No Mirror Spells, Please!
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This post was written by Donald Michael Kraig
on September 22, 2009 | Comments (20)
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One of the most common discussions I’ve had (or seen) about magick concerns psychic attack. I deal with this in Modern Magick, and point out that I agree with concept that Denning and Phillips present in their book Practical Guide to Psychic Self-Defense, that real psychic attacks are rare. After all, if someone has the ability to use magick to cause you major problems, they also have the ability make major improvements in their lives. If somebody is really going to waste the time, energy, and effort to try and give you a headache or have you lose a job rather than improve their own situation, then they’re idiots and probably can’t do anything anyway.
Sometimes, we misinterpret events and think something common is a psychic attack. A series of colds or what we consider to be a trail of misfortune may be from our own doing or just coincidence.
That brings me to the discussion of “mirror spells.” The idea of a mirror spell seems to make sense. It’s called a mirror spell because it reflects any negativity back onto the person or persons who sent it. It’s instant karma, right? They’re only getting what they sent, right? They’re only getting what they deserve, right?
Wrong!
Mirror spells, in my opinion, are not advisable for at least three reasons.
1) Sometimes we create our own problems. For example, a bad diet, lack of sleep, the use of alcohol and recreational drugs can lower the efficiency of your immune system, resulting in one illness after another. If you think the repeated ailments are caused by an outside force and perform a mirror spell to return the negative energy to it’s source, you’re actually going to be attacking yourself. I don’t believe that’s anyone’s intent. It certainly wouldn’t be in your best interest!
2) Sometimes we are effected by a stream of energy directed unintentionally against us. For example, a person’s partner breaks up with them. First that person feels sadness from the loss. This may change to lack of belief: “How could s/he?!” And that emotion might change to anger and rage: “How dare s/he?!” The person ends up stomping around their room thinking angry, rage-filled thoughts. This pacing, a method of raising energy known as “circumambulation,” unconsciously forms what the Golden Dawn called a “Vortex of Energy” or what many Pagans refer to as a “Cone of Power” (see The Grimoire of Lady Sheba, for example). This could unconsciously send the energy linked to the anger toward a person the “attacker” never would have consciously harmed. In fact, that might be the last thing they would ever do. Were a mirror spell turned on a person who unconsciously did this it would be punishing a person who had no conscious intention of causing harm. They only thought they were acting out their rage. Is it fair to harm someone who meant no harm? I don’t think so.
3) Many Pagans believe in the “law of three,” that what you send out will return to you three-fold. Even if you don’t go that far, one of the basic concepts of magick is that if you do X, Y will happen. Therefore, whatever you do comes back to you in some way.
If a person does something to harm you, it will eventually come back to them. When I lived in San Diego I knew a Pagan woman who told me she used to be a Satanist. She admitted that she used to attack other people. She claimed she knew her psychic attack had worked when something bad happened to her. It took her some time to see the futility of what she was doing, but she eventually figured it out.
If you perform a mirror spell you are consciously deciding to send negative energy to someone. Frankly, this is no different than a psychic attack with an added “But he hit me first!” cry heard so often from a child.
So to avoid harming yourself, harming someone who never consciously would harm you, or incurring negative karma that will bounce back on you, I suggest avoiding mirror spells. Does this mean you should just leave yourself wide open to attack? Of course not! I’ll be discussing what you can do in future posts.
Have you ever performed a mirror spell? What was the result? Was it effective or did you end up punishing yourself?
Reader Comments
on September 24th, 2009 @ 7:35 am
I never have, and have never even heard of it. I knew a woman who always said something like she wouldn’t cast spells to harm others but just the Mother to give that person their due. She said it with a really awful tone, like she was pretending to not deal in negativity, but in her heart she was wishing it. That always bothered me. This mirror spell sounds like that.
on October 23rd, 2009 @ 5:57 am
Uhm, couldn’t one easily solve the problem by simply wording the spell in a way that if the source of the problem is oneself, the mirror will not return the energy?
on October 23rd, 2009 @ 9:12 am
Good question, David.
I think the problem with that solution is that if you, unconsciously, are the cause, and you do a spell to mirror the unwanted energy–but not so that it will come back to you–the result would be…nothing. All that magickal work–planning and performing your spell or ritual–and you will have no way of knowing if your magick had failed or if it had been effective by not harming you.
You’re correct in that the result of such magick won’t harm you, but it won’t have any effect.
on November 9th, 2009 @ 11:09 am
i think that even prior to make any magickal solution you must be sure that the source is magickal, or must precise and psychic attack. i here a lot between pagans that they are under psychic attack and in most cases is probably that is their bad energy working against themselves
on February 17th, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
sigh…speaking from experience…
I was deeply wounded by someone who was like a sister to me..I just wanted her to stop hurting me and others, to have whatever she continued to do to me or her family bounce back to her, to teach her a lesson. I did this with heavy heart, and guilt that I would go so far..I cried myself to sleep that night, trying to convince myself it was the right thing to do. The next day, waking up with a headache, felt horrible, and and kept dropping things, breaking things, turned down for a job, and the list goes on..perhaps it’s just my guilt creating a bad day for myself. Obviously not worth it though.
on August 1st, 2010 @ 12:17 pm
First, you yourself state you knew people who would and have attacked someone. People can be blind, so to say that no one that has power and knowledge (power and knowledge doesnt make wisdom) will initional attack with something that would work is defeated by that comment. Secondly, anyone that deals in battles, to protect fools like you, know that you must confirm an attack before attacking. Mirrors spell are not to be taken lightly, mirrors are doorways not just items to reflect and should be used sparingly. Third as far as the law of karma and the rule of three, some people don’t care or think they are of appove the law and rule or don’t even believe in the law and rule. To denounce mirrors as wrong or fool hearty only shows how wrong and fool hearty you are. I hope you never have to find out how much. Be happy in your light those of balance will do are best to let you live there.
on August 1st, 2010 @ 12:36 pm
My partner said I should specify and I agree. Mirrors done corretly can be used specified to reflect attention sent energy, there is a different frequency in the energy when it is sent and not just thought. Sent energy needs at least a candle or simple shields and protection spells will protect you. They also don’t have to be for a single person, but in using against a single person then a binding mirror box would be better then an open reflections spell. Mirrors can also be used for divination, assistances in astral projection, invocations, etc. Warning on this ensure to spell your mirror first the natural state of a mirror is the shadow realm. NOT a place a light worker like you would like to deal with. If you are under attack be sure to lock all your mirrors even your bathroom mirror with at least holy water, I doubt a worker like you would have the guts to prick a finger and cross them correct so at least use psalms and put holy water crosses up. I’ll stop my rant with this, study the old ways not the new age fluffy rainbow foolishness that is missing half the stuff and you might gain true knowledge.
on August 1st, 2010 @ 8:17 pm
After read more of your post out there, I am shocked at what you wrote here. Science and magic do go hand and hand. Some of your own comments, pseudo-skeptic. A little hypocritical. When compared to this writing.
on November 27th, 2010 @ 8:20 pm
If I have used a mirror spell to send negitive energy back to antoher! And now I want to correct what I have done/ Karma, even if I am unaware of the results of the mirror.
How doe’s one go about correcting the energy?
Thanks Mark
on November 29th, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
I had a spell caster cast a break up and return spell . the day it was cast a large mirror in my bedroom fell off the wall from which it was on .and broke in 4 peices plus shardes this mirror seen the both of us .. HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED to anyone ,,
on December 31st, 2010 @ 5:42 am
LJ.. I have never felt compelled to comment on this site until I read your own comments. I will refrain from making this as lengthy as the version in my mind by saying only that each and every one of us creates our own reality. Some people choose to live in the “light”, as you say, and create their reality as such. Some people crave drama, and create such for themselves. There are many reasons why we choose the worlds we do – consciously or not. I understand you believe you are protecting ‘us fools’, but from what? We haven’t created the ‘battles’ in our realities that you have in your own. I believe you when insinuate that you are involved in ‘psychic warfare’, or often under psychic attack.. because it is what you’ve chosen. It is the reality that YOU built, not because anyone is doing it to you (unless, of course, you allow them to by believing that they are, thereby making that your reality. So, really, anyone in the world could psychically attack you by doing nothing at all. You take care of all of the work for them.)
More lengthy than I intended, but I do hope that you see my point without taking offense. I’m sure that the old ways could teach us all something, but don’t be so foolish as to presume you have nothing left to learn simply because you’ve studied them.
on July 6th, 2011 @ 10:08 am
Why not use mirror spells? They are very common and historically very common. Mirrors are good against the evil eye as well. Do you not believe in magic or witchcraft? I know a lot of so-called witches don’t believe in magic any more.
But us REAL witches surely do and if I need to use a mirror spell, I surely will, not thinking of these silly fears that you have about mirror spells. I am an adult and have no fear about consequences as I can accept them just fine. I also don’t believe in America’s Christianized Karma concept so that silliness doesn’t bother me either… I am an adult.
on July 6th, 2011 @ 10:35 am
You are correct, Rowan. Mirror spells are “very common and historically very common.” But so, too, are war, prejudice, racism, slavery, and the murder of Witches. Merely because something was, or is, common doesn’t make it a good idea. Further, I would respectfully suggest that one of the signs of being an adult is being personally responsible for one’s actions. The attitude you present that you don’t care about the consequences of your actions is like saying you don’t care about getting cancer or heart disease from smoking or diabetes from poor eating choices and that you “can accept them just fine.” This is commonly the attitude of a child or adolescent. Being an adult is more than just achieving a certain age.
on July 6th, 2011 @ 11:22 am
I’m with Rowan on this. Mirror spells are still very much a part of occult practice, and are incredibly common in Hoodoo traditions. I’ve yet to have any Hoodoo practitioners tell me they were “punished” by some “rule of three” for using magic to defend themselves. All that “turn the other cheek” and “don’t defend yourself lest you get punished by karma” is a very New Age, harmful way of thinking. The “Rule of Three” was created by Gerald Gardner, and is not in any way a traditional part of Witchcraft. Even Doreen Valiente didn’t think much of it, and she wrote most of the Wiccan liturgy. The vast majority of current magical practitioners do not believe in, or abide by, any such “rule.”
Magical attack happens. There are bad people in this world, people that hugs and “bindings” cannot deal with. If somebody is breaking into your home, do you worry about hurting them, imagining you’ll be punished karmically if you bop them over the head? Of COURSE not; you do whatever you need to do to protect yourself. Likewise, if somebody is working evil against you, sending it back is perfectly justified. They brought it upon themselves by their own actions; you’re not attacking an innocent person.
So, yes, people, you can defend yourselves magically and send people’s own evil back upon them, and no, you will not be punished by “karma” (which is an Eastern concept, foreign to Western magical traditions.) Mirror Spells are still a vibrant and active part of folk magical practice, and in the right hands are perfectly justified. Don’t get caught up by the “thou shalt nots” who try and turn Witchcraft into a pallid, bland, fluffy, New Age mess. If you’re so afraid of working magic that you cannot ever do anything that might impact anybody, you have no business doing magic to begin with.
on July 6th, 2011 @ 11:25 am
Well, actually, I could probably handle the consequences, I do much thinking before I do something and I’m a pretty capable person. If I felt that I wanted to smoke, knowing the consequences, don’t you think that I should be able to deal with the consequences? I don’t need Christian limitations to my witchcraft to seem adult. I know that nowadays witches are afraid of karma which is really just something to fill the blank left by Christian sin… instead of waiting for God to punish you, you get it right now.
at least in the American version… being that the Hindu believe something else.
“Hey Christians! I don’t do any REAL witchcraft, please like me!”
I know that limiting yourself like this can help you pat yourself on the back, “I don’t do anything actually BAD, I’m such a good person!”
Personally, I’m glad that you write such fluffiness because it scares more people away from REAL witchcraft… soon the fad will go away and we can go back to the woodwork doing REAL witchcraft… many spells because they believe in the Americanized Karma.
You actually look pretty darn young… probably haven’t had to live with many consequences, your generation is big on not accepting consequences, it’s someone else’s fault, so I’d guess that it would be difficult to deal with the consequences of your choices if you can’t find someone else to blame.
Also, I am not quite sure how you can compare a mirror spell to getting lung cancer, you must be pretty afraid of magic!
Well, if you don’t like the consequences of spell casting… don’t be a witch! It’s just like if you don’t like a curse being cast at you, don’t piss off a witch! Life is hard, it all has consequences and avoiding them is not necessarily adult, which you may learn in about 20 years.
on July 6th, 2011 @ 11:43 am
Raven, hear! Hear! While God does love the sheep, witchcraft is all about self empowerment… getting things done. If you don’t want self empowerment, why practice witchcraft? I find it interesting that here people are trying to help themselves and self righteous people are trying their damnedest to stop it… “Stop! Think of the horrible consequences that you might face if you try to protect yourself! Much safer to be a lamb of God…. it’s better to lay down and accept all those misfortunes than actually act to protect yourself.
Funny… I’ve never ONCE had anything bad happen from a curse or anything that I have done to protect myself… I’m probably just a very lucky witch… think of all the bad things that COULD have happened!
on July 6th, 2011 @ 5:20 pm
Hi, Raven.
I stand by my position that merely because something has been done or is done doesn’t justify it’s continuation.
I would respectfully point out that you have created what I would contend is a false equation: either you do mirror spells or you must suffer magickal attack. Sorry, I don’t buy it. IMO a good magician keeps up his or her guard so that any attack has no effect. Why leave yourself wide open?
Concerning your example, even if someone invades your home, if you physically assault them, as you suggested, you could end up being sued and going to jail. That’s karma for ya!
You’re also making the assumption that the only way to defend oneself is by harming others. I reject that. There are all sorts of techniques a good magician can use that result in safety and security without harm. Of course, to do that one must think creatively and intelligently rather than following the Christian concept of “an eye for an eye.”
Rowan, the problem with you solution of claiming you should be able to handle it is that neither you nor I know what it is you will need to handle.
Respectfully, Karma has nothing to do with sin or Christianity. Unfortunately, most people function from a very Christianized concept (introduced by Theosophists) as to the nature of karma. A more accurate description can be found here: LINK
Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m neither afraid of casting spells nor of doing magick. Casting strong spells to protect yourself, your loved ones, and those whom you consider family doesn’t require harming anyone.
When I was a kid, if my mother heard me swearing, she didn’t punish me, she merely said, “Swearing is just a sign that you’re not smart enough to come up with something better.”
If you’re a Witch—and I have no reason to doubt that your claim is completely valid—I challenge you to come up with something better. For example, you wrote, “Life is hard…” Really? For a Witch?
I dunno, but perhaps if you focused on helping yourself and the people around you instead of figuring out ways to harm those who you think are attacking you, maybe, just maybe, life wouldn’t be that hard.
Hmmm. So you’ve “never ONCE had anything bad happen from a curse,” you’ve done and you find that life is hard, however you don’t see a connection and don’t believe in karma.
In the words of Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, “Fascinating.”
on July 10th, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
@Rebecca Am I reading you right that you think bad things can only happen to you if you create them in your reality? I must be misunderstanding, because that sounds very much like claims that if a woman (or man for that matter) is raped, it is because she brought it on herself. Each person is responsible for his own actions. When someone else does something bad to me, they are responsible for what they did, not me. I didn’t bring it on myself by creating it in my reality. This is as true in the magical world as the mundane (if there’s any difference between the two). People do use magic to hurt other people, and it is not the person being hurt bringing it on themselves. If you’re attacked, you need to be ready to defend yourself, not pretend it’s not happening because it’s not something you have in your reality and how it goes away. If someone ever tries to rape me, I intend to fight back, to make noise, to do anything I can to keep it from happening. Why would I do less in magic.
@Donald Concerning someone breaking into your house and attacking you and you fighting back, it depends where you live. Look up the Colorado Make My Day Law. Wyoming, where I live is similar. Concerning an eye for an eye, that isn’t a Christian concept. It is in the Jewish Law and in the Code of Hammurabi. Jesus specifically rejected it, saying about it, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” The exact opposite of it. So where do you get it’s a Christian concept? Even the Jews teach that it’s about compensation and now require the value of what’s taken (including an eye) to be paid, not the eye itself. Regarding the Law of Three, I had a Wiccan friend a while back with whom I was talking about it. He said that whether he used magic to harm or to help, it always seemed to come back to him negatively. Personally, no matter how I’ve used magic, I haven’t had it come back to me negatively or positively. When I’ve healed, they got the benefit. I didn’t get any type of blessing in my life. If it doesn’t apply to helpful magic, why would it apply to harmful magic. Magic isn’t something separate from nature. Magical energy is still energy, and energy can’t be created or destroyed, nor can matter, they can just be converted between the two states. If I send out (magical) energy and it comes back to me three fold, first off, who added energy to it, and second off, if it came back, how could it possibly create the change I intended? Personally, I don’t believe in the Law of Three or karma (at least the way you seem to be using it), but in cause and effect and in an opposite and equal reaction to any action. Yes, what I do has an effect, but not the way you and others seem to be saying. Whether you should do a mirror spell or not, if I reflect energy and something hits me, I failed to reflect it, I’m not being punished for reflecting it. I did no action, I just put up a barrier. The energy hit it and returned to its source. And if they knew enough to be able to attack me yet didn’t know enough to protect against the rebound, it wasn’t me that harmed them. It was their energy and their action, not mine. Just my thoughts.
FFF,
~Muninn’s Kiss
on July 11th, 2011 @ 11:04 am
I’m not sure why one would need to believe in Karma unless someone felt that in order to be a good or wise person one would need to limit oneself? If so, then I will leave the New Age Fluffies to their wisdom, I’d rather live life to the fullest and not be wise as wisom seems to be so un fun, especially since nowadays so many people who have found this wisdom seem to enjoy pushing it on other people and patting themselves on the back for being so wise. Unfortunately for myself I guess, I’d rather go to my grave being unwise, unenlightened and just darn normal.
I’m wondering, are you the same Daniel Kraig who wrote the books on Ceremonial Magic(k)? If so… is this a new trend?
on July 13th, 2011 @ 1:44 pm
Muninn’s Kiss, thank you for your GREAT response. I appreciate it. You are correct that laws differ. So let’s change it a bit. It’s my understanding that it is illegal to set up a trap for an invader (such as a gun triggered to go off upon illegal entry) in all U.S. states. I would contend that such a trap is similar to a mirror spell in that you are intending to harm a person, known or unknown.
You are also correct that the words “eye for an eye” appear earlier, but I specifically identified it as a Christian concept in the way it is most commonly interpreted today. The Jewish legal interpretation is not that the penalty for a crime “must equal” the extent of the crime, but rather, the penalty for a crime must not exceed the extent of a crime. For example, chopping off a person’s hands is not allowed for the theft of a loaf of bread. That penalty was common at the time of the writing. There were murders in biblical times, but the high court, the Sanhedrin, deemed that if a court sentenced one person to death it was a “bloody court.”
I did not mention Jesus because most of Christianity today has little to do with the words of Jesus and a lot to do with the ideas of Paul.
You wrote, “When I’ve healed, they got the benefit. I didn’t get any type of blessing in my life.” I would respectfully suggest that you received the blessing of the health of the person you healed and the blessing of the knowledge that you’ve helped another. Some blessings are more etherial than others.
Respectfully, putting up a barrier IS an action. Putting up a barrier knowing that you are sending negativity to its source is an action. And if you look at this LINKm the same as the one posted above, which takes you to the definitions of types of Karma, I think you’ll find that I’m not defining it in the way you’re interpreting it.
Rowan, Karma is not about limitation, it’s about learning. For example, if you put your hand in a fire, you’ll learn that fire is hot and burns you. If you consider learning that not getting burned is a limitation, so be it. If you choose to burn your hand to a crisp daily rather than face the “limitation” of having a healthy hand, so be it.
While it is true that some people have created all sorts of beliefs about what Karma is, those inventions have nothing to do with the reality that when you drop a stone into a still pond, ripples in the water result. It is a shame that according to your words you wish to choose to be unwise, but that is your choice. For thousands of years, people have sought wisdom. That was the norm. Now you are claiming that staying in ignorance is “just darn normal.” Respectfully, I don’t think so. If it is, then humanity is doomed.
No, I’m not “Daniel Kraig.” I don’t know of anyone by that name. But yes, I do write books about magick including the Kabalistic concept of Tee-koon, a Hebrew word meaning correction and equating to the traditional concept of Karma.