Angels and demons...how to approach these two subjects from a Wiccan
perspective can be tricky (to say the least). They play a role in both
mythology and occultism in countless cultures, and to dismiss them out
of hand would be simply foolish. In my 25 + years of studying both the
occult and the mystical, I have encountered energies that would be
described by many as angelic or demonic...and a few that seemed a
little of both. What I have learned has both enriched my understanding
of the unseen world around us, and given me acute insight into subjects
many would never dream of exploring. i not share some of these with
you.
Angels
Angels are all the rage in some circles. Yea, a veritable cottage
industry of cutsey bumper stickers, key-chains, coffee mugs, and more all
extol people to remember the unseen spirits who guide their path. What
would shock many of you is that I actually believe in angels.
Of course, these spirits are not the haloed, cherub-faced cuties that
adorns the above paraphenalia. Nor are they connected to any one
religious path or tradition (though many have tried to lay claim to
their celestial coat-tails)_. No, the "angels" that I have encountered
are ancient beings who are not of the flesh, and have never been human.
I'm not sure if they were created before us by the Gods as part of the
general spiritual landscape, or envisioned by us and animated by the
Divine like so many pantheons are. However, I do know that they are welcoming, gracious, and very, very wise.
There are many other names for them in many different cultures...spirit
guides, watchers or watchtowers in some esoteric circles, animal
totems, ascended masters...so long as their purpose is to educate and
enlighten human kind, then they can be counted among the angelic forces
who seek us out and help us for no other reason than our common origin
as children of the Divine source. No religion owns them, but all can
draw from their wisdom and their strength.
Ok, enough with the easy part...now, on to
Demons
Those things referred to as "demons" actually fall in two distinct
categories: Sentient spiritual beings who have been mistakenly lumped
into a mish mash of demonic lore, and fairly nasty experiences of a
distinctly destructive variety.
As for the first, such "demons" are ones that most average people will
never meet. Interaction with them is not accidental, and usually as a
result of some sort of necromancy performed by a Western ceremonial
magician. Again, these are just spirits, and not really malevolent.
they're not as philanthropic as angelic forces, and thus those
approaching them must show some care, but they're not out to "get" you.
I wouldn't have even included them if it were not for various occult
literature that mis-labels them as "demonic" (Crowley's translation of
the Goetia comes to mind).
The second sort of demon, the nasty kind, are what most refer to when speaking of "demons" in general. They are
malevolent, nasty, and quite evil. I have encountered them personally.
And yet, I still don't believe in one big boss man demon, no "Satan"
or "devil" calling the shots for the forces of darkness. To understand
this, we have to understand just where demons come from.
(Note: The following explanation comes from no one book, source, or
resource, but is a practical occult theory born out of 25+ years study
of the arcane. It has held up to constant scrutiny and practical
testing, though I of course expect none here to accept it on
faith...but as something to ponder.)
Have you ever walked into a room where there has been a bad arguement,
intense grief, or even physical violence, and "felt" something "not
right"? There were no outward signs of disturbance, and personal
knowledge of the event may be long in coming, and yet you feel
extremely uneasy and out of sorts just entering. This, my friends, is
what is known as "Negative Energy". It is the psychic residue left
behind by intensely negative emotions, and can cling to an area for
days unless dispersed (some particularly strong occurances can leave
traces decades
afterwards). Most often the negative energy gradually dissapates, and
the area becomes neutral again. It can be actively cleared by someone
trained to do so.
Sometimes, however, that pocket of negative energy doesn't dissapate.
Perhaps it's because it's constantly reinforced by other negativity
being heaped upon it (like in habitually abusive households), but it
only sits and festers. It's free-floating negativity inspires even
more negative feelings by people around it, and thus, instead of fading
away, the negative energy only grows. It can even break free of a
particular location and drift about, finding people far away from it's
point of origin.
One of the basic hermetic principles is "like attracts like", and in
keeping with this these free-floating pockets of negativity are
attracted to people facing a lot of negativity in their lives. The
person's anxiety and/or depression then feeds the negativity, or
"demon", ahich then grows stronger and thus engenders even more
negativity. Most of us send these things packing of our own
volition...we come to some sort of realization, feel better about
things, and the "demon" goes off to find someone more in tune with it's
dismal state.
Sometimes, the "demon" encounters someone of some untapped psychic
ability, and actually manifests itself as unsettling psychic
phenomena...disembodied banging, frightening apparitions, cold spots,
even levitation of objects. These events, frightening to the
uneducated, trigger abject terror in the unrealized psychic, and it
gets a supercharge of negative energy. This leads to even more
phenomena, and chaos reigns. If this untapped psychic comes from a
particular religious tradition that holds these things to be torments
from the devil, then that expectation is fed to the demon along with
the negativity. Being a bit of free-floating energy, and thus a bit of
a blank slate, these demons begin to feed this expectation back to the
focus of their attatchment, and take on the guise of a classic "demon".
Once thus charged, this demon can continue to approach other people in
a particular way, i.e. as a stereotypical "demon", to people of
different outlooks and beliefs. Most exorcism and deliverance rituals
don't actually destroy the offending entity, but just send it away from
the people who have been previously tormented. These are then free to
find fresh people to attack (for the programming done has made them
aggressive in a way not before possible), and to spread legend of
demonic lore throughout cultures. (If asked, I would say that this is
what Quotefiend encountered all those years ago)
Thus, demons are real, but they are a real by-product of our own
existence, not a legion of "Satan's Army". This is the conclusion I
have reached after decades of occult and paranormal research and field
work. I believe it is important to test this theory even more, for if
it bears up to scrutiny in the field, then it could revolutionize the
way investigators deal with this phenomenon. Instead of just breaking
the link with the "demon", these pockets of negative energy could be
distroyed, or at least severely weakened. We could do real good,
instead of just sloughing off our problems on others.
Thus, you can see that my beliefs are hardly orthodox, but they are plausible. And something to think about.
The following is a piece I wrote for an unknown publication (ie: I can't remember) years ago. I hope you enjoy!
Can I Ask You A Question?
Taliesin Athor Govannon
I am a very public Pagan. I am a long-haired male, bearded, fond of
dressing in black, with a rather large silver pentagram (my only piece
of jewelry...REALLY noticeable against a plain black background) around
my neck. In other words, I've never tried to hide my identity as a
Witch...my broom closet has screen doors in it!
Now, any of you other public types out there will know what I'm
talking about when I say that I tend to get a LOT of questions from
non-Pagans. (NOTE: Since there are some who dislike the terms "cowan"
and "mundane", I will henceforth refer to such people as
"metaphysically challenged") Some are rude, some are ignorant, and some
are in a class of their own.
It can be difficult to know how to answer these people. After all,
some of them may never get the opportunity to hang with real
occult/Witch types, and probably wonder if we all work for those
"1-900-YOU-PUTZ" type psychic lines. I, however, have quite a bit of
experience interacting with such types, and have a huge collection of
"Save your soul now" style pamphlets to prove it. As a public Pagan
service (and also because I've been spending all of my time lately
writing love songs to a beautiful blue-eyed Witch and thus have NO
other ideas ready), I have decided to give you a list of my favorite
questions from the metaphysically challenged, along with possible
answers. (Please note that these are POSSIBLE answers, and I assume no
liability for personal injury resulting from their use. Remember, it's
safer to be a smart-ass in print than it is in real life.)
Top Ten Questions From The Metaphysically Challenged
"Is that there one of those quartz crystals around your neck?" (No, it's a CIA transmitter...)
(while pointing to any occult/Pagan book in your possession) "What
do you have there?" (A BOOK...see the pretty words?
Oooooooohhhhhhhh........)
(same as above) "What book you got there?" ("Build A Thermonuclear Weapon From Ordinary Household Goods In Three Days"...why?)
"Are you going to Hell?" (No, but it's on my way if you want dropped off...")
(While looking at pentagram) "Is that a satanic symbol?" (No, it's
a Masonic symbol...would you like to donate to Shriner's Hospital?)
"Do you believe in God?" (Which one?)
"How does someone become a Witch?" (Well, first there's the written exam, and then the swimsuit competition...)
"Can you do a spell on me?" (Don't tempt me, please...)
(Pointing to pentagram) "What are you, Jewish?" (Shalom!!!)
(A real experience) "Well, I like you...you seem like a nice
person. I'm really worried about all of this occult stuff you're into
though...why don't you come and talk to my pastor? He knows lots about
occult stuff, and I think he can set you straight...you might even find
Jesus! But before you do that, could you give me a tarot reading???"
(No, but I'll give your pastor one...)
One of the things I love about going to Starwood is all of the people I get to see only when I'm there. One of those is Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, founder (and newly reinstated leader) of the Church of All Worlds, one of the oldest Neo-Pagan organizations in the world.
Years ago, I ran across his article entitled We Are the "Other People", which shows a unique way to deal with Christians trying to "save" Pagans. I asked for, and received, permission to re-publish it here for all of you to read. I hope you enjoy.
We Are The "Other People"
by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
"Ding-dong!" goes the doorbell. Is it Avon calling? Or perhaps Ed McMahon with my three million dollars? No, it's Yahweh's Witlesses again, just wanting to have a nice little chat about the Bible...
Boy, did they ever come to the wrong house! So we invite them in: "Enter freely and of your own will..." (Hey, it's Sunday morning, nothing much going on, why not have a little entertainment?) Diane and I amuse ourselves watching their expressions as they check out the living room: great horned owl on the back of my chair; ceremonial masks and medicine skulls of dragons and unicorns on the wall; crystals, wands, staffs, swords; lots of Goddess figures and several altars; boa constrictors draped in amorous embrace over the elkhorn; white doves sitting in the hanging planters; cats and weasels underfoot; iron dragon snorting steam atop the wood stove; posters and paintings of wizards and dinosaurs and witchy women, some proudly naked; sculptures of mythological beasties and lots more dinosaurs; warp six on the star-filled viewscreen of my computer; a five-foot model of the USS Enterprise and the skeleton of a plesiosaur hanging from the ceiling; very, very many books, most of them dealing with obviously weird subjects... To say nothing of the great horned owl perched on the back of my chair and the Unicorn grazing in the front yard. You know; early Addams Family decor.
And then, of course, it being late in the morning, you can expect Morning Glory to come wandering out naked, looking for her wake-up cup of tea. Morning Glory naked is a truly impressive sight, and the Witlesses look as if she'd set titties on stun as they stand immobilized, hands clasped over their genitals. With the stage set and all the actors in place, the show is ready to begin.
Their mission, of course, it to save our heathen souls by turning us on to "The Word of the Lord" - their Bible. I guess they figure some of us just haven't heard about it yet, and we're all eagerly awaiting their joyous tidings of personal salvation through giving our rational faculties to Jesus. Every time they come around, I look forward to trying out a new riposte. Sure, it may be cruel and sadistic of me, but hey, I didn't call them up and ask them to come over; they entered at their own risk!
This time should be pretty good. After letting them run off their basic rap while lovely Morning Glory serves us all hot herb tea, I innocently remark: "But none of that applies to us. We have no need for salvation because we don't have original sin. We are the Other People."
"Hunh? What?" they reply eloquently. It's clear they've never heard this one before.
"Right," I say. "It's all in your Bible." And I proceed to tell them the story, using their own book for reference:
Genesis 1:26 - The [Elohim] said, "Let us make humanity in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth."
Elohim is a plural word, including male and female, and should properly be translated "Gods" or "Pantheon."
27 The Gods created humanity in the image of themselves, In the image of the Gods they created them, Male and Female they created them. 28 The Gods blessed them, saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth."
Now clearly, here we are talking about the original creation of the human species: male and female. All the animals,plants, etc. have all been created in previous verses. This is before the Garden of Eden, and Yahweh is not mentioned as the creator of these people. The next chapter talks about how Yahweh, an individual member of the Pantheon, goes about assembling his own special little botanical and zoological Garden in Eden, and making his own little man to inhabit it:
Gen 2:7 - Yahweh God fashioned a man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus the man became a living being. 8 Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. 9 Yahweh God caused to spring up from the soil every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. 15 Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it.
Now this next is crucial: note Yahweh's precise words:
16 Then Yahweh God gave the man this admonition, "You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden. 17 Nevertheless of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die."
Fateful words, those. We will refer back to this admonition later.
Then Yahweh decides to make a woman to go with the man. Now, don't forget that the Pantheon had earlier created a whole population of people, "male and female," who are presumably doing just fine somewhere "outside the gates of Eden." But this setup in Eden is Yahweh's own little experiment, and will unfold to its own separate destiny.
21 So Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. 22 Yahweh God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man.
Right. Man gives birth to woman. Sure he does. But that's the way the story is told here.
25 Now both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame in front of each other.
Well, of course not! Why should they? But take careful note of those words, as they also will prove to be significant . . .
Now this next part is where it starts to get interesting. Enter the Serpent:
Gen. 3:1 - The serpent was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, "Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" 2 The woman answered the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. 3 "But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, 'You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death'" 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "No! You will not die! 5 "God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil."
What a remarkable statement! "Your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." The Serpent directly contradicts Yahweh.
Obviously, one of them has to be lying. Which one, do you suppose? And, if the serpent speaks true, wouldn't you wish to eat of the magic fruit? Wouldn't it be a good thing, to become "like gods, knowing good and evil"? Or is it preferable to remain in ignorance?
6 The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths.
The author makes an interesting assumption here: that if you realize you are naked you will automatically want to cover yourself. Further implications will unfold shortly...
8 The man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. 9 But Yahweh God called to the man. "Where are you?" he asked. 10 "I heard the sound of you in the garden," he replied. "I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." 11 "Who told you that you were naked?" he asked. "Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?"
And so the sign of the Fall becomes modesty. Take note of this. The descendants of Adam and Eve will be distinguished throughout history from virtually all other peoples by their obsessive modesty taboos, wherein they will feel ashamed of being naked. It follows that those who feel no shame in being naked are, by definition, not carriers of this spiritual disease of original sin!
12 The man replied, "It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it."
Right. Blame the woman. What a turkey!
13 Then Yahweh God asked the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman replied, "The serpent tempted me and I ate."
So of course she blames the serpent. But just what did the serpent do that was so evil? Why, he called Yahweh a liar! Was he wrong? Let's see...
21 Yahweh God made clothes out of skins for the man and his wife, and they put them on.
Out of skins? This means that Yahweh had to kill some innocent animals to pander to Adam and Eve's new obsession with modesty!
And now we come to the crux of the Fall. Yahweh had said back there in chapter 2:17, regarding the fruit of the tree of knowledge, that "on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die." The Serpent, on the other hand, had contradicted Yahweh in chapter 3:4-5: "No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." So what actually happened? Who lied and who told the truth about this remarkable fruit? The answer is given in the next verse:
22 Then Yahweh God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, with his knowledge of good and evil. He must not be allowed to stretch his hand out next and pick from the tree of life also, and eat some and live forever."
Get that? Yahweh himself admits that he had lied! In fact, and in Yahweh's own words, the Serpent spoke the absolute truth! And moreover, Yahweh tells the rest of the Pantheon that he intends to evict Adam (and presumably Eve as well) to keep them from gaining immortality to go with their newly-acquired divine knowledge. To prevent them, in other words, from truly becoming gods! So who, in this story, comes off as a benefactor of humanity, and who comes off as a tyrant? THE SERPENT NEVER LIED!
This story, to digress slightly, bears a remarkable resemblance to a contemporary tale from ancient Greece. In that version, the Serpent (later identified as Lucifer, the Light-Bearer) may be equated with the heroic titan Prometheus, who championed humanity against the tyranny of Zeus, who wished for people to be mere slaves of the gods. Prometheus, whose name means "forethought," gave people wisdom, intelligence, and fire stolen from Olympus. Moreover, he ordained the portions of animal sacrifice so that humans got the best parts (the meat and hides) while the portion that was burned to the gods was the bones and fat. In punishment for this defiance of his divine authority, Zeus condemned Prometheus to a terrible punishment for an immortal: to be chained to a mountain in the Caucasus, where Zeus' gryphon/eagle (actually a Lammergier) would devour his liver each day. It would grow back each night. Zeus promised to relent if Prometheus would reveal his great secret knowledge: Who would succeed Zeus as supreme god? Prometheus refused to tell, but history has revealed the answer...
The interesting thing about all this is that the Greeks properly regarded Prometheus as a noble hero in his defiance of unjust tyranny. One may wonder why the Serpent is not so well regarded. On the contrary, snakes are loathed throughout Christiandom.
23 So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. 24 He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the cherubs, and the flame of a flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
So that's it for the Fall. But the story of Adam and Eve doesn't end there.
Gen 4:1 - The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain... 2 She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. 3 Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering for Yahweh, 4 while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. Yahweh looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favor on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast.
Well, why shouldn't he be? Both brothers had brought forth their first fruits as offerings, but Yahveh rejected the vegetables and only accepted the blood sacrifice. This was to set a gruesome precedent:
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out;" and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him.
Accursed and marked for fratricide, 16 Cain left the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
We can assume that the phrase "left the presence of Yahweh" implies that Yahweh is a local deity, and not omnipresent. Now Eden, according to Gen. 2:14-15, was situated at the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, apparently right where Lake Van is now, in Turkey. "East of Eden," therefore, would probably be along the shores of the Caspian Sea, right in the Indo-European heartland. Cain settled in there, among the people of Nod, and married one of the women of that country. Here, for the first time, is specifically mentioned the "other people" who are not of the lineage of Adam and Eve. I.e., the Pagans.
So let's look at this story from another viewpoint: There we were, around six thousand years ago, living in our little farming communities around the Caspian Sea, in the land of Nod, when this dude with a terrible scar comes stumbling in out of the sunset. He tells us this bizarre story, about how his mother and father had been created by some god named Jahweh, and put in charge of a beautiful garden somewhere out west, and how they had gotten thrown out for disobedience after eating some of the landlord's forbidden magic fruit of enlightenment. He tells us of murdering his brother, as the god of his parents would only accept blood sacrifice, and of receiving that scar as a mark so that all would know him as a fratricide. The poor guy is really a mess psychologically, obsessed with guilt. He is also obsessively modest, insisting on wearing clothes even in the hottest summer, and he has a hard time with our penchant for skinny-dipping in the warm inland sea. He seems to believe that he is tainted by the "sin" of his parent's disobedience; that it is in his blood, somehow, and will continue to contaminate his children and his children's children. One of our healing women takes pity on the poor sucker, and marries him...
17 Cain had intercourse with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. He became builder of a town, and he gave the town the name of his son Enoch.
With both of their first sons not turning out very well, Adam and Eve decided to try again:
25 Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth... 26 A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. This man was the first to invoke the name of Yahweh.
Now it doesn't mention here where Seth's wife came from. Another woman from Nod, possibly, or maybe someone from another neolithic community downstream in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. But her folks also, cannot be of the lineage of Adam and Eve, and must also be counted among "the other people."
But whatever happened to Adam? After all, way back there in chapter 2:17, warning Adam about the magic fruit of knowlege, Jahweh had told him that "on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die." So, when did Adam die?
Gen. 5:4 - Adam lived for eight hundred years after the birth of Seth and he became the father of sons and daughters. 5 In all, Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.
Hey, that's pretty good! Nine hundred and some odd years isn't bad for a man who's been told he's gonna die the next day!
Well, the story goes on, and maybe next time the Witlesses come to visit I'll tell more of it. But suffice it to say that those of us who are not of Semitic descent (i.e., not of the lineage of Adam and Eve) cannot share in the Original Sin that comes with that lineage. Being that the Bible is the story of that lineage, of Adam and Eve's descendants and their special relationship with their particular god, Yahweh, it follows that this is not the story of the rest of us. We may may have been Cain's wife's people, or Seth's wife's people, or some other people over the hill and far away, but whichever people the rest of us are, as far as the Bible is concerned, we are the Other People, and so we are continually referred to throughout. Later books of the Bible are filled with admonitions to the followers of Jahweh to "learn not the ways of the Pagans..." (Jer 10:2) with detailed descriptions of exactly what it is we do, such as erect standing stones and sacred poles, worship in sacred groves and practice divination and magic. And worship the sun, moon, stars and the "Queen of Heaven." "You must not behave as they do in Egypt where once you lived; you must not behave as they do in Canaan where I am taking you. You must not follow their laws." (Lev 18:3) For Yahweh, as he so clearly emphasises, is not the god of the Pagans. We have our own lineage and our own heritage, and our tale is not told in the Bible.
We were not "made" like clay figurines by a male deity out of "dust from the soil." We were born of our Mother the Earth, and have evolved over aeons in Her nurturing embrace. All of us, in our many and diverse tribes, have creation myths and legends of our origins and history; some of these tales may even be actually true. Like the descendants of Adam and Eve, many of us also have stories of great floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other cataclysms that wiped out whole communities of our people, wherein "I alone survived to tell the tale." Nearly all of our ancestral tribes (and especially those of us who today are reclaiming our own Pagan heritage) lack that peculiar obsessive body modesty that seems to be a hallmark of the original sin alluded to in the story of the Fall. We can be naked and unashamed! Why, our Goddess even tells us, "as a sign that you are truly free, you shall be naked in your rites." Not being born into sin, we have no need of salvation, and no need of a Messiah to redeem our sinful souls. Neither heaven nor hell is our destination in the afterlife; we have our own various arrangements with our own various deities. The Bible is not our story; we have our own stories to tell, and they are many and diverse. In a long life, you may get to hear many of them...
The first part in any spell...the intent of the working...is also the single most important part of the spell. The most poswerful invocations, intense energy-raising, time-honoured spell structures, or most carefully crafted components mean squat without the right intent.
While many might think that this is the simplest part of the spell...after all, it is the reason you're doing the working in the first place...it is also the part with the most room for errors. An intent that is too broad produces insufficient results, while one that is too restrictive can cut off avenues for the magick to work. Finding the right balance is important.
Be Specific! The biggest problem that I see with many published spells is a lack of specificity in their wording. For example, if you want help in paying your bills, you might think that doing a spell to "get all of my bills paid" would be sufficient. However, this ignores the fact that magick tends to take the path of least resistance, and wording a spell as such might just lead to getting manditory overtime at work...sure, you get more money to pay your bills, but you have to work your behind off to get it! If you're OK with this, fine, but I try to make my magick work for me, not create work for me. Never mind the fact that such a broadly-worded spell might make old bills...ones you've forgotten about...re-surface and add to the list of demands on your resources.
If you want to do a spell to gain enough money to pay all of your bills without having to do more work than you're doing right now, then say so! Don't worry that your stated intent doesn't sound "cool"...there's a time an place for poetry, and it isn't here. The stated intent of a spell is a precice, technical set of instructions for the universe to delivier upon...as Issac Bonewitz once said, "warm, fuzzy magick produces warm, fuzzy results!"
Don't Micro-Manage That being said, always focus on the end-result of the spell, not how you're going to get there. If you try to specify how a spell must be achieved, you muddy the waters and place roadblocks upon how it can be accomplished. Magick works through the path of least resistence, and it must follow it's own path, not yours.
For example, I tend to avoid money spells unless the only solution to a problem is money. If I have an electric bill hanging over my head that's past due, then OK, a money spell it is. Other results can be a bit more flexible, however.
Say you wanted to go to the Starwood festival next year. Some might try to do a spell for the money to pay to get in, but I would do a spell to "Go to Starwood 2008" instead. While that might result in extra money to pay to get in, it could also mean being booked as a workshop presenter (which is how I went), a musical act, a work-barter worker (who are vital to the success of the event), or a child-care worker (there is free child care during workshop times). You might find out that a friend is a vendor who's going, and needs you to come to help with their booth, and will pay your way in if you'll help (which is quite common). There are a bunch of ways to get to go, and if you only focus on extra money, you could be cutting off these other avenues.
Laurie Cabot tells the story of how, when her daughter wanted an expensive watch, she did a spell to get the watch, not the money to buy it. Right after the spell, Laurie did some psychic work for a corporation that gave her the exact kind of watch her daughter wanted as a thank-you gift for doing a great job for them. Thus, while the stated goals of a spell should be specific, don't extend that into telling the fates how the result sould be achieved.
Reach High OK, this section isn't important for the technical skills of spellcrafting, but it covers a pet peeve of mine. When wielding the magickal forces of the universe, we are, in effect, using the same energy that the Gods used to create the universe and all that exists. It is an awesome, energizing experience.
It's not a time to be humble.
All too often, I have seen people scale down the magickal intent of a spell because they were afraid that their original goal "wasn't realistic". So, instead of doing a spell for a job doing something that they love, they do a spell to get a job that's "tolerable". Instead of doing a spell for bountiful prosperity, they do a spell to "make ends meet". Instead of doing a spell to find the love of their life, they do a spell to find "someone to spend time with".
Of course, it's easy to see why people fall prey to this. For most of us, our lives are based on humble returns. We've never had the dream upbringing, dream job, dream home, or dream car. Our culture drives into our skulls that we're not privilaged, and we should expect nothing more that what scraps the elie choose to toss our way...unless, of course, we buy the right perfume, clothes, car, television, etc...then we can be almost like the "cool" people! It's classic marketing...make people feel like they'll never be good enough, and you can use that lack of self-esteem to push products!
It's also classic class conciousness coming to light...since few people who resort to magick are part of the ruling class, most of us are people who are used to doing without. Living in a world where 2% of the population control over 80% of the wealth, most of us are raised with the feeling that we're lucky to have what we do, and we shouldn't push it (which is well-supported by the Christian establishment).
In magick, however, we should aim high. Don't do a spell to get a "better" job, do one to get your ideal job! Don't do a spell to move into a better apartment, do one to own your dream home! Granted, magick sometimes comes back in a less than ideal fashion...you may only get a better job than you have now, not your dream job. But if you never ask for something, it may never happen! Besides, it may appear that your spell has "only" produced a better job than you have now, instead of your ideal job, but it may just be a piece in a long puzzle that ultimately leads to the original intent.
Remember, you are a child of the Gods, wielding Their power...don't under-sell yourself!
Conclusion When you first think of doing a spell, you're already performing it. Thus, nail down your specific intent early, and drill it over and over as you compose and implement the spell. It sets the stage for everything else.
The first part in any spell...the intent of the working...is also the single most important part of the spell. The most poswerful invocations, intense energy-raising, time-honoured spell structures, or most carefully crafted components mean squat without the right intent.
While many might think that this is the simplest part of the spell...after all, it is the reason you're doing the working in the first place...it is also the part with the most room for errors. An intent that is too broad produces insufficient results, while one that is too restrictive can cut off avenues for the magick to work. Finding the right balance is important.
Be Specific! The biggest problem that I see with many published spells is a lack of specificity in their wording. For example, if you want help in paying your bills, you might think that doing a spell to "get all of my bills paid" would be sufficient. However, this ignores the fact that magick tends to take the path of least resistance, and wording a spell as such might just lead to getting manditory overtime at work...sure, you get more money to pay your bills, but you have to work your behind off to get it! If you're OK with this, fine, but I try to make my magick work for me, not create work for me. Never mind the fact that such a broadly-worded spell might make old bills...ones you've forgotten about...re-surface and add to the list of demands on your resources.
If you want to do a spell to gain enough money to pay all of your bills without having to do more work than you're doing right now, then say so! Don't worry that your stated intent doesn't sound "cool"...there's a time an place for poetry, and it isn't here. The stated intent of a spell is a precice, technical set of instructions for the universe to delivier upon...as Issac Bonewitz once said, "warm, fuzzy magick produces warm, fuzzy results!"
Don't Micro-Manage That being said, always focus on the end-result of the spell, not how you're going to get there. If you try to specify how a spell must be achieved, you muddy the waters and place roadblocks upon how it can be accomplished. Magick works through the path of least resistence, and it must follow it's own path, not yours.
For example, I tend to avoid money spells unless the only solution to a problem is money. If I have an electric bill hanging over my head that's past due, then OK, a money spell it is. Other results can be a bit more flexible, however.
Say you wanted to go to the Starwood festival next year. Some might try to do a spell for the money to pay to get in, but I would do a spell to "Go to Starwood 2008" instead. While that might result in extra money to pay to get in, it could also mean being booked as a workshop presenter (which is how I went), a musical act, a work-barter worker (who are vital to the success of the event), or a child-care worker (there is free child care during workshop times). You might find out that a friend is a vendor who's going, and needs you to come to help with their booth, and will pay your way in if you'll help (which is quite common). There are a bunch of ways to get to go, and if you only focus on extra money, you could be cutting off these other avenues.
Laurie Cabot tells the story of how, when her daughter wanted an expensive watch, she did a spell to get the watch, not the money to buy it. Right after the spell, Laurie did some psychic work for a corporation that gave her the exact kind of watch her daughter wanted as a thank-you gift for doing a great job for them. Thus, while the stated goals of a spell should be specific, don't extend that into telling the fates how the result sould be achieved.
Reach High OK, this section isn't important for the technical skills of spellcrafting, but it covers a pet peeve of mine. When wielding the magickal forces of the universe, we are, in effect, using the same energy that the Gods used to create the universe and all that exists. It is an awesome, energizing experience.
It's not a time to be humble.
All too often, I have seen people scale down the magickal intent of a spell because they were afraid that their original goal "wasn't realistic". So, instead of doing a spell for a job doing something that they love, they do a spell to get a job that's "tolerable". Instead of doing a spell for bountiful prosperity, they do a spell to "make ends meet". Instead of doing a spell to find the love of their life, they do a spell to find "someone to spend time with".
Of course, it's easy to see why people fall prey to this. For most of us, our lives are based on humble returns. We've never had the dream upbringing, dream job, dream home, or dream car. Our culture drives into our skulls that we're not privilaged, and we should expect nothing more that what scraps the elie choose to toss our way...unless, of course, we buy the right perfume, clothes, car, television, etc...then we can be almost like the "cool" people! It's classic marketing...make people feel like they'll never be good enough, and you can use that lack of self-esteem to push products!
It's also classic class conciousness coming to light...since few people who resort to magick are part of the ruling class, most of us are people who are used to doing without. Living in a world where 2% of the population control over 80% of the wealth, most of us are raised with the feeling that we're lucky to have what we do, and we shouldn't push it (which is well-supported by the Christian establishment).
In magick, however, we should aim high. Don't do a spell to get a "better" job, do one to get your ideal job! Don't do a spell to move into a better apartment, do one to own your dream home! Granted, magick sometimes comes back in a less than ideal fashion...you may only get a better job than you have now, not your dream job. But if you never ask for something, it may never happen! Besides, it may appear that your spell has "only" produced a better job than you have now, instead of your ideal job, but it may just be a piece in a long puzzle that ultimately leads to the original intent.
Remember, you are a child of the Gods, wielding Their power...don't under-sell yourself!
Conclusion When you first think of doing a spell, you're already performing it. Thus, nail down your specific intent early, and drill it over and over as you compose and implement the spell. It sets the stage for everything else.
