Spiritual authority

One of the major underlying themes in my Magic Words addresses spiritual authority, or the magician's ability to command spirits. The book also discusses offerings by providing more science-like details with respect to how they work, among other things. 

For some time now I've been paying more attention to Romanian folklore and I began to recall the old stories my grandma used to tell me. This made me broaden my search and I started to look up various customs and habits, as well as mythological entities from this neck of the woods. It just so happens I've come across rather detailed references to the Mother of the Woods as she's widely known around here, although she is also known by other names depending on region. How does this fit with my book? Stick around and I will tell you.

It is very probable the Mother of the Woods was a nature entity, some sort of spirit overseeing the woods. I could go as far as to say she is the demonized form of some local Pagan nature deity or most likely a spirit serving under a Pagan god or goddess, but this is my interpretation alone. The following details come from Romanian Mythology: Enemies and Friends of Man by Tudor Pamfile. This volume was published in 1916 and is part of a larger collection put together by the Romanian Academy.

The Mother of the Woods often appears as a tall, very ugly, old woman who roams the woods crying out as if she were mourning. She has long hair, often as long as her whole body. Sometimes she appears as an old nun with loosened hair. Other times she appears as half-woman half-man, while others still as a half-human half-tree creature. She is said to be able to change her appearance as she pleases and can simply show up as a tree with many branches. Some tales speak of her as being of great height and she was also said to be able to sleep in the woods "around the fire". Although the text does not explain this saying, it could mean she avoids fire or simply prefers not to stay close to it. Given her tree-like description, her not getting too close to the fire would be understandable. But I'm speculating. 

In the Land of Haţeg she was said to be an old and dangerous maiden. Moreover, every brush was said to have a thicker twig somewhere inside, with many branches curled around themselves, resembling a broom. Some say that twig belongs to the Mother of the Woods while others say the twig itself is the Mother. Whichever the case, it was said that if anyone were to cut that twig from the bush and burn it inside their house, that home would be subject to ill fortune and conflicts. 

In some parts of the country she was said to be a fair woman that could take any appearance she pleased, while in Oltenia she was known as the Sister of the Woods. The Sister was said to be fair, but would possess the Mother of the Woods' traits as well. She was said to reside in the darkest heart of the woods or inside tree hollows. She was also said to have children who are usually quiet, being asleep, as the Mother would steal the sleep of human children and give it to her own because she is seldom at home to care for them. Otherwise, should her children awaken they would pretty much wreak havoc. Some tales speak of the Mother becoming very upset with her children at one time when they were not sleeping that she changed them into venomous insects people called black wasps. The Mother was also said to care for all trees and decided their fate. She would also breastfeed them as if they were children.   

She would usually scare or even kill people whom she appears before in the woods, while at nighttime she was said to be able to appear everywhere. The book says anyone who encounters her can protect themselves by making the sign of the cross. It also says she uses her cries to lure those who wander off into the woods and if anyone is to encounter her while she is crying they are to ask her why is she crying. She will answer she has nothing to eat. The person is to give her some bread or whatever food they have on themselves and she will go on her way. It is said that by giving her bread one would prevent hunger in the world. 

The source shares a few stories about the Mother of the Woods and for the purpose of this article I have selected the first one. It is a tale of a rifleman who got lost in the woods and so he had no choice but to sleep under an old oak tree. While being asleep he heard someone shouting his name. He woke up but found no one there are no one was around. As he fell asleep the second time he again heard someone calling him and he woke up. This time he saw an old woman of terrible looks who was balancing from one foot to the other, calling him and pleading for him to go to her. 

The man tried to reach for his rifle but couldn't since he was paralyzed with fear. He remembered he had a crucifix on a string tied around his neck and he reached for it. He was barely able to move his hand, but he eventually managed to grab the crucifix which he showed to the Mother. As soon as she saw it her mood changed. She stopped laughing (apparently she was also laughing before although the text does not mention that) and instead began to cry. The man asked her why she is crying and she replied that had he not showed her the crucifix, he would've experienced joys alongside her until the end of days, but since he showed it to her his life would be miserable from then on. 

The source says the old timers who passed on the tale spoke of the man having a hard life from then on. It is unclear what joys the man would have had experienced had he not showed her the crucifix, but by reading through the lines I think the Mother had planned to take him with her. The joy he would've experienced "until the end of days" (the source says "until the end of the world") would thus be understood as all sorts of illusions he would've experienced on a constant basis, while probably remaining immortal - literally or metaphorically. Instead, she decided to let him go but not without causing harm to him for the rest of his life. This to me alludes to the fact he lived to tell the tale, but the Mother was careful as to make the rest of his earthly existence miserable.

Now I will answer the question of how this fits with my book. I chose to speak about this entity mainly for this tale about her. The source says someone can protect themselves against the Mother by making the sign of the cross. I for one know from energy healing that the sign of the cross acts by generating a vortex within the aura that dispels unpleasant energies. At any rate, there is a wide spread belief that the sign of the cross can be used as a means of spiritual protection. So it is a no brainer simple peasants would come up with such a simple magical gesture for protection. There's also cases where people were said to make the sign of the cross on the palate of their mouth with the tip of their tongue to protect against all sorts of apparitions, but this is beyond the scope of this article. 

So why then did the crucifix didn't work? The crucifix itself would serve the role of a protection talisman if it were consecrated (by a priest). Otherwise, it's simply a decoration. Note that the Mother was calling out to him whereas she could've simply attacked him in his sleep. This can mean the crucifix had certain spiritual power that prevented her from killing him. So it seems that the crucifix worked for that purpose, but why did the Mother's attitude changed so suddenly? Because by showing her the crucifix the man was practically threatening her.    

She already knew he had the crucifix so she kept her distance. Him showing it to her was similar to an exorcist threatening spirits with one. The problem here is the man was no exorcist, not even a priest, as the tale described him to be more of a soldier. As such, he had no spiritual authority over anything. None that the Mother was able to recognize, anyway. Because of his menacing act she got pissed and decided to cause him hardships from then on.

I also talk about this aspect in Magic Words, but what I am about to write further is not in the book. Although the man appeared to have had some kind of spiritual protection on himself, that did not stop the Mother from causing harm to him along the way. Maybe she couldn't kill him and there is no mentioning of him ever falling ill after the encounter, but the source does mention the twig associated to her as being able to cause conflict in the home where it is burned so that could point to possible scenarios the man experienced along the way at her hands.

Had someone who's been working diligently on strengthening themselves as a magician and for increasing their spiritual authority encountered the Mother, I imagine they would've had it somewhat easy to banish her even without having to perform any elaborate ritual that involves tools and such. This would be similar to a magician who banishes spirits during ritual or even tormenting them as church exorcists often did, but in a situation where he or she cannot make use of their magical tools. However, this does not mean those spirits cannot come back and harm the magician after they've stepped out of their protective circle and put down their sword, lamen, animal fur and whatnot and cause issues for the person in their mundane life. Therefore, general ongoing protection would be in order. 

Otherwise, the source does mention an offering being made to her whenever someone encounters her. This is similar to what I wrote in the book, if you don't have authority to command them, you bribe them, or something like that. So if a simple person like the rifleman encounters her, they'd be best to give her an offering so she'd depart instead of trying to show off their alleged magical powers. 

The entity itself seems of a sublunar nature, with traits alluding to the Crone aspect of the Triple Moon Goddess and even some of the Maiden. It was a common belief that the Moon is the ruler of the material realm just as the Sun is ruler of the heavens. Therefore, the Mother does come across as some form of guardian of the woods who can harm people who trespass her domain. I have also addressed this issue briefly in the book where I talk about spirits that can harm people who disturb nature in certain ways. 

I mentioned the fact that the rifleman had no spiritual authority, as he wasn't even a priest. But imo many priests have next to no spiritual authority, being more akin to laymen who make use of the fact they had been ordained to perform various services for money. That might be just me, but a priest would have to do much more than simply to read from the bible while going through the motions. They wouldn't necessarily have to be god-like, but they would cease to be like this fellow who should've known better than to curse an aspect of deity, something I also discuss in the book.

My spirit conjuring class also has a component that allows one to increase their spiritual authority. At the same time, it also addresses offerings and the reasons they are to be used.

Hate on, dum-dums! And happy merry!

The Great Gazoo