Put Your Hands Together

Left- and right-hand paths in magik.

Left- and Right-hand paths

Among magikal practices and practitioners we find the concept of the “left hand path” and the “right hand path”. Broadly defined, the left-hand path uses magik to gain power, wealth and influence in the world while the right-hand path is about union with some divine principle and the realization of one’s life’s purpose or TRUE WILL. But this distinction makes the left-hand path sound more self-serving than it is and the right more selfless than it is.

The danger of the left-hand path is that worldly goods (money, fame, sex, power, etc.) often come with costs that the practitioner might fail to see. In magik, and life in general, we often come to seek a “higher” purpose because of regret. Very few people seek power, magikal or mundane, for “higher” reasons until they experience the emptiness of “lower” ones. How do we know that there is anything beyond the satisfaction of our bodily cravings. What does “spiritual union” or “true will” mean? One thing it MIGHT mean is knowing WHY we want what we do?

Karma, astrology, psychoanalysis and evolutionary biology, despite vast differences in technique and underlaying assumptions, foster the understanding that all we think and do follows from some cause. Understanding this cause allows us to predict and direct our own choices and thus, determine, at least to some extent, our fate. If I know, for example, that some cause, poverty in a past life, difficult placements in the 2^nd house or famine in my grandparent’s generation “causes” me to worry excessively about material security, I might direct my efforts toward making a stable home and good career choices rather than simply focusing on making as much money as I can as quickly as possible. Without such guidance from fate, I might become good at making money but poor at managing it. If I never keep it long enough to make solid investments in things that will provide long-term security, which is what I truly crave, no amount of money will satisfy me. Similarly, if my karma, my stars or my relationship with my mother predisposes me to anxiety about intimacy but I am unaware of the cause of this anxiety, I might make bad decisions about romantic relationships which aggravate rather than satisfy my craving for intimacy. Money is not the same thing as security, sex not the same thing as intimacy.

There are cautionary stories of powerful magicians who, having chosen the left-hand path, meet a bad end. We might be tempted to say that such “black” magicians get what they deserve. Such moralizing contains a few questionable assumptions. First, karma, the position of the wandering stars or our genetics have nothing to do with “deserving”. Causality, whether cosmic or material, is amoral. Although we may think of the relationship between actions and consequences as lawful, these laws are not putative, they are more like the laws of physics. If I drop a hammer on my foot, the pain isn’t a punishment (although I might still learn to be more careful). Another questionable assumption is that those who practice “black” or even “baneful” magik are, or intend, EVIL. We may be better served here by thinking in terms of ignorance and enlightenment than good and evil. When our efforts, magikal or mundane, produce unsatisfactory or even destructive results, it is because we don’t understand what we truly wanted. Perhaps such understanding is what is meant by “True Will”.

To be clear, nothing I am saying should be taken as apologetics for abuse of power, magikal or otherwise. Nor am I advocating an attitude of “spiritual bypass” which seeks to trivialize the suffering we cause one another through stupidity and callousness. While the Gods have the benefit of infinite time in which all “wrongs” are eventually balanced, we mortals cannot help feeling moral outrage until justice is served. But we should realize that everything we think and feel, no matter how “enlightened” we might be, is filtered through a body/soul complex in which pleasure and pain, pride and shame, are as natural as breathing and eating. Our judgements do not have to be rooted entirely in the eternal to be valid. But we should understand that the eternal realm of the Gods, being immortal, has no understanding AT ALL of how mortals think and feel. This is what separates us from them, what allows them immunity to our bad impulses and to be our guides should we choose to seek their guidance. Those immune from harm have no problem being merciful. We can learn from their example but they do not expect perfection from us. In fact, overestimation of our own Godliness is one of the few things that the Gods really detest.

Still, it can be hard for “serious” spiritual seekers to accept that those who use their powers for mere personal amusement and aggrandizement are also involved in a serious spiritual “work”, especially when their efforts harm others. One of the most tragic consequences of “dark” magik is that those who are harmed by it often become bitter and angry. Hurt people hurt people, as above, so below. The wrath that such works bring upon those who do them is also a part of their learning. At the same time, those who seek vengeance in the name of justice might have a way to go on the path of learning as well. Karma and the Gods who manage are no respecter of persons.

When we are honest with ourselves, most of us, especially of a certain age, will remember actions and attitudes that did not serve us and possibly harmed others. Although it is unfashionable to speak of guilt and shame in this age when spirituality is supposed to be free of judgment, we should remember and value how instructive regret can be. Whether it is better to have never had cause for regret than to repent is an open question. But if we wish to cultivate a spirituality that has room for everything, we should surely learn to both acknowledge and honor our mistakes. Even more, we should look at our worse moments and ask ourselves why we wanted what we did. In this way, we not only learn mercy for ourselves and others, we can learn about the longings of our soul. To know this longing is to come closer to our true will and, in this way, bring the left- and right-hand path together. Life and magik both are better performed with two hands after all.