Hello ladies, gentlemen, and those who know better! I am the enchanting Artemis, and this is the first post of The Laughing Craft. A humor blog focused on witchcraft. I consider myself a “Chaote”, a practitioner of Chaos Magick. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry! I’ll explain the full scope of the theories and my application of it in due time. Right now I’ll say it’s a practice rooted in iconoclasm, self guided experimentation, and usage of one’s own symbolism instead of dogma or inherited languages. It has some interesting culture and communal rituals around it as a result. One such technique that grew from this philosophy is “banishing with laughter”.
Magick is best defined, as most folks these days would argue, by Crowley. “Magick is the Art and Science of causing Change to occur in Reality in accordance with one’s Will.” Each capitalized word is a specific nuanced concept that can contain additional defining notes. For example, is “Reality” defined as “anything a consciousness experiences”, or does it require a communal agreement to be “Reality”? Wizards have always been incredibly discerning, and there’s no accounting for taste. To further prove that last point: I have my own definition of Magick that I use as an addendum to Mr. Crowley’s. “Magick is aligning oneself with the universe’s sense of humor.” The Gods must be crazy, and the heavens are a really good improv school.
Banishing is not, necessarily, a grim pronouncement aimed at a disgraced aristocrat. It is simply the closing of a magickal working or transition from ceremonial space to regular space. If you draw a circle with salt, you undraw the circle by sweeping the salt away. If you “open the veil” to a cataclysmic horizon fraught with infinitely perilous futures, when you’re done you “close the veil”.
Laughter is a booming, thrilling experience. Ideally you don’t need more of a definition than that. It’s interruptive frivolity is an excellent end note for a maniacal villain monologue, a delightful afternoon with a friend, and even acts involving ritualistic witchcraft. At the end of whatever spiritual act you are engaging in, make yourself laugh at the end to give the conclusion a high note to go out on. You could find a joke or meme that makes you genuinely chuckle. You could also expedite the search by just making yourself laugh, because you control your diaphragm. When I was practicing Wiccan types of ritual, I would close my ceremony by closing the directional corners ending at the east then placing fists at my hips. I inhaled, and gave a mighty laugh like a king drunk with power from a freshly won war. It was a sudden shift from an earnest prayer from a humble witch, as such it provided a definite end from the ceremony. I can not express how improper it is to “add one more thing” in a religious/spiritual context after laughing like a power mad dick head of state. When you close the ceremony, it’s closed.
Writing a regularly updated blog is a new experience for me. If anyone has any constructive criticisms, suggestions for a topic, or even praise for my charming wit, please feel free to say something in the comment section. Considering that this is a humor blog focused on witchcraft, I think it would be fitting to end on a joke.
It’s the dawn of time and the Source of Creation is granting powers and purviews to all the gods in the freshly made cosmos. Eventually it is Odin’s turn to receive his due. The Source asks Odin “WHAT POWERS SHALL I GIVE YOU?” Odin smiles and replies “You know, I think I’ll havamal” The Source says “YOU’LL HANG FOR THAT!”
For those that don’t get it: Odin is the nordic god of poetry, murder, and wisdom (among a great many other things). He invented the runic alphabet by hanging from the world tree for nine days and nine nights. Each rune gave him a different power. The story where this is accounted is called the “Havamal”.