Whole Magic Part 3: Instant Karma or Zero Consequence?

I once heard a Christian and an Athiest debate ethics. The Christian argued “If there is no god, no heaven, no hell,no judgement what is there to keep people from raping and killing whoever they want?“. The Athiest responded “I rape and kill as many people as want, which is zero. If divine retribution is your only motivation for not doing evil, then you are just a bad person.”

Magicians and Witches escaped that trap of Christian judgement and divine wrath only to replace it with another moral bugaboo: Karma, or at least a poorly understood and childish version of it. Some Wiccan traditions take it further and claim that everything you do comes back upon you three times over. What amazes me is that people only get concerned about karma or law of return when they use magic. I know several witches that give nearly zero fucks when it comes to the karma generated by their mundane actions, but who suddenly become Immanual Kant if you suggest using a spell to improve a situation.

On the other hand if you are wondering if, without a law or karma or divine punishment as a penalty, some people would just wield magic like John Wayne Gacey in a clown suit I can tell you that the answer is a resounding YES. Just like the people who feel extra ethical responsibility when they use magic, these folks feel less. I have talked to people who wanted to literally put place a death curse on someone in a facebook group because “they shoot down my ideas“. They think that because magic is not something they are likely to be prosecuted for, that there are no repercussions at all of any kind to worry about.

This however, is not the case.

Whole Magic

Lets’ first take the moral arguments out of it. People are gonna do what people are gonna do, and aside from being shocked at how many people really will use or hire people to do magic with horrible intentions, I am not looking to change peoples minds in this post. The question then is : if you reject the 80’s era Llewellyn style karmic system (“No REAL Witch/Magician would use a curse because they know it would just come back upon them”), are there any repercussions to the work you do.

The answer of course is yes. We live in a world of cause and effect and every action causes reactions. It is not a matter of some force that visits evil for evil in equal amounts – I agree with the rejection of the idea that there is some kind of universal moral judgement. It is however a matter of invoking forces into your life on a regular basis which then patterns your life generally.

Have you ever seen the Soprano’s? When people get to know Tony or anyone in the mafia, even if they aren’t members themselves, sooner or later they wind up either holding the gun, or getting shot themselves. If they actually go to Tony and ask for a favor, then they are in even deeper. Same is true of a violent gang, soccer hooligans, or wrathful spirits. If you call them up. invite them over, and keep inviting them over, you should expect life to start resembling that.

I have spoken to people from Haiti that reflect on the Petro Lwa, hot spirits that were essential to the successful revolution, and how though necessary may cause their own upheaval on the island. The same thing is true in Tibet, and Dudjom Rinpoche once reflected that the forceful binding (read press-ganging) of local spirits into Dharma Protectors, itself caused much bad luck and suffering.

Of course the same is true of light-and-peace style magic. If that is ALL you do and ALL you let into your life, you start sacrificing justice in the name of maintaining peace and action in the name of “not disturbing” anyone or anything. These are the people who obsess over money spells for fear it might cause someone to drop cash so that they can find it, or that they might jinx someone else going after the promotion that they want. If you cannot cast a spell for fear accidentally harming anyone that what the hell is the point?

Sorcerous Synergy

My advice is that magic is a part of nature. Ethically speaking you should treat magical action as if you were doing an equivalent non-magical action. Tactically speaking every action has a reaction and you should be aware of what you are doing and the impact it will have on your life and the lives of others. Just because you got past your fear of hell and instant Karma does not mean that using magic to curse and jinx has no impact. Who are you inviting over to the house, and how often?

It also patterns how you think about life overall. People involved in Influence or Neuro-Linguistic Programming sometimes become so obsessed with enchanting or dominating people that they loose the ability to listen, learn, and relate. People who start cursing others at the drop of a hat, start seeing that as the path to everything they want. I remember the day a client wanted to consult with me about a promotion they wanted at work. Instead of asking how to make themselves look good, or enchant the manager granting the promotion, they asked “How do I take out the competition”? 

Once you let go of both the idea karmic boomerangs coming back on your for every act AND the idea that there are Zero consequences for your actions, you are free to see the situation, and adjust your strategic sorcery accordingly.