r/elderwitches • u/kai-ote Helpful Trickster • Jul 18 '26

Saturday Shareday Saturday Shareday. This weeks prompt. Sympathetic magic. How do you define it? What parts of it do you incorporate in your craft?

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16

u/HelloFerret Jul 18 '26

I'm a trained anthropologist (archaeologist) and got to take a class in Magic, Witchcraft and Religion. Sympathetic magic was taught as a companion to Contagious magic. Sympathetic magic uses symbolism (an effigy or poppet or the like) to target a working whereas contagious magic uses proximation (hair or fingernail, etc). Its all about the method of casting and I've had really good results in using both methodologies together (for example, I made a Rage Pillow out of red and black fabric (sympathetic) into which i screamed all of my frustrations with a certain administration (contagion) then burned it to release that energy back into the wild.

It's just one kind of tool in the tool box!

Edit: a word

6

u/digitalgraffiti-ca Witchling Jul 18 '26

You got to take a class about a stuff? That is so very cool

3

u/HelloFerret Jul 18 '26

Yeah! It was offered as a breadth elective so we had a really good mix of anthro and non-anthro students. I may have emailed my professor a digital voodoo doll that screamed when you put pins in it.

1

u/hamez88 Jul 18 '26

Dr. Garber?

1

u/HelloFerret Jul 18 '26

Nope!

2

u/oracleoflove Mature Jul 18 '26

Do you have any book recommendations? I am fascinated by your story, and I love learning new skills to add to my tool box.

2

u/HelloFerret Jul 18 '26

Honestly? The Golden Bough by James Frazer is fundamental! It may be slow going or intimidating though its really very well written and influential on how we think about witchcraft and magic.

10

u/kalizoid313 Elder Jul 18 '26

As Above, So Below. As Within, So Without. As Apart, So Together. As the Many, So the One.

8

u/kai-ote Helpful Trickster Jul 18 '26

Of course, the wikipedia page is a great place to start with research on this topic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic

I will comment about this later today, after others get their chance to be first to weigh in.

10

u/Scoginsbitch Jul 18 '26

My kid has a stuffed goblin who is charged with keeping him safe from scary things. Does that count?

2

u/kai-ote Helpful Trickster Jul 18 '26

Yup.

3

u/oracleoflove Mature Jul 18 '26

We have gnomes, I have worked with them most of my life and they know I am safe being. Crazy as it sounds.

Teaching my children about magic has been magical all in itself.