11/02/23 12:44
A Brief overview of Wicca:
When witchcraft is practiced as a religion, it is referred to by the Old English term for witch, Wicca. This term is used to counter all the negative stereotypes that society has given witchcraft. Wicca is primarily a religion that worships nature, and sees all creation as sacred. In fact, all Wiccan holy days follow the cycles of nature and the changes in the seasons. Wicca also worships both a male and female deity, a female Goddess and a male God, who had together created the world and everything in it. Witchcraft is neither black nor white. Witchcraft is a religion that respects Mother Nature and She is neither completely positive or completely negative. The same holds true for all witches and all people.
Spells are used by Wiccans, and are a series of rituals and prayers that are conducted to ask for divine help in a certain aspect of life. All spells must adhere to the witchcraft code of conduct, meaning that any spells used to harm another person is forbidden. In witchcraft, spells may also be changed or adapted to suit a Wiccans personality or specific wishes in casting the spell.
What exactly is witchcraft, spells, and magick?
Many years ago, I asked myself those same questions, and I'm still learning the answers. My journey started at 15 years of age, with a travelling gypsy. Later I found an esoteric gem shop, and a bookstore. I remember entering the shop with a sense of awe, and instantly being put at ease by a wonderfully sweet aroma that hung over the bookcases. Yet, out of all the potions, oils, and books that filled the place, the one thing that stood out to me the most was the man behind the counter, and that was my first lesson. Witches look just like everyone else. Of course, we may run into the occasional witch who looks more fiction than fact, but other than those, most are just average people. The majority tend to choose to blend in as much as possible. Why? Not everyone is armed with progressive and open ways of thinking, and in some cases, witches are put into a category as just bad people.
Witches refer to spells and divine help as magick, not to be confused with magic, which we consider to be what one would see at a show, a magician sawing a woman in half, card tricks, etc. Magick, however, is sacred to all Wiccans.
11/02/23 12:42
Writing our own spells is what every practicing Witch aspires to. The ability to craft our own spells gives us an advantage over “ready made” spells we can find in other places. This is because we will be putting our own emotion and energy into the spell. Through the process of its unique creation it will be special and meaningful to us, and that is the secret of casting successful spells.
If we want to learn black magic, all of the following holds true. The ingredients and tools that we use are purely dependent upon not only what traditional magickal properties they might possess, but also what they mean to us as far as symbology goes.
There are different ways to set up the wording of our spells. They can be as simple as a two line charge to enforce our will, rhyming couplets (my personal favourite, since it helps me to better remember the words without referring back to written instructions), eloquent and lengthy prose to charge the spell to the energy of our will, or simply the use of repeating or chanting a single word over and over again.
Everything that we put into the spell, the ingredients, the words, the time of day, etc come together with our desire, emotion, and belief to bring about our desired outcome (sometimes within a day).
A quick word of warning: we should steer clear of casting spells to harm or control other people in any way. Not only does this go against the Witchcraft Ethics and Responsibilities, but trying to control someone else (or cause harm to them), opens doors in the future that we may not want opened. I have seen people lose everything because they practiced Magick in ways that go against common morality. Always make sure our heart is in the right place, and that we feel good about casting a spell.
Now, here are the things we will want to do while creating our spell. Make sure to write down an outline for the spell on paper so we won't forget anything. Even if our spell sounds silly as we write it, keep writing, as long as it is coming from our heart, and is for an intense desire that we have. Unless it is an emergency situation, plan out the best timing for when to cast the spell. We will need to take into consideration planetary influences, moon phases, etc. When we have finished our spell, write it down in our Book of Shadows. Record the results of our spell, and any feelings and impressions we had while casting it in our Book of Shadows
Revise the spell as necessary, as we figure out what went right and what went wrong.
It really is not that complicated. The most important part is that we create something that is authentic.
11/02/23 12:34
Many systems have been developed over the ages to help us control our thoughts. A great amount of dogma has also been kicked around in an attempt to make us into better people. Magick (the occult kind, spelled with a ‘k’) is one of the oldest and most general of these systems. Magick is the study and application of psychic forces. It uses mental training, concentration, and a system of symbols to program the mind. The purpose of magick is to alter the self and the environment according to the will.
Most of the magick we see today comes to us from ancient Egypt and Chaldea. The Chinese, Hindus, and Tibetans developed their own unique types of magick.
Western magick was locked up by the Egyptian priests for thousands of years and then suppressed by the rise of Christianity. It was not until medieval Europe that the alchemists and Cabalists rediscovered magickal knowledge. Only during the past hundred years or so has western culture been open minded enough to permit widespread investigation of the subject. Only since the start of the twentieth century has science shown much interest in it all.