Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Have you ever tossed an object into a pool of water and watched to see what happens? Whether it's a pebble that sinks to the bottom or a rubber ball that floats on the top, it doesn't matter. The effect created is an ever widening ripple of concentric circles. If the object is large enough it will send these ripples all the way to the edges of the pond or pool or bathtub that you threw the object into.
The magic that you cast into the world works in much the same way. The spells that you cast with your words create ripples in the world around you whether you realize it or not.

For example. You wake up in the morning in a good mood and head into the office you work in. When you get there you smile and ask your secretary how she is doing on this brand new wonderful day. Your words and attitude are infectious and brighten her day. You literally make her morning better just by how positive you are. And in turn she is bright and pleasant with everyone she interacts with both in the office and on the telephone. Her words and mannerisms with other people are more positive than they would have been if you had not been there in the first place. And each person she interacts with is influenced by her positivity. You interact with her and she interacts with dozens of other people during the day. Each of those people interacts with other people as well. Now as the circles widen the effect is often diluted.  But, even with this being the case, you are responsible, by the simple act of you being upbeat and greeting your secretary with a smile and a kind word, for improving the day of dozens if not hundreds of people.

The converse is true as well. Your way of being with your secretary can convey a message of irritation, intolerance and hate. And invariably that message will be relayed through her to many if not all of the other people she comes in contact with during the day. Thus bringing down and possibly even ruining the days of all those touched by your ripples.

While there are specifics that people are willing to argue about, this is the simplest difference between whether your spells are white or black magick. Are you creating positive change or not? If the change you are creating is negative, then you are poisoning those around you with your black magick, with your words and deeds.

You do make a difference in the world around you. Each person you interact with is changed in some way by your presence. You get to choose whether or not their lives are made better or worse by that interaction.  And as one popular band puts it "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" The reason for this is, if you decide not to take part in the world, you are depriving the world of any change that could have happened as a result of you showing up and taking charge.
So take some time and evaluate your life.

Think about how you interact with those closest to you, your friends, loved ones and work associates. Are you poisoning them with your nasty, vile, pestilent, evil, black magick spells? Or are you making the world a better place with your benevolent white magick? Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

The will and the word

Today we are going to talk about magick. Now when I say that, I am not talking about the sort of tricks and illusions done on the television by David Copperfield or others like him. That is magic and while entertaining, it is not the same thing. What I am talking about is real magick, the stuff that has the power to change the world.

When I was a kid I heard stories about Merlin and other wizards, sorcerers and witches  from faerie tales and folklore. And I wanted to be one of them. How cool would that be? To be able to wave your magic wand around and just make stuff happen? But then of course that was when I was a kid. After awhile, time passed, a whole lot of life happened and I grew up and forgot about that wish.

Now I am an adult. Those of you that know me, stop snickering! Now that I am an adult I see things a different way.  I realize now that I am capable of using magick. I do it everyday. In fact, every person in the world does.I know, I know. That sounds completely ludicrous. I mean if every person in the world were constantly going around casting spells the world would be in a horribly chaotic state. What's that you say? The world IS in a horribly chaotic state? What do you mean? All the wars and hate crimes, social injustices and greed, poverty and cruelty and so much more? Okay so maybe it's not entirely ludicrous. Let's take a closer look.

Firstly, when I use the term magick, what exactly am I saying? If you do a bit of research in mystical circles, you will find that the most commonly accepted definition is "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will". That is quite a mouthful but what does it mean? More simply put it means exerting your will and causing change in the world around you. Now I see a few light bulbs going on out there.
 
I say again that we are all wizards, sorcerers, magicians and witches. But what is this power that every one of us wields? It is called The Word. Our primary means of interfacing with things that occur outside of our bodies is communication. And the most powerful form of communication is through words. Whether they are words scrawled on paper, or spoken aloud or just thoughts circling around in our heads words are magickal. Don't believe me? Well here is an example of what I mean. Let's say you are eight years old and you are sitting at home and it's been five hours since lunchtime but still a couple of hours until dinner. You are hungry. If you do not say anything about it, nothing changes and you stay hungry.  You decide that this is not okay. You tell your mom or dad you are hungry and they fix a snack for you. Thirty minutes later the hunger is sated and you are happy again. While this does not seem like much, if you think about the definition of magick you did in fact cast a spell with your words and created changed in conformity with your will. You were hungry. You exerted your will and shortly afterwards you were not hungry.

Every person in this world uses magick everyday, sometimes dozens or even hundreds of times per day. And yes, this does create chaos, mostly because people do not realize that they are constantly throwing spells all around them, each one making small localized change and many conflicting with one another.

In the next post we will be be talking about black magick and the ripple effect.