On Magic(k) and Philosophy Part 2

 Now let's take a look at the other side of the coin at what some may consider "dark magic." If it is true that all you send out will return to you, then it would make sense that anything dark sent out would return as well.  Everything is subjective.  What you might think is bad may not be bad to someone else.  If you were to do a spell for revenge, it would very much depend on the circumstances involved.  For instance, many years ago I was being harassed by obscene phone calls from a disturbed young man.  I was fairly certain I knew who it was, so I attempted to have the police intervene.  Evidently, in my town, that's not a real priority, so I decided to take care of it myself.  I was pretty angry, and I created a ritual to protect my family and myself.  It just so happened that the person I suspected of making the calls was in a class I had been teaching at a local store.  I decided to use my next class to teach everyone how to do a simple candle spell for protection, and I used the harassment as an example of something I would want to be protected from.  Of course, the calls stopped and I never heard from or saw that young man again.  Whether he was scared off by the thought of having magic done to him or he knew he was busted, the spell did what I needed it to do.  There were no repercussions from it, even though it was doing spellwork against another person.  In my mind, I was protecting myself and my family.

 

Protecting your friends, your family or yourself is not anything I would ever consider dark.  However, attacking someone without provocation is another matter altogether.  Attacking others without reason is being a bully.  Going overboard in response to a bad situation is being a bully.  The last thing we Pagans need is more drama, and an unprovoked attack is certainly the way to get it.  Too many times I've seen one individual or group decide they know what's best for the whole of their community and they will go out of their way to trash and destroy either a person or another group that they feel doesn't properly represent their version of Paganism or Wicca.  I remember back in the Seventies when a Pagan group in a large city said some very ugly things about a small Wiccan group in the country simply because the large city people thought the country people were a bunch of back-woods bumpkins and didn't believe the same way the city people did.  By the time it was all over with, the big city Pagans ended up looking like the bigger fools and were roundly chastised for being small-minded in a community that can't afford to be small-minded.  Unfortunately, the only thing this type of action does is verify that Wiccans and Pagans are nothing more than a "bunch of nut ball tree huggers" that can't get along or agree on anything.

 

There are so many different paths within our spirituality.  There is no need to attack anyone else because of a difference of belief.  However, if you believe laws are being broken then you have a moral obligation to contact the authorities.  Going out and creating a smear campaign is never a good way to handle any situation.  If there is evil in this world, it is created by humans.  Negativity for the sake of being negative - that is what I would consider bad magic.

 

 As with so many things we deal with daily, intent goes a long way towards your final outcome in spellwork.  This is another area where I feel Christian ideals have seeped in and create chaos for Pagans.  If I decide to do a money spell and bring more cash into my life, my intent is simply to not be poor.  But our overly-analytical minds start going ninety to nothing, wondering if our underlying intent isn't built on selfishness.  Eventually, we psych ourselves out and end up not doing anything, deciding well, the Gods must surely know what they're doing if they want me to be poor, right?  I tend to believe that the Gods probably have better things to do than keep an eye on one single person and make sure they stay poor.

 

It is up to us to create our own lives.  We are given the tools and the ability - it is up to us to use them.  We have the ability to manipulate Energy and create magic in order to enhance our lives.  Don't be afraid of it.  Embrace what you are and what you can be.