Witchvox Article

Author: Zanaffar
Posted: April 10th. 2011
Times Viewed: 2,844

The title of the article is pretty strange at first sight, but it will become clear as you advance in the contents. As you already guessed, we will be talking about spirits, entities, and �magical beings�.

Many magic users, �spell casters� so to speak, learn or are taught from the beginning how to attract the aid of spirits when they perform a magical working. Asking the spirit world for help is not an unusual thing; even the followers of major religions include angels, saints, etc in their prayers. From the most ancient of times, the rites of great civilizations (Egyptians, Sumerians, Aztec etc.) included some forms of seeking aid from spirits and other worldly beings. So we can clearly see where the practice originates.

Sadly nowadays many people who work with magic, regardless of their spiritual ideologies, use this practice very incorrectly, be they Wiccans, eclectics, ritualistic Magicians, traditional witches, etc. Some of we magic users draw a faulty conclusion, which leads to further misconception, when we interpret different magical texts, grimoires and conclude that spirits often have the role to serve us. So in our rituals we include spirits to go and carry out our will, to do certain �jobs� for us, and/or to bring results to our workings.

Many people don�t really understand what they are truly doing and what they are dealing with.

First of all, we must know that no matter what type of spirit we are working with� that spirit is �alive� (in a philosophical way, of course) ; it is an intelligent entity, which is self-conscious. Even the most primitive, lesser spirits have some form of consciousness, so you are not dealing with a robot that knows only to follow your command. So what does this involve? This involves a measure of respect: as you would respect every living being, so you should respect every ethereal �living� being.

Every spirit has its own purpose and role in the world, and yes, it has its specific job, what it was created for or what it chose to do. So it has much better things to do than to carry out blindly someone�s will. If you ask it for help with kindness and respect, that is a totally different approach. You give it a choice; you appeal to an Universal law of reciprocal help, and in this way the spirit may choose to help you or ignore you. In all cases, simply asking for help is not offensive to anyone.

The problem is that many people don�t like to be ignored, so they force their wills on the spirit by various magical and psychic techniques, which is immoral and totally wrong. How would you feel if another person did that to you? How did the slaves feel in humanity�s troubled history? You wouldn�t even do that to your cat or dog� so why would you treat a spirit differently?

It doesn�t matter if it�s just a simple elemental spirit, or a very advanced entity of some sphere�as long as it is in existence, it�s totally wrong to force it to do something. And yes, just as the title says, some may have feelings similar to ours. You must realize that every self-conscious being in existence has some form, some level of emotion or instinct or feeling.

Sadly in the ranks of magicians there is a certain practice that is very widespread. Some use certain Solomonic evocation techniques to summon spirits (mostly angelic, demonic, planetary, Olympic) and force information or an action out of them. What they do is they appeal to the representation of the source of all powers and by charging themselves with its power, and of course �highlighting� the superiority of their divine essence, they force spirits to obey them. It�s true that in most cases they only force demons or demonic spirits� but in my opinion, their practices demonstrate a very low moral standard. They consider themselves directly connected to the Supreme God, source of all powers and to angels who represent an aspect of this Omnipotent source.

What I don�t understand is how could angelic beings, and the Lord of Mercy agree to this barbaric practice? These magicians don�t consider their actions as an abuse; they think it is perfectly justified and righteous. I see it as ignorance and arrogance.

Anyway, I am not telling you that it is bad to ask spirits for help. I would never do that because they are part of the magical practice itself. Many magic users are constantly taught, inspired and helped by the representative of the spheres close to them (Gods, Goddesses, lords, ladies etc) . But abusing their help, forcing them to do something, is just as bad as slavery in our modern society.

When you work with a spirit, no matter what kind it is, always treat it with respect. As you would with any other intelligent being, never force a spirit or entity to do something. In the worst case, compromise or negotiate. Remember that respect only draws respect and good will, may that be human, or other in nature.

To finish the article, let me tell you a personal experience. Once I was in an urgent need of money� and I mean real urgent. So I thought to myself, let's use the quickest method to try and help the situation. I looked up a spirit in a grimoire. I kind of annoyed it with the request to help me solve my situation fast; refusal was not an answer I would take. The next day, I got a call from my ex-employer asking me to stop by because they forgot to give me a part of my salary for the last month when I still worked there. I was really happy that the solution came so fast and I rushed there.

I got all the money in change.

So basically I had LOTS of money, a sac of coins, but the real monetary value was actually rather small. I learned a good lesson that day... the spirit played this joke on me and really humiliated me for my thoughtless action... and you know what? I really deserved it.

ABOUT...

Zanaffar

Location: Andover, England

Website: http://zanaffarsbookofshadows.blogspot.com/

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