No, not that kind of fetish.

Part of a series of posts inspired by the South Wales Occult Conference in Cardiff on 2nd November 2024 – find the first post and index here.

Dr. Robert A. Plimer (of Black Lodge Publishing)  is an academic and a practitioner who I’ve heard speak on Egyptian magic several times now, and he’s always fascinating.

This was no exception.

Dr. Bob spoke on different types of Fetishes, magical objects, how they were made, what they were for, and their parallels with mummies.

How these were made of, or including, bone, seeds, milk… Things that are of the body… And smeared in blood, or red as a symbol of blood, to bring them to life.

And how they were the focal point for intention.

Between the matter and the mind and the life force in the blood… The Fetishes become living sites of spirit interaction, bridges between the practitioner and the Others.

What really struck me was the importance of the material aspect in this process – this is magic that is embodied, with no claim to be separate from this world. The Fetishes need all three aspects to work as magical objects.

I also really enjoyed hearing about the healing steles – carved stone images with script, as a charm for healing, activated by having wine poured over the carvings. The wine would flow in the shape of the healing charm and become imbued with that spell.

Magic you can eat, not just think about.

In my work I often remind students that to be the most effective practitioners possible we need to bring all of our parts to the magic in alignment: our physical self, our mental self, and our divine self.

This can appear many different ways, of course, but that principle is demonstrated here too.

The physical, mental, and spiritual/divine aspects all shaped with one purpose, and the magic is rooted in an understanding of how these are all inherently interconnected.

Dr Bob did also remind us that any work like this has to be within the context of the Practitioner’s culture, that an object to house spirits probably won’t work in a context that doesn’t allow for spirits to be housed… Which reminds me that it isn’t just our inner parts that need to work together to make magic, but that the world needs to have space for magic for it to happen.

Let’s continue to make that space.

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