This is a response to the thread (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=858 )started by ProfWag back in January concerning a Witch/Psychic’s ability to change one’s future. As I was attempting to respond in a manner that was both, to the point as well as informative, I kept tripping over my own two feet by getting a bit ahead of things so that being the case, I’ve started this thread in hope of keeping things a bit more “on track”
First Things First… YOU are the only pilot flying this thing called “your life” and thus, YOU are the only one that can change a bloody thing about it.
True, you can gain assistance from others that surround you in life (family, friends, co-workers, etc) but the decisions and actions (or lack there of) all fall on you, your attitudes, and so forth. As James Allen says in his treatise “As a Man Thinketh” it is our thinking that can make a heav’n of hell or vice versa.
I wanted to state this up-front so as to help everyone understand my position with things; while I’m very much a spiritually oriented person, I’m a realist. There are not magickle charms, incantations or elixirs out there that will simply “fix it”… end of story!
Now for the Confounding Part… sometimes we need a placebo in order to incite our psyche and thus inspire action; right action!
Placebos come in many forms, for some folks it’s a leather-bound suppository filled with eloquent wordage and flowery metaphor that simply seems to be “right” while others of us need to be able to hold, smell and dissect things before investing some semblance of “faith” into them and thus, allowing them to aid us in ways beneficial and healing. But then you have folks like my self, who work hard as straddling these two extremes in order to host the type of understanding that permits both, empathy and communication to the greater majority of the world’s population when it comes to issues of the fantastic, mortality and the journey of the human soul.
The advertising ProfWag referred to gave to us the suggestion that someone had magickle abilities that could transform one’s future; an ad type that causes me to raise an eyebrow in that it is a very common “lure” for the predator type operator that’s fishing for more marks.
Who is the Most Likely Mark? you ask.
- > The young, naive and new to the big world (16-25)
> Seniors (55+) who are homebound, lonely, strongly religious, facing their mortality, etc.
> The desperate & “hopeless”
> The Angry & Bitter
> Race (Hispanics, Blacks and certain Asian groups host strong superstitions)
> Economic Status (the super poor tend to be more “religious” and thus, more readily manipulated as the result of poverty/desperation and belief that “god” can fix things)
> Nationality/Cultural Influences – sadly this is where we hit one other factor “Immigration Status” – Illegal Aliens are an optimum target because they don’t feel that they can report an abuse without being deported, etc. Predators love them; but especially so when these immigrants come from a seriously superstitious culture.
Within this area of “Culture” we also have to look at “Environment” because of some special circumstances found in the U.S. (particularly), like the Native American reservation system and the social stigma that exists in the minds of the Indians. In some instances the sense of oppression can prove daunting. Add to this the cultural and spiritual/religious influences and again, you find a near perfect mark… just hope and pray they don’t figure you out though; things can get very painful in such instances.
One of the ironies I see in this list of “types” sought out by predators is how they are the very same target audience exploited by Tv Evangelists and their Tent Revival cohorts that traverse the nation, focused on small town America (if you haven’t seen it, get it! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104695/ )
Magickle Work & Traditional Ethos
When it comes to the “earth religions” like Wicca/Witchcraft, Shamanism, etc we are viewing what used to be known as the world of “Low” magick. It was 100% nature bound and exceptionally simple in that it catered to communities filled with “ignorant” people; while they knew the “magick” of agriculture, the cycles of the year, etc. they viewed things like Writing, Math, etc as being “high magick”, something reserved for noblemen, the clergy (such as the Druids and Temple priests, not the Christian element per se). In the past couple of generations the lines between these two areas of practice have been deliberately blurred by the good spiritually oriented capitalists of the New Age movement, but we needn’t go there for now…
The realities when it comes to the magic known to our ancestors, is that it was the closest thing they had to science in that most of what these “wise ones” did, was based on centuries of accumulated knowledge pertaining to herbs, plant and animal life and how such things aided in healing; elements that today’s science is able to refine and synthesize which, to a very limited and crude degree, the not so remote ancestors of ours also did, but creating “tonics” and “elixirs” that were typically used to ward off illness or infections, etc. Psychologically, because these primitive people hadn’t the language or even associative knowledge to call upon, these curatives were viewed as “Magick” or, if we get biblical about it, the casting out of demons. But, there is a psychology at work in 90% of said work, which brings us back to what I said in the opening of this little tract; the fact that our destiny is entirely upon our own shoulders.
What makes most Magick work is what we refer to most as the Placebo Effect and/or “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”. That is to say, the “spell” plants a seed within our psyche that stimulates us to take certain actions (or not) in order to exact change. As Hermes said long ago, [i[“If you change the energy you will change the manifestation”[/i]. Sadly, most of us get into the rut of doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.
I must admit that I’ve seen some demonstrations involving “magick” that seem to break with this most common of truths, but such things are exceptionally rare and I’m confident a deeper study into it would reveal some very fascinating bits of wisdom.
The “Ethics” of a Reader is the key however; if a person is by nature, underhanded and cruel/selfish they will employ anything as a tool to take advantage and even suppress the advancement of others. On the other hand, those that have a more benevolent and loving nature will go out of their way to not just protect but aid those in need even when exchange is not part of the scenario.
Shamanic Tradition more or less insists that no sense of personal “gain” is to be seen when doing healing work. This does not include divination or counseling in that most of that sort of work centers on decision making, not actual healing. For this reason the “Oracle” (the person that does the Readings) can ask for moderate compensation (typically done as a “donation” based on what the patron believes the services was worth). When it came to “healing” type work, possibly spun off from a Reading or simply a patron asking for help (and “healings” don’t always include physical or mental health in pagan society, it can include economic and even educational issues of imbalance), this is when “barter” comes into play but in a very peculiar manner.
As the local Wise One the Reader is typically aware of the needs of other members in the tribe or even a wider sense of concern/need. For this reason they might demand of the would be patron to perform a service before they can get the “healing” and frequently the service ordered has two purposes;
- 1.) To “magickly address the needs of others
2.) To aid the patron in a level of self-realization or “empowerment”
REMEMBER: The primary charge given to students of Wicca then and now is to work towards the greater good of all, especially the communities in which we live. If a Witch/Psychic isn’t doing this, they are a fraud in the eyes of their community as well as those of the suspicious/skeptical.
The ritual side of this process would require some sort of physical gift from the patron to the Seer. In the Native American world this would typically be Tobacco, a Ceremonial Pipe, special feather or crystals, etc. Food was likewise a common gesture of gratitude as was physical service/labor.
CONFESSIONS:
I’ve been doing Reading work since the latter mid-70s and to say that “I’ve seen it all” would be an understatement. I’ve seen just about every form of hustle you can imagine, including the latter days of the Mail Order Psychic via the National Enquirer and a dozen or so Radio Shack PC in a garage spitting out Readings…
Probably the most cruel of these cons are those waged against the simple minded; those good hearted and overly trusting souls who have deep spiritual beliefs as well as cultural points of view when it comes to magick and working with those that can weld it.
When I was living in the Reno, Nevada area there were two sisters… literal Gypsies who operated two Reading parlors in town. There had been all sorts of stories about these two and how the authorities couldn’t nail them… that is, until a certain individual got into the mix… not that I’d know of any such person…
It was a Saturday afternoon when a young Hispanic man shows up at the store a bit frantic and in desperate need to find a Reader that was more down to earth and able to convince his grandmother that she wasn’t cursed and didn’t have to give several thousand dollars to one of these “Psychics”.
With his help as a translator I managed to settle the poor woman down enough to listen to an alternative; an alternative that was REQUIRED in this case because of that cultural and religious influence in her life which stated rather clearly to her, that some kind of magick was needed to not just get rid of the curse, but protect her from this evil psychic (whom she believed would cast spells towards her and her family). I talked things over with her grandson and he agreed to work with me in creating a Placebo… one that cost less than $200.00 vs. the $15,000 or so these evil women wanted.
I walked this lady and her grandson through the ritual (which deliberately used materials common to their cultural practices) for cleansing their home, themselves, etc and then setting up the protections that would prevent any kind of dark magick from hurting them. Of course, she was allowed to contact me if she had any additional problems.
Interestingly, my magick was so powerful that the two systems were suddenly faced with an ultimatum by all the local Readers in the region who held a press conference demanding that police do something… I’m really not certain who would have educated these psychics about how the trickery and treachery took shape, but they certainly knew enough to wake up the cops.
THE BOTTOM LINE
There are times when a Psychic must incorporate “Magick” for the better good of the patron as well as the community and there are acceptable, ethical and moral ways of doing such, insuring that the patron learns how to be more independent and “empowered” rather than perpetuating codependence, as most commercial psychics will do.
I believe it is the obligation of every HONEST Psychic operator out there to “OUT” the charlatans however they can, once they have proof that they are in deed, duping the public and take unfair advantage of their patrons. Sadly, it’s not easy to legally prosecute such terrorists (and that’s what they are). But we can educate the consumer in ways that do not insult them or threaten their beliefs and that my friends, is the gist to all of this.
I’m in the process of creating my own on-line Psychic service (KarmicKruzes.org… should be viable by late June) which holds to the principles noted in this “short” outline as well as pushing the concept of personal obligation and taking responsibility for your own future, circumstances, etc. I really have high expectations for this project; not for the commercial sake but the ethical goals it will hopefully encourage other groups to embrace.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming
