Epilepsy and Magic/Ritual?

[earth_dragon]

Does anyone else here have epilepsy or some other kind of seizure disorder? And if so, how do you handle it during magickal workings and ritual? It's never occurred (so far as I'm aware) but I've always wondered what would happen if I should go into seizure when in the middle of ritual or casting a spell? What if I'm sending or calling back energy and suddenly ZAP!!! there goes my brain, off doing its own thing.

I imagine that could be seriously dangerous.

For the record, I do not have Grand Mal seizures, I have Absence and Complex Partial seizures. But I would still think that could be a very bad thing if one hit during particular times when magickal energy is high.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

[Mandi]

Does anyone else here have epilepsy or some other kind of seizure disorder? And if so, how do you handle it during magickal workings and ritual?

I have epilepsy too, though not as bad as you. It's improved as I aged, and I usually know when one is coming on - though sometimes I think one is and nothing happens, which is annoying lol. Are you controlling it with medication at all? I'm coming off lamictal at the moment (I was using it as a mood stabelizer, but it's also used for epilepsy so it could complicate matters in that department too).

As for it being dangerous in a magickal sense, I'm reluctant to answer, because I'm very new on this spiritual path. So I think someone else can handle that one for me The Goddess and God make me feel very safe and secure, however, so it isn't something I worry about too much. I feel they would keep me safe if something happens.

Also, make sure everything is safe around you, such as if your burning candles or anything like that. I don't know about you, but as I said, I feel it coming on if I'm about to pass out of have a seizure; if you can, try and stay very aware of your body even when meditating.

[RandallS]

I imagine that could be seriously dangerous.

I doubt it would be much different from having to suddenly stop a casting or ritual for any other reason. Years ago, I was in a ritual when someone just collapsed. Naturally the ritual came to a dead stop (and never restarted) as dealing with the sick person took priority. Nothing bad happened, although a couple of people involved got bad headaches, probably from not grounding the energy raised.

[Jenett]

Does anyone have any thoughts?

There's three different things to think about here: physical safety, magical safety, and how ritual work may or may not affect the condition itself. (Epilepsy not one of the things I deal with personally, but I've got group experience with people with some similar conditions.)

Physical safety
There's some stuff where even fairly brief blips of inattention can potentially be dangerous. Open candle flames. Sharp objects. (And even more so if you have pets or small children in the house while you're doing ritual work: it does not take very long at all for a cat to stick a tail in an open flame or knock something off an altar.)

There's also some considerations for breakables - I use heavier ceramic most of the time rather than glass, because some of my medical stuff makes me glitch with clumsiness from time to time, and if I drop the ceramic it's a) less likely to break and b) if it does, doesn't leave tiny shards of glass to step on later.

This doesn't mean 'don't do ritual'. But it does mean thinking through every possible failure mode and finding some solutions. (Candles in stable glass containers, using other materials when possible for breakables, developing extremely reliable habits around handling potentially risky items, etc.)

Magical safety
The best advice I have is to build up slowly, and make sure you have someone (familiar with your condition and what to do) observing each time you try something new for the first time (and particularly things that involve running a lot of energy, or doing major self-transformative work, or anything else where the energy running through you is substantial or different.)

There's particular kinds of work I'd be extra careful about - aspecting/channelling/Drawing Down (because it's handing over your body to another entity at some level, and that's always complicated), for example.

I'd also be extra careful of deep trance work, because the disconnect between physical reality and mental reality can make it trickier for people with medical conditions that are already complicated that way to come back, or fully back, or comfortably back. (Most of those issues can be handled pretty easily by having an aware spotter with a few things to try, but much better that than being on your own.)

Ritual work complicating things
One of the most obvious here is group work - group work can be amazingly awesome, but it also adds a lot of complicating factors that are outside our own control. And that can be really hard. In such cases, a brief bit of advance notice to whoever is running the ritual (what a seizure normally looks like for you, what the normal practice is, and under what circumstances they should in fact call 911)

Plus whatever might affect the practical aspects ritual work - you might not be the best person to carry a delicate glass bowl around the circle until everyone's sure what your likely reaction to group ritual is going to be, for example.

But beyond that, there's also the part where ritual work ideally changes things for us. And that's also the unpredictable part. I have found, as a general rule, that well-designed ritual and magical work tends to *reduce* issues for me in circle (which is awesome: asthma issues are fewer, migraine issues are fewer, etc.)

But I don't trust that that's always going to be the case. And it's also something I'm a lot more cautious about if I'm doing something new to me, or with new people, or in any other setting where things are more unpredictable. (Which can be as simple as odd weather for that time of year, or a week in which my other commitments are different than usual, or whatever.)

[earth_dragon]

I have epilepsy too, though not as bad as you. It's improved as I aged, and I usually know when one is coming on - though sometimes I think one is and nothing happens, which is annoying lol. Are you controlling it with medication at all? I'm coming off lamictal at the moment (I was using it as a mood stabelizer, but it's also used for epilepsy so it could complicate matters in that department too).

I'm on tons of meds, but my seizures are just very difficult to control. For instance, I've never held a driver's license because I'm not medically allowed to. There's too large a chance that I could seize while driving. I was on Lamictal for about 6 months, and then I developed that dreaded rash and it landed me in the hospital. Please watch out for that on yourself. It's serious stuff!

[earth_dragon]

There's three different things to think about here: physical safety, magical safety, and how ritual work may or may not affect the condition itself. (Epilepsy not one of the things I deal with personally, but I've got group experience with people with some similar conditions.)

Physical safety

That's something I have to take into account every single day about every single thing because of the type of seizures I have. My absence seizures mean I could just be cooking in my own kitchen, suddenly blank out for a few seconds or even a minute or so, and set my clothes/kitchen on fire. So it's something I've learned to plan far ahead for in everything, including ritual.

Magical safety
The best advice I have is to build up slowly, and make sure you have someone (familiar with your condition and what to do) observing each time you try something new for the first time (and particularly things that involve running a lot of energy, or doing major self-transformative work, or anything else where the energy running through you is substantial or different.)

There's particular kinds of work I'd be extra careful about - aspecting/channelling/Drawing Down (because it's handing over your body to another entity at some level, and that's always complicated), for example.

I'd also be extra careful of deep trance work, because the disconnect between physical reality and mental reality can make it trickier for people with medical conditions that are already complicated that way to come back, or fully back, or comfortably back...

Meditation and channeling are exactly the kinds of things that I've found to be the most difficult. A few months ago I was with a group that was led thru deep meditation. And while I found the experience enjoyable and definitely worthwhile, it was difficult for me to recover. Visibly difficult, even, to those around me. And I've just plain stopped Drawing Down. I've found it's not a good thing for me. It's too much.

Ritual work complicating things
One of the most obvious here is group work - group work can be amazingly awesome, but it also adds a lot of complicating factors that are outside our own control. And that can be really hard. In such cases, a brief bit of advance notice to whoever is running the ritual (what a seizure normally looks like for you, what the normal practice is, and under what circumstances they should in fact call 911)...

Yeah, I make it a point to always let those around me know about my condition and any precautions that might need to be taken. I pretty much know what my physical limitations are, but I've wondered about what would happen to the energy if I should just go down during ritual, especially if I'm by myself. I always try to make sure I'm taking all the precautions I can, tho.

Many thanks to all of you. You've given me a lot to think about.