The mechanisms of black magic

According to the understanding of spiritual science, black magic does not arise from curses or rituals but from conscious lying, the abuse of relationships, and the inversion of moral values. The article describes these mechanisms, as well as, their relationship to the astral body and to the second chakra.¹⁾ Both the introductory summary and the questions and answers at the end of the article were added for the online edition. The main text is by Heinz Grill.

This is the third part of an article series on black magic. In the first part the meaning and the basic way black magic works was described and in the criteria to recognise black magic.

The way black magic is normally pictured

Curses or voodoo spells are generally seen today as acts of black magic. These are as a rule harmless in comparison to the real practice of black magic because these acts cannot attune the astral body²⁾Here, the astral body is understood as the soul region of the human being, the bearer of soul-feelings, desires, and moods of the will. The term originates from anthroposophical and older esoteric traditions., with all its unconscious parts, to that abysmal level found in genuinely deceitful actions and acts of cruelty in general. Actually, these voodoo practices, in which a person is hung in effigy like a puppet or a politician being cursed is symbolically shot with arrows, have little connection with the reality of the soul. They do not touch the depths, and certainly not the deep abysses, of the astral body but are superficial, largely emotional acts. Black magic, however, requires the capacity to inflict actual harm through lying, inverting reality and in the abusive exploitation of a position. For example, someone who works in a team, interacts amicably with everyone present and then malevolently lies with all members, gains advantages through negative means, and ultimately takes pleasure in the failure of others, enters that dark world that opens up the abysses of the soul. Outwardly, such people will never speak out curses, for their reality is much more skilfully directed towards the actual work of destruction than any ritualistic, emotional act could ever be. In human interactions, calculated schemes must be carried out in secret by those who wish to cause harm.

The astral body as the carrier of moral will-forces

When the term astral body is used here, it refers to the deep unconscious within the will regions, as well as to the hidden human feelings belonging to this body that resonates with the cosmos. Although the astral body is a subtle body, it contains a light that is very thick, dull and as if bound to the physical body. Spiritual researchers exploring this invisible part of human existence discover not only the planes belonging entirely to humans themselves and their outer feelings; in the depths of the organs, within the inner vegetative processes of metabolism, they find the actual, substantial world of the astral realms, and these are the unredeemed powers of the realm of the dead. The deceased do not dwell in a distant heaven, they carry their forces into humanity and stay with their unredeemed moods within these hidden will–processes of the living.³⁾ For an understanding of the realm of the souls after death, see also the book: Caring for the Souls of the Dead, Heinz Grill. (Lammers-Koll-Verlag) When these negative, unredeemed potentials in people, that have become very unscrupulous, govern the emotions and the moods and become the primary driving force behind the decisions of the will, they bathe humanities various ways of living with their dark and confused intent.

From the astral moods of the deceased in the afterlife light can flood into the world or, conversely, painful, heavy motivations may be ignited, driving people to manic reactions and leading them to commit deceitful, malicious and low acts. Cold calculations for the sake of gain, devoid of empathy or compassion, take control of the consciousness. The astral body, according to how it is attuned with the deceased, decides whether there is a light, edifying radiance or a dark magic of a cycle of suffering and its recurring emanations.

Curses that people utter during their life generally lack strength, because the deceased rarely respond to emotionally spoken words. Instead, people who cannot escape from their own vicious cycle of hate filled emotions burden themselves, they cast a shadow over their heart, by consciously accusing others or even wanting to kill them, and sink into a desperate sea of depression. They cannot use the deceased, that is to say, they cannot really direct their own astral body with curses against others. They remain trapped in themselves, disconnected from reality, and without causing any changes in the outer world. Through the techniques of voodoo magic, with nighttime rituals to curse others and evoke evil spirits, practitioners remain prisoners of their own self-created reality that has become compulsive.

There is a specific technical form that those that want to practice black magic must learn. However, learning is impossible without being conscious about it, therefore, this technique can be mentioned without risk. In a faraday cage there is no danger of lightning hitting people, consequently, lightning cannot cause harm regardless of how many amps it has. In wanting to learn this technique, practitioners of black magic are, in a sense, already placing those around them in a Faraday cage and thereby find themselves in a moral dilemma. In this sense the consciousness does not allow itself to be deceived by a deliberately becoming consciousness.

Techniques required for black magic can, for instance, be derived relatively well from the practices of yoga. However, as previously stated, a manual for black magic will never work because it will inevitably encounter the defining zones of the consciousness that establish themselves during the learning process and inevitably unfold a force for morality. To practice black magic people must become desensitised, dismiss their conscience as unreal, and inhabit a kind of world that weaves and breaths even lower than the instinctive animal kingdom. It is the Self that those who want to succeed in the discipline must abandon and instead they must adorn themselves with the desire of total attachment and an irrational world aim.

The second centre and the inversion of spirituality.

In the area of yoga, the following connection can be illustrated: The second centre, the svadhishthana chakra⁴⁾svādhiṣṭhāna–cakra means ‘one’s own seat’ or ‘one’s own dwelling place’. In the yoga tradition, this second centre is brought into connection with the life forces and their coordination. that is located just below the navel, around the level of the sacrum, in the sense of a metaphysical figure, has the quality of drawing together etheric forces or in general life-giving energies. While the first chakra at the coccyx serves as the direct source of strength for all life energy, the second centre located above it, acts more as a coordination point for the gliding out and concentrated gathering in of life energies and ultimately for deeper incarnation, or the drifting loss of self in excarnation. Black magicians incarnate by means of this centre in that they remove it from all connections to the light through lies and harming others, and falsely connect with external forces and even with their own body. They use, for example, yoga that should remain equanimous in the face of both sympathy and antipathy and turn it into a state of absolute, detached indifference. Instead of entering into relationships, they withdraw back from relationships and shield themselves off in the darkness of the lower abdomen. They attune themselves entirely to the physical life and must cunningly reject all spiritual wisdom without putting it to the test or, as is quite common, invert higher reality and claim it for themselves in a calculated manner.

In terms of movement, those who have joyfully learned how to make active use of this centre, become, to a certain extent, smaller as they dynamically gather themselves and withdraw from the periphery. The yoga exercises then take on a very beautiful, fluid, gathered and yet gracefully and finely coordinated, expression. They remain present, as if in communication and express only physically the element of gathering, however, they reveal the soul in a living image. In general, the foundational force of the etheric body is found in this region of the svadhishthana chakra and it forms the decisive point of coordination for how someone connects with their psyche to the physical and earthly conditions.

Those who want to carry out black magic, must inevitably banish all rational thoughts from their life, push away responsibilities, deny content that has spiritually objective validity and then transmute their waking perception into its exact opposite. This inversion of spirituality takes place within the human consciousness and subsequently causes a complete dysregulation of all the chakras; this starts primarily in the second centre. People, who adopt this inversion through a dulling of consciousness and a false connection to world creation radiate their own wretchedness outwards; for instance, they project their personal failure regarding spirituality and life onto others. According to Rudolf Steiner‘s teachings on karma, the black magician has already laid the groundwork in a previous life for developing a low character. Someone, for example, might sit night after night on the computer, insulting and harming others through cyberbullying. Slowly, this activity yields results, and eventually, a sense of joy develops over the destruction directed into the works of others. Black magicians are therefore able to aggrandise themselves and insult or belittle their fellow human beings. 

If waves are observed, how they break and glide back with a kind of ellipse in their motion, only to resume their gliding path in the direction of the wind, they give a very excellent pictorial analogy for a universal etheric movement that occurs within human beings and many natural phenomena. Greater and more effective movements are not achieved linearly, but with interruptions, backward loops, and new swings forwards. Yoga postures such as upavishta konasana, tittibhasana or baddha konasana exemplify a movement that gathers backwards, which ultimately lets another area of the body glide out. The psyche moves forwards into openness, while the body draws inwards. If practitioners contract in the sacral region, much like a tortoise that pulls up its limbs and draws itself in, this subsequently enables the spine to glide out in a light and relaxed way. The connection to black magic can be easily conceived as a result of these images. The body begins to dominate, to inflate, while the psyche, or actually all processes of consciousness, pull back and immerse into the world of the ego. An exercise is then no longer beautiful but agitated, restless, insular and dominated by the body.

A black magician must never assume responsibility and furthermore is required to conduct relationships through deceit. They may believe they are moving forwards because they are exercising the potential of their will, in the reality of their entire action, however, the creative force in their will is directed to a self-serving, bound, narcissistic or sadistic plane. The black magician’s ego is no longer normal, but has become grotesquely inflated within the abyss of its own attachments.

The withdrawal from responsibility as the beginning of black magic

A simple example, can illustrate an initial act of black magic – one that may not be highly significant, but still constitutes such an act. Imagine a group of five partners intending to launch a venture. One of the individuals, however, does not want to reach the generally agreed upon aim instead, only seeks advantages for himself through the group and from his affiliation with it. Personal interests guide this person, whereas the others remain committed to the aim. If difficulties then arise in realising the venture, the individual with the attachments will reap personal benefits, or at least remain relatively indifferent, should the others fail. Although this example still does not meet the full criteria for black magic, it is nonetheless worth noting, since the psychological mechanisms of withdrawal to self-serving and convenient advantages are already at work. Outwardly, maybe some that engage in this withdrawal, perhaps even using it as a personal energy game, may express distress when something goes wrong or fails, yet inwardly, the indulging soul finds a secret sense of advantage.

Why does someone practice black magic? Someone who is successful in life has no need for black magic. A significant failure in objective achievements can invariably be found in the biography of a black magician. Extreme cowardice, for instance, is often evident in their earlier life. The inversion of life energies away from a light, moving and relational interaction towards a wrong psychological and physical attachment to the body, accompanied by a feeling of smug satisfaction, seems to be characteristic of this plane, which is impervious to all reason. Over time, acts of black magic become as if automatic and because of their own immunity to criticism, they remain as if hidden beneath the tangible threshold. However, without curses, without voodoo spells, without imprecations or without direct outer acts of violence, those who practice black magic can be the cause of others becoming ill, manipulate the weather to cause disaster and destruction, and even trigger conflicts that escalate into war.

The deep abyss within a person, which results from a lack of morality, ultimately projects itself outwards through further misdeeds, plunging people into complex webs of fate. In the past, people understood that events such as severe flooding or catastrophes were closely linked to the erosion of human morality.

Therefore, someone who immerses themselves in a behavioural pattern characterised by a tendency to withdraw and the pursuit of energetic advantage, does not need any special training techniques nor any cursing mantras, rather, they must attune to a cruel mindset – effectively acting out their antisocial psyche. Indeed, such a person, who appropriates energy for their own gain at the expense of others, must utterly reject any sense of spiritual honour or social responsibility.

Black magic as an inversion of moral development

Black magic cannot exist without lies, self-deception and the denial of normal earthly laws and, to a particularly significant degree, spiritual obligation. Like an unruly child, someone learns the advantage of withdrawing from a situation and forcing others to step forwards to take the responsibility. While those standing on the front lines struggle for the success of an undertaking, the black magician, having withdrawn, rests, offering all manner of stupid excuses to justify turning away from the aim and dwelling in their own energetic gain. Outwardly, however, all people who carry out black magic, whether active in politics, society or religion, profess pious aims, while inwardly rejecting all moral strengthening and rational orientation.

The statement that crowns this form of black magic might be: “It is not I but my non-self.” People with a black magic disposition do not feel guilty because they have abandoned their conscience for all honour in the spirit and the world. This statement can be looked at once again from an esoteric perspective: “It is not I; rather, the abysses of the unredeemed realm of the astral after worlds that have come into my will – and since the dispositions are dull and devoid of any connection to reality, I feel healthy within myself, and there is no guilt ,and thus no need to examine my life.”

In the fourth part the karmic effects of black magic will be addressed.

The article highlights the following questions: