burning_heart_flame

 

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

-Old Proverb

Modern magic and religious practitioners have taken on a new attitude and view regarding moralism; that is to say what is moral and right. In order to be more inclusive, they propound falsities that everyone is equal in skill, everyone is ‘right’, everyone has the ability to create world wide change, and everyone has wisdom residing in them. These are widely distributed ideas that have harmed and undermined the work of true adepts. The truth is not everyone has the same skills, opinion is not fact, most people lead insignificant lives on a world-wide scale, and there are some people that don’t contain an ounce of common sense in them. This leads to one of the most destructive thoughts in magic – “Intention is everything”.

I’ve practiced awhile, and take note of how my curses and blessings effect others. I have also discussed this subject with several professional and knowledgeable practitioners. The conclusion is this – intention does not effect the result or consequence of your magic. Sometimes our best intentions have caused ourselves, or others, great harm.

Intentions are toted as the great panacea of avoiding ‘bad karma’ or ‘black magic’, even if the magic itself is actually creating opportunity to harm another, or control their Will. A lot of people practicing ‘white magic’ will hold the same rituals as those practicing ‘black magic’, only changing the name of the deity and some of the wording. Changing a deity’s name, or the intention of something already possessed of an egregorian power, doesn’t change what you’re doing or trying to accomplish. If you do a love spell to bind a specific person to you, despite changing the name Lilith to Aphrodite, and calling on Light versus Darkness – you are still influencing another’s will, which is still considered ‘black magic’. Your intention does not change that.

Intention can also be seen as a ‘wish’. It is a wish about a specific and successful outcome. This is a great start to inspire and organize a ritual. However, it is only a wish and not the reality of what may happen.

It should also be noted that your actions are your own; and if you cause harm, you are the perpetrator and at fault despite your original intent.

Intention versus Consequence

Inspiration and ideas are everywhere we look. One of the greatest things about the human mind is that it has the ability to make connections and create new ideas. This is a great gift. Most humans have the ability of imagination and invention, which plays a large part in successful rituals.

Intention is how you view or imagine an idea to be based on your personal experiences and worldview. It is the Will being formed versus the Will in action. It is the idea forming and preparing to come into existence. It is a wish; a desire; a passion. It is our imagination coming out to play. It is a beginning.

Intention, however, is not as powerful as when these ideas and creations are implemented and put into action. We can intend to do anything all we want, but it is inert without action. This holds true in magic, too. This is why curses and blessings don’t always work – they are a ‘wish’ that loses inertia.

Intention is also colored and biased. We think of what we desire, and even if we contemplate it for awhile, we are asserting our own Will and current beliefs in our ritual and magic. For instance, if you view everything as Dark, you may think your intention to harm others is only successful if the person suffers. Say you decide that you want to curse someone to lose their job and monetary savings. It happens and you are satisfied at first. Then you noticed it did more good than harm – the person gets a better job, learns a new skill, gets their act together, or even thrives off the chaos and becomes a successful business owner or lecturer. The results may have nothing do with your expectations or intention.

Another example is the spell where some witches tried to bind President Trump. The current United States President is a volatile and aggressive speaker, and his actions offend many people. The intention of the spell was good – to prevent him from saying and doing harmful things to the citizens of the U.S. However, their intention has actually facilitated harm. Through use of incorrect correspondences, not reprogramming the egregore already set in place through cultural values and magic in the color orange, and improper naming, they didn’t bind his body and spirit from doing harm. Rather they bound his ability to be creative, have proper communication, practice good leadership skills, joy, and warmth (compassion). They activated the egregore already attached to the color orange, and bound him through the current programming of that egregore. This is because the actual spell does not contain a way to properly bind intention to candle, despite the color. Because of this, their spells have caused more harm than good. In fact, it may have been better to bestow, rather than bind, these values through the color orange (which they chose for his ‘skin’ color versus actual color correspondence). That way he would perhaps have exhibited, rather than suppressed, those qualities. As you can see, intention had nothing to do with the actual outcome of the spell – and the consequence was actually the opposite intended.

This also goes along with the best of intentions, not just harming and binding. I have seen healers accidentally curse people. I have seen people encourage others to proceed with the false vision of ‘Light’ as protection that led to complete destruction of several people that believe them. I have seen people have good intentions in preaching their religion, or even praying for people, that have caused curse-like effects.

These are just a few examples of intention going awry.

A New Approach

Armed with this knowledge and reading the experiences of others, this may lead to a bit of conundrum. How do you set your intention and focus your Will to create a successful ritual with the intended outcome?

I propose that instead of having ‘intention’, which is colored by bias and emotion, to actually decide what you wish to accomplish without an emotional attachment. Next, you will create and release the energy by strictly programming in parameters of the spell. Then accept the consequences of the results – for better or worse. Being a true adept isn’t strictly about success – it is about learning from your failures and building a better system. This includes taking responsibility for your own actions, and not displacing blame on ‘intention’ or ‘doing the right thing’. These are perceptions and only have value in the human world, not Universe Law.

Going by the adage, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” is a good guideline. It’s not karma, it’s not the Rule of Three, it’s not Fate – it is just consequence, which can be unpredictable and highly volatile. This doesn’t mean that the consequence you receive will always be malevolent or beneficial based on your motives, just that all actions have results. The Universe will eventually right itself, whether through creation or destruction. You can see this when an abundance of ‘good’ actions can lead to great ‘evil’. We see this even now in our world, because instead of trying to find balance and compromise, people choose sides based on emotion and opinion. This has led to a halt in progress in our world. These ‘good’ intentions caused harm by creating a vast dichotomy between opposing views of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ based on self-righteousness.

Knowing the truth about intention, opinion, and worldview gives the practitioner tools to opens up to more possibilities. It can help one to evaluate their self and find underlying meaning to their current actions. This also allows more freedom, as you realize there is no color or moral meaning attached to energy and magic. You’ll be able to operate based on your goals versus decisions made from guilt and shame. Your limitations will only be those you put on yourself.

Stay informed, and Hail Self!

-Arachnia Stoneskull

Photo Credit: “A Burning Heart” Artist Unknown