bad magic

This week's pagan prompt question is Is there such a thing as bad magic?

Hmm, this is a tough one. Bad can mean 2 things - magic that has unintended, unwanted results or magic that is cast to purposely cause harm. With the latter, you are treading on dangerous ground. If someone has wronged you, there is no need to cast a spell to wrong them back. Whatever you put into the universe, you get back. (I don't believe in the 3fold law, but you get my point). Instead cast a protection spell for yourself and if you're in a forgiving mood, ask the God/dess to lessen the effect of the caster's bad spell as it returns back to him/her.

With the former, that's a case of poor form. Say you want more energy but after the ritual you feel drained instead. This means you didn't do something properly like cast a circle (if your tradition calls for it) or maybe you weren't concentrating fully.

I'm so glad the question wasn't about white vs black magic. It gets old that black is always associated with negativity. Well, except for Black Friday :)