City Magick: Urban Rituals, Spells and Shamanism - Christopher Penczak 2001

Introduction

“THAT’S JUST WRONG! CITIES ARE EVIL,” said a very good friend of mine when I first mentioned this book to her. She’s a pagan too, and although we come from different traditions, I respect her opinions and beliefs. Her thoughts on any matter hold a lot of weight for me. For a moment, I was bruised—but for just a moment. I was immediately impressed with her precognitive powers, exceeding the bounds of most psychics, to divine the content of the book before it was even written. Then I thought, these words came from a woman who has running water, electricity, heat, a computer, a television, a stereo, two VCRs, a Jeep, a refrigerator, a banana rack, wireless speakers, and an ice cream maker! I asked her to bring those thoughts to the next logical step. She said, “What? That I should blow all the cities up?” She can get passionate about things at times. I reminded her of her household conveniences. If you followed those thoughts to their logical conclusion, you would be living in a tent in the forest, foraging and hunting for your own food. There would be no e-mail or television shows. And she would probably love it too. She’s very primal. And perhaps that is the better way to live.

My friend then proceeded to tell me, however, that the things I had mentioned were different. You could have them without cities. Cities cause too many problems. She also refers to her vehicle as a “she,” and truly communicates with its animating spirit. Pretty strange behavior for someone who sees cities as evil. Wisely, she chalked her opinions up to knowing what was good for her and commented that her beliefs weren’t for everybody else. I agreed.

Honoring another path is what it’s all about. I honor hers and she honors mine. This book is all about honor. My goal was to present a possible path for those not living off the beaten paths, near the forests, mountains, and waters-and particularly for those who choose not to move there. Many of those in rural settings think they have a monopoly on what is natural, magical, and spiritual. They don’t. Everything is natural. Many in the city think they are confined to a nonspiritual setting, filled with unnatural and harmful forces. I thought so for a while. I felt very disconnected from the world in the city, until I learned to forge new connections with the world around me. Again, everything is natural. There is spirit in all things, and we are part of spirit regardless of where we are.

Hopefully, city magick can open the doors to a new urban magical world. Magick is hiding everywhere, waiting to be found. Cities do have their problems. They have a lot of problems. I would love to create a “shining bright city, perfect and clean,” as mentioned in an obscure song called “Mysteries of the Unexplained” by pop singer Tanya Donelly. We have a collective archetype of a Utopian city in our minds, and are constantly reminded of it by our artists, our true visionaries of what was, is, and will be. I might never have heard that song if I had not worked for Ms. Donelly’s manager in a recording studio/management company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, in the turmoil of the music business, working in the city, I felt disconnected from nature, my roots, and my magick. I had the ideal of Utopia in my mind, but the reality fell somewhat short. There, I started the practices described in this book to reclaim my daily magick, my daily spirituality, regardless of where I lived or worked.

Many writers, musicians, artists, and generally unusual folk—magical and otherwise—have been my wisest teachers in creating this book. Those on the fringe have provoked new thoughts, techniques, and ways to look at things. I owe a particular debt to the new and daring generation of comic book writers (believe it or not) who face reality with new lenses. Grant Morrison, chaos magician and writer of The Invisibles, was a tremendous source and perhaps the inspiration for the book. Leave it to Mr. Morrison to demonstrate an actual magical initiation and adventure through his comic books. His creations are like the grand adventures of Carlos Castenada—fantastic, but very real on a different level of reality. These things only seem crazy to the uninitiated, those who work in only one world. Morrison gives us sorcerers like Tom O’Bedlam, living on the streets, teaching the upstart young hero how to walk between the worlds of the city. Together, they visit Luan-Dun, the city of the Moon in the sunless shadows of London. The unlikely hero, the mundane boy or future Buddha, is initiated reluctantly into the mysteries of the world and takes up the cause as his own. As demonstrated by the work of Joseph Campbell, the story is an age-old one, told again and again in our ancient myths, through our science fiction trilogies like Star Wars, and even through our comic books. Grant Morrison would probably be less than thrilled to find his work inspiring another New Age book, but it’s the core of the work that counts, not necessarily the medium, and I hope he’d appreciate that. He and his peers inspire me greatly. They, along with other writers, musicians, and artists, are creating the new myths. I hope some last as long as the classics that I grew up learning. Their work is worth checking out, as entertain, ment and as a thought-provoking new mythos.

There is a mythological ideal of the city that we have not really achieved in this world. Did it exist on forgotten continents? If so, we have no evidence of it. We will never know how to create it if we do not honor the energy and spirits in the cities we have already built. Even modern science is coming to the conclusion that there is. more to us than the merely physical. We have an energy component. Not only people, but the entire world, has an energy aspect. Perhaps by honoring it and working with it, we can transform our urban dwellings from potential engines of destruction to bright and shining centers of learning and prosperity. I’m sure it’s not that easy, but it may well be. Some things are much simpler than we think. We need to honor the spirit in all things to find out. We need to try and work with what we have. The world may not be changed with a wave of the magick wand, but if we work collectively toward something, our power to transform is great. It works in our mystical lives and in our daily living.

Honoring starts at home. Start with yourself, your family, your home, and your tools. All are sacred. If you have only been an armchair practitioner till this point-interested in magick, but never taking the leap because you weren’t close enough to the natural forces—then get up off the sofa and open your eyes. You are a natural force—one with all the other forces around you. Open the door, walk down the street, and let the adventure begin.