While it may be surprising to hear these words here, Nine Woods adheres to these principles. They are credited to the BDSM/kink community as guidelines on how to behave while in kink spaces and relationships.
However, Nine Woods believes that they are so simple, clear, and important that we utilize the same thoughts here. As long as your practice is safe - for yourself, other humans, your family, friends, pets, the planet, then it is worthwhile to pursue.
If your practice inflicts mental harm upon yourself or others (we will speak about cursing and hexing later on) then it is not safe, and therefore shouldn’t be followed.
When dealing with a practice that includes other people, it needs to be consensual, and this explicitly includes sexual magic and practices. If the people involved all don’t give a resounding, affirmative, joyful “yes!” then it is not a practice to pursue.
The concept of daily magic is the simplest, yet most complex principle in the Nine Woods tradition. It is the foundation of Nine Woods. Each day can be a spiritual experience as long as we look at life through the lens of magic. Each moment in life can be a moving experience as long as we tune into the moments that we are living. More information and tips will be given in the Daily Magic Guidebook.
While we do not condone harm for harm’s sake, we do acknowledge that we live in a society where power is grossly out of balance. We view jinxing, hexing, and cursing as a way of self-defense. We view these practices as ways that we can take a little bit of power back into our own hands, and as a way to help give our righteous anger a valid channel to work through. Righteous anger can be found here [link to article forthcoming]
*Please go through appropriate “mundane” channels if you are in danger such as calling the police, or getting legal and medical advice from appropriate authorities and professionals FIRST. The Nine Woods Tradition and Autumn Blackwood are not liable for any harm done by ignoring first basic steps and going straight to magic.*
Members of this tradition are urged to live in a way that is respectful and inclusive of the land. This includes calling upon the four classic elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water that many other Neo-Pagan traditions - and nearly all religions and spiritual practices - call upon. This is because these are the natural building blocks of our world, without any one of these, things fall into disarray, the world as we know it ceases to exist. This beautiful, life-giving planet has a delicate balance of these four elements and we believe that honoring them is crucial to our practices.
Below are how Nine Woods is bringing a sense of honor to these elements as well as some examples of how to incorporate them into your life.