
Casting Spells: Spiritual Mistake or Are They OK?
There are quite a few new-age witches about these days, particularly on the internet. It doesn’t take long to find ‘love spells’ and ‘money spells’ online. Remember the book The Secret? Total utter materialistic codswallop if you ask me, but yes, I bought the damn thing.
I am not the only blogger who thought The Secret had witchy undertones. Sarah Bethany from wiccantogether.com says: “I recently read about The Secret and I decided to skim the book, but found that its message was one that I already knew all about- through witchcraft. This book talks about the Law of Attraction and how visualizing your goals helps you to get what you want. To me, this is called casting a spell.”
Yes indeed, Sarah, I agree with you there.
I have to admit that in my time, I have cast many a spell. I no longer do this, because of the trouble I have caused. What… you don’t believe me? It is true. In my younger days I would cast spells to try to make things go my way – they were selfish spells. One poor man I fancied found himself drinking a glass of lemonade that had my ground up fingernails in it (you can grind them into a powder). Poor guy, and yes, after ten years he still fancies me.
Serves me right.
I think spells are dangerous – but there would be thousands of bloggers who would disagree with me. I guess the general issue is intention. If you cast a spell with a bad or selfish intention, it can go wrong for you. Some say that if you cast a spell with good intentions, there is no need to worry.
A great site I found called Consult The Sage says: “Just as negativity can be spread by these baser emotions, so can positivity be shared with others. A smile, a friendly word, sharing one’s happiness or good intentions with another person, all of these things can spread positivity as well. Prayers may be considered another positive form of spellwork, requesting help from a higher power. Sharing your positivity with others will result in a more positive, wonderful life for yourself and those around you.”
The Sage makes a good point. When we progress in our spiritual work we understand that we are constantly affecting the world we live in – in positive and negative ways. Every breath we take affects our environment, every action we make has a repercussion.
So what counts as a spell then?
Again, I guess it’s intention. Spells usually are in the form of a ritual. Normally the caster will have an intention in mind; something or someone that they are hoping to affect. These rituals may include elements such as the following:
- Lighting of a candle
- Writing of particular words
- A ritual of some kind
- Movements or actions by the caster (for example, circling something three times)
- Spoken words or phrases
I have never followed any pre-prescribed spells, I always make up my own. You are the best person to design your own spell, after all. Spells have been around in one form or another since the beginning of time. There are many historical examples of spells from many parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East and Egypt.
Here’s an old spell called the Nine Herbs Charm:
A snake came crawling, it bit a man
Then Woden took nine glory-twigs
Smote the serpent so that it flew into nine parts
There apple brought this pass against poison
That she nevermore would enter her house
So – is it ever ok to cast spells?
Well, it’s not for me to tell you. I am not your mother. However, I can say that if you do intend to cast a spell you need to make sure your intentions are pure. Usually this is where we fall over because our intentions are normally selfish – because that’s the way humans (and indeed animals) are. We always want the best for ourselves, our children and our tribe.
Remember too that what you want to happen may not be the best thing for you. What if you cast a love spell and it works and it turns out that that person was not the one meant for you? What if you had done yourself a disservice?
Usually we do not know the universe’s intentions for us. If we did, we’d probably be terrified. Blind as we are, we have to take the good with the bad. Casting spells to change your environment can be potentially hazardous.
What do you think about casting spells? Is it ever ok?
Pingback: How to Cast a Spell | Spell Casting Safely