A lot of people new to the use of magic are very interested in the ethics of what is and is not allowed. It seems to me, though, that these questions are often a way of glossing over other, more important, issues.
Someone asked me the other day, “Under what circumstances is it ethical to do a healing spell without permission?” A question like that envisions a universe in which there are XYZ allowed circumstances, and ABC disallowed circumstances. A rulebook.
Now, I could say “there is no rulebook,” or I could approximate the rulebook, and give you an extensive list of hypotheticals, but all of that is beside the point. There are other, more important questions to ask before we even get into a bunch of ethical what-ifs.
Why don’t you have permission? If it’s someone you aren’t comfortable communicating with, why are you doing magic for them? Is your magical connection going to be effective if you can’t even have a conversation with them? How much can you even know about the illness if you haven’t discussed healing it? If you don’t have permission because they disapprove of magic, isn’t that something of a barrier to your work? Won’t you be thinking about that disapproval while you work?
Under most circumstances, in the absence of other information, it is ethical to assume that people want to be well. Absent a DNR (Do Not Resucitate order), medical professionals assume that an unconscious patient would wish to be resucitated. In other words, you don’t need a Do Resucitate order, because that’s the default.
But chances are, you’re not talking about doing magic in an Emergency Room. You’re probably talking about a chronic or active but non-emergent condition. And in that case, your question shouldn’t be ethical at all; it should be practical and interpersonal.
Before healing, what you want to know is, who is this person? What is our connection? What is this illness? Securing permission is one way to answer all these questions. A problem securing permission could indicate a problem in knowing what needs to be known in order to be an effective healer.
Great thoughts. I have a friend with a mental illness who vacilates between wanting to be well and wanting to be dead. For me, there’s no ethical issue. I work for her because I love her. If I get karmic shit cookies as a result, oh well.
I think people worry too much. What’s done in love is done in love.
Ethics aren’t important but when we focus so much on the rightness or wrongness of taking a desired magical action, sometimes we lose our power.
Two cents, grain of salt. 🙂
Ethics are important. But ethics are abstract; it’s important to start in the real.
Your friend has a mental/emotional impairment that impedes her ability to give informed consent. You can assume that if she were well she’d consent.
What’s done in love is done in love.
I wouldn’t make that a rule, either. What’s done in love could be love or it could be smothering or child abuse or fuck-all. Look at your love, your relationship, your integrity, and move forward from there. (Obviously, I’m not accusing you of child abuse or anything like that.)
Like layers of an onion!
I love how you blast past the usual to get into some dialogue (inner or otherwise) issues which, in this case, in turn uncover the issues of giving self permission to think for self, which is very self-healing. It’s about giving self permission to heal too, essentially.
Must connect/exercise points within to better exercise them in the world …I’ve seen you bring that up in a variety of creative ways in different venues.
Your approach is intuitive and well thought out all at once. Not a coincidence, of course. One builds the other. 🙂
Ah, course, I meant “Ethics ARE important” but had a brain fart while typing. They are important, but we get hung up in them sometimes when all that’s required is a action, not overthinking. When I say “what is done in love is done in love” I do mean my love. I do mean real love. Not fucked up codependant excuses for love.
I guess I assume that those who are doing really messed up magick can’t do any harm to anyone but themselves. I think the Universe has a firewall. (How’s that for geeky terminology). At least, that’s been my experience.
I’m not sure the universe does have a firewall. I’ve seen some people hurt themselves pretty badly doing dumbass magic.
Our experiences have been different. Maybe my belief in a firewall works like an actual firewall? Or, perhaps my belief in a firewall only allows those who also have such a firewall operating in their lives into my life? I’ve been practicing since late teens, early twenties, (I’m 38 now) and I haven’t met one person who’s done dumb magick who’s been irrevocably damaged. Taught a lesson, yes, (myself included) but harmed? Not according to my definition.
How important do you think belief is in terms of the consequences of our magical or spiritual actions? If I believe that I’m doing something (healing, whathaveyou) from a place of love and concern for the person I’m working for, do you think that acts as a check and balance? If my intention would do harm, perhaps the magic won’t work because *harm was not my intention*. I have experienced that – where my magic just doesn’t work. It doesn’t backfire, or result in harm to anyone including myself – it just fizzles out and doesn’t go anywhere.
Do you think my belief in that creates that as a reality for me? Do you think your belief that dumbass magic can be harmful attracts experiences of harmed dumbasses?
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I believe we draw harm by focusing on harm. We draw healing by focusing on healing. We attract what we pay attention to, and in accordance with that belief, I refuse to spend a lot of time on the possibilty of a negative or harmful outcome when I know for certain that harm is not what I intend. I guess I’m also saying that I believe the Universe knows my intentions and will tweak whatever dumbass thing I might do so it matches that intent instead of letting my magick codswallop me in the face.
You’re introducing the word “irrevocably” kind of late in the discussion. I’m not sure it’s a workable definition of harm. When the mob will break your legs to teach you a lesson, isn’t that harm? Even though you eventually heal and walk as well as before? I mean, everything short of death and dismemberment looks like just “taught a lesson” in hindsight, but at the time it seems like harm.
I would not be comfortable saying it’s because of your belief, because I think the placebo effect in magic, while real, tends to be overstated.
What I’ve seen is people burning out, becoming irrational or depressed after over-exposing themselves to intense energies. I’ve seen people leaving the practice of magic entirely because they’ve terrified themselves. I’ve seen relationships broken up.
I’ve also seen successful black magic. Maybe that doesn’t count as dumbassery, but people CAN and DO cast curses, and leave real harm in their wake.
Yeah, but Deborah, this started as a discussion about healing, not hexing. Hexing, cursing, love magick – it’s common sense that you don’t do that stuff. You are drawing that stuff to you. In a mature and adult discussion of magick, I think these things go without saying. But magick to increase the financial, physical, or emotional well-being of someone I love? That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t consider it unethical to do so, with or without their permission. If they aren’t meant to be wealthier, healthier, or happier, my magick will do nothing. If they are paying a karmic debt via their troubles, I intend that my magick not interfere with.
I don’t think belief creates a placebo effect. I think magic is dependent on belief. I think reality is dependent on belief.
We all “harm” one another and our planet all the time. Harm is inevitable. It’s the purposeful stuff that I find inethical and I believe that my intentions count in the realm of magic.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. I didn’t realize I was going off on a tangent. 🙂
Most of the time, healing is the right thing to do. There are times it isn’t. Sometimes, the “patient” wants to let the illness run its course. I’ve been there, feeling like I’m in a process, and have said to people who wanted to do magic; good vibes, yes, but making this illness go away, no. Sometimes you have to walk a road to the end.
Other times, the illness is a sinkhole. This may be the case with your friend. No matter how much magic you throw in, it doesn’t work, or doesn’t work for long. There’s an underlying will towards being ill in that case. I had a similar situation with someone I was trying to help magically. I did a spell to get him a job, but he lost that job, got another and lost that one. I stopped doing magic to get him jobs; he had some other system in place within himself that lost the jobs.
Mostly, though, I agree with you. Getting permission isn’t ethically necessary most of the time. But it’s pragmatically and interpersonally necesary.