Fear and Love

[Plenum]

Reading Ra, I was hoping that Ra would say something along the lines of -- "ritual magic is essentially pointless, the only thing that matters is the intention behind the ritual, harness that understanding and the need for the ritual is nullified."

Instead Ra implies that ritual magic has a very real effect because of the roots of the one mind.

I think that's correct.  It's about the symbolic value behind ritual magic.  The subconscious, of course, does not work with words, but rather with concepts, and so it's a more pure form of communication of intention to use symbols.

I was watching an early episode of Once Upon a Time, and in it, to actuate a powerful curse, the woman character had to sacrifice the heart of the person that she loved most in the world.  In this case, it was her father, and so she stabbed him with a knife and ripped his heart out.  Then threw it into a fire.  This is a symbolic representation of closing your own heart to all love in a negative act/ritual, and empowers the desire sought for.

An amazing representation, and a perfect symbol for negative ritual.

thanks to jivatman for recommending the show b.t.w.