The Bloody Sacrifice
a personal experience of contemporary blood rites
Charlotte Rodgers
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-30-5
£15.00 / US $24.00

Click HERE for UK edition

Charlotte Rodgers is a non-denominational magical practitioner and animist. The Bloody Sacrifice is her raw and unflinching account of working with blood in art and ritual. From roadkill to scarification, tattoos to the use of venous and menstrual blood in magic, Rodgers explores the body as both canvas and altar.

The book includes interviews with tattooists, priests of blood-sacrificing traditions, artists who employ their own HIV-positive blood as medium, and practitioners who use mortification and body modification to shift consciousness and identity. Among them is Louis Martinie, priest of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple, whose integration of Tibetan Buddhism into Voodoo practice demonstrates how syncretic paths evolve through lived experience.

Rodgers also writes from the perspective of one whose life has been marked by blood-related illness. Her reflections on AIDS, HIV, and HCV provide a deeply personal lens through which to consider the spiritual and social dimensions of contemporary blood rites.

At once unsettling and illuminating, The Bloody Sacrifice confronts the history, danger, and transformative power of blood ritual. Is its potency inherent in the substance itself—or in the meaning we ascribe to it? Rodgers offers no easy answers, but an honest, modern, and thought-provoking insight into one of the oldest and most primal expressions of human spirituality.

The Bloody Sacrifice. Charlotte Rodgers (Mandrake).
I opened The Bloody Sacrifice with more than a wee bit of trepidation. I knew I was not going to come across anything silly or self-indulgent, as the writer of this book is far too intelligent for that. What I found were open, honest and at times profound realisations that the author had come to through her exploration of blood, body, ritual and art. The interviews in the book are varied, relevant and very interesting. But, bar a couple of them, I wanted to hear more of the author’s voice, of her experiences and her conclusions. Rodgers is a natural priestess, regardless of what magical path she chooses to take or has taken; she has a natural capacity to connect deeply with inner world beings and learn directly, for both good and bad, from them. The main issue I was looking for, which would be guaranteed to show me if this person was switched on enough to actually truly work in this field, appeared almost immediately. Such paths into these areas are littered with unfortunate fools who have mired themselves in parasitical and low-life entanglements with inner beings, which effectively ensure that they go no further into the depths of magical realms. Not this author – she saw the traps immediately and neatly sidestepped them, learning naturally as she went deeper into the mysteries of power. Charlotte Rodgers has a powerful, clear and magical voice that I hope we will hear much more from in the future.
Highly recommended.
Josephine McCarthy – The Cauldron #140, May 2011.

Charlotte Rodgers Website
www.perdurabu.com