Karma and magic
Hi Judy,
What are the karma effects of sending out bad vibes and or spells by the
untrained and what effects can be caused?
Incidents in my life recently have left me so angry with people, that
I burnt some paper with their names on it (two individuals and a company)
and sent out all my bad feelings. I did not intend to hurt anyone, it
was more an attempt to clear my own anger and stop myself feeling so upset.
In the past prior upsets and extreme anger had led me to hurting myself
and I did not want to do that again.
A few days later I was notified of little problems these entities got
(an eye infection the day after for one man, a headache two days after
for the second, and a restructure of the company including redundancies
three days after). Of course, these may, or may not, have been effected
by my actions (especially as the company restructuring must have been
in the pipeline for a while).
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Again I'm planning to never do this again and want to find a better way
to release my anger and personal pain without having an effect on the
world around me. Any ideas on how to do this?
How is my karma likely to be effected? I know about the return is x3
(the Wiccan threefold rule) but especially with my second 'spell' - if
he had not been doing the wrong thing nothing bad would have happened.
What would the return x3 on that?
Is it worth finding some training so as to know what not to do or should
I just steer clear or magic altogether? It is hard to stand by when someone
you love is being hurt and possibly being put in danger by actions of
others - does the lack of personal gain mitigate some of the bad karma
from taking 'revenge' ?
I guess this is why you have to be careful who you teach magic to.
Maggie
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Hi Maggie,
I come from a Shamanic background rather than a Wiccan one so I can give
you an explanation from my point of view, but a Wiccan High Priestess
would have a different ‘take’ on it. In fact, here follows
a couple of quotes from Grey Cat’s book, ‘Deepening witchcraft’
[for further information regarding the book refer to the Links page under
Grey Cat]:
“The Law of Three or Threefold Law is often used as a ‘stick’
to make us behave ethically, particularly with regard to working magic.
This law states that everything you do will return to you three times.
Therefore, if you work magic to hurt another, you’ll get three
times the hurt back. I’ve never felt that this really fit in very
well with the general Pagan cosmology, nor that it was particularly
effective in terms of encouraging moral behaviour.
I did a good bit of asking around but couldn’t find who knew
how this “law” got into Witchcraft lore. Mention of this
concept appears in the Initiation Ritual in Gardner’s BOS. “Thou
hast obeyed the Law. But mark well, when thou receivest good, so equally
art bound to return good threefold.” In its full context, the
Gardner quote refers specifically to the initiate scourging the officiant
with three times as many strokes as she received.”
Further on Grey Cat says:
“Though there are many descriptions of how this law works,
the following seems to me the best explanation of the way most Pagans
interpret it: When you act, that energy goes out from you, whether it
be in the form of words, of a physical thing, whatever. The energy spreads
like a ripple in a pond: it goes way past the original target of your
action. It touches all of creation even if only ever so slightly, and
those ripples rebound and multiply and eventually come back to you.”
Magic is a ritualised way of focusing your will on a particular outcome.
You can use words and actions as a form of focus to attain your desired
effect. The reason why people who want to practice magic need training
is that it gives them the tools to work out if they want the karmic results
from the actions concerned. Anyone with a strong will power can affect
outcomes to a greater or lesser extent depending on their strength of
will. But if you use your will to change what was meant to happen how
has this affected Time [yes I meant to add the capital T] and peoples
individual futures?
That is the important question – and one you are asking. Would
the eye infection, the headache, and the redundancies have happened if
I had not expressed my anger as a ‘spell’? Possibly the redundancies
would have happened anyway as it is nigh on impossible for a spell from
one individual to have any lasting effect on a multinational company,
but the infection and headaches could be from you spell. What about the
official reprimands from the second spell? From what you were saying it
seems that the person concerned was in a sensitive situation anyway, your
spell may just have added a bit more to the balance of what was heading
his way.
If you find that you are attracted to the practice of magic then you
need to study it. Wicca, or Witchcraft, with the three-fold rule, is a
good place for Westerners to come to grips with Karma and the practice
of magic. Find a good High Priestess in your area and explore the possibility
that the Craft may be for you. Witchvox has a section with world-wide
Wiccan groups so check out a group in your area:
www.witchvox.com
If you do not want to carry on down the magical route, my basic advice
is that you cannot avoid being angry with other people’s selfishness
but you can avoid karmic backlash by venting it in ways that do not use
magic. Psychological needs require that you vent your anger. Perhaps the
best way to do this is through martial arts, running or some other physical
activity. The most cathartic way I ever found to express anger through
physical activity was through Kendo. Shrieking [kiai] and whacking someone
over the head with a bamboo cane is wonderful. It also has the added bonus
of not affecting anyone else’s karma! I understand that long distance
runners get the same sort of release.
Good luck with your future choices.
Judy F |
