The Horned One reversed/Knight of Swords reversed. Well, thankfully both of those cards are reversed, or I just might decide to go back to bed. Today will be a day where I will not feel the need to resort to intense control or application of authority in order to get by. I may be learning how to deal with my personal issue with control, as those issues will most likely not present themselves today, either.

My Thoth card for today is the Prince of Cups. This card tells of a calm exterior that is masking roiling passion, a tidal wave of feelings, and it tells of the ability to appear to calmly accept events that present themselves as all the while, those events are being fit into the personal “master plan.” I need to remind myself that ethics are important today.

One of the Second Degree students posted a question on the Second Degree Board regarding black works and how to deal with them. I have been researching this concept quite a bit, and I have decided to journal my answer to this student, to help myself as well as her.

My initial response to the student’s request for book recommendations included the following: “I am reading a book right now called Postmodern Magick that has some valuable information regarding banishing. But in reality, learning to deal with such things can be accomplished by practicing the basics (shielding, becoming familiar with your personal energy field) and bringing the basics to the next level by challenging yourself in order to build strength (kind of like the way lifting increasingly heavy weights challenges your muscles and makes them stronger). I am often reminded of the time in the Lord of the Rings, when Frodo asked Gandalf why he was not able to control others when he put on the Ring. Gandalf explained to Frodo that he would have to school himself to be strong enough to control others, and that takes time and practice. Protecting yourself from black works is similar to this, kind of a 1 part information and 9 parts perspiration kind of thing. In order to successfully deal with other entities, you need knowledge, but you also need skill and authority; both of those are acquired through practice.” The student responded by asking for more information.

I decided to think about black works first. To me, the majority of black mages are not really evil people, they are mis-informed people. Granted, this does not mean that they are not dangerous, but sometimes it helps us to understand black mages a little better (and remember, knowledge *is* power!) if we try to understand what lures them to this path. I believe that each of us will come to several crossroads in our lives that will involve a choice: to take the path that appears easier and that involves unethical behavior for personal gain, or to take the path that appears more difficult and that involves personal effort as well as personal growth. Believe me, this choice is often disguised and many a wrong choice has been made for very good reasons, but that does not negate the wrongness of the actions. I believe that many are lured toward the path that seems easier to take (because those persons end up using the energies of others in order to further their own agendas), even though in the long run those kinds of addictions to using other peoples’ energy tend to be very controlling in the end and difficult to give up. Yes, there are people who have what they consider good intentions, for instance those who practice chaos magick, but in my opinion, imposing any catastrophic effect on others without giving them a choice to accept or deny the effects, no matter how much the mage believes that in the end the results will be good, smacks of manipulation, which to me is unethical. I understand that some people have issues and they get satisfaction out of controlling others, don’t get me wrong; not every black mage is merely misguided. But it does help to lessen the black mage’s ability to control us if we both understand and to some extent feel sorry for him or her.

As far as dealing with the black mage, I will state that in my opinion, the best offence is a good defense. Let’s take the concept of protection from black works back a step or two, and look at a less evil situation and how we deal with it: the psychic vampire. We all know people who are just plain old exhausting to be around, people who seem to suck the energy right out of us. As witches and Wiccans, we have options available to us to protect ourselves. Of course, if this high maintenance person is an acquaintance, we can very easily adjust our lives so that we do not have to deal with that person too often, which makes it easier to shield ourselves during those times when we do need to have contact with them. But what if this high maintenance person is someone who is a daily part of your life who cannot be avoided? I am dealing with exactly that situation, and I have put into place several defenses (for in this kind of situation it is our reactions that we control and choose), one of which is a very strong shield which is specifically programmed to deal with this issue; I have also surrounded myself with objects that I believe (*grin* there is that word again!) effectively support and supplement my shield. Becoming that skilled at creating and maintaining this kind of protection takes time and practice.

Back to black mages. Let’s remember one thing: unless the mage sneaks up behind you with a baseball bat and conks you on the head, any actions will be taken within the astral realms. *You* have control of anything that happens within the astral realms. The black mage’s greatest weapon is *your* belief that he or she can harm you. Remember your teachings: if you believe that something will happen, it most likely will happen. However, if you believe that your defense is effective and that you have the authority to counter or negate anything the black mage throws at you or leaves in your vicinity, whether premeditated or accidental, you *will* be defended.

The best way to believe that your defenses are effective is to work with them, to experiment with them, to test them on gradually more difficult effects, to build your own confidence. Let me give you an example that has nothing to do with magick. I have been a belly dancer for over 25 years. When I first began dancing, I had a confidence problem and thus was not good at all at improvising (dancing without prepared choreography). There were two things that I did to increase my ability to improvise: I took progressively more advanced lessons, and I put music on and improvised as often as possible. After a bit, I had confidence in my ability to improvise, I *believed* that I could improvise, and thus, I could!

We must remember that this is not the Lord of the Rings, and we are not going to be able to deal with evil Sauron by destroying him. Our best action would be to make ourselves stronger. There are many smaller concepts that you can work on: shielding, ways to make your personal energy field the healthiest it can be, working with your Younger Self (who is the one who believes that a black mage can hurt her) and teaching her how to protect herself, understanding the true power of words, either written or spoken by you, are just a few. Then, once *you* believe in your abilities and in your authority to control your life, you will be protected.

Is this person a black mage? I don’t know; he may be clinically depressed or worried about some major or ongoing event and is allowing that depression or worry to color his world, and you are picking up on those attitudes. But if you feel threatened in some way by him or his workings, you should protect yourself. This does not mean that you need to avoid him (that would be up to you), you just need to shield yourself from that negativity, on an ongoing basis.

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