Blood Magic

The idea that blood in the body is the carrier of vitality has existed since the dawn of human consciousness. Kabbalah does not distinguish between them, considering “vitality” and “blood” to be two manifestations at different levels of the same energy — nefesh.

This perception of blood has many everyday, religious, and magical consequences — dietary restrictions, the special significance of sacrificial and menstrual blood, and the need to account for blood’s influence on theurgic, goetic, and other magical operations.

From the standpoint of Magic, blood is not simply a carrier of vitality, not simply a conductor of life-energy, but a form in which vitality exists in the manifested, embodied, “dense” world. That means the energy of blood is the energy of the material plane, fixing, defining, and limiting manifestations of the mind.

Two metals present in the blood of various creatures — copper (in mollusks and arthropods) and iron (in many other animals, including humans) — “anchor” this energy on the physical level (copper being the metal associated with the energies of Venus and Earth, iron the metal of Mars).

Among the important consequences of such blood-energy is its quality of attracting demons and repelling angels. Indeed, as a carrier of the energy of incarnation — in effect, condensed “red” light — blood expresses precisely that property of the dense plane which is so alluring to predators, and, at the same time, is protected by descending liminal forces. For Demons, mastery of blood means partaking of the vitality they lack; for angels, blood is untouchable and repulsive to them — they are averse to embodiment, abhorrent to the “limited” nature of the physical plane, which they perceive only as a barrier to Demons, and in which their vortices fade. This is precisely why there is a strict prohibition on consuming blood in any rituals involving angels (including the Abramelin ritual, which forbids even the slightest injuries to the practitioner), the “non-kosher” status of blood in Orthodox Judaism (see), and many other restrictions — and, for example, the reason for the well-known use of the sacrificial blood of a lamb for protection from the Angel of Vengeance (Exodus 12:7). The same logic explains the extraordinary effectiveness of sacrificial blood for opening the “gates below,” that is, for evoking Demons and infernal deities. Such a sacrifice, in effect, creates a bridge by which an ascending vortex can relatively easily reach the frequencies of physical reality.

The second important consequence is that blood-energy has “cyclical” properties, meaning it can effectively “procure” additional energy in various rituals (including those performed unconsciously). This use of blood offerings is characteristic of many rituals of seeking, a number of theurgic operations, and many practices of lower magic.

As a manifestation of the energy of nefesh, blood is closely connected with the other “lights” of mind, and through it one can gain access not only to life-energy but also to higher forms of energy. On this basis are various witchcraft manipulations with blood — love-spells, curses, and the like. Blood as a carrier of the will to live can be used as a substrate for amplifying impulses, both benevolent and destructive. Curses bound to blood are very difficult to lift.

In fact, one can say that blood is the most “energetic” of the “physical” substances; it is the most active not only as a conductor or carrier, but as an autonomous agent, an attitude toward which must always be handled with great care.