{"id":3187,"date":"2010-02-01T01:10:39","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T06:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2010-01-22T20:52:15","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T01:52:15","slug":"uncommon-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/02\/01\/uncommon-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncommon Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rituals Part 1, Ritual Garb<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ritual garments have been worn in almost all traditions from the beginning of time.\u00a0 We\u2019ve read about this in books, we\u2019ve seen this in movies, and we\u2019ve pictured it when we think about magicians cloaked in blue velvet.\u00a0 The question that I pose is, \u201cWhat purpose do these \u2018magickal\u2019 clothes have?\u201d\u00a0 There are a variety of perspectives to look at the purpose in this common tradition, and from these perspectives we can gain an insight into how we can alter and improve upon our current magickal clothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thinking about it from a psychological viewpoint, it is clear that these ritual garments are like any other ritual tool in that they bring about a shift in perception of the world.\u00a0 When you don your magickal cloak, you are the magician, the witch, the walker between the realms; you are not the accountant that shows up to work every day to do tedious mathematics at a job you hate, you are not the father or mother that has to worry about three children, you do not have bills to pay, you do not have any worries.\u00a0 As far as this perspective is concerned, the more \u2018magickal\u2019 the clothing\u2019s appearance, the better it is at altering the mind state to that of a magickal nature.\u00a0 This shift in perspectives is key to any magickal working, and if for no other reason, is a valid reason for ritual garb. <\/span><\/p>\n

Though the previous reasoning seems sufficient, let us delve a little deeper.\u00a0 Let us again take the ritual garments as yet another tool to the magician, and ask ourselves a few questions about tools in general.\u00a0 Does a tool you bought yesterday work the same as the tool that you\u2019ve had for 20 years?\u00a0 Why is it different?\u00a0 How does it feel<\/strong> when you pick up your trusty athame or wand that you\u2019ve worked with for years and years?\u00a0 It feels as though it is a part of you, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 That\u2019s because it is.\u00a0 Think about energy as being similar to electricity.\u00a0 When you turn off your television, the screen goes black, but is all of the electricity gone from it?\u00a0 No, there is still residual electricity in the wires and capacitors.\u00a0 Once something holds energy, it is very difficult to completely rid it of residual energy, and in our case, that energy is our personal energy.\u00a0 That athame that you\u2019ve had for 20 years is holding residual energy from that entire time, and it resonates with you because of that.\u00a0 It is not simply a tool that you use, you are a part of it, and it is a part of you because you have drawn energy from it.\u00a0 For this reason, it is greatly advantageous to use the same tools (including ritual clothes) in all relevant rituals rather than change for new ones on a regular basis.\u00a0 For this reason, a single set of clothes should be set aside for ritual use only, hence the need for ritual wear.<\/span><\/p>\n

When looking from these perspectives, I see very little reason to use clothing other than as just another tool, as the purpose behind using ritual clothes is no different than that of any other tool.\u00a0 Well, let\u2019s delve even deeper.\u00a0 What do clothes do?\u00a0 They warm the body.\u00a0 They protect the body.\u00a0 And they hide the body.\u00a0 In essence, they are the body\u2019s defense against the world.\u00a0 So how does this translate into magickal operation?\u00a0 \u00a0 They are the shield, the light against the demons of the dark, and the protector of our souls.\u00a0 How do we make these flimsy cotton and velvet layers into an adequate armor against those that would do us harm?\u00a0 The same way we would protect our house or turn our athame into more than a pretty steak knife.\u00a0 Adorn them with runes and glyphs of protective nature, spend time and energy crafting complex (not simple candle magick) spells of protection, but most of all, put your desire, no, put your need<\/strong> for protection and shielding into them.\u00a0 Remember, they are not separate from yourself in energetic terms.\u00a0 They are more than simple cotton and velvet layers, they are another extension of yourself, of your soul, in a way that nothing else truly can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now let us think about yet another angle on this inadequately discussed topic.\u00a0 Clothing is not only for the individual, it is a society\u2019s means of identifying individuals.\u00a0 All people wear different clothes; the clothes represent a person\u2019s personality, their values, and their status.\u00a0 In the same instance, many people wear uniforms to display that they are a part of something else.\u00a0 Their personal identity is lost when they wear the uniform; they are simply a piece of the company or business that they work for.\u00a0 It is almost always in occupations that value company loyalty and hard work over individuality and creativity that a uniform is imposed on the employee.\u00a0 It is strange in my mind that there is no true representation of this in the magickal community.\u00a0 In magick, as in everyday life, the design and type of clothing is important mainly for the purpose of a creative outlet for the individual.\u00a0 The only true exception would be in the community example that simply does not exist currently.<\/span><\/p>\n

The last piece of this puzzle is centered on the effect other magicians\u2019 and witches\u2019 clothing has on you.\u00a0 In order to understand this, we must take the previously described perspectives and thoughts and apply them to you, a fellow practitioner, and see what the results are.\u00a0 What happens when you see other people in cloaks, skyclad, or in that really cool \u2018magickal\u2019 tie-dyed t-shirt?\u00a0 When working in a group atmosphere, it is important, if not necessary for your clothing to have a positive effect on your group.\u00a0 Do your ritual garments help them to shift into an altered state?\u00a0 Is your cloak adding energy or taking away energy from the group?\u00a0 Is it helping to shield you so that the guardian of your group does not have to focus so heavily on protecting you?\u00a0 Does it help you to share your energy with the group, or does it hinder this?\u00a0 And most of all, do your ritual garments help to achieve the required group goal?<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to take the individual garment choices and analyze their effect on the group.\u00a0 The most commonly referenced ritual garments are in fact none at all.\u00a0 Being skyclad is the only regularly referenced magickal uniform, but does this truly make sense or was it simply instated due to Gerald Gardner\u2019s perverted desires?\u00a0 The reasoning given in most circles is so that there are no barriers between the members of the coven, but is it truly beneficial to throw away what appears to be a very helpful tool?\u00a0 Obviously, this does not matter to the individual.\u00a0 For solitary practitioners, there are no other coven members to reveal yourself to, as well as no other individuals to share energy with, so let us simply say that it is more advantageous to use some sort of ritual clothing when working alone because there\u2019s no good reason not to.\u00a0 In a group atmosphere, the first problem with being skyclad is its effect on the mind; the initial fear and uncomfortable feelings that come from being nude around others tend to make it difficult to alter the mental state to that of the magician.\u00a0 While this can be overcome by exposure, it adds a barrier from the very beginning.\u00a0 The other problem is that when you work all rituals skyclad, it makes it difficult to shift to an altered state while wearing clothing.\u00a0 We should be working to remove the barriers between our everyday lives and our magickal lives, and this provides yet another one.\u00a0 Being skyclad also means that you do not have a protective layer between yourself and those energies that are called during ritual.\u00a0 It could be reasoned that this also means that there is no filter between yourself and your coven-mates, but that seems to point to a lack of creativity and dedication.\u00a0 It would not be all that difficult to set up a binding among the ritual clothes themselves to allow them to share energy direction amongst themselves.\u00a0 This would take some out of the box thinking, but would not be an impossible notion.\u00a0 Remember again, these garments are not simple cloth, and must be treated as magickal entities in their own right. <\/span><\/p>\n

The last issue that I have with being skyclad is the individuality that it provides.\u00a0 In a group ritual, there should be a lack of individuality and a focus on group mentality.\u00a0 When working as a part of a magickal group, the mental shift should not be the same as when working as a magickal individual.\u00a0 Being skyclad instantly makes you aware of the differences in the individuals.\u00a0 You know High Priestess RandomColorAndAnimal and every flaw; you can see if she is faltering.\u00a0 The High Priestess is a physical piece of the group entity known as a coven.\u00a0 She is not High Priestess, she is Random Coven; you are not a 2nd<\/sup> Degree witch with experiences in the OTO, you are Random Coven; everyone in attendance is the same being, they do not make up the coven, they simply are Random Coven.\u00a0 It is this loss of self that is necessary for optimal group magick, and it is in this respect that being skyclad seems to be the most inferior ritual garment choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that being skyclad has its uses.\u00a0 It is the optimal choice for magickal practice.\u00a0 Being skyclad is a way to strip away even the most basic of tools for the magician or witch, and this is a key part of practice.\u00a0 Athletes train with as many difficulties as possible so that they are as prepared as possible, and it should be the same with magick.\u00a0 If you only practice with your trusty athame, you will be at a loss should that athame be taken, lost, or Goddess forbid, destroyed.\u00a0 This should always be remembered, tools should be used to put you at your best, but tools should never become a crutch.\u00a0 The magick is in the magician, not the tool.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because skyclad is the most commonly referenced choice for ritual wear, I described it and its problems in greatest detail.\u00a0 This is not the only choice though, so let us take the next most common (or at least most commonly marketed) choice\u2014the cloak.\u00a0 The cloak adequately protects the magician, it can be charged with energy, and it can hide the individual if needed (as long as it is a hooded cloak).\u00a0 It seems as though this would be the optimal choice, but there are subtle problems with it.\u00a0 The cloak is still an expression of individuality as stated earlier, and though this can be disregarded for the individual practitioner, it should be remembered for group rituals.\u00a0 This problem could easily be removed by having a standard cloak for the group, but then again, the energetic bonding would not occur as well with having a separate cloak for group rituals.\u00a0 This could be dealt with by using the group cloak for personal rituals as well as group rituals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because there are so many types of cloaks available, it is important to discuss the various types.\u00a0 First and foremost, if you are going to be using the cloak in a group setting, it would be very useful for it to have a hood so that your identity could be hidden for the reasons stated previously.\u00a0 It should be warm enough for you to not need any other clothing even on cold winter nights.\u00a0 It should also be light enough so that you do not feel the weight of it.\u00a0 The decoration of the cloak should optimally be your own, with your personal glyphs and symbols covering it.\u00a0 It should be a general use cloak so that your energetic bond is stronger.\u00a0 Also, the type of cloth\u2019s magickal attributes should be considered.\u00a0 All of these variables play into the versatility and effectiveness of the cloak.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are other types of ritual wear that are available to the witch, but they are too numerous to consider individually.\u00a0 There are considerations to take into account for these as well.\u00a0 Most of them correspond to the previous considerations for choosing a cloak.\u00a0 Warmth, weight, decoration, and general usability are all very important.\u00a0 It is also important to remember that the clothing type should help you, as well as your coven-mates, to enter a magickal state, so it might be best if you didn\u2019t choose your Lynard Skynard t-shirt as your magickal garb (unless you are part of a coven based on Lynard Skynard\u2019s magickal theories of course).\u00a0 It is also important to remember that you should have clothing that will stand the test of time.\u00a0 Remember, you don\u2019t want to throw these clothes away next year; you want them to stay with you for the next 20-30 years or more.\u00a0 So don\u2019t get that super skin-tight outfit just because you\u2019re 19 and haven\u2019t had children yet.\u00a0 People put on weight, they have children, and their bodies mature.\u00a0 Also, the more pieces of clothing that you have, the more pieces that you will need to bond with, so less is more in this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though ritual garments are often not discussed when talking about ritual tools, they are a very important piece of the magickal toolbox and should not be disregarded.\u00a0 They are the primary visual focus for your fellow witches as well as the only tool that covers the entire body.\u00a0 It is imperative that your ritual wear be given as much attention as an athame or wand would be given, so make your choices wisely.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rituals Part 1, Ritual Garb Ritual garments have been worn in almost all traditions from the beginning of time.\u00a0 We\u2019ve read about this in books, we\u2019ve seen this in movies, and we\u2019ve pictured it when we think about magicians cloaked in blue velvet.\u00a0 The question that I pose is, \u201cWhat purpose do these \u2018magickal\u2019 clothes have?\u201d\u00a0 There are a variety of perspectives to look at the purpose in this common tradition, and from these perspectives we can gain an insight into how we can alter and improve upon our current magickal clothing. Thinking about it from a psychological viewpoint, it is clear that these ritual garments are like any other ritual tool in that they bring about a shift in perception of the world.\u00a0 When you don your magickal cloak, you are the magician, the witch, the walker between the realms; you are not the accountant that shows up to work every day to do tedious mathematics at a job you hate, you are not the father or mother that has to worry about three children, you do not have bills to pay, you do not have any worries.\u00a0 As far as this perspective is concerned, the more \u2018magickal\u2019 the clothing\u2019s appearance, the better it is at altering the mind state to that of a magickal nature.\u00a0 This shift in perspectives is key to any magickal working, and if for no other reason, is a valid reason for ritual garb. Though the previous reasoning seems sufficient, let us delve a little deeper.\u00a0 Let us again take the ritual garments as yet another tool to the magician, and ask ourselves a few questions about tools in general.\u00a0 Does a tool you bought yesterday work the same as the tool that you\u2019ve had for 20 years?\u00a0 Why is it different?\u00a0 How does it feel when you pick up your trusty athame or wand that you\u2019ve worked with for years and years?\u00a0 It feels as though it is a part of you, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 That\u2019s because it is.\u00a0 Think about energy as being similar to electricity.\u00a0 When you turn off your television, the screen goes black, but is all of the electricity gone from it?\u00a0 No, there is still residual electricity in the wires and capacitors.\u00a0 Once something holds energy, it is very difficult to completely rid it of residual energy, and in our case, that energy is our personal energy.\u00a0 That athame that you\u2019ve had for 20 years is holding residual energy from that entire time, and it resonates with you because of that.\u00a0 It is not simply a tool that you use, you are a part of it, and it is a part of you because you have drawn energy from it.\u00a0 For this reason, it is greatly advantageous to use the same tools (including ritual clothes) in all relevant rituals rather than change for new ones on a regular basis.\u00a0 For this reason, a single set of clothes should be set aside for ritual use only, hence the need for ritual wear. When looking from these perspectives, I see very little reason to use clothing other than as just another tool, as the purpose behind using ritual clothes is no different than that of any other tool.\u00a0 Well, let\u2019s delve even deeper.\u00a0 What do clothes do?\u00a0 They warm the body.\u00a0 They protect the body.\u00a0 And they hide the body.\u00a0 In essence, they are the body\u2019s defense against the world.\u00a0 So how does this translate into magickal operation?\u00a0 \u00a0 They are the shield, the light against the demons of the dark, and the protector of our souls.\u00a0 How do we make these flimsy cotton and velvet layers into an adequate armor against those that would do us harm?\u00a0 The same way we would protect our house or turn our athame into more than a pretty steak knife.\u00a0 Adorn them with runes and glyphs of protective nature, spend time and energy crafting complex (not simple candle magick) spells of protection, but most of all, put your desire, no, put your need for protection and shielding into them.\u00a0 Remember, they are not separate from yourself in energetic terms.\u00a0 They are more than simple cotton and velvet layers, they are another extension of yourself, of your soul, in a way that nothing else truly can. Now let us think about yet another angle on this inadequately discussed topic.\u00a0 Clothing is not only for the individual, it is a society\u2019s means of identifying individuals.\u00a0 All people wear different clothes; the clothes represent a person\u2019s personality, their values, and their status.\u00a0 In the same instance, many people wear uniforms to display that they are a part of something else.\u00a0 Their personal identity is lost when they wear the uniform; they are simply a piece of the company or business that they work for.\u00a0 It is almost always in occupations that value company loyalty and hard work over individuality and creativity that a uniform is imposed on the employee.\u00a0 It is strange in my mind that there is no true representation of this in the magickal community.\u00a0 In magick, as in everyday life, the design and type of clothing is important mainly for the purpose of a creative outlet for the individual.\u00a0 The only true exception would be in the community example that simply does not exist currently. The last piece of this puzzle is centered on the effect other magicians\u2019 and witches\u2019 clothing has on you.\u00a0 In order to understand this, we must take the previously described perspectives and thoughts and apply them to you, a fellow practitioner, and see what the results are.\u00a0 What happens when you see other people in cloaks, skyclad, or in that really cool \u2018magickal\u2019 tie-dyed t-shirt?\u00a0 When working in a group atmosphere, it is important, if not necessary for your clothing to have a positive effect on your group.\u00a0 Do your ritual garments help them to shift into an altered state?\u00a0 Is your cloak adding energy or taking away energy from the group?\u00a0 Is it helping to shield you so that the guardian of your group does not have to focus so heavily on protecting you?\u00a0 Does it help you to share your energy with the group, or does it hinder this?\u00a0 And most of all, do your ritual garments help to achieve the required group goal? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to take the individual garment choices and analyze their effect on the group.\u00a0 The most commonly referenced ritual garments are in fact none at all.\u00a0 Being skyclad is the only regularly referenced magickal uniform, but does this truly make sense or was it simply instated due to Gerald Gardner\u2019s perverted desires?\u00a0 The reasoning given in most circles is so that there are no barriers between the members of the coven, but is it truly beneficial to throw away what appears to be a very helpful tool?\u00a0 Obviously, this does not matter to the individual.\u00a0 For solitary practitioners, there are no other coven members to reveal yourself to, as well as no other individuals to share energy with, so let us simply say that it is more advantageous to use some sort of ritual clothing when working alone because there\u2019s no good reason not to.\u00a0 In a group atmosphere, the first problem with being skyclad is its effect on the mind; the initial fear and uncomfortable feelings that come from being nude around others tend to make it difficult to alter the mental state to that of the magician.\u00a0 While this can be overcome by exposure, it adds a barrier from the very beginning.\u00a0 The other problem is that when you work all rituals skyclad, it makes it difficult to shift to an altered state while wearing clothing.\u00a0 We should be working to remove the barriers between our everyday lives and our magickal lives, and this provides yet another one.\u00a0 Being skyclad also means that you do not have a protective layer between yourself and those energies that are called during ritual.\u00a0 It could be reasoned that this also means that there is no filter between yourself and your coven-mates, but that seems to point to a lack of creativity and dedication.\u00a0 It would not be all that difficult to set up a binding among the ritual clothes themselves to allow them to share energy direction amongst themselves.\u00a0 This would take some out of the box thinking, but would not be an impossible notion.\u00a0 Remember again, these garments are not simple cloth, and must be treated as magickal entities in their own right. The last issue that I have with being skyclad is the individuality that it provides.\u00a0 In a group ritual, there should be a lack of individuality and a focus on group mentality.\u00a0 When working as a part of a magickal group, the mental shift should not be the same as when working as a magickal individual.\u00a0 Being skyclad instantly makes you aware of the differences in the individuals.\u00a0 You know High Priestess RandomColorAndAnimal and every flaw; you can see if she is faltering.\u00a0 The High Priestess is a physical piece of the group entity known as a coven.\u00a0 She is not High Priestess, she is Random Coven; you are not a 2nd Degree witch with experiences in the OTO, you are Random Coven; everyone in attendance is the same being, they do not make up the coven, they simply are Random Coven.\u00a0 It is this loss of self that is necessary for optimal group magick, and it is in this respect that being skyclad seems to be the most inferior ritual garment choice. It should be noted that being skyclad has its uses.\u00a0 It is the optimal choice for magickal practice.\u00a0 Being skyclad is a way to strip away even the most basic of tools for the magician or witch, and this is a key part of practice.\u00a0 Athletes train with as many difficulties as possible so that they are as prepared as possible, and it should be the same with magick.\u00a0 If you only practice with your trusty athame, you will be at a loss should that athame be taken, lost, or Goddess forbid, destroyed.\u00a0 This should always be remembered, tools should be used to put you at your best, but tools should never become a crutch.\u00a0 The magick is in the magician, not the tool. Because skyclad is the most commonly referenced choice for ritual wear, I described it and its problems in greatest detail.\u00a0 This is not the only choice though, so let us take the next most common (or at least most commonly marketed) choice\u2014the cloak.\u00a0 The cloak adequately protects the magician, it can be charged with energy, and it can hide the individual if needed (as long as it is a hooded cloak).\u00a0 It seems as though this would be the optimal choice, but there are subtle problems with it.\u00a0 The cloak is still an expression of individuality as stated earlier, and though this can be disregarded for the individual practitioner, it should be remembered for group rituals.\u00a0 This problem could easily be removed by having a standard cloak for the group, but then again, the energetic bonding would not occur as well with having a separate cloak for group rituals.\u00a0 This could be dealt with by using the group cloak for personal rituals as well as group rituals. Because there are so many types of cloaks available, it is important to discuss the various types.\u00a0 First and foremost, if you are going to be using the cloak in a group setting, it would be very useful for it to have a hood so that your identity could be hidden for the reasons stated previously.\u00a0 It should be warm enough for you to not need any other clothing even on cold winter nights.\u00a0 It should also be light enough so that you do not feel the weight of it.\u00a0 The decoration of the cloak should optimally be your own, with your personal glyphs and symbols covering it.\u00a0 It should be a general use cloak so that your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3130,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions\/3130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}