Copyright 2008 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
The story of King Kong has become an American classic. It is a love story, an adventure, and a fable with a moral.
The tale involves a movie producer and a tramp steamer, travelling to an uncharted island in search of strange animals. The producer has with him the writer, an actor and an aspiring actress. They get to the island, and disaster follows. The lightly armed ships crew are in a world that overwhelms them. Dinosaurs and giant animals are a constant threat. Many are lost in the quest to capture one of the beasts, a giant gorilla.
The beast is captured and brought to New York, where he is featured in a stage show. Needless to say, the beast escapes by force and rampages through the city. He hurls cars and people, throws trolley cars and derails subways. The beats then goes atop the Empire State Building and fends off aircraft. He is finally shot and falls to his death. The result for the producer is ruin. That gorilla did tremendous damage and killed scores, if not hundreds of people.
Two things come to mind. First is the problem of going into places for which one is not prepared. The other is a lesson in taking something and setting it loose in a place where it does not belong.
This especially applies to magickal concerns.
There are many forces and entities in this grand universe. Many work on the subtler levels of existence. For instance that force which the ancient Norsemen knew as Nidhogg works to break down things that are worn out and useless. These forces have been known for a long time. The Ceremonial magicians called those which were safe for Humans as angels, and those that could be harmful as demons. Among the angels and demons of the old grimoires are certain types that are personifications of constructive and destructive forces. That brings us to Jotuns, which vary from large land spirits who are ill-disposed to humans to the same breakdown forces as the Ceremonialist’s demons. This is not to say that all Jotuns are land spirits or dangerous forces. The Norse and Germans did not categorize them.
We need sidestep a bit and address friendly entities that are called Jotuns, such as Aegir, Ran and Skadi. Are they really Jotuns? Actually, they work more like Gods and should be approached as such. The “Jotun” appellation is just a thing used in later myths to describe the legendary origins of these beings. It looks as if Aegir and Ran were the main sea deities in some places, and the Skadi was a Mountain Goddess. Our current lore is mainly drawn from the Eddas, which record the remnants of later development of myths. We do not have all the lore from different parts of Scandinavia and Germany. A “Jotun” mother of a God might have been something else in another region.
In actual practice, some Jotun forces are energies that have power, an operating “mechanism” or principle, and the intelligence to do their job. What they lack is volition. These are forces that react to the conditions presented to them. They are inwardly driven to do their work, and take every opportunity presented. Some have enough intelligence to simulate a conversations with humans. They can be cunning, using whatever gets them a new place to do their job. However, thy do not choose. They react.
What if you were to allow one of these forces to operate in your life? It would be a mess. By giving them entry into your life, they will work as they do. For instance, a force of the fiery sort would result in arguments, hostility, fights and accidents with flame. A force of decay would cause a pallor of gloom and depression, setting off dark moods, despair and an overall sinking feeling. It would also bring a decrease in good things. Things would show effects of wear; corrosion would appear sooner than normal.
While many Jotuns are just figures of myths or deities that have been misnamed, there are a few which equate with drastic forces. One ought to be careful. What with the recent spate of folks trying their hands at evoking Jotuns, it would be a good time to think over the danger signs. The fact is that the subtle Universe is not always safe. Add the penchant of some people to want to try something scary just for fun, and you can see what may happen.
Jotuns also symbolize our “gigantic emotions” that overwhelm us. When a person is consumed by uncontrollable feelings, it is as if he is against a giant. Things like explosive rage, obsessive greed and unbridled lust are examples of our “giant” emotions. These are symbolic Jotuns in most cases, but not all. Several of our emotions can be directly affected by the unseen forces. Our instincts tap the same energy. They can be set off from without. For instance, if a person is already seething with anger, and he invokes a God or spirit of a fiery nature, the rush of energy could overwhelm him and send him into a rage. For days or even weeks afterward, he may be simmering with that emotion that borders on anger. It would take very little to set off an angry episode. The greater force sets off his own anger. This is why people are encouraged to have a clear head when doing spiritual work. If one goes in angry, fearful, guilt-ridden, lustful or otherwise offset, the results can be skewed into something very uncomfortable.
Jotuns represent vaious things: large land spirits, mythic monsters, older Gods or great unseen forces. With the penchant for some folks to want to “evoke a demon”, there are people trying their hands at plying a Jotun. Hopefully they choose a Jotun which is either a mis-named God, land sprite or archetypal symbol.
What if the dabblers hit the other, dire type? Most do not have the inner discipline or magickal ability to do much. They may fizzle or amuse themselves, but there is a chance they may tap something much more difficult. What they find is their own personal King Kong rampaging through their lives. His visit is relatively brief, but the damage can be serious. The means of prevention is easy:
As a wise teacher once said, "You have been told".
What you do with the information is up to you.
Our "Magickal Troubleshooting" series tells how to identify, avoid and remedy magickal problems. It is a practical three-book set that explains everything from Astral Pathology to leading a Magickal Group safely. You can find it here:
