Magick

Chinese Magic
Pink petals strewn
Across floors of stone
A rose’s thorns gently prick
The white doves have all flown

Bare toes, slipping across the coldness
Dark eyes misted with thought
To enter this temple is an act of boldness
A risky action, without plot

A glittering symbol
Appears overhead
‘Come hither, my child
‘For the stones soon will be stained red.’

Clawed fingers entice
Pale as long grains of rice
The smoke overhead
Curls into a silhouette of dread

‘Now, black-haired one,
Beloved of Shining Jade
Kneel before your ancestors
As you near the grave.’

Small hands form a prayer
Dust rises up around the robe
Red lips to sing dare
Hot incense warms the earlobe

Fragrant smoke around the flared nostrils curl
Twisting into the shape of a hand
A single tear drifts; a lucid pearl
The emotions come; raw; unmanned

The shining forehead
Is touched to the cold stone floor
In a single act of kowtowing humility
Respect is paid, but nothing more

‘Do you love your ancestors?’
Breathes the sibilant voice
‘If you did, you would bring a sacrifice to us
As it is, you have no choice.’

Great Exalted Dragon,
You who guard my gate
I call upon you this night, O Dragon
Release me from my fate

My most revered ancestors
You who have no warmth
Relinquish your hold upon me
Before The Dragon comes forth

‘You frighten us not,”
The icy voices hiss
‘You were promised to us!
When, upon Fa Chang your mother called,
She fulfilled what was due and just!

‘Her firstborn child you are, pretty one
And to us alone you belong
Shining Jade, with fevered brow
Rang the relinquishment gong!

And so your guardian Dragon heard
As did the gods of the air
They listened to your mother yield you up
To interfere with such The Dragon does not dare!’

What of the guardian Cat, then?
What of the guardian Dog?
Will they not aid me against you?
As the flames against the incense log?

‘No! they will not come!
No! they will not save you!
No! they are as nothing to us
No! to the grave with you!

The cold stole into her chest
Wrapped its talons around her heart
And chilled her limbs until blue tinged the blush
The acid of Death stung her tongue; tart

I summon the ancestral gods

‘We are the ancestral gods!’

I invoke the power of the Sun’s Fire Rod

‘Against us, the Sun is no God!’

Then let me send for my grandfather’s spirit
Unless he has joined your leagues
And if he has, then let me call
All the souls of the leaves

And all the humanity of the butterflies
And the clock in the eye of the Cat
And the magic in the stripes of my guardian Tiger
And the bark of the Dog and the squeak of the Rat

Let me evoke the magic of Nature
And the new life that around us is born
Let me summon the power of the Circle
And the magic in the mud that stains the horn

‘We despise this ancient power
That you have conjured up
Perhaps you think that you have defeated us
But you fail to mention love.’

‘Did you not know that it was us who raised you?
While your mother spread her wings?
Free of the burden of a child
Of her many consorts the songbirds do sing!

If that be the case
Then allow me
To call upon the Night
Alongside his partner, Day

‘But the Moon and the Sun have already taken flight!’

Yes, but do you not remember?
I failed to mention love
So permit me to summon Yin and Yang
Black as your hearts; white as the dove

Yang is the masculine essence
But yet he still holds Yin
She is the feminine quintessence
Yet Yang is held within

If Yang is the fire and earth
Then Yin is the air and the sea
But both essences were needed
To create the Goddess; me

Yes, that is true!
Cower where you are!
The little girl you dared to destroy
Is more powerful than you by far!

And then She rose up
Out of the ancestors’ grasp
She smote the evil ones left and right
Alongside the butterflies, the cats, and the rats

Flee far from this place!
While behind you My Sacred Tiger leaps
You will make haste from My silk lands
And at your heels My Great Rats will creep!

The curling spirits of the ancestors
Did flee, and flee indeed
With The Tiger pouncing behind them
In tune with The Rat’s angered squeaks

In Her wrath, the Goddess shattered
The plaques of the ancestors evil
She cast their offerings from the temple
And turned their incense burner into a weevil

Then hallowed grains of rice
Took the Goddess
To purify the shrine
She cast them about the rose-petalled floor
Upon which the good and just ancestors dined

The Dragon then appeared to her
She stroked his noble brow
He presented her with three teardrop pearls
‘I apologize for not appearing until now.’

The slant-eyed beautiful deity
Patted his broad shoulder and said,
My Grand and Exalted One,
Do not trouble your head

Bright red mists then swallowed them
Hiding them from view
And in their place there appeared a butterfly
With gold-edged stripes of blue

And to this day
That shrine still stands
And in it the rose petals still lie
If you have any questions about the Goddess
Ask Nature
She has not died