Being a Witch can be buckets of fun. You got magick, you got faeries jacking your house keys at random times (or that’s just me), nothing can get in your way – you’re a Witch! But what about when your hands are morally tied?

As a witch, you can do anything you want – as long as it does not infringe on the free will of others and if you do spellwork for others, you have to ask first. This can create a problem because what if the person you want to work magick for may be squicked out by the prospect of magick, think you’ll “mistakenly” hex them, or plain think that magick is a notion thought by crazy people?

What about if you just want to make it better?

An example:

More than once I have had a friend who is really cool and nice and wouldn’t hurt anyone (or wouldn’t hurt people who didn’t deserve it) but life still delivers a rippling body slam of problems such as health issues, financial problems, storm after storm of problems that never seem to go away but roll up one after another. And it sucks just seeing them either pretend everything is fine or become stressed from the pressure. It just seems so unfair all the crap they’re getting and all the wrong they’re not doing to deserve such short straws.

Surely it would seem simple to the average person what the solution would be: Just cast whatever appropriate spell and poof, problem gone, everyone is happy and teddy bears are dancing in the street with matching marching band, ticker tape and flag dancers in tow. Nope. Some issues are likely to arise in magick:

– You did what?: The response to witchery varies from person to person and they vary especially when someone finds out they were the subject of a spell. You could mean well but here’s how they see it: Someone just casted a spell on them. One reason why magick is seen as bad is because it is commonly associated with being shrouded in secrecy and being hidden, something that doesn’t exactly breed trust in people. Even my Witch friends would like some forewarning, especially if they attempt to cast something themselves and it clashes.

– Can’t Always Be Superman: Hey, even Superman has had things slip through his fingers, can’t save everyone. It hurts but it’s true. And it hurts more when you think, “Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten involved”, “Was it me?” It’s natural to want to help and save your friends but be smart, it may take more than one whisk of a wand and some clever wording to save the day.  

– Misery Loves Company/Quicksand Dilemma: The issue about caring too much and wanting to help everyone who looks like they don’t deserve the pain they’ve got is that sooner or later, you’re no longer a side participant but now thoroughly wound up in the same situation. It’s like spending so much time trying to pull someone out of a hole that you lose footing and wind up falling in yourself.

– Bad to Worse in 60 Seconds: There are several sides to a situation – There’s what your friend knows, what your friend told you, what you know (totaling friend’s personality, type of situation, the supposed worst case scenario, etc.) what your friend didn’t tell you, what they didn’t know about the situation and every possible side to the situation. Magick could help but it can also backfire and with missing consent, it could backfire badly.  I’ve been there, the clean-up is not pretty.

Yep, rely on the human experience to complicate matters. So what is there to do? The smart move varies. Certainly I don’t suggest the Silver Ravenwolf method where she says you ask them if you could “pray” for them and take that as a yes for spellwork – people think very differently of prayer and spellwork, even if the concepts are strikingly similar. I think that if you can’t work up the guts to ask them for whatever reason, make the safe bet and don’t do it. If you feel strongly about it and don’t want to sit on your hands, at least do some divination for guidance on what to do. Some people are not for that and would not like that suggestion I made but guess what? Life is not so cut and dry like that. You can’t make everyone stand to the side as they watch life kicking the crap out of someone they care about, it’s simply not fair and not natural. And at least with divination, you know what’s going to happen down the line so even if it say ”No”, there’s usually a story of why and results.

A good suggestion if you go with such spellwork is to use spells that have more of a guiding impact rather than try to make direct change. If the issues are money problems, try to cast something that open up opportunities for improved finances and to make sure they’re not touched by the financial difficulty at hand and to make those difficulties clearer so to be more solvable.  If the issue is with people, then make sure that you cast a protection spell. You could cast a binding spell but you might wind up binding the wrong person – or you could cast a “sticky binding” spell which binds only the people who try to make the situation worse or are trying to keep the drama flowing. As long as the person is not trying to make things worse or is actually trying to help the situation, or are just plain neutral, the binding won’t stick to them. Just go with protection and things of the like, don’t try to solve the problem for them, just aid.

Then there are times when your hands are just plain tied. There, you try to help out the best you can without magick. Give them information, be a soundboard, give ideas and try to help out however you can. But remember, not every problem you come across is your problem.

Next week is The Arts! Who’s being featured:

– Sut Jhally, “Why America Can’t Think Straight about Race (Even With a Black President)”
– The 10th Hour
– The Witch and the Babe

And remember, March is coming up, that means new series titled “Comin’ Straight Outta Yo’ Monolith”