Deharan Magic

Dehara – divine forms encompassing both masculine and feminine elements. They are the expression and embodiment of the union of polarities. The system of Deharan Magic takes the practitioner through 9 tiers of ascension. The first three of these tiers, known collectively as Kaimana, are explored in Storm Constantine's book ‘Grimoire Dehara: Kaimana’. This title can be found in the Books section.

Kaimana embraces the basics of the system – the god forms that are its focus, a new vision of the pagan Wheel of the Year, seasonal festivals, and pathworkings with the Dehara and their symbols.

More will be added to this section later, but for now, here is an overview of the major Dehara, followed by the origins of the system.

Aruhani

Aruhani is known also as the Devourer, the Hostling of Bones, The Beautiful One, He Whose Body is the Sky. He presides over aruna, life and death. He is a protective and creative principle as well as an unpredictable destructive one. His skin is black, and his dark hair is worn in many braids that cover him like a shawl. His face, arms and chest may be decorated with swirling patterns in red pigment. He is the most capricious of the dehara and yet the most compassionate. Aruhani is perhaps the strongest and most fearsome of the dehara. Cabbalistically, he combines aspects of Netzach and Binah. His is the black flame of destruction and creation. His direction is north.

Miyacala

Miyacala presides over initiation and the intellectual and practical aspects of magical work. Among his epithets are Lord of the Libraries of the Cosmos and Walker Upon the North Star Road. He appears dressed in white, with long white hair, and his eyes are milky blind. He has a star on his forehead, which represents his true inner sight and when he raises his left hand, there is a star of light there also. He grants spiritual ascension through the light of his left hand, which comes directly from the Source. Cabbalistically, he channels Kether, so belongs in the sephiroth Chokmah. His is the pure white flame of knowledge. His direction is east.

Agave

Agave is the dehar of flame and fiery will. He is named for the agave plant of the Sierra Madre, which can cause terrible injuries with its razor sharp leaves. In one aspect he appears as dressed in strange organic armour, almost like an insect carapace, which when removed reveals him as a golden creature of sun and flame. He is a Shaman warrior but also a healer. His hair is a brilliant red, the colour of blood. His eyes are the colour of orange flames and his skin pigment is a mixture of orange, red, and yellow. When he speaks, his voice is the crackling of flames. In his right hand, he holds a spear, which symbolizes his masculinity. In his left hand, he holds a shield, which symbolizes his femininity. He is called, among other things, The Warrior of Eternal Fire and Walker of Battlefields. His direction is south.

Lunil

Lunil is the dehar associated particularly with the moon and lunar qualities. Lunil is the dehar of the blue flame, a cold radiance that represents the immortal fire that burned on ancient altars, the fire of eternal life. Among his epithets are the title Hienama of the Spheres and Guardian of the Inner Ways. Lunil might occasionally manifest a fey fragile quality, but has also a far stronger aspect, as potent as fiery Agave. Lunil and Agave work well together: the red hot flame of passion and the cool blue flame of psychic ability. Lunil is visualised as having blue skin and hair. His eyes emanate either a smoking azure light or a vibrant violet. When invoked he often appears naked, or may be clothed in diaphanous veils of light. He embodies watery and lunar attributes: psychism, divination, and the emotional drive behind majhahn. On the Cabbalistic Tree of Life, he would be found in Yesod. His direction is west.

The Origins of Dehara

Storm Constantine wrote the first Wraeththu novels in the 1980s, but after the millennium returned to their world for a new series of books. The stories have always been inspired by vivid dreams, which she’s had virtually all her life. The earliest Wraeththu tales were written in 1973. Over the years, Wraeththu has attracted a loyal following of fans, many of whom empathised with, or were interested in, the magic of the novels. Storm thought it would be interesting to expand the ideas within the novels and Wraeththu system of magic.

The creation of magical systems can properly be defined as Chaos Magic, (or Pop Culture Magic). It can be seen as working with the ‘stuff’ of creation, chanelling new thought-forms, gods, rituals and practices. Chaoticists perceive the possibility of magic in every walk of life and acknowledge the fact that icons of our culture can be viewed and used as magical entities.

The first thing required in a magical system is the focus – the entities or deities around which the system revolves. The gods of Wraeththu are called dehara (day-hara), singular: dehar (day-har). One of the ways in which these deities have been developed is through visionary questing, whereby the practitioner projects their mind into a visualised environment, then wanders through it, noting what they see and hear. From a Chaos Magic point of view, practitioners are quite capable of creating new systems, thought forms and deities, which have as much relevance as existing systems, and are often more dynamic.

Deharan Magick can be used to affect reality, in the form of majhahns (rituals) to achieve a specific effect, and to facilitate self-evolution through meditation and majhahn.

Thanks to Ruby for creating the pictures of the dehara, which I have used on this page. For more images, visit Ruby's web site Ruby's Asylum.