Rejecting Control-Based Spirituality

In an age where “spirituality” is often marketed as a tool to manifest, attract, or control rather than to humble, awaken, or align, the easiest thing in the world is to slip into judgment, comparison, and validation-seeking. Ever since, humans have looked outward instead of inward, we began bargaining with reality instead of taking responsibility.

Much of what we call “spiritual practice” today is surface image spirituality and even bargain-hunting:

“I’ll meditate if it makes me calmer.”

“I’ll pray if it makes me successful.”

“I’ll do the ritual if it gets me what I want.”

But this is not spirituality: it’s black magic.

Control-Based Spirituality Is Black Magic

Black magic is the use of spiritual language or tools to exert control over what must be surrendered. What’s missing is the depth: the raw responsibility, the willingness to confront ego, the courage to let go of control.

On the surface, trying to control life and outcomes can seem like a noble or even spiritual goal—often well-intentioned. But underneath, it reflects something deeply human: the desire to control mystery. This is why so many are drawn to services like divination, which promises, “Tell me the future so I can avoid discomfort.” Or to so-called “karmic clearers,” offering, “Give me power over what scares me.” And in grief, many become vulnerable to mediums who use necromancy, lured by the hope, “Let me bypass pain and control death itself.”

This is spirituality bent toward control rather than surrender. It looks like a ritual, but its engine is fear. That’s why it’s black magic: not because it’s spooky, but because it uses spirit to bend reality to ego. The use of spiritual tools (mirrors, rituals, words of power) not to grow, but to preserve ego. It’s as alive today in manifestation culture and Instagram spirituality.

Modern spirituality often promises empowerment, abundance, and personal magnetism. But at what point does spiritual practice become ego-enhancement wrapped in ritual?

Many people on the spiritual path, unfortunately, carry a hidden agenda: to feel better and avoid suffering. They become highly reactive, consuming every teaching or tool when they know they need help because the pain is loud and the need is urgent. But when life feels calm, good, or “under control,” they tend to become complacent. They self-medicate with bits of spiritual content only when it suits them, using wisdom like a painkiller rather than a path.

Black magic isn’t about wands and potions, it’s about trying to manipulate fate and bypass lessons or growth opportunities through shortcuts. It’s using expensive and exclusive rituals, symbols, or beliefs not for insight, but to gain control over what we cannot accept about our life, the world, or others.

Becoming Wholehearted

Against this, the solution is to become simple, humble and wholehearted. This doesn’t mean naive. It means unfractured, sincere, whole. Instead of trying to manipulate mystery, stand in integrity with it. Instead of bargaining with God, life, or the universe, meet reality with trust and clarity. 

The solution is what the goal has always been: you’re not meant to know everything. You’re meant to grow. Rather than chase secret knowledge or control, the invitation is to live with spiritual integrity to be present, open, and rooted in truth.

You don’t reach out for support only when you’re in a breakdown. You stay connected to your healing process in both the highs and lows: not to “fix” yourself, but to evolve with intention.

You don’t hide your suffering to maintain a perfect image. You allow the consequences of your past choices to unfold, to teach, to transform. You let the karma burn out: not bypassed, not buried, but seen and lived through.

Social media has bred a society that is obsessed with being loved by everyone on the planet. Much like the Evil Queen in Snow White we look at our screens and think it’s a mirror. “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…” the classic line from Snow White is a perfect metaphor:

The queen isn’t seeking wisdom—she’s seeking confirmation of supremacy. She uses a magical object not to evolve, but to maintain illusion. When the mirror challenges her fantasy (someone else is “fairest”), she lashes out destructively.

This is textbook black-magic thinking: seeking tools, rituals, or spiritual channels not to grow but to validate, dominate, or secure ego-driven desires. Fairy tales teach us this, too: the Evil Queen’s “mirror mirror on the wall” is a form of enchanted divination.

The way out of this pattern and eventual ugliness is simple. Let go of the obsession with knowing outcomes. Let go of enchantments that promise improvement. Be rooted in sincerity. In trust. In the present. It’s not anti-mystery, it’s anti-manipulation.

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