Copyright © 1985 Ray T. Malbrough
In being a (Wicca) practitioner you will come to realize that all the charms you make, all the rituals you do will be like a doubleedged sword that cuts both ways. The energy created will reach its mark and eventually return to its source, you, its originator. This is one of the interrelated principles of energy, the Law of Radiation and Attraction. Because of this law we always reap what we sow. As long as you always strive to use your magick to help and benefit others, you will be helping yourself at the same time.
At times a practitioner's life can be difficult, especially when a client waits until the last minute to get help in their situation, expecting you to work a miracle for them overnight. Some clients will exaggerate as they explain their situation to import a need for urgency. There may be other practitioners in your area who will try to discredit your abilities to the public. Normally, these are the ones who create smoke screens to hide the fact that they are only using the occult to make a fast buck A sincere practitioner can harmoniously and peacefully coexist in an area with other practitioners simply because a sincere practitioner realizes the fact that he/she cannot satisfactorily benefit and aid a town of twenty thousand people or more alone. In the town where I presently live, there are five practitioners that I know of.
There are two things that being a practitioner will bring into your life. The admiration and respect from the people of your community, or ridicule and unnecessary harassment.
All of this depends on you, on how you conduct yourself in your public and private life. It is not advisable to dress in a weird fashion or to flaunt the fact that you practice magick.
This type of action will bring you ridicule in a hurry. If you use your magickal knowledge to strike fear in the hearts of people or say that you will put a curse of some sort on them if they don't jump to your every whim, you will experience hatred.
People quickly learn to hate the thing or person they fear. On the other hand, a wise practitioner lives as normal a life as possible. He/she is always honest and exhibits right moral conduct in dealings with all people. A wise practitioner does not judge other people's lifestyles, but learns to see all people on a spiritual level. It is on this level that a wise practitioner meets and deals with all individuals equally. Is only through this type of conduct that a practitioner earns the trust and respect of the people in the community he/she serves. A wise practitioner never discusses the ritual work presently being done. He/she never reveals to clients who their other clients may be, or the nature of any work which was done for them. If you boast in front of a client, you risk losing that client's trust. People who come to you arrive with the understanding that any work you do for them will be held in the utmost confidence.
Therefore, you must impress upon your client that they should not discuss the work you are doing for them to anyone. People will talk, and if the client discusses it with another, he/she should tell you as soon as possible. This way you will free yourself from being blamed for any gossip which may occur about the client or the nature of the work you've done for them.
There will be times when someone will come to you wanting you to break up a love affair for them. I always refuse to do this type of work. I firmly believe it wrong to use magick to interfere in a person's life without their permission. Experience has taught me that these people who are quick to break up a love affair usually have selfish or possessive motives. In this type of a situation I offer to do work to help that person meet someone else who may be more compatible to them.
If you decide to go public, it would be best to make yourself available for consultation only so many hours during the day and perhaps certain days of the week. If not, you may find yourself having people come to your home at three or four in the morning wanting to have work done for them. This happens often to practitioners who keep the open door policy.
Some people tend to believe that when a person does this type of service for the community, they should be on call twenty-four hours a day, and have no right to any private, personal life.
Always try to get your client to work with you is the ritual, e.g. have him/her take a ritual bath daily. This helps to set a certain vibration within the individual's aura. Also, have the client burn candles while taking the bath. The color of the candle will depend upon the goals to be achieved through ritual. Most practitioners will have their client burn nine candles, one for each day. A few practitioners will help their client construct a magick lamp to use instead of candles.
Whenever you decide to compose a new spell or charm, use it on yourself first. Never use another as the guinea pig in your magick. If any adverse effects occurred in that person's life, you will be held accountable.
