Danger! Danger!

I was reading a very interesting thread today about the dangers inherent in working magic. Are there dangers? If so, what are they?

Some believe that your "level of power" limits what you can accomplish and how much damage you can do.
I mostly disagree: Children have started fires, and children have injured or killed others or themselves when playing with a gun they thought was a toy. What is their level of mundane "power?" Not so much, but they can still do some serious damage.

If you have the ingredients, you can make the recipe. That's when sht blows up.

It's true that there are certain doors which are open only to initiates and certain streams of magic open only to those tapped into that flow, but there is enough information available out there, enough streams waiting to be tapped by the casual passer-by. The main safety check we, as Witches, have had is secrecy. This is a major drawback to mainstreaming. However, most folks stop at the shiny happy neon feel good and don't explore further. And that's ok. Some, however, go right for the serious stuff.

So what can happen to the practitioner? Karma kicks em? The spell blows back onto them? They're possessed by forces they didn't understand? They made a deal without realizing the implications? Nothing? All are possibilities. I don't really believe in the three-fold law. I do believe that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

I'm going to leave this as food for thought tonight. I'll get back to the part 2s I promised as soon as I can!