Abuse of Magick

Magick can be used in some way in most every day lives, but can magick be abused?  Oh surely.  Good intentions are fine, but when you want to heal someone make sure they are on board, even if the deed is good let the other person in on it.  You could end up doing harm, instead.  As far as doing something like a healing on yourself, that's fine, but some things should be healed on their own.  I firmly believe hurts like heartache, healing from physical abuse, etc., are better healed by moving through the process.  Using magick to heal your heart could prove harmful, could turn you callous and cold.  Healing takes time but if you take the time and go through the process you learn so much more about yourself and your ability to stand on your own than you'd ever do by using a shortcut like magick to bandaid our heart.  And there is always the prospect of failure, which could make things worse.  It's just better to go through the process and move on.  It is life's learning process and it's the best thing you can do for you.

Magick Can Help . . .

Magick is not a cure all.  It's kind of like the christians believe "God helps those that help themselves".  Our faith and practice is kind of like that.  If you want something you can manifest it using magick.  BUT.  You have to put in some work.  If you want a job, magick can help with that but you have to look for work, you have to put in applications, you have to make phone calls.  If you want to find love magick can help, but you have to get out of the house.  You have to make yourself available and visible.  If you want a garden to grow beautifully and healthy magick can help but you still have to till the soil, water the garden and feed/weed the garden.

The way I view magick is that it is a key that unlocks doors, it is a battering ram that breaks down obstacles in my path.  Magick works, or starts working, the moment you can clearly visualize the end result.  Though you really don't need a lot of tools and major astrological knowledge in order to make magick work, you still need a fair amount of study and the more you can put into a working the stronger it is.  Which is why it's a good idea to study and find out if tonight is a good night to do your working astrologically.  It's not hard to find that out.  Or what herbs/stones would lend even more kick to your working.  Again, not hard to find that out.  The more you put INTO your magick, the more you get out of it.  Half assed going into anything is never a good way to do it.  Take your workings seriously and put everything you can into it so your result is as solid as your will.

Blessed be!

I Want To Be A Witch . . .

Ok so for the 175th time in our chatroom someone has come in who says their grandmother was a witch and they want to be one too.  So, let's examine that.  My initial thought is, ok so what if your grandmother was a witch, is that the ONLY reason you want to be a witch?  If your grandmother was a witch WHY do you not have her books and grimoire?  We all know every witch has them.  WHY has your grandmother not taught you?  So here they come to us.

Ok I can be a trooper.  The first lesson I am going to teach you about being a witch is that it's not television or movie crap.  It's really rather mundane, though, in my opinion, the rituals are quite lovely.  Secondly study is crucial.  You are not going to learn this path on the internet or in chatrooms.  There are thousands of paths out there.  Everyone you ask EVERY SINGLE ONE will tell you something different.  So start there.  Study the different traditions and spiritual paths out there.

You're doing that?  GREAT.  You are going to have to have great focus, determination, dedication and discipline to do anything along this path.  Study, in my opinion, for a year or even more before you begin practice.  There could be simple, small things you might discover to do early on but PLEASE make sure you are well versed in grounding and protections.  PLEASE.

Meditate.  And I mean from day one.  You have to know yourself inside and out.  You have to ready yourself for workings, and that means be relaxed, focused and well prepared.  Meditation gives you the opportunity to communicate with the energies around you that could give you important visions, through symbols, sounds and other images during meditation, that can help you along.  Answer daunting questions.  Show you your guides.  There are books, cds, dvds and even youtube vids that can help you learn effective meditations.  Start looking into them.

Ok that's a start.  There is much more to learn.  KEEP READING!

Lessening the Chaos . . .

Ever since THE EVENT WHICH HERE WILL NOT BE NAMED occurred, I've been thinking about magick, witchcraft and what that actually can do for a person's life.  I know from experience it can bring a certain amount of freedom and peace.  So I'm working on coming up with daily rituals I can do to enhance my life and living space and mind.  I'll let you know how that goes if I'm not incarcerated soon.

Moon Bath

So the full moon is coming up and I want to take a moon bath.  To me that means to stand under the full moon skyclad and literally bathe myself in her light.  A serene meditation will ensue.  However, if you want to have an actual BATH on the full moon that is relevant and useful, there is a good one I found, I saved the information so I can do it at another time.

Full Moon Bath

So head over there, copy it and try it out yourself!

The Paths We Weave

If you're not flying by the seat of your pants and completely weaving your path out of thin air, you could be following one of these:

Wicca – The most recognizable pagan faith in non-pagan circles. It emerged in the 1950s and 1960s with Gerald Gardner at the helm, but has evolved into a rich diaspora of faiths including Alexandrian Wicca, Dianic Wicca, Kemetic 

Wicca and Judeo-Paganism. Some of the major components of Wicca include rituals, ceremonial magic, and the celebration of Sabbats.

Druidism – A pagan faith with a large following. It is build on practices of Celts from the Iron Age. Like Wicca, Druidism includes ceremonies (rites) and the celebration of seasonal changes.

Ásatrú – Also called Heathenry, this is a modern reconstruction of Nordic/Germanic Paganism. Jax has discussed Heathenry in an earlier post. It includes ancestor worship, offerings (called Blots), and feasts (called sumbels).

Hellenism – This faith is a reconstruction of Greek religion and practices, including the Twelve Olympian Greek gods. Hellenic practices include ceremonies and offerings.

Kemetism – This faith began as a reconstruction of ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices, but has evolved to include components from other African religions. The practices are too diverse to summarize here.

Native American faiths – Traditional faiths practiced by Native Americans are also extremely diverse. Many share several components, including a connectivity between the natural and spiritual worlds.

I am 1/8th Chocktaw so I do mix in some native american spirituality in my path.  Otherwise I keep it pretty much green.  For a short time I was "Eclectic Wicca" until I realized what bullshit that is and focused solely on the green path with my smatterings of NA spiritualism.  I think GreatGrandma would approve :).

As far as being 'just a witch' goes, you can be a kitchen witch, a hedge witch, a witch of family tradition if you were raised in it, or a number of other traditions.  A completely eclectic path is fine, as long as you don't throw an established path into it, such as Wicca, Druidism, etc.  That is just my opinion but it's shared by a large part of the magickal community.

This is what Laurie Cabot says on the subject:

I pretty much agree but seriously, there are people, people like me, who have severe trust issues.  So connecting with people and learning from people is very difficult, so learning from books is the best way to go.  I DO agree that people can help, that is where the internet comes in and pagan-based chatrooms.  Our chatroom,  WitchesChat  , is an excellent source to connect to people who KNOW and people who are willing to help, when respectfully approached.

Blessed be!

Spells? REALLY?

Editorial

I think anyone who talks to me and talks about spells, doing spells, going to do spells, spells, spells, spells is still more motivated by movie magic than what magick actually is and what it can do for you in your life.  There is more to working magick than casting spells.  What?  Well there is protecting your home, forwarding your professional career, calming psychosis.  But please, if all you want to do is cast spells?  Go on with your bad self.  It shows me you have little knowledge, no focus or discipline (which is actually needed for even the simplest tasks) and you simply are not serious about this path.  In other words, you're going nowhere magickally and never will.