A Witch's World of Magick (24 page)

120.
Maurice Bloomfield
, Hymns of the Atharva-Veda: Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42
(Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1897), V, 31, “Charm to Repel Sorceries or Spells,” accessed March 28, 2012, http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/av089.htm.

121.
R. O. Winstedt,
Shaman, Saiva, and Sufi: A Study of the Evolution of Malay Magic.
Glasgow, UK: The University Press, 1925, chapter IV, “The Malay Charm.” Accessed March 9, 2012. http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sss/sss06.htm.

Nine

Masks, Mimicry,
and Magick

S
ince ancient times, people from many lands and many cultures have used masks, costumes, and mimicry to commune with the divine and achieve their magickal aims. From mimetic movements, dancing, and drama, to special clothing chosen for its symbolism or magickal effect, masquerade and magick go hand in hand. In the magickal adornment of our bodies, through our theatrical actions, we become more than just our everyday selves, and we’re able to more readily achieve a mindset conducive to magick.

Magickal Masks and Mimicry Around the World

Erna Fergusson illustrates this rather powerful effect of masquerade blended with magick in her eloquent and visually rich description of the transformation undergone by the Hopi in preparation for an important ritual which took place as part of the
Powanu
, or Bean-Planting Ceremony, a festival held each February to help prepare the land for the crops that would soon be planted:

Lazily they rose from where they sat and, without the slightest embarrassment, removed their shirts, trousers, and shoes, neatly folding their things and laying them in corners. That left their smooth brown bodies exposed, the demands of propriety being satisfied by those modest curtains, front and back, which are the gee-string. Each man then painted his own body, making one leg, one arm, and one half the torso red, and the other one white … Then each man gave a helping hand to others, painting the backs like the fronts … Each man loosened his own hair, and with a grass brush he curried and shook it until it lay in a shining black mane to his waist behind and fluffed out in bobbed puffs over his cheeks. Then he tied three of his flowers to his crown, making a chaplet of the big gay blossoms, most effective against shining black hair. Somewhere in this process white kirtles and sashes were adjusted, turtle-shell rattles, strings of shell and turquoise, and silver-studded baldrics were put on; and those ordinary young men in faded overalls and dirty shirts were suddenly brilliant and beautiful figures, studies in all the possible shades of red and gold and ivory-white.
¹²²

The transformation from “young men in faded overalls and dirty shirts” into impressive figures ready to play their role in the sacred dance illuminates the value and purpose of magickally meaningful attire. By dressing the part, we’re able to transcend our everyday roles. These visually striking costumes surely added to the mystical atmosphere and magickal effect of the ritual dance at hand. Fergusson writes:

Then … they moved into two facing lines, shifted, stamped, rattled their gourds, and swirled into the dance. It was thrilling how quickly that hot underground room was transformed into a chamber of mystery as those gay creatures stepped and turned and swayed with graceful precision. Shining brown skin slipped over muscles which were hard but never strained, hands and feet moved rhythmically, voices chanted one of those compelling songs … Then it seemed that there was real force in that underground prayer, a real relationship with all the glory of the starry night outside.
¹²³

The build-up and play of energy, the power raised, the connection forged with “all the glory of the starry night outside”—the power of the ritual comes through loud and clear in Fergusson’s description. To the Hopi as with many other mystically minded people around the world, engaging in ritual dance and donning magickal costumes helps create a very moving and meaningful experience that can be readily shared and conveyed.

The masquerade of the Powanu ceremony didn’t end with the costumes and the dances. Another important part of the festival was the ceremonial planting of miniature crops of beans within the home. Small buckets or boxes were filled with dirt, bean seeds were sown, and fires were lit to help speed along germination.
¹²⁴
These mini-crops mimicked the full-size crops to come, and by engaging in the masquerade of tending to them, caring for them, raising tons of magickal energy around them, the Hopi prepared the earth for farming and were thus able to help ensure a successful harvest.

The
Powanu
ceremony was just one of the many sacred ceremonies of the Hopi in which masquerade and mimetic movement played a role. In addition to utilizing a plethora of different dances for just as many different purposes, the Hopi also used a variety of ritual garb in their ceremonies, each costume designed to complement each specific ritual, each mystical or magickal act. Special costumes consisted of jewelry, kirtles, sashes and more, often supplemented with brightly colored body paint. Colorful masks were also frequently employed. Typically designed with a ruff around the neck made of spruce, feathers, or fur, the masks concealed the entire head. The faces were painted to represent animals, monsters, birds, gods, men, or “mixed” creatures consisting of a combination of these elements. While certain masks and costumes were used year after year, others changed depending upon sudden whim or present need.
¹²⁵
Masquerade as a magickal art is both fluid
and
long-standing, able to harness the immense power of tradition as well as adapt and slip seamlessly into the pressing drama of the moment.

The Iroquois also used mimetic movements and masks for a variety of magickal purposes. In
The Code
of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet
, by Arthur C. Parker, the following description of the I’´dos, an Iroquois charm society dedicated to the welfare of animals sacred to the tribe, is related:

The I’'dos
¹²⁶
Company is a band of “medicine” people whose object is to preserve and perform the rites thought necessary to keep the continued good will of the “medicine” animals …

The head singers of the I’'dos are two men who chant the dance song. This chant relates the marvels that the medicine man is able to perform, and as they sing he proceeds to do as the song directs. He lifts a red-hot stone from the lodge fire and tosses it like a ball in his naked hands; he demonstrates that he can see through a carved wooden mask having no eyeholes, by finding various things about the lodge; he causes a doll to appear as a living being, and mystifies the company in other ways.
¹²⁷

Here, we find that the play-act helps to build up the perceived mystique and power of the medicine man and likely does much to draw in the interest of the other ritual participants. The imitative gestures that follow the song, the trick with the red-hot stone, the creepy mask without eyeholes—all work in unison to create an atmosphere of magick and sacred mystery.

Parker also describes some of the mimetic actions, songs, and symbolic costumes of the Iroquois Eagle Society, a group dedicated to the Dew Eagle, “reviver of wilting things.” The society performed healing ceremonies that were said to have a restorative effect upon the elderly and afflicted. Parker writes:

Special costumes are worn in the ceremonies. In the dance the members divide and stand opposite each other according to phratry, the animals opposite the birds. The dancers assume a squatting posture and imitate the motions of birds. The physical exertion is intense and requires constant interruption. The dancers and singers continue to dance and sing until completely exhausted, unless someone strikes the signal pole and makes a speech … After his speech, the speaker, who may be any member, presents the dancers for whom he speaks with a gift of money, tobacco, or bread: but the old custom was to give only such things as birds liked for food.
¹²⁸

The costumed dancers mimic the motion of birds, representing the healing Dew Eagle to which their clan is dedicated. By becoming the human embodiment of the Dew Eagle, a connection is forged between the dancers and the divine. The dancers dress like the Dew Eagle, move like the Dew Eagle, and receive offerings like the Dew Eagle—therefore, they’re able to heal like the Dew Eagle. The costumes, the dance, the masquerade combine in a play that allows for the transmission of healing energies, from the gods, to the “birds,” to the sick.

In China also, animal costumes were employed in ritual contexts. Shamans wore animal masks, skins, and furs, and even adopted animal postures and movements during certain rituals. One annual festival called the
Nuo
incorporated animal disguises in exorcism rites intended to drive away drought, demons, and other evils. In his 2002 work
The Animal and the Daemon in Early China
, Roel Sterckx highlights the use of costume during the
Nuo
; while the shaman brandished a lance and battled with invisible evils, masked animal attendants scared away danger with their ferocious expressions and movements:

The shaman was accompanied by twelve attendants disguised as spirit beasts wearing fur, feathers, and horns. A spell was chanted to urge these costumed actors to devour a host of evils … Various other officials put on wooden animal masks to participate in the exorcisms. The identification with animal powers enacted by disguising the face with an animal mask or by wearing its skin reinforced the officiant’s power to deter malign influences through the medium of a monstrous facial expression.
¹²⁹

Animal-themed ritual masks were also employed by Yupik shamans in Alaska. Some masks represented the spirits residing over various game animals, important to the survival of the people. One such mask was encircled with a hoop of animal images, while another included a raven holding other animals captive in its beak and feet. The shamans used the masks to help them invoke the spirits in charge of each game animal and thus ascertain whether or not there would be enough animals available to sustain the people.
¹³⁰
In a contribution included in the 2004 compilation,
Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture, Volume I
, Jean-Loup Rousselot describes the extent to which the shamans gave themselves over to the spirits:

When the shaman wore this mask, he acted as if he were the spirit itself, deciding whether to give the game to the people. The shaman was no longer asking for game, but instead incorporated the spirit that was master of the game. The spirit announced his decision, speaking through the mouth of the shaman.
¹³¹

In South America, The Incas also used special costumes for mystical purposes. At the
Yahuayra
festivals, held each July in order to help ensure the successful growth of the food supply, clothing was an important aspect of celebration. Long red shirts which stretched all the way down to the feet were worn as songs and chants for prosperity were performed.
¹³²
Red was a symbol of power, authority, and creation to the Incas, and the use of red ritual garments was meant to attract the attention and notice of the gods.
¹³³
By adding powerful earth energy to the agricultural ritual at hand, the potency of the chanted prayers could be increased.

In an essay written in 1873, Christoval De Molina recounts the Incan
Situa
festival, held each August in hopes of warding off sickness:

All things having been arranged, the High Priest addressed the assembly, and said that the ceremonies of the Situa should be performed, that the Creator might drive all the diseases and evils from the land. A great number of armed men, accoutred for war, with their lances, then came to the square in front of the temple … Then the people, who were armed as if for war, went to the square of Cuzco, crying out: “O sicknesses, disasters, misfortunes, and dangers, go forth from the land.” In the middle of the square, where stood the urn of gold which was like a fountain, that was used at the sacrifice of chicha, four hundred men of war assembled. One hundred faced towards Colla-suyu, which is the direction of the Sun-rising. One hundred faced to the westward, which is the direction of Chinchasuyu. Another hundred looked towards Antisuyu, which is the north, and the last hundred turned towards the south. They had with them all the arms that are used in their wars … they cried out and said: “Go forth all evils.”
¹³⁴