Recently, I wrote a piece about how to cast a spell. In hindsight, I probably should have written this piece first, but at the time I was thinking about trying to write something that got to the good stuff, what I was always looking to find when I went hunting for information on the paranormal. However, how you use magic is also very important.
Now, that said, I don’t believe for a minute you have to be pure of heart to use magic. I’ve known people who are far from pure (by their own admission) who have been capable of doing some pretty awesome things. So, the ability itself isn’t restricted to those who are perfect. I think this thought came about simply because we don’t want to consider that someone unethical could make use of something we don’t understand for their own gain, especially at the expense of others, and especially at our expense.
Of course, since we’re all human, we all do things we regret once in awhile. The point of this piece isn’t to say “BAD! Don’t do that!” Rather, it’s to make you think about what you’re doing so you can understand the ethical implications and decide for yourself what to do.
The biggest rule of thumb is this: if you could do this without using magic, would you find it ethical to do it that way? If so, it’s a safe bet it’s ethical to use magic to do it as well. If not, it’s probably not ethical to use magic to do it either.
My general rule is simply if it doesn’t cause harm to someone else, it should be ok to do it. However, you have to realize that I’m talking about all kinds of harm, not just physical harm. Subverting someone’s free will is causing harm. Stealing their property is harm. Causing them to lose their job is harm. Basically, if you wouldn’t want it done to you (and you aren’t a masochist), it’s probably causing harm and you shouldn’t do it.
As an example to what I’m talking about, most people who have found my guide to casting spells have found it by looking for love spells. Now, love spells as a whole aren’t necessarily bad, but I would say that some kinds are. The kind of love spell that is cast to make someone fall in love with you would fall into the bad category. You’re attempting to subvert their free will to make them love you. Not only is this bad because you’re subverting their free will, but it’s also bad because, if the spell were successful, then it wouldn’t really be love, because the person the spell was cast upon wouldn’t have chosen it.
On the other hand, there are other ways to use magic in the quest for a suitable partner. For instance, casting a spell to cause you to cross paths with someone compatible with you, or your soul mate, or something along those lines doesn’t invalidate anyone’s free will. It just sets up circumstances for you to meet someone who you might find you have a mutual bond of love with. You aren’t forcing anyone to do anything with this type of love spell, you’re just nudging events to work out well for you and the mystery person who you happen to find.
Likewise, money spells, in general, aren’t a bad thing either. With these, it is a good idea to specify that you don’t want harm to come to anyone, as inspecific magic can have unintended effects. You don’t want to cast a money spell only to find that your money is coming by inheritance. However, a desire to have money is perfectly natural, as it tends to help us along in life in numerous ways. Some people say spells like this show greed, I say so long as they’re cast in a way that won’t hurt anyone, they’re perfectly fine. I’ve found they don’t tend to be very successful, though a few people report success. Money seems to be weirdly hard to effect via magic though. However, it’s certainly not unethical to try to get more.
Also, what I said about unintended consequences and making part of the spell a specific request not to cause harm is probably good advice for any spell you cast, so you don’t wind up inadvertently causing harm some way you didn’t expect.
Something else to keep in mind is that some traditions of magic believe in forces such as karma and the Threefold Law. If they’re right, anytime you cast a spell with positive intentions, to help yourself or another, it also brings good to you. If you cast a spell with negative intentions, to harm yourself or another, then it will bring harm to you as well. Personally, I don’t think there’s a universal law that says this will happen.
That said, if you gather enough negative energy around you from casting negative spells, I could see that drawing some unpleasant events to you. Likewise, if you gather enough positive energy around you over time, I could see that manifesting some good events in your life. But I don’t think it’s a hard and fast rule so much as it’s something that builds over time. I also think this could be manipulated with the right knowledge of subtle energy, so someone could clean away the negative energy if they knew what they were doing, or simply build up the positive energy on their own.
The main point I want to get across though, is that you should consider magic just as any other tool. If you would find it ethical to do something without the use of magic, then using magic to do it would also be ethical by your code of ethics. If you would find it unethical without magic, then using magic to do it would also be unethical. Please be responsible with your spells. While we don’t know for sure whether they work or not, it’s best to be careful so we don’t harm others with anything we do.
Related Posts:
- How to Cast a Spell
- Some Random Thoughts On Magic
- Don’t Rely on The Paranormal to Pull You Out Of Your Mess
- How Does the Paranormal Work… If It’s not Real
- Do Work You Love or Do Work You Need
taylor
July 6th, 2009
Very cool and informative post! Is this off of pure experience or is this something you’ve studied?
floslib
July 6th, 2009
Hey Taylor, glad you liked it.
To answer your question, some of each, but pretty heavy on the side of study. I spent a long time studying magic and what it was supposed to be before I ever cast a spell. I learned about the idea of magic having unintended consequences during this study, and given how some could be very unpleasant, I decided it was always a good idea to be careful and specify that nothing harmful should happen to make a spell work. If that means the spell will fail, so be it. The number one intent is always no harm, because I would feel awful if a spell ever did any serious harm to anyone.
Study is also what introduced me to the Threefold Law and Karma. As I said, I don’t specifically believe in these concepts, though I do believe in the related concept of similar energies attracting each other. From my experience, this does seem to happen, though I couldn’t say for sure. Seems a fair number of people agree, but certainly not everyone.
As far as ethics in allowing people their free will and not hurting others, that’s pretty much my moral system and what I’ve come to think is the right way to do things over the course of my life. So it’s experience, what I’ve been taught, how I’ve been conditioned, everything that goes into making up someone’s moral system. Then just extrapolate that to magic. It should be noted that the Wiccan Rede does basically say the same thing, and many religions have similar moral ideas… some just get more complicated than others.
The idea of magic as a tool definitely came before me, but I have always felt that way from the time I began to think about it. It just made sense to me that way. It does make it easy to extrapolate morals to magic though.
floslib
July 8th, 2009
To clarify something about my last comment, when I say I learned a lot through study, I mean informal study. I’ve read a lot on the internet, talked to a few interested people and one or two who practice in some manner, and read a book or two. I’ve never actually studied under someone or had formal training though.
amber
December 20th, 2009
I find what you say to be interesting. I’ve been reading books on how to do things and my husband has a problem with it. He said that his aunt was interested in learning and wound up getting possessed. Now I’m scared to even try anymore. Do you think that her reading and trying things left her open?
floslib
December 20th, 2009
Hi Amber. What you describe is possible. I really don’t have any experience in dealing with other entities, unless you count praying, which I think is a bit different from casting spells or practicing psychic abilities, and not really applicable to your question.
Those who do have experience seem to agree that opening yourself up to psychic abilities and/or spellcasting seems to also make you more noticeable to outside entities, which would make them more likely to find you. I haven’t had this experience myself though.
Most people seem to find as long as they take proper precautions, nothing negative seems to get in. For a psychic, this generally means shielding. For a spellcaster, this would be casting a protective circle before casting anything else. I feel as though they are essentially the same thing done different ways, but others disagree. I would say your best bet is to do as much research as you can to know as much as you can before trying anything. Then you can make an informed decision on if you want to try it out.
Shana
May 12th, 2011
I have read what you have said and found it very interesting, I have casted 2 spells in the last few days and seem to be having visions in my dreams not sure if they are good or bad because I only remember bits and pieces would this be caused by the spells themselves are they working or is it something else. I have the ability and this may sound crazy but I am able to think things into exisistance and cats spells without tools I am looking for help with my gift but have not found anyone who is willing to help without looking for payment. I am not even sure if they even have the ability to assist me. I want to be able to get more in touch with my innerself I have been very spacific in my spells and yes have ask for no harm to come to none but I am having dreams of my mom who has passed in 2006 and I lost my dad in March not sure what my mom is simbolizing but am in major need of help. People have tried to bind me and have failed I am not sure why peolpe would want to do this as I am not casting spells to harm anyone.