Magickal Addiction Options

I'm not sure exactly where this topic should fit in, so if you can think of a better place for it feel free to move it. I know that a lot of writers and directors use magick as a metaphor for drugs (Joss Whedon comes to mind) and I was wondering what your thoughts were on addiction to magick. Do you think that people can actually get mentally addicted to using magick? And, if so, have you had any experiences either directly or indirectly

This post has been edited by Thorn: Dec 9 2006, 12:03 AM

It's interesting that you brought this topic up because I was discussing this with my friend (a fellow magician) just yesterday. According to him, most magick (other than a few kinds like healing magick) is in essence not meant for this world. He feels that when one draws upon powers for magick it must come from malevolent beings because no being of a higher order would normally intervene with affairs of this reality. As such, magicians draw powers from beings that slowly sap your spiritual energy and cause you to become obsessed. I'm not sure how much stock I put into this theory, however, I think that the idea of using magick (specifically for strictly non-growth oriented or altruistic means) can have long-term adverse affects, such as becoming addicted. Anything that produces pleasure or satisfaction is potentially habit forming and one can become obsessed with it. I think that magick is no exception. If magick works in the way I think it does (and I really hope I'm right), there are natural barriers to prevent individuals without the best intentions of affecting serious results, and such from causing serious negative side-effects. And hopefully individuals who do deal with higher and stronger (and perhaps potentially more addictive and dangerous) magick have already developed their constitutions out of necessity with previous spiritual growth and learning from past failures. I'd really like to see some other peoples opinions on this matter.