Doing negative magic has always been controversial in the neopagan community. In other communities it is viewed as the norm. My views on the topic have changed over time.
I do not follow the rule of three. If you take that rule
literally, that would mean that someone who shop lifts would have items stolen
from them three times for every time they stole something from somebody else.
Or, they would lose something three times the value. I have never seen any such
literal mathematically precise result of magic. Even taken metaphorically or
with some concept of karma I’m not sure the rule of three can be accurately
applied. I do believe in what the concept is trying to teach.
Before I retired, I was a hothead at work. Having engaged in
this behavior for many years it is understandable that some people were afraid
to see me coming. Their resistance to my suggestions or activities came in
large part from my behavior. Though I have to admit that people much nicer than
myself also received this resistance but the response from people was always
kinder. Basically, I created a flow of negativity that did impact my enjoyment
of my work life. In one way because I allowed myself to get upset and in
another way because my being upset created negative feelings towards me that
were acted upon.
I feel the same way about doing negative magic. When the habit
is to do negative magic towards everybody that causes some offense, trespasses
upon one’s life, or that one simply doesn’t like, the practitioner walks into a
flow of negativity within his or her own life. Living within that current is
literally bathing in your own negativity, the negativity of others and one’s
own false perceptions of negativity. Pretty soon the magick users is at war
with everyone and everything. I have never seen this work out well. Normally,
these people are cranky, speak negatively about everyone around them are usually
unhappy with themselves.
That said, I do believe in doing the occasional negative
magic. In a prior post, I mentioned doing some magic in the workplace to defend
myself from people who wanted to fire me. That was quite easy for me to do
because they had no legitimate reason for doing so. If they tried to fire me
for being cranky, it would’ve been harder for me to do because I would’ve
agreed with them. I also feel negative magic is necessary when you are
encountering a particularly nasty sort of person. For example, a stalker,
thief, or someone that continually creates unnecessary mischief because they
are mean.
Such things should be relatively rare. If they are not, one
should stop and ask oneself what one is doing in order to attract that sort of
negativity on a continual basis. Chances are inner work is more necessary than
tossing about a lot of negative magic. That inner work will heal you in the
long term and make your life much more enjoyable
