Archive: July 2006
Jason Miller, author of Protection & Reversal Magick: A Witch's Defense Manual, New Page Books. For those people who haven’t read the book yet, Mr. Miller goes in depth about different kinds of magical attack from people and spirits and how to defend yourself against these attacks.
What inspired you to write a book about Protection & Reversal Magick?
It’s just not something that has been covered very well yet in my opinion. Even books that do cover protection
Magick tend to shy away from Reversals or Counter-Magick because these types of spells can potentially cause harm to another person, which is something that most publishers in the Pagan and Magickal press are not willing to print. Magick of this type however has been an integral part of witchcraft historically and should not be overlooked simply to appeal to people that would prefer to view the craft as all sweetness and light.
For some reason this type of work seems to be a strong part of my karma. Even before offering my services to the public I found myself called upon to defend myself and others. I have also launched a curse or two in my time, so I know the role of attacker as well. I saw that there was a need for a book like this and I wanted to write one that told the truth of how it is and not hold anything back.
Can you give our readers an example of when you had to use the material in your book to defend or protect yourself?
About 8 years ago I was helping to run a Magickal group in Philadelphia. We had attracted the attention of an
unstable individual that wanted to join. After our preliminary interview, held at a coffee house, I informed him that we didn’t feel he was a good fit for the group. He began bombarding me with hysterical e-mails threatening all sorts of violence: both physical and Magickal. One night I woke up and couldn’t breathe, it felt like the air was being sucked right out of me. When I did catch my breath, I noted that some protective seals that I had placed above my door had fallen: a typical sign that defenses have been breeched.
I used the application he signed as a link, and performed a reversal spell similar to one in the book. I than followed it up with a created servitor aimed at diverting his attention from me. Worked like a charm. I have used, either for myself or another, every spell in the book.
Why do you think there is so little on the market like your kind of book?
Given the staggering amount of books on the shelves on Magick and Witchcraft, its amazing to me how little there is that delves into anything specific with any depth. I know its arrogant of me to say so, especially now that I have joined the ranks of Magickal press authors, but it really just seems like an endless parade of the same books over and over again, each more vapid than the last. Every book has the same stuff: this is how you cast a circle, these are your chakras, these are the sabbats, and this is a long list if deities with one or two sentences about each. Choose an adjective to appear before the word "Witchcraft" and you’ve got a title.
As for books on Magickal combat specifically, the subject is hard to approach without talking about the harm that can result from Magickal attack, and even from Magickal defense. Talking about Magick that might cause harm (or even minor discomfort) is frowned upon by both publishers that have built a nice trade in books that push a white light and rainbows version of Witchcraft, and also to Pagan religious activists who want to portray a non-threatening religion to the mainstream public and would rather the topic of practical sorcery go away entirely.
In your book, "Protection and Reversal Magick", you talk about using servitors as a way to protect yourself. Do you ever consider writing a full book about servitors and their creation?
I have considered writing a book about working with spirits in general, which would have a chapter in it on Servitors, Artificial Elementals, Budwills, Tulpas, and other types of created spirits. I actually wrote an article about this a few years ago for Behutet Magazine. There is certainly a lot to say about them and the carious techniques for creating, controlling, and destroying them but I don’t know if I want to devote a whole book to the subject.
For those people who haven’t read your book yet, can you give them any advice on keeping themselves safe from any kind of attack?
A daily regimen of meditation, offerings, devotions and banishing/shielding rituals will keep most problems at bay. It doesn’t really matter what tradition they come from, but after experimenting initially you should pick a regimen and stick with it. Nothing is gained by constantly switching practices just for the sake of being eclectic.
What do you think is the hardest part about recognizing an attack?
Admitting to yourself that it’s happening. For someone that doesn’t practice Magick, the biggest obstacle is in
believing that such a thing can happen at all. Witches and magicians may have no problem believing that such things happen, but very often are unwilling to admit that it is happening to them. People in the occult community often have inflated ideas about their own power. Even ones that do little more than read books and attend Pagan events seem to think that somehow their "Magickal lifestyle" is a practice that makes them powerful.
The truth is that no-one is invulnerable, myself included. The daily practices mentioned above, and other preventative techniques that I write about in the book will keep most problems at bay, but every now and then, if you are really practicing the craft, you are bound to hit bumps in the road.
Why do you think so many books on the market tell people curses are rare and they are nothing to worry about?
One reason is that Witchcraft has been somewhat whitewashed by those who want to make it acceptable to
mainstream society as a religion. Neo-Paganism is not Witchcraft. Wicca is a type of Witchcraft but not Witchcraft itself. I am all for religious tolerance for Wiccans and Pagans, but I am not willing to sacrifice the far older traditions of Witchcraft and Sorcery in order to do it. Like it or Witches have always been involved in dealing out blessings and bane; cures and curses. We still are.
The problem is not only in books on Wicca though. Many books on Ceremonial Magick insist the same thing using the logic that anyone skilled enough to perform a psychic attack would be spiritually evolved enough not to want to. Unfortunately this is not the case, though it does help make books more palatable.
What do you feel is the most common type of attack?
By far the most common form of Magickal attack does not emanate from other human beings at all, but from various natural spirits. By living in a thoughtless and contrary way with our environment we can come into conflict with various intelligences and spirits that share our space. Through burning and dumping waste, damming up rivers and lakes, building cities, and other actions in which we disturb the natural environment we run the risk of upsetting various spiritual beings and earning their wrath. A large portion of traditional medicine and shamanism in indigenous cultures is geared towards addressing maladies caused by these spirits
What do you have in the works for the future?
I have two books on the burner. The first is a complete training in operative Witchcraft in both its mystical and
Magickal aspects. This will be a significantly different vision of the craft than most readers will be used to seeing. The second is something that I am co-writing with John Myrdhin Reynolds, and is a book about magick in Tibet.
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