Spells and Magick

Wherever you look today on the web, there is someone on some site trying to sell you a spell for love, a quick fix for money, or a charm to bring your long lost canary home. They draw you in with promises of making your dreams come true the fast and easy way. They have the cure for what ails you, an oil that saves toil, and a potion for your notion.

However, there is a simple truth to the order of the world. You only get out of it what you put into it. Real magick is just another type of work. It requires effort as well as an investment of time and faith. It is not simply something chanted out of a book, or mixed in a cauldron like a metaphysical cookie dough.

Because it takes time and effort, there is a limit to how many spells any true practitioner is going to be able to do for others, regardless of what they charge. If these miracle workers spent all their time chanting, praying, or throwing incense on the fire to the degree needed to accomplish their claims, they'd have no time left to eat, sleep, or use the little witch's room.

However the romance of the money spell and the love potion lives on. There is a strong lure to go out and buy books that teach one how to do spells, or to find someone to study under. You can't learn to do spells from books, at least not easily. Or to put it another way, you can try to do magick from a 'cook book', but it's likely to turn out in a way you wouldn't feed your dog.

Few books go through all the exercises and disciplines that must be learned in order to be effective. A book can not enforce discipline either. It can not tell you whether you have meditated on a given Element enough, or whether you've done a proper job of 'clearing' before a ritual. As well they do not always explain the traps and pitfalls inherent in doing 'spells'.

Finding the proper teacher is equally challenging. There is an old saying 'When the student is ready, the teacher appears'. Unfortunately, today that changes to 'When the wallet's pulled out, everyone's a Guru.' Not everyone with a towel on their head, or a pentacle on a chain has actually done the Work. Most of those who have done the work don't advertise.

Assuming you find your way into the Art or the Craft your next challenge is not HOW to do magick, but whether you SHOULD. Just because you can jump out a fifth story window, it's not always the wisest way to the ground floor. It may be quick, but you won't be in shape to do much else after the landing. magick is no different. For every effect you cause, you cause an effect on yourself. Is what you're striving for worth what it may cost you?

It's not my aim to try to teach magick here. A proper teacher teaches in person. There are a lot of strange, antiquated customs incorporated into true traditional teachings. Most of them are there to impart discipline, respect, and a sense of wonder. What I do seek to achieve is to educate and inform those who truly are interested in self-improvement, and positive empowerment.

We will be posting articles on various forms and traditions of magick, as well as guides to what one should avoid, what is more and less appropriate, and how to keep the chamber pot of Karma from emptying on your head.