When dealing with ethical issues in magick it's easy to refer to standard rules such as the Wiccan Rede or other similar codes of conduct and behavior. And yet such codes never define what the abuse of magick is, nor does the wording of such codes always as explicit as it may need to be.

I do not believe in reducing magick into dualistic opposites of black and white. There is no black or white magick. It's just magick. How people use it could be considered black or white, but it's rather foolish to engage in stereotyping. What one person considers to be black magick, might be considered white magick by another.

Another disclaimer I shall put into effect is that I'm not writing from any ethical system. I do not, for instance, espouse the wiccan rede, law of three. We simply cannot avoid harming others. Just by breathing we kill hundreds of organisms every day. Should we, because that happens, suffer three times worse? Now it can be argued that the wiccan rede is dealing with the purposeful act of harmful magick, but the language is not that specific and because it is not it leads the person who believes in that ethical system wide open for serious problems in his or her life should he or she ever consider just how harmful he or she is to the environment. So no ethical systems are involved in this save perhaps my personal code of behavior.

And really that's how it should be. A mage must be responsible and part of being responsible is determining his or her personal code of behavior. If that code has certain characteristics that are similar to other codes of behavior so be it. The abuse of magick is tied directly into the mage's sense of responsibility. Responsibility in turn is tied to the situational awareness a mage has. Situational awareness is quite simply an awareness of the possibilities of a situation. A situation can occur and the mage should be able to find more than one solution to deal with the situation. Then the mage must choose the solution that is best for the situation and apply it, with the full realization that he or she is responsible for his or her actions.

My title, "The Abuse of Magick," is focused on what the abuse of magick is. I don't think we can rely on any rules of conduct (personal or otherwise) until we have an idea of what the abuse of magick is. So what is abuse of magick?

Abuse of magick can be considered knowingly seeking to harm another. Simple enough, but I will point out that I do believe that sometimes you simply cannot avoid harming another person. The situation may call for force. For example if someone were to attempt to rape me or kill me you better believe that if I have to I will harm that person. My personal well-being in such situations has to come first. But another example can be as simple as having a clingy, over dependent friend. Should I allow that person's clinginess to harm me and harm that person or should I knowingly harm that person by telling him or her that he/she is too clingy and needs to deal with some emotional issues? Again my personal well-being will come first, though hopefully in this latter case whatever I say will shock the person enough to look at his/her own behavior critically. Still most instances will not require a person to harm another.

Abuse of magick can also be considered lack of honesty in magickal dealings with others. It might be argued that it is human nature to lie, but in magickal dealings complete honesty must occur and if there is not complete honesty it is an abuse of magick. Dishonesty in magickal practice creates a lack of trust that eats away at the spirituality and connection between people. Anytime you do magick with a person you should be completely honest with the person about what you're doing, how you're doing it, why you're doing it and any possible adverse effects. This honesty keeps the energy between people simple and to the point. Also the principle of honesty strengthens the mage's ability with magick. Being honest is keeping your word, honoring your oaths, and otherwise being truthful about situations. In magick this is particularly important as dishonesty can lead to problems down the line in a magick ritual. If not all the people involved are briefed on everything that's happening they can get hurt. Despite the seeming simplicity of being honest it is a lot harder to be honest about your magickal dealings than people would suppose. This kind of honesty calls for the mage to be honest with him or herself first and foremost. That kind of honesty isn't easy. However it is vital for the mage. He or she must be honest first with him or herself and second with any people he or she chooses to work magick with. Only in complete honesty can people feel comfortable working together.

Abuse of magick can be considered to be the addiction to magick. Now the addiction to magick is not the addiction to doing magick, but rather an addiction to the results. That is the mage does the magick entirely for the results, entirely to feel something. He or she is so caught up in the sensations that the process is ignored. It is very easy for an occultist to fall into this trap. The occultist does a few rituals and finds that the rituals produce results. He or she feels empowered and wants those results even more. The results are after all a sign that the occultist has power to shape reality. That can be a very heady realization. It can also be very dangerous. The reason it is dangerous is that the occultist soon finds that the rituals he or she is doing isn't enough to provide sensation. Soon he or she is taking risks, doing whatever he or she can to get results, to get sensations. It's fairly obsessive and very self-destructive.

I have learned that sometimes magick cannot be obvious nor should it be. The magick we do cannot always shout out to the skies, but sometimes has to happen in a very quiet manner. I do daily rituals everyday and most days I feel the energy surge through me, but there are days when it does not. I do not feel disappointment, but rather accept that sometimes I will not feel sensations. If we base our magick off the sensations we feel we ignore 95% of the universe that is occurring around us. So it is best to get off the sensation/result kick and realize that magick manifests as it pleases. We cannot always know that it does manifest, but I have also found that eventually I do realize the magick has manifested though perhaps not as I expected.

The final abuse of magick is forcing a situation on someone. I will give a personal example, which is a combination of this abuse of magick and the one I mentioned above. In the fall of 1999, I'd just broken with a girl that I'd really fallen for and let into my heart. I was emotionally devastated and went to a person I'd worked with before. We'll call him Chris*. Chris and I had done sex magick at another time when I'd had a traumatic event. We'd done it to help me heal, but later sessions were done for Chris's purpose, although he didn't tell me. He'd lied to me. I went to Chris knowing this, which was a mistake in itself, but Chris was happy to help me out. He and I went to his place and he gave me an herbal potion. I asked him what it did and he told me it did nothing. Again, another lie. We did the sex magick and when it was over I started tripping. I didn't expect to trip and so when this happened I was extremely shocked. I had the most intense trip of my life and was lucky to come out alive because it was shock to my system. It took me over a month to recover from the experience.

Two abuses of magick occurred. One was dishonesty. I lied to myself about Chris, even though I knew from past experience that he wasn't always truthful about magick. Also Chris lied to me about the herbal potion. He didn't tell me it was a psychedelic. Finally Chris, through his dishonesty, forced a situation on me. I hadn't knowingly volunteered for the chemognosis. If I had known about it I might not have taken it. As it was I almost died because the situation was forced on me. In others word when you force a situation on another person you are violating that person. It's an act of harm. It's an abuse of magick.

I am not trying to put an ethical code on other magickians, but I do know we need to recognize that magick can be abused and used in a manner that is not appropriate. I'm not necessarily sure that someone who abuses magick will have it come back on him or her three times as worse. What I do know is that being a victim sucks, especially when it occurs through magickal circumstances. It's one thing where you and another fellow end up magickally duking it out because a situation can't be resolved any other way, but it's another thing to hurt someone just because you can. When I do magick with other people I am honest and do not force situations on the person, not out of consideration, but because I know that behavior will be remembered and people will consequently wish to work with me. I would rather have people trust me as a magickian and a human being, instead of perceiving me as someone not to be associated with. I don't need to hurt someone, particularly when that person and I can work together for a long time to come.

*Names have been changed.

Author Bio

Taylor Ellwood is currently pursuing his Ph.d in Literacy, Rhetoric, and Social Practices at Kent State University. He has co-written Creating Magickal Entities and written Pop Culture Magick, which was just released. He is currently working on his third book Space/Time Magick as well as numerous articles and an academic project focused on the literacy of magick.