“A Witch That Can’t Hex, Can’t Heal”

These days there seems to be a growing divide between magickal practitioners who claim the truth of witchery compared to those who embrace a lighter form of the craft. The expression “a witch that can’t hex, can’t heal” is often offered as a counterpoint to sayings like “harm none,” but what does this saying truly mean?

I recently had one of those WTF moments when I read about “keeping karma clean.” The whole debate about practicing a restricted range of witchcraft in order to avoid attracting trouble back to us is a fascinating topic for sure. There’s heaps of confusion, ignorance and downright hubris that can all be at play whenever someone claims that they don’t practice “baneful” witchcraft. I try not to concern myself too much with the inner workings of others, but it is very important to me to understand my own motivations. For me, hexing, cursing, binding, banishing, and other sorts of witchery have no color. There’s no risk of some sort of cosmic law bouncing them back at me as long as the work I do is true: my intention is matched with the required outcome, my correspondences are in order and the spirits petitioned are on board. That being said, a discussion about baneful witchcraft can help clear up some of the common misconceptions.