Magic 401: The Purpose of Endings
One of the most feared magical capacities of vodou priests and spiritual workers is their capacity to cut things short, to create an ending. The idea of someone being able to light a candle or lamp and end a relationship, a job, etc is frightening. A priest does not have to touch you, nor to know you, nor to be near you. It is the idea of endings which scares people about many of the ‘evil’ or ‘dark’ lwa, and much of what scares people about death: the idea of things changing, suddenly and irrevocably, outside our control.
If this is frightening to you, it is because of what ‘drives’ your consciousness—ego and ego’s children loathe the idea of change, let alone the idea of not having control of change. They are completely incapable of directing change, but will still demand control.
People are, for the most part, also incapable of directing change in a way that fosters growth, healing, or elevation. It will happen anyway, but the blinding nature of ego and perspective will always try to prevent as much of it as possible where it contributes to healing, growth, or elevation. It’s a damn good thing ego and ego’s children (and people) are not as powerful as they think and/or say they are. If they were, positive change would be a lot less frequent.
A priest or spiritual worker will take a fee to end something, but whether it is allowed to end has a lot more to do with the divine and the involved lessons than it does the power of the priest or spiritual worker.
Endings have a divine purpose. They are both an inherent part of the cycle of existence and a kindness the divine has given to all existence. It is kind to put a stop to something which is harmful, stagnant, or simply at an ending. It is kind to let something end when it has run its course. It is kind to give someone back the years they would have spent on a relationship that is going nowhere good, or the years they would spend trying to do something they cannot until conditions change.
An ending gives you back something—time, energy—you would otherwise have spent less usefully. An ending at the right place and time will get you somewhere faster than blind persistence would.
An ending will let you start over. That’s what death does and the point of reincarnation: death allows you to start over on the lessons you have tried but not completed, in conditions which will allow you to get more done on it.
It is especially unkind to let something drag on because you do not wish to be bothered with ending it. There is something monstrously selfish in allowing a situation to continue to degenerate because you simply can’t be arsed to say “no.”
Reaching the point where you can view endings this way is not an easy prospect, nor is it possible in every life. If it is possible, getting there requires a teacher.
