Tomás Prower - Warrior Magic: Justice Spirituality and Culture from Around the World

About the Author

Toms Prower is a graduate of the University of California: Santa Barbara with degrees in global socioeconomics and Latin American studies. Born and raised in Southern California, his fluency in English, French, and Spanish gave him the opportunity to work for the French government as a cultural liaison throughout South America, with extended assignments in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and the Amazon jungle. Since then, he has been the External Relations Director for the American Red Cross, LGBT+ Programs Director for entertainment productions in Los Angeles, and a licensed mortuary professional in California and Nevada. Currently, Toms resides in his hometown of L.A. as a writer and author of popular fiction and nonfiction works.

Copyright Information

Warrior Magic: Justice Spirituality and Culture from Around the World 2022 by Toms Prower.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2021

E-book ISBN: 9780738768137

Cover design by Shannon McKuhen

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Pending)

ISBN: 978-0-7387-6797-0

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Woodbury, MN 55125

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Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to Ares, god of war.

May he continue to fight alongside us, shoulder to shoulder in the heat and mud of battle as we hold the line against injustice and push forward toward something more than this.

Contents

: Greater Middle East

: Cradles of Civilization

: Persia & The Jewish Levant

: The Islamic Caliphates

: Greater Middle Eastern Magical Community

: Sub-Saharan Africa & Lands of the African Diaspora

: Sub-Saharan Africa

: Lands of the African Diaspora

: Sub-Saharan & African Diasporic Magical Community

: Europe

: Ancient Greece & Rome

: Pagan Europe

: The Christian Kingdoms

: European Magical Community

: India & Southeast Asia

: India

: Southeast Asia

: Indian & Southeast Asian Magical Community

: East Asia

: China

: The Mongol Empire

: Japan

: East Asian Magical Community

: Oceania

: Aboriginal Australia

: Polynesia

: Oceanic Magical Community

: The Americas

: Latin America

: Native North America

: Latinx & North American Magical Community

PRE-MISSION BRIEFING

Wars are the most interesting times. It shows the best and the worst in people.

Ian Lemmy Kilmister

War what is it good for? Well, absolutely everything as far as history is concerned. With the extremely small exception of the recent past, everything, absolutely almost everything we currently know about the human race in every culture around the world, has been written by the sides victorious in armed conflict. It has shaped the world, the environment, the entire timeline trajectory of humanity. It has created the greatest atrocities human beings have ever committed while also having forged the most noble acts of heroism and greatest heroes that have ever risen from the ranks of us to become legends immortal.

Whether you like it or not, practically your entire understanding of the past has been shaped by war. Think back to your school textbooks and how they taught you all about everything that has ever happened through showcasing one war after the other, battle after battle, conflict after conflict, struggle after struggle. Times of peace are displayed as anomalous resting points in a temporal valley between two mountainous wars. Even right now as you read this, your country, your nation, your peoples, the very ideals you hold dear are either involved in a war or another is just beyond the horizon.

But why so much bloodshed? Why is it that the music and poetry of war have such an affinity for refrain? Is it because of governments and those who lead us? Is it because of the lack of justice or overzealous execution of it? Is it just the times, the unfortunate eras into which we are born? No. War exists because humans exist. Injustice exists because humans exist. But by that same token, peace also exists because humans exist, and so, too, does justice. It is because of this fact that warriors are so important. Conflicts will come to tear you and the innocent down, and if you arent prepared, arent trained in the ways of the warrior, these conspiring forces will win.

War does not only exist on the battlefield, though. Being prepared isnt only a matter of being trained in physical combat. We all go through our own wars, our own defeats, our own victories. Everyone you meet is fighting a personal battle of some sort; just because they dont talk about it or let their internal war-weariness show doesnt mean it isnt there. As long as human beings are suffering and clamoring for justice, there will always be another battle to fight. And its a battle we have to fight. After all, peace and justice are not fruits that fall from the tree once they are ripe; we have to either reach up and grab them or shake that tree to make them fall lest they wither and rot on the branch.

Im not saying its an easy feat. Hell, if it was easy, we wouldve done it already. Im not even saying we will be victorious, but I can guarantee that it will be worse and we will lose if we dont even try. Missing a shot and not taking a shot both have the same outcomes. Whether its a magic spell in aid of justice or on-the-ground activism, the possibility of success only exists if we actually get out there and try.

Of course, no one wants to be a warrior for the things warriors do. Ask any military veteran, and theyll tell you they didnt enlist for the sole purpose of fighting and killing. No, warriors are warriors because they hold people, ideals, and their version of justice (however they personally define it) so dearly that they want to protect them in an active way, even if it means risking their own life. People enlist and subject themselves to the horrors of war so that future generations wont have to.

Then, of course, theres the saying that deep down, everyone wants peace. But that just isnt true. If truly no one wanted war, there would be no war. It exists because certain people want it. It brings them wealth and power, silences opposition, maintains their warped ideal of justice in this world, and countless other reasons. For every war that ever has been or ever shall be, someone wanted it, and they either forced or convinced others to want it too. There is no such thing as a war no one wanted.