Is Magick Selfish?

One thing that goes around the Wiccan / magickal community a lot is that there's something wrong with doing magick for yourself ... that it's selfish and bad to try to improve your life with spells and such.

There are 2 parts to this question. Like everything else in life, there is a good side and a bad side.

Is Magick Selfish? © Wicca-Spirituality.com

Let's start with how doing magick for yourself is maybe not the greatest idea... mainly because the email that prompted this discussion starts there. 😉 And also because it's a shorter answer.

Then we'll explore why improving your own life through magick is good.

So this will be a mini-series of articles exploring the upside and the downside of “self-serving magick.”

This topic arose from a person who wrote to me, saying he'd been doing what he describes as "self-centered" magick for many years. He was concerned that this might be a bad thing for his spiritual development.

So keep in mind, as you read this, that we're talking about the high-level impact — the spiritual repercussions. This is not to say that you shouldn't do magick for yourself, as the following emails will explain. In detail, of course. 😄

Here's my reply...

Self-Serving Magick: Good? or Bad?

If you have been working magick for three years for your own desires alone, you have essentially just been feeding your ego-gratification.

In which case, you may have the satisfaction of the magick working and bringing into yourself life what you wish for, but you may not have gained any wisdom, self-awareness, or sensitivity... and you probably feel less connected to life.

Which is to say... less connected with the Earth, your soul, AND the Divine — the source of magickal power!

You may not have noticed this yet, but over time it will decrease the effectiveness of your magick.

I suspect that it hasn't made you any happier either.

Ego’s Nasty Magick Trick

That's one of the ego's biggest tricks: it says, "If you have this, that, and the other thing, you will be happy! Really!! And only when you have it all!"

But as soon as you have what you've desired, the ego sets up another desire, and says you won't be happy until you get that, too.

It goes on forever, of course.

And like drug addiction, it takes more and more to satisfy that hunger.

The more you buy into this cycle, the stronger and more dominant your ego becomes.

And the more unhappy you become.

The ego will always urge you to act without regard for the quality of your actions, or even the real consequences. That's just its way. So a dominant ego is not doing you any favours.

That's unfortunate, because you've been missing out on the real gifts of Wicca and of magick.

Accessing the Spiritual Power of Wicca

The automatic human behaviour is to listen to, and obey, that deceiving ego-voice... it's so much louder and pushier than the quiet whisper of the Divine. (That's what makes the spiritual path a choice, and a test of character, rather than just instinct.)

Following the endless desires of the ego is also easier than dealing with deeper feelings and taking responsibility for actions. Ego tries to distract you from these things by sending you on materialistic quests (which, ironically, ends up increasing them).

And the ego will never stop doing this, until you stop believing it and letting it tell you what’s real and what you should be doing.

The good news is, like any addiction, it will fade when you quit giving it your power.

So if spirituality is important to you, you may want to pursue Wicca more as spiritual practice than as a magickal tool to satisfy desires, at least for a year or three. (As long as you've been feeding a habit, that's how long it may take to starve it.)

That gives your deeper self a fair chance to explore the greatest power of Wicca — Divine connection and spiritual evolution into Who you are really meant to be!

With Brightest Blessings,

erin Dragonsong