Woke up today with a heavy head after running around all night in dreamland in some crazy cop-drama where I was some pee wee investigator in a case with a serial killer and loads of ritualistically killed victims in a very dilapidated house or apartment. The actual physics of objects in dreams are sometimes hard to perceive and what appears to be a house on the exterior sometimes has a completely different interior with different dimensions. I think last night's house of horrors was some kind of urban apartment.
I frequently have dreams with corpses, supernatural stuff and unusual things so I don't consider last night's trip an actual nightmare. I haven't had a real nightmare in years where I felt the element of fear upon waking. What does worry me on occasion are the visions I sometimes have about local wandering spirits. Most of them are really just passing by, but sometimes, I do see spirits that do pose a threat on a certain level. However, as the age old Chinese saying goes:
"You don't mess with them (ghosts/spirits), they don't mess with you."
Another valuable nugget of folk insight is the axiom:
"Ghosts/spirits are the greatest liars."
These "grandmother sayings" really are gems of good old folk wisdom and certainly went a long way in saving me from loads of heartache, trouble and wasted time. Sometimes I feel that as an Asian we are sitting on one of the greatest treasure troves of ancient wisdom... no need to go seeking wisdom from celtic, nordic or other "pagan" sources. I see loads of pagans whenever I walk past the Kwan Yin temple at Bugis.
Ha ha ha... I guess the exercise of blogging does help the mind to work out solutions to problems. Here I am wanting to meet actual wiccans, pagans and ceremonial magicians and I am sitting on an island with the greatest number of belief systems that are crammed into a very small piece of land. Unfortunately, despite the great number of "heathens" and even members of monotheistic religions who believe in the supernatural world... (Hey, why do you think the "True Singaporean Ghost Stories" series tops the book sale lists every year?) most of them tend to shy away whenever you mention anything that smacks of the occult or magic. You'd think that with so many mainstream religions promoting the belief in wonders, miracles, spirits and gods, they'd find something like magic entirely acceptable.
I guess in the end, the idea of the ordinary person engaged in doing something magical is only acceptable in the newer belief systems of Wicca, modern Paganism and Ceremonial Magic... Despite what many Wiccans and Pagans and even ceremonial magicians might say, MOST of the rituals and practices are modern creations. That's right, there is very little historical evidence of modern practices being linked to some ancient tradition. Heck, when McGregor Mathers started the whole Golden Dawn thing, he quite literally forged a letter from a member of a mythical organisation giving him the authority to start a new magic order. And lets not forget, Aleister Crowley started out as a Golden Dawner... he learned his stuff from them and later channelled (such a modern phenomenon) additional information from his Holy Guardian Angel, a spirit he called Awaiss...
AND... guess who went to Aleister in the Great Beast's twilight years for ideas on starting a new religion... that's right, Gerald Gardner, founder of modern wicca. As far as my own reading into the history goes, that's how everything came about... in a very summarized fashion.
I remember reading a book from the National Library that analyzes the evidence uncovered at an ancient drudic ritual. Apparently, they found a pretty well preserved body of a human sacrifice at a peat bog in Britan. It was a sacrifice made near the end of the Roman invasion of Britan. Now, according to the historian, such sacrifice of a human being was rare because usually only animals were offered up. The person in question who was offered up was actually a young druid, judging from the evidence found on the body. Why? Quite simply the ancient tirbesmen were desperate to stop the invasion and it seemed their gods had abandoned them so they gave up the ultimate gift they could offer.
Now, the book does detail some actual ancient celtic practices. Apparently certain gods only accepted sacrifices that were killed in a specific way. For instance, strangulation of the sacrifice using a loop of string and a stick. (I'll spare you the gory details. Go figure out yourself how it was done... :P ) Now if a person really wanted to follow traditional celtic pagan spirituality, I'd think an archeological text would be an excellent guide. However, notice that most people who are into "celtic spirituality" today don't actually practice the same thing... Now, I don't think the celtic gods have changed much over the centuries... so why do you think there is a discrepancy in the practice? ;)
But I digress... back to magic. I have noticed that if you start talking about magic, most people will initially laugh and say they don't believe in it. Then IF you go on into more occult topics, they will sort of start to feel uncomfortable. For unbelievers, they sure do exhibit a great deal of belief in the power of magic to upset their rational lives.
Why are people afraid of the whole notion of magic? I used to puzzle over this question, because local people seem to be okay with the notion of wonders happening in the context of religion. Take for instance the local "tang ki" or spirit medium piercing himself with skewers or sitting on a chair of nails. He has done a wonder through the power of the spirit or god possessing him and this is what the worshippers expect. They accept this wonder and do not feel that it threatens them, despite the fact that the "tang ki" has done an act that fulfills all the traditional definitions of an occult act.
Perhaps the verneer of religion helps to make the idea of magic easier to swallow. Perhaps the idea that a person could also command the same powers without imploring the assistance of a god is just too much for the mind of the Everyman. That would mean that that same magician could do harm to anyone without seeking the approval from the divine powers that be. In case you are wondering if magic without gods is possible, just think of the countless times you have heard about bomohs cursing this person or that person, or dominating the mind of some poor innocent girl... brrr... heh
Okay, so the bomohs sometimes do call on "bad" spirits for help and people call what they do black magic. But still, think about it. IF magic without the trappings of religion is so bad why do the gods still allow it to happen eh? Why not get rid of all the "bad" spirits and thus eliminate the problem altogether? And then there're practitioners out there who don't make use of gods or demons at all to cast their spells, how do you explain their existance? The keys of Solomon are after all used in summoning and compelling spirits, demons AND angels I might add. HOW ON EARTH do you explain that?
It all really boils down to the notion that people get afraid when someone, a normal human being like them has certain powers that cannot be explained or controlled by them. They are however okay with the fact that the gods have powers. I sometimes think that the rituals of religion give the worshipper a mechanism of control. Say prayers and offer stuff to the gods and your requests will be answered, or the gods will be appeased. If anything bad happens, you either offer more stuff and hope that your luck changes or you lose faith and switch to new gods.
Control, I think, is the main reason behind this fear of magic.
If that is the case, ask yourself why it is that whatever powers that created the universe allowed the notion of magic to exist. Why not have lots and lots of priests and devout men and be done with it? Why not allow wonderworking to only be the province of the gods?
I think that the one original being who created everything... (yes, I do believe in that one original creator who made everything)... is not a big control freak. I think that he (No offense to the goddess worshipers, I'm merely using "he" for convienence) allowed the concept of magic because in the long run, the power of magic to alter reality will allow the creation of diversity in experience and put responsiblity for problem solving in the hands of beings like you and I. Now I'm not saying I know the mind of the creator, it is merely a theory I am proposing.
Hmmmm... I guess not many people like the idea of taking responsibility as well. After all it is easier to pray to the gods for solutions and blame them as well if everything goes wrong... "It's not MY fault!", "I can't control what is happening!", "I have NO CHOICE!" ... heh... humans...
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