Casting Spells

Even today with all the leaps and shift in the world surrounding faith and religion there is still many old stigmas attached to Witchcraft and magic. This blog today is to break a few of those myths and give you a quick guide surrounding the ethics of casting spells.

As always this written from my own personal experiences and beliefs around Witchcraft and magic and by no means is this the only way. I always encourage you to do as much research as possible and really implement what sits well with you and your beliefs.

The first thing I would like to discuss is the use of magic. I was born and raised in England before moving to Canada in my late 20’s. When I moved to Canada, I started a five-year journey to get my education degree. Because I was on Blackfoot land, I also took Native Studies as a minor and actually worked in the high school on the Kainai reserve here for three years. During this time, I was so lucky to experience and be taught about the culture and beliefs of the Blackfoot peoples.

Through my history, sociology, psychology, and Native classes alongside my life experience it has become very apparent to me that all cultures have similarities in how they pray. In Witchcraft we use herbs, incense, food, candles, songs and dancing, to name but a few tools. We cast our circle and set our spells. The Blackfoot have ceremonies which were held in Tipis originally, use song, dance, food, fire and prayer. Churches also have candles, incense, prayer and songs. If we as humans put aside the us against them, we would be able to see that there are universal truths that are in all cultures and religions long before contact with other cultures.

Historically we know that with the spread of Christianity and the worship of one male God that many of the old beliefs were cast as being heretic and there was a movement to eradicate those beliefs. This is why there are many Christian celebrations at the same time as Pagan festivals. This was partly the attempt to stop the Pagan celebrating and worshiping their Gods and to reform to the Christian doctrine. It is also known, that the feminine was removed from not only the Bible also cultures around these times. The power of Women was feared and also crushed through many different ways. Please note history has been condensed for this blog as there is so much more, I could write a book on this subject alone!

In England the Witches were the healers and midwives of the villages. It is also interesting to note that they were not even called Witches the term was added much further down the road. The villagers would come for illnesses and for spells for good crops, wealth, and abundance of food to name but a few things. They would trade food and anything needed for survival back then.

As Christianity spread, they began to use fear with the use of the devil and hell spreading that anything the Witches did was the work of the devil. Over time what was natural for these villages became something they would chase and kill for. As we all know the Witch hunts began around the 1300’s right through to almost the 1600’s.

What I have always found interesting is that as a Witch one of the thirteen creeds agreed too clearly states that what is put out comes back threefold. This means if I cast a bad spell wishing someone harm that will come back to me three times as bad. A lot like Karma eh!

There are many ethical things that need to be considered when casting a spell. Obviously, any spell should not interfere with the free will of another. Love spells are one really should not dabble with. It is not for you to decide who should love you and who should not. It never really ends well when this kind of spell is used on someone.

This is also goes when reading the tarot cards, I choose not to read other people who have not given permission to be read. Is my husband cheating on me? Does he still love me? What does my partner think about this? These things don’t sit well for me as I feel I am invading their privacy! I believe this is something that should be considered when casting spells too!

Lastly, be careful what you wish for as you might just get it! Often times we don’t think things through fully and ask for general things instead of specific. Also, we don’t always know what is best for us as we may not have all the information we need yet. There are always so many variables that we may not consider! It is always best to add something like ‘for the highest good of all who are concerned’ just encase there is something that you did not foresee!