Magic 101: Payment
One of the first truisms in magic is that you will pay for what you get—not what you thought you were getting, not what you wanted to get. Listening to your delusions is a fantastic way to end up with something you definitely don’t want and will be paying dearly for. It’s also a fantastic way to learn a few important lessons about your role in the spiritual world before you get promoted to your next life.
There are a few really important reasons for the fact that you will pay for what you get.
First, the spiritual world has an economy of energy. It is not a charity. Emphatically, the energy spent on doing something for you has to come from somewhere, whether it is just your mental energy, your life energy, or years of servitude. It pays, if you wish to live a long life, to be very clear on the medium of exchange: you can, if you’re particularly foolish in negotiation, end up with a shorter life in exchange for some relatively worthless service, like a romantic relationship. Negatively aligned spirits are always hungry, and will often try to get a payment that is far, far disproportionate to the service. An ignorant priest or spiritual worker is a priest or spiritual worker who will give away years of their life or the use of their own capacities because they don’t know enough to negotiate well. Assuming there is no payment, or assuming that dying or enslavement is not a potential payment is the kind of ignorance which will be punished. Relying on the mercy of lesser spirits is a fantastic way to find out how harsh the spiritual world can be.
The lwa, unlike lesser entities, have access to the divine and a much greater pool of that energy to spend, but will insist on something you contribute for the next reason (among several others.)
Second, the nature of consciousness is such that we pay more attention to the negative than the positive. Literally, we remember the things which inconvenience, trouble, disturb, pain, or annoy us for a lot longer and with a lot more urgency than we do things that made us feel good. Many spirits, both lesser and greater, have had plenty of time to observe human behavior and cognition, and take advantage of that particular fact. The lwa, unlike lesser and/or negative spirits, use this tendency to help priests and spiritual workers understand that spiritual services, works, and other things which are only tangible in their effects, are profoundly valuable. We tend to have trouble remembering things which are not physically there to remind us. To help us remember that these services exist and are valuable, we need to be inconvenienced. We also need to feel as if we have been a part of what happened, even if only to ask and make a payment, so that we will begin to understand the next reason.
Third, our inconvenience and participation in things that realistically we could have no hope of actually doing for ourselves, reminds us that we are a part of the spiritual world around us. The spirits are capable of things which could only be called miracles, things which as people we could not do alone. Payment is forced collaboration, a reminder that we are not divorced from the work we ask the spirits to do for us, no matter how miraculous. It is also, for priests and spiritual workers, a kind of a training that exposes us to the dynamics of spiritual connection. Specifically, it demonstrates to us that everything is connected. Separation is illusion, and the idea that things cannot bleed into one another or can stay separate is foolish. To pay for something is to ‘sign’ it, giving explicit permission and taking explicit responsibility for whatever is happening. Responsibility—that is, consequence—is always a part of payment. Thinking you can hand something to a spiritual worker or priest and wash your hands of it is truly ignorant.
Fourth, similarly, all debts will be repaid. Every act has consequences and repercussions, and there is no such thing as something being inherently owed or without payment. Sometimes, the debt is paid elsewhere: an ancestor creates a debt and, because bondye’s reality has an exacting and perfect logic, their great-grandchildren pay the debt when it can be paid. And, again because bondye’s reality has the property of teaching, they often benefit from the payment. This is commonly cited in ATRs, but the scale of the debt and repayment is not always as straightforward as something an ancestor might have done.
Fifth, people often omit the fact that payment and debt are instructive, as well. What you owe, you will learn from, which is a spiritual kindness that often horrifies people, in part because people tend to find debt shameful in many culture. Debt is not shameful. Spiritually speaking, it is both inescapable and one of the fundamental tools of a spiritual education. The question is what is paid and what is being paid for, and the answer to both is almost always the phrase “more than you think.” All payments have repercussions, as well. It is usually a small lesson if the payment for spiritual work is only money or something that is momentarily discomforting, but on occasion bondye allows an enormous lesson to be learned for a small upfront payment, usually when there’s a long term payment.
All debt will teach a lesson. All debt is allowed because it teaches lessons.
Payment is most easily negotiable with lesser spirits, though the caveat you’d better be very careful with how you negotiate applies. They can and will take advantage of ambiguity, ignorance, and lapses in language. They will also lie and attempt to change the terms after negotiation.
The lwa will generally take whatever payment teaches a lesson, again because bondye is ultimately loving.
I would not recommend trying to negotiate with lesser spirits, and if the lwa are allowing negotiation, you’d better either be as clear as you can what lesson is being taught or in a position to trust their discretion. A human is never, ever the negotiator with advantage.
