Witch: a Magickal Journey: A Guide to Modern Witchcraft

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Some of the New Age books I read over my late teens mentioned the word ‘paganism’ and I strongly identified with its concept of living close to the land, being environmentally responsible and finding divinity in Nature. So I became a vegan, avoiding all animal products in my life, including leather and honey, and recycling everything that I could. As I read more books I started feeling drawn to those that had that mysterious and exotic word ‘witchcraft’ in them. At first I thought I was going to be inundated with Satanic scare stories again, but instead I was excited to find a documented nature-worshipping religion that placed great emphasis on the sacredness of the individual and the land.

For a while I browsed through these books finding all the terminology and rigmarole a bit off-putting – but then one day I saw Ly Warren-Clarke’s The Way of the Goddess (now published as Witchcraft – in Theory and Practice) and my life changed. Here was a book about Witchcraft, or more specifically, Wicca, that was both easy and thrilling to read, and I realized that all along I had been a Witch, even since those early naïve days of Satanism. Here was a religion that made sense: it was dynamic and logical, loving and responsible, sensuous and holy.

I felt very attracted to the fact that Wicca acknowledges many different Goddesses and Gods, but most importantly, recognizes that they can exist within the individual, not in the sky out of our reach. In fact, the Craft doesn’t provide answers as to what the Goddesses and Gods actually are, but emphasizes that whichever way the individual relates to them is the right way for her/him. I have always felt that the Gods and Goddesses do not exist in their own right but are projections of our consciousness.

Over the ages humans have created deities to teach us about ourselves. In Witchcraft ritual I treat the Goddesses and Gods as if they are real and I do feel I commune with some kind of presence, but I consider that I’m tapping into a deeper level of personal consciousness. There is, however, something called the ‘egregor’ in which most Wiccans believe. This term involves the concept that Goddesses and Gods and other metaphysical entities actually gain ‘astral substance’ as more and more people think about and relate to them, and through this they come into a kind of sentient existence.

Anyway, back to the story! I was twenty-one when I bought Ly’s book and within a year my bookshelf was crammed with over fifty books on Wicca, and using The Way of the Goddess as a guide, on the Summer Solstice of my twenty-first year I declared my love of the many faces of the Goddess and God to the Universe and initiated myself as a first degree Witch. Over the next few years I practised as a solitary Witch, keeping it pretty quiet, often not really sure if what I was doing was ‘right’, but persevering anyway. I started studying naturopathy to learn how to heal, because from my reading I ascertained that my Witchy ancestors were primarily healers and I felt it appropriate that I respect the fact by becoming a healer myself. So I worked in a health food store by day, studied naturopathy at night and played guitar and sang in a punk band on the weekend.

When I was twenty-four I received a phone call from a guy who asked me if I wanted to sing in a band that played a techno-metal fusion style of music. It sounded cool to me and I said yes. This band eventually became Def FX, and it was ultimately through the lyrics that I wrote and some interviews that I did in various publications and television shows a few years into the life of the band, that I ‘came out of the broom closet’ and let people know that I am a Witch.

Originally, I would never have wanted to be a spokesperson for the Craft, being wary of having my beliefs treated with the usual lack of respect most Witches who come out in the media receive. But, as more and more people kept asking questions I sensed a genuine and respectful interest – so here I am writing a book about Witchcraft.

Hubble bubble too much trouble

The above heading is the title of a newspaper article in which the journalist said that after attending a seminar on Witchcraft that Witches ‘ain’t what they used to be’; that in the search for acceptance we have become whitewashed and there’s nothing wicked or titillating about it anymore. The journalist said ‘These days, your self-proclaimed Witch looks like a suburban mother of three, more used to Tupperware parties … These “white” Witches are just about as scary as lady bowlers and about a tenth as interesting.’ She obviously got a dose of the lighter side – but what else could she have expected in the first meeting? If you meet someone at a party, you don’t usually begin telling them your darkest sexual fantasies or your worst fears – you just show them your lighter side. Only when someone’s earned your trust do you let them into your darker side. Anyway, she certainly wasn’t going to get an in-depth education in a complex subject in an afternoon.

However, in some ways I agree with her sentiment; for instance, I avoid the term ‘White Witch’. It’s so New Agey I believe that a lot of the New Age is like a big, happy band-aid. I always emphasize that Witchcraft is about embracing polarities – the Light and the Dark – respecting the darker emotions of anger and hatred as much as the lighter of love and empathy. Bear in mind, of course, that light and dark are by no means the same as good and evil (the latter being terms which most Witches would see as completely relative; after all, if you’re human, a little purring cat might be the epitome of goodness but if you’re a mouse it might be the personification of cold-hearted, rodent-torturing terror and dismay).

Even though that journalist didn’t get her stereotypes fulfilled at the seminar she attended, in our patriarchally-dominated society there is unfortunately something scary about a woman who is in control of her mind, soul and body. And there’s something confronting about a male who values a woman and the role they have in society and in the heavens, the role of the feminine within him, and who’s in touch with a type of power completely removed from conventional male brute force. I’m talking about Witches (well, most of them anyway). The kind of Witchcraft I and a lot of my Witch friends practise means we don’t shy away from pain and fear, and we agree with Hungarian Witch, Z Budapest, who states, ‘A Witch who cannot hex cannot heal.’

Having said that, we certainly don’t go around hexing at random and roasting small children or sacrificing furry animals (actually, I do feed mice to my hungry snake familiar, Lulu, but snakes have to eat). And our lives don’t revolve around goodness and niceness either, but we certainly aren’t the sworn enemies of these qualities. We’re into finding our own balance between sun and moon, day and night, light and darkness.

In fact it’s the dark, difficult and avoided parts of life that are often the most fertile of human experiences that give rise to our most enlightened achievements. Being a Witch is about having your eyes wide open and experiencing the whole onslaught of existence – and that can be pretty scary. A Witch’s view of the world in a time when much seems uncertain is sometimes frightening because we accept change and death as much as we welcome stability and life. It’s chaotic, somewhat anarchic and it runs on Goddess time: all things happening at all times. The human body is sacred and the individual is Goddess/God. We lead ourselves without too much trouble, are powerful, but don’t shove it down anyone’s throats (and if you know someone who does, they’re a Wanker not a Witch).

About This Book

This book is pretty much my vision, the way I do things. It’s different from a lot of other Witches’ traditions, but similar in that all Witches tailor their own form of the Craft. Witchcraft is reliant on the individual to give it meaning and power. Witches are not sheep or lemmings who like playing follow the leader. We lead ourselves in the knowledge that the Universe is big and beautiful enough for everyone. We don’t demand converts but we are interested in letting people know we are not screwed-up Satan worshippers. Most Witches find the idea of a God who’d create a demigod of evil with whom to play cosmic war-games a little mystifying.

In this book I’ve included some essential Witchcraft information, i.e. altar implements, Circle casting and Sabbat details. There are also lots of spells to try, but as I emphasize throughout the book, the most powerful and effective spells will be the ones you create yourself, specifically tuned to your requirements and charged with your creative passion.

Right now I’m going to mention a few things worthy of getting a good grip on.

All the Magick You’ll Ever Need is Already Inside You

Where Witchcraft comes in is to help you tap into and unleash that power, and harness the forces of nature to help you create change at will.

For a Spell to Work, it Has to be Fuelled with Your Magickal Intent

It’s not enough to buy a ready-made boxed spell, or to follow a spell suggested in this book to the letter and then ‘do it’ passively and politely. You’re not in church being told what to say and when to stand, sit and kneel! You’re doing Witchcraft! Making Magick! Get excited about it! Get passionate, dirty and downright messy! Well, not necessarily to those extremes, but what I mean is: get involved. A spell is only fuelled by your intent, otherwise it just sits there like a blob glued to this world not going anywhere, not doing anything. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes or doing things ‘a bit wrong’. In Quotable Women the divine Italian actress/Goddess, Sophia Loren, has been quoted as saying, ‘Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.’ In living a full, empowered life mistakes are inevitable and fantastic learning tools. So don’t be afraid to experiment, just keep in mind:

The Laws of Witchcraft

1. Do what you will as long as it harms none;

2. Do what you will as long as you don’t interfere with anyone else’s free will;

3. That which you send out returns to you threefold.

As long as you are clear on the above, you are on your way to becoming a formidable Witchy presence on the planet – and beyond!

Which Witch Is Which? (#ulink_3c32ca30-a975-52a8-83aa-fab569c72730)

THE HERSTORY OF WITCHCRAFT (#ulink_3c32ca30-a975-52a8-83aa-fab569c72730)

There are many versions of the herstory of Witchcraft. Some idealists believe it can be traced through an unbroken lineage – handed down from mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter, generation after generation, existing in various levels of exposure and secrecy since the dawn of humankind. Witches who believe this consider Wicca to be the original religion of humankind, rooted in an ancient utopian time when women held the deciding vote, and the ability to give life was worshipped more than the ability to kill, as is honoured now in this time of patriarchal dominance.

Before the role men played in procreation was understood, Woman was revered as Goddess because of her ability to give and nurture life.

For prehistoric humans, a woman’s stomach mysteriously swelling, then nine moon cycles later, a baby emerging from between her legs was one of the most awe-inspiring spectacles they could witness. That she could also produce food – the life sustaining milk that squirted from her breasts – made her representative of the nurturing and providing elements of Nature. The oldest work of art discovered from prehistoric times, the Venus of Willendorf, is a small clay statue of a fertile woman with a rotund stomach and huge pendulous breasts. It is a representation of the Fertility Goddess worshipped in those times, and has evolved into the multi-faceted Goddess all Witches love and worship today.

In ancient times the ability to hunt for food, rather than kill for sport as in the present-day, was also worshipped. Cave paintings from pre-historic times show that (most likely male) humans would throw on animal skins and antlered masks and in a kind of ‘sympathetic’ magickal ritual, play out a successful hunt for food, hoping to ensure a successful real hunt outside the cave on the plains the next day. The humans enacting these rituals were ‘shamans’ who were considered to have magickal relationships with the animals, able to communicate with and woo their spirits, so that they would be prepared to give their lives in order that the human tribe could continue. From this the concept of a God of Hunting developed which went on to evolve to the present day Witches’ God of Nature and Animals, the Horned God.

Most Wiccans now relate to the concept of Witchcraft existing as an unbroken mythic tradition. The Craft today is really built on the sense of our culture having lost, buried or corrupted the old traditions and Witches are attempting to rediscover them and make them relevant to this brave new world. Some do this through historical research and re-enactment, but most work more on tapping into the intuition and the collective unconscious to recreate a Witchcraft in which the voices of the lost past are reawoken in fresh, new chants, rites and spells.

As the mythic and objective herstory of the Craft has been discussed at great length in many books, rather than attempt to restate it at length here, I’ll recommend some of the better works on the subject. For more detailed publishing information see ‘The Library (#u09788b3e-e1a9-51f2-860a-f9c9cfd54db2)’ chapter at the back.

Starhawk’s Spiral Dance has an excellent first chapter ‘Witchcraft as Goddess Religion’. Laurie Cabot and Tom Cowan’s Power of the Witch has an inspiring chapter called ‘The Old Religion’. Margaret A. Murray’s The Witchcraft in Western Europe is considered a classic on the herstory of ancient Witchcraft, but some dispute its accuracy. Murray was an English Egyptologist who claimed Witchcraft originated in Palaeolithic times 25,000 years ago long before Christianity. After persecution by the Church in the Middle Ages, Murray claims it continued as a secret tradition until its re-emergence around the time she was writing in the 1920s. Scholars and historians have refuted her work saying that she largely contrived the whole thing, but it still makes for thought-provoking reading.

Anthony Kemp’s Witchcraft and Paganism Today has an easy to read and comprehensive examination of the historical background of Witchcraft and Paganism, starting in primitive times and then moving on to cover the Egyptians and then the Celts – specifically the Druids whose teachings and lore have greatly influenced contemporary Wicca. He then discusses the Middle Ages, specifically the persecution of Witches during the Inquisition, and continues to move through herstory until the present day.

I also recommend Diane Purkiss’s The Witch in History. It is interesting in that she has thoroughly researched the presence of Witch figures throughout modern history yet ultimately construes that the Witch is only a fantasy figure. If you want to know everything that Witchcraft never was nor will be, track down a copy of Montague Summers’ The History of Witchcraft. Written in 1925 by a Catholic priest, it celebrates the atrocities committed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the Church in its attempts to wipe out ‘witchcraft’ and heresy – otherwise known as ‘The Burning Times’ – where many people in Europe were burned at the stake or hung after being forced to admit they were Witches and in league with the Devil. It is alternately horrifying and laughable.

Modern Witchcraft, specifically Wicca, probably owes much of its origins to an Englishman named Gerald Gardner. In 1939 he claimed that he was initiated into a traditional Witchcraft coven in England and from his teachings and writings, especially his book Witchcraft Today written in 1954, the Gardnerian tradition established itself. Before discovering Wicca, Gardner was involved in Co-Masonry, Rosicrucianism and travelled for many years in the Far East observing the lives of indigenous people and spiritual beliefs.

The Wiccan tradition reflects a lot of the teachings and experiences Gardner himself was exposed to in the first half of his life and many wonder if he truly was initiated into an established tradition or if he just made it up himself. But as the Craft isn’t into gurus and most religions are initiated in one form by individuals (from Moses to Manson, and Hubbard to Koresh) before morphing drastically into something else altogether, most Witches aren’t too concerned about the issue of who invented the Craft. In fact the Craft is often described by Witches as a ‘non-prophet disorganization’!

Anti-witchcraft laws were only repealed in England in 1951 and suburban covens sprang up everywhere. Gardner died in 1964 and subsequently the worldwide Witchcraft movement divided somewhat as other individuals made their presence noticed. One in particular was Alex Sanders, founder of the Alexandrian Tradition, a prominent Wiccan tradition today. He based his rituals on Gardner’s work, but introduced more material from other Western magickal practices when he established his own tradition.

Sanders claimed to be a hereditary Witch initiated by his grandmother, but who knows? He was a bit of an attention-seeker, claiming to have been crowned ‘King of the Witches’ in 1965, presumably nominated by over 2,000 English Witches. This is debatable because Wiccans are really way too independent to ever accept a ‘King’ or ‘Queen’. He also recorded an album and appeared on lots of TV and radio shows and … sounds a bit like me, eh? I’m kidding! He continued to popularize the Craft in the Western World until his death in 1988. Many Wiccan covens now will have their open coven meetings in the Alexandrian tradition, reserving the Gardnerian work for their initiated and more experienced members.

A lot of other traditions established themselves in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One which has had a big influence on me is the Dianic Tradition, popularized by the charismatic Hungarian, Zsuzsanna Budapest, who now lives in America. Her mother was an artist and Witch who initiated Zsuzsanna into Witchcraft when she was very young. In the 1970s when Zsuzsanna became a feminist, she realized her Witchcraft background was an appropriate expression of feminist spirituality and wrote The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, which is an excellent and thorough guide book for anyone wanting to practise Witchcraft with an emphasis on feminism and women’s mysteries.

Zsuzsanna is a colourful and controversial public figure in America. In 1975 she was arrested reading Tarot for an undercover policewoman, tried, and found guilty of ‘predicting the future’(!) leading her to fight against anti-prophecy laws for nine years before the laws were repealed. She now has her own Cable TV show in America on women’s spirituality, broadcasts on radio and regularly releases books and articles on feminist Wicca.

Overall, I have a pretty ambivalent attitude towards the herstory of Wicca. While I value the wisdom gained from trial and error, tradition and experience, I like to focus on the present. That the herstory is as nebulous as it is makes the present-day Craft no less valid for me than if it did have a seamlessly documented record of existence back to prehistoric times.

I sometimes think herstory is given too much importance in the present day scheme of things. To have an elitist attitude because your tradition has the longest documented herstory; or because your mother initiated you, her mother initiated her, her mother’s mother initiated her, (i.e. you’re a Hereditary), etc, etc, seems a bit narrow-minded. It goes against one of the few things I actually believe in, which is everyone has the right to their own opinion and there’s plenty of room in the Universe for everyone’s opinion. Herstory is so subjective – what we often perceive as indisputable fact is, in most cases, just one person’s opinion, and the events viewed through the veil of that person’s scrutiny are often incomplete. It’s obvious that the only person that can preach on a pedestal and say, ‘This is what really happened’ would have to have actually been there, which, in the case of ancient magickal practices, is impossible.

What I like about Witchcraft is that it creates its own herstory as it goes. There’s very little documentation from before the last hundred years or so and most of what is available is dubious in accuracy. Lots of present day individuals will make up an ancient history that fits their current view of the Craft. I like this: the stories people fabricate of the past are fascinating insights into the structure of the present. I also like the fact that the present-day Craft draws from so many different cultures’ spiritual traditions from all over the world. It truly is a holistic religion that acknowledges and respects all manifestations of spirit in humans on the planet, even the ones it doesn’t necessarily relate to or agree with.

For example, throughout this book there are many references to my frustration and disillusionment with Christianity; however I dig Jesus and so do many other Witches. It’s not his fault that Christianity is so confused today, and as a person he was a very special guy, wise and generous, selfless and loving. I think he’d be horrified to see what his teachings have come to today. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if he was around today, with his values of tolerance, acceptance, respect for Nature and fellow people, he’d be a Witch!

One more thing before finishing up this chapter – why the word ‘Witch’? There is an old Germanic root word wit meaning ‘to know’, which some consider to be the origin, but there are many other possible origins. The one that seems most likely is that it is evolved from the Anglo-Saxon root word wicce meaning ‘to bend or shape’. Witches relate to this from the premise that we bend the energies of nature to promote healing and growth and we shape our lives and environments to be harmonious with Nature. I like the word ‘Witch’. For so long, because of fear and ignorance, it has been considered a negative term. I enjoy being a part of reinstating its rightful meaning. In a nutshell, the word Witch describes a person who sees divinity in nature, worships Goddesses always, and Gods most of the time, practises the healing arts, is in touch with their psychic abilities, practises magick and experiences their lives as an ever-evolving miracle.