There is a tendency among modern Pagans - many of whom live in cities - to
revere the wilderness as a source of magical power and dismiss the cities in
which they live as spiritually dead places. The city is simply a place where
they live and work, while the countryside is a sacred place to travel to and
perform rituals. The idea that magic can be performed in the city using tools
and ingredients native to that environment is one often ignored by many
spiritually inclined Pagans. But spells can still be cast while doing the
washing up, and Pagans can still revere their Gods from the city.
Pagans and the City
Pagans are often predisposed to romanticize the countryside, while shunning
the city. There is a good example of this in an anecdote from the
introduction of Urban Primitive by Raven Kaldera and Tannin Schwartztein.
Schwartztein recalls spending time at a camp listening to a fellow Pagan
praise the countryside while simultaneously dismissing the city as a dead
cold place. I believe that this dismal view of the city is partly a result of
the stressful pace of modern life. Life in the city can also feel alienating,
which is a problem for Pagans especially. Many Pagans seek to overcome
feelings of alienation by joining covens and reenacting ancient rituals,
signaling a desire to return to the communal values of agricultural society.
In these practices, the patriarchal values of the city are often attacked and
the rejected feminine is exalted.
This, I believe, is where a rose-tinted view of the country comes from -
despite the fact that living from the land is not always as idyllic as it is
often presented. The natural setting is merely serving as a ritual backdrop -
one as symbolic as the items placed upon the altar. To many Pagans, the city
represents repressed aspects of human nature; the rejected feminine;
repressive patriarchal values; monotheistic religion; and the soul-destroying
aspects of modern life. The country is the antithesis of these negative
concepts, and is idealized for it.
Few Pagans actually take this reverence for nature a step further and go out
to live in the countryside, or even become activists. There are groups who
seek to unite their reverence for nature with magical practice. For example,
the Dragon Network is an organization of Pagans who practice magic as a form
of ecological protest. But the majority of neo-Pagans consists of urban
dwellers, so it is not surprising that many Pagans are distant from rural
life. While it is commendable to try to get out to the country, protest on
behalf of the environment, or live off the land, it does not mean the city
should be shunned as a source of magical power.
What some members of the neo-Pagan scene forget is that many of the ancient
Pagans from whom they draw inspiration from were city-dwellers. Whole cities
in Ancient Egypt and Greece were built around temples dedicated to Gods and
Goddesses before the advent of monotheistic religions. The Egyptians built
Karnak around the the temple of Amun, that city's patron god. In ancient
Greece, legend stated that deities would often compete over the patronage of
cities. Athena and Poseidon were said to compete for the patronage of the
city of Athens. These and countless other examples show that the practice of
Paganism was not restricted to the country by our ancestors. The use of the
country as a ritual backdrop is a modern invention, and we do not have to
stick to it for fear of breaking tradition. In fact, breaking tradition may
be necessary at times for practicality, especially for the urban Pagan.
Urban Primitive encourages a shift in attitude in the neo-Pagan scene by
depicting the city as a spiritual being in itself. While Paganism has
traditionally personified the Earth as a sacred Mother figure, Kaldera and
Schwartztein's recommend viewing the city in the same way. The city is spoken
to as a living entity in itself. Buildings are addressed in the same manner
that some Pagans would address or perform rituals around trees or stone
circles. Spirits inhabit inner city areas, just as faeries live in woods and
forests. The shades of the dead crowd our hospitals. Subways become entrances
to the Underworld.
The authors do not go as far as romanticizing the city. Kaldera compares his
time living in the city to a prison sentence. Cities are regarded as
"boils upon the ass of Gaea," being a major source of pollution. In
this way, reverence for nature is not dispensed with. But despite
acknowledging the often soul-destroying nature of city life, Urban Primitive
shows how a magical life can be led anywhere.
Magic can be used for survival, utilizing whatever tools are available in
your environment. This can be seen as a shamanic approach; our ancestors
often resorted to using whatever means they had at their disposal to survive.
At a time when the science and technology had not yet been developed to make
things comfortable for humans, the shamans improvised.
Spells and Divination
Casting spells for mundane purposes is frowned-upon in some circles as
"low magic" or even "black magic." Those who practice
what is known as "High Magic" regard magic as something that should
only be performed for moral or pure purposes - such as spiritual evolution.
But in Urban Primitive, spells are cast for everyday objectives such as
getting a job. Using magic for the practicalities of modern living is
important to the modern Pagan or magician. Our worries differ from those of
the ancients; we no longer have to be wary about being mauled by vicious
animals, attacked by neighboring tribes. But modern living provides its own
set of difficulties to accompany its comforts. We have employers to appease,
livelihoods to maintain, kids to feed. When practical solutions are hard to
come by, then what is the harm in casting a spell?
Urban Primitive describes a range of simple spells that can be cast with
everything from simple household items to things to you can find in a
trashcan. Chapter Eight categorizes certain kinds of trash you find in cities
into the four traditional elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Broken
glass can be used as a simple athame. Gum wrappers and bird feathers can be
incorporated into spells.
The book also describes various uses for bottles in spells, ranging from
protection to getting someone to look favorably upon you to communing with
spirits. I have used bottle spells in the past for improving relationships.
The suggested technique is simple. It involves taking a piece of paper and
drawing a picture or a representative symbol of the person you're having
trouble with. Even their name or initials will do if you are stuck for
inspiration. You will also need a sealable bottle filled with water and a
handful of sugar (or something just as sweet).
1. Perform your usual ritual opening and focus on that piece of paper as
containing your conflict-person's essence. It might help if you have a small
photograph, piece of clothing, or a similar link to accompany the paper as an
aid to concentration.
2. Once you have finished concentrating on the symbolic representation of
your target, place it within the bottle. Then take a handful of sugar (or
whatever substitute you are using) and pour it inside the bottle.
3. Seal the bottle and then shake it while chanting your intent, which could
be a simplified statement of intent such as: "[insert name of person]
loves me." Or you can make a whole song out of it. Do whatever inspires
you.
4. Once you feel the spell to have reached its maximum intensity through the
shaking and chanting, put down the bottle and end the ritual.
5. Hide the bottle in a dark place, like a cupboard or under your bed.
I have used this simple technique to good effect with certain friends or
colleagues. This is just one of many examples of how spells can be cast from
the materials that can be found in your home, probably waiting to be thrown
in the bin.
Divination is another practice that can be performed with items you can find
in the city. Traditional divination techniques provide convenient sets of
symbols that can answer questions or make predictions about future events.
The Tarot has the major and minor arcana, the I Ching has 64 Hexagrams.
Systems such as these divide life experience into segments, and create
symbolic images associated with each segment. These images are things that
our subconscious minds understand, and divination has its source in these
unconscious impulses. Our subconscious communicates to us in the language of
symbols. Once a symbol is firmly entrenched in the unconscious through
repeated association with an aspect of our experience, the subconscious can
communicate with us through those symbols. This is often the case with
dreams. If you associate a person you know with something negative - say
anger or depression - then that person may crop up in your dreams as a symbol
of a negative aspect of yourself. And if you repeatedly associate the Tarot's
Tower Card with conflict, it might just mean that when the card turns up in a
reading.
There is a mention in Urban Primitive of trash divination, which is something
I have practiced in my own way. Each time I head for the bus stop every day
before work, I treat the journey as an "omen walk." Just as the
Druids made predictions from weather conditions, so it is possible to find
symbolism in random objects that catch your eye in the road, or in the sky.
This can be a natural phenomenon, like an unusual cloud formation or the
behavior of local wildlife. Or it can be man-made, like an advertisement on
the side of a bus giving you the answer to something you've had on your mind,
or a song on the radio that tells if you are going to have a good night out
or not. A design on an empty bag of chips that drifts your way may tell you
if you're going to get a promotion or get fired at work. It is simply a
matter of keeping your mind open to these things.
As soon as you leave the house, simply tell yourself that you will be open to
any omens that come your way. Do not look for them - that is something you
should be doing on a subconscious level, not a conscious one. The conscious
mind is not very good at these things. Keep your mind focused on reaching the
bus stop on time, or a problem that has been bothering you. If you can,
silence your thoughts completely as you walk. Once you see something that you
feel might be an omen, ponder its meaning if you do not know what that
meaning is. This method is very freeform - it's similar to traditional
divination techniques such as scrying and dream interpretation. The form it
takes may be different from how it was performed in older agricultural
societies, but the principles behind it remain.
Magical Living
Another way in which the city can take on a more magical appearance is
through seeing the different areas and places as being associated with the
elements, or any other system you use to structure your magical universe.
Kaldera and Schwartztein conceptualize phone lines, modems, and gas lines as
being homes for Air elementals. Power stations house Fire elementals. City
trees and parks house Earth elementals. Water elementals live in the
plumbing. By making offerings to them, seeking to commune with them and
working magic by enlisting their aid, the city can become magical. If you
like, you don't have to work with the simple Four/Five element scheme. You
can attribute the spheres from the Kabalistic Tree of Life to certain areas
of the city. Even the traditional symbolism of the seven planets can be used
in this manner. The possibilities are endless. Any environment you live in
can take on a magical tinge - it simply depends on how you look at it.
Magic is more than a mere interest or hobby to those who actually practice
it, although it may start that way. It is not something do on the weekend -
an excuse to drive off to the country to dance around a bonfire, and then
forget about it when you return to the office. Even if you do not take a
religious attitude to it, magic is something that informs your whole
worldview and lifestyle. It is a paradigm in itself, and affects the
practitioner's worldview in the same way that the thought-processes of
religious fundamentalists and atheists affect theirs. Spells and rituals have
an even more important use to the urban practitioner with difficulties on the
domestic or career front and can see no practical way to deal with them.
Magic should not simply be left to the sacred grove - it has just as much
validity in an inner-city studio apartment, or whatever environment you
happen to be occupying.
In regards to our environment as sacred and learning to recognize the magical
currents that underlie it, we are doing the same things our ancestors did
anyway. Although we live in a wilderness of steel and stone rather than plant
and tree, the principles behind human need and desire remain more or less the
same. The same ideas that motivated ancient Pagans motivate modern Pagans -
survival in a potentially hostile place, and the need for something sacred in
their lives.
RECOMMENDED TITLES:
URBAN PRIMITIVE:
Pigeon is protection in numbers. Cockroach brings endurance medicine (well, they *are* supposed to survive nuclear holocausts!). Learn this and more about magick in the real world. Including the goddess of dumpster diving and a prayer for road trips.
CITY MAGICK:
A guide to the rich spiritual spectrum and dynamic forces that are at work within the urban environment.
URBAN SHAMAN:
This is a book about shamanism, specially the Hawaiian tradition of shamanism, and about being an "urban shaman."
HEX AND THE CITY:
A Boyfriend Trainer, hair tamer and foot soak, and other things the urban witch just really needs.
These title and others can be found at Isis Books & Gifts! With over
500 Wicca and Witchcraft book titles in stock, your sure to find one right
for you!
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receive a free 90-page catalog.
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