Crafting Magical Objects
Probably everyone has some experience of the fact that manufactured objects differ in the kinds of aura that they possess. Something produced industrially – say an ordinary pair of plastic flip-flops or a cheap toy – ordinarily has very little. Occasionally one encounters some things, usually made partly by hand, that have more of an aura – say, a pair of extremely well-made shoes or a fine piece of blown glass. This is not coincidental. Industrial manufacture requires very little attention on any one individual item; the thing passes through an assembly line and that is all. Objects that require hand work to some degree have received more of that subtle force known as attention. A superior craftsman can put so much attention into his work that even homely things such as a coffee table can possess an aura of their own. When this kind of achievement is taken to a maximal degree, the result is known as great art.
Not everyone is going to be a great artist or even a skilled craftsman. But there are ways in which this form of attention can be cultivated in the making of objects. For this reason ritual magicians are often given the task of mak-ing their own implements. Of course something as good or better can be bought in a store; in the US, at any rate, there are plenty of shops where you can buy not only crystals and New Age jewellery but wands and cups for magical rituals, many of them handsomely executed. But even in these cases, although a great deal of attention may have been put into the implement, if you buy it at a shop, the energy that has been put into it will not have been yours. Making your imple- ments requires you to put this attention into the implement, but only if certain directions are followed.
In his book Wielding Power, Charles R. Tetworth sets out directions for the making of magical implements such as a knife, a cup, a wand, and a sword. The idea is to make them with as few resources as possible, partly to reconnect with the aspect of the human mind that remains primitive, but partly also to imbue the objects with the kind of energy that I am talking about here.
Tetworth’s directions for making a knife, for example, are very laborious. While you do not have to go to the extent of mining the ore and making the steel for the blade (he advises simply getting a length of mild steel), every-thing else has to be done from scratch. How do you make a handle? You take strips of bark and glue them to one end of the blade. But where do you get the glue? Not from a store; Tetworth advises getting hold of cow’s heels or the skin and bones of some cartilaginous fish such as shark and boiling them down until they turn gluey. The fragrance will not be appealing, but you will have made your own glue rather than having gotten some off the shelf of a shop. Then you tie the handle on for greater firmness. But where do you get the wool? From tufts left by sheep on the bushes of hedgerows. You take these tufts and twist them into yarn, with which you tie the glued strips of bark to the blade. “It requires a degree of commitment and dedication to complete the task,
but it will be your work, and no one else’s,” he says.
As suggested already, it is the quality of attention while doing the work that is important. Tetworth continues:When you are... performing any action in the making of your weapons, it is vital that you keep your attention wide open. You should be aware of your breathing. All your senses should be alert and receptive. You should hear every single sound that there is to be heard, smell all the scents, savour the tastes in the mouth, see all there is to see, feel every touch on your body and skin – be aware of it all without going off into daydreams or getting caught by any associations that may be trig-gered (emphasis in the original).
Although I personally have not made ritual implements in this way, I have occasionally used a similar approach in making other things, such as charts of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The process is difficult. It requires stopping when-ever you are aware that your attention has drifted off or that you are daydreaming, and coming back to the project at hand. In short, it is exactly like the practice of meditation, only in an active, practical context. The end result is not only an object that possesses more of that special aura that I have called power, but also something inside oneself. Something behind the conscious mind – a seed of will and attention – is formed and, under the right conditions, can continue to grow.
While I could go more deeply into the ideas that I have sketched out here, some of the basic outlines of this particu-lar version of the ancient mystery tradition should be clear by now. It enables one to awaken and wield power in the world – a power that is resourced and quickened by con-sciousness.
One final note: it is often the custom in articles like this to disguise the names of figures, places, and so on, for the sake of secrecy or discretion. I want to point out that I have not done this. The details that I have described are as I have experienced them.
*RICHARD SMOLeY has over thirty-five years of experience of studying and practicing esoteric spirituality. His latest book is The Dice Game of Shiva: How Consciousness Creates the Universe. He is also the author of Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradi-tion; Conscious Love: Insights from Mystical Christianity; The Essen-tial Nostradamus; Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism; and Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions (with Jay Kinney).Smoley is the former editor of Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions. Currently he is editor of Quest: Journal of the Theosophical Society in America and of Quest Books.
Not everyone is going to be a great artist or even a skilled craftsman. But there are ways in which this form of attention can be cultivated in the making of objects. For this reason ritual magicians are often given the task of mak-ing their own implements. Of course something as good or better can be bought in a store; in the US, at any rate, there are plenty of shops where you can buy not only crystals and New Age jewellery but wands and cups for magical rituals, many of them handsomely executed. But even in these cases, although a great deal of attention may have been put into the implement, if you buy it at a shop, the energy that has been put into it will not have been yours. Making your imple- ments requires you to put this attention into the implement, but only if certain directions are followed.
In his book Wielding Power, Charles R. Tetworth sets out directions for the making of magical implements such as a knife, a cup, a wand, and a sword. The idea is to make them with as few resources as possible, partly to reconnect with the aspect of the human mind that remains primitive, but partly also to imbue the objects with the kind of energy that I am talking about here.
Tetworth’s directions for making a knife, for example, are very laborious. While you do not have to go to the extent of mining the ore and making the steel for the blade (he advises simply getting a length of mild steel), every-thing else has to be done from scratch. How do you make a handle? You take strips of bark and glue them to one end of the blade. But where do you get the glue? Not from a store; Tetworth advises getting hold of cow’s heels or the skin and bones of some cartilaginous fish such as shark and boiling them down until they turn gluey. The fragrance will not be appealing, but you will have made your own glue rather than having gotten some off the shelf of a shop. Then you tie the handle on for greater firmness. But where do you get the wool? From tufts left by sheep on the bushes of hedgerows. You take these tufts and twist them into yarn, with which you tie the glued strips of bark to the blade. “It requires a degree of commitment and dedication to complete the task,
but it will be your work, and no one else’s,” he says.
As suggested already, it is the quality of attention while doing the work that is important. Tetworth continues:When you are... performing any action in the making of your weapons, it is vital that you keep your attention wide open. You should be aware of your breathing. All your senses should be alert and receptive. You should hear every single sound that there is to be heard, smell all the scents, savour the tastes in the mouth, see all there is to see, feel every touch on your body and skin – be aware of it all without going off into daydreams or getting caught by any associations that may be trig-gered (emphasis in the original).
Although I personally have not made ritual implements in this way, I have occasionally used a similar approach in making other things, such as charts of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The process is difficult. It requires stopping when-ever you are aware that your attention has drifted off or that you are daydreaming, and coming back to the project at hand. In short, it is exactly like the practice of meditation, only in an active, practical context. The end result is not only an object that possesses more of that special aura that I have called power, but also something inside oneself. Something behind the conscious mind – a seed of will and attention – is formed and, under the right conditions, can continue to grow.
While I could go more deeply into the ideas that I have sketched out here, some of the basic outlines of this particu-lar version of the ancient mystery tradition should be clear by now. It enables one to awaken and wield power in the world – a power that is resourced and quickened by con-sciousness.
One final note: it is often the custom in articles like this to disguise the names of figures, places, and so on, for the sake of secrecy or discretion. I want to point out that I have not done this. The details that I have described are as I have experienced them.
*RICHARD SMOLeY has over thirty-five years of experience of studying and practicing esoteric spirituality. His latest book is The Dice Game of Shiva: How Consciousness Creates the Universe. He is also the author of Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradi-tion; Conscious Love: Insights from Mystical Christianity; The Essen-tial Nostradamus; Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism; and Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions (with Jay Kinney).Smoley is the former editor of Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions. Currently he is editor of Quest: Journal of the Theosophical Society in America and of Quest Books.
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