Dabble, Dabble, Bones & Scrabble? I’ve got a spell for that somewhere…

The advent of the internet has done some pretty amazing things for Paganism in general, and particularly for Wicca and Witchcraft.  It’s taken us out of the shadows and connected us to one another in ways never before possible.  With the number of spells available all over the net, the amount of both information and misinformation available to anyone who takes the time to search for it, the modern “dark side” in Witchcraft is the growing number of individuals whose impulse is to reach for spells to solve their problems BEFORE using more mundane methods to do so.

I can see you shaking your head, but I’m willing to bet that if you’ve spent any time in Pagan Facebook groups (there are tons of them) or in any of the forums dealing with Witchcraft, you’ve seen people posting how badly they “need a spell to…” whatever.  People will mention how new they are to the craft in one breath and then ask for a spell because they have annoying neighbors in the next.  You’re never going to see seasoned Witches asking this, and it’s not just because we’re capable of writing our own spells.  We don’t reach for magick for every little thing that ails us.  We have a problem with a neighbor?  The first step is always going to be communication, simple old-fashioned conversation.  We understand that there are much better uses for our energy (aka magick); we only resort to casting once we’ve explored other means of solving the problem.

Why, you ask?  What good is being able to use magick if you can’t solve all of your problems with it?  Let’s see if an allegory can help you answer your own questions, ok?  Imagine a chess board, and you have your own square.  You feel powerful and mighty in your spot but one day, “management” hires someone new to stand in your spot.  This makes you angry, insecure, and uncertain about your future so you reactively reach for a spell you found on the net and light your candles, ready to cast (even though you’ve never cast a spell before).  Because you’re being reactive (you know, that knee-jerk reaction that happens when you’re mad or upset), you’re not doing your “due diligence” before you cast.  You haven’t thought about what the real source of the problem is or what the best solution will be.  All you know is that you want your square back, no matter the cost.

So your spell has now been cast.  Let’s say it works…everything is great, right?  Well, ANY time you cast a spell, you’re responsible for the outcomes, even if what happens isn’t what you intended.  Your spell worked and the person who was supposed to take your square quits.  What if that person had been looking for a job for some time and this one came just in time to keep her family together with a roof over their heads?  You didn’t ask for harm to come to that person, so when they become homeless, it isn’t your responsibility, right?  What if “management” brought this person in so that you could move to an even better square?  Now that this person has quit, however, there’s no moving up for you.  This is also unintended, right?

Life brings us challenges and obstacles so that we can learn and grow.  Without being able or willing to see the BIG picture, you miss the point.  When you make magick your first step, you skip the lessons that can open up new opportunities for you, new experiences.  Each of us chose this here and now before we decided to incarnate, there were things we decided we wanted to experience and learn.  Using magick to “short-cut” through those uncomfortable situations can rob us of the chance to actually achieve what we set out to do because we’re not learning what we need to learn to get there.

The next time you run into a problem, are you going to put your energy into searching for a spell to solve it, or are you going to take a simpler, more mundane approach?  Whether you’re a Witch or you just dabble in spell casting from time to time, repeat after me: “Mundane before Arcane.”  Keep this in mind and you’ll find yourself growing both as a person and as a Witch!

Bright blessings!

Rain