So Let’s Talk About Werewolf Magick
So I recently reblogged a post showcasing a book titled Werewolf Magick, by Denny Sargent. I was curious, so I looked up some samples of the book, and then I was intrigued because it looked both interesting and promising (a rare combination for me these days when it comes to witchcraft books; I haven’t actually bought a new witchcraft book in probably years), so I went ahead and stopped by Barnes & Noble’s to check it out.
Long story short, I ate through the entire thing basically in one sitting, and I am fascinated by this book and will most definitely be trying some things from it out and potentially incorporating it into my Craft and/or my spirituality. Wanted to jot my thoughts down, and since this is a journaling blog, here we go. Be aware ahead of time that this is not so much a book review for the benefit of other people as it is a personal journal post about my own thoughts on what’s relevant to me specifically, though it will probably be helpful to anyone wondering if they should look into the book as well.
Some things up front for anyone thinking about buying it:
No, the book is not about physical shapeshifting; that was the first thing I checked for, so I thought I’d get it out of the way.
I wouldn’t by default recommend this book for someone totally, completely new to magic; the author definitely comes at it from the perspective that you already know some basics about magic, and having that under your belt will help you understand it. That being said, if this is the only thing you’re really interested in, you should be able to start with this book, but be ready to have to figure out a couple things as you go along.
Be aware that this book does talk about using sex/masturbation and sexual fluids in magic - it’s not a big focus, and it’s not explicitly detailed or anything at any point, but it’s present, especially in later chapters. If you’re underage and/or uncomfortable with that, this may not be the book for you.
It is very focused on wolves and werewolves, obviously, but I don’t actually think it would be that hard to modify for other species if you so desire.
And now my own loosely organized thoughts, under the cut for the sake of everyone’s dashboard.
The Genetics Thing
Probably the weakest point of this book, and the thing that annoyed me the most, I do wish the author would quit bringing up the genetics thing. He mentions a few times toward the start of the book that “humans share 85% of our DNA with canids and other wolves,” sometimes stating that that “genetic connection” helps with shapeshifting, which, like... a) stop trying to justify your metaphysical stuff with science when the science absolutely does not justify it, you’re just weakening your own credibility, just own up to the fact that it’s purely metaphysical, and b) we also share 50-60% of our DNA with bananas and something like 95% (off the top of my head) with chimps, but I don’t see you suggesting that we should become werebananas or werechimps. At one point there’s also a ritual where one visualizes going back through evolutionary ancestry, ending up at wolves, and I had to stop reading for a second bc like... dude, you understand that we are not in fact directly descended from canids, right?
That aside, as annoying as it is, it’s a pretty minor thing and only comes up a few times. Easily enough ignored.
Wildness, Wyrd, and Way
There’s an entire chapter dedicated to the cosmology and underlying principles behind werewolf magick, and part of that is the idea of Wildness, Wyrd, and Way, the underlying principles of it. Wildness is essentially exactly what it says on the tin, base nature and connection to the earth; Wyrd is the interconnection between all things as “embodied in every ecosystem,” the idea that you are not separate from every other thing; and Way is essentially borrowed from Taoism, understood here as to be without sense of self and to act without “knowing”, as “Fish do not “know” when to spawn, birds do not “know” when to migrate, and wolves do not “know” how to behave in a pack. It is just part of the Way.”
This is... really interesting to me as a set of paradigms, because it’s something that really appeals to me and that feels Right to me. Every time I go on a walk in nature it reminds me how much I need what this book calls Wildness to breathe, I have always believed in the interconnections between things this book calls Wyrd (and even longed for it to be more concrete than it is in this world, as it is in Eywa), and the idea of Way as following instinct and nature appeals to me as well (it reminds me somewhat of the Ways portrayed in Golden Treasure: The Great Green, where each animal has a Way or Good Way that it follows for good or ill, describing its behavior). Wildness, Wyrd, and Way is one of the things I may actually adopt formally, because it’s basically already there under different words, but I like how that set of words encapsulates the concepts.
Wolves and Dragons
So the book is entirely focused on wolves/werewolves, presumably because the author is one - he mentions now and again that people have shapeshifted into other animals as in shamanism, but stays focused on werewolves specifically. That being said, I don’t feel like it will be that hard to transfer the book’s ideas into Dragon instead of Wolf - slightly different noises, which are already instinctive to me and shouldn’t require all that much experimentation, different visualizations, slight changes to the wording, but the principles of werewolf magic should hold regardless of species. (It will probably be somewhat easier for me on account of also being an apex predator with a lot of mythos associated with my species, especially since the social aspects of wolfness aren’t really focused on here (which is a little strange, but makes sense considering most werewolves will be practicing alone rather than with a pack), but I don’t think it would be that difficult for a prey animal or a small predator or what have you to tailor the basic ideas to themselves.)
Wings are... perhaps going to be an issue. Going to have to make sure we don’t do any intensive shapeshifting rituals near any steep drops I could potentially do something stupid over while in the thrall of an intense shapeshift until I know how the rituals in question affect me and whether that would be safe.
Shapeshifting
Speaking of the shapeshifting rituals, I am really intrigued to see how that’ll go for me. I’ve never really had mental shifts in the way most people who have them describe them; I sometimes slide a little more feral, but I never lose my humanity in the process at all. The shapeshifting in this book is a combination of mental shift, intense visualization, and likely phantom shift; I have never really experienced the former, am relatively good at the latter but usually only in short bursts, and experience the last all the time in great vividity. I will be interested to see what the rituals in this book can induce with a little practice. Regardless, I do think this book has the potential to be very useful for therians and otherkin in connecting to their nonhuman side more and learning how to integrate humanity and nonhumanity.
As a side note, I do also appreciate that he doesn’t use psychoactive substances in his shapeshifting salves and offers alternatives, as someone who isn’t comfortable using those myself.
The Werewolf Gods and Spirits
The book espouses four main gods and spirits, or maybe categories thereof (the author seems to be into the “gods have been called by many names and taken many forms but they’re still the same entity underneath” idea, which I have moved away from, but I get the idea that for general usage, you can kind of tailor these to your beliefs) - the Lord of the Forest (who can be seen as a wild god like Pan, Herne, or Cernunnos, or as his own being), the Moon Goddess (including Selene, Artemis, and Hekate), Gaia/the Earth Mother, and the Wolf Spirit.
For me, these make sense more as their own beings than they do as the potential names he offers for them, since those are their own entities, so I think I will work under that framework for the time being - the Lord of the Forest, the Moon, and the Earth each as embodiments of those concepts. And... the Wolf Spirit.
The Wolf Spirit is kind of explained in two different but related ways in this book. First, it’s explained as a general spirit of wildness, of primal nature, that just takes the form of a wolf - which should reasonably apply to any species of were, one would think. Second, however, it’s explained as the collective power and egregore of all wolves (past, present, and future) - which, I get the vibe that this is more important and that the Lord of the Forest already covers the first part, and this does not, presumably, apply to anyone other than werewolves. There should, however, logically exist such a spirit for any species (and, indeed, the author talks briefly about having interacted with a Bear Spirit as well while under the instruction of a group of shamans).
Herein lies my problem: is there a Dragon Spirit that can reach me here, given that there are no physical dragons in this world? If there is one native to this place, would it be markedly different given that the dragons that exist here are spirit-beings without physical form? If there is a Dragon Spirit of my own world, and my gut tells me it’s a reasonable possibility, would it even be able to hear or reach me here?
I suppose the only way to find out is going to be to reach out and see if something answers. We’ll see how that goes, I guess. I do suspect I’ll have more luck if I can do the Calling the Wolf Spirit ritual in the book out in a park somewhere, but I also suspect I may not get the chance super easily, so we’ll see.
Doubles and Fetches
Not something I personally am interested in doing, but fascinating in the context of nonhumanity: the author talks about evoking your Animalself as a Double, an astral entity, and then being able to invoke it and treat it as a separate being in order to work with it. The author uses this technique to create a Fetch that can then be ridden in astral travel and/or used to protect and do tasks for you, essentially creating a familiar from your own Animalself, but I could easily extrapolate out a similar technique for conversing with your own kintype and learning from it - past knowledge if relevant, present wisdom, subconscious desires. We so often frown on the idea of viewing your kintype as separate from yourself in any way, but I could see this being an extremely useful technique for some people, even if I’m not sure I want to explore it personally - I’d be interested to see any results other people get.
So yeah, that’s my initial thoughts on Werewolf Magick. I will likely keep this blog updated on my adventures with it going forward, given that that is the entire idea of the blog, but I do recommend checking out the book to anyone who’s interested in the idea.
