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

Magical Sacrament
The New Urban Temples

Temples and initiation mysteries often use a sacrament, something to consume or a ritual to conduct, to change you through the worship process. We have carried this tradition over from pagan sacraments to the Holy Communion of the Catholic Church. We have even created new sacraments in our new temples, imbibing substances from the psychotropic to the mundane to embue us with ritualistic power when descending to the underworld. Sacraments mark a start to a special time, a special place for ritual.

In the new temples of nightclubs, bars, and dancehalls, the ancient barley water of the Elusynian mysteries in Greece-sacred, secret rites of life and death-is replaced with other sacraments, like beer and other alcoholic beverages. Even though alcohol is technically a depressant, since it depresses your body’s systems, it often makes us feel better. Sometimes, suppressing other systems can open the doors to new worlds and new systems. Abuses of this sacrament, however, like any other, can bring problems. Alcohol alters your body chemistry and changes your mood. Some people become more psychic after having a drink, then continue drinking, thinking it will increase these new senses. They miss the window of opportunity and lose coherence. Tobacco is another widely abused sacrament. Native people used it sparingly because of its power. It was a sacred rite for them. Taking a pack of cigarettes a day, on the other hand, including all the chemicals and tar, can do horrible things to your body. Even so, cigarette smoke has become the high-powered, noxious incense of the new temples. It alters your mood as soon as you enter a bar. Coffee is another, often abused, sacrament. Coffee beans, soaked, were eaten as a ritual sacrament by Central and South American cultures. What modern westerners drink as a beverage was the refuse of this ritual preparation, but it has its own power. The custom has grown and now many cannot continue without their daily ritual of morning coffee.

Other sacraments in the new temples become more exotic and illegal. In some club scenes, recreational drugs are used as a trial by fire, a rite of passage into a new group. Sharing an experience of that level with a new member forges bonds. Unfortunately, many of the bonds are unhealthy and moderation is not practiced. Use of such substances for recreation, rather than as a sacrament, often leads to abuses and dysfunction in daily living. This is by no means an encouragement to abuse alcohol and tobacco or to participate in any illegal activities. I am a firm believer that the magical practitioners should be able to do all these things without chemical stimulation, but, realistically, you cannot talk about these modern rituals without at least mentioning these tools and trends. Be careful in choosing what sacraments you wish to take. You can choose a specific drink, alcoholic or not, that you reserve for shamanic ritual when entering a nightclub. If you are only relaxing, and do not seek to open up these senses, then do not order that drink. The sacrament becomes a physical symbol to your body and spirit that there is magick to be done.