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As a witch owned store, we often get requests to cast spells for others. Having a strong set of values and magickal ethics help guide me in these requests and our store. Each practitioner needs to develop their own set of values to guide their magickal practice. and these may evolve over time. I personally consider myself a gray witch. I believe in the light and dark of everything. Every aspect of life, magick, nature has good and bad, the yin and the yang.  There are some theories of magickal ethics,  depending on your practice and belief system.

In Wicca, there is the Wiccan Rede and many believe in the Three-Fold Law, but there is some debate on the literalness of this law. Christianity and many other religions have some form of the Golden Rule, due unto others and you would like done unto you. In Hindu and Buddhism there is the belief of Karma, the sum of one’s actions now and in the past, comes back to us and decides our fate. The Santanic Temple has the seven tenets which is similar to the Golden Rule. Now there are some who believe that Aleister Crowley”s Law or Thelma Law “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will.”, but what many miss is it is not just our True Will that should be the whole of the law but others as well, so casting spells to control others could possibly be against this law. Thelma has 4 Duties: Duty to self is the center of the universe, Duty to others to eliminate the separateness of others and to avoid influencing the will of others, Duty to Mankind avoiding going against others True Will, crime, and the keeping the liberty of others, and the Duty of other Beings and Things be aware of using resources don’t over use try to leave a small foot print, respect nature, animals, etc.

So, what is a witch to do? These are my personal beliefs you will over time have to develop your own magickal ethics that will guide you. I personally believe that we are allowed to protect ourselves and what is ours. We can sometimes do this without influencing others free will. I also believe that we should except in the case of emergency start small and work up. So, lets say someone is spreading lies about you, talking about you behind your back, trying to make others believe you are not a good person, even get you fired from your job, etc. The first thing you could try is just ignore the person because if you don’t give them energy eventually they will burn out. But if it gets to point that it is going to affect your livelihood or family there are various things you can try.

The first is a simple banishing spell. The next level is a return to sender spell. The important step is to make sure to seal this one for once the person learns their lesson and that it doesn’t keep going to point it returns to you. These are higher level magick so you have to be sure in your shield and how you direct energy and thoughts. These can back fire so be careful. Another option is a truth spell whether for the person to tell the truth, or for them to reveal the truth. These are in grey area because you are encroaching on the free will of others.  So, you must be careful here and decide where your personal line is. There are more powerful banishing spells depending on situation you will have to do your research and decide what level of spell is needed to help you with the problem.

Now on love spells, I get many requests for love spells. My personal take on casting a spell for someone else to either fall in love with you, stay in love with you, etc. Do you really want someone who doesn’t love you? You deserve better than that. The second thing is a spell that controls the free will of others does not last long without constant work. Who has time for that? And lastly free will is going to win. So, eventually the spell will back fire and you will be more hurt than before the spell. Never mind if you are taking that person away from someone else then eventually the universe will need to balance and this may come back to you in some way. Do you want the chance of that pain? So again, what is a witch to do? Well there are a couple of things you can do. You can do rituals, spell work, journeying to open yourself to the love you seek and make sure you are truly open to it. Many times, we think we are but we are not, and the love we seek could be hitting us upside the head and we would still miss it. The other option is to work on self-love and surrounding us with people who will help us find this, so that when love finds us we are truly ready and we just won’t accept second best.

What about casting spells for others? What about charging for casting spells or teaching? My personal belief on casting spells for others is along the lines of “If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime”. For me this means if a person is able to (ie not sick or in the hospital, etc) they should do their own spell work. The spell or ritual will be stronger if they put their energy into it. The seeker is going to put more energy into the spell or ritual because they are the ones seeking the outcome. If someone truly needs a spell or ritual done such as a healing spell because they are sick I do not believe we should be charging for those. Those should be given freely. What about charging for writing a spell or charging an amulet etc that is a different story then you are charging for materials and time and is just like any other craft. Your are then charging for your energy, but people need to understand that belief and their energy needs to be given and can influence the outcome no matter how much of ours or the universe’s we put in, because again they are the one invested in the outcome so in the end no matter how powerful we are as a witch if you believe a certain outcome will happen it will or if you influence it with your free will that is the strongest. Teachers, healers, readers, mediums charge because they need to feed their families just like everyone else, it is their craft just like any other craft, they have paid for course, certifications, etc., and many must pay for space, that said we should charge a reasonable price. You should never pay a price you can’t afford the universe would not want you to go into debt to learn the craft. You can research and learn on your own. Yes, this will take more time but you can do it. I personally believe never pay for someone to cast a spell it won’t work or if it does it won’t work as well as if you cast it yourself and many of these practitioners charge too much. Paying for a spell someone else written, a spell kit with the items you may need, a charge amulet, or someone to teach you or guide you the proper spell is different.

In the end, a witch or practitioner needs to take the time and meditate, talk to others, research various theology, mythology, and philosophy, to develop their own sense of magickal ethics. These will evolve over time as the practitioner is faced with various tests and trials. These are personal questions only you can answer. For me personally I really try to follow the Golden Rule in one way or the other treat others as you would like to be treated. I also personally believe in balance so I know if I put out negativity, negativity comes back because to be quite honest it has to go somewhere it just can’t stay in the universe. That said I also do believe in protecting myself and my family, friends, home, Earth. I also personally believe in a good defense before and offense meaning if a banishing spell works no need to go to the return to send or even the higher-level banishing spells. Let the punishment per se fit the crime. There are times people need to charge and times the craft needs to be given freely this is for each witch or practitioner to decide.

Reference

http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Main_Page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema\r\n\r\nhttps://www.thoughtco.com/magical-ethics-2562344

http://www.magickal-musings.com/ethics.htm

http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/modern-magick.html

http://thegraywitchmagickalcauldron.weebly.com/my-creed.html