Original Magic: The Rituals and Initiations of the Persian Magi - Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D. 2017

Actions
The History of Iranian Magic

The symbolic actions undertaken in pre-Zoroastrian ritual were certainly as complex as those found in Vedic ritual in India. These were, however, simplified in an almost scientific way so that no superfluous actions are taken. They consist primarily of the touching—or non-touching—of certain objects among the âlât (array of ritual instruments) by the magician; the arrangement and tending of certain symbolic features in the ritual space, such as tending the fire by feeding it with wood and incense; and other actions outlined in the rituals in chapter 5. The theoretical key to understanding the metalanguage of these actions is that they occur on two levels: the one linked to menog (the celestial and symbolic realm) and the one that is linked to getig (the terrestrial and natural realm). In the realm of menog, these actions constitute a symbolic language, which acts much as the manthras do, as a mode of communication between the magician and the yazatas. In the realm of getig, the actions make up an actual physical arrangement by which substances are connected and/or insulated from one another so that effects are produced in a manner much like chemicals are treated in a laboratory to effect phenomena in a direct, physical way. The small effects produced in the ritual space begin a process, which can become greater depending on how accurately and strongly they are channeled.