Killer Karma: Why Bad mages meet bad ends
The energies that we harness when we perform magick exist in a delicate balance. Our basic notions of what we consider “Karma” teach us that our negative actions and positive actions act as a balance to one another in a greater system. Our negative actions provide negative energies to the system, and out positive actions provided positive energies. Through an equal amount of negative and positive, we can remain karmatically neutral, and not have to suffer the effects of our bad actions catching up on us. As a black mage, I often find myself casting karmatically bad spells: things that control, give bad luck, restrain or interfere with another person, simply because someone asks me to or because I feel like it. Because of this, I have an obligation to give back for my actions: I donate to charity, refrain from killing living creatures, help people in everyday life, the list goes on. I feel at this point that I should make it clear that I do these things because I want to, not because I feel obliged to for whatever reason. hmm, perhaps I am not the best example in this regard. The issue is that there are groups of mages that do not respect Karmatic balance. LeVayan Santanists, that believe that their actions should purely be for their own benefit and adhere to a debauched lifestyle are a case in point. I once knew a LeVayan Satanist, an unapologetically selfish one. Karma very much caught up with him: He was evicted from his home, dropped out of education, was rejected from every job interview he went to and blamed for an accident that meant that certain groups of unsavoury individuals wanted to see him badly hurt. Suffice to say I haven’t seen him for over a year and a half; he lives many miles away to the best of my knowledge, and I have never seen fit to try and contact him. I’m getting distracted; what I am trying to get at is that selfish mages, and those that do not give back if they benefit from Magick ultimately come unstuck. When we consider a magick ritual, we should think very carefully about it’s potential effects: If we cast a Hex on someone in a fit of rage or irritation wishing them financial misfortune: can we live with the potential outcome of them becoming homeless when the bank forcloses on their house? If someone decides to appeal to the shrewd businessman that is Lucifer, and he asks them to, in return spill the innards of a small furry animal (you would be lucky if he would ask for as little as that) can they really justify their action karmatically? The Catholic church teaches the differentiation of Mortal and Venial sin. Venial sin can be forgiven, as it is assumed we all commit bad things within our life. Mortal sin condemns us to hellfire and damnation- well so the Catholics say. Regarding justifying negative actions: personally I am of the opinion no. This sort of thing can never be justified, we would need to give such a large ammount back through comitting it, that we would spend a life time atoning for our actions: selfishness violates every essential covenant of any of the constructive Pagan faiths. If we wish to understand and harness the arcane power and knowledge that Magick can open up to us, we can only do this though an eternal synergy with the world in which we live. Killing, maiming, torturing any living creature ruins the subtle balance of energy around ourselves and destroys our astral form by weakening our spirit. Through teaching hatred, suffering and selfishness our astral bodies become mere empty husks and shells of our soul, open to attack from negative energies, and ultimately we meet with our own undoing. Perhaps here, I am in the minority as a Black Mage; I hold myself back morally from realising full power.
I am interested in knowing what others feel about this: is it acceptable to act destructively provided we can justify out actions? Is giving back enough to atone for our wrong doing? Or should we really need to worry about giving back at all? Should we really just act for our own interests with no heed to the effects it may have on those that we do not immediately concern ourselves with?
