Spammers Will Market Anything

A strange piece of spam showed up in one of my inboxex a day or two ago, nestled in amid offers to increase the size of my mammaries, the size and performance of my manhood, to refinance the home I don’t own, to sell me a watch I don’t want, obviously pirated copies of software suites I have no use for, and all the other shite that bulk email marketers peddle. In amid all that, it managed to catch my attention, as it purported to be about something I both know about, and have an interest in - magick.

“Learn to cast magic spells that actually work!” proclaimed the subject line. Much to my surprise, this quite unusual subject was actually pertinent to the subject of the email, which was some sort of offer for books on how to cast, well… spells.

Now, I’ve nothing against magic, whether you spell it with a k or not; I’ve been a neopagan for more years than I can readily count, and have cast more than a few spells in that time. Magic, in and of itself, needn’t be a religous matter, and if it is, it can be incorporated into pretty much any faith. However, there are generally - as in most things - some nigh-universal guidelines that apply to the practice of magic… or at least ought to. There, unfortunately, lies my gripe with this particular spamvertisement.

This was not an advertisement for instructions on how to ground and center yourself, on how to astral project, or how to cast healing spells. It wasn’t about improving your chi, or prosperity spells, or job-hunting spells. No, no; it was about the other sort. Black magic. Bad juju.

I shouldn’t have been surprised; spammers have no ethics to speak of, and will market anything thru their sleazy means. In a sad sort of way, that spammers are advertising how to cast love spells is sort of comforting, a sign that the screwed-up order of the world is still in force. Too, it’s quietly comforting to belong to a religion that doesn’t prosletyze, and good to see that that it hasn’t turned to spamming to find new members. On the other hand, given a populace largely unable to, and uninterested in learning to, differentiate “good witchcraft” from “bad”, peddling this ethically-challenged “karma happens to other people” tripe to the masses doesn’t do the witches, doo-dads, and other pagans and neopagans any good.

On a barely-related note, the Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance (good guys and gals all) have planned a rally at the state Capitol this coming Saturday, 24 February 2007. The goal? Recognition of the contributions of pagans to the U.S. armed forces, and acceptance of the pentacle as a symbol of faith by the federal government. At the moment, the forecast calls for a blizzard dropping six or so inches of “global warming”, unfortunately, but you never know… it could change. Think positive; it just might work.