Possibly the most important concept to remember in the practice of metaphysics and in life itself is the concept that the energy you send out will attract like energy. It isn't a matter of worshipping any given deity or set of deities. It isn't a matter of calling on a given name or speaking words. Down through history people have done acts of evil in the name of deities that were purported to be benevolent.
Black magic brings ill into the lives of its practitioners because the energy sent out in the ceremonies and spells is a negative energy. Often such magic will initially seem to be more powerful than positive forms of magic because hate and evil are powerful forces, and the results of such spells often happen very rapidly. But the initial gain will more often than not be overturned quickly, and the final result for the spell-caster will be catastrophic. Even if the spell caster is not evil per se, their anger and desire for revenge or power over others will eventually return negative events to them.
The Universe is made of energy and everything in the Universe essentially acts as a magnetic force. Send out positive energy and you will attract primarily positive things. Send out negative energy i.e. fear, hate, obsession and negative events will be the result. This is not to say that one must go around being a nauseating Pollyanna of a person or that if one practices positive magic that everything will always be perfect. It is a matter of what you do with the anger that you feel if someone wrongs you. Depending on the wrong that has been done, it is normal to want to seek justice. The problem comes in when a person does spells to destroy others' lives, break up marriages or relationships, or kill or maim those who have wronged them. It's a natural reaction to want to retaliate and while the negative spell may indeed accomplish the desired result, it will also draw negative energy on the caster and may well end up doing the same thing to the caster as it does to the target.
One can use the energies of the Universe to draw fame, love and money to themselves. There are those who say even this is negative, but I do not believe this is so. Particularly if you give thanks for the positive results by sharing your good fortune with others.
If you are unhappy or angry, realize that these feelings are normal but refrain from using them to inflict harm on others. On a physical level, unchecked anger can land a person in jail and unchecked misery can land them six feet under either due to suicide or due to illness and accidents. On a metaphysical level, focused negative energy will eventually return a life of misfortune.
When the majority of people tap into positive energy and focus this energy to get what they want and need, we will discover that we can all obtain what we need to live primarily happy, productive lives.
In case it seems like we're lecturing, everybody who was involved with the writing of the book has discovered through focused use of negative energy the misery that it can cause. We are far from being saints. If you have read the Ghost Writer page, then you know his experiences with erroneous use of negative energy to attempt to bring power into a life in which he felt powerless. In his case, he never experienced much in the way of good fortune. In the case of the person who exploited the Ghost's death for his own gain, his negative behaviors and energies were returned back to him in full and he ended up being murdered.
Lily's errors in judgment regarding the use of negative energy were mostly the results of jealousy. She primarily focused the spells in these cases on breaking up relationships. These spells worked most of the time. However, the object of her affections never ended up with her and in some cases even ended up reacting in a negative way towards her. She also ended up losing friends and jobs.
Lily also believes that on occasion the amount of unchecked negative energy she was giving off resulted in the death of several pets. In another instance, a spurned suitor used black magic to start fires both at the workplace of Lily's ex-husband and in the apartment where Lily and her ex-husband were living at the time. He was physically nowhere in the area when the fires started.
Even people who would not wish themselves identified as "evil" are tempted to do "evil" at times. Examine the type of energy you are sending out before you send it--because it's the same kind of energy you'll be attracting.
May you find what you seek.
Lily & the Ghost Writer
