A Witch's World of Magick (15 page)

She wrote the name of the victim in a book, receiving a gift at the same time. A pin was dropped into the well in the name of the victim, and through it and through knowledge of his name, the spirit of the well acted upon him to his hurt.
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We find here that power lies in the written name as well as in the symbolically named pin-made-victim. In using a combination of magickal identification techniques, the priestess helped ensure that the spirit of the well got the message.

One point common to many magickal identification techniques around the world is the use of the mother’s name. In Jewish, Greek, Arabic, and many other magickal traditions, identification of the target of the spell by their maternal lineage was standard and widespread.
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Using the mother’s name rather than the father’s name makes sense magickally because it provides a more positive identification of the intended target. While paternity is not always certain, maternity is difficult to pawn off on another; by identifying magickal targets with their mother’s name, there can be no case of mistaken identities.

A sample of text from a binding tablet dating from fourth-century Rome provides an example of maternal identification in the magickal arts:

… this impious and ill-fated Cardelus, whom his mother Fulgentia bore, bound, tied up and restrained, Cardelus whom his mother Fulgentia bore …
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In this example, we see poor Cardelus’s mother identified by name in addition to her son. The magickian who crafted this tablet made certain in doing so that the spell would affect the right man, and would therefore have a better chance for success.

The practice of maternal identification, while not as well-known or as common as it once was, is still found today among magick workers around the world. In modern-day Egypt, for example, the mother’s name is still used in many types of protective rituals and healing rites such as the Zar ceremony, an exorcistic healing ritual intended to relieve patients afflicted with mental disorders. In a 2010 essay by Fayza Haikal, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, the importance of positive identification of the patient through the use of the mother’s name is emphasized:

… today when exorcism is performed during Zar ceremonies, or when protective incantations known as roqia are pronounced over children usually, but also over adults, to protect them against evil eyes … these performances cannot be effective unless the person intended is identified by his/her name and that of his/her mother.
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Parental identification was employed in ancient Egypt, as well. An ancient Egyptian magickal rite found in
The Pyramid Texts
also makes use of parental identification:

Utterance 293.
To say: Back, hidden serpent; hide thyself,
and let N. not see thee.
Back, hidden serpent; hide thyself,
and come not to the place where N. is,
lest he pronounce against thee that name of thine,
Nmi son of Nmi.t.
A servant (holy person) as the Ennead’s pelican (once)
fell into the Nile, (so) flee, flee.
Serpent (beast), lie down.
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Here, we have a positive assertion that one’s name holds power—the magician here threatens the “serpent,” promising to “pronounce against thee that name of thine, Nmi son of Nmi.t.,”
⁸⁵
lest the “serpent” hide itself and not come ’round. The text implies that if such a name were pronounced, the “serpent” would be in some way harmed or otherwise controlled. We have here therefore an expression of the idea that knowing a person’s or god’s identity, knowing their parental lineage, gives a magician power and sway over that person or god.

To the Finnish, knowing the origin and history of an enemy, in addition to knowing their parental lineage, provided an important means of magickal identification and establishing dominance. John Abercromby’s 1898 work
Magic Songs of the West Finns, Vol. 2
, offers an example of the technique in action. Check out this spell used to combat an enemy:

O wasp, the stinging bird, O gadfly, bubbling o’er with wrath, O hornet, thou complaisant man, don’t shoot thine arrows forth into that human skin, that body of a mother’s son. Surely I know thine origin, together with thy bringing up; thou wast conceived by Synnytär, brought up by Kasvatar. Blind was thy father, blind thy mother, thou art blind thyself. In the snow thy father died, in the snow thy mother died, in the snow thyself wilt die.
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The phrase “Surely I know thine origin” helps establish the magician as dominant over this foe, able to will it to die in the snow like its mother and father. In this example, we see also that the simple assertion that one knows the lineage, history, and origin of the enemy is enough to take power over that foe. The magickian refers to the enemy as “conceived by Synnytär, brought up by Kasvatar,” and makes further claims as to the vision and place of death of these “parents.” Synnytär was a personification of birth, while Kasvatar was a personification of growth. These are not literal parents, and it’s doubtful that the utterer of these words actually knows “thine origin” and “thy bringing up” of the “wasp” here accused, and yet the phrases seem to have supposed magickal power, nonetheless. By using metaphoric, figurative language, the Finnish magician was able to bolster their claim to knowledge regarding the foe’s identity, and was thus able to obtain power and control over the menacing and stinging “wasp.”

Identification through a name or an origin isn’t only useful for battling foes and other misfortunes; it’s a practice useful in coercing deities, as well. An early Egyptian text establishes the utterer as an equal to the gods, and one of the “credentials” mentioned is knowing the names of those gods:

HAIL, thou lotus! Thou type of the god Nefer-Temu!
I am the man that knoweth you, and I know your
names among those of the gods, the lords
of the underworld, and I am one of you.
Grant ye that I may see the gods who are the
divine guides in the underworld, and grant ye unto me
a place in the underworld near unto the lords of Amentet.
Let me arrive at a habitation in the land of Tchesert,
and receive me, O all ye gods, in the presence of the lords of eternity! Grant that my soul may come forth whithersoever it pleaseth, and let it not be driven away from the presence of the great company of the gods!
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Here, the utterer states, “I am the man that knoweth you, and I know your names among those of the gods, the lords of the underworld, and I am one of you.” By knowing the names of the gods, a certain kinship is established, a form of proof given to show one’s worth to have a “place in the underworld near unto the lords of Amentet” and to “not be driven away from the presence of the great company of the gods!”

Another interesting example from Egypt illustrates that the names used to identify the gods need not be proper nor flattering. Identifying an entity by a false, impolite, or slang name can have power as well, just as identifying an entity by their real name has a magickal effect. Mercer’s translation of
The
Pyramid Texts
lists the following incantation as a protection placed on a pyramid enclosure; included here is a brief excerpt from the original text:

… If Nephthys comes in this her evil coming; that which is said to her is this her name of “substitute without vulva …”
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Here, instructions are given to the enclosure that if the goddess Nephthys should attempt to breach the pyramid with ill intentions, she should be called “substitute without vulva.” This title don’t seem very nice when you consider it’s being applied to a deity. In Egyptian myth, Osiris was tricked by Nephthys into sleeping with her rather than with his beloved Isis, who was the sister of Nephthys and her complete opposite. Where Isis represented life and fertility, Nephthys represented barrenness and death.
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The rather rude-sounding moniker of, “substitute without vulva,” highlights the less pleasant or more unusual qualities of Nephthys in an attempt to prevent her from rendering harm upon the dead. In calling the goddess out on her indiscretions and idiosyncracies, power over the divine is obtained. Perhaps it’s true that we can never escape our wrongdoings, and the least attractive qualities we possess are as sure a way to identify us as is our name and parental lineage.

Another technique of magickal identification to note is the use of physical elements to supply the energetic signature of the spell target. Hair, nail clippings, and other body-derived ingredients are commonly used to identify the focal point of the magick, and when these are not available, a written or verbal description of the person’s physical traits, or a photograph of them, are often employed. If the focus of a spell is a place or a thing rather than a person, the modern witch might use drawings, photographs, dirt
or stones from a particular locale, a bit of gold to symbolize a heap of gold, or other means to capture the energetic essence of the magickal target.

Common Threads and New Perspectives

Now that you know how magicians of the past have identified their spell targets using names, parental lineage, idiosyncrasies, origin, physical traits, and even metaphor, consider ways you might apply these techniques in your own modern practice. Might knowing (or even pretending to know!) the origin of the bad luck you’ve been having offer you some measure of ability to send that bad luck packing? Could failing to be precise in identifying the target of a love spell have unexpected consequences? When magick fails to reach its intended target, the spell may still have effects, only unplanned and elsewhere. Positively identifying the spell target helps ensure that your magick goes exactly where you want it to go, diminishing the risk of ineffective and/or misdirected magick.

Magickal Identification in Practice

Magickal identification need not be applied only when it comes to the main focus or “target” of the spell. Identifying other spell components as specifically as possible does much to boost the efficacy of the magick. Just as the full name, parental lineage, place of origin, physical traits, and idiosyncracies of an enemy or other magickal target can be useful in controlling and directing the magick, so too does incorporating identifying characteristics of the power sources used in the spell help call into action the specific forces and energies needed to make it happen.

Such power sources include, for one, yourself, the spellcaster. Unless it’s a rather sneaky spell you’d rather not take cosmic credit for, refer to yourself by name, magickal name, maternal lineage, place of origin, idiosyncracies, physical traits, metaphoric or figurative language—as many identifying aspects as you feel comfortable sharing with the other “power sources” aiding you in the magick. These other sources of power might include deities, spirits, stones, plants, fellow witches—anything else that lends its energy or aid to the magick at hand.

Be as specific as possible in your magickal identification. If you know the proper name of a thing, by all means, use it. Ditto with origin and parental lineage. If you know not origin nor lineage nor proper name, use general identifying language that could be true of nearly anyone, i.e., “son of the mother who bore him.” Remember, figurative language and metaphor can be used where knowledge is lacking, also. For example, if you were casting a spell for protection against an unknown yet venomous enemy who seemed to appear out of nowhere, you might identify this foe as, “the snake who hid in the shadows,” or, “the snake who crept up from under the rock,” or something similar. Idiosyncrasies can be useful as well, but are more of an extra layer of specificity rather than a primary means of identification. Especially where solid knowledge about proper name and background lacks, information about idiosyncrasies is indispensable in filling the gaps. Let’s take a look at some examples to better illustrate how this all might pan out in actual magickal practice.

Best Case Scenario

In our hypothetical “best case scenario,” you know the full name and history of the person to be affected by the magick. You know their parental lineage and their place of origin. You know their idiosyncrasies, and you even have a photo and a piece of their hair to give your magick spell an extra boost. Your spell might make use of as many of these identifying characteristics as possible. Your magickal identification might sound something like “Mary Carter, born July 1st, 1979, daughter of Rebecca Carter, Mary Carter who lives at 391 Elm Street in Topeka, Kansas, Mary Carter who was born in Savannah, Georgia, who has red hair, who stands 5’ 7” tall, who wears glasses, who bites her nails, who drags her feet, who has a squeaky voice.” In addition, the photo and the hair would be incorporated, perhaps laid on the altar as a point of focus or added to a lucky talisman or protective amulet.