During the summer time one of the ways I like to express myself ritualistically is through body paint. I use the body paint as an intimate way of connecting with forces that I'm invoking or even as a way of doing practical magick. It's also a fun way of doing group ritual and/or connecting with a loved one. When I do body paint rituals I also like to add a form of chanting or vocalization, a deep vibrating of the sounds of the symbol and usually I trace the symbols in the air as I vocalize them. I add the tracing and the vocalization as a way of calling the magick to the paints, connecting my energy with the energy I seek to work with.

The original idea for using body paints in this way came from the Deathgate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. In that series there are two races of demigods, one who sing/dance the symbols of magick they work with and the other race uses tattoos of the symbols and invokes magick through the symbols. I always found this to be intriguing and decided to incorporate the singing and dancing into the tattooing, albeit using body paint instead of actual tattoos.

The advantage of body paint over tattoos is that body paint is not permanent and is easy to remove. I even use the washing off of the body paints as a way of purifying and centering myself after the ritual is done. The kind of body paints I use can be found at costume stores and are water solvent. I prefer these body paints over the kind that require chemicals. Water solvent paints are easy to wash off and don't irritate the skin. Also, I find that they are useful for the duration of a ritual, but unless you plan on doing an eight hour ritual you'll likely want paints that come off easily. When painting on the body I use either q-tips or paint brushes. Paint brushes are good for detailing, but you usually need to wash them off, whereas with q-tips you can use one side for a paint and then use the other tip for another paint.

There are a number of ways body paints can be used. For myself, I mainly use them for sigil work. Sigils are symbols. The symbols are created by taking a statement of desire and getting rid of the repeating letters. You can then make a word out of the remaining letters or create a symbol by compiling the letters together. I usually compile the letters together or just come up with a random symbol that represents what I want to work with or the desire I want to manifest into reality. I also sometimes use the symbols from Reiki or other traditions.

One intriguing way to do sigil work with body paints is to work with a group of people and paint part of a sigil on each person. When you do the working for the sigil, all of the people must be together, their energy combining to manifest the sigil through themselves and through the painted sigil on all of the bodies. Each person represents a part of the symbol and only be working together can the symbol be completed. This can be a good method for working to cement or heal a community or group. It's also a good way of teaching people how to cooperate and focus on manifesting a group working, as obviously the discipline needed to manifest the sigil is partially reliant upon the people successfully working together. One method I use body paint sigils for is as a way of bonding with the land. I do a lot of power spot work. This kind of work basically involves walking the land and finding or creating spots of power, reservoirs if you will, of energy the can be connected together by ley lines and tapped by the magickian at will. After I have walked around a specific area and created or found my power spots I create sigils for the power spots. I then paint these sigils on my body and invoke the power spot through the sigil as a way of bonding with the land, merging my energy with it's energy. I find it useful to paint the sigils on the power spots of my own body. Naturally because you're creating a link between yourself and the power spot, you should be careful and certain that the energy you work with and connect to, is energy that will not hurt your own natural energy. In other words, don't make a power spot out of a toxic landsite, as likely the energy will not be conducive to your body. Still, if you should do that you'll know something of the pain the Earth feels because of how we pollute it. This technique is highly useful for the bonding one does with the power spots and can also be used to amplify one's natural energy. Even after you wash the paints off the bonding is still there.

You can also use this body paint-power spot technique in a building. Use the sigils to represent the flow of energy in the building. And you can actually paint the sigils on specific parts of the building as a way of reinforcing the flow of energy and the connection of the energy to you or to your business/domestic pursuits. As an example of this in my home, my room for working magick has sigils painted on it. These sigils amplify the magick I work in the room. Some of them also act as a permanent circle, warding the room as needed.

Recently I did a working with my partner and body paints. We also vocalized the sigils as a way of further charging them. We took turns painting the sigils on each other. As I painted my sigils on her body I vocalized the sigils as a way of further empowering the sigils. Likewise she did this with me. After we'd painted the sigils we danced and traced the sigils in the air, visualizing that the painted sigils on the body glowed with the energy we danced and sang into existence. We found that the dancing and tracing of the symbols greatly enhanced the magick we worked. This technique is also a good way of getting people to communicate with each other, and can be very intimate as well. I also use body paints to do healings on people. I'll paint a healing symbol on the area that is hurt and use that symbol as a focus for my energy. The paints can be very useful as a visual aide for the healing and can also reinforce the healing that the person, who is hurt, does on his/her own body. In a similar fashion you can use body paints to create protection for yourself or as war paint. They key thing to remember is that body painting is an expression of you or of the person you work on.

I also like to use body paints as a personal way of exploring different systems of magick. For instance, with quabala, you could paint the tree of life on your body and use it as a way of working with whatever system of correspondences you create for the tree to represent. Also with shamanism I sometimes like to map out the journey on my body, using the paints as a way of depicting the journey I'll go and the forces I'll meet and work with. Naturally the map is not the territory, but the act of painting the map on your body can infuse itself into your subconscious so that when you journey and get lost you can call up the map to find your way back to the path you need to walk.

The body is a palette and this palette can affect not merely our physical appearances, but also be an expression of our spirituality and a way of connecting with others. Body paints are the tools for this medium and can be highly effective in bonding with other people, or with the land, or with yourself. Body paints are also a fun and intimate way of expressing your aesthetic spirituality. Visualize yourself dancing around a fire with body painted symbols on, chanting and dancing those symbols as an expression of your spirituality, a renewal of your connection to the land and to your community. Whatever way you use body paints and vocalization for ritual, you will likely find that the possibilities are endless.

Author Bio

Taylor Ellwood is currently pursuing his PH.D in Literacy, Rhetoric, and Social Practice at Kent State University. He is the author of Pop Culture Magick and co-author of Creating Magickal Entities. Taylor is currently writing his third book Space/Time Magick as well as more articles. Check out Taylor's webpage at http://taylorellwood.chaosmagic.com or his livejournal at http://www.livejournal.com/users/teriel. Taylor can also be contacted at ashmage@hotmail.com.