This is a topic that many authors stay away from in their books. While they will tell you that you need to learn, and that magick is easy to learn and that everybody can do it. They won’t tell you that everybody shouldn’t. The difference is not that a person with enough determination cannot learn to manipulate energy. It is not that they, with enough practice with a model like Reiki, cannot learn to sense it. The issue comes in at whether their spirit have enough evolution to expense it.

Every person is at a different level of personal and spiritual evolution. That being the case, some have more energy than they need to survive. This excess becomes their pool of power from which to cast spells. Spells be it hexing, or healing pulls on this excess of power, and can deplete it very quickly. Rituals take more from the person/people performing it because they call more entities to the table to take from the pool.

So, what do I mean that calling entities to your circle pulls from the power pool? Well, let’s be real. These beings do not show up because you put on a robe and want to see you wave daggers in the air. They come for the offerings they get to take from the ritual. The offerings of ritual, be it personal or public, come with life force (prana/chi) and faith. These entities are not malicious in this, but they will have what they need for making the trip, if you have anything left over for your spell is on you.

What does this mean for those people that do not have the extra to give? It means that over time, they can do magick, but eventually begin to harm themselves by doing so. Some notice that they gain auto-immune issues or nerve system issues, others gain frailty of the bones, while others develop issues such as dementia or schizophrenia.

What can we do to prevent this? You learn to source most of the energy for a ritual or spell from the elements or from other places of power. You try to keep the impact to your own spirit as minimal as possible, while also doing self-work to raise your own personal vibrations on the path of ascension.

Something else that happens with those that open themselves to magick is the fact that they are also opening themselves to entities that can sense them. As we make our way into the world of magick, we also enter into the ecosystem of the astral and etheric planes. While some of it is well known for spirits and guides, what is also commonly overlooked are beings like parasites, psychic vampires, and other darker entities who also begin to sense you.

This does not mean that if you are beginning to learn magick that demons are going to be knocking at your door. What this does mean is that as you begin to use magick more, these non-organic entities are going to start to feel you pull at magick as your strength increases. When you start out with magick, you are like an ant in a field full of sheep. For predators to sense you would be by mistake, as there are much better meals to be had. Though as you grow with power and more frequent use, you grow there as well. Over time, lesser predatory entities are going to start taking notice. When this starts to happen, you need to know how to shield yourself and defend yourself.

Something else that creates attachments or alerts non-organic entities is extreme emotional imbalances. These can range from rage to depression, vanity to self-loathing, empathy induced apathy, or arrogance and fool’s pride. Therefore, emotional and mental work such as shadow work is of upmost importance for the practitioner to complete. Combine the arrogance of a new caster, with untrained magick and it is almost like putting a golden corral sign with neon lights advertising a free meal.

Without this understanding of the nuts and bolts of what you are doing and what you are opening yourself to, and without proper self-care, you are a battery that you are not allowing to run out, get a deep charge before further use, and you will eventually burn yourself out. Without learning shadow work to balance the aspects of yourself that are repressed, you open your body of light to non-organic entities. Just take your time, and if a casting starts to hurt, or give you a headache, or cramps, then STOP. You are not ready for that as yet. Take some time for your own spiritual evolution and come back to it at a later date if you simply must.

Sorcerer Aio