I used to be a Pagan, and did some “spellwork” in my day.
I have since moved on.
There, now that full disclosure is done, according to Fox News, Code Pink will be bringing in a coven of witches to do some spellwork designed to reduce the recruiting efforts of a Marine Corps recruiting station, and encourage them to leave.
They will be doing this spellwork at the USMC recruiting station in Berkely.
It was always my understanding that most groups that practice spellcasting would frown on anything designed to counter the will of others…
Doesn’t this do that? The Marine recruits volunteers, so they are attempting to counter that free-will decision.
Also, if this backfires on them, won’t the Law of Threefold mean an INCREASE in recruits and recruting efforts?
Mods: wasn’t sure if this was the right forum, feel free to move as necessary.
Apart from the religious aspects of this - is Code Pink under the impression that their actions help the broader antiwar movement as a whole? I would guess most people who oppose the war would frankly be embarrassed by what they’re doing.
Most of their activities have been devoted to this kind of obnoxious theater - from protests at military hospitals to this kind of thing.
I have an old D&D manual somewhere in my books. Once I find it, I’m sure it’ll have an appropriate counterspell. I’m confident D&D spells work just as well as any other.
Which ruleset, though? I think your choice would have to depend on the timing rules and how long the counter (or maybe just some protection) would last.
It depends how they’re doing it. Yes, most Wiccans (and I’m using the term very loosely to encompass a lot of Wiccan-influenced neopagan paths, and remember that we’re a “religion” of loose cannons, and if you ask 12 Pagans anything, you’ll get at least 13 answers, but…) MOST Wiccans follow what they call The Wiccan Rede. There’s a lot of it, but the most oft-quoted part is “An it harm none, do what you Will.” (“An” means “as long as”, in this context, and Will means what’s in accordance with the goals of your Higher Self, not “whatever you want”.) Most of us feel that infringing on someone else’s Free Will counts as “harm”, so we won’t do binding spells or love spells to make someone else fall in love, or what have you.
But it’s perfectly acceptable to do a love spell on yourself, to make yourself more open and more observant - so you notice the attraction someone else has for you. It’s acceptable to do a spell in which that asshole of a coworker finds the perfect job for himself at another company so he can, of his own Free Will, decide to leave your office. You can create opportunities, in other words, as long as you’re not binding anyone’s decision making process.
It’s also worth noting that The Rule of Three (whatever energy you put out will come back to you threefold) is rather widely disregarded by most people past the Cunningham stage of witchcraft. Yes, in a nebulously general sense, it’s absolutely true, and not just on a magickal level. Go outside today and smile at people and see how they treat you. Then go to the same places and scowl, and see how what you get back is the same as what you project. But “threefold” is just poetic nonsense - how do you measure something like that?
Finally, even knowing that what you get is what you put out, there are some circumstances where the Magickal practitioner will make the fully aware and conscious decision to take that feedback willingly. On a mundane level, if there were a serial rapist in your neighborhood, would you consider putting yourself at some risk, say, by posing as bait in a police sting, in order to stop the rapist? Some people would, and some wouldn’t. Same with magick. There are some times when the harm being done is so great that it’s arguably worth it to take the consequences of binding the person doing the harm, even though you’ll feel the repercussions of doing that binding spell.
So there are certainly ways to organize a Working that don’t violate the Wiccan Rede, and there are times when it’s worth it to violate the Wiccan Rede. I’m not sure exactly what these folks have planned, so I can’t answer to the specifics of their working, but in theory it’s possible either way. If I was the one organizing it, I’d do a Working to make the potential recruits aware of other job opportunities in their area and the actual dangers of military life. Nothing to prevent them from signing up, but making sure they were really going in with informed consent.
No. The Rule of Three states that the energies you put out will come back to YOU. So if they did a binding on the recruiter, they’d find themselves forced into a corner in some aspect of their own lives - perhaps a foreclosure on a house, or their promised raise or promotion would fall through. Somehow their own Free Will would be thwarted, as they’ve thwarted the recruiter’s Free Will.
I tend to agree that overall the effectiveness of spellwork leads a lot to be desired, especially when directed against someone who doesn’t believe, or doesn’t know about it.
Thus, I expect NOTHING to happen from this.
That’s about all I’ll say about that, as I’m hoping for this not to become a big debate on if “magic” is real or not… that’s a whole other thread.
I’m wondering if, based on the rules of the belief structure, that this is a Bad Idea. I am certain that the circle involved is also pretty into the whole “Reclaiming” ideal, of civic activism mixed with pagan ideology.
I dowsed to see what would happen and was told to look at my horoscope.
That said that ‘…empty vessels make the most noise.’
And if you don’t believe me, well I passed a lie-detector test. :rolleyes:
I can’t find anything linking them to the Reclaiming Collective, if that’s what you mean. Of course, Reclaiming doesn’t have a lock on civic activism or anything…
From** ArizonaTeach**'s link:
Neither my husband or I know what “rituals of leaving” are. A “spell of peace and love” is always acceptable, without concern for the Rede.
Thank you WhyNot, that’s the sort of stuff I was hoping to get into the discussion. While I agree that the “Rule of Three” deal is a bit simplistic, I always tried to keep it in mind as a guideline, and not a hard and fast rule… more in the spirit of the Golden Rule, I suppose.
I believe it was Budapest who said “A Witch who cannot curse, cannot heal” so I know there is some leeway in what can and can’t be done. And intent is important as well (or at least, it should be). I guess that being said, since they BELIEVE that their intention is to save people, and reduce an "evil’, they are well covered. Would you agree with that?
WhyNot, excellent analysis! I’m an ex-Wiccan myself, now pretty much an agnostic. I remember the heady days of reading Llewellyn publications and understanding pretty much…nothing of what actually lay behind it. (When I lived in Minneapolis, I actually applied to work at Llewellyn (it’s in St. Paul)…never got a callback.)
Yeah, the Rule of Three is pretty simplistic, and of course, you have the Baby Wiccan belief that it’s an ironclad prohibition rather than a general caution. “You CAN’T do harmful magic!!!11!” Yes, yes, you can. You just have to be prepared to accept the consequences of it. Similarly, a spell for justice to be done on someone will open you up to the very critical stare of any number of judiciary godforms, so it’s a good idea to clear your ethical plate before performing such.
(When I lived in Minneapolis, I actually applied to work at Llewellyn (it’s in St. Paul)…never got a callback.)