{"id":461,"date":"2010-01-12T15:02:07","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T15:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/01\/some-thoughts-on-spells-and-spellcraft.html"},"modified":"2010-01-12T15:02:07","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T15:02:07","slug":"some-thoughts-on-spells-and-spellcraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/01\/some-thoughts-on-spells-and-spellcraft.html","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts on Spells and Spellcraft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0.75em;margin-left: 0px;border-top-width: 0px;border-right-width: 0px;border-bottom-width: 0px;border-left-width: 0px;border-style: initial;border-color: initial;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-bottom: 0px;padding-left: 0px;font-size: 1em;font-weight: normal\">Tonight my Wicca 101 class will cover spells and related stuff, so it&#8217;s interesting that my &#8220;Open Thread&#8221; has focused in part on issues of spellcraft. &nbsp;This is an area where I am pretty cautious of &#8220;book learning&#8221; myself, but here is some basic book learning that I think some people might find useful. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<!--StartFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">In my understanding, spells are rooted in three assumptions<br \/>\nwhich I believe are well-founded.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>First, that everything is in some sense conscious and therefore<br \/>\naccessible to other consciousness.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>In short, there are no purely inviolable boundaries separating one thing<br \/>\nfrom another. From this perspective we are nodes, self-aware nodes, in a web of<br \/>\nconsciousness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Second, that focused strong intent can cross boundaries that<br \/>\nare relatively closed, and bring abut a response.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>We see this all the time at a mundane level.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>It also holds true at non-mundane<br \/>\nlevels.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>A well crafted spell is<br \/>\nlike a mental arrow penetrating an environment that would dissipate a less<br \/>\nfocused less energetic effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Third, in a sense everything can be considered as vibrations<br \/>\nat different frequencies.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>All else<br \/>\nbeing equal, (and it need not be), lower frequencies can be penetrated more<br \/>\neasily than higher frequencies.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>Think of a rotating fan.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>When it turns slowly objects thrown against it can penetrate while when<br \/>\nit is spinning rapidly, objects thrown against it are bounced off as if it were<br \/>\na solid barrier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Spells are not intrinsically questionable ethically.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>They are a part of life.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>One way to see this<span>&nbsp; <\/span>is to consider the &#8220;power of<br \/>\nsuggestion&#8221; as a simple&#8217; spell,&#8217; one that works with the recipient&#8217;s awareness,<br \/>\nbut not their deliberate intent.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>If the recipient&#8217;s vibrations are slow or if their trust is wide open<br \/>\n(they have few if any barriers) and the energetic content of the suggestion is<br \/>\nstronger than any energetic content (will) involved in rejecting it, the<br \/>\nsuggestion will &#8220;take.&#8221; <span>&nbsp;<\/span>We do such<br \/>\n&#8220;spell work&#8221; on ourselves all the time.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>Great harm as well as good comes from it with respect to raising<br \/>\nchildren.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Socialization is a related kind<br \/>\nof social hypnosis and hypnosis is related to spell work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">On the other hand, because they focus on power &#8211; on my manipulating the world in some way to achieve my end, employing spells run the same risks we all run when possessing power. &nbsp;And let&#8217;s face it, human beings are not real good at handling power. &nbsp;Disney&#8217;s &#8220;The Sorcerer&#8217;s Apprentice&#8221; is very easy to relate to. &nbsp;Because they can be used to manipulate people without their consent or knowledge, spells are particularly prone to abuse. &nbsp;Fortunately major ones are often difficult to use, especially in this society. &nbsp;At a mundane level I found the same problem with Neuro-Linguistic Programming by the way. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Spells work best through the non-rational part of the mind &#8211;<br \/>\nboth sending and receiving.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>The<br \/>\nrational mind is a mind with barriers of reason and distancing.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Western reason separates us from<br \/>\nthings.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>It is vitally important to<br \/>\nus and protects us from spells, but can also become a trap, closing ourselves off from others, which is the<br \/>\nflip side of separation.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Being<br \/>\nwilling to go beyond this part of your mind is vital in spell working (or understanding the world better).<span>&nbsp; <\/span>This is why so many spells involve<br \/>\nrhyme, rhythm, and movement.<span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Deliberate spellwork also carries a risk.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>When you work with the more open parts<br \/>\nof your mind you open yourself up more widely to the wider environment.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>When you do, the quality of your own protective<br \/>\n&#8220;vibrations&#8221; becomes increasingly important.<span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This issue becomes even more important if you invoke<br \/>\nentities to assist in a spell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">It is best in my opinion to work with an experienced person in this area and\/or to use very strict ethical guidelines.<\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tonight my Wicca 101 class will cover spells and related stuff, so it&#8217;s interesting that my &#8220;Open Thread&#8221; has focused in part on issues of spellcraft. &nbsp;This is an area where I am pretty cautious of &#8220;book learning&#8221; myself, but here is some basic book learning that I think some people might find useful. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pagan-culture","category-pagan-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Some Thoughts on Spells and Spellcraft - A Pagan&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/01\/some-thoughts-on-spells-and-spellcraft.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Thoughts on Spells and Spellcraft - A Pagan&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tonight my Wicca 101 class will cover spells and related stuff, so it&#8217;s interesting that my &#8220;Open Thread&#8221; 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