How to Become a Witch by Amber K. (large ebook reader txt) 📗

We open ourselves to joy, celebrate life, and share pleasure with others. The Goddess says, “Let my worship be in the heart that rejoices: sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in my presence, for all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals and my gift of joy on earth.”

What Witches Do

Common Practices

Witches could probably argue endlessly about theology and values, but mostly we don’t bother. In many ways, we are united by what we do—our practices—rather than by our beliefs.

For instance, we celebrate the changing of the seasons in the holy days we call sabbats, and the cycles of the moon in celebrations called esbats. These are covered in more depth in chapter 2, so we will give just a brief overview here.

There are eight sabbats, not counting any we might invent for fun. Collectively, they are known as the Wheel of the Year. Witches think in circles and spirals whenever possible, rather than straight lines. For instance, we see time as both circular and a spiral, rather than as linear. The Wheel of the Year is a circle because it keeps turning, coming back to the same point each year, and yet it’s also a spiral, because we are not the same people we were last year, and the world is not the same place. Autumn is always autumn, yet no two autumns are the same.

Some Witches begin their year at Samhain (pronounced either sow’-wen or sov-veen’), others see Yule as the beginning of the year. It’s rather like starting the day at midnight or at dawn—there are good arguments to be made for both. The eight sabbats occur approximately every six and a half weeks around the Wheel.

Witches also celebrate the phases of the moon; almost all do ritual at the full moon, and many celebrate other lunar phases too. We will talk more about ritual in chapter 8.

We also do divination and spellwork frequently, and keep animal friends close by, and talk to plants, and much more that will be covered in later chapters.

Witches by the Numbers

So, how many Witches are there? No one can do a complete census, because many Witches are deep in the broom closet and will never reveal their path to any pollster.

Even the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), done in 2008 by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, lumps Pagans of all stripes (Witches, Generic Pagans, Druids, whatever) with Unitarian-Universalists, New Agers, Scientologists, Santerians, and others in a category called “New Religious Movements and Other Religions.” Even with all that company, we “New Religious” types only make up about 1.2 percent of the U.S. population, or fewer than 3 million folks—if the survey is accurate.

Granted, Witchcraft/Wicca seems to be growing rapidly. But at some fraction of 1.2 percent, we’re not exactly taking over the world—which is all right, because that’s never been our goal, anyway. We have no desire to convert the world to our path, because we believe that Witchcraft is not for everyone.

We have mentioned the American Witch population but should make it clear that Wiccans/Witches live in many countries. Great Britain is the birthplace of modern Witchcraft, but our Craft brethren also can be found throughout Western Europe and in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Smaller numbers are scattered around the world, including those serving in the military who are stationed overseas.

So what are Witches? We are people who follow a spiritual path and way of living that is inspired by the practices and worldview of our ancient ancestors. We keep close to nature. We celebrate the cycles of life and the seasons. We connect with Spirit in many forms. We perform divination and magick. And we learn, grow, and heal ourselves and others. This is the heart of Witchcraft.

The female factor

Roughly two out of three Witches are female. Perhaps women are drawn to the Craft because, hey, the Goddess is here, and it’s great to have a divine female role model—or, actually, many of them! Perhaps we like the idea that we can be priestesses, with as much respect as the men get in the male-dominated religions. On the other side, maybe some guys aren’t sure what to do with the male deities in the Craft: all that Hornéd-God, Sun-God, Warrior-God energy. It’s quite a change from Jesus. Nobody knows why there are more female Witches, but the male Witches are happy, and we women are glad that we have as many really great Craft brothers as we do.

[1] Thank you, Rowan, for this analogy.

[2] Revised by Amber K and Azrael Arynn K, Samhain, 2010.

[3] From the Council of American Witches, 1974. Due to the efforts of the council’s chairman, Carl Weschcke, these principles were later incorporated into the chaplain’s handbook for use in the U.S. Army.

Chapter 2

Seasons of the Sun,

Cycles of the Moon

The Wheel of the Year

Celebrate as the Wheel turns,

Touching magick, wielding power,

Dance and leap as the balefire burns,

I am a Witch at every hour.

Nature moves in cycles, in circles and spirals. Earth orbits the sun, and the seasons flow from one to the next and repeat the cycle through the millennia. We call it the Wheel of the Year, and for modern Witches, it governs the rhythm of our lives. The Wheel is a circle, coming back to the same seasons and sabbats again and again, but it is also a spiral, because it moves through time. At each year’s spring, we are in an equivalent place—but not the same place. Also, when we reincarnate, we come back to Earth, but it is not the same world we left the time before.

Likewise, the moon orbits, waxes, and wanes in her changing phases, and the tides rise and ebb. The lunar cycle is also part of our lives and our magick. And when we celebrate, we do it in circles, not lined up in rows, watching someone else