Free will is a big argument on this website and I want to join in. Here are my thoughts and opinions on free will with magick.
First things first: The argument I am talking about is if it is okay to do magick on people without their consent. For example a love spell. A love spell is messing with free will. People always want to do love spells because they love someone that doesn't love them back. Is this morally incorrect?
Second: People think magick is all about themselves. They never step back to see the real picture. Magick was made to help others. You can't go around and do magick just for yourself. You need to help others in times of need. I once helped someone who was on the edge of killing themselves. They are now always getting A's in every class and has a lot of fun in life. I may once in a while do magick to get money but I always try to help people.
Third: Messing with other people for your gain like with a love spell can mess up someones life. If you have tried everything to get them yourself then it's not meant to be. You can't just throw love spells onto people because you know you will never get married. If you just dated someone and they left you don't go and throw a love spell on them. It is not worth it and you will just regret it later on
Fourth: When you cast spells that mess with others free will you mess with their life. They could have saved the world from apocalypse but you went out of your way to mess up their life with your spell. Things are how they have to be. You may think it's unfair but you will get over it soon enough. Don't bother other people with things that happen to be selfish.
Fifth: What about sex spells? Sex spells can also ruin someones life. Do you have an STD? well if you do might want to remember that you are passing that on to another person. Also a persons beliefs are something you also have to take in. Some beliefs say you can't have sex until marriage and if you have sex with anyone but your mistress that is morally wrong.
That is my play on free will and magick. If anyone has a contradicting argument please reply so I can take that into what I have just said. I'll see you on SoM!
The idea of Free Will is an interesting thing. Is one's will truly free? Does such a concept even exist? Many philosophers and intellectuals throughout history have contemplated this idea, landing on different sides of the fence.
Eh...as for Magick being made to help others...that is an idea that many would disagree on, an idea that no small number of magical giants throughout history would disagree on. There are several accomplished occultists that would say that morality holds no place in the study of magic.
Not a bad post, and there are things that I agree with on a moral level, but fundamentally I don't agree with a lot of points in this.
Personally, I don't think magick was made to help people. For starters, magick wasn't made. It's just a neutral, natural force that people can harness in order to do things. If someone wants to harness it in order to help people, that's wonderful, but if someone wants to harness it just for personal gain, that's fine too. Most of my magickal practice is on myself, and most of the spells I've cast on others are curses. I help people outside of my magickal life instead, with volunteer work and similar activities. It also seems like the argument that magick should help people contradicts the free will argument a bit. If someone's free will is leading them down a self destructive path and someone uses magick to help them, that's still affecting free will.
I don't personally agree with love spells morally, so I'm not sure that I could provide a fair debate in regards to those. I don't really agree with the idea that the relationship may just simply not be meant to be. If things are or are not meant to be, we are living in a predetermined timeline, which means free will doesn't exist. Some people do believe that fate exists and nothing can change it, but the idea doesn't meld well with the theory of free will.
I'm a bit lost on the forth bit, sorry. I will say that it would take a pretty powerful witch to entirely mess up someone's life. Also, it's perfectly possible to call off a spell or put a time limit on it. My curses always have a certain amount of time they're supposed to run to ensure they don't stick around for longer than they need to.
By sex spells I'm assuming you mean spells that will cause a person to desire a sexual relationship with the caster? I do disagree with these as well, personally, though I think it's important to recognize that some sex spells are consensual (such as two partners casting one on each other after talking about it). As a side note, people with STDs can safely have sexual relations. HIV, for example, has multiple ways to prevent passing on the virus to the partner. Of course the status of the person diagnosed with an STD should be disclosed to the other person and proper safety measures should be taken, but it's entirely possible for people with STDs to responsibly have sex.
None of this is to say your take on this is wrong, of course. This is just how I tend to view the discussion of free will.
First Argument:I can see why you think magick wasn't made to help others. Somewhat I agree but it's the problem with narcissism in magick. It's kinda like freeloaders in this website. They use all the information to themselves and never try to give back. "If someone's free will is leading them down a self destructive path and someone uses magick to help them, that's still affecting free will." I don't have an argument for that but I feel like if it is helping someone it is a good thing.
Second argument: Yes somethings are not meant to be. I believe there is fate but when someone changes something another branch appears and we go down that branch. If that makes sense
Thrid argument: "I'm a bit lost on the forth bit, sorry. I will say that it would take a pretty powerful witch to entirely mess up someone's life. Also, it's perfectly possible to call off a spell or put a time limit on it. My curses always have a certain amount of time they're supposed to run to ensure they don't stick around for longer than they need to." I agree with the time limit part and that it would take a very powerful witch to ruin someones life but it could still take another branch off of what was meant to be. Especially if you are doing it narcissisticly (I know thats not a word but I couldn't think of anything else).
Fourth argument: I was mainly focusing on the religious beliefs part of it because you can have safe sex.
Thanks for the constructive criticism. I will be taking that into note.
First of all everyone has their own opinion, and to argue over it is useless. No one is right or wrong. Do not waste your time. I have an opinion on free will too. But that does not change anything. People do spells and have fun!
