I.M.O. On Magic(k?) Part II · The Gaming Outpost

In.My.Opinion.
On Magic(k?) II

Welcome to second installment of my three part mini-series on magick. If you have not yet read the first installment (On Magic(k?) I) I would suggest you do so before you continue onward. In this installment I will take a closer look at suprarational magic and ritual components. I define suprarational magic as purely internal magic. In suprarational magic systems the soul, usually with the help of rituals, produces magic. In these systems gods, spirits and the like play no or a relatively small role, at least as far as magic is concerned.

Suprarational Magic
As far as I know most real world systems of magic are suprarational. This means you one can find nearly endless inspiration for suprarational magic systems in your local library. Appropriately all of the ritual techniques that I will present below are real world techniques. These techniques appear again and again across the world and throughout history. I will start with the basic ritual, this procedure is the superstructure that supports all suprarational magic:

The ritual is divided into three very basic steps:

Entry into the world of magic (an altered state of consciousness, whatever sounds better to you).
Action or experience in this world. (I will comment on experiencing the world of magic below).
Return to the mundane world (normal, everyday consciousness).

If your game’s magic system is (or if you want to make it) suprarational it is IMO a good idea to integrate these three steps into spell casting. If you wish to do so it is probably a good idea to take a closer look at each of the steps and to define how exactly wizards in your game approach them. When deciding on what techniques your wizards use you should decide whether all wizards of one culture use the same techniques or if each wizard (or school of wizards) uses its own methods. The techniques that you choose (this is the essence of suprarational magic) should mean something, especially in a mystical sense, to the wizards that use them. Often this will mean that the techniques are directly tied to the legends (and thereby the religions, something I will comment on below) that the wizards believe in.

To provide you with some inspiration I will take a look at each point and provide a number of real world techniques that are used to approach it. I will begin, appropriately, with entry into the world of magic. In the real world the following techniques (among many others) are used to enter this world:

Many magicians prepare themselves for their entry into the world of magic via ritual purification. Thereby they seek to remove mental impurities or (and) they attempt to focus their concentration. Purification usually takes the form of a vigil, fasting, avoiding certain forms of activity (very often sexual activities) or literal cleansing, as in lustration. All of these actions can (and often are) be accompanied by gestures, chants and the like.
Drugs (anything from alcohol to hallucinogenic) are used by magicians in hundreds of cultures to enter the world of magic.
Another common method is “collecting oneself”, focusing completely on one’s soul. This is achieved through meditation, breathe control, slow controlled movements (yoga, tai chi) and focusing on an object or thought.
The final example for entry into the world of magic is also by far the most common method: Circling. When a magician uses circling he declares a consecrated area separate from reality. This area is often a circle (in many cases a chalk circle), but it can also be a temple, cave or the like. To use circling a magician first ensures that only items significant to the ritual remain in the circle. He then steps into the “circle” and seals, through chants or the like, the circle from mundane reality. In most cases any intrusion into the circle during the ritual will ruin the magic.

Next I will provide a few sample techniques used to invoke spells or (and) experience the world of magic. Before you consider the exact techniques you should decide what exactly world of magic means in your game. Is this world a purely internal affair, an alteration of the consciousness? Does it allow the magician’s soul to touch the plane of magic? Does it actually physically transport the magician to a (the) plane of magic (does he exist on both planes at once or does he bodily disappear from reality)? When the magician looks past the area he is using for his magic, does he see mundane reality or the strange world of magic?

Note that Hero Wars (and other Glorantha products I believe) excellently cover the world of magic and the ritualist interaction with it.

One of the most common methods used to change the world (cast spells) is to employ incantation. In an incantation the magician taps into the power of the spoken word. He simply declares something to be true and thereby makes it real (Lewis Carroll: What I tell you three times is true). In most cases incantations are accompanied by prayers, invocations, chants, gestures or the like.

Sympathic magic is a further common and interesting method used to influence reality. This type of magic utilizes the belief that all things that are similar are connected. A magician using sympathic magic mimics the change he wishes to bring about with the physical items used in the ritual (say driving a nail into an image of the target to hurt him or putting a black blanket over one’s head if one is trying to magically hide oneself and so on).

Another ritual method that can be found in most cultures is invocation. Invocation is performed by causing some aspect of the outer world or the inner self to manifest as a personified entity (psychology calls this dissociation). The so summoned entity (you should decide if it is a figment of the mind, invisible or visible, in that case you should decide its appearance) can then be convinced to change the world.

A surprisingly common method (especially in ancient sorcery) is the assumption of the god form. A magician who uses this method turns himself into a god (often a specific god, but sometimes he becomes a nondescript divine being). The magician fully absorbs and accepts the god’s personality (role) and thereby gains new clarity of thought and, so he usually believes, power. A variation of this magic is the trance. A magician entering trance to become a god (or spirit), but he also suppresses his own personality. Trance is very common in voodoo and the African religions from which it was born.

Some magicians (shaman in particular) do not seek to cast spells when they enter the world of magic, they see going there as an end of its own. There are lots of things, so they believe, that can be done in the world of magic. One can search for visions of the future, of the past, answers to questions, the presence of magic and many other things. While these (vision)quests can be very helpful, especially if one wishes to discover truths about oneself along the way, they are often not entirely easy. Guardian and outright inimical spirits (manifestations of the magicians fears and flaws?) often seek to hinder the magician’s process in the world of magic.

To end the basic ritual magicians do something to exit the world of magic. They do this to avoid carrying the altered state of consciousness into their everyday lives. If you wish to use suprarational magic you should consider what will happen should the magician fail to correctly end the ritual. Anything from hallucinations to random supernatural phenomena are possible until the magician grounds himself. Some magicians choose to forever remain in the world of magic. These wizards will probably be rather powerful, but also incurably insane by the standards of the mundane world.

The basic method of ending a ritual and leaving the world of magic is grounding. Usually the magician simply declares the ritual complete and lets the energy drain from him. Additional chants, gestures and the like are used by some. If the magician used circling he will probably dissolve the circle, often by acting out the creation of the circle in reverse.
If spirits, gods or the like were called by the magician they will also have to dismiss them. This is usually done with gestures and chants.
Now that I have done my best to cover the how of suprarational magic I will go on to examining what can be done with it. The big question here is can magic change reality and, if so, can it bend or break it. I will describe the possible effects of suprarational magic from least powerful (incapable of changing reality) to most powerful. At its least powerful suprarational magic is no magic in the RPG sense at all. Even if magic cannot produce actual supernatural effects in your game it might still be capable of altering the psychological state of the magician. It might only be capable of minor alterations (such as removing fear or enhancing concentration – in this case it should probably be a skill) or it might be capable of inducing massive and powerful changes. In the latter case magic might allow wizards to ignore pain, reach his physical limits or even become perceptive enough to appear clairvoyant.
On the next level suprarational magic is capable of causing coincidental changes of reality. On this level of power a magician can attempt to achieve any effect (any effect that he has learned to invoke, a.k.a. spell) with his magic. If the spell was successful the effect will come about as the result of a long chain of seemingly random coincidents. On this level a magician can also alter his mind in rather massive ways. He can achieve any psychological state, push their physical and mental limits, go into hibernative trances and the like.
On the final power level suprarational magic can achieve true supernatural effects. Magic of this power level is capable of virtually anything (of course you may wish to stack this power as well). This is the power level of traditional RPGs. Modern magic theory assumes that even if magic is capable of this level it usually still employs coincidents. Only if there is no other way for the magic to achieve its ends does it resort to supernatural effects.
In virtually all cultures magic is directly linked to religion. In fact priests and magicians are often one and the same thing. Even though this is the case I believe that most RW magic is suprarational. IMO this is the case as even the magic of cultures were the wizards are also priests (say in ancient Egypt or in most cultures with shaman) the magic aims at altering the consciousness of the practitioner. Very little time is spent on actual prayer. What is more many cultures that have a long history of magic use come to conclusion that gods are merely facets of the self. Hinduist and Taoist magic would be good examples here. This is of course only my humble opinion. If it would make more sense in your game (or if you believe) it is perfectly safe to assume that altering one’s state of consciousness is necessary to speak to the gods or that the gods seek to cultivate the soul of magicians and thus demand consciousness altering rituals.
This brings me to the final point I wish to make about suprarational magic. Due to its consciousness altering nature many believe that suprarational magic is not only capable of altering reality, but also that it is an excellent tool to cultivate the soul. Those who believe this tend to call magic magick (a trend started by the venerable Aleister Crowley). Those who practice magick sometimes do not even believe that magic is capable of changing reality. All they wish to achieve is a higher state of consciousness.
This belief can, IMO, be put to excellent use in RPGs. First you can grant characters new spells after they have reached new levels of spiritual awareness. Such spiritual awareness might be gained through symbolical quests (say for the pure pearl that lies at the bottom of dark ocean), it might be gained whenever a character learns a new secret about your campaign world or spiritual awareness could be the result of excellent roleplaying (or all of the above). Second, you can grant wizards new levels of awareness when they reach new levels of magical power. In the latter case you might grant wizards new mental advantages when they reach new levels of power or you could grant the wizard new insights about your campaign world. In either case this would also be an excellent tool to facilitate character growth. For example you could recommend that wizards, whenever they increase their power, also change their personality in some enlightened way.
Components of magic
To wrap things up I will provide you with a list of components that might be used in rituals. I will divide this list into six categories:

Items: Items (or material components) are very common almost no culture that believes in magic does not associate certain items with the magic. A small list of sample items might include things such as wands, cups, coins, swords, tablets, rings, candles, bones, pendants and books. Of course these items will often have to be prepared, in many cases by the magician himself, in special ways. Engraving runes, using only certain materials in the construction, blessing and the like are all known and common.
Sensory components: It is not just physical things that can be linked to magic. Some cultures link smells, sounds, colors or even tactile components to their magic. Examples of this might be a color that only mages (priests) may wear, droning chants, the chiming of certain bells, certain instruments used only to provide background music for rituals and the smells of herbs.
Living components: Many cultures hold believe that certain plants and animals have magical prosperities or are perhaps intrinsically magic. Pictures of the being, statuettes depicting it, parts from it or even the entire thing (rather common for plants) will often be present when wizards of such a culture invoke magic. Usually only rare and / or dangerous plants (poisonous) or animals are honored in this way. Concoctions made from these living beings are very popular in such cultures.
Gestures: Gestures are universally used in magic around the world. Hand gestures, movement, dances, yogic positions, jumping up and down are all used. All of these gestures are usually either majestic and slow or wild and ecstatic.
Mental images: The mind is important to all magic. During rituals it must be used in extraordinary ways. Often the mind is flooded with ecstasy by overloading the senses with stimuli. Other cultures try to empty the mind completely via meditation. Others attempt to visualize on mental images or try to see (or live) legend before their mind’s eye. It is quite common for a magician to actually see (hallucinate) what he is thinking about during a ritual. Those who meditate tend to experience a state of absolute dissolution.
Linguistic components: Words have an intrinsically magical quality to them and only the rarest few cultures fail to employ them in their ritual. A few samples of this could include certain phrases (especially from scripture or myths), mantras, songs, chants and humming. During ritual magicians tend to alter the tone and pitch of their voice, either a result of their altered state of consciousness or a conscious attempt to separate their ritual self from their mundane self.