The Law of Congruity is the law of cause and effect: every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

That does not imply that the effect is either relative or recognizable in any human evaluation-it simply is what it says it is.

The Law of Congruity does not apply to matter only, but to thought and energy (such as speech and mood).

The Eastern term for this law is called karma, and it is balanced by dharma, the recognition of the law of karma (which is like fate or destiny) that allows the balancing of imbalance through
right speech, thought, and action.

All of our techniques so far have been for the purposes of control and clarity without force.

All of the techniques so far have aimed at opening you up to the reality of the Law of Congruity.

The point here is that you now know how to redress dysfunctions so that your magic is untainted by ineptitude and your priesthood in Witchcraft is clear of false images.

You know now.

Once you know a thing, you can’t unknow it.

Once you know a thing, any deviation from the truth of that knowing will go crashing out of control, not only through your own consciousness but out into the world of manifestation, much, much louder than it would have been before you knew, therefore arcing back to you the experiences relative to the harmonic of that dysfunction.

Do you see now?

The clearer you get, the louder the clang of any deviation from that clarity that’s the Law of Congruity.

So, also, is the harmonic of clear, focused will when it travels from you, ensuring that the return arc is synchronistic.

That’s spell crafting at its maximum effectiveness.

The Law of Congruity: every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Try hanging a set of chimes outside your door or a bell.
Ringing bells and chimes are said to ward off and dismiss those negative energies that may wish to imprint themselves on your life.

Place a small guardian totem such as a dragon or gargoyle and explain it’s duties.
People will just think you like statues of animals, usually.

The most important thing to note when getting into witchery is that supplies are anything at your disposal. You don’t need fancy materials. A simple candle or a small necklace is more than enough.
Whatever feels right to you works. Whatever you have space for works. Whatever you have the budget for works. Spirituality is meant to mold itself to your life, not the other way around.

That said, here is a very broad list of common supplies and materials across many paths and beliefs. Keep in mind that you might not use these for one reason or another – no matter the reason, use what works for you.

– Candles (in a variety of colors)(remember white is a universal color)
– Incense of a variety
– Jars, bottles, boxes (save all ur store bought jars or baby food jars)
– Bowls, cups, chalices
– Mortar & pestle
– Bags or satchels
– Crystals (especially quartz)
– Herbs (especially rosemary or sage, dried or fresh)
– Plants or seeds
– Notebooks or journals
– Salt (sea salt, Himalayan salt, black salt)
– Symbols (pentacle, pentagram, cross, ankh, whatever feels right)
– Water
– Cutting tools (knives, blades, athames, etc)
– Divination tools (tarot cards, bones, pendulums, etc)
– Seasonal items (pumpkins for Autumn, flowers for Spring, sun symbols for Summer, etc)
– Clothes of a certain style or a set ritual set of clothes (depends on your practice)
– Besom or broom
– Wands (can be bought or handmade, materials vary; some witches use pointed crystals, others use wood wands, some use branches, etc)
– Food or plant waste (egg shells, flower petals, dead plants, bones, fruit peels, etc)
– Poppets or dolls

Work with what you have and allow yourself time to learn, space to grow, and flexibility in your Craft. This is especially important for beginner Witches who feel they aren’t good enough. You don’t have to be anything but yourself.

Wicca and Modern Druidry began in the 1950s.

They have their roots and inspiration in the old traditions of Witchcraft and the Druids, yet were formed in order to create branches of a modern Western Paganism that celebrated Nature in all its glory.

Two friends, Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols met around a decade earlier and shared together their mutual interest in magical lore, history, and the occult.

Gardner published a book called Witchcraft Today, and the religion of Wicca was born.

Nichols introduced Druidry to the world at large in the mid-1960s, based on the Celtic mythology of Ireland and Britain, history and folklore as well as what he had learned as a member of the Ancient Druid Order.

Wicca and Druidry held much in common, as you would imagine, as Gardner and Ross shared so much together in the development of their respective but related paths.

Wicca, as the modern formal religion and interpretation of Witchcraft, often contained three degrees, much in the same way that the ancient Druids had the three levels of Bard, Ovate and Druid.

Both followed a modern “Wheel of the Year”, where ancient festivals and holidays were incorporated into the modern calendar, and rites and rituals created around them to celebrate the seasonal and cyclical nature of the traditions.

Wicca and Modern Druidry share much in common, and can be seen as different but related “languages” that express a similar reverence for the cycles of nature, the gods, the ancestors and more.

Both have their roots and inspiration in an ancient past, and yet were developed for the modern world to bring back the magic and wonder of nature into everyday life, through rituals and prayer, work and dedication.

Wicca is a religion that follows a dual concept of deity, a goddess and god.

Wicca and Witchcraft have often been two terms that were used interchangeably; however, this is now occurring less and less as the traditions seek a distinction between themselves for various reasons.

While most Wiccans would say that they are Witches, not all Witches are Wiccans.

As stated previously, Witchcraft was not a religion, but a practice.

As far as we can tell, there was no dual concept of deity dating back to ancient times.

This is a modern interpretation of the forces of nature, which works as a good model for many in the Wiccan tradition.

The goddess is all-important, and it is her relationship with the god that is the basis for the cyclical and seasonal celebrations.

Many Wiccans call this the “Old Religion” stemming from an ancient matriarchal society but this is something of a misnomer.

It is largely due to the work of anthropologist  Margaret Murray that we have this reasoning which cannot be proven or disproven, hence there is much debate.

Murray’s work was able to state that Witchcraft was based in a pre-Christian pagan tradition, but to hypothesise further and state that it all derived from a matriarchal Mother Goddess culture is merely just that: a theory.

The other modern Wiccan concept of “all the gods are one God, and all the goddesses are one Goddess” is a further theory developed from Murray’s work in the late 1970s through the 1990s, mostly promoted by feminist Wiccans such as the brilliant Starhawk.

Again, this is not something that has a factual basis in an anthropological context, and is hotly contested by many Pagans, whether they are Witches, Wiccans, Druids or from any other tradition.

Within Paganism, you will find polytheists (believing in many distinct and separate deities), pantheists (all deities are aspects of a divine force), monotheists (such as the Christian Druids who worship God through nature), or even monists (nature is God).

How you choose to incorporate religion, should you wish to in your tradition, is entirely up to you.

And so, Witchcraft is using your wits and intelligence, your own personal power and the powers of nature in order to change the world around you, to affect and effect change.

It uses charms and potions, herbal, animal and weather lore, as well as an innate sense of the spirit or energy that dwells in all things.

It has an animistic outlook, similar but yet different to Wicca and Druidry.

Wicca focuses on the turning of the Wheel of the Year, often symbolized by the relationship between dual deities, the Goddess and the God.

This relationship is reflected in the natural world around us, in the changing of the seasons, in nature and also in human nature.

It is a religion as well as a practice.

Druidry focuses more on inspiration, on questing the awen, seeking to find one’s place in the human world and the natural world, to live in balance and harmony.

It is about becoming a functioning part of an ecosystem, where we understand that all lives are connected; that we are a part of a whole.

Some say that Modern Druidry, in relation to Wicca, focuses on the product of the union of the Goddess and God, rather than the relationship between the two.

It is beyond the scope of this work to provide a full and detailed history and all relevant information pertaining to Witchcraft, Wicca and
Druidry.

Re-enchanting our lives is the very reason that Witchcraft, Wicca and Druidry can blend so easily together.

Whether you view any of the above as a religion, a philosophy or simply a way of life is irrelevant; what we must acknowledge is that at their core they attempt to honor a preChristian tradition, spirituality or practice of Europe and the British Isles.

This has been handed down in fragments for us to investigate and reinterpret in order to create beautiful traditions that help us to reweave
our connection to the natural world.

In today’s modern society, we can so often drop the threads of connection, as we live in high-rise apartments, cope with new pressures and stress from modern society, working eight hours a day while raising our children, and so on.

Wicca, Witchcraft and Druidry help us to reconnect to the past while envisioning a future that holds the powers of nature in the highest
regard.

It is about honoring the cycles of life and death, of transformation and rebirth.

It is about re-enchantment, and learning to bring the magic back into our lives.

It is about dropping the boundaries between the sacred and the mundane, and truly living magical lives.

In Witchcraft and magick, glyph is a term used to describe a powerful symbol that represents a person, place, or thing.

When the glyph is consecrated, and/or acted upon, it can ward off psychic attack, illness, and bad luck.

Most glyphs are a combination of an individual’s name and birth date.

These are inscribed upon a piece of parchment with special ink and corresponding astrological symbols.

The glyph is worn for protection by the person for whom it was made.

Personal Protection Glyph

To make the protection glyph, you will first need to work out your name numerically.

Use the chart below to change the letters in your name into numbers

Add numbers together Add numbers together to get a single digit: To make the glyph, you will need a small round metal disk, a black marking pen, and a pouch to place the disk in when you are finished. On one side of the disk, write the single digit for your name. On the other side, inscribe this symbol:

As you draw the symbol, visualize a protective shield surrounding you, protecting you from the negative thoughts of others.

Seal the disk by inscribing a pentagram in the centre of the symbol. Place the disk in the pouch and carry for protection.

In Witchcraft and magick, glyph is a term used to describe a powerful symbol that represents a person, place, or thing.

When the glyph is consecrated, and/or acted upon, it can ward off psychic attack, illness, and bad luck.

Most glyphs are a combination of an individual’s name and birth date.

These are inscribed upon a piece of parchment with special ink and corresponding astrological symbols.

The glyph is worn for protection by the person for whom it was made.

Personal Protection Glyph

To make the protection glyph, you will first need to work out your name numerically.

Use the chart below to change the letters in your name into numbers

Add numbers together
Add numbers together to get a single digit:

To make the glyph, you will need a small round metal disk, a black marking pen, and a pouch to place the disk in when you are finished.

On one side of the disk, write the single digit for your name. On the other side, inscribe this symbol:

As you draw the symbol, visualize a protective shield surrounding you, protecting you from the negative thoughts of others.

Seal the disk by inscribing a pentagram in the centre of the symbol. Place the disk in the pouch and carry for protection.

Focus is rather difficult to describe in a linear fashion.

It is achieved when you link emotion and intellect in one function for the purpose of actualization, by will, of the desired outcome.

It does not allow the ego to interfere with its function.

It is the deep stillness. It is the silence behind all action/interaction.

It does not allow the mind or the heart to act independently of the purpose it seeks to attain.

The preparation required of you when working magic, as well as ritual, if possible should be done with the idea of excellence kept clearly at the forefront of your thoughts.

Should you be preparing a sacred space in which to work magic and ritual, seek to personalize the entire process by doing the best you can.

As your awareness assists you in being prepared for whatever you are doing, or for the next stage of your quest, so preparation is a necessary function of intent.

For all of the people out there who are looking to spiritual systems, whether exoteric or esoteric, or who look to sorcerous systems and metaphysical pursuits to make themselves into better people, find peace, increase their overall well-being, to them I say “keep looking and good luck.”

Exoteric religions alone among those various interests may give someone the impetus or inspiration they need to become ‘good’ (at least according to some specific definition unique to the religion) but the rest of those pursuits aren’t really about that.

The practice of Sorcery, in any of its genuine recensions, isn’t primarily about moral growth or peace and tranquility, though some people may, by happenstance of Fate, find some element of that inside it. But you can’t come looking for that, or you really won’t find it, and for an important reason.

Sorcery is impossible to pin down, just like the wind.

Few people have the constitution to deal with such an insubstantial Art, such an unpredictable and indescribable metaphysical reality.

But far from discarding Sorcery, or the pursuit of it, most people take the other route- they just change it to suit them.

By changing it, by telling the wind that it has to be earth now, they actually lose it altogether, but they keep holding on to something they describe as “sorcery”.

You’ll know these people easily, if you keep your mind on the wind- they tend to talk a good deal, but yield nothing in the way of tangible results.

Can the intangible yield tangible results? I must say, it can; but its results are often very subtle.

Don’t feel let down- when its results aren’t subtle, they are as visible and unquestionable as a thunderstorm.

But sorcery, like wisdom, is good at hiding, and good at avoiding people who aren’t yet ready to be like the wind.

It scorns the people of inflexible concepts, who have to have everything explained and “locked down”; it looks kindly upon the people of fire and wind.

And this insubstantial nature of Sorcery is more profoundly insubstantial than you think- sometimes, right when you think you don’t have it, is when you discover that you do.

Sometimes, or oftentimes, in my experience, the unplanned workings, the unplanned and rather spontaneous trances, visions, conjurations, and works are the most powerful.

That should trouble anyone who wants a formula-book; formula books are only good for one thing- they orient the mind and the desire towards the sorcerous worldview and aesthetic.

After that, if you are lucky, the magic comes and begins to find you, largely spontaneously.

Our friends in “Golden Dawn” type magical lodge-working are champions at planning out every detail of a magical work; for the wicked life of me, I can’t begin to imagine how that can be “magic” as I have come to understand it.

It may be an almost yogic sort of mind-conditioning, a transformative practice in some ways, but certainly not sorcery in the ancient and visceral sense.

If it’s authentic sorcery you want, as the ancients had it, you have to be able to do impossible things- like tying the winds together, or making a dead tree come back to life.

Maybe braiding the hair of a toad, or capturing the sound of a cat’s footfall in your left hand might be called for at times.

These “impossible” tasks force a person’s mind into a helpless quandary, which is right where you want to be.

Paradox? Of course. But an initiatory one. Ordinary people don’t want to be confused or helpless or befuddled.

The sorcerer knows how to adjust to those kinds of situations and make them work, because like air, like the wind, they can take any shape, move around any obstacle, fly over any mountain, cut through any person, and, over time, even wear the great mountains down to sand.

Helplessness can be strength. Silence can be noise. Death can be life.

You should welcome challenges, as a test of sorcerous cunning- an opportunity to learn and sharpen one’s subtle skills.

The problem with the above mentioned “sorcerous tasks” isn’t that they may be impossible, but that you are reading them and thinking about them while connected to your red fetter- the body.

In reality, the body isn’t a trap, isn’t a fetter, but until you learn to use your white body, your wind-body, the witch’s flying fetch, your thinking is centered in a very material-seeming sense to a world with a few simple rules- rules that don’t include “tying” gasses or clutching at sounds.

In that limited way of seeing, the body seems like a big weight holding you down, and limiting you to space, time, gravity, and the never ending struggle of wealth versus poverty, and health versus illness. But the wind body- it can transcend the apparent rules, quite easily, as easily as a breeze passing by you in the night.

The soul, the wind-body, is a granary full of grains of power.

Countless powers- countless capacities, many which have never been named before- all gathered inside that silo of a body that you bathe and feed and give medicine to when it feels bad.

Ever notice how taking care of the ordinary body is precisely like keeping a pet?

We respond quite carefully to our bodily pains and wants, but never to our soul’s needs and wants, at least, not often.

Unlike your body-pet, the soul won’t die on you one day. However, unless you’ve gotten used to living and experiencing the world in that sorcerous wind-body by the time you die, you will miss your pet greatly, and be pained by it- maybe confused, maybe lost.

The soul is the secret granary of witchery.

But every collection of great grains needs a silo to house it, so the body is an anchor to completeness.

There is no “soul=good, body=bad” logic to be found in real sorcery.

There is no “ignore the senses” logic, either, as we have seen.

The senses are tied to the body, making your body, like your soul, a sorcerous vessel.

It’s just a vessel that has a particular destiny, while the soul has another.

For this meeting we call a lifetime, a full being has expressed itself, and that is a being of fearful terrors and many wonders.

If you’re only living from the red body, the body of blood and tissues, sorcery is just a bunch of words and lame, weird ideas.

There is no explanation for it that will suit you, at all.

When you engage the white and the red, soul and body, you start to realize the uncomfortable truth- Sorcery has no actual “hard and fast” rules.

It doesn’t work on a “logic”- it works because the world is sorcerous, and you by nature are also sorcerous, and because in such a nature, strange things occur pretty regularly.

You have to pay attention to their occurrences- they flow here and there, mostly unpredictable, but sometimes not- and leap into their weird flowing.

You have to be ready to have faith- some sorcerous occurrences are signaled by subtle events that lead up to them, and you have to take a chance at them.

You have to learn to recognize, to be very aware, very awake, very attentive, with all your senses.

Every real sorcerer is a master or mistress of opportunity.

They don’t miss much.

And I know what they are all looking for- the secret that makes magic really work- something I call “the authentic moment”, or the owl’s blink.

An “owlblink” is also a folkloric name for a curse or a harmful hexing; but, as a swift, silent, sudden occurrence, which really can’t be predicted, it is another name I give to the magical “authentic” moment.

And this moment, which happens when it will, is one of the sources of your real power to bring about sorcery.

It is a moment in which many insubstantial threads all get tied together and coincide just right, just perfect. You’ve experienced them before, trust me; but the more aware and awake you make yourself, the more you see with the soul, the more you’ll see that these special moments are moments when anything can really be possible.

This is the final truth at the bottom of the bag of sorcerous cunning- the authentic moment is something you search for, something you can live in joyful anticipation of.

You can’t search for it without inspiration, without a passionate love for the aesthetic of sorcery, the mystical, and the insubstantial.

You have to be excited for this kind of strange pursuit.

You have to love it. And, without even planning it, you’ll feel that sorcerous moment coming for you- there, at night, alone, as the winds pound the trees outside, your imagination will suddenly flare up, quite outside of your control, filling you with visions of the Pale People moving quietly through the crust of the Earth outside, and you’ll want to go to them.

Some of them look like dead people you’ve known; others have unearthly beauty, and some unearthly ugliness.

You’ll feel like you’re as light as a feather, a leaf on the wind, and you’ll dream of just flying through your window on the wind, to fly right into their company.

You’ll have insights about things you needed insights on.

You’ll have spontaneous emotional reactions. And just like that- maybe in minutes, maybe in an hour, you’ll be “you” again.

Things will seem more ordinary again.

But you will know that it was very real; it doesn’t feel the same as what you might call “an idle imagination”- you felt the chill in your spine; you know that, for a brief moment, or series of moments, your soul went away, and danced with otherworldly things. And this experience can never be repeated.

No real sorcerous work is ever repeated precisely as it was done before, just as no wind blows the same way twice, and no river flows the same way in the same place twice.

To grasp the Sorcerous, authentic moment is to drink from “The Cup That Must Be Broken”- the ancient vessel of sacrifice that was destroyed as soon as it was used.

That sacrifice was never repeated, always new, always evergreen, any time it was done.

No authentic sorcerous work is “repeatable” because the conditions that made it possible at the moment it was possible are gone forever.

New conditions may arise in the future- you may even conjure up some of those conditions, when you get powerful- but they’ll be different each time, too.

And there are so many conditions, seen and unseen, that create every authentic, sorcerous moment.

You can’t grasp them, or the magical moments, unless you first become aware of them. Becoming a seer, using the senses and soul properly, is thus required first, before a person becomes a “doer”, a worker of the Art.

Witchcraft can be said to employ the Law of Attraction in a sense, though magic can be much more complex than simply focusing one’s thoughts on the desired outcome.

It might be more accurate to say that Witches employ rituals, tools, words, and gifts from the natural world to enhance and expand their work with the Hermetic Principles, which are where the Law of Attraction comes from.

The Hermetic Principles date back to late antiquity and have informed Western religious, philosophical, esoteric and scientific thought.

They have interesting parallels in modern physics, including quantum mechanics and string theory, and describe the way reality operates on a subatomic level, where all material things are composed of energy and radiate energy.

Many Witches have been watching excitedly as the scientific understanding of the makeup of the Universe unfolds to confirm what ancient observers knew.

There are seven Hermetic Principles (also known as “Hermetic Laws”), which are often referred to in discussions of magic.

One of the most emphasized is the Law of Correspondence, which states that what is true on the macrocosm is also true on the microcosm.

This means that every particle of matter contains all others—and that linear time on the physical plane represents only one dimension in the ultimately spaceless and timeless overall Universe.

Another way of stating the principle is “as above, so below; as below, so above.”

The higher planes of existence influence the lower planes of existence, and vice versa. As microcosms of the Universe, we are able to glean information from the distant past, view images of the future through divination, and change our reality.

A recent and widely-reported study found that the laws governing the growth of the Universe share significant similarities to the growth of both the human brain and the Internet.

This is an interesting illustration of the Law of Correspondence, and also provides a window into the Law of Mentalism, another important principle of Witchcraft.

Just as every particle of matter contains all others, matter and energy all contain information at their most basic level.

The Universe, ultimately, is mental at its highest level, which is the underlying creative force of all things.

We know that all the inventions, developments, and adaptations in our human history began as ideas.

Witches also know that thoughts can influence the Universal mind, and this is part of why focused intention in ritual is important.

The Law of Vibration holds that everything is in constant motion and that nothing is at rest.

This applies even to seemingly sturdy physical objects such as chairs and tables—they have vibrations than we simply can’t perceive with the human mind.

The matter is composed of energy, which is essentially a force moving at a certain vibration.

The parallel with animism is worth noting here, as animists believe that everything is alive.

If a characteristic of being “alive” is to be in motion, then the animists have been correct all along.

The nature of colours as light moving at different rates of vibration is particularly useful in Witchcraft, as each colour’s frequency has particular characteristics suitable for specific purposes.

We often associate love with the colours red and pink, for example, and it turns out that these colours resonate with energies in the body that promote loving feelings.

Therefore, these colours, when used in spellwork to bring love into one’s life, both communicate that information to the Universe and connect it to the Witch’s energy field.

Of course, like allthings, colours can have their downsides.

The intense vibration of red can also overstimulate and trigger unpleasant feelings.

Colortherapies using the Chakra system and meditation techniques often seek to balance out-of-whack vibrations in the body, and colours can be used magically in much the same way.

Understanding systems like the Hermetic Principles and the Law of Attraction can be helpful in increasing one’s success in magic, but a thorough grounding in them is not entirely necessary.

And it’s helpful to remember that no matter how powerful the intentions for magic maybe, results may be limited by the endless unknown realities of the physical and higher planes—sometimes we’re just not meant to get exactly what we want at a particular time.

It may be that someone else would be harmed in some way, or that something else is already around the corner that will take care of our needs in a different way.

In fact, Witches can learn a lot about the nature of the Universe by observing which of their magical workings succeed, and which do not.

The study of the Craft is considered by most to be a lifelong pursuit, with ongoing learning and refining of practices.

The wisdom of ongoing study makes even more sense when considering the parallels between the growth of the Universe and the growth of the human brain.

As more learning occurs, more magical techniques are invented and developed, and there’s all the more to catch up on

Once you have chosen to take upon yourself the obligations of the practice of Witchcraft, then the effects, or the immanence, of this way of life will be bestowed on you from aligned intelligence, and so will the tests that accompany them.

Anyone who willingly opens themselves to powers beyond the veil of manifestation (as we understand it) opens themselves to the possibility of inner initiation.

Witches know that they are witches, but initiation is what seals that knowledge through the power of ritual and the intent inherent within the process itself, to deeper strata of recognition and response both within oneself and from the powers to which we are oathed.

Once initiation has occurred, there is no turning back you will quest all your life; it is not a thing to do thoughtlessly.

Witchcraft is the magical manipulation of energy to bring about change.

The energy used by a witch may be environmental, from herbs, stones and other natural objects, or it may come from the witch herself or it may be channeled through the witch from a God or Goddess or from the Earth or Universe at large.

Witches are best known for casting spells which tends to incorporate all of these methods in a ritualistic practice. However, one need not engage in ritual or cast a spells to perform magical acts or to be a witch.

Modern Witchcraft

Many men and women consider themselves witches today.

The witchcraft these people practice varies widely and may be a spiritual expression of any variety of religions or a secular activity performed apart from religion.

There are even atheist witches.

Witchcraft takes several forms.

Some people cast a circle every month on the full moon, or the new moon or both.

Some carefully plan their spells based on the position of the sun, moon and planets.

Some folks will cast a spell whenever it is convenient.

The nature of the spell also varies.

Some cast a circle and perform a complete ritual each time while others will simply settle in, focus their energy, send it out and call it good.

Most modern witches create charms of protection for themselves, their homes, family pets and cars, create herbal combination for healing and other uses and occasionally cast spells when time and space permits.

Many modern witches wear a pentagram as a protective amulet and to help other witches recognize them. Most witches are solitary, though some are involve in Circles and covens.

Witchcraft is a wonderful way to release stress and to help an individual feel that he or she has some control over an otherwise uncontrollable situation.

It served an important psychological function for modern practitioners.

Pagan Witchcraft

Many Pagans consider witchcraft to be part of their Pagan practice though the witchcraft they perform may not itself be ritualistic or religious in nature.

Pagans often seek to know themselves, their environments and the energies that surround them and witchcraft helps to do this.

Not all Pagans practice witchcraft though, though some seem to think that the two terms are synonymous.

Some Pagan paths consider witchcraft anathema.

Wiccan Witchcraft

Wicca is a religion based on the perception of ancient pre-Christian magical and spiritual practices.

The name of the religion is taken from an ancient name for cunning folk or witches.

Many people use the words Wicca and Witchcraft interchangeably, which makes sense etymologically but not always practically.

There are many people who practice witchcraft who are not Wiccan.

It was once said that every Wiccan is also a Witch, but some Wiccans do not actively practice Witchcraft beyond performing the magico-religious rituals prescribed by the religion.

Christian Views of Witchcraft

According to Medieval Christian doctrine, a Witch is a person, usually a woman, who sells her soul to the Devil in order to obtain magical powers.

The Witch often has a demon familiar who helps her out, watches over her and makes sure she maintains her loyalty to Satan.

There may be Witches in the world who practice this way but they are few and far between.

Satanism is a religion that does not usually (but may) involve Witchcraft and demonology is a different type of lore altogether.

Diabolism exists independent of witchcraft, and while there’s no reason a witch couldn’t engage in it, the two practices are not inherently related.

There are some Christians who consider themselves witches and incorporate withcraft into their Christian religious observances or practice it as a secular activity quite separate from religion.

Tribal Witchcraft

Anthropologists and other folks who research and catalog the customs and activities of tribal peoples use the word “witchcraft” to define certain phenomena which the modern witch would not recognize as witchcraft.

This is just an arbitrary English word that has been applied to something the native people would have completely different word for in the scientific community’s efforts to put a single name on widespread phenomena, just like the word Shaman is often used.

In this case, that which is termed witchcraft is used as a means to explain misfortunes as well as to maintain social order.

In these societies there tends to be a “witch doctor” who is in the business of identifying witches and undoing the harm they cause.

In this scheme a witchcraft accusation may be made against someone who has displayed negative emotions toward the individual who has suffered a misfortune.

Jealousy is among the most destructive of these emotions.

The witch doctor is called upon to verify the charge and undo the damage.

The reversal of the damage usually involves the accused with performing some sort of ritual to heal the other person.

In this way hard feelings between individuals are overcome through ritual and anyone who doesn’t want to be accused of being a witch behaves according to status quo and does not have harsh words for his neighbor.

It is important to note that in this case the witch may not even know that he or she has caused harm and may not have done so with conscious intent.

This is in direct conflict with many modern witchcraft views that hold that magic is impossible without conscious intent.

The adoption of Christian beliefs has led to the loss of witch doctors in many tribal areas without anything to functionally replace them.

This may be the root of rashes or “witch” murders in tribal areas we periodically hear about today

Don’t miss anything.

In all of your undertakings, have all your senses working at their fullest potency; this is necessary in your magical, ritual, and personal activities.

Of primary significance is the activity of your sixth sense, which will have been triggered/awakened by the preceding exercises, and which will pick up the exchanges of energy in interactive circumstances.

You will hear more in a conversation if you truly listen; you will see more going on around you if your observation entails more than simply looking.

There is a leap that is actualized through exercising trust in your own cognitive ability to understand how interactive energy is used in either honorable or manipulative ways.

Awareness is the activation of the Nemet.

Awareness is the ability to literally read the feeling in the air.

Awareness means control of one’s undertakings.

The Terms of witchcraft are meant to transport the practitioner into the heart of life itself, where words are ultimately limitations and qualifiers.

More specifically, they can guide practitioners toward a direct mystical experience of deity, nature, and the individual spirit.

Words are obliterated and become meaningless when the practitioner achieves this experiential state of understanding.

Witches therefore first come to accept that words are only valuable as signposts and guides that point toward mystic experience.

To Witches, a word is not reality itself.

For example, the word “apple” is not itself an apple.

You can hear the word and understand it intellectually.

However, in order to know an apple, you must hold it in your hands, smell it, and take a big juicy bite.

Likewise, the word “god” is not the deity itself.

It is only a mental abstraction, a convenient symbol that we can all use to refer to something that goes beyond the word.

As you walk the Witches’ path, you will eventually have your own experiences of direct mystical contact with the divine.

But before that happens, it is understandable and natural that you might struggle with the language of Witchcraft, which often flies in the face of convention and social norms.

As a practice, today, take a look at the list of words that follow:

Witchcraft, Ritual, Magic, Occult, Pagan, Spell.

Regarding each of these words, explore the following questions:

• What is my comfort level in using each word?

• How do I understand each word?

• How do I imagine that each word impacts other people who are not involved with Witchcraft?

Take time to commit your feelings (whatever they may be) about each word to paper.

 Witchcraft

Witchcraft can be seen as many different things to many different people

In itself, and among other things, Witchcraft can be termed not only as a magical practice but also as a spiritual lifestyle and at times as a religion of nature.

In its spiritual tradition Witchcraft can be seen as being centered on the earth-based, mystic practices of the people of Old Europe.

Witchcraft can also be a  shamanic spiritual path.

The word “shaman” is an anthropological one that refers to a type of indigenous, natural-magic practitioner.

A shaman is a person, usually in a tribal culture, who is a healer and an interpreter of the unseen world (which shamans refer to as the world of spirits). She or he conducts rites of passage, divines the future, and walks the path of magic.

Many Witches understand the natural world, the sun, the moon, the seasons, male and female bodies, and the earth itself as expressions of sacredness.

Learning to live in conscious connection with all of nature (including human nature) within each moment can help witches forge a deep bond with the divine.

Witches simple spiritual practices such as meditation and mindfulness in daily activity help them acquire mental, emotional, and spiritual flexibility.

Witches practice bending and shaping their consciousness so that they live in accord with each moment of life.

Witchcraft Throughout the Middle Ages and particularly during the Renaissance period, the word “Witchcraft” was liberally applied by the Christian church and its authorities to the native religious practices and customs that existed for thousands of years before Christianity.

Many people with indigenous European spiritual roots met their fates on the gallows or in the fire simply because of their religious expression.

Aside from practitioners of native spiritual beliefs, there were other groups of people that the church targeted, tortured, and burned for the crime of “Witchcraft.”

One might be accused of Witchcraft simply because of a bad dream, or because one was left-handed or had bodily imperfections (believed to be “devil’s marks”).

Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, unwed women, midwives, herbal healers, social out- casts, people who were too rich or too poor, the disabled, and the infirm were also convicted for the crime of “Witchcraft.”

Some scholars claim that over 250,000 people were put to death for the crime of Witchcraft during the “burning times” in Europe, while others say the number reached as high as nine million.

The contemporary spiritual practice of Witchcraft is based on many of the old customs and folk wisdom of old Europe.

Because of this, practitioners have reclaimed the word “Witch.”

Contemporary practitioners view the word as one of power and they re-claim it in an effort to be mindful of the cost of religious intolerance, to release negative associations, and to forge a new future.

At times power for witches, has little to do with control over people and things.

Power is a natural state of being that comes from uniting with the vast flow of nature and operating from an experience of accord with that flow.

For many In the Witches’ view, power is shared, subtle energy that flows through all things.

 Ritual

Ritual is the enactment of a myth. In this definition, the word myth refers to a system of spiritual symbols.

Rituals in Witchcraft usually involve symbolic words, sounds, colors, and gestures.

Witches understand that each element of a ritual speaks the language of the deep mind (the unconscious mind), and thus awakens the movement of psychological and spiritual energy.

The symbols in the Witches’ rituals emerge from both time-honored, shared mythological correspondences (for example, traditional associations that orient the practitioner to time, place, color, sound, and movement) and personal associations that can emerge from dreams, meditations, and personal insights.

Magic

Magic is a term that sometimes causes confusion and fear.

Many people recall scenes from movies, television shows, or fairy tales when they first think of magic.

In the popular imagination, magic is about getting things that you want through forbidden, dark, or dangerous forces.

Witches understand magic as a natural process.

It is the ability to change one’s consciousness—one’s frame of mind.

It is the ability to arrive at substantial realizations and broadening insights that change one’s relationship as a human being to the world.

Out of one’s change of consciousness comes a change in the world.

The processes of magic reveal the internal patterns that can help us to live in close contact with our full human power.

The methods of magic are simple.

Lighting candles, chanting, or focusing one’s intention with drumming or dancing are all methods that Witches use to create magic and change.

Occult 

The word “occult,” derived from the Latin occultusanum, literally means “secret.”

Few Witches today use this term when referring to their contemporary magical or spiritual practices.

However, the word refers to hidden teachings that are available to adepts of any magical or metaphysical path.

 Pagan 

Pagan comes from the Latin paganus, a peasant or country dweller.

Formerly people used the word in reference to a non-Christian.

The word then expanded over time to pejoratively mean anyone who was not “of The Book,” namely a person who was not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.

It gained negative connotations over time and came to mean someone who was an uncivilized “idolater.”

In contemporary practice, a pagan is someone who follows a polytheistic, pantheistic spiritual system.

Typically, a pagan is someone who believes that the universe, the earth, and all of its inhabitants contain divinity.

Spell

A symbolic act through which anyone can channel nonphysical energies to attain some particular goal.

The amniotic fetal membrane that sometimes clings to a newborn’s head or body after birth. Being born with a caul, or veil, has significance in folklore related to magical powers.

A person born with a caul was believed to have psychic gifts such as the ability to see ghosts and spirits and to divine the future. In seafaring lore, such a person can never drown. In earlier times, cauls were brought on board sailing ships as good luck charms against sinking. Cauls were traded and sometimes sold for large sums of money.

In certain parts of Europe, a person born with a caul was believed to be a natural vampire. To prevent this, the caul was broken immediately, and prayers were said. In areas where the caul was considered to be a good omen, it was dried and placed in a flask that was worn around the person’s neck.

Sometimes it was mixed into an elixir that was drunk when the person reached a certain age, in order to initiate the magical powers.

In northern Italy, the cult of the benandanti included people born with cauls who could see invisible witches and fight them

The expulsion of evil spirits by commanding them to depart.

The expulsion is often done in the name of a deity, saints, angels or other intercessory figures.

Exorcism comes from the Greek horkos, meaning “oath,” and translates as adjuro, or adjure, in Latin and English.

To “exorcize,” then, does not really mean to cast out so much as it means “putting the Devil on oath,” or invoking a higher authority to compel the Devil to act in a way contrary to its wishes.

Such compulsion also implies binding.

The Anglican pamphlet Exorcism (1972) states, “Christian exorcism is the binding of evil powers by the triumph of Christ Jesus, through the application of the power demonstrated by that triumph, in and by his Church.”

Exorcism rituals often begin with the Latin words, “Adjure te, spiritus nequissime, per Deum omnipotentem,” which translates as “I adjure thee, most evil spirit, by almighty God.”

Jesus, who cast out devils, did not exorcise, because he did not need to call on any higher authority than Himself.

Violence both physical and spiritual often dominates an exorcism.

Furniture bangs and breaks, waves of heat Priest exorcising demon from possessed woman and cold pour over the room, horrible cries emanate from the victim and often the victim suffers real physical pain and distress.

The Devil seems to revel in spitting, vomiting  and other, more disgusting bodily functions as well.

Spiritually, the Devil and the exorcist battle for the soul of the victim, and while the Devil hurls invectives, the exorcist counters with the strongest demands for the demon’s departure, vowing pain and penalty if it does not comply.

Exorcisms may also include the physical beating of a sufferer to force the demon to depart, or throwing stones at the possessed person.

In extreme cases, such as that of Urbain Grandier in Loudun, the possessed person is killed and burned, or even burned alive, to remove all traces of the Devil’s evil.

Such punishments imply that the exorcist does not believe the victim suffered innocently at the hands of the Devil, but rather that in some say he or she invited trouble.

As late as 1966, members of a fanatic cult in Zurich, Switzerland, ritually beat a young girl to death for being “the Devil’s bride.”

Priests and ministers perform most exorcisms, but clairvoyants and spiritualists also expel evil spirits.

The ritual is not nearly as important as the exorcist himself (or herself); such talent is a gift that should be developed.

The exorcist must be convinced of the victim’s possession and have faith in the power of the Lord to work through the exorcist.

In his book Hostage to the Devil (1976), former Jesuit professor Malachi Martin describes the typical exorcist:

Usually he is engaged in the active ministry of parishes.

Rarely is he a scholarly type engaged in teaching or research.

Rarely is he a recently ordained priest.

If there is any median age for exorcists, it is probably between the ages of fifty and sixty-five.

Sound and robust physical health is not a characteristic of exorcists, nor is proven intellectual brilliance, postgraduate degrees, even in psychology or philosophy, or a very sophisticated personal culture.

Though, of course, there are many exceptions, the usual reasons for a priest’s being chosen are his qualities of moral judgment, personal behavior, and religious beliefs—qualities that are not sophisticated or laboriously acquired, but that somehow seem always to have been an easy and natural part of such a man.

The exorcist as victim. Although most accounts of exorcism concentrate on the sufferings of the victim and the machinations of the Devil, little has been said about the effect on the exorcist.

Yet an exorcist assumes a heavy risk when fighting evil.

Not only can the ordeal go on for weeks, maybe months, but the exorcist must be prepared to have his entire life bared by the paranormal knowledge of the Devil.

Secret sins are blurted out and ridiculed, and the demons may even mimic the voices of long-lost loved ones.

Becoming possessed himself ranks as the greatest danger to the exorcist, especially if he suffers from guilt and secretly feels the need to be punished.

Father Jean-Joseph Surin, Jesuit exorcist to the nuns at Loudun, became possessed while ministering to Jeanne des Anges after the death of Grandier.

Reared in a cloister, Surin practiced self-denial during his early years as a priest, denying himself food, sleep and social contact.

By the time he went to Loudun, Surin suffered from poor health, severe headaches, muscle pain, melancholy and attacks of depression and confusion.

Unlike many of his fellow Jesuits, Surin firmly believed that Sister Jeanne and the others were truly possessed.

On January 19, 1635, Surin experienced his first possession, and by January 7 of the next year, the demon Isacaaron—devil of lust and debauchery—had left Sister Jeanne and entered Father Surin.

Leviathan and other demons also tortured the priest.

In May 1635 Father Surin wrote of his torments to his friend Father Datichi, a Jesuit in Rome:

Things have gone so far that God has permitted, for my sins, I think, something never seen, perhaps, in the Church: that during the exercise of my ministry, the Devil passes from the body of the possessed person, and coming into mine, assaults me and overturns me, shakes me, and visibly travels through me, possessing me for several hours like an energumen.

Some say that it is a chastisement from God upon me, as punishment for some illusion; others say something quite different; as for me, I hold fast where I am, and would not exchange my fate for anyone’s, being firmly convinced that there is nothing better than to be reduced to great extremities.

Surin continued to be ill and tormented throughout 1637 and 1638, and by 1639 he could no longer dress himself, eat without difficulty, walk or read and write.

In 1645 Surin attempted suicide.

He would have probably died had not the kindly Father Bastide taken over as head of the Jesuit College at Saintes, where Surin lived, in
Sixteen Forrty Eight.

He brought Surin back to health step by step, giving him the love and attention Surin had never experienced.

Eventually Father Surin was able to walk again, and to read and write; he even attained enough inner strength to preach and hear confession.

He wrote of his experiences at Loudun in his memoirs, Science Experimentale, and finally died, peacefully, in 1665.

Lucius Apuleius is best known to us as the author of The Golden Ass, one of the most famous romances in the world, containing as it does the story of Cupid and Psyche.

His importance to the study of witchcraft rests on the fact that The Golden Ass is a romance of witchcraft, and illustrates the beliefs which were held about witches in the pre-Christian world.

This work of Apuleius proves that witchcraft was not, as some modern writers have claimed, an invention of the Middle Ages, On the contrary, witchcraft was known, feared and respected in ancient Greece and Rome.

Lucius Apuleius was a priest of Isis, who was born at Madaura, a Roman colony in North Africa, early in the second century A.D.

His family was wealthy, and he traveled quite extensively for those times, in search of education and insight into religious mysteries.

He was once himself accused of practicing black magic.

He had married a wealthy widow, older than himself, and the widow’s jealous family brought an accusation against him of having bewitched her into matrimony.

However, Apuleius successfully defended himself in court by a brilliant and witty speech, which was later published under the title of A Discourse on Magic (Apulei Apologia sive pro se de Magia Liber, with introduction and commentary by H. E. Butler and A. S. Owen, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1914).

His book The Golden Ass has been translated into English by William Adlington in 1 566 (Simpkin Marshall, London, 1 930 and AMS Press, New York, 1 893), and in our own day by Robert Graves in 1950.

It pretends to be an autobiography, telling how Lucius as an adventurous young man found himself in Thessaly, a region in Greece notorious for witchcraft. After hearing from his traveling companion’s various hair-raising tales about the dark powers of Thessalian witches, he determined to pry into witchcraft himself.

His cousin, Byrrhaena, warned him that his host’s wife, Pamphile, was a most dangerous witch; but her words of caution only made his curiosity keener.

He resolved to seduce Pamphile’s maid, Fotis, and thus gain entry into the secrets of Pamphile’s witchcraft.

As Fotis was quite willing to be seduced, Lucius’ plan at first appeared to prosper.

He persuaded the girl to let him secretly watch her mistress anointing herself with a magic unguent, which transformed her into an owl and enabled her to fly through the night in that shape.

However, when Lucius got the girl to steal a pot of the witch’s unguent for him, it changed him not into an owl, the bird of wisdom, but into an ass.

Fotis told him that the counter-magic which would restore him to human shape was to eat roses; but before he was able to do this he passed through one wild adventure after another, until the goddess Isis took pity on him and helped him to regain his humanity.

The witches in The Golden Ass have many of the characteristics attributed to those of the Middle Ages.

They can change their shape by means of magic unguents; they steal parts from corpses to use in their spells; they bewitch men by obtaining pieces of their hair; they can cast a glamour over the senses, and charm people asleep; they can pass through a hole in a door by changing themselves into a small animal, or even an insect, and they can transform others into animal shape.

However, Apuleius as a priest of lsis shows both sides of the cult of the moon goddess, the right- and left-hand paths.

He recognizes Isis as the Queen of Heaven, yet identical in her dark aspect with Hecate and Proserpine, the Queen of the Underworld.

The roses which redeem Lucius from the shape of an ass are the symbol of the Mysteries; an idea which in later years was repeated in the occult emblem of the Rosy Cross.