{"id":31514,"date":"2025-02-12T03:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T09:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=31514"},"modified":"2025-02-08T18:14:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T00:14:38","slug":"this-is-a-time-for-dangerous-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2025\/02\/this-is-a-time-for-dangerous-magic.html","title":{"rendered":"This Is A Time For Dangerous Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last week I came across a YouTube video from Ivy Corvus titled Witchcraft & The Occult Aren\u2019t Safe \u2013 And That\u2019s The Point<\/a>. It runs a bit under 12 minutes and it\u2019s worth your time to watch it. It\u2019s a follow-up to a previous video where she encouraged people to not be afraid of magic and working with spirits.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written on this theme before, with posts like Our Gods Are Not Safe<\/a> in 2015 and Stealing Fire From The Gods<\/a> in 2017.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m inspired by Ivy\u2019s video, but I want to take this post in a somewhat different direction. I think most of us understand that magic and witchcraft and signing up to serve a Battle Goddess<\/a> carry some danger. We accept the risk because we want what\u2019s on the other side of the danger. Or at least, sometimes we do. Other times we pass on dangerous magic because we fear what might go wrong \u2013 or because we fear what it would mean if the magic actually worked.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it \u2013 a lot of us are scared right now. Even if we aren\u2019t in any immediate personal danger, we\u2019re concerned about the direction of the country and the world, and what that\u2019s going to mean for us in the future. And some of our friends are<\/em> in immediate personal danger.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why now is the time to start working dangerous magic.<\/p>\n

A witch who cannot hex cannot heal<\/h2>\n

This is an old clich\u00e9 in the magic and witchcraft communities, but it\u2019s still true. And relevant. Magic, like all forms of power, is neither good nor evil. What makes it good or evil is how it\u2019s used.<\/p>\n

If you cannot do harm, you are not good or kind or enlightened or anything of the sort. You are simply weak. That doesn\u2019t make you a bad person \u2013 some people are born weak, either literally or metaphorically or both. But there is no inherent virtue in weakness.<\/p>\n

More virtuous are those who are capable of causing great harm, but who choose otherwise.<\/p>\n

Until it becomes necessary.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t harm anyone with your magic, then your magic is weak and will likely be ineffective when you attempt to use it to meet a real need.<\/p>\n

Dangerous magic is challenging magic<\/h2>\n

If your magic is weak \u2013 or weaker than you would prefer \u2013 what can you do?<\/p>\n

Practice, practice, practice.<\/p>\n

And not just any practice. While the basics of spiritual practice form our foundation and are always necessary and helpful, if we never move beyond the basics our magic will never be more than basic.<\/p>\n

Ordinary exercise will keep you healthy, but if you want to get strong you have to lift heavy weights. Running a few miles a couple days a week is good, but if you want to run a marathon<\/a> you have to start running longer distances once a week or so.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons we tend to avoid dangerous magic is that it\u2019s usually difficult. It\u2019s more than lighting a candle or drawing and charging a sigil. It\u2019s collecting hard-to-find ingredients. It\u2019s finding the time when the stars and planets present the most favorable conditions and then doing the spell at that precise time, even if you have to get up and go to work the next morning.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obligating yourself to Gods and other spirits who expect real reciprocity and not just a glass of cheap wine poured on the ground.<\/p>\n

Not all challenging magic is dangerous \u2013 some of it is just a lot of work. But most dangerous magic is challenging, and so if you need to raise your overall skill level, working dangerous spells is a good way to do that.<\/p>\n

Desperate times call for desperate measures<\/h2>\n

Are these truly desperate times? That depends on who you are. If you\u2019re a straight white middle class person with a secure job, these times may be chaotic and offensive to your values, but they probably aren\u2019t desperate. If you\u2019re a trans person whose very existence is being challenged by those in power, that\u2019s a different situation.<\/p>\n

And of course, bad things shouldn\u2019t have to happen to you to get you to care about the fact that they\u2019re happening to other people.<\/p>\n

Just because things aren\u2019t desperate for you at the moment doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t get desperate in the future. Tower Time<\/a> is a long way from being over. Who knows how far this new crusade against \u201canti-Christian bias<\/a>\u201d will go.<\/p>\n

One of the benefits of magic is that it\u2019s always available. Even if you appear to have no options left in the realm of the mundane, magic can still shift the odds in your favor.<\/p>\n

You can wait until things get truly desperate and then start working magic. Necessity is the mother of invention and nothing provides the kind of deep emotional connection to a spell like dire need.<\/p>\n

Or you can start now, before things get too desperate, and while you still have time to build some magical capabilities under circumstances that aren\u2019t yet do or die.<\/p>\n

Dangerous magic: magic that can leave you worse off than you started<\/h2>\n

In most cases, the worst that can happen with magic is that a spell simply won\u2019t work and you\u2019re left where you were before \u2013 no better but also no worse. Dangerous spells have a significant chance of leaving you worse off than you started.<\/p>\n

This is what can happen if you summon a demon without the skills to banish said demon when you\u2019re done. It\u2019s what can happen when you brew a potion using ingredients that can be toxic in certain dosages and combinations, either medically or spiritually.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also what can happen when you work magic to get rid of your abusive boss\u2026 only to see him replaced by someone even worse.<\/p>\n

Or, as the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for \u2013 you just might get it.<\/p>\n

In many cases it\u2019s not the technique that makes magic dangerous. It\u2019s the target.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you have to roll the dice<\/h2>\n

On the other hand, if you have an abusive boss, the worst thing you can do is nothing.<\/p>\n

You can \u2013 and should \u2013 try mundane approaches. Talk to him, talk to HR, file a formal complaint. Get your union involved. If there\u2019s not one, maybe you should start one. Look for another job. Work magic to enhance your chances that any and all of those actions will bring what you need, and work protective magic to minimize the damage until it does.<\/p>\n

But maybe the best solution (i.e. \u2013 the approach mostly likely to bring the desired result) is simply to get rid of him. That doesn\u2019t have to be a curse. You don\u2019t want him harmed, you just want him out of your life. So you work a spell for him to find a better job \u2013 in another state. Or maybe he\u2019s done enough bad stuff you really do want to curse him<\/a>. Regardless of your approach, though, you can\u2019t be sure that whoever replaces him won\u2019t be just as bad or worse.<\/p>\n

But also, his replacement might be better. Sometimes you have to do the work, roll the dice, and hope for the best.<\/p>\n

And be ready with Plan B \u2013 and C and D and E \u2013 in case it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

What dangerous magic will you work?<\/h2>\n

What magical skills do you need to build, even though they\u2019re a ton of work?<\/p>\n

What deity do you need to ally yourself with, even though they\u2019re likely to ask you to do something difficult, unpleasant, or both?<\/p>\n

What power do you need to grow, understanding that you may need use it to heal and you may need to use it to hex?<\/p>\n

Where are things so bad that you need to roll the dice and hope the number you need comes up?<\/p>\n

None of us are powerful enough to stop a hurricane. All of us can become powerful enough to weather a hurricane, whether meteorological or metaphorical.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that requires mundane work. Most times it requires careful planning and persistent action. Oftentimes you need a bit of luck.<\/p>\n

And sometimes you need dangerous magic.<\/p>\n

May we all have the courage to do what must be done.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can wait until things get truly desperate and then start working magic. Or you can start now, before things get too desperate, while you still have time to build some magical capabilities under circumstances that aren\u2019t yet do or die.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":31520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4655,42,4,5,10,67],"class_list":["post-31514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practice","tag-ivy-corvus","tag-magic-2","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-spiritual-practice","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Is A Time For Dangerous Magic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can wait until things get truly desperate and then start working magic. 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