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Unsolicited magick and the ethics of nudging the world

We're The Great Old Ones Now

12:31 / 04.09.03

Some thoughts on the ethics of magickal work...

For the second time in my life, and in a remarkably timely fashion, I have been psychically scrutinised without having given consent. The first time was a girlfriend who took me to meet her medium grandmother, who told me I would have big dogs when I was older. I didn't much mind that, though I felt I'd been shanghai'd into participating in something I wasn't happy with.

This time, a rather more perceptive person - a healer I know a little - was asked by a concerned third party to check me out. I've just had the results of that check.

They're spot on, which is interesting. They're also far more about my emotional state than my physical one - although there are some interesting minor medical points which I thought were private to me and my doctor, but apparently a healer half way around the world can spot them without difficulty. Such is privacy in the global age.

Anyway, a couple of observations: first, I'm now going to have to deal with the stuff I've been told. I'm not sure I was ready to do that, but now it's right there in front of me in a distressingly accurate portrait, and my hand is forced. That may or may not be a good thing. Second, I do feel a little invaded. If I went to a dinner party and someone asked a psychologist friend to test me over pudding, I'd feel similarly peeved. I think a good barometer of magickal work is whether, if one achieved the same result by conventional means, it would be considered or require unethical behaviour.

More generally, on the matter of nudging your chances in job interviews and so on, the following notion occurs to me: that it is legitimate to influence those things which would otherwise be arbitrary.

Looking for a formula which would govern the other times - those moments when you want to cause something to happen which would require major intervention of some kind - a working to stop the war in Iraq, for example.

14:57 / 04.09.03

But surely fore-warned is fore-armed and all that. And what short of headspace would you of been in had you discovered this information in a "mundane" fashion. If you're anything like me Sam you would of waitted quite awhile to go through the normal channels.

I know what you mean about other people using their "powers" to interfere with your life. But on the flip side I always find it reassuring when people think of others. Whether it's two friends talking about a third, or this case you've told us about.

And surely this case with the healer is in your interest. If they had done the "examination" for reasons other than their worries over your well being then yes I totally agree with you feelings of being invaded.

I suppose it all boils down to the end use of this knowledge. Same goes for the job search/getting magic you mention. God knows I've been unemployed long enough to warrent thinking wild thoughts of a "faust" like pact in order to get the job I want. But that would be all I ask for. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone in the process. No stepping into "dead man's shoes" as it were. Just creating that chance or opportunity that will help me in my life pursuit.

Not to sure about your example of the dinner party. On the one hand if the psychologist took you to one side and had a quiet word then fine, but if they pronounced their summary findings over coffee and brandy then not good.

But that's the problem with these comparisions. The majority of professional bodies already have some sort of binding code on ethics recorded. Where as the magician has only their own personal set of rules and ethics. Which could lead to great problems especially if they follow the "Do what thou shall..." school of thought.

But in the cases you've mentioned I don't find anything unethical about them. It's merely someone thinking to themselves "I have this knowledge, how can I use it for the betterment of myself/my friends/ the world". Which in my book is the best way to progress in anything, not just magick.

17:16 / 04.09.03

I think it boils down to each and one of us having to make up our minds about what is ethical, beneficial, "good", heathly, wholesome... but ANY action (or thought), whether of magickal nature or not, will have effects on our immediate environment, as well as the whole universe we participate in...just think of the butterfly effect....
Ideally each one of us will choose to express thoughts and actions that will propagate and create a healthy "world" for us to live in. Which unfortunately is not always happening.
On the other hand, I do not think that the universal balance can be upset by unethical workings of magick (or politics for that matter), but the practicing individual mostly diminishes his own life quality, and happiness. Which might be the desired result of the preson in question for all I know....
Obviously one mean magician can also affect other people situations, but I believe that if the "victim" doesnt attract and desire this "negative" change in energies/environment to begin with, he/she cannot become a target.
It should be noted that due to the constant lack of knowledge as well as due to the learned victim-mentality an overpowering percentage of the population does attract and desire "negative" situations and lives and experiences....

Nevertheless, I believe in an ethic responsibility of the magician / politician / activist / rockstar / teacher / parent / (insert whatever you are here)/.....

17:17 / 04.09.03

I think the line here is less in what they could find out so much as what is done with that information. If they scry you and keep that to themselves, all the better for them for having the ability. But if they share that info with others without your consent, that's bad. Similarly, telling YOU what they say without your consent is also bad. You see, telling someone what you see in a divination is akin to casting that as the results of sorcery upon them. There's the matter of how we affect our own destinies that is disrupted when someone comes along and tells you what will happen to you in the future. Now your knowlege of this event will affect how it unfolds. And while I don't ave any problem with people meddling in that sort of thing, it is good ethics to not do so unless someone gives you the go. But specificly, its the sharing of the info and how it is portrayed that I think is the more important part of ethics. Its not a part of your reality until they tell you what they saw. Then, its too late, and the knowlege has changed you, and its changing someone that should require their consent of will before you do it.

17:18 / 04.09.03

sorry about my failed attempt to use bold type to accent some points here ...