Ethics of Binding and Banishing

[Kitsune]

I was watching one of my YouTube subscriptions a few days ago, and one of the things discussed was the differences between Binding and Banishing. She asked for responses back about it, but since I'm not really posting yet, I decided I'd hold off momentarily before voicing my answers.

I know that I am particularly venomous about Binding things (Anything!), but I've never really had any trouble with Banishing. Mainly because I think I've only met two spirits who needed banishing... the first situation was mainly due because it was furious and attacking everything around it (it seemed annoyed that my home wards were inside the walls where it couldn't see them. I assume he got zapped when he tried to blithely wander through my home instead of going around), and in the second situation I was attacked, from what I could see, for no better reason than it wanted someone to hit (honestly, I was cleaning a shelf and suddenly it started pounding on me... I never did figure out why).

Personally, I think that Binding is always wrong , and that Banishings have a time and a place but should only be used with wisdom on behalf of the practitioner .

What do you guys think though? Do you think it's ethical to bind an object to you, not to constrain it but to keep it close? Do you think that Banishing bad habits is okay, but banishing spirits constitutes a serious lack of judgement? Give me your opinion (Because this board has been way too quiet the last week!!! )

[Crazy Healer Lady]

I'm not in favour of binding, even when being cursed. I think a better solution is to get stronger (or help the curs-ee get stronger) so that they just fall away.

Banishing, as I practice it, I believe is fully OK and actually very good. I may be doing something completely different as I do not fully understand the Wiccan way of banishing, but I send spirits to the Light, escorted by my Guides, or myself. Basically I take them to the Land of the Dead. If it's just rogue energy, it gets cleared and transmuted. If it is an actual spirit, I send it to cross over, where it can be healed rather than just staying and causing trouble.

[Max]

How would you guys define binding though? I did it once, years ago, to get the school bullies to leave everyone alone, and it worked. It was along the lines of: if you do anything bad reap the consequences, if you do good then good things will happen to you, wrap a ribbon around the figures and bury them. Maybe I was doing something else and calling it by the wrong name? Feeling a bit guilty if that was considered ethically wrong in the community!

[Kystar]

Well, Binding I've always considered a total last ditch effort...and only towards something that has proven malicious that I cannot, even with help, banish, but can temporarily contain. I've helped once, but I didn't make the decision. Funny how I ended up holding onto the item they were bound in b/c I was the only one with a warded pouch and box at the time! The spirit eventually wiggled its way out, possibly b/c I wasn't going back and re-enforcing things. I was looking at it like I put the spirit in "time out" to think about consequences. I'm not sure how the others were looking at it.

My Banishings aren't all that final either, really. When I banish something, I am not trying to send it anywhere in particular. I'm just trying to cast it away. I tend to look at things like this as a way to show a spirit/entity that not everyone is a pushover, and they should think about things a little more...b/c if I, what they consider a weak mortal, can fling them away with veracity, what could someone ELSE do to them?

Not to say I haven't helped someone or something cross over, it's just not my focus when I'm banishing.

And I'm not sure if I'd consider the karma bind on the bully as un-ethical, actually. Bullies can do a number on ppl's psyche. Did you take steps to make it permanent or did you just time to be "while I have to deal with this jerk"?

I guess I consider a Permanent Binding as bad...b/c that's like how ppl in days gone by would be pitched in jail for life for little things. An abuse of power.

[Kitsune]

The woman on Youtube said that the Wiccan way of looking at the terms is that a Binding will draw something closer to you while constraining and limiting its power, while a Banishing sends something away from you entirely.

I do agree with Crazy though... Helping something bound so that it can then escape the bonds is probably the right thing to do (that's what a friend helped me to do at any rate), but now I do not bind things at all. I will Banish them, and spell them if need be, but I do not constrain the energy of others. It's just too personal for me.

It is an interesting point though. It's another case of us using the same words, but we all mean something slightly different when we say them.

What experiences have you all had with Binding and Banishing? Have you ever had one or the other go awry while you were learning?

[Hytegia]

Binding is a last-ditch resort... I've had to bind a few Spirits before, but it was a last resort. And one was a Pact made untill my use was done, so technically it isn't a BIND, per se.
Anyways, I've never really binded humans. One time I was 3 seconds away from Binding a teacher's actions to revole around me making good grades - but I refused the urge to delve into what could be argued as the most manipulative form of Cheating, and I have a personal code against violating Free Will.

GOD I HATE IT WHEN I DRIVE FROM THE TOPIC!

But yes - Irespect the rights of Banishing and Bindings if used in the right time and place for things. My Shamanism could be called Rudely interrupting the Lives of Spirits for personal whims, exchanging of titles and favors, then wrapped up with a nice Banishing to allow them to return from wherever I pulled them from. This, ofcourse, is the Summon-Compel-Banish method I use for my Magicks and the like.
...
I really drag on and on on topics, don't I?