“Good” and “Evil” as Types of Energy

Although Magic, as a practically oriented worldview, seeks to avoid socially conditioned categories — and those categories are highly relative — the Myth we are examining has produced specific views on the nature of good and evil.

If one sets aside subjective notions of convenience, comfort, and wellbeing, and attempts to identify an objective core, then by “good” one might understand all kinds of energy that promote the evolution of consciousness (even if they are subjectively experienced as uncomfortable or even painful), and by “evil” those energies that hinder that evolution (even if they appear convenient and pleasant).

Let us make a brief excursion into terminology, since from Magic’s point of view, nomen est numen, “the name is the essence” of an object, relying on its logos.

Good, viewed as an energy, is traditionally called the bonus (Lat. bonus), and this term derives from ancient Greek «δέος» — “victory in war.” In other words, “bonus” is the energy that helps to triumph, reach new heights and open new perspectives. From this point of view, it is clear why the traumatic and often painful energy of angels is nevertheless a bonus: it is generally evolutionary in orientation.

The energy of evil is traditionally called the malus (Lat. malus), from Ancient Greek «μέλας» — “dark” and «μῆλον» — “small.” “Malus” is also an energy — the capacity to bring about certain realizations; yet this energy at the same time “diminishes” and “obscures” a being or system. This means that malus, on the one hand, reverses a being’s development and, on the other, deprives it of its “light,” that is, of awareness. Thus, even when demons grant certain “goods” or “knowledge,” this occurs at the expense of malus — at the cost of “evolutionary sacrifices.”

Accordingly, the serpent’s famous promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden — “Eritis sicut Deus, scientes bonum et malum” — can be read as “You will be like God in wielding bonus and malus,” i.e., ascending and descending energies, and related to the alchemical procedure “Ascendit a terra in cǽlum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum” (“It ascends from the earth to heaven and again descends to the earth, receiving the power of both the superior and the inferior regions of the world,” the “Emerald Tablet”).

It is clear that these energies are manifestations of primal forces — Attraction and Repulsion, in terms of a being’s relationship with its Higher layers: bonus is the energy that attracts the neshama to the yechida, while malus is the repulsion of the yechida from the nefeshem.

At the same time, not every repulsive energy turns into malus: the “positive” expression of that energy is anger, which is in no way identical to evil. Malus is the energy that forces a being to turn against itself, producing a schism in the flow of consciousness, and thus evil is regarded as the offspring of the force of division — Naxash.

Any demonic manifestation is accompanied by malus: it is precisely on the mind’s ‘split’, on its internal contradictions, that its inefficiency is rooted — leading to the dissipation of energy and feeding demons.

As types of energy, both bonus and malus can be used and redirected in rituals, and achieving results through “demonic energies” is precisely such a use of malus. Nevertheless, the properties of these energies remain, and therefore however positive the effect of employing malus may seem, it still brings evolutionary decline.

Accordingly, the ability to identify the energies manifesting during a ritual or other situation is an important way to determine the nature of the beings participating in that interaction. It is well known that “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light,” and the manifestations of many demonic powers are quite majestic and luminous. Yet they are always accompanied by malus, which is a negative evolutionary effect. We have repeatedly said that any contact with infernal forces always “lowers the temperature” of the mind — reducing its capacity for love, compassion, and harmony.

At the same time, contact with Wrathful spirits is, as a rule, accompanied by bonus, although it can be extremely traumatic. However, the destruction they wreak is more often evolutionary: it frees space and provides opportunities for new development, new growth of consciousness. In the process, the capacity for love and compassion increases.

Training in the “direct perception” of energy allows one to identify bonus and malus directly; however, until this ability is sufficiently developed, one must rely on indirect signs and the “aftertaste”.

In any case, a Magus must analyze any contact with energy: what is the energy’s direction, and thus the prospects for interaction.