Re: black and white

[Ambrose Hawk <ahawk@...>]

Rawn's essay was quite insightful. I liked it a lot for the
theoretical aspects and connotations it gives to "black and
white" .... as an historian, however, I've always held to a
different viewpoint .. which is reflected in this old post
which I repeat here ...

Red and Yellow, Black and White:
It's all Magic in God's Sight


The problem of defining "Black Magic" (an its purported
opposite, White Magic)
obviously lies in the prevalent confusions of definitions.
Most modern writers seem to
distinguish between "white" and "black" magic on the basis
of the moral or ethical component
of the mage's intent ( Ironically, most of the writers who
make such a distinction also adhere to
the modern fallacy that good and evil are basically chimera
created by human perceptions and
culture).
Classically, however, this was not the case in
technical treatises on the subject (such
treatises today known as grimmories). Black magic implied
either the forceful conjuration of
spirits, entities, and energies ( It was assumed that these
beings would be hostile, or at the very
least extremely hazardous, to the conjuror) or the
deliberate invocation and cooperation with if
not submission to "demons" perceived to be malign powers.
Thus, goetia and necromancy tend
to be the most common foci of "black magic" works. Indeed,
some writers speculate that
"necromancy" by corruption into "nigromancy" is even the
origin of the term "Black Magic."
"White Magic," on the other hand, dealt with those
mystical attributes and
correspondences present and already active in nature. This
would include the evocation of
angels, faeries, and planetary intelligences, as the mage
would simply be inviting the voluntary
participation of those benign forces already at work in
harmony with the mage's purpose.
Typically, however, it relied upon the creation of talismen
and amulets charged with sacred
names, characters, magic squares, and so forth combined with
herbs, astrological forces, and
"charms."
Notice, that this contains no moral qualifications.
The medieval monk or the priest
seeking to control and to banish the evil spirits would be
doing "black" magic. Many medieval
grimmories are clearly influenced by the Church's exorcism
rites. Further, in their environment,
such workings often tended to be a very effective
psychological healing tool. On the other hand,
the pharmacist mixing potions to drive people crazy, to
overwhelm girls with lust, or to poison
the client's targets was doing pure white magic!!
Where I suspect, but cannot prove, the crossover into
the moral criteria occurred lies in
the nature of theurgic magic. Most Black Magic was also
theurgic. However, the ultimate base
of the conjuror's authority might not be the benign Deity.
Indeed, many folks in every age are
willing to make compacts with malign beings in order to gain
power over others (which is the
historical meaning of most words translated into English as
"witch"). Furthermore, the "black
magicians" inevitably filled their environment with the
resonances of vile or disordered
personalities. Thus Black Magic, to those outside the
occult practice, took on the connotation of
working with and for devils not binding or healing them!!!
>From this, it is a small step to say
that black magic has the intent of harming others.
Alas, that's typical popular perception, and just like
the hysteria over nuclear power is
clearly illogical in many of its perceptions and
responses. Moreover, it was fueled in historical
times by racial and cultural prejudice. Much of the lore of
goetia is derived from Arabic and
Indian sources, both considered "blackamoors" by the
Europeans. Further, their religions were
portrayed by popular propaganda as perverse at best and evil
at their core. Hence "black magic"
implied one derived from these "evil" sources a "dark
power."
A further problem here lies in the fact that White
Magic, as defined here, inevitably
decays into technology. This has two major repercussions on
the meaning given it in this essay.
As folks tend to shy away from the deeper awareness and
growth, fixating on the surface of a
reliable procedure, as technology does, they tend to ignore
the spiritual context and
consequences of their actions. Violating a river spirit
with pollution is dangerous to you, as that
spirit will rise against it! Violating a mighty river with
technologically marvelous bindings but
not with spiritual covenants results in burst dykes and
ruined towns. Violating the sacred union
of the elements results in Atom Bombs .... and so on.
Then, as folks rely on their decayed White Magic to run
or to ruin their lives, they look to
more of the same to fix the problems they're creating.
Moreover, they tend to deplore those who
present spiritually derived responses to the situation. To
me, this seems like offering a drowning
man a drink!
Now, if you'll excuse me, one of the stray spaniels
seems to have elf shot in her paw. I'll
need to research the proper herbs, from which I hope to make
a tincture to drive the elf shot out
of the poor creature and to burn so that in their smudge
will either drive off the malicious sprite
or make it behave! A veterinarian would probably give the
bitch a shot (whose active
ingredients are probably derived from those herbs). Since
he wouldn't be looking to the spirit
realm, he'd give me warnings about the dangers of my other
many tattered refugees getting
infected the same way.
Hey, that operation above combines white and black
magic, Makes one think ....

Be Blest,
Ambrose Hawk


--
IN HOC MODO MILLIS FRANGITVR .