Description
This article is from the Spell/Hex
FAQ, by cat cat@luckymojo.com with numerous contributions by
others.
22D Can I be cursed even if I don't believe in magic?
What you believe about curses is likely the product of the
culture in which you were raised. In many cultures, the
answer to this question is "Yes, you can be cursed whether
or not you believe in magic and whether or not you are
consciously aware of the fact that a curse has been
placed on you.
In skeptical, urban, non-traditonal cultures with a
materialist basis of thought, the answer may be "no"
-- in several variants.
A belief that there is a necessity for the victim of a
curse to "believe" in his or her magical victimization
for the curse to be operative -- called "the consent of
the victim" -- is often discussed in materialist urban
cultures and it sometimes forms part of a refutation
against the possibility of ANY kind of magical (or
religious) practice.
However, it is not strictly a materialist belief, because
it presupposes that magical (or religious) activity is
possible and can be performed upon someone as long as
they consent to believe in it. That is, the "consent of
the victim" theory does not dispose of magic as a "series
of coincidences" or "advanced psychology" or the like.
Therefore, one can call it a materialist-magical theory,
in which a person's choices about belief (materialist
or magical) will determine how much -- if at all --
magic can affect him or her.
Similar to the materialist-magical notion of the "consent
of the victim" is the "Alice defense" derived from the
book "Alice In Wonderland" ("You're nothing but a pack
of cards!"), whereby sheer DIS-belief in magic is thought
to protect one against a magical attack. This is more
strictly materialist than the "consent of the victim"
theory -- but magicians sometimes call it a form of
"unconscious magic," in that, they claim, the potential
victim creates a powerful MAGICAL shield through
DISbelief in magic. :-)
What you believe is ultimately your own choice.
23A Is magic black or white? Should we do black magic?
For discussion about the ethics of magic, see the newsgroup
news:alt.magick.ethics.
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