Hello:
Can anyone tell me why Energy Spells are categorized under the heading of Black Magic? Because I find the implications of the aforementioned fascinating.
I feel it is important to note that while these are the categories the website uses, they are not universal or even the standard of what is considered black magic by the community here. Rather, it helps give a guideline for people to start out with (intentionally or not) and they can later decide for themselves what they consider black magic.
A regurgitated response is often that magic has no color, but I find this is automatically treating people with the expectation that all "newbies" or people who aren't with the status quo here as if they treat magic as a fantasy game. I think the only popular fantasy game that treats magic as literal colors is Magic the Gathering, and even then, it's still just a label for a category, rather than summoning some literal black energy.
The knee jerk response to that is that colored categories are subjective and up to each individual, so people don't like using the terms black and white magic as much because it alone does not convey the context that the individual referring to it intends. It's not like algebra where we can simply say a word and people know what we're talking about - but it's not meant to be like that, either. I feel it's supposed to prompt more communication so we can offer one another context in which to continue the discussion.
Personally I find black magic to be useful as a label to identify that it is magic I practice with the intent to harm (while I know some others treat it differently). A black magic practice to me would be like erecting a Nidstang (which is a serious to-do because it bothers local spirits and they don't tend to like that) or using my own cursing form of Seidr.
The people I referred to as treating it differently often associate black magic with more Saturnian symbolism in that it is associated with death, the end of one thing/beginning of another, protection, etc. Personally I personally associate with these concepts and energies, but I don't consider them to be black magic because I make a clear distinction between what is protecting in nature and what is harmful, regardless of the over-arching intent and outcome.
So to actually get to the point what you're asking, what about the categorization intrigues you?
Evynne:
Thank you for your response, it was most informative. To answer your question, energy work was the first sort of magic I learned (or more accurately fell into head-first), many years ago. As my magic and spirituality can both be characterized as left-handed, I was wondering if there was anything intrinsically linking an affinity for energy manipulation and so-called "black magic." But then again, as a left-hand pather (Is that an adjective? Can I make that an adjective?) darkness is simply another card on the table, and "black magic" is no synonym for harm. I usually categorize spells based on qualities, mechanics, and/or function to avoid the whole issue of colors altogether (outside correspondences). Ironically the only time I use color is when doing energy work, and one of the things I'm studying is whether qualities of energy and their "colors" have any relationship. So in the end, I suppose it all boils down semantics.
Left hand pather would be a noun, but it can definitely be a thing if you want it to be. xD
And yes, it is truly a matter of of semantics. I do, however, find that people who work with energy tend to end up exploring new areas and having new experiences forces them to think outside of the initial box they set themselves up in. It actually happens to all of us at some point or another in different ways, that I can observe. When you're open to new things, you tend to take life with a grain of salt and you begin to expand your ideas of what things are.
So in a way, energy work forces people to understand that there is more to life than what they initially percieve and it does so on a level more inclined to sensory cues. What I find interesting about it is that it can be practiced as a purely secular and psychological thing and still have much of the same effects on expanding our understanding of reality and changing our outlooks.
When you think of it like that, people who practice energy work are predispositioned to the possibility of "darker" things just as they are with pretty much anything else solely based on what we've gone through and keep going through to learn it.
That is an excellent observation. I've often wondered if that is a truism that can be applied to the experiences and reactions of all of us who have chosen the darker side.
Have you ever had that experience, where you're in conversation with one or more people, and rather than simply "clicking" with someone (as in bonding or getting on rather well) there comes a time at which you look at one or more people in the group and you just...know? You know, whether through instinct or intuition or some combination of the two, that they're at that place . That perspective. That through one mechanism or another, through trials and tribulations and tragedies, they've done more living than anyone should have ever asked them to and as a result have realized something we would be far happier not knowing but are far better off for the knowing it. An old friend of mine and I once joked that "We can smell our own," but I've never stopped wondering if there wasn't more than just a bit of truth to that. We all have different beliefs and backgrounds, codes and creeds. But there's that thing, that subtle shift in perspective, that elusive and utterly un-quantifiable quality, that even if you don't particularly like the person, you ultimately have to respect.
I used to think that people could choose the left hand path for any of a thousand different reasons and there was just no sussing out the mechanics of that choice without actively disecting someone's personallity. But more and more frequently I'm running across people who've ended up makinf that choice because, one way or another, it was just inevitable for them. While not every one with that perspective was walking left, nearly everyone I know who walks left has that sort of perspective. It's almost enough to make me believe in a sort of "The Path Chooses You" type of axiom. Or at the very least that the bent of the sentient mind is to aim towards a rather unique yet harmonious set of outlooks.
Ah well. I'm at peace with unanswered questions, but I do so enjoy pondering them.
