When you're performing a ritual, rite or spell, karma is always in affect. As a Shaman, or witch you must always think of the spiritual implication of your intent. Here are some basic do's and don'ts for the magickal practioner to adhere to. Follow these simple rules and the laws of karma will not come back to bite you and knock you off your feet.
The Do's:
- All actions should be of positive intent.
- Conduct a spell or rite with happiness, love and kindness.
- Hold respect for all living things.
- Accept the responsibility for your actions.
The Don'ts
- Never cast a spell or rite out of anger, jealousy or greed.
- Never cast a spell for harm or to endanger another living being.
- Never conduct a spell or rite that requires harm to another living being.
- Never cast a spell or rite to force someone into following your will and desire.
When working with spells, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. The spell is the heart of folk magick. It is simply a ritual in which various tools are used with purpose. You should fully state your goal to the best of your ability using words, pictures and within your mind and then bring the energy around you to bear to attain your goal.
Spells can be simple or complex. They can be done in a few moments, or take months. But no matter what you are trying to do, there are three things that you must have to effectively cast the spell. You must have Need, Emotion and Knowledge. If any of these are lacking, you will fail.
The Reasoning Of The Laws
Now that you know the basics, think about why they're in place to begin with.
The most important and ultimate lesson of any spiritual belief system is to learn, practice and live unconditional love. Above all else, this is the underlying goal of all spiritual paths. Unconditional love is not an easy path to follow. We are all human and we do make mistakes. But as a magickal practioner you must make the extra effort to adhere to this path. And the lesson starts with yourself.
But why do you think this one lessons is so important and is the underlying reason behind all the laws of magikal rite? Well look at the laws. Your actions in life and in magick should be positive in their intent. Having respect for all living things is part of being positive and practicing unconditional love. You wouldn't harm a living creature if you loved it unconditionally. Let's take a couple of examples to better clarify the reasoning.
Positive Intent.
Let's say for a moment a close friend or relative was the victim of a crime. As a magikal practioner you want to gain justice or satisfaction for your loved one. The last thing you should do, is sit down and cast a spell against the criminal. Remember positive intent. So what do you do? Easy, be part of the solution, not part of the problem. A simple spell to enlighten the police so that they can see all the necessary clues to find the criminal is a perfect example. The positive intent would be to help the police do their job. Ask the God/Goddess of Justice to help bring insight and vision to the detectives, the lawyers and the judges so that they might see the right path and come to the virtuous decisions that will bring a satisfactory resolution to the event. If you're looking for some divine help with the Justice and Judgment, consider asking these Celtic Deities for help: Merlin, Prince Llewellyn, Uath MacImoman, Ailill Olum, Cadog the Wise.
Happiness and Love
The worst time to conduct a ritual or rite is when you're angry. These are strong emotions, but they are also earth-bound heavy energies to carry around. A spell or rite should be conducted from a place of light, sight and height. In other words, raising your awareness to the higher divine planes of existence.
Hold respect and never do harm.
Many magikal belief systems or religions define their spirituality as earth-based nature religions. This is a long winded way of saying respect for all things. From the lowly spider nesting in your garage to the frightening predator of man. All life is significant, important and respected. Those who practice any act of sacrifice or harm during a spiritual ritual are NOT holding to the laws of karma, and unconditional love. Therefore, these acts are not spiritual in nature and should not be condoned.
Accept responsibility for your actions.
Simply put, if you do, it admit it and deal with the consequences. If you don't want to 'get in trouble', then you're probably doing something against one of the laws set forth here and you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. But if you did it, deal with the 3-fold karma you created for yourself.
That's the Do's list. The Don'ts list can be seen in these expanded explanations, but I'd like to touch on 2 of the don'ts anyway.
Never harm or endanger another living being.
Young or inexperienced witches often have a desire to cast a spell against a teacher who gave them a bad grade, a person who hurt them in a relationship, or against someone who they just don't like. It is important to remember that these people have been put upon your path because you asked them to be. You asked your higher divine guidance to set certain situations upon your path so that you would have an opportunity to learn, grow, and enlighten your spiritual knowledge. A test if you will, to determine for yourself if you are learning the lessons of unconditional love. Among other equally important issues in your life. Casting a spell or rite against someone else in order to make your life a little easier will back-fire in your face big time! For when that energy comes back to you, it will be 3 times as strong as when you sent it out and it will indeed knock you off your feet!
Never force some into following your desires.
We are all here learning lessons and following the paths we have designed for ourselves to learn and grow. We are placed here with free will and choice, as a means to test ourselves as we go through those lessons of life. Interfering with another's free will and choice can cause that person to miss a major lesson or change for enlightenment. Eventually your desire and spell will ware off, and that person will grow despondent and perhaps even angry at you for the manner in which you were able to manipulate their lives.
This type of interference is most commonly abused in love spells. A practioner mistakenly sees their desire for loving someone and having that person love them, as a positive intent. When in fact it is manipulation and generate negative karma. If you want love in your life, try loving yourself. Be your best friend. After all if you can't keep yourself interested in something, how is someone else going to find you interesting?
A love spell should be an ritual the pulls love from within yourself for yourself and your situation. Not to manipulate or control another being.
I am adding the worksheet that I use for spells, formulas and rituals. You may modify these to meet your needs.
Spell and Formula Worksheet
- Type of Spell or Formula
- Date and Time Made
- Reference information
- Astrological Phase
- Specific purpose
- List of Ingredients and supplies
- Specific location
- Date, time and astrological phase when USED
- Results
- Deities invoked during preparation AND use
- Step by step preparations and uses
- Additional notes
A personal Note:
But i will offer this warning. The goddess always answers, but sometimes that answer is NO. You can cast forever demanding that the powers that be bend to your will and bring you a winning lottery number, but if you fail to buy the ticket, you will fail in the end. Likewise, if you pray for the love of your life, and you are undeserviing of that love, it will not be yours.