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Author Topic: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)  (Read 9976 times)

rawtruth

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2014, 06:40:48 am »
Using blood is like using any other part of you body (hair, nails,etc) be careful nobody can get hold of it, You can get cursed pretty good if an enemy gets hold of any. So for example if you put blood on your runes and a boy/girl friend or family member wants to control you all they need to do is steal a rune and use it against you.

Daecon

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2014, 08:53:37 am »
Quote from: Morag;8870
I would agree that blood is one of the most powerful items to use in magic, though not menstrual blood. Menstrual blood is waste that our bodies are getting rid of; I wouldn't find it any more magical than using poop. (No, I don't find poop magical. Or urine.)

 
To be fair, urine is a necessary component to the traditional witches' bottle.  One theory is that they were meant to simulate the hostile witch's bladder and the pins would cause sympathetic pain.

Emma Eldritch

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #17 on: August 03, 2014, 12:40:38 pm »
Quote from: rawtruth;154534
Using blood is like using any other part of you body (hair, nails,etc) be careful nobody can get hold of it, You can get cursed pretty good if an enemy gets hold of any. So for example if you put blood on your runes and a boy/girl friend or family member wants to control you all they need to do is steal a rune and use it against you.

 
Takes a bit more than that, dude.

random417

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #18 on: August 03, 2014, 02:07:59 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;154564
Takes a bit more than that, dude.
A magical tool complete with blood? I'd love to have that good of a link for hex work
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AL 1:42-44

Morag

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #19 on: August 03, 2014, 07:54:26 pm »
Quote from: Daecon;154550
To be fair, urine is a necessary component to the traditional witches' bottle.  One theory is that they were meant to simulate the hostile witch's bladder and the pins would cause sympathetic pain.


I do not see how I am being unfair by sharing my personal take, especially when I have no intention of making traditional witches' bottles. I do not find urine magical and, barring some miracle where my spinal injury resolves itself and I'm suddenly able to pee in one sitting without shifting and waiting a bunch, I doubt I ever will.

I did say "YMMV, though. That's just my take." after the bit you quoted, if you'll notice. I thought I was being quite fair.
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Emma Eldritch

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2014, 10:51:13 pm »
Quote from: random417;154572
A magical tool complete with blood? I'd love to have that good of a link for hex work

 
Not saying it's not useful, I'm saying it's not a 100% guarantee of control.

Morrighan Krow

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2014, 11:12:20 pm »
Quote from: CozyWitch;8840
Warning, this is a topic that is probably used in the traditional witchcraft community more than others and is not for the squeamish or light-hearted
 
Now, I've heard use of the term, "reddening the bone". Anyone understand what this is exactly?

 
Reddening the bone means to give the Runes life when you are creating them. To blood the Runes, is typically done with menstrual blood/ejaculation of the person creating them. This is typically a Heathen concept, which is not surprising why most of modern day Pagan views would see the use of menstrual blood as mere waste. It is not where the blood is going, but where it comes from. The child bearing woman was considered powerful in her own right, as was the organ which enabled a tribe/hearth/village to multiply.

Much like in the Cauldron of Cerridwen, the cauldron was her womb. IF her womb was her cauldron, what was her elixir inside, but life-giving blood. Also, another aspect of this is the cup and chalice in workings. If the athame is considered masculine because it symbolizes the phallus, the chalice would symbolize the womb with the substance inside being none other than the reproductive organ's fluid.

Today there are no "magical" powers behind how a woman conceives, and gestates a child. However, that does not make the ancient traditions of my ancestors any less potent. The essence contained within reproductive secretions is that of LIFE itself, regardless of whether or not it is just blood. These rituals have gone on for centuries and for good reason. The entire wheel is built upon life, death and rebirth, so to utilize that essence is to take control of the wheel, in a sense, and weld its primal power.

That power may not be necessary for all workings, but when it comes to divination or connecting to ones supreme intuition, strength makes all the difference.

And on just an additional note, someone had said something about not wanting to bind themselves to their tools with blood for fear that someone may use them against them? If you allow your tools to be obtained by un-well coming hands, or even fear that maybe a possibility, the concern should not be about the mere binding of blood. Those tools are still apart of you and have your essence/intentions within and upon them. It does not take much to wish ill upon someone else. Carelessness costs many, many things.

stephyjh

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2014, 12:28:07 am »
Quote from: Morrighan Krow;154638


Much like in the Cauldron of Cerridwen, the cauldron was her womb. IF her womb was her cauldron, what was her elixir inside, but life-giving blood. Also, another aspect of this is the cup and chalice in workings. If the athame is considered masculine because it symbolizes the phallus, the chalice would symbolize the womb with the substance inside being none other than the reproductive organ's fluid.

Today there are no "magical" powers behind how a woman conceives, and gestates a child. However, that does not make the ancient traditions of my ancestors any less potent. The essence contained within reproductive secretions is that of LIFE itself, regardless of whether or not it is just blood. These rituals have gone on for centuries and for good reason. The entire wheel is built upon life, death and rebirth, so to utilize that essence is to take control of the wheel, in a sense, and weld its primal power.

 
I have so many issues with this post. First, I have PCOS and all the fertility issues that brings. I don't have a "life-giving" womb. I have a broken one. Now what?

Second, it's really cissexist and gender-essentialist to reduce people down to "men ejaculate and women menstruate." There are actual trans* people here who can better address that part, so I'll just touch on the fact that there's more to it than that, but...identity erasure, ew. Also, I don't like being reduced to the sum of my parts. I feel like my brain, which works well enough to serve its intended purpose, is more useful than my uterus, which doesn't.

Third, in many traditions menstrual fluid is considered a bodily waste and thus ritually unclean. The use of blood-in-general isn't always the same as the use of menstrual blood.

Fourthly, I'd like to see your source on your claim about using menstrual blood with one's runes, in addition to your linking of Cerridwen to the reasoning about use of menstrual blood, and your connection of the athame and chalice to ancient attitudes.
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random417

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2014, 09:34:33 am »
Quote from: stephyjh;154657
I have so many issues with this post. First, I have PCOS and all the fertility issues that brings. I don't have a "life-giving" womb. I have a broken one. Now what?

Magickal practice is about symbolism. Any womb in a ritual setting symbolizes all wombs. This is true even if the womb in question is "broken". This is not true though, if you consider it to not have power. If the symbolism doesn't work for you, then it doesn't. That doesn't mean that it's not traditional, or as appropriate as any other discussion on ritual topics or symbolism.

Quote from: stephyjh;154657

Second, it's really cissexist and gender-essentialist to reduce people down to "men ejaculate and women menstruate." There are actual trans* people here who can better address that part, so I'll just touch on the fact that there's more to it than that, but...identity erasure, ew. Also, I don't like being reduced to the sum of my parts. I feel like my brain, which works well enough to serve its intended purpose, is more useful than my uterus, which doesn't.

But that's not actually what she said, unless I missed something. I'm not sure how to quote her from within my response here, I'll figure that out in test posts later, but Morrighan said:
"The essence contained within reproductive secretions is that of LIFE itself, regardless of whether or not it is just blood. "
The way I see what she said, is that ALL reproductive secretions contain power, the essence of life. Someone who (and pardon if I'm not familiar with how to be politically correct here) was born in a body that doesn't match their self image, could still use reproductive secretions as a symbol of power. I would THINK that someone born as a woman who should be a man could use secretions (I don't like that one, we'll go with fluids) from his biologically female body as a symbol not only of fertility and life, but also of not femimine energy, but masculine energy. There's also not the idea of reducing you to the sum of your parts here, anymore than when I paint at work, I'm reduced to a set of arms. There's more than that, but we are looking at a specific idea and concept.
Quote from: stephyjh;154657

Third, in many traditions menstrual fluid is considered a bodily waste and thus ritually unclean. The use of blood-in-general isn't always the same as the use of menstrual blood.

This is true, however... I can't speak for any other tradition, but this was likely true in early Jewish tradition BECAUSE of the inherant power a woman was seen to have at the time, and the inherant power OF the menstrual fluid itself.
"Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing. So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is in every way perfect."

AL 1:42-44

Sophia C

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #24 on: August 04, 2014, 11:03:10 am »
Quote from: random417;154694
This is true, however... I can't speak for any other tradition, but this was likely true in early Jewish tradition BECAUSE of the inherant power a woman was seen to have at the time, and the inherant power OF the menstrual fluid itself.


Can I ask you to cite your source for that?

My understanding is that blood is taboo in Judaism for a variety of reasons. The taboo on menstrual blood probably developed in the post-Exilic period, meaning that it may not have applied when the Jews lived in their tribal lands, until after they returned from exile, i.e. in the Second Temple period when the priests had a lot of power. In short, it's relatively recent in Judaism (Archer, 1990). It relates to a whole social/religious code involving taboos of the body, called kashrut. Mary Douglas has written a lot about these taboos (1996, 1999 - her work is dated, and has problems in places, but much of it is still relevant on this topic). Menstrual blood may have been in some way related to the power of life, but it was more likely about the (negative) power of death. Which, if you think about it, makes sense - menstrual blood is more a sign of death than life. Dead material was held by Jewish communities to be taboo and polluting, and Jews needed to be separate from that which polluted, as a symbol (and embodiment) of keeping themselves pure and separate from their neighbouring tribes (as a cultural inheritance of the exile). So, yes, women were seen as powerful, but not in the sense of having the power of life, but of having the power of death and of taboo pollution. Female impurity thus became a key concept in Judaism and grew from here on, particularly in the diaspora. You can see how the concept of Eve as responsible for all sin in the world follows, an idea that was particularly emphasised in the Christian doctrines that picked up on this. When I'm writing about women and disability in the ancient world, I have to remember these incredibly different social concepts, and the way that women were on some level considered inherently disabled, and especially if they couldn't conceive children (Fontaine, 2007). It is when women show an inability to create life that they are particularly taboo, in this system, not when they have the power to create. Death, not life, is what gives menstrual blood its taboo power in ancient Judaism.

Archer, L.J., 'Bound by Blood:Circumcision and Menstrual Taboo in Post-Exilic Judaism', in After Eve, ed. J.M. Soskice, 1990.
Douglas, M. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, 1996.
Douglas, M. Leviticus as Literature, 1999.
Fontaine, C.R. '"Be Men, O Philistines!" Iconographic Representations and Reflections on Female Gender as Disability in the Ancient World', in This Abled Body, ed. H. Avalos et al, 2007.
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Redfaery

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #25 on: August 04, 2014, 02:54:26 pm »
Quote from: Morrighan Krow;154638
Today there are no "magical" powers behind how a woman conceives, and gestates a child. However, that does not make the ancient traditions of my ancestors any less potent. The essence contained within reproductive secretions is that of LIFE itself, regardless of whether or not it is just blood. These rituals have gone on for centuries and for good reason. The entire wheel is built upon life, death and rebirth, so to utilize that essence is to take control of the wheel, in a sense, and weld its primal power.


Hey, I'm not only infertile because of a seriously messed up reproductive system (I have numerous malformations; I was born with an imperforate hymen, and my uterus is abnormally small and twisted backwards. I doubt having a child would be wise for me, simply because of the way I'm shaped. Never mind my history of PCOS), I'm also a lesbian. And I don't care to adopt children or bear through surrogacy.

Please be careful when you make such blanket assertions. I know in traditions such as Wicca and Neo-Wicca, fertility and the gender binary are very important, but if you speak like these beliefs are universal and all-encompassing, you are erasing the many people who just don't fit them. Wicca and similar gender-binaristic fertility religions just don't work for me. I think Nature does just fine without me reminding her to get on with it through sexual metaphors in my religious rituals.

(Heh. Not to dis that. I just don't think any of the Earth Goddesses would listen to me.)
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Redfaery

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #26 on: August 04, 2014, 03:07:29 pm »
Quote from: Morrighan Krow;154638
Reddening the bone means to give the Runes life when you are creating them. To blood the Runes, is typically done with menstrual blood/ejaculation of the person creating them.

Can you cite your sources for this, though? I've never heard of "blooding" the runes with semen, or a woman using menstrual blood. I've only heard of drawing "normal" blood. As others have said, menstrual blood is waste. That statement isn't meant as some sort of shaming of the female body (or the body of those who menstruate - you don't have to be a woman to menstruate). The lining of the uterus is shed regularly just like we shed skin cells and hair, or empty our bladder and bowels.

Menstrual blood isn't like the blood you get when you prick your finger. It's dead blood. It's rotten blood. It smells bad. Seriously, when I first got my IUD in, I menstruated for a month straight, mostly because I had built up a case of endometriosis from not menstruating while I had the PCOS. Want to know what that was like? It smelled like something had died between my legs. The constant blood also made the bacteria down there very, very happy. They decided to have a little party and make lots of bacteria babies. I wound up with an infection. So no, I can't say that I see much sense in treating menstruation as symbolic of life. In fact, I believe during the menstrual cycle one is actually infertile?
« Last Edit: August 04, 2014, 03:09:12 pm by Redfaery »
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Holdasown

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #27 on: August 04, 2014, 03:09:37 pm »
Quote from: CozyWitch;8840
Now, I've heard use of the term, "reddening the bone". Anyone understand what this is exactly?
 
Also, I've read that some use blood to stain Runes or other magical items that will be used and are personal to the individual.
 
Are there any other instances of which blood is/may be used in Craftwork?


I have seen the term used for runes and skulls, especially animal to charge them with the animal it once belonged to.It sounded fairly specialized to the person talking about it.

I have blooded runes and me athame. I think it helps with bonding. An offering for them working with you.

For me blood is represent ice of life and menstrual blood lack of it. I would agree with a previous poster who stated it would be for curses. Hair, nails and urine. Are a presentation in that they are part of you but they are not living like blood is or at least blood would be tied too.

I wouldn't use it for energy boost but for bonding so I am picky about what I would use it for. A spell or item to keep my son safe at camp or something like that. For extra ump I prefer sex magic but that's another topic.

deadlynightshade

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #28 on: October 01, 2014, 05:40:14 pm »
Quote from: CozyWitch;8840

Are there any other instances of which blood is/may be used in Craftwork?


Personally, I might use my own blood for a spell that would cause personal gain. Y'know, in a sort of "Hey, I'm really serious about this thing that I want/need, and I'm prepared to work and make sacrifices for it." So, in spells intended for luck with Uni applications, or job applications, or personal protection. As well as personal growth, or recovery from certain aspects of my life, past or health. (Although obviously not if it might kill me or injure me more than a minor wound.)
Just personal opinion, though. I wouldn't use my own blood to curse anyone else- although if I could get some of their blood, then yeah, I might use that.
And I wouldn't use menstrual blood, as it's a waste product. I would only use blood that was taken from the body, not excreted.

WizardryWisdom

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Re: Use of Blood in Craftwork (Warning: Gory Topic)
« Reply #29 on: November 23, 2014, 02:55:06 pm »
Quote from: CozyWitch;8840
Warning, this is a topic that is probably used in the traditional witchcraft community more than others and is not for the squeamish or light-hearted.
 
I have heard it stated that blood is one of the most powerful items to use within your Craft, especially menstrual blood for women. It is the essential life force and contains fragments of your soul, personality, identity, etc.
 
Now, I've heard use of the term, "reddening the bone". Anyone understand what this is exactly?
 
Also, I've read that some use blood to stain Runes or other magical items that will be used and are personal to the individual.
 
I personally have used my own blood in spells that either require a boost or are directed toward empowering myself or self-protection. Would those of you who may practice "hex-craft" be inclined to use your own blood in these spells, or no? Personally, I'm not sure if I would want to risk being attached to hexes/curses.
 
Are there any other instances of which blood is/may be used in Craftwork?

 
Blood is very powerful and can be used in many ways, but it is sacred and if you do not know how or when to use it, things can go very wrong in a hurry.

Blood is our lifeforce and carries nutrients, oxygen, minerals and other important things to our whole body. It also contains our DNA, which we all know is specific to each individual,  along with chemicals that our brain secretes for specific job functions which are very powerful in themselves.

A magical worker could gather blood from someone who is in pain or scared that contains a high amount of dopamine or adrenaline to use in a specific spell to boost certain proerties of that spell, and if it were to be used against/for the person it was procured from it has the potential to be much more powerful because it has the specific DNA of that person.

Blood can also be used as an offering or channel to our dimension for beings outside of our reality or dimension.

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