Any energy you send
out, shall return to you three-fold.
There is only one law in witchcraft resembling
anything like a commandment. It states that if a witch does harm, it returns
to her/him threefold, explains Milla Dietrich.
The Threefold Law is the basic working philosophy of witchcraft.
The number three symbolises one of the magical processes involved;
that the spell is invoked and thus sent out into the energy of the universe.
this energy then comes back into world to manifest in the desired way,
before reverberating in the life of the person working the magic to the
power of three. thus, what you give out, you'll get back, only threefold.
This is a natural law, but also an obvious incentive to witches to
keep their magic positive, life-affirming and harmful to none. It's not
religious dogma, but a natural and integral fact of Wiccan life.
Wicca is a socially and ecologically responsible religion, and Wiccan
eithics are positive rather than prohibitive: 'Do as you will, and harm
ye none'. That is, you must not use magic for anything which will cause
harm to anyone on any level for any reason. You do so at your own risk.
If to prevent a greater wrong being done you must inconvenience someone,
you must do it in a way which will abate the harm and disarm the person.
This involves magical actions being discussed first, and encouraging witches
to consider seriously the results of spells and rituals on others. This
is a shared ethic which appears in most major world orders, including Christianity,
Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, and Hinduism.
You must remember that, by becoming a witch and deliberately setting
out to develop your psyhic abilities, you are awakening a faculty through
which you can influence other people, with or without their knowledge.
This faculty enables you to obtain information in ways that others don't
expect or allow for. By using it you can either enhance their life-energy
or sap it. You can help them or harm them.
You are taking a great responsibility upon yourself and this calls
for rules - rules which are all the more important because often it is
only you who will know if you are honestly obeying them. The observance,
or not, of these rules is what distinguishes white from black magic. All
of these rules can be summed up in the pharse, 'Harm ye none'.
On the surface, negative magic may appear to be an ideal outlet for
feelings of vulnerability, because it appeals to the ego, or a sense of
low self-esteem. When a person is feeling so low that they have no sense
of any personal power, negative magic seems to offer an enormous source
of strength - but it is in fact demonic, or negative, power.
Yet negative magic will only reinforce the negative spellcaster's feelings
of powerlessness. For, by acknowledging a need for added power from an
outside force, to do harm, illconsidered harm, it will only reinforce that
orginal feeling of weakness and lead to more harmful activities. Psychologically,
this is a superficial analysis, but in occult terms it is apt and a very
dangerous practise.
Here are but three stories of magic performed that did not respect
the free will of others.
One inexperienced young witch was happily married to a man she had
been involved with for years. they were struggling financially and she
was worried about the effect this poverty was having on their relationship.
She performed a ritual which basically stated that she wanted money
by any means possible. She did not incorporate the concept 'for the good
of all concerned' into her spell, nor did she consider how anyone apart
from herself may be affected by the spell. She was doing it entirely for
her own gain, regardless of what sacrifices we demanded.
It's unlikely that she thought any sacrifices would be demanded, and
that she performed her spell in ignorance and selfishness, rather than
with the intent to do harm. But it did so. Her husband was hit by a car
and killed, leaving her his life insurance.
Another woman went to a witch wanting a love potion. She wanted a man
she had been in love with for years to marry her. She was convinced he
was the only man for her and that they would be very happy together.
The man in question had a good, steady job, he was kind-hearted and
honest. He also had a drinking problem, which she wa unaware of until they
were married and living together. It took about a year for their relationship
to fall apart, in which time he lost his job and ended up costing her a
lot more money than she had. It is not known how this affected the witch
who handed out the love potion.
One male witch - we'll call him Jebediah - cast a spell to get a specific
promotion within his company. He got the job over a colleague who was more
qualified for the position. Soon after, Jebediah was offered a jog with
another company, which he turned down.
Approximately six months later is was revealed that his immediate boss
had been stealing money from the company for years. When he was caught,
he implicated Jebediah, too. The colleague Jebediah had been promoted over
had left the company when the promotion went to Jebediah, taking the money.
He had been stealing with him.
So does this mean you just have to sit there and watch someone be ill-treated
or manipulated? No, it doesnt, and you dont. Does it mean if someone is
attacking you, psychically or physically, that you just have to leave yourself
underfended? No, it doesnt, and you dont.
There is an acceptable way of dealing with these problems. If someone
is known to be acting with evil intent and harming others, the method to
prevent them doing further harm is known as 'binding'. The object of this
spell is to render their evil actions ineffectul, not to punish the wrongdoer.
The spell is against the deed, not the doer. This give the doer the opportunity
to change. As for revenge, the universe will take care of the rest.
To bind someone, follow this ritual guide. make an image out of wax,
or plasticine. The idea is to identify the symbolic model, as far as is
possible, with the person concerned. It should look like him or her, but
the similarities dont need to be conventional. For instance, you can simply
put a photograph of the person you wish to bind in front of the figure.
The image should be naked and unmistakably male or female.
Within a magic circle, place the image on the altar and sprinkle it
with consecrated water and salt. With concentrated willpower and visualisation
of the intention of the spell, meditate on the person. Hold the image,
address it by name, and give it precisely worded orders.
You must speak to it as if it were the person concerned and you were
speaking honestly from the centre of the power of your craft. Give it any
symbolic treatment necessary; for instance, stitch up the mouth if the
person is spreading malice. Bind the figure with cord and wrap it up in
black cloth to stop them physically harming others. Keep anger and other
negative feelings under control. Be strong and purposeful.
After performing your ritual, take the wrapped image, hide it in a
safe place and keep it there for as long as is needed for the spell
to take effect. An image which has been identified with a person and used
in an image spell should not be left in existence once the aim has been
achieved. Take it to natural running water (ocean, river or stream) unwrap
and unbind your figure, then break it up and throw in the pieces one by
one, all the while visualising white light around yourself to protect against
potential harm.
Always, when performing witchcraft, consider the difference between
influence and manipulation - healing or helping someone to solve a personal
problem is using a legitimate influence. Manipulation, which does not respect
free will, is a form of harm. Positive magic is for the good of all, yet
remember that good intentions are often not good enough on their own. You
must take precautions to respect the laws of the universe, and state within
your ritual that you intend only that the good of all concerned is what
you are intending. It is up to the universe to decide what it will help
you with.
The foundation of magical beliefs of which witchcraft is a manifestation,
is that unseen Powers exist, and that by performing the right sort of ritual
these Powers can be contacted and persuaded to assist in some way.
According to Gerald Gardner, namesake of Gardnerian magic, "the meaning
of witchcraft is to be found, not in strange religious theories about God
and Satan, but in the deepest levels of the human mind, the collective
unconscious and in the earliest developments of human society."
Authenic witchcraft is nat satanic because witches dont even believe
in the devil, let alone invoke him. The Old Horned God of the witches is
not the Satan of Christianity. He is actually the oldest deity known to
humanity, the phallic God of fertility.
People involved in 'black magic' or Satanism rarely have knowledge
of genuine witch practices. Gardner defined magic as "attempting to cause
the physically unusual". Aleister Crowley defined it as "The Science and
Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with the Will". S.L. MacGregor
Mathers (Frater D.D.C.F. of the Order of the Golden Dawn) defined it as
"The Science of the control of the secret forces of nature".
Whoever you prefer to listen to, all agree that magic is the art of
getting results. And by obeying the law of the threefold return, you will
ensure that your results are those that are serving the laws of the Goddess
and of nature, never eroding the integrity of the universe.
Blessed Be!
There seem to be two schools of thought on the law.
1.
Any magical workings, good or ill, send energy out into the cosmos
that will eventually come back to you three times as strong. As you can
see, if you are working for good, you stand a great chance of increasing
you own strength an spiritual well-being. However, if you attempt to work
ill on someone, or do magic that is not for the greater good , the results
could be disasterous, in this life and on the Karmic Circle. If you ascribe
to this line of thought, you should always be aware of what your power
can and will do. Look at the whole picture, not just at your side of it.
2.
Energy is not only discharged in magic. You expend energy with everything
you do. Every thought, every action, every word is an expression of you
will on the cosmos. Under this interpretation, you must live the ideal.
If you send love out, you will get love back! If you end out hate or ill
feelings, this is what you will recieve. The christians had the right idea
on this... Do onto others as you would have them do onto you.
