Submitted for your Approval
from The House of Umbrae Octo
in The Hall of Aeris
Bindings
article by Aurelia Anne
This is a subject that I do not take lightly as there are many
ways one can view a binding. For example, in my 11 years of magickal practice,
bindings have been an essential part of that practice. However, there are
those who believe that bindings are akin to curses/hexes and should not be
done at all. As the authors of Paganpath.com put it, "[bindings] can
be seen in the light you would see a gun. No one should wave around a loaded
gun."
Before I discuss the whys and why nots, I'd like to inform you on the different
kinds of bindings one may come across.
What is a Binding?
A binding is a magickal spell that (for the most part) permanently
attaches itself to that which is the subject of the spell. Bindings tend to
work hand in hand with banishings depending on the particular spell. You can
use a mirror spell to send the energy back to your attacker and then bind
it to him indefinitely. You can bind someone to a promise they've made, especially
if that particular person has been known to go back on their word.
Types of Bindings
What I am trying to point out is that there are varying degrees
of bindings. Handfasting/ Wedding ceremonies are a lighter type of binding
because you are vowing to your betrothed to forsake all others, thereby "binding"
yourself to him. Consequently, you are binding yourselves to each other, happily.
There are bindings that some would consider cursing. One such
example would be using a spell to bind oneself to someone whose affections
are not returned. This can lead to disastrous consequences for the binder.
As a matter of fact, any binding done incorrectly can lead to disastrous consequences.
This is typically where karma comes into play; what you unnecessarily to unto
others, so shall it be done unto you.
The use of voodoo dolls or poppets are essential to binding. Here you are
taking and effigy of the person whom you are binding and physically wrap them
with ribbon or string of a certain color pertaining to the particular spell.
This is, you'll find, the most popular type of binding because you are taking
something that is of the bindee and making it metaphysically real.
You can bind yourself to try to help break yourself of bad habits.
This, again, can be done by using a poppet or a photograph and your own blood.
With all bindings, to close out the spell you would want to
leave it in a place of stagnation such as: freezing it, throwing it into a
bog or pond where there is no flowing water, or simply letting it be carried
away to a landfill via your local waste removal service.
A Sample Binding
The following is a simple binding spell that can be done against
someone who has made a promise and you want them to actually keep their word.
1. Create a poppet in that person's image by including a photograph
and/or a personal object (ring, piece of cloth, hair, etc.)
2. Write what was promised on piece of paper and wrap it around the poppet.
3. Take a blue (truthfulness) ribbon or string and wrap completely wrap it
around both paper and doll while chanting your will.
After this, take the doll and bury it at the crossroads of a
cemetery or dispose of it in any manner in which will get it away from you.
Morality and Bindings
There is a saying that has been attributed to the famous witch
and author Starhawk: "A witch who can not hex, cannot heal." This
has lead to great debate amongst those in the greater Pagan community at large.
Typically, I have found that Wiccan followers who strictly adhere to the Wiccan
Rede never use bindings in their practice. As one Wiccan I've spoken with
puts it, "The Wiccan Rede tells us that you can do as you will as well
as you harm none. Binding, in its own way, is harming. You may think you are
helping a given person when in fact, you are harming them by taking their
free will from them with the binding." Others bend a little according
to their needs if they are in a particular situation where general banishings
don't seem to be doing the trick.
So where does that leave the rest of us non-Wiccans? In my personal
opinion, I feel that bindings are a necessary part of one's magickal practice,
one I've had to use many a time. To me, bindings are nothing more than another
incantation one should keep in one's grimoire. Bindings are useful because
instead of just banishing that person or thing that's causing you grief, you
are using that thing's own will against itself. One is simply protecting oneself
against that which would seek to destroy.
When you bind something or someone, you are taking that energy
and sending it back to and surrounding it or him. I am not advocating the
idle use of bindings, however, don't misinterpret my meaning here. When there
is true, just cause for the use of a binding, the Universe will back you up.
