Visceral Magick
by Peter Paddon
First Edition Copyright 2011
SmashWords Edition 2012
By Pendraig Publishing
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except brief quotation in a review.
Edited by Tony Mierzwicki
Cover Design & Interior Images,
Typeset & Layout: By Jo-Ann Byers-Mierzwicki
Pendraig Publishing
Los Angeles, CA 91040
www.PendraigPublishing.com
ISBN: 978-1-936922-12-3
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Part One — Exploring the Nature of Magick
Magick Defined
High vs. Low
Tools of the Trade
Traditions
Folklore
Working with the Cauldrons
Part Two — The Cauldron of Warming
Initiation and Initiatory Experiences
Instant Visceral Triggers
Techniques to Trigger Visceral Experiences
Visceral Experiences
Part Three — The Cauldron of Movement
Intense Emotions and Fulfilling your Potential
Instant Visceral Triggers
Techniques to Trigger Visceral Experiences
Visceral Experiences
Part Four — The Cauldron of Wisdom
Formal Training and Divine Intercession
Instant Visceral Triggers
Techniques to Trigger Visceral Experiences
Part Five — Using Visceral Magick
Spells, Charms and Craftings
Creating Context — Integrating Visceral Magick with Your Tradition
Facilitating the Experiences in Others
Initiation
The Result of Awakening
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Dedication
To my wife Linda,
for putting up with my crap...
and for the love we share.
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Introduction
Over the last ten or twelve years, I have found my spiritual journey has taken on a few unusual twists. Before that, I was an Alexandrian Wiccan living and working in England — though I already knew that I wanted to find something deeper, darker and stronger. I had already experienced what has become a recurring theme in my life, where I have a personal internal experience that provides me with information that is later verified through research. Back in 1984, in the pursuit of the Egyptian Mysteries, I had connected with an entity who offered to teach me. He told me his name was Amenemta, and that he had been the High Priest of Ra at the Temple of Abydos in the reign of Seti I. This seemed very strange at the time, because Abydos was the cult centre for Osiris, King of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that because Abydos has seven sanctuaries, one of which is dedicated to Ra Herachty, there was indeed a High Priest of Ra at that temple, and during the reign of Seti I and partway through the reign of Ramses II, this role was held by a man called Amenemta (also written as Amenemhet or Amenhotep), who was also Chief of Works — another fact the entity had told me about himself.
Fast-forward a few years, and in 1997 I moved to Los Angeles, and began training with Roebuck coven, under Ann and Dave Finnin [Ancient Keltic Church, Clan of Tubal Cain, 1734]. This training was the perfect transition from the Wiccan way of doing things, so that in 2000, when I encountered Wildewood coven, headed by Raven Womack, I was ready to embrace what was to become my true spiritual path. The thing that has marked my journey since then has been the ever-increasing physicality of my interaction with the more subtle realms. I have come to refer to this physicality as Visceral [the dictionary definition of visceral is 1. Of or relating to the viscera, or 2. Relating to deep inward feelings rather than to the intellect: “the voters’ visceral fear of change”.] Magick, because it began with a “gut-reaction” to the energy of sacred space, a very physiological response, as I began to notice that the energy of a rite would literally make the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand up.
I didn’t have any framework or validation to my experiences, but as the visceral or physiological component became stronger, I began to have experiences that reinforced the effect, as well as provided a backdrop where they made sense. I began looking for a model on which to build a picture of my experiences, and rediscovered the Cauldrons of Poesy, an Irish Celtic poem that expressed a concept generally believed to be universal across the Celtic world, that of the Three Cauldrons.
Working with the Three Cauldrons in much the same way as a ceremonial magician might work with the spheres of the Tree of Life or the Hindu Chakras, as energy centres within the body, I found that this focused and strengthened the visceral effect yet again, and I began to notice that this visceral way of crafting seemed not to need the conscious focus and concentration of the crafting I’d done before… it was as if another intelligence was taking its cue from my physical efforts and completing the crafting for me.
Shortly after I realized that my magick was invoking the aid of another intelligence that was still somehow me, I stumbled upon the recent work in the medical field concerning visceral intelligence. It appears that there is ample evidence to suggest that the lower digestive tract, intestines, colon and bowel, contain a neural network that is responsible for the autonomic reactions of the gut, rather than those involuntary actions being under the control of the brain. Doctor Michael Gershon, regarded as the father of modern neurogastroenterology, rediscovered the work of two Victorian scientists, Bayliss and Starling. Working in labs at Oxford University, they discovered that many of the autonomic functions of the gut are controlled by a nexus of neurons in the intestines, rather than by the brain. They discovered this after one of them took a section of living bowel from a dog (kept alive in a dish filled with nutrients) and blew into it. To their surprise, the bowel section blew back! It turns out that between the two walls of muscle that encircle the tube that is our digestive tract lies a nexus of neurons that operate in the same way as the neurons of the brain. A great deal of practical experimentation had led researchers to the rediscovery of something taken for granted by our Celtic ancestors — that the human gut contained an intelligence that could work independently of the brain and respond to physiological and emotional stimuli. It turns out that the “gut-feeling” we all have from time to time was an example of this in everyday life.
So that validated — for me at least — the Cauldron of Warming in the gut (as described in the poem), and the Cauldron of Wisdom in the head speaks for itself, but it made me wonder about the Cauldron of Motion in the heart, though I did not have to wonder for long. I shared my thoughts on the subject to my brother Colin [Colin Paddon Ph.D., D.Ac., D.N.M. is a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Naturopathic Medicine. He is a gifted healer, and one of Canada’s foremost teachers of holistic and alternative therapies.], and his immediate reaction was to talk about studies that appear to show the existence of a neural network of some kind in the tissue of the heart — he described it as grey matter.
So it turns out that there is good evidence for all three cauldrons being the seat of some kind of intelligence, and as I began to weave this information together with my own experiences, I began to see the structure and pattern that, hopefully, I will share with you in this book.
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The Cauldrons of Poesy
Translated by Erynn
Rowan Laurie,
used with permission
Moí coire coir goiriath
gor rond n-ír Día dam a dúile dnemrib;
dliucht sóir sóerna broinn
bélrae mbil brúchtas úad.
Os mé Amargen glúngel garrglas grélíath,
gním mo goriath crothaib condelgib indethar
-- dath nád inonn airlethar Día do cach dóen,
de thoíb, ís toíb, úas toíb—
nemshós, lethshós, lánshós,
do h-Ébiur Dunn dénum do uath aidbsib ilib ollmarib;
i moth, i toth, i tráeth,
i n-arnin, i forsail, i ndínin-díshail,
sliucht as-indethar altmod mo choiri.
My perfect cauldron of warming
has been taken by the Gods from the mysterious abyss of the elements;
a perfect truth that ennobles from the centre of being,
that pours forth a terrifying stream of speech.
I am Amirgen White-knee,
with pale substance and grey hair,
accomplishing my poetic incubation in proper forms,
in diverse colours.
The Gods do not give the same wisdom to everyone,
tipped, inverted, right-side-up;
no knowledge, half-knowledge, full knowledge --
for Eber Donn, the making of fearful poetry,
of vast, mighty draughts death-spells, of great chanting;
in active voice, in passive silence, in the neutral balance between,
in rhythm and form and rhyme,
in this way is spoken the path and function of my cauldrons.
Ciarm i tá bunadus ind airchetail i nduiniu; in i curp fa i n-anmain? As-berat araili bid i nanmain ar ní dénai in corp ní cen anmain. As-berat araili bid i curp in tan dano fo-glen oc cundu chorpthai .i. ó athair nó shenathair, ol shodain as fíru ara-thá bunad ind airchetail & int shois i cach duiniu chorpthu, acht cach la duine adtuíthi and; alailiu atuídi.
Where is the root of poetry in a person; in the body or in the soul? Some say it is in the soul, for the body does nothing without the soul. Some say it is in the body where the arts are learned, passed through the bodies of our ancestors. It is said that this is the truth remaining over the root of poetry, and the wisdom in every person’s ancestry does not come from the northern sky into everyone, but into every other person.
Caite didiu bunad ind archetail & cach sois olchenae? Ní ansae; gainitir tri coiri i cach duiniu .i. coire goriath & coire érmai & coire sois.
What then is the root of poetry and every other wisdom? Not hard; three cauldrons are born in every person -- the cauldron of warming, the cauldron of motion and the cauldron of wisdom.
Coire goiriath, is é-side gainethar fóen i nduiniu fo chétóir. Is as fo dálter soas do doínib i n-ógoítu.
The cauldron of warming is born upright in people from the beginning. It distributes wisdom to people in their youth.
Coire érmai, immurgu, iarmo-bí impúd moigid; is é-side gainethar do thoib i nduiniu
The cauldron of motion, however, increases after turning; that is to say it is born tipped on its side, growing within.
Coire sois, is é-side gainethar fora béolu & is as fo-dáilter soes cach dáno olchenae cenmo-thá airchetal.
The cauldron of wisdom is born on its lips and distributes wisdom in poetry and every other art.
Coire érmai dano, cach la duine is fora béolu atá and .i. n-áes dois. Lethchlóen i n-áer bairdne & rand. Is fóen atá i n-ánshruithaib sofhis & airchetail. Conid airi didiu ní dénai cach óeneret, di h-ág is fora béolu atá coire érmai and coinid n-impoí brón nó fáilte.
The cauldron of motion then, in all artless people is on its lips. It is side-slanting in people of bardcraft and small poetic talent. It is upright in the greatest of poets, who are great streams of wisdom. Not every poet has it on its back, for the cauldron of motion must be turned by sorrow or joy.
Ceist, cis lir foldai fil forsin mbrón imid-suí? Ní ansae; a cethair: éolchaire, cumae & brón éoit & ailithre ar dia & is medón ata-tairberat inna cethair-se cíasu anechtair fo-fertar.
Question: How many divisions of sorrow turn the cauldrons of sages? Not hard; four: longing and grief, the sorrows of jealousy, and the discipline of pilgrimage to holy places. These four are endured internally, turning the cauldrons, although the cause is from outside.
Atáat dano dí fhodail for fíilte ó n-impoíther i coire sofhis, .i. fáilte déodea & fáilte dóendae.
There are two divisions of joy that turn the cauldron of wisdom; divine joy and human joy.
Ind fháilte dóendae, atáat cethéoir fodlai for suidi .i. luud éoit fuichechtae & fáilte sláne & nemimnedche, imbid bruit & biid co feca in duine for bairdni & fáilte fri dliged n-écse iarna dagfhrithgnum & fáilte fri tascor n-imbias do-fuaircet noí cuill cainmeso for Segais i sídaib, conda thochrathar méit motchnaí iar ndruimniu Bóinde frithroisc luaithiu euch aige i mmedón mís mithime dia secht mbliadnae beos.
There are four divisions of human joy among the wise — sexual intimacy, the joy of health and prosperity after the difficult years of studying poetry, the joy of wisdom after the harmonious creation of poems, and the joy of ecstasy from eating the fair nuts of the nine hazels of the Well of Segais in the Sidhe realm. They cast themselves in multitudes, like a ram’s fleece upon the ridges of the Boyne, moving upstream swifter than racehorses driven on midsummer’s day every seven years.
Fáilte déoldae, immurugu, tórumae ind raith déodai dochum in choiri érmai conid n-impoí fóen, conid de biit fáidi déodai & dóendai & tráchtairi raith & frithgnamo imale, conid íarum labrait inna labarthu raith & do-gniat inna firthu, condat fásaige & bretha a mbríathar, condat desimrecht do cach cobrai. Acht is anechtair ata-tairberat inna hí-siu in coire cíasu medón fo-fertar.
The Gods touch people through divine and human joys so that they are able to speak prophetic poems and dispense wisdom and perform miracles, giving wise judgment with precedents, and blessings in answer to every wish. The source of these joys is outside the person and added to their cauldrons to cause them to turn, although the cause of the joy is internal.
ra-caun coire sofhis
sernar dliged cach dáno
dia moiget moín
móras cach ceird coitchiunn
con-utaing duine dán..
I sing of the cauldron of wisdom
which bestows the nature of every art,
through which treasure increases,
which magnifies every artisan,
which builds up a person through their gift.
Ar-caun coire n-érmai
intlechtaib raith
rethaib sofhis
srethaib imbais
indber n-ecnai
ellach suíthi
srúnaim n-ordan
indocbáil doer
domnad insce
intlecht ruirthech
rómnae roiscni
sáer comgni
cóemad felmac
fégthar ndliged
deligter cíalla
cengar sési
sílaigther sofhis
sonmigter soír
sóerthar nád shóer,
ara-utgatar anmann
ad-fíadatar moltae
modaib dliged
deligthib grad
glanmesaib soíre
soinscib suad
srúamannaib suíthi,
sóernbrud i mberthar
bunad cach sofhis
sernar iar ndligiud
drengar iar frithgnum
fo-nglúaisi imbas
inme-soí fáilte
faillsigther tri brón;
búan brig
nád díbdai dín.
Ar-caun coire n-érmai.
I sing of the cauldron of motion
understanding grace,
accumulating wisdom
streaming ecstasy as milk from the breast,
it is the tide-water of knowledge
union of sages
stream of splendour
glory of the lowly
mastery of speech
swift intelligence
reddening satire
craftsman of histories
cherishing pupils
looking after binding principles
distinguishing meanings
moving toward music
propagation of wisdom
enriching nobility
ennobling the commonplace
refreshing souls
relating praises
through the working of law
comparing of ranks
pure weighing of nobility
with fair words of the wise
with streams of sages,
the noble brew in which is boiled
the true root of all knowledge
which bestows according to harmonious principle
which is climbed after diligence
which ecstasy sets in motion
which joy turns
which is revealed through sorrow;
it is enduring fire
undiminished protection.
I sing of the cauldron of motion.
Coire érmai,
ernid ernair,
mrogaith mrogthair,