- Original WF Link
- http://wizardforums.com/Thread-Red-Combat-Magic-Chaos-Magic-thread
Red /Combat Magic
Let's talk about combat magic!
"People tend to view Cursing in the same way that they view masturbation. There's a hell of a lot of it goes on, but most people aren't going to admit to it, much less that they're any good at it, or have made a careful study of it."
"The theory & practice of Cursing is a 'taboo' area in modern magick."
- Phil Hine
***
"The distinguishing factor of Red Magic is that it is not practiced covertly. In fact, it's effectiveness is in direct proportion to how brazenly obvious one is about performing it. The classic form is the "cursing in the public square" style of the old stories about evil witches; the hideous old hag places a curse upon the victim in public in front of many witnesses - sometimes from the gallows. In what is probably the most celebrated work of Red Magic in history, Jaques DeMolay, leader of the mystical Knights Templar, was sentenced to death in 1314 by Pope Clement V and King Phillip IV of France for sorcery and heresy. From the gallows he cursed them both, declaring they would die within a year. Both men were dead within six months.
However, it is not required that one expose oneself as an aggressor; the other classic form is when the victim is the recipient of a nasty looking sigil in the mail or finds a "voodoo doll" nailed to the door or a dead cat hanging from a tree in the front yard.
The common denominator is that the victim is quite certain he or she has been singled out for a magical attack. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that depending on the enemy's state of mind, the fear and paranoia generated by the certain knowledge that one is on a magician's shit list can be a very effective weapon all on it's own. In fact, psychologists accredit this psychosomatic effect with being the sum total of the effectiveness of magical attack. However, there are many recorded accounts of total skeptics sucumbing to curses. This is because it's quite doubtful that even the most materialistic unbeliever is totally free of all of the superstious baggage humans are heir to. This makes their situation even worse, for they will hesitate to take any prudent countermeasures, or seek help from someone who can.
The disadvantage is that an enemy forewarned is an enemy forearmed. As any citizen of Haiti can tell you, the way to deal with a witch doctor's curse is to go out and hire another witch doctor to counter it - which is usually only possible if one knows one is being cursed in the first place.
Red Magic is the magic of War, and the key to it's success is maniacal aggression and the raising of emotions of hatred to a point at which they invoke gnostic trance. The war dances of various primitive cultures are excellent examples of this technique. The ritual burning of effigies is another operative example, as is stabbing "voodoo dolls" with pins. While these may be effective modes of attaining the required gnosis, the direct identification of the enemy in the process is what opens up the magician to the risk of backlash. To those who would wreck war upon an enemy, this is a secondary consideration - a soldier always assumes that any mission may result in their own death as well as the enemy's. But for most who would use combat magic, it would be preferred to survive unharmed rather than to die as a martyr.
To avoid this, it is better to sigilize the enemy into an abstract symbol, and raise the required emotions of hatred and malice by focusing on something other than the target itself. Then when gnosis is achieved, the sigil is ritually destroyed and the Will is sent forth without the conscious connection that can bring about psychic "retribution"."
Red Magic it's not the only type of Combat Magic.
Black Magic
"There is nothing good nor evil, but that thinking makes it so."
- William Shakespeare
In Chaos Magic terms, Black Magic also can be called Death or Entropy magic. Entropy being the antithesis of Chaos, in a way it could be thought of as being antiethical to Chaos Magic itself. However, every tool has it's uses, and Chaos Magic recognizes no a priori moral force in the manifest universe. Fire can cook your food or destroy your house; morality has nothing to do with it.
Not all Black Magic is used for combat purposes. On occasion the magician may find it useful to perform what are known as "Chod" rites, or ritual enactment's of his or her own death (and the fear thereof) for initiations or for the purposes of banishment. When the fear of death (or a particular way of dying) becomes an obsession, the magician can perform a ritualized version of it and by confrontation conquer the fear. Chod rites, designed to emulate death and rebirth are also highly effective as initiation ceremonies.
Unlike Red Magic, where maniacal aggression is the key to success, entropy spells must be cast with a mental attitude of complete cold, impersonal emotionlessness. The thrill of battle is replaced with a desire for nothing more than a clean, quick and efficient kill. The greatest advantage to using Black Magic for combat purposes is that it is accomplished with complete stealth, and the targets have nothing but themselves and/or pure bad luck to blame for what befalls them.
Black Magic is insidious in it's nature, and so the precautions one must take against psychic rebound are very important. The use of servitors as "agents" designed to carry the entropic intention to the target is highly recommended, as it keeps the magician "one step removed" from the target. In keeping with this attitude, you might notice that the intended victim is herein referred to as the "target", rather than the "enemy" as in the section on Red Magic. This is to stress the detached attitude that must be maintained to work effectively and safely with Black Magic.
In it's essence, a Black Magic working is designed to carry subconscious information to the target, encouraging it to destroy itself. This can manifest as sheer recklessness that, sooner or later, will result in a serious or even fatal accident. It can also take form as neglect of the health or inattention to dangerous circumstances. In any case, the target will be totally unaware that there is a spell at work, unless they are magicians or extreme paranoids."
Let's talk about combat magic!
"People tend to view Cursing in the same way that they view masturbation. There's a hell of a lot of it goes on, but most people aren't going to admit to it, much less that they're any good at it, or have made a careful study of it."
"The theory & practice of Cursing is a 'taboo' area in modern magick."
- Phil Hine
***
"The distinguishing factor of Red Magic is that it is not practiced covertly. In fact, it's effectiveness is in direct proportion to how brazenly obvious one is about performing it. The classic form is the "cursing in the public square" style of the old stories about evil witches; the hideous old hag places a curse upon the victim in public in front of many witnesses - sometimes from the gallows. In what is probably the most celebrated work of Red Magic in history, Jaques DeMolay, leader of the mystical Knights Templar, was sentenced to death in 1314 by Pope Clement V and King Phillip IV of France for sorcery and heresy. From the gallows he cursed them both, declaring they would die within a year. Both men were dead within six months.
However, it is not required that one expose oneself as an aggressor; the other classic form is when the victim is the recipient of a nasty looking sigil in the mail or finds a "voodoo doll" nailed to the door or a dead cat hanging from a tree in the front yard.
The common denominator is that the victim is quite certain he or she has been singled out for a magical attack. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that depending on the enemy's state of mind, the fear and paranoia generated by the certain knowledge that one is on a magician's shit list can be a very effective weapon all on it's own. In fact, psychologists accredit this psychosomatic effect with being the sum total of the effectiveness of magical attack. However, there are many recorded accounts of total skeptics sucumbing to curses. This is because it's quite doubtful that even the most materialistic unbeliever is totally free of all of the superstious baggage humans are heir to. This makes their situation even worse, for they will hesitate to take any prudent countermeasures, or seek help from someone who can.
The disadvantage is that an enemy forewarned is an enemy forearmed. As any citizen of Haiti can tell you, the way to deal with a witch doctor's curse is to go out and hire another witch doctor to counter it - which is usually only possible if one knows one is being cursed in the first place.
Red Magic is the magic of War, and the key to it's success is maniacal aggression and the raising of emotions of hatred to a point at which they invoke gnostic trance. The war dances of various primitive cultures are excellent examples of this technique. The ritual burning of effigies is another operative example, as is stabbing "voodoo dolls" with pins. While these may be effective modes of attaining the required gnosis, the direct identification of the enemy in the process is what opens up the magician to the risk of backlash. To those who would wreck war upon an enemy, this is a secondary consideration - a soldier always assumes that any mission may result in their own death as well as the enemy's. But for most who would use combat magic, it would be preferred to survive unharmed rather than to die as a martyr.
To avoid this, it is better to sigilize the enemy into an abstract symbol, and raise the required emotions of hatred and malice by focusing on something other than the target itself. Then when gnosis is achieved, the sigil is ritually destroyed and the Will is sent forth without the conscious connection that can bring about psychic "retribution"."
Red Magic it's not the only type of Combat Magic.
Black Magic
"There is nothing good nor evil, but that thinking makes it so."
- William Shakespeare
In Chaos Magic terms, Black Magic also can be called Death or Entropy magic. Entropy being the antithesis of Chaos, in a way it could be thought of as being antiethical to Chaos Magic itself. However, every tool has it's uses, and Chaos Magic recognizes no a priori moral force in the manifest universe. Fire can cook your food or destroy your house; morality has nothing to do with it.
Not all Black Magic is used for combat purposes. On occasion the magician may find it useful to perform what are known as "Chod" rites, or ritual enactment's of his or her own death (and the fear thereof) for initiations or for the purposes of banishment. When the fear of death (or a particular way of dying) becomes an obsession, the magician can perform a ritualized version of it and by confrontation conquer the fear. Chod rites, designed to emulate death and rebirth are also highly effective as initiation ceremonies.
Unlike Red Magic, where maniacal aggression is the key to success, entropy spells must be cast with a mental attitude of complete cold, impersonal emotionlessness. The thrill of battle is replaced with a desire for nothing more than a clean, quick and efficient kill. The greatest advantage to using Black Magic for combat purposes is that it is accomplished with complete stealth, and the targets have nothing but themselves and/or pure bad luck to blame for what befalls them.
Black Magic is insidious in it's nature, and so the precautions one must take against psychic rebound are very important. The use of servitors as "agents" designed to carry the entropic intention to the target is highly recommended, as it keeps the magician "one step removed" from the target. In keeping with this attitude, you might notice that the intended victim is herein referred to as the "target", rather than the "enemy" as in the section on Red Magic. This is to stress the detached attitude that must be maintained to work effectively and safely with Black Magic.
In it's essence, a Black Magic working is designed to carry subconscious information to the target, encouraging it to destroy itself. This can manifest as sheer recklessness that, sooner or later, will result in a serious or even fatal accident. It can also take form as neglect of the health or inattention to dangerous circumstances. In any case, the target will be totally unaware that there is a spell at work, unless they are magicians or extreme paranoids."
