Ritual Purification, Exorcism & Defensive Magic (IHS Study Guide Series)

Ritual Purification, Exorcism & Defensive Magic contains information critical to understanding and practicing traditional folk magic as well as its ceremonial sibling. Rooted in the most foundational aspects of esoteric perceptions - the Doctrine of Correspondences and Contagion - and the symbolic and ritual practices that spring from it, this book will provide readers with not only an insight into a living tradition but also the means to practice it. Ritual Purification, Exorcism & Defensive Magic is the edited and refined transcripts from a seminar presented by Mark Stavish, in which he publically discussed for the first time little known aspects of traditional Pennsylvania German folk magic, also known as pow-wow or braucherei. These topics include: making of prayer cloths, so-called ‘witch bottles,’ tattoos and body markings from the view of the invisible domain, dealing with ghosts and demons, creation of ‘Letters from Heaven,’ magical barriers, and the role of esoteric tradition and connecting to the spiritual hierarchy of traditions.