Blood sacrifices are part of most grimoires, derived from ancient Hebrew rituals calling for animal sacrifices to please God. In magick, blood is a source of considerable power that is unleashed in a RITUAL of SACRIFICE, usually the killing of an animal or a fowl but sometimes a human (not in modern times/first world countries). Some sacrifice rituals call for a small amount of blood-letting but no actual killing. Blood consumed in ritual sacrifice is believed to give the drinker the soul and attributes of the blood of the deceased, whether it be human or animal.

Aleister Crowley sacrificed animals and his magical rituals, and it is said that he sacrifice three pigeons by cutting their throat and pouring their blood in the sand, as an offering to the Demon Choronzon.

WHY BLOOD?

Blood shed in a ritual is believed to have magic powers to appease deities and spirits, cause spirits to appear, ensure good harvests and good luck, and to provide a source of magical power to the magician. But all blood is not equal, and it depends on where the blood comes from that is significantly important in ceremonial magic ritual. Some sources of blood are considered to be more powerful than others.

Blood sacrifice releases a flash of power, which the magician uses for an EVOCATION. The old GRIMOIRES call for killing animals, usually a young goat, in advance of the ceremony and using their skins to make parchment that was used in drawing the magical SYMBOLS needed to protect the magician and to evoke and control the spirits. The sacrifice may also be to God or spirits for the obtaining of favors.

Animal Sacrifice

In earlier times, the most common blood sacrifice was to secure bountiful harvests; it was believed that the land was fertilized by sprinkling upon it the sacrificial blood. A widespread custom in Europe called for the sacrificing of cocks in harvest festivals to ensure an abundant crop the following year.

The early Hebrews practiced blood sacrifices of animals, following instructions given in Leviticus in the Old Testament. The importance of a flesh and blood sacrifice is illustrated in Genesis: Cain offers the fruits of his harvest, which does not please the Lord, and Abel offers one of his flock, which pleases the Lord. Also in Genesis, God tests Abraham by instructing him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham is stopped at the last moment by an angel, who informs him that God was testing his faith. A ram was substituted for Isaac. In Christianity, Christ eliminated the need for blood sacrifice by shedding his own blood on the cross. The Eucharist and communion  services are nonbloody sacrifices in which bread and wine or grape juice substitute for the body and blood of Christ.

Sacrificial animals—called the Victim of the Art— offered to God or various spirits should be young, healthy, and virgin for the maximum release of energy. Sometimes the sacrifice is best performed at the peak of a ritual. The letting of blood and the fear and death throes of the victim add to the frenzy of the magician. The fumes of the sacrificial blood also enable the evoked spirit to become visible to the magician.

The Grimorium Verum specifies that the magician should cut the throat of a virgin kid goat with a single slash of his magical knife while saying,

“I slay thee in the name and to the honor of N. [name of spirit or deity].”

According to the Key of Solomon, white animals should be sacrificed to benevolent spirits, and black animals should be sacrificed to evil spirits. The magician should cut off the entire head of the animal with a single blow while saying,

“O high and powerful being, may this sacrifice be pleasing and acceptable to thee. Serve us faithfully and better sacrifices shall be given thee.”

Another version of the Key gives this INCANTATION:

“I, N., slay thee, N., in the name and to the honor of N.”

The Red Dragon gives instructions for evoking the devil by sacrificing a black hen that has never been crossed by a cock. Seize the throat so that it cannot make noise and thus dissipate life-force energy. Take it to a CROSSROADS, and at midnight draw a magic circle with a wand made of cypress (a symbol of death). Stand inside the circle, and tear the hen in two with your hands while saying,

“Euphas Metahim, frugativi et appelavi.”

Turn to the east and command the devil to appear.

ALEISTER CROWLEY, in Magick in Theory and Practice, said that “The ethics of the thing [blood sacrifice] appear to have concerned no one; nor, to tell the truth, need they do so.” Crowley sacrificed animals and fowl in his rituals within a MAGIC CIRCLE or MAGIC TRIANGLE, which prevented the energy from escaping. He condemned the practice of torturing the animal first to obtain an elemental slave, calling it “indefensible, utterly black magic of the very worst kind.” However, he said that there was no objection to such black magic if it was “properly understood.” Crowley noted that a magician could effect a blood sacrifice without the loss of life by gashing himself or his assistant.

 

Human Sacrifice

Human blood is identified with the soul and carries the greatest power. Ingesting human blood is believed to confer the powers and strengths of the victim upon the conqueror. Possessing few drops of a person’s blood gives a witch or a magician power over that person or enables the magician to harness that person’s emotional state.

Practices of human sacrifice can look to mythologies for a model of divine sacrifice: for example, Osiris, Dionysus, and Attis are dismembered in sacrifice for rebirth.

  • The Celts and the DRUIDS drank the blood of their sacrificed human victims, whose throats were slashed over cauldrons; they also burned their victims alive in wickerwork cages.
  • The Aztecs cut hearts out of human sacrifices with flint knives; the still-beating heart was held aloft by the priest and then placed in a ceremonial receptacle. The body was often dismembered and eaten in an act of ritual cannibalism.
  • The Khonds of southern India impaled their victims on stakes and cut off pieces of their backs to fertilize the soil.
  • The sacrifice of first-born children once was a common custom in various cultures, particularly in times of trouble.
  • During the Punic Wars, the nobility of Carthage sacrificed hundreds of children to Baal by rolling them into pits of fire.

According to ELIPHAS LEVI, when the grimoires spoke of killing a kid goat, they meant that a human child should be sacrificed. This is not likely, though records exist of human sacrifices in efforts to obtain something by magical means. For example, in 1841, treasure hunters in Italy sacrificed a boy to a DEMON in hopes of being led to buried treasure.

Crowley also said that “a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and  perfect victim.” His claim to performing such a sacrifice an average of 150 times a year between 1921 and 1928.