Belief, Respect, Ethics, & Responsibility in Magick

https://solitarypaganism.com/magick/belief-respect-ethics-responsibility-in-magick/
Magick cannot be practiced successfully without belief, respect, ethics, and responsibility.

If you do not believe in magick, you will not be able to make magick.

If you do not believe in yourself, and in your ability to work magick, you will not be able to make magick work for you.

If you do not believe that you deserve the blessings that magick can bring, you will not be able to accept blessings—even when they make themselves available to you.

It is possible to faithfully follow the instructions for these or other spells and still not have them work.

You have to believe in magick, believe in yourself, and believe in your ability in order to work magick successfully.

It is dangerous to attempt to use magick unless you have respect for it.

Failure to respect magick can result in having your spells go horribly wrong.

To prevent this from happening, you must respect yourself, respect others, and respect the elements and the Universe, as well as respecting magick.

Do whatever inner work is needed to get to really know yourself, to like and appreciate yourself, before you try to cast spells.

Self-respect gives you the confidence you need to have in order to get spells to work.

To meddle magickally in someone’s life is to disrespect that person.

No matter how good or honorable our intentions may be, we should not cast spells for people unless they ask us for magickal help.

To do otherwise is to invite interference in our own lives and affairs.

Successful magick requires a healthy respect for the elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water).

This is especially true of Fire.

If you leave candles, incense, or anything else burning unattended, you will learn this lesson the hard way.

Respect the Universe by living an honest, ethical, useful life.

Be a good citizen of the Universe.

Try to be of service to others, instead of focusing solely on yourself and your needs.

Protect children, animals, and all who cannot protect themselves.

Be a producer as well as a consumer, and do what you can to help Mother Nature.

We were given a gorgeous planet, but its precious natural resources are dwindling because of human use, abuse, and overuse.

Acknowledge that fact. Respect it by trying to live gently upon the Earth.

Recycle. Be kind to creatures.

Make ethical choices.

Educate yourself about the environment.

Consider it when you buy a car or do anything else that affects the environment.

Everything is connected, so the kind of life you live influences your ability to work magick.

If you respect the Universe, you will find it more responsive to you than if you did not respect it.

Use magick judiciously.

Don’t cast spells for every little problem or issue.

Try ordinary solutions first.

Don’t disturb the gods unless it’s important.

Be responsible for yourself, instead of expecting them to solve your problems for you.

Try to serve magick instead of asking it to serve you.

If you respect magick, it will respect you.

What goes around, comes around.

This means that when we work magick that is kind, positive, and beneficial, blessings will be returned to us.

It also means that if we work magick that is negative, mean-spirited, or harmful, it will rebound upon us in unpleasant ways sooner or later.

Spells are powerful.

They can do great good, but they can also do great harm.

Spells cast in anger, envy, hatred, or any other negative frame of mind are more likely to backfire than they are to work as intended.

Ethics provides a framework in which to safely practice magick. Keep that in mind, and your spells will not hurt you.

To work magick successfully, you must be responsible for yourself and your actions.

This includes accepting responsibility for the results of your spells.

Approaching magick with this in mind helps to keep us on the right path.

It prevents us from casting spells that we later regret.

To rely on magick alone would be unrealistic and irresponsible.

If you cast a spell to find a job, for example, you must also list yourself with employment agencies, send out résumés, go on interviews, and take other appropriate nonmagical actions.

If you do not take those steps, even the best job spell has very little chance of working.

We help our spells to succeed by taking concrete real-world actions to support them.