DISCUSSION: White, Grey, & Black Magic

[DPhoenix]

why is hexing somebody any different morally from slashing someone's tires or something?

Thank you! You know I found this forum after I left another one where people became upset at me for saying something very similar. I soon realized that it wasn't a forum I wanted to be a part of.

As far as magick being black or white, there's Buddhist belief that nothing is good or bad. You either live skillfully or unskillfully. Living skillfully entails coming from a place of love and peace. Living unskillfully entails coming from a place of anger, hate and revenge. They're not considered good or bad, but if you live skillfully you reap a blessed life. If you live unskillfully you reap a cursed life. Again, blessed or cursed isn't considered good or bad... but being skillful at life is much more desirable then being unskillful.

And it's not easy, I know. I've been through almost everything a person can go through and have plenty of reason to hex a handful of people. I've been tempted, several times... a test of my character. Somehow my moral compass has prevailed and for that I'm grateful.

When I mentor someone I ALWAYS tell them to write down a moral code of conduct in their Book of Shadows. So in those moments when you're tossed about life's angry sea you can use it as your moral compass to find calmer waters.

Some don't believe in the 3 fold law, but I have a hard time believing it doesn't exist when so many different cultures have made the same observations that what you do, think and say comes back to you.

Hope something in that was helpful to you Jonjonsalinas!
Good luck & Goddess Bless! <3
-D Phoenix

[Firebird]

I feel that magic is what it is,... tis neither dark nor light, evil or good, black or white. That is a leftover patriarchal view in my opinion. You can use magic to do good or do bad, but the magic in itself is not inherently evil or inherently good. When we work magic we are coming from the within the shadows, the previously unknown places, known as occult...working magic is coming from a grey place to begin with...I would think this is why the witches book is called the "Book of Shadows".
It is up to the practitioner to work within an ethical realm or not...
Blessings, Firebird

[p3nathan]

I'm frequently asked if I'm "a white witch" or "a black witch".
The only answer I have is: I'm human.
Some people take that as me saying I'm gray and if they really feel the need to label me that way, they can go right ahead. But I personally think my craft can be every single colour in the universe.

[Vervain]

White Witch

Black Witch


(Sorry, couldn't help myself... )

[Garnetsun]

Oh nice, Vervain !

Like many have said, magic is neither black or white, and maybe neither gray. It comes from, and work as something unknown, unexplicable; and this is why many consider it bad (black), good (white) or gray (in between). But magic itself doesn't have any attention, not by itself. It is us, its wielders and users that "word" it. It depends on how and why you use it, that people name it good or bad/black or white.
Lie p3nathan said, we are human. We have many facets, and so does magic. Why label it ? Because different people will view by different names.
There is many colors in this world, and magic comes from it, there cannot be only three colors that come from a specific view, that can describe it.
If you want another version, black is the absence of color. Maybe you can view "black" magic as a magic you don't perfom yet, and don't understand perfectly before deciding on acting with it. And "white" color can englobe all magic you use and understand, as it is all color combined ?

[Jonjonsalinas_]

LOL vervain! Thank you for the food-for-thought Garnetsun, I appreciate it very much! This thread has definitely led me to question practices in magick and I think I might even write up my own moral code of conduct so I know when I'm crossing that line between good and evil :p thank you all so much

[valerian moon]

You know, I want to get away from the whole black/white magic framework altogether. There's this whole thing where I would hope that as Witches we can reclaim symbols like darkness and nighttime, which have been unfairly demonized by a lot of Western culture. But also it seems to me that if you apply the same moral standard that you use for every day life, you shouldn't run into problems ... If you're doing magic for the wrong reasons (like out of spite, or because you like making people suffer, or for the lulz) then you've got a bigger problem with your moral compass as a whole. Like, why is hexing somebody any different morally from slashing someone's tires or something?

I would never hex somebody.
and not just because I've seen far too much supernatural and am afraid hunters are going to kill me if I do.
I just like to be on good terms with everybody, and although my anger doesn't always permit that, I wouldn't hurt somebody.
I would probably just put a spell on them to make them not able to do bad anymore, or if I just don't like them, leave it alone. getting back at them with simple spells that do no harm, for example, if a person lies, every time they try to tell a lie they lose control of their tongue and speak gibberish, is as far as i'd go.

if all that makes sense.