, calling it by his name, and talking to it as I would my boss. These actions turn the poppet into a portal to the hidden forces behind my boss. What happens to the poppet happens to my boss.
I'd like to ingratiate my boss to me and motivate him to promote me. I know there's a position in my company very similar to my current role that pays more money that is about to open up. I've already worked the mundane side of things by telling my boss that I want the job and plan to apply. My boss would much rather hire someone new than engage in internal churning. Since my focus is motivating my boss to promote me, I determine that the required working is essentially Venusian.
Step 2. I start bringing the poppet little gifts. Perhaps a flower, a piece of chocolate, a cup of coffee, or shiny stones. Each time I bring it a gift, I whisper in the poppet's ear things like "Ianvs is trustworthy, Ianvs is a hard worker, Ianvs deserves the promotion, you want to promote Ianvs." I also write these phrases on slips of paper and place them in the poppet's head. I'm bribing my boss in a very Venusian way without having to compromise my mundane reputation.
At every step along the way, I use my ordinary senses to identify patterns or make connections between things I can easily manipulate (a poppet) and the thing I want to change (my boss). The implication I read from Agrippa is that both the poppet I create and my boss are two ends of a hidden thread. After an easy interview, I get the promotion.
Step 3. Now that my task is done, I'd like to undo the connection I created. I don't fuss over it, I just declare that the poppet is no longer connected to my boss. I disassemble the connection by disassembling the poppet and its contents. My preference is to burn the separated materials and scatter them back to nature.
Ianvs
As my natural magic "thesis" project nears completion, I wanted to reflect on my understanding of natural magic as presented by Agrippa in TBOP Book I.
What is Magic?
Magic is the study, prediction, and manipulation of hidden forces, also called "occult virtues." This definition is rooted in pre-modern notions of philosophy and the occult. Philosophy preceded the sciences as the application of reason and empirical observation to the study of the universe. Natural philosophy concerned itself with the rigorous investigation of manifest reality in the sensible world, in other words physics (and chemistry, zoology, biology, geology, etc.). Therefore, occult philosophy, or magic, concerns itself with the rigorous investigation of manifest reality in the insensible world. Consider that at one time effects such as magnetism or static electricity may have fallen under the purview of the occult, which just means "hidden." So, perhaps one way magical practitioners can conceive of the hidden forces with which we work is as underlying the material universe (like electromagnetism) instead of above it.
Magic is an art. The ways in which hidden forces reveal themselves to magical practitioners are myriad. Where one person sees a leopard, another sees a jaguar. The jaguar camp may eventually concede to the leopard camp's version of reality, but this concession implies nothing about the hidden force behind both versions of the story. The only fact on which we can rely is that both leopards and jaguars are faces of the universal force known as Danger, and that Danger may yet be another face. This inherently subjective nature of reality offers practitioners a lot of leeway when it comes to the application of creative expression to the study and execution of magic.
Reality Maps
The subjective nature of the universe allows the adoption of many possible models of reality. We can test the utility of these models through magical experimentation, but not their veracity. The consistent application of a particular model can be beneficial, so long as it doesn't devolve into unquestionable dogmatism. A dogmatic witch is a willfully blind witch. Dogmatism unnecessarily restricts us to a handful of models among an infinite universe of possibilities.
Any practitioners claiming to know the true nature of hidden forces is lying, either to us or themselves. The inherent subjectivity of the universe precludes direct access by normal waking consciousness. This does not mean that hidden truths are "unknowable," but that any attempt to pass along hidden truths, by any means other than direct experience, will be confounded by a requirement to resort to analogy. The true nature of things is inherently mysterious.
All of this is to say that the descriptions of the universe presented by Agrippa may be flawed, but that the hidden forces he describes are nonetheless "real." Practitioners may benefit from adopting a poetic perspective while reviewing models of reality. Let's not mistake the map for the territory. A reliance on literal interpretation is a sure path to dogmatism.
Agrippa's Universe
The universal model proposed by Agrippa is largely informed by traditional astrology. This model entails a transcendent divine realm that transmits effects to our natural realm through successive celestial realms. These effects take on four poetic qualities: hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. Hot refers to effects that are expansive or rising, whereas cold refers to effects that are contractile or sinking. The interaction of hotness and coldness gives rise to dryness, which refers to rigidity and a resistance to change, and moistness, which refers to flexibility and a tendency to change. These four primary qualities are transmitted through the celestial realms to the natural realm where they mix to form the four philosophical elements of fire (dry hotness/constant expansion), air (moist hotness/erratic expansion), water (moist coldness/erratic contraction), and earth (dry coldness/constant contraction).
Agrippa further postulates that everything in the manifest sensible world must originate as a potentiality in an insensible hidden realm. This is because the universe contains everything by definition, including everything that does, did, or will exist. Since the world of senses is limited by Time, everything in the past and future must "exist" in some insensible realm. Ergo it stands to reason that because the natural world contains living beings with some level of intelligence that the hidden realms contain the same, but in a more abstract fashion. In other words, the universe is alive and intelligent because living and intelligent beings exist and these beings are a part of the universe. Consider that when we look at images of the early universe from space telescopes, that a piece of the universe (us!) is literally looking back in time trying to remember where it came from.
If the universe is alive, it must contain individual actors analogous to the cells, molecules, and atoms that make up our physical bodies. Much like how the group dynamics of cars and livestock can give rise to the more complex entities of traffic and herds, the constituents of the hidden realms give rise to more complex hidden entities. The overarching animating principle is called the World Soul and its constituent animating souls are known as gods, titans, nymphs, dryads, naiads, sylphs, undines, gnomes, salamanders, primordials, demons, angels, daimons, daemons, and other types of "spirits."
Our bodies and minds operate according to some observable principles, and so the universe must operate according to hidden principles or hidden reasons. We observe that if you drop a rock into a pond it sinks according to the interaction of gravity and buoyancy. If you are alive, your breath oxygenates your blood according to the principles of physiology. In other words, the processes described by physics reflect a rationale or "mind" of the sensible world. Analogously, the spirits that make up the World Soul interact according to their own principles the summation of which acts like the "mind" of the universe. Agrippa calls this "mind" or set of rules the World Spirit.
"Natural" Magic
Most authors post-Agrippa seem to limit natural magic to the magic of non-human materials such as herbs, stones, and animals. This limitation seems rooted in a misunderstanding of what constitutes "nature." As alluded to by the pre-modern study of natural philosophy, "nature" relates to anything in the sensible world. So, "natural" magic concerns the discovery and manipulation of hidden forces via interfaces that we can discover using our ordinary senses. Natural magic works because there is a two-way connection between the hidden forces that give rise to the material universe and the material itself.
For example, if you wanted to run faster you could use things that interface with the hidden powers that give rise to speed, legs, feet, and/or stamina in the sensible world. This might involve the collection of items related to speed like a falcon's feather, a sailfish's scale, or the sweat-drenched towel an Olympic sprinter used just after winning a foot race. For all magical intents and purposes, the speediness of these items originates from and is equivalent to the same hidden force. These items offer access to hidden forces other than "speed," owing to the mixed up nature of the elemental sphere. We might extract Success, Stamina, or abstract Stench from the Olympic sprinter's towel. The discovery of connections to hidden concepts using our ordinary senses and logic is the origin of concepts like the "Law of Correspondence" and the "Doctrine of Signatures."
Language
The last piece of the magical puzzle is the practitioner. Intelligent life has the particular ability to transform its personal occult virtues. The power of thought, emotion, and instinct can inspire a change in the individual that brings them into alignment with certain hidden forces or out of alignment with others. Human beings can accomplish this feat in the natural realm through the use of spoken incantations, written words, and symbols. For the right person, a good poem or song may yield more energy than a cup of coffee. The words and symbols themselves are also imbued with inherent virtues, just like other sensible components such as herbs and crystals.
Planets
What are these hidden forces that underlay the material world? Agrippa hints throughout Book I that these forces are the planets of the celestial realm. The planetary seals given in Book I are hidden within the material universe. These seals transmit planetary influence through different materials with varying efficacy, analogous to how different objects have different resonate frequencies. Agrippa does not elaborate greatly on what the "planets" actually are in Book I. However, he hints at a 7-fold system of categorization that we can use to organize sensible virtues as we discover them. I personally use "key words" for each planet to indicate the general flavor of the planet and its magicks.
Moon - Perception
Mercury - Transmission
Venus - Motivation
Sun - Generation
Mars - Action
Jupiter - Organization
Saturn - Dissolution
If I were to categorize the virtues of a tree I might say that the tree's color, roughness, and scent are Lunar. The tree's rate of growth or ability to spread pollen is Mercurial. The direction of the tree's growth (up towards the sun) is Venusian, as is the way the tree makes me feel. The oxygen the tree generates is Solar. The tree's ability to displace soil or shade the understory is Martian. The rings that make up the tree's structure are Jovian. Finally, the tree's ability to uptake water, CO2, and minerals and transform them is Saturnian. We could leverage any of these virtues for all kinds of magical operations. The fact that someone else might assign an entirely different set of tree virtues to completely different planets is a feature of the universe, not a flaw.
A Promotion Spell
I earn a fixed salary, so most money spells take the form of "promotion spells" for me. I'd like to inspire my boss to promote me to a higher earning position in the company, but I'd also like to avoid too much extra work. I'm a bit of a "Type A", so I do enjoy having something to occupy my time. In the context of the above description of natural magic, I might begin by tapping into the hidden forces behind my boss. He has a habit of biting his nails that reminds me of the way some people mindlessly eat sunflower seeds and spit out the shells. He also has a dry sense of humor and a pallid complexion that reminds me of wood ash. He's also human in form like a poppet or doll.
Step 1. I placed some sunflower seeds, wood ash, and a slip of paper with my boss' name on it into a poppet. From now on I treat the poppet as if it were my boss, calling it by his name, and talking to it as I would my boss. These actions turn the poppet into a portal to the hidden forces behind my boss. What happens to the poppet happens to my boss.
I'd like to ingratiate my boss to me and motivate him to promote me. I know there's a position in my company very similar to my current role that pays more money that is about to open up. I've already worked the mundane side of things by telling my boss that I want the job and plan to apply. My boss would much rather hire someone new than engage in internal churning. Since my focus is motivating my boss to promote me, I determine that the required working is essentially Venusian.
Step 2. I start bringing the poppet little gifts. Perhaps a flower, a piece of chocolate, a cup of coffee, or shiny stones. Each time I bring it a gift, I whisper in the poppet's ear things like "Ianvs is trustworthy, Ianvs is a hard worker, Ianvs deserves the promotion, you want to promote Ianvs." I also write these phrases on slips of paper and place them in the poppet's head. I'm bribing my boss in a very Venusian way without having to compromise my mundane reputation.
At every step along the way, I use my ordinary senses to identify patterns or make connections between things I can easily manipulate (a poppet) and the thing I want to change (my boss). The implication I read from Agrippa is that both the poppet I create and my boss are two ends of a hidden thread. After an easy interview, I get the promotion.
Step 3. Now that my task is done, I'd like to undo the connection I created. I don't fuss over it, I just declare that the poppet is no longer connected to my boss. I disassemble the connection by disassembling the poppet and its contents. My preference is to burn the separated materials and scatter them back to nature.
Ianvs