What is Baneful Magick?
By Belaluna
Baneful magick is magickal practice that focuses on the darker aspects of our workings such as banishing, binding, cursing and hexing. Some consider this type of magick to be innately harmful, but truly that’s an individual perspective. Try as you might to ignore it, baneful spell work and spirits are a part of witchcraft.
To avoid the darkness allows the shadow to reign supreme. Part of being a witch means reaching into the shadows and facing our own. Through baneful magick, including working with poisonous herbs and spirits, we build a better understanding of the darkness in society and within ourselves – because what we don’t look to understand most often ends up controlling us.
Through the practice of baneful magick, we delve deep to understand the driving forces behind why we are choosing to do this hex or that banishing and find our truth and freedom – and yes, sometimes that leads us to find that our actions will not be justified and instead we need to work on ourselves more instead of lashing out as a temporary fix. At the end of the day, whether one performs baneful workings or not is an individual decision; however, the more we honor and respect all spirits and techniques, the stronger our practice becomes.
Some are critical of those that practice this type of magick, calling it “wrong”; however, it’s a personal choice to partake in any form of witchcraft they choose, and once one starts criticizing others, it becomes horribly reminiscent of dogma many of us worked hard to move away from and is riddled with self-righteousness and judgement.
Baneful magick has been labeled by some as “black” magick which automatically gives the connotation of it being evil, bad or malicious. For some it is even associated with “The Devil” or “Satan”. Here’s the thing – those are concepts of Abrahamic religions. For those coming from that past, releasing and overcoming fears instilled from a lifetime of that previous dogma is part of our evolving process as a witch.
Using the full spectrum of magickal techniques allows us to exist fully in our power. Returning, reversing, and transmuting energy directed at us along with banishings, bindings and cursings are all practices of fully autonomous witchcraft.
Magick is neutral and the different forms of spell work has its own reason, time, or place and is entirely dependent upon the situation. So, the question for each of you is – can one type of magick be more virtuous or correct than another? Do you see magick in stark shades of black or white or do you see various shades of gray? Every witch needs to determine for themselves how they define baneful magick. As human beings we are innately complicated, and as a result – so are our intentions.