Sorcery and Power

What is Sorcery?

Sorcery is often consider evil or malevolent. Why? After looking through enough background references I came to a conclusion. Sorcery is often magick people in power find threatening for the little people to wield. Will they use it? Oh yeah. Do they want the peons using it? No way.

Going deeper, what sorcery is really depends on what cultural definition you choose to adopt. One distinction I found on a forum I frequent I like because of the clarity of the definition. The definition is attributed to Stephen Flowers and found in his book on Hermetic Magic. Summarizing, if using anything other than the your own internal energy then you are a sorcerer. Tarot cards, talismans, words in print, energized art, sigils, plants, minerals, bones, and all the rest are all sorcery by many definitions ancient and new.

OTOH- If your work is solely internal then you are doing magick. The key is in how energy is being accessed to make change. Note you can use magick to do evil. You can use sorcery to do good.

For myself, I will use whatever works for getting the job done. Sometimes I work internally, sometimes I work with aspects of creation external to myself. Whether I am doing good or evil depends on my choices. My intention is not to ever do evil. Though I have no problem doing a work which could be harmful. Depends on the situation in question. Sorcery is no different than carrying a gun. Devastating power so choose wisely.

What is Power?

Power is, according to [https://www.thefreedictionary.com/power]1, the ability to act or do something effectively. I read this as power is potential which may or may not be exerted at any given moment. Power is also something you can accumulate. Use it when you need or want to make change. Gather power now use it later. Like a battery.

Power dynamics are everywhere. Politics is an obvious example. In our faces every minute of every day we get to see power play out on our phones and other devices. I do miss my flip phone.

Politics

I used to fancy myself as a libertarian or at least having those leanings. Lots of independence and sovereignty. My views have shifted as I have observed humanity. I know longer believe people in general, as there are always exceptions, desire to be sovereign individuals. With all the rights and responsibilities which come with that state.

My observations are people really are meant to be in small groups. We want leaders and many of us want the security which comes in working and living in a group with a common vision and mission. Whatever that may be.

This isn’t a political blog so I don’t want to go too far off into the weeds. Essentially, I have come to see politics through a different lens of late. The lens of power. There are people who group together politically because they have a various beliefs in common. On a deeper level though they are accumulating power. The political machine they have attached themselves too is really just a vehicle in the end. Their goal is to accumulate power and for those who rise I would speculate the accumulation of power is the primary goal.

Business and Politics

Business and politics are so closely related to each other I am now looking at business through a Power Paradigm lens. For example, people may have a love of this or that and start a related business. Maybe they have an idea they believe in so strongly they want to bring it to the world as a product or service. The power of love or vision drives them to success. They accumulate more power to influence those in their marketplace. Because businesses are so impacted by political decisions the bigger the business gets the more intertwined with government and politics it becomes.

The reason the situation can not be changed has to do with power. Humans accumulate power in any social arrangement. Those with more power become attractive to create change. Whether this happens in the market place or the capitol doesn’t matter in the end. The exchange and barter of power flows continuously between centers of power. The more power a center has the more it can accumulate. This is just how things appear to work. Power centers accumulate power in many forms to use later to create change.

There is some direct overlap in the areas of business, politics, and sorcery. Those who are driven to accumulate power intentionally and unintentionally often use sorcery and magickal techniques along the way. Some very intentionally. The occasional astrologer in the white house being but one example among many.

Magick, Witchcraft, Sorcery and Power Ethics

All of the above about power in business and politics holds true for sorcery and magick. Whether we call it witchcraft, sorcery, magick, black magick, white magick or whatever doesn’t matter in the end. Think of yourself in whatever way helps you sleep better. More importantly use whatever belief about who and what you are to make your work most effective.

Whoever is attempting to change reality is wielding power. They may fancy themselves as evil or good. Doesn’t matter.

They may cause harm to some while benefiting themselves or others. They can’t know all the ripples of change both good and bad they are creating. Mitigating the evilness by having spirits manage the work doesn’t relieve the person of responsibility. Don’t be an asshole is really what it comes down to frankly.

The power of magick, working with energy, spirits, divination, or whatever does impact the world. You might think or want to believe you are doing good or not being evil. Sorry, no human has the vision to see all the far reaching implications of their works. The power and energy of magick or sorcery is neutral. We can bring our ethics and morality to our workings but those are for us not the energy we are working.

Once again welcome to the new SeaSorcery.com and as always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section or by email.