Spells, Curses, Black & Chaos Arts, and Free Will

Doing the Renaissance Faire has brought me face-to-face with some interesting characters. This whole Fantasy crowd are usually quite intelligent, they do a lot of reading, and pride themselves on their wild imaginations and even wilder outfits. They grew up on Dungeons & Dragons and H.P. Lovecraft, and I usually don't have to explain any references to Greek mythology or Qabalah to these guys (and girls). I am getting used to people telling me off-handedly that they are Wiccan, or are "doing some energy work with Isis," that they're struggling with a blocked chakra, or have been practicing their mediumship abilities. It's all cool. Whatever you're into. Some of them I take quite seriously (and sometimes their cards will echo psychic abilities), and others I smile and shrug off as residue from playing with too many Magic: The Gathering cards. However, I have yet to get used to someone sitting down in front of me and requesting a spell or a curse. I get requests for people on the phone for these too. All the time.

Gypsy legend has it (and hey, I just discovered that my Bohemian roots probably do qualify me for having a trace of real Gypsy blood way back down the line) that whatever you put out there toward somebody, for good or for evil, will come back to you three times. This is actually very much in line with Qabalists, Taoists, and pagan beliefs too. It amounts to this: What goes around comes around. Good brings good and bad brings bad. It's quite simple.

The Qabalists say: "As above so below; as inside, so outside." What happens in the God-mind happens in the body. What happens in the body happens outside the body. Everything is a mirror.

Some people ask about sacred objects: talismans, voodoo dolls, lucky t-shirts, and such. I do believe that there is power to these things if we believe it and give the object power. The ancient Chinese have been doing the same sort of energy work with positioning objects through Feng Shui. Use symbols to clear energy and keep a healthy, good flow.

But let's talk about negative energy for a minute:

We have all been in the situation where we have been so angry with someone that we want revenge. Sometimes we feel so justified in it that we're willing to suffer ourselves. But I ask you: are you willing to suffer three times greater? That's an awful lot of energy you are giving to your enemy, and to your own demise, when you could be building yourself up. Think of the attention you give a person you're angry with, and then think of how that translates into wasted time.

Somewhere along the line, we have all felt unrequited love too. After angry curses, love spells are what I get the most requests for. And to those people I ask: would you really want to make someone love you? That's not true love, and the energy is bad. Get someone to notice you, sure. I can even teach you to put your own energy toward doing just that. But force is never a good thing, even in matters of the heart.

My husband has a motto: the use of force against another is never acceptable, under any circumstances except in self-defense. This principle applies to every area of his life, and I tend to agree with it.

At the Renaissance Faire, I have had people casually state to me that they are Black magicians. I think that they believe, since I am a tarot card reader, that I am either one myself, or that I tacitly approve. Black magicians practice Black Magic, or some call it "Chaos magic." Black and Chaos magic are essentially screwing with the systems of life. They do not respect ideas such as individuality and free will, and some go as far as not to respect life and death. I do not support Black Magic, curses, or negativity in any form. I have had some experience with it in the past and I am not interested in ever going there again. Black magicians, unsurprisingly, usually deal with a lot of depression, emotional, financial, physical, and professional problems. You will almost never meet a Black magician who you would say is successful in life. They are getting their Gypsy three-times-back, and then some.

I may have written this aphorism before, but it bears repeating: "The Devil is all in your head, and that is the worst place he could be" (Marianne Williamson).

So, you know where I stand as far as practicing Black Magic. Do I believe that I could be a victim of Black Magic and Chaos Magic? To a point, yes. I believe that if I think I'm a victim of it, if I believe that I'm weak and a sucker to it, then I just might be. But I also know that I am a part of this great system of life energy, which I call God. That makes me entirely powerful to live and behave as I want. I choose to live in the light, and since I first made this conscious choice, absolutely everything has opened up to me.

I had a conversation with someone close to me about protective spells recently. I believe protective spells are neutral--neither good or bad energy. Like Aikido or Tai Chi, they are the deflection of forceful attack against you, and while you are prepared, you are never first to strike. They are the reaction to the offensive reaction. There is a lot we can do to protect ourselves, simply by looking inward and seeing what we are attracting with our own belief systems. There are outward symbols of protection you can do too. If you're interested in a tarot card reading to explore this, or any issue, please email me at tarot[at]nighttimes.com, or call 314.517.0158.