Thanks Justin
all my books are in boxes now, but i do own the Greenwood, so i can track it
down at some point in the future
ta
dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Justin Woodman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:39 PM
Subject: Re: Morality, was Folklore
> Hi Dave,
>
> There's a chapter on contemporary magic and morality in Susan Greenwood's
> 'Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology'. I think she's
> also published a couple of articles on this topic though I don't have the
> references to hand.
>
> Justin
>
>
> > Ben's posting on morality brings that entire issue to the fore- going
> > right from curses, the consideration of performing the Toad-Bone rite,
to
> > the usual pragmatic moral questions that magical practitioners deal with
> > on a regular basis
> >
> > and most of them come down to (words to effect of) 'if you are going to
> > perform some ritual to change the world in some way, it has a moral
> > consequence, be it on you or on others, so how do you choose what to do,
> > and what not to do?'
> >
> > i've had a few terribly hard choices to make over the years, and from
> > talking to many a magical practitioner in my research, so have they.
> >
> > Has anyone published any research on magical morality in the modern era?
> > I'd
> > be v interested to read about it
> >
> > dave e
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Caduceus Books" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 10:53 PM
> > Subject: Re: Folklore
> >
> >
> >
> >> Greetings!
> >>
> >>
> >>> If you consider various early modern grimoires of goetic magic, some
> >>> of them present ritual actions that, should they work, would to my
> >>> mind be reprehensible;
> >>
> >>> I am thinking in particular of some of the spells to bring a chosen
> >>> woman to the circle ready and willing to perform sexually, which
> >>> amounts to a kind of magical rape.
> >>
> >> I to am exploring an accuracy / sympathy dynamic though in a different
> >> way. My original posting was rather simplistic.
> >>
> >> You are absolutely right about some of them being reprehensible if
> >> effective. Some are also reprehensible if ineffective. One I am working
> >> on at the moment involves the sacrifice of a piglet which to me is
> >> abhorrent. However I do find the world view that encompasses the act
> >> fascinating. To give you an idea. Daemonic forces are invoked to
> >> protect the secrecy of the working, Christian forces are called upon to
> >> then summon a Daimonic Genius Loci who is then takes possession of the
> >> pig and thus brought into the centre of the circle where the pig is
> >> killed to release the Daimon who is then compelled to sign a book that
> >> has been created during the ritual. The book is then baptised as a
> >> child to give it life. I think what allows me to present this text
> >> sympathetically is that the text states that someone can partake of the
> >> power of the original magical working and the original grimoire
> >> without having to repeat the ritual. It states that if you have the
> >> original grimoire or one like it and read out the conjurations then the
> >> original Daimon has undertaken to send one of his minions. Various
> >> aspects of the grimoire are specified, such as binding, number of
pages,
> >> nature of paper etc. and these specifications are being followed so it
> >> is a talismanic publication rather than academic. Certainly it is
> >> sympathetic to the world view of the writer - though I do not share
that
> >> world view as it requires belief that Christian powers command the
> >> Universe
> >>
> >>
> >> Some other manuscripts that I publishing I am reproducing accurately
> >> though in a different way than you mean. I have disbound the original,
> >> each sheet is reproduced and then the printed sheets are rebound in the
> >> same manner as the original in a case sympathetic to the period of the
> >> manuscript. Thus I have created a true facsimile that actually looks
> >> and feels like a manuscript. Aesthetically and Introduction written
from
> >> any early 21st Century viewpoint would jar.
> >>
> >> One text coming up some time in the future I go beyond reproducing
> >> accurately to add something to the text which is in sympathy with it.
The
> >> texts gives instructions for invoking angels into ones dreams to give
> >> guidance. Unlike the Goetic texts this repeatedly emphasises that this
> >> must only be done for the benefit of oneself and ones neighbours, and
> >> never a harmful manner. I will be creating the talismans that are
> >> described in the text so that, if people choose they can follow the
> >> texts instructions and place them under their pillow or, rather
> >> quaintly, inside their night caps. Curiously most of the text is very
> >> Protestant-Christian though there is ambiguity as to whether these
> >> prayers are actually to be used. They may be a disguise.
> >>
> >> Other publications will be relevant to folk magic, witchcraft,
> >> late-Medieval clerical underground, Rosicrucianism, proto-Golden Dawn
and
> >> folklore. All are either otherwise unpublished, or variant from
> >> previously published versions or, at the very least, difficult to
> >> otherwise obtain. The idea is that all should be elegant and striking
> >> objects in themselves.
> >>
> >> If anyone reading this is interested in receiving information about my
> >> publications then best thing to do is email me off-list. I will add
your
> >> email address to the list of people who receive notification as they
> >> come out.
> >>
> >> I am also on the look out for suitable texts to publish. It occurs to
> >> me that academics may well come across suitable texts in their work. I
> >> pay finders fees, translator's royalties (I do wonder what texts may
be
> >> out there in other languages which could usefully be brought to the
> >> attention of the interested English reader).
> >>
> >> With my best wishes
> >>
> >>
> >> Ben
> >> --
> >> Ben Fernee
> >> Caduceus Books
> >> 28 Darley Road
> >> Burbage
> >> Hinckley
> >> Leicestershire
> >> LE10 2RL
> >> U.K.
> >>
> >>
> >> Telephone 01455 250542 (+44 1455 250542 from abroad)
> >> Fax 0870 0552982 (+44 870 0552982 from abroad)
> >>
> >>
> >> Web pages:- http://www.caduceusbooks.com
> >> http://www.occultartgallery.com
> >>
> >>
> >> Private premises visitors welcome by appointment
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
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