Thoughts on "white magick" vs "black magick"

[Imperious]

Who decides who deserves to be cursed?

The person casting it.

Imperious,

You brought up some really, really good points! Thank you for sharing that. I've never thought of it that way and I think you posed a very interesting point of view. While I don't necessarily agree with the last sentence, that some people deserve to be cursed (as I personally view that as too hard for someone to make the decision for themselves and that punishment should be left to the Higher Powers); I really like how you posed the idea of cursing and hexing the negative habits that might be affecting our health or illnesses that need to be eliminated. That's such a different way of looking at this and I admire the out of the box thinking.

Thank you so much for sharing that!

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Ultimately, I suppose it's merely a question of intent; do you want to "defend" someone against something, or "attack" the cause of it? Even in medicinal science, we very much find that doctors approach the subject in both ways. Prevention is typically better than cure, but you can't stop everyone from catching a wee cold once in a while, hoho.

If an energy isn't dismissed, it will leave a space behind it. This space has to be filled by something and often this will be any vibrational energy that is seeking home. A room, house or place where execration magick is often carried out without this knowledge may well become filled with uncontrolled harmful and very uncomfortable energies.

Discussing egregores is possibly beyond the scope of this thread (I'd love to do it elsewhere!), but I think it's a fair rule of thumb to suggest that the risk of creating them is far higher if you're cursing or hexing; this seems to be the case, irrespective of the intent. It is also certainly the case that young or inexperienced practitioners should steer well clear of it. This isn't because of the particular rituals involved, but more because your aim has to be a lot more careful when dealing with hexes.

I suppose it's like the difference between a scatter gun and a sniper rifle. You can scatter protection about without much control, as anyone accidentally caught by it will receive no ill-will. Try that with a curse or hex, and you can cause a lot of unfair trouble for otherwise innocent people. Those whose hormones are still all over the place, or who struggle with focus and concentration... Well, hexing just ain't for them.

More harm than good will certainly come from it.

[Elysium]

...
Here's an example of what I would consider in that "gray area." Someone who has a mental illness or some deep emotional scarring from some traumatic experience in their past that causes them to not completely understand what they are doing. Would they or should they be held to the same standard as someone who is "normal?" What about someone who lost their job and can't afford to feed his family so he goes out and steals food or someone's wallet for the sake of survival?

I think these are things that we need to all consider and decide for ourselves. Plus, I do enjoy listening what other people have to say, regardless of whether or not everyone agrees. I respect all opinions.

You make an excellent point about mental illness.

I have bipolar disorder, which causes me to lose control of my emotions. When I am doing magic, I have to be careful and assess my own emotional state. If I am even remotely unsure of my intent then I don't proceed. If I do make a mistake, I don't really consider it black magic. To me black and white are different methodologies. If I do magic for personal gain or due to an emotional outburst, I really consider that a kind of magical treachery (warlockism?) and I expect punishment from the God/Goddess/universe accordingly. Hexes, curses etc. I feel is assertive magic, while blessings, healing magic etc. are passive magic. Kind of like yin and yang.

I've been reading a book called 'Lords of the Left hand Path' and it's kind of opened my mind to the idea of what black magic is defined as. The author delves into Tengrism, Zoroastrianism, and a bunch of other religions I had never heard of that had white/black magic definitions. If you want to look it up, it's by Stephen E. Flowers.

[Oakheart]

I would argue that magick, as an art and science, is not inherently white or black. It is our ethics and morals that ultimately shape our definitions. In my opinion, black magick is magick that has been perverted to such a degree that it is no longer in harmony with the beneficence of the universe. The potential for white and black magick resides within the practitioner -- not within magick itself. Although the intentions underlying black magick have corrupting influences, it is the consequences of black magick that most likely reap karmic repercussions.

[Seraphin]

Discussing egregores is possibly beyond the scope of this thread (I'd love to do it elsewhere!), but I think it's a fair rule of thumb to suggest that the risk of creating them is far higher if you're cursing or hexing; this seems to be the case, irrespective of the intent. It is also certainly the case that young or inexperienced practitioners should steer well clear of it. This isn't because of the particular rituals involved, but more because your aim has to be a lot more careful when dealing with hexes.

I suppose it's like the difference between a scatter gun and a sniper rifle. You can scatter protection about without much control, as anyone accidentally caught by it will receive no ill-will. Try that with a curse or hex, and you can cause a lot of unfair trouble for otherwise innocent people. Those whose hormones are still all over the place, or who struggle with focus and concentration... Well, hexing just ain't for them.

More harm than good will certainly come from it.

Egregores and poltergeists are example of this. Entities that are result of human thought. Repetitive thoughts create vibration and energy forms can take astral shape. They can however be dissolved (or exorcised) by the conscious drawing down of higher level of energy.

And yes! I agree!

[Naudia Threng]

I never liked the idea of white and black magic. Because its magic, not the colorwheel. And secondly, in kemeticism black is a good color and red is a bad color

or my black is your white and somebody else's red is your black or my white, or fuchsia pink.

Black and white are insignificant for me. You can call them red and blue just as easily what does that mean to you.

I'm not sure if you knew how on point you were when you said that earlier Seraphin.

Plus, if we are naming magic by color, its really more like a gray or even dark brown. As has been said many times on this thread, its all about intent.

[Imperious]

Egregores and poltergeists are example of this. Entities that are result of human thought. Repetitive thoughts create vibration and energy forms can take astral shape. They can however be dissolved (or exorcised) by the conscious drawing down of higher level of energy.

And yes! I agree!

Before getting involved in egregore creation (conscious) or hexing, I'd suggest that anyone whose training I can't account for should at least have gotten through the equivalent of Ray Buckland's big blue. Anything less is likely to result in some lousy consequences, and probably an unwanted moral conundrum or two.

[Cernunnos]

"White" and "black" are just labels we give them, it's all abstract and doesn't actually exist in any aspect beyond that, even magic we consider "white" can turn around for the worst, same with magic we consider "black", who is to say you can not use it for a good purpose? I don't really believe in the whole color thing, it's got no basis to back it up.

[HopefulChild]

I love this thread and it sucks because there isn't really anything I can add. It's discussed so completely.
I could rant about the Zoroastrians again...but..that's not really the point.