Judika & the 5000 Spells

Judika Illes is just plain cool, and she & Chris Penzcak hang out together. She didn't do any magical workings in her sessions, and so she was more free to really spill the energy into what she talks about. (Raven Grimassi & Chris Penczak were excellent speakers, but in both sessions, they were building us up toward the working, so they maintained a very even keel.) Judika just lets her enthusiasm out. Her sessions were more like a traditional class, just with the material being vampires or Hungarian magic, but instead of trapped students taking notes for a quiz, people commented & questioned naturally as things came up. She is just brimming with information! There is a reason that she can write huge tomes like the Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells.

I enjoyed her vampire talk, which was very much the Eastern European folk version of the vamp. Not glitzy & romantic at all. Did you know that if you leave your tools out and ignore them they can become vampires? And, yes, pumpkins. That one that you don't carve, don't cook down into puree, just kind of let it sit & forget about? Yep, it can become a vampire. A life force sucker, cause how's Pumpkinacula going to drain you of blood, really. The pic is Vlad the Impaler's castle, who was certainly discussed, as he was featured on Judika's tee shirt.

I am NOT giving away my 5000 Spells, signed by Judika, thank you very much! I am giving away a slimmer, easy to ship volume titled Magic When You Need It. Only 150 spells, but with a wide range, written with Judika's characteristic clarity & humor.Click on the give-away pic in the sidebar to find out about the give-away.

But oh, that 5000 spells is an endless source of enjoyment. She includes Domination spells, and explains exceptionally well why we need to remember these: "Societies where every individual is free, has enough to eat, isn't dependent on others and is able to retain control over one's own body, sexuality, family, and personal destiny, do not develop domination spells. They don't need them. Although any spell may be abused, domination spells, as a rule, did not spring from evil, selfish intent. Instead these are protection spells of a very specific kind." (p. 331, Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells)

I could reproduce several pages of this section with ease. She really nails it...the best reasoning I have ever heard for preserving some of the darker knowledge. She's not saying use it; she's saying remember those who came before and had these needs.