~Magickal Graphics~ 

Ask these questions before you cast a spell

1) Have I done everything I can to resolve the situation without magic?

Try all the mundane methods of attaining your goals before resorting to spellcraft. If you want a job, send out your resume before you break out the green candles and patchouly. If you want to meet someone special, try reading the personals or signing up for an adult ed class before you reach for the aphrodisiacs. If you’re having conflict with someone at work, try talking to them about the problem before you go looking up binding spells. As one experienced witch put it to me, “this way, you can be sure that your intentions are pure.”

2) Will this spell harm another, or bend someone’s will to mine?

Please refer to the Wiccan Rede. Witches do not cast spells meant to harm someone else. Nor do they cast spells on other people without their permission, no matter how honorable their intentions. There’s a good reason for this: harmful and meddlesome spells have a nasty tendency to backfire on the people who cast them.

When you’re watching someone close to you suffering, it can be hard to consider the situation objectively. One reader asked me about spells to help alleviate anger. When I dug deeper, it turned out that spellcraft was entirely inappropriate. If possible, discuss the matter with another trusted pagan friend. If there’s no one around to consult with, try asking someone in the chat room or the Forum.

3) Am I prepared to accept the consequences of this spell, whatever they might be?

Think long and hard about this one. As I’ve said before, you may cast a spell with the best of intentions, but end up with unexpected consequences. Meditate a bit on it before you decide to cast the spell. Talk to other witches and see if there isn’t a better solution.

Either way, your spell has a better chance of success if you fully “own” it, and anything that results from it. The best way to avoid unforseen consequences is to follow the guidelines set out above — and, most importantly, to cast the spell with love in your heart. Making magick is a powerful and transformative experience. In the midst of the spell, you become the subject, and you become the result. Make sure that what you’re asking for is something you’d like to become.

Remember, the most powerful tool a witch has is their mind. As we can only perceive reality, we can bend it by changing states of consciousness. The universe is like a web, we can change the strands, and we can even break them with our magick. Be careful of what you do. Before every magickal working ask yourself:

‘Do I dare disturb the fragile energies of the universe?’

A spell cast on someone without their permission can be considered as manipulative magick. Even when the best of thoughts are at heart, you must tell them your intentions, or deal with the consequences. Sometimes it isn’t possbile to tell someone you want to cast a healing spell on them,so outweight the benefits to the negative consequences.

A spell which bends will or binds it to yours is completely WRONG. Do not perform them unless absolutely necessary, and by that I only mean bindings and transformations, and if you have no other alternatives, banishings. If you are under some sort of physcial attack, for example abuse, rape or harrassment, see the police immediately, do not attempt to bend their will through a spell.

A spell cast to harm someone is just as wrong as bending their will, if not more so. Do not cast a spell to cause ill to a convited murderer, a friend who has gosspped about you, no matter what the magnitude. If it is a felony or illegal under law, get the law enforcers involed. Remember you human rights, and theirs also.

A spell which is personal gain is OK *AS LONG AS* you do not demand too much. Be careful for what you ask for, you just might get it.