How to Lose the Power

Illustration: someecards.com
It's a funny thing. We witches come to the power of magic in ways that are frequently incredibly traumatic. Even if initiations have been ritual ones they are frequently 'confirmed' afterwards by real life events, or the other way round. The only thing that can be said with certainty about these experiences is that they will be painful. It's a magic thing - you have to go the extremes of human experience to come back able to work with all the threads of life in a new way.
Given that, it is astounding that some witches (can you hear the tone of voice in which I say *some* *witches*?) seem determined to give their hard-won power away. Or at least their actions would indicate so. So here is a down & dirty guide to stopping yourself from being a witch.
Lying. That's the big one. Virtually the whole of magic depends on things being so because I say they are so. My work as a witch is therefore dependent on me developing my will over the years to the point where it is like a knife, carving its way through reality. There's a funny thing about lying - people do sometimes consciously set out to tell a lie when it is convenient - that isn't such a problem magically - but people have the strange knack of persuading themselves the lie is true as they say it. This is another non-witch thing of seeing oneself as completely good & incapable of sin - a relic of the dualistic Christian worldview that we are all influenced by. If I am caught out in something & cover it up with a lie, I am actively destroying my own will to make things as I say they are. I am trying to do two completely non-relatable things at once.
Telling lies also compromises the freedom I must give to others to do their own will. It means I am not allowing them the space to enact their own will, withholding the information necessary to determine that one is not in conflict with others' true paths: actually lying cripples the will of both lier & liee. It is abusive. As a magical person my aim is clearly to get things right the first time. A certain discernment & clarity of thought is therefore desirable in anyone seeking magic. This skill of discernment will also allow me to pick up on others' lies as they happen.
A lie is the ultimate disrespect to another person, for it also calls into question that person's magical integrity. For example, I'm a c*nt. I make no bones about this. None. If you have known me for some time & seen me in action magically, you'd better believe it. If you then take the piss, you are not believing in the magic at all. Not yours. Not mine. Not anyone's. It's holding up a big sign asking to lose magical power completely, since you plainly don't believe it exists.
There is the slightest of differences between the act of lying & the actual misuse of power; in fact lying is the main weapon to it. The misuse of power is often the attitude to ourselves & others that underlies an untruthful approach to life. This attitude can be anything from explicit manipulation to just not being bothered.
The antidote to all this is a grounded witchcraft. This begins, as all magical paths do, with the right love of self leading to the pursuit of right relationship between self & everything else. In fact this right relationship is virtually the whole of the magical pursuit, & underlies all forms of magic.
So what do we do when we find a witch who is almost determined to give away his magic power? It is difficult to set down principles, but I think a witch who is set on the path of deceit, self-deception & wrong relationship should be avoided as a general principle. You can see it coming with these people - first they feel out of control or trapped, then they try to exert control. Crowley defined 'black' magic as the resistance to & refusal to change. The magician on the path of self-destruction will do almost anything to maintain their status quo. The sign of a magician who is avoiding this trap is that he will go with the challenges life sends him, & take them as opportunities to progress his magical life. If the person is dear to you, you may wish to speak to them. Incidentally, the way to avoid this trap oneself is a full & frank account to yourself of what is actually happening in your life. 'Know thyself' is one of the watchwords of the magical path & this danger is the reason why. Ultimately, sadly, the magical person in pursuit of self-destruction will have to be avoided, to avoid the danger of being dragged down the same road.
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