Bardic Magick

Magick is generally understood as not causing an immediate, visible effect, with a few notable exceptions in the area of direct energy work to be found in the highest levels of but a few traditions. I say “nay!” and would like to discuss Bardic Magick, a true art which has been used by every culture around the world, without exception.

Consider the following scenario: An individual is faced with opposition and seeks to ruin or at least neutralize said threat. With but a few well crafted words and a bit of energetic expenditure, this individual makes an open statement which causes those to hear it to laugh obnoxiously at the opposition. The caster has succeeded in relegating the opponent to the butt end of this joke, and as such has taken their power. When we say laughter is a great banishing, this is the most literal sense. Politicians do this all the time in debates; even a child with quick wit can deal a heavy blow to the nastiest bully in this fashion. If the definition of magick is the art and science of causing change in conformity with will then this is truly powerful magick not to be discounted simply because it does not involve demons, darkness and soul travel, lol.

Consider another: A man sits in a room with his family, around a lit hearth, telling the young ones of their heritage via oral tradition. The fire dances, lulling the listeners into a sort of trance as the bard weaves an image of the triumphs and losses and loves and lives of their ancestors, bringing to life in their minds the stories of old. Their ancestors live again in some way and a spiritual connection to the departed is formed. In some cases an entire world is created on the astral, depending on the state of the listener and even the bard. In some cases a revolution can be spawned that topples nations.

And yet another: An individual is listening to a song or poem written by someone else on the other side of the world. At some point, a soul chord is hit. With but a few words and a few notes an intense range of emotions washes over the listener. Emotional and spiritual manipulation from a thousand miles away at the push of a button, and not even at the composer’s push. Damn.

This is the awesome power of Bardic Magick.

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That point aside this is a very interesting post. On a further note why not take this further? Make it more than just psychological manipulation if you will. Could you imbue actual traditional magick into this as a form of mind control? Have a Spirit posses an instrument? Make each strum of the string an invocation?

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Yes, and from what you have alluded they are rooted in Eastern origins, from which happen to be the few traditions that can make such a claim credibly. Outside of Eastern based paths I have found little to incline me to believe it is being done in too many other traditions.

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On a somewhat-related theme, the accuracy of Australian Aboriginal oral history in describing events, later verified by geologists and geneticists, has amazed a lot of scientists, and I use them as an example of one of the world’s least technologically developed people (no formal agriculture, and the lowest measutred IQ of any ethnic group) - and yet the mouth of a man now living in 2017 can relay geological events that happened 10,000 years ago.

The power of the word! :smiley:

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I think it’s also interesting to point out that in the legends of the Australian Aboriginals, the Ancestors were the ones who sung everything into existence by using the names of all things during Dreamtime (the beginning of the world). They may be some of the least technologically advanced people but their stories are rich with imagination and magic-like themes.

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