Excellent.. one of perennial puzzles being addressed. I'm a more
experientially orientated practioner, so my question has to be does magick
in the southern hemisphere practised in a northern hemisphere style work as
effectively. It also throws up all the other issues of cultural imperialism.
There's long been an incorporation of indigenous American Indian practises
in some workings that I've been involved with, and I know there have been
concerns expressed about the use of the sweat lodge ceremonies outside of
their cultural location. Has there been any incorporation of aborigine
practice in southern hemisphere magick. Would that be politically correct??
I'm a little nervous posting here, working in a non-academic field. I've had
a life long interest in magick, moving between wicca, ceremonial and now
into contemporary druid and shamanic paths, with a love of folk lore, music,
archeology and astrology. To keep these interests going I'm an electronics
design engineer, working in the field of military simulators.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Caroline Tully
> Sent: 09 December 2005 05:01
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: grounding practice locally
>
>
> Hi again, actually Elizabeth, I suppose *ceremonial* magic(k) and
> the Wiccan
> style(s) derived from it do tend to have to be adjusted to the southern
> hemisphere. But something *folky* like making and doing something to a
> poppet, I don't think needs to be "grounded" in a particular locality,
> perhaps performed in *a* sacred / special place, but not tailored to a
> particular country.
>
> As you'd know in Australia, Witchcraft - like so many other things - is
> imported. It is a religion and practice originating in the northern
> hemisphere and certain vital aspects of the Craft - its reliance on the
> seasonal calendar and the way in which a circle is cast - are literally
> topsy-turvy when applied to southern hemisphere conditions. Australian
> ceremonial-magick-style-witchcraft-practitioners do have to make an extra
> conceptual leap every time they prepare for (this style of)
> ritual work: We
> need to adjust the ritual format to Australian conditions before
> we can even
> begin. We have to change the direction we move within the circle, the
> attributions of the sacred quarters, (and the Sabbat dates) in
> order to fit
> them into Antipodean conditions.
>
> Let me explain for northern hemisphere readers: The traditional (northern
> hemisphere) attributions of the elements to the cardinal points are well
> known: Earth = North, Air = East, Fire = South, Water = West. These
> elemental attributions are based on the movement of the sun through the
> northern hemisphere sky - when facing east in the northern hemisphere, the
> sun rises and travels through the sky slightly to the right of someone
> standing there watching. This is where we get the idea of moving
> "deosil" or
> clockwise - following the sun. The sun reaches its zenith in the southern
> part of the sky before sinking in the west and therefore, in the northern
> hemisphere, south is considered the direction of fire.
>
> In the southern hemisphere, the sun rises in the east but then travels to
> the left of the observer (the traditional widdershins direction,
> but in fact
> this is our deosil) achieving its zenith in the northern part of
> the sky. As
> an Australian therefore, I attribute Fire = North and Earth = South: south
> being the cold area where the sun does not venture. East and west are kept
> the same as the northern hemisphere, being the areas of air and
> water. Thus
> when I cast a circle where I live, north and south are reversed and I move
> to the left for deosil and to the right for widdershins. The words
> "clockwise" and "anticlockwise" are irrelevant for circle casting in the
> southern hemisphere as clocks were invented in the northern hemisphere and
> the movement of a clock's hands in a "clockwise" direction are modelled on
> the movement of the sun in the northern hemisphere sky.
>
> So...... I do think that ceremonial magic(k)-derived magickal
> styles do make
> a difference to whether one is in the northern or southern
> hemisphere. But I
> wonder about more "free form" kind of magick(s)? And what about
> Chaos magic?
> Now that's another kettle of phish entirely which does not
> necesarily bother
> with those sort of format "rules".
>
>
> ~Caroline.
>
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