The scorpion – Hunter of Hunters – predatory defender who offer both offensive and defensive protection. It is best worn around the neck or kept on your person. (Also, feel free to use the scorpion drawing however you wish – for any and all sigil-y needs)
Do you ever have moments when – for a brief instance – all things seem to align and you just overflow with this sense of joy that is so powerful there is no way not to smile uncontrollably, laugh or cry? Because I do, and I’ve found it happens most when I have all the windows down in my car, with the sun shining and the sky stretching out in every direction as far as the eye can see – and a song comes on that just grounds the Spirit to that moment…
There’s no shortage of long-winded, scientific studies about
the effects music can have on our mood, psyche, and social lives – all of which
provide extremely interesting reading, if anyone is interested: but as an
anthropologically-minded being, I find the effects of music on society and
culture to be extremely fascinating. Even more so as a witch!
Many Crafts (and most religions, in some way or another) rely on music as a means of cohesion – a way to
unify its practitioners and attendants, having a lengthy list of “traditional
songs” that – in some way – keep particular paths alive through oral, musical
tradition when otherwise they may have been lost to the void in times of change
or power-struggles. These can be priceless assets, but this is not what I wish
to talk about. Undoubtedly, these traditional songs should be kept alive and
included in workings, but there is no reason that other songs cannot be floated
into the realm of Spirit to serve a similar purpose.
It’s no secret that I am not well-disposed to boundaries on
my Craft – and, while I think myself a traditionalist, if there’s one aspect in
which I vehemently require some modernity, it’s through music. Conveniently,
my taste in music is as varying as my Craft – and as such, I think they work
well together. As far as my utilization of music goes, I dedicate most of it to
“hype music.”
Rituals often require that a Witch put his/herself into a
specific frame of mind, mood, or trance – all of which music can do (and often
in a much more timely manner). Sometimes the best way to gear up is to turn on
some fitting tunes! Cursing someone? There’s music that can drag you into the
darkness: and draw out the anger, sadness, fear that one needs to rightly cast
a sustaining curse or hex. Conversely, music can place you in the realm of the
Heart, the Mind, bring you forth to a Higher Consciousness or act as psychopomp
– snatching your Spirit from your body so that you might travel the many
worlds. In this, music very much has its own, innate magic – one that should
not be taken lightly. (I took a class on music some years ago and the professor cited that when straight-edge, high school students were put in situations [such as a house part] where there was heavily, drum-ladden music, they were more likely to concede to peer pressure – which goes back to the power of drums and music as a unifying force that is engraved in our genetic coding. As social creatures unity can prove necessary for our survival, and whether we are consciously aware or not, music can play a role in our ability to make (or not make) decisions about our autonomy.)
From time immemorial, music has lead onward the marching
soldiers – fueling their proverbial fires and leading them into war, it has
stitched spirits together – and made fortune or fool of traveling bards. It is
the drumbeats around the fire, the rhythm of the dancers and the medium for the
storyteller – all of which lend unto themselves a particular brand of magic not
so unlike our own.
As such, there is no one
music – never let anyone suggest otherwise, even in faiths that already have a
strong, musical background, there is always room for addition. I, for instance,
have a huge list of ponta cantados dedicated to Exu and Pomba Gira, some of
which are wonderful and put me in precisely the place I need to be – whereas others,
while still great, leave me wanting. On the same list, you’ll find dozens of
other songs, ones that resonate with me – and remind me of the unique energy of
those with who I work. Witchcraft, while grounded much in the past, is not some
stoic, stone thing that is unwavering, unchanging – even we traditionalists
know this, and there is always room for reimagination, modernization and
reapplication – all without compromising the integrity of any path, merely
expanding. And that is something I am very much adamant about. I love to take
what is there, in all its wonder and add – but not change. I’m a strong
believer in that, if it has existed as it has for this long, then it is
something that connects to some deep-seated aspect of ourselves. Or, in a more
idiomatic sense, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But that isn’t to say it
can’t be expanded. I think that is what I am about at my core: destroy nothing,
simply expand it – only add, but never strip away.
With that being said, what is your current witchy jam? What
always puts you in the mood for a little witchcraft? Reblog or throw it in the tags!
For me, personally, I always like to listen to something that doubles as both “hype music” and acts as a confidence booster. And by that I mean, I want to listen to something that puts me in such a place that I wholeheartedly believe that I could decimate a city with my hands tied behind my back. As such, one of my current witchy anthems would be this remix of Bad Girls by M.I.A. (for whom I have a great fondness for when it comes to “hype music” and music with unraveling layers of meanings). Try to tell me that doesn’t want to make you “fuck shit up…”
On a more serious note, craft that uses music is amazing. As an opera singer I particularly encourage people to not forget the power of older music with different instrumentation than they are used to. This is not just Western classical music (though I think that that stuff is the bomb), but also applies to other traditions as well. If you are interested in this and learning about the power of music, try searching ethnomusicology articles. If you are interested in music in craft you should also study music theory. Yes, most of what you learn will be based on Western classical music, but it will give you a vocabulary that is recognized in academia in order to talk about music from non-western cultures (yes, music is as much affected by racism as other areas of academia.)
Also, composing music can be an intense magickal experience. I take a long time to compose because everything has to be perfect (which also makes me not want to do it), but when I am in the zone it is an amazing experience. It is even better when I get to sing it, or hear it.
In other words, I highly encourage you to use music in your craft. Not only will it likely augment your craft, but it will also expand your horizons.
I had to reblog because there are so many wonderful points made here! As I mentioned before, I believe music and witchcraft are very much intertwined and thereby have to agree with your point about music studies – and even when not applied to the Craft, the study of music can be very rewarding!
As you’re on opera singer, I have to ask what some of your favorites are. I know it’s such a cliche, but I love Carmen – mostly because I feel like that probably would have been the direction of my life had I not become a witchy-nun. But I also have a huge soft spot for Spanish composers,
specifically de Falla – I adore Danza ritual del fuego. And, while not Spanish, I love Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre. Now that I’m looking at it, maybe I have a fondness for the dances! Hah!
Also, as a more general tidbit – studies show that instrumental music during works (such as writing, studying, etc.) can help improve your ability to commit things to memory, however, music with lyrics can cloud the mind – as the brain can’t disregard lyrics, so it can slow the ultimate process down. As such, music with lyrics is more beneficial when it comes to repetitive tasks, so this would be something to consider for the witchy utilization of music! Forego those lyrical ballads for the orchestral when it comes to works involving syntax and poetry!
Standard
There is disturbance in my web. Guess it’s time I follow the filament to the source.
There’s no shortage of long-winded, scientific studies about
the effects music can have on our mood, psyche, and social lives – all of which
provide extremely interesting reading, if anyone is interested: but as an
anthropologically-minded being, I find the effects of music on society and
culture to be extremely fascinating. Even more so as a witch!
Many Crafts (and most religions, in some way or another) rely on music as a means of cohesion – a way to
unify its practitioners and attendants, having a lengthy list of “traditional
songs” that – in some way – keep particular paths alive through oral, musical
tradition when otherwise they may have been lost to the void in times of change
or power-struggles. These can be priceless assets, but this is not what I wish
to talk about. Undoubtedly, these traditional songs should be kept alive and
included in workings, but there is no reason that other songs cannot be floated
into the realm of Spirit to serve a similar purpose.
It’s no secret that I am not well-disposed to boundaries on
my Craft – and, while I think myself a traditionalist, if there’s one aspect in
which I vehemently require some modernity, it’s through music. Conveniently,
my taste in music is as varying as my Craft – and as such, I think they work
well together. As far as my utilization of music goes, I dedicate most of it to
“hype music.”
Rituals often require that a Witch put his/herself into a
specific frame of mind, mood, or trance – all of which music can do (and often
in a much more timely manner). Sometimes the best way to gear up is to turn on
some fitting tunes! Cursing someone? There’s music that can drag you into the
darkness: and draw out the anger, sadness, fear that one needs to rightly cast
a sustaining curse or hex. Conversely, music can place you in the realm of the
Heart, the Mind, bring you forth to a Higher Consciousness or act as psychopomp
– snatching your Spirit from your body so that you might travel the many
worlds. In this, music very much has its own, innate magic – one that should
not be taken lightly. (I took a class on music some years ago and the professor cited that when straight-edge, high school students were put in situations [such as a house part] where there was heavily, drum-ladden music, they were more likely to concede to peer pressure – which goes back to the power of drums and music as a unifying force that is engraved in our genetic coding. As social creatures unity can prove necessary for our survival, and whether we are consciously aware or not, music can play a role in our ability to make (or not make) decisions about our autonomy.)
From time immemorial, music has lead onward the marching
soldiers – fueling their proverbial fires and leading them into war, it has
stitched spirits together – and made fortune or fool of traveling bards. It is
the drumbeats around the fire, the rhythm of the dancers and the medium for the
storyteller – all of which lend unto themselves a particular brand of magic not
so unlike our own.
As such, there is no one
music – never let anyone suggest otherwise, even in faiths that already have a
strong, musical background, there is always room for addition. I, for instance,
have a huge list of ponta cantados dedicated to Exu and Pomba Gira, some of
which are wonderful and put me in precisely the place I need to be – whereas others,
while still great, leave me wanting. On the same list, you’ll find dozens of
other songs, ones that resonate with me – and remind me of the unique energy of
those with who I work. Witchcraft, while grounded much in the past, is not some
stoic, stone thing that is unwavering, unchanging – even we traditionalists
know this, and there is always room for reimagination, modernization and
reapplication – all without compromising the integrity of any path, merely
expanding. And that is something I am very much adamant about. I love to take
what is there, in all its wonder and add – but not change. I’m a strong
believer in that, if it has existed as it has for this long, then it is
something that connects to some deep-seated aspect of ourselves. Or, in a more
idiomatic sense, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But that isn’t to say it
can’t be expanded. I think that is what I am about at my core: destroy nothing,
simply expand it – only add, but never strip away.
With that being said, what is your current witchy jam? What
always puts you in the mood for a little witchcraft? Reblog or throw it in the tags!
For me, personally, I always like to listen to something that doubles as both “hype music” and acts as a confidence booster. And by that I mean, I want to listen to something that puts me in such a place that I wholeheartedly believe that I could decimate a city with my hands tied behind my back. As such, one of my current witchy anthems would be this remix of Bad Girls by M.I.A. (for whom I have a great fondness for when it comes to “hype music” and music with unraveling layers of meanings). Try to tell me that doesn’t want to make you “fuck shit up…”
Yes, you read that correctly. Today on, Q’s Unexplained Dreams, we have a very brief recollection. Let me set the scene.
I was – yet again – in a desert of sorts, but this one quite obviously a world away from the other. I can honestly say, that I remember very little about this particular dream, only recalling a brief moment. I knew that I was in a desert, but whether an open desert or a desert-town, I’m unsure. The mystery of it revolves around the fact that all environmental details have been drawn from extremely brief glances and background, as the only thing I truly remember happened over the course of a few seconds.
I was standing there – though I was not me. I was, but not as I am now, at least. And,so too, was there a boy child – around the age of 7, if I had to wager a guess. I’m not sure what I had done for him, but he ran up to me, on the brink of tears and hugged me around the legs, whispering into them, “Thank you” – at which point he turned his head up to face me, with big, bright blue eyes and spectacular lashes. His hair was arranged in seven locks – in the style of the Nazirine – like Samson. I think it was for this reason, his obvious mark of “ownership” that made my face turn sour. It was only momentarily, as though a wet dog was attempting to lay in my lap – a look of fleeting disgust. I patted his head gently, the locks tangling in my fingers and I looked out over the desert land, the sun had set over the horizon and the sky had turned a darker blue, but still there were traces of red and orange barely visible. And in the sky, I saw the evening star.
At which point, I woke up.
He was wearing little clothing, tattered rags to form a loincloth, but I was dressed in long, desert-ware in cream and terracotta colors, with a mane of black curls uncovered and very cat-like eyes, almost amber in color.
I just sort of stumbled upon this – I don’t know if anyone had read it, but after that first page, I can’t wait to read further! She really knows how to kick something in the teeth. I love it.
There’s no shortage of long-winded, scientific studies about
the effects music can have on our mood, psyche, and social lives – all of which
provide extremely interesting reading, if anyone is interested: but as an
anthropologically-minded being, I find the effects of music on society and
culture to be extremely fascinating. Even more so as a witch!
Many Crafts (and most religions, in some way or another) rely on music as a means of cohesion – a way to
unify its practitioners and attendants, having a lengthy list of “traditional
songs” that – in some way – keep particular paths alive through oral, musical
tradition when otherwise they may have been lost to the void in times of change
or power-struggles. These can be priceless assets, but this is not what I wish
to talk about. Undoubtedly, these traditional songs should be kept alive and
included in workings, but there is no reason that other songs cannot be floated
into the realm of Spirit to serve a similar purpose.
It’s no secret that I am not well-disposed to boundaries on
my Craft – and, while I think myself a traditionalist, if there’s one aspect in
which I vehemently require some modernity, it’s through music. Conveniently,
my taste in music is as varying as my Craft – and as such, I think they work
well together. As far as my utilization of music goes, I dedicate most of it to
“hype music.”
Rituals often require that a Witch put his/herself into a
specific frame of mind, mood, or trance – all of which music can do (and often
in a much more timely manner). Sometimes the best way to gear up is to turn on
some fitting tunes! Cursing someone? There’s music that can drag you into the
darkness: and draw out the anger, sadness, fear that one needs to rightly cast
a sustaining curse or hex. Conversely, music can place you in the realm of the
Heart, the Mind, bring you forth to a Higher Consciousness or act as psychopomp
– snatching your Spirit from your body so that you might travel the many
worlds. In this, music very much has its own, innate magic – one that should
not be taken lightly. (I took a class on music some years ago and the professor cited that when straight-edge, high school students were put in situations [such as a house part] where there was heavily, drum-ladden music, they were more likely to concede to peer pressure – which goes back to the power of drums and music as a unifying force that is engraved in our genetic coding. As social creatures unity can prove necessary for our survival, and whether we are consciously aware or not, music can play a role in our ability to make (or not make) decisions about our autonomy.)
From time immemorial, music has lead onward the marching
soldiers – fueling their proverbial fires and leading them into war, it has
stitched spirits together – and made fortune or fool of traveling bards. It is
the drumbeats around the fire, the rhythm of the dancers and the medium for the
storyteller – all of which lend unto themselves a particular brand of magic not
so unlike our own.
As such, there is no one
music – never let anyone suggest otherwise, even in faiths that already have a
strong, musical background, there is always room for addition. I, for instance,
have a huge list of ponta cantados dedicated to Exu and Pomba Gira, some of
which are wonderful and put me in precisely the place I need to be – whereas others,
while still great, leave me wanting. On the same list, you’ll find dozens of
other songs, ones that resonate with me – and remind me of the unique energy of
those with who I work. Witchcraft, while grounded much in the past, is not some
stoic, stone thing that is unwavering, unchanging – even we traditionalists
know this, and there is always room for reimagination, modernization and
reapplication – all without compromising the integrity of any path, merely
expanding. And that is something I am very much adamant about. I love to take
what is there, in all its wonder and add – but not change. I’m a strong
believer in that, if it has existed as it has for this long, then it is
something that connects to some deep-seated aspect of ourselves. Or, in a more
idiomatic sense, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But that isn’t to say it
can’t be expanded. I think that is what I am about at my core: destroy nothing,
simply expand it – only add, but never strip away.
With that being said, what is your current witchy jam? What
always puts you in the mood for a little witchcraft? Reblog or throw it in the tags!
For me, personally, I always like to listen to something that doubles as both “hype music” and acts as a confidence booster. And by that I mean, I want to listen to something that puts me in such a place that I wholeheartedly believe that I could decimate a city with my hands tied behind my back. As such, one of my current witchy anthems would be this remix of Bad Girls by M.I.A. (for whom I have a great fondness for when it comes to “hype music” and music with unraveling layers of meanings). Try to tell me that doesn’t want to make you “fuck shit up…”
The Qedavian Apocrypha 