TEUTONIC MAGIC - Awaken Video

11 LAWS OF TEUTONIC MAGIC
POETICS OF GALDRMAGIC
The essential goal of ritual is to provide a focus by which the magician can most effectively raise and
guide power. This is of particular importance in runework because of the many-sided being of the runes,
which requires firm and specific concentration on the side of a rune's being and the result wished if you
want to avoid unforeseen consequences. Control is of the greatest importance: a miscast or unguided spell
is far, far more likely to cause woe than weal. Despite the current romantic attachment to "wild magic"
among those who are more familiar with fantasy novels than with real life, the true mage must be able to
rule everything she/he does, or it is very likely to destroy him/her. Ritual can generally be divided into
two major categories: physical action and verbal incantation. To work a spell is literally to en-chant; the
word galdr comes from a root meaning "to sing." Unfortunately, the writing of the poetic part of the ritual
is often difficult for the ordinary person, as it calls for a good understanding of poetics as well as magic.
The more powerful a runesong is as a piece of poetry-as something which both stirs the heart and shapes a
clear image in the mind-the more power it will draw up from the depths of the vitki's being and the better
it will guide that power. Poetry's effectiveness depends on four elements: rhyme, rhythm, image, and
sense. The last of these is simply the message encoded in the poetic work; the more deeply you feel the
reason for your working, the more strongly the sense of the galdr will affect you. If you can find
correspondences for your working in the larger universe, this will also increase the might of your galdrboth
psychologically as you feel the greater forces with which you are working and magically as you call
their might into the ritual. The idea of rhyme covers not only the end-rhymes which are thought of by
most Westerners as a distinguishing characteristic of "poetry," but all the consonance of sounds which can
be achieved in a poetic work. These include alliteration (initial letters the same), assonance ("rhyming"
vowels, different consonants), and consonance (same consonantal sound within words)-all of which are of
great value in runic work, as the vitki can weave the sound of the runes he/she is using into her/his
incantation, thereby strengthening the power of their vibration at every level of his/her being and focusing
her/his subconscious along with his/her conscious. An excellent example of how this works can be seen in
an exerpt from Dylan Thomas:
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.
Although this stanza has little overt rhyme, the consonantal pattern of flower-destroyer~ever creates the
same sense of impetus and unity that a standard rhyming pattern would. The rr-sound, creating a feeling
of rushing motion is emphasized over and over: "The force that through the green fuse drives the
flower," etc.
In Teutonic magic you will do best to stick to the patterns of Teutonic verse, in which "rhyme"
appears only as alliteration, placing the emphasis on the alliterated words. This is particularly powerful in
runic work. If you, for instance, were to chant: "By raidho I ride the road a-right," you would not only
gain the benefit of the repeated sound of the rune but also direct that rune fully into your intention,
strengthening the sense as well.
The use of rhythm in incantation serves several goals. As an element of poetry, rhythm sets a
great deal of the tone and character of the poem. You can compare the slow, funereal beat of Foe's "The
Raven," for instance, with the galloping hoofbeats of "Paul Revere's Ride." The rhythm of the incantation,
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