The interaction with blood does not require blood shed though in the past that was involved, and people were much more casual about a great many things.
I think the magic works better with flowing blood. You want the energy from that. And the blood flows best still in the vein. The original reason for shedding blood was as an offering to the divinities that were considered to have originally given us life. They sought to create a cycle. Sort of a notion that the Gods need the life energy back in order to continue creating life. This notion has parallels in the thanotlogy of other systems of mysticism as well. The idea that there are only so many spirits to go around is also behind the doctrine of karma.
Is that true? This is hard to say. Even the most gifted seers and mediums still have a limited scope of awareness, but having an awareness that embraces only the earth sphere, it can look like life forces are in short supply.
Blood magick and necromancy are linked. Two sides of the same coin, life and death, creation and dissolution, and even outside of religious observances themselves, it was considered that the dead would crave the essence of life. That if they get it as an offering it would enable limited interaction with the physical world once again. So it isn’t just the Gods that people gave blood to. We give it to the great God science these days. But two things not typically commented on these days is that most blood offerings were not lethal, and most human sacrifices were voluntary.
They touch on something called blood control in Dr Who where it issued as a weapon of sorts. Can that sort of thing work in blood magic? Blood control by blood mirroring. This is the mechanism behind some ritual use of spirits and herbals elixirs. Many words that get translated today as magician originally also meant poisoner. A drinking contest could be considered crude and misguided blood magick.
Then the subject becomes like a puppet? Well, blood is considered to retain its connection to you even after you lose it. This is why it was offered to Gods. It was considered perhaps the truest demonstration of your devotion. Blood sacrifice has been a part of pretty much all religions, even Christianity. The necromantic mirror of blood magick would be plague magick.
It retains all the properties of your body. That’s how they can detect traces of substances in it. Yes, so the magickal thinking isn’t too misguided perhaps. For the longest while they were heavily critical of the concepts behind phrenology, but all the current neuroscience and research seems to be backing it up. At least the concepts behind it, if not their actual methods.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~