The pen is mightier than the sword...

...and apparently Karma free.

This really leads on from the previous thread in that, as teachers, we obviously use books as reference materials for our students. Partly because it means they can fill their time productively between sessions with us, and it saves us rewriting what has been written.

Here's the question for this thread -
'Do you think the saturation of the market with books on magical practices i.e. spell workings, is a step too far; a step that puts our children at risk?'

The above question is one I have pondered for nigh on 30 years, and is something that is increasingly worrying me.

In the 'old days' books on magic tended to be hard to find and aimed at the serious student, many were laid out in the traditional style of reference material that was obviously designed to supplement some course or other. No sensational claims, or shortcuts and a tendency to hidden away on bookshelves to high for kids to reach, to an extent kept the art out of harms way.

Those undertaking the study of magical practices tended to be bright, intelligent people searching for an answer; taking a look at the 'roll call' for practitioners of the pre 70's unearths an impressive list of doctors, scientists, architects, and other learned people. In fact, many of the sciences we have today started out as occult practices.

As a student of High Magic my tutors, both male and female, were people with exemplary qualifications in the mundane world; all had degrees of one sort or another. My 'alma mater' coven was led by a doctor of theology; and the only coven member, at that time, not to have a degree was me. Serious researchers all, in search of an understanding of that which is hidden, with no thought of anything except the pursuit itself.

Today, we have a different breed thanks, in main, to the popularisation of witchcraft through the media; predominately through books. Books that offer what I call, a McDonalds version of magic. Chicken nuggets with spells; and just like we have stopped caring about the junk we put into our children's stomachs, so have we ceased to care about their minds.

These books are fascinating in that they all portray their authors as wonderful, caring beings, interested in only the dissemination of knowledge. Well, knowledge in the wrong hands is a friend to no-one; and in the hands of the mentally disturbed it is outright lunacy.

Let us meander a moment for a short, but true, story.

Not so long ago I received an email from a young lady from the US; in it she informs me that her classmate is a vampire and asks 'does a stake through the heart really kill vampires?'

She goes on to tell me how she has read a great deal about magic and has in her possession a copy of the book of shadows from the tv series 'Charmed'. However, she is unable to identify from it the type of demon she is dealing with.

Do I hear the hiss of the intake of breath from you, my readers, have you yourselves been asked similar?

Well; I pointed out to her that a stake will kill anyone, not just vampires, and that murder was murder and an affront to spirit. I then forwarded the email to the FBI in the hope that this burgeoning 'Buffy' could be stopped before someone died.

Is this an isolated incident? No, I get requests every other day for some nonsense spell or other. These 'ready meal' gutter press publications have stripped away the inquiring minds of our youth in a way that is nothing short of dangerous.

Loaded guns are be handed out to the vulnerable and weak minded with no compassion or true guidance; whilst their authors profess to be innocent of any complicity in the psychosis presented by their readers.

Well, they all write about Karma an the Threefold Law whilst giving out spells that bind or pervert to kids powered up by hormones, rage and reason.

Who pays the Karma?

Our kids or the authors that set them on the track to nowhere?

Two things are needed right now. The first is professional responsible tutoring of the occult by people who are not out to make a name for themselves or a fast buck.

The second is an accountability of the authors each and every time their work can be linked to either a psychotic episode or act of violence. make them pay the Karma and they will think twice about their profit margins.

Nowadays it seems everyone wants to write a book, and on the whole most of them are harmless simply because they are nonsense. However, when you convince our kids that vampires and the like walk amongst them, or hand out spells that will hurt another even by omission; then you are a problem.

A stake will kill anyone, so who pays the Karma?

BB )0(