Witchcraft is an empowering tool for the oppressed, and a means of catharsis for those who feel powerless. From love magic and sweet jars to baneful magic and spells for justice and revenge, the craft is a domain that is open to everyone who wishes to use it — regardless of their moral philosophies. Nonetheless, it’s popular for religious-rooted morality to be sprinkled over the metaphysical — and even more popular to argue about it in the spiritual community. You can’t even utter a word about love spells or hexing without being lectured by droves of strangers who believe that they have the moral high-ground — but what does this have to do with witchcraft? Nothing, really.
‘Never start a marriage with a kidnapping’
Is casting a love spell akin to committing the act of kidnapping on another person? No, it’s not — but a lot of people seem to like comparing the two concepts. And even if love spells were the same as some sort of spiritual kidnapping, who’s to say it’s not a valid part of witchcraft in general? Just because someone has a problem with the so-called moral implications of love spells, doesn’t mean love spells don’t exist — and it doesn’t mean you can’t cast one if you feel so inclined. Furthermore, just because it’s popular to spout movie quotes about marriage and kidnapping in regards to witchcraft, doesn’t mean that’s how love spells even work according to every witch’s beliefs.
‘What you put out comes back to you threefold’
This is another common saying among witches who have the occult version of “Perfect Christian Syndrome.” It’s also a belief that is specifically Wiccan. Not all of us believe in a foolish and inauthentic threefold rule when it comes to casting spells — and witchcraft in and of itself clearly doesn’t need such a thing in order to exist. The entire concept only exists as a religious ideal, and it only serves as a tool for holier-than-thou types to try to posture themselves as morally superior.
Witchcraft is a tool, and tools don’t measure morality
Are you against hexes, revenge spells and love magic for moral reasons? If so, that’s your personal choice. You may even find that numerous people share these morals, or some variation of them. Nonetheless, the existence of witchcraft doesn’t depend on these morals — and the spells that other people cast aren’t bound by them, either.
As repeated so many times throughout this blog, witchcraft is a craft and nothing more. How you choose to use that craft is entirely up to you, but it doesn’t cease to be effective simply if you have different morals from another person. If you want to cast love spells, you’re totally able to. If you want to hex someone, you have the means to do that as well. If you have morals that stop you, that’s your business — but it’s your business alone. And the same can be said of those who lack moral roadblocks when it comes to how they practice the craft.