From: lgt1@ohm.york.ac.uk (Laurence Tyler (Guest - CompServ))
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Binding or Protective Spells
Date: 8 Oct 92 22:22:50 GMT
Organization: Electronics Department, University of York, UK

Nancy (and everyone else),

I missed the start of this thread so I've had to infer the content of
Nancy's original posting from the replies - sorry for any inaccuracies!
Anyway, here's my two-penn'orth (rather less than 10c, and probably not
even a nickel's worth by now! :-)

Standard disclaimers apply about this being my own view, how I see
things and what works for me etc etc (who'd want to be a guru anyway??)

Firstly, I'd strongly endorse the various comments made by other folk
about taking all sensible steps on a mundane level to try to solve your
friend's problem, but it sounds like you're already doing it, and you
_were_ asking about the magical side of things.

I don't know why your binding spell failed (or apparently failed), but
maybe you set yourself too difficult a task by being overly specific in
your working. You mention that the trouble-maker is a co-worker of your
friend's. This must mean that the chances of them meeting on any
particular day is pretty high - they are both occupying the same
environment. Also, it is very little effort for the trouble-maker to
find and harass your friend. If your binding was specifically aimed at
preventing the harassment, but nothing else changed, you might find
the sheer physical circumstances were blocking or reducing the effects
of your efforts.

Mary Kuhner writes:
> The binding ritual opposes the harrasser's strength with your own, a
> contest it's quite possible to lose.  It doesn't mean you did anything
> wrong, but maybe a less direct approach will be more successful.

I'd make the equation slightly more complex and say it's your strength
and any other resources you can draw on against the harasser's strength
and the overall situation. The point about a less direct approach is
well made. One of the commonly quoted magical principles that I have
found useful says that when working magic you should "open a path on the
physical plane for the magic to work through". My interpretation of this
is clearing a sort of 'probability space' around the working, in which
it is easier for things to happen, without trying to specify exactly
what path events will take.

In practical terms, this would suggest doing a working in which the
intent was to change the situation such that your friend was no longer
harassed by this person, without _necessarily_ involving a personality
change on the part of the harasser. Since the situation has been going
on for some time, the harasser is unlikely to change their attitude
overnight (though it *is* possible of course!). If they no longer came
into frequent contact, the opportunities to cause trouble would be
reduced in number, hopefully to zero.

If a direct binding doesn't work, as it seems not to have, maybe some
kind of separation ritual might - a sort of "Parting of the Ways". After
all, your friend and this harasser *are* bound together in the
situation, though not through your friend's choice. How you would work
this in practise is up to you; I would probably envisage using
something (or rather two somethings) of differing natures that started off
bound and were separated during the ritual. If you find cords and knots
effective, maybe a piece of black and and a piece of silver cord twisted
or knotted together. After untangling/separating they could be sent off
on their now-separate paths to follow their own destinies.

To help make this work, I would try not to put too much expectation into
it working out in a particular manner, provided the end result was the
desired one. The harasser might move away, or get a different job, or
get heavily involved with someone else and not have time to spare to be
nasty to your friend. But equally, your friend might get a good job
offer elsewhere, catch the ear of a friendly higher-up in her
department, or even spot the culprit graffitiing (sp?!) the car when
your friend happens to have a camera in their bag...

The co-operation of your friend is obviously important, even if they
don't feel they can take part in the ritual. If your friend is, for
example, dead set against the idea of moving away, then any such
opportunity will be rejected or not noticed at all, even if it would
turn out to be a very good move for them. And I *would* suggest they
carry a small camera around with them...


On a slight side track: the subject of empowering one's rituals...

Mary Kuhner writes (in this thread):
> In article <Pc90RB1w165w@alehaus.uucp> liam@alehaus.uucp (liam) writes:
> 
> >One 
> >more point, Do You know that your workings will be successful, as faith 
> >is one of the key factors in preforming any kind of magical working.
>
> This hasn't been my experience.  Emotional involvement with the process
> of the working is important, and belief can make this easier, but I've
> gotten pretty clear results (sometimes to my dismay) from things I didn't
> think would work.  A common saying among witches around here is--Be 
> careful what you ask for, you might get it.

...and in a related (similar subject earlier) thread:

ksm@abb-sc.abb-sc.com (Ashley) writes:
>	Here is the ways I have dealt with things that recently needed fixing 
>in my life. Before all of these spells you need to completely remove yourself 
>from the situation and be completely emotionless, so as not to let things get 
>out of hand.

I guess this is one of those questions of personal models of how magic
works, where a room with 'n' magic-using folk will produce 'n'
different answers, some of them flatly contradicting others...

For me, emotion works extremely well when generating/raising energy for a
working, but I would accept the notion that you have to use it
carefully. This was brought forceably home to me once when I did a
working (a variety of binding ritual, coincidentally) under emergency
circumstances. It happened at a time when I was already very low on
personal energy and needed a good rest and recharge. Because a member of
my immediate family was involved, there was plenty of emotional driving
force - I put a *lot* of energy into that ritual.

It worked. In fact, it worked very well, which surprised me (I am
always more sceptical about my own results than anyone else's). The
problem was that because I had rushed things, and because I had not at
the time really taken on board the idea of 'grounding' - of connecting
to earth and drawing energy from outside myself - I used up all my
last reserves of personal energy and ended up completely drained.
Physically, I was exhausted for several days, and magically I was burned
out for about a month after. Not nice! It's easy to be wise in
retrospect, but in the emotional heat of the event I simply forgot what
is really one of the basics... I think that particular lesson is now
well-learned!


Sorry if all this is obvious to you - it's just what occured to me after
reading the other replies. It's very late now, so I think I shall go home
(mind you, I said that three hours ago...	:-)

Hope you and your friend manage to work things out!

Blessed Be,
Laurence . *

-- 
Laurence Tyler (Systems Group)
University of York Computing Service, UK
email: lgt1@york.ac.uk