If you are reading this composition, then you are probably one who has already asked him or herself what it is that makes some feel that they cannot live a satisfying life without mysticism and magick.  If you are one of the Glynda or Gandalf types of witches, wizards, or other magick users of benevolent alignment, then you often wonder about the relationship between supernatural power and ethical substance.  What is it beyond curiosity that drives us to explore the hidden world individually, and then to seek cooperation from those like us?  Is there something morally superior about us?  Or, in hoping to “help mankind” with our subtle gifts, do we aspire to some kind of higher ground where compassion, generosity, or heroism are appreciated?  If we seek to “fight evil”, then what exactly is it that we should train our sights upon in such a quest? 

Izfet is the ancient Egyptian word that is sometimes translated “evil” or “wickedness” by scholars, but its basic meaning is more like “self indulgence” (an inequitable act or campaign that results in exploitation, as when a greedy person makes war on an innocent one).  It is said that after observing the plight of fair people, Ra created hekau (mantras of magick), or “formulas of transformation”, so that they might have recourse to powers that could curtail izfet.  Osiris faulted Ra for allowing evil in the material world at all, but Ra’s affection for Set and appreciation for brute strength and wily competence was well established, and it remains that those who wish to overcome the wickedness of the world must exhibit an element of skill in the realm beneath the lordship of the Sun God.  Thus, in one way of looking at it, witch craft was created to combat or balance what we sometimes simply may know as “bitch craft”. 

Now, let us immediately say that no sexism is implicit in this term; as it denotes negatively applied psychology and selfish subterfuge.  It refers to the means by which unethical mundane people oppress the empathic.  If you can remember asking yourself, “Now, what the heck just happened?”, then you have probably suspected that someone empowered by a dark and deceptive talent has tricked you out of your peace of mind (one more time) as you felt the confusion and pain of being “suckered”.  Your ability to remain in touch with intuitive and rational faculties took another mysterious nosedive, usually after confiding in a camouflaged tormentor.  Bitch craft usually manifests itself as a double whammy of counterfeit cooperation and covert criticism with the occasional toxic dose of isolate and intimidate.  Sound familiar?  If you are psychic at all, or have practiced ritual to any extent, or worked with healing energies of a supernatural nature, you know what I am saying.  Everyone has felt the bite at some time or another of a predator or a parasite, a manipulator or a despoiler.  When this happens, we usually pray mighty prayers for deliverance, if we have any belief in a higher or even a lower invisible power.  We search for means of evening things up by recruiting beings that might support our wills.

For those who have taken up the practice of shamanism and have understood the need to conserve nervous energy to bring healing to others or cause change essential to the prosperity of the tribe, an art and science of making ones needs known to the gods or other entities emerges.  Anton LaVey coined the term “psychic vampire” for the systematic emotional predator who seems to possess some uncanny gift for depleting people.  If you are a person who has long been attracted to the practice of magick and the exploration of your psychic gifts, then you have already attracted more than your share of them, and have wondered how they seem to mount such a successful heist of your vitality and self respect. 

If you are wise, you somehow understand that to fear is not a productive recourse.  If you have explored, you know that study, practice, and meditation are the tools which fortify you against the roving individuals and packs of them that seem to have amassed a great knowledge of the weaknesses of human kind, the location of the unguarded gates of the mind, and how to steal past them.  Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, once commented that we sometimes have to look at the Book of Thoth in order to discover a means of defeating the demon.  Those who make a study of spell casting eventually amass what amounts to a recipe book for staving off disaster.  Some entries tend to remain secret unless we feel that fellow practitioners are worthy.  Others are found ripe for more casual sharing or fit for publication.  But, as Eliphas Levi said, workers of sacred magick have no wish to be indiscreet, but do want to entice the talented into their craft by means of impressive samples.  Thus a pious mage offers helpful explanations.