Bad Magic

Last updated on: August 25, 2016 at 5:00 am by Guest Contributor

Bad Magic 2016-08-25T05:00:45+00:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Cauldron. photo by Bart Everson (cc) 2015.

New York City, Summer of 1992, I was enjoying the walk to the small garden to attend my first public pagan ritual as a young man in my early 20’s. I had read Spiral Dance by Starhawk and dedicated to the Goddess alone earlier that year in the woods of Long Island. My relationship with spirits and deity had always been solitary, so I was excited to attend my first public ritual.

We cast circle, invited divinity. “We will do a banishing today” the young priestess leading the circle said, as she passed out paper and markers. “Write down that which frightens you most.” We chanted, focused, and wrote something from a vulnerable place deep within. And then the priestess said, “Before we burn our papers, we will pass them in, trade them, and then read aloud each other’s greatest fears to claim power over them.”

I froze. Nobody had said that what we wrote would be read aloud. Or passed to another person. As I write this I remember how I felt then, and can still feel a little queasiness in my gut. When I looked around the circle I saw others clutching their papers in discomfort. Looks of determination on some, fear on others, abject terror on a few. We were all frozen. The priestess said again, “pass in your papers.” Nobody moved. I felt a small word formed in the back of my throat.

“No”

It came out as a whisper. “No” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned, “If you do not then you are not claiming power over your fear.” I remained frozen. The circle was silent. After a few moments of silence, her partner, her priest, said, “If they do not want to share, I do not think they have to share.” The two argued for a few moments while we watched. Eventually, they agreed that we could burn our papers in silence and would still be banishing the fear. I left the ritual, shaken. I have never forgotten that experience.

Years later, after countless public rituals, some where I served as priest, I have a deeper understanding of both what happened in that circle. While planning her ritual, that young priestess forgot to intentionally make room for consent. In the medical profession informed consent is the basis for medical ethics, patients must understand the planned treatment and consent to it before it can start. Such consent belongs at the center of group ritual as well. Our intention drives our creation, so we must be intentional about inviting consent in our workings. We gain so much power when we are in agreement with one-another, and pay such a price when we are not.

Regardless of the scale of the working, we must seek informed consent. Even if we had been asked to write down something we “kinda didn’t like” to banish, it still would have been a violation to share it without our consent to share. The violation would have been to a lesser degree, which would make it feel perhaps less painful, but it would be a violation nonetheless.

While there may be something said for pushing boundaries, public ritual is not the place. I prefer to reserve pushing beyond boundaries for private work, where relationship, trust, and love can help sustain and support someone when they go outside themselves. Even in those cases, most of the teachers I know ask a student if they feel ready to go into something new and more vulnerable, and they respect the student’s answer.

What does this mean to planning public ritual?

It means that in order to engage without reservation, people attending a ritual must know what they will be doing, and they have to consent to participate. The ritual above would be entirely different if the priestess had said, “Today we are going to dig deep, write down our greatest fears, trade them, read them aloud, and then burn them for one-another.” Everyone would have had a choice of what they wrote, how they engaged. To demonstrate even more respect, the host of the ritual could have asked, “Is everyone ok with that?” and then offered “If you are not ok with it, then you may leave your paper blank, and we will have a moment of silence for your inner fear, to share all our power with you, that you might face your fears.”

Feels different, right?

I could have participated fully in that ritual, without reservation. I would have been informed of what was going to happen, and I could have consented to it, which would have put my own power in alliance with the priest and priestess hosting our circle.

And together we could have made good magic. Good work. And isn’t that what we want when we gather?

Previous Post

August 23, 2016

The Acadian Forest

Next Post

August 26, 2016 Last Call for CUUPS Convo

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Current Events CUUPS Press Release Interfaith liturgy Media Review podcast Religious Education Seasonal Reflection Spiritual Practice Summary Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 January 2026 December 2025 October 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz