Thanks to Reverend George Dew of the Church of Seven Arrows for his creation of these Universal Laws.
Two Major Rules
1. Whatever is done to the environment or to other beings in the environment brings similar effects upon the doer.
2. The magician judges the “goodness” or “badness” of his or her own acts, whether they are conscious or unconscious acts, on the basis of what the Universe reflects back on him or her. The same is true of judging others, entire communities, states, or nations.
Ethical Laws of the Rules of the Road
These ethical laws will give you a more detailed standard by which to measure your acts, or the acts of others, to determine whether they are in accordance with Rules of the Road. Judge any act of magic by these laws before doing it.
1. Do nothing that will harm another being unless you are willing to suffer like or greater harm. Note that what the Universe considers harm may be different from what our culture teaches as harm.
2. Don’t bind another being unless you are willing to be likewise bound. This applies to many love spells and some kinds of healing rituals.
3. Never use magic for show, pride, or vainglory. Using magic to show off, to prove a point, or from a place of injured pride usually results in side-bands (undesirable side effects) to the operation that will bring very undesirable backlash from the Universe.
4. Never set an extremely high price for the use of magic (especially divination, healing, or spells) based on your having special knowledge. With some operations that take significant man hours, such as divination, it appears by our observation to be appropriate to charge the same fee as any other professional might charge per hour in your local area.
5. Don’t use any special word, symbol, incantation, or spell unless you understand thoroughly and completely its mechanics, content, and intent! Be very wary of using other people’s operations if you wish to avoid “frying” yourself, either figuratively or literally!
6. Never do a spell without first doing a divination to determine a) if you should do it, and b) exactly what needs to be dealt with. Modern American social values and overt appearances of a situation are not trustworthy guides for a magician wishing to avoid bad karma. In other words, there may be hidden factors in the situation, which cause the doing of a spell to be against Rules of the Road.
7. TAKE YOUR TIME, THINK IT THROUGH, AND DO IT RIGHT!
The Esoteric School of Shamanism and Magic is open to practitioners of all faiths and doctrines on the basis that Truth is the same no matter the form of practice. If you are interested in any magical or shamanic practice or technique, including the following, we welcome you: wiccan spells, witch spells, witchcraft spells, astral projection for beginners, casting magick spells, aboriginal spirituality, native american rituals, native american spirituality, elemental magic, high magick, candle magic, aleister Crowley, druids or book of shadows.
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I was a student of George Dew’s in the early 1980s. I still have the “textbooks” from his courses: Basics of Magic Handbooks I, II, and III; and Shaman’s Notes 1. Each course began with a lesson on the Rules of the Road. They are as you describe, except that my copy of Rule 4 says, “Never set a price for the use of your Magical knowledge and ability (applies to both spells and divinations).” I never heard him express an exception to this rule. Anyway, my sister and I drove weekly to attend his classes in the spare bedroom of the second-floor apartment he shared with Linda and their then-toddler daughter in Wheatridge, Colorado. One evening when we pulled into the parking lot, we were astounded to see two fireballs flying around in the night sky above his apartment complex. The fireballs obviously possessed consciousness. They whizzed around, gleefully interacting with each other. They slowed then sped up to make trails of light in spirals and other patterns. It looked like they were having so much fun! I rushed breathlessly into the apartment to tell George about the fireballs. He smiled slyly and turned all my questions back to me. “What do you think they were?” he asked.
Great story and always good to hear from a fellow student of George’s. There are a great many cases where the rule about charging does apply, but our understanding from George in later years was that it was acceptable for a nominal charge in order to cover any expenses the practitioner might incur and/or at the point of becoming a “professional” magical practitioner it was acceptable to charge a fee in keeping with amounts of any other type of professional in the same physical area in which you are practicing. This creates an exchange of energy and the reciprocity creates a circle in a way of energy by this exchange. The fee however does not have to be money. It could be a trade of a physical object or a service or a blessing or just about anything. The main thing is to have that energy exchange and for the recipient of the magical operation to have a way of not only showing gratitude and acceptance for it but to show they place a value on it. Hope that makes sense.
Thank you for your most thoughtful reply. I believe you when you say that George softened his rule about taking money in later years. This makes perfect sense, actually, when woven into the idea of a mutally beneficial exchange of energies. When were those later years, by the way? I studied under him in 1982 and 1983. Then I moved away, subscribed to his newsletter for a few years, but eventually lost contact. It would be neat if someone wrote a biography of him. I would love to hear more about his exceptional life and teachings.
I studied with George beginning in 1985 and continued studying under him and then teaching with him for about 5 years. I agree a biography of him would be very interesting. Miss him very much and will always be grateful for him passing his knowledge and teachings on.