Is the Picatrix black magic?

"Magic is, in fact, everything that absolutely fascinates minds and attracts souls by means of words and deeds."---The Picatrix (Ghayat Al-Hakim)

Today, reading the comments on another blog, I saw some one declare that the Picatrix is Black Magic. This naturally brings us to the question of how exactly are they defining black magic...your guess is as good as mine.

And in fact, I do not want to guess. Let me toss out a bunch of reasons that I have seen over the years and cross my fingers that one of them hits the target.

The Picatrix for those who have never leafed through a copy is a book of astrological magic; mainly talismans, correspondences, and invocations. It is basically Agrippa meeting Alan Leo.

So why is this black magic?

Well, some of the talismans' goals are dubious in nature---like causing nations and cities to fall. And some of the ingredients are icky---my cats would purr-fur me to not use cat brains in my spells (I pun today...and "cat brain" might be a code, much like babies' hearts.) So that might be part of it.

And we all know that any magic done for material ends, and not just spiritual development, is pure evil.

Then there is the fact that some people claim that it works...and one of the definitions of black magic is magic that works better than yours.

Add to the fact that it is published, well that is a sure sign of evil, for only evil and black magics are allowed to be published by the Hidden Masters.

Then again, if it is the source of one's inspiration, then one labels it black and vile to keep your students from reading it...or to make sure that they do read it (depends upon your mentor).

Of course, the cherry on top has to be the fact that it was written by a Muslim, mentions Allah, and requires some knowledge of the Quran...and we all know those people, not being good Christians, are just downright evil as all of their works are.

So there you have it, a bunch of reasons why the Picatrix is evil. Take your pick, or ignore all of them and make up another reason...but I imagine some of us are going to continue to use our copies of the material despite what you think (or because you think that the Picatrix is evil).

"I call you, you High and Powerful Spirit of Spirits, the Wisest of All Wise, Intelligent of All Intellignce, Knowledgeable with the World's Knowledge, answer me and come to me and get me close to your knowledge, make me as wise and powerful as you are, let me understand what I do not understand, let me see what I cannot see and protect me from ignorance, forgetfulness and cruelty and make me like the Forefathers of Wisdom, the ones that had intelligence, wisdom, attentive awareness and understanding in their hearts, let all that live in my heart and never depart from it."---Picatrix (Ghayat Al-Hakim)

Defining Evil Magic

Yesterday while looking for one of my Living in a Fishbowl posts, I ran across a comment that I forgot to address: the issue of evil magic in Golden Dawn. The truth of the matter is that while Golden Dawn makes an initiate swear that they will not perform evil magic, Golden Dawn never officially came out and defined what evil magic was. In fact, this clause of the oath does not show up in all the Golden Dawn branches despite Regardie's publication of this particular version of the obligation.

Looking at concept of evil from a historic viewpoint, one discovers that the definition of evil is a changable concept. Sacrificing your firstborn child was considered a holy act in certain ages and cultures; lynch mobs were considered a viable form of justice in some historical periods; slavery was considered the proper way to pad the labor market by some societies. All these acts today would be frowned upon by most people.

Now I was thinking about this the other day while talking to someone about Reiki. The discussion turned to the fact that sometimes a Reiki session seems to ease the passage of someone suffering by allowing them to die easier (aka speeds up the process of dying). Given our culture's aversion to death, this use of Reiki would be labeled evil by some people.

And it is because of this extreme bias (and there are tons of other examples) that make me advise anyone who is worried about performing evil magic that perhaps they should not be involved in magic and Golden Dawn in the first place. Sooner or later, if you do magic, someone is going to claim that some magic you did was evil. It will not matter how much you thought it though, or how you worded the spell, you will be judged as a doer of evil by someone who disagrees with your final decision to warm up the cauldron.

{And if you want my opinion about the specific complaint that sparked this post: Police has procedures to try to prevent punishing the innocent---does magic targeted at the "guilty" really need the same set of precautions? Are Maat and the other gods/goddesses of justice as faultly in their judgments as ordinary human beings are?}