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

in the Craft community will speak to them, do ritual with them, or invite them to sabbats or festivals; it is as if they no longer exist. They have to start over in a different community.

What about bringing in secular law enforcement—the police? The Ordains do say to keep Craft disputes within the Craft, but if there is a serious crime, most Witches would invite the police and courts to do their work. Once someone has seriously violated the Rede as well as the laws of the state, they can no longer expect the protection of the Craft community.

Witch ethics are not simple or easy to follow. Simple rules, codes, and laws often don’t work well for human communities, because people are inventive enough to get around the spirit of the law while they follow the written rules to the letter. Wiccan ethics require perceptiveness, knowledge, thought, and judgment—wisdom, perhaps. This is, after all, called the Craft of the Wise.

Where the wisdom of the individual is not enough, we look to the wisdom of our elders, our community, and our traditions. Beyond that, we look to the wisdom of the human species as expressed in teachings throughout many cultures and ages; we know that Witches do not have a monopoly on wisdom.

And always, we look to the wisdom of the Goddess and the Old Gods as expressed all around us, in nature—which is the embodied wisdom of the divine Spirit.

With guides and teachers such as these, we can hope to live well and ethically.

More Resources

An Ye Harm None: Magical Morality and Modern Ethics by Shelley Rabinovitch and Meredith Macdonald (Citadel, 2004)

When, Why…If: An Ethics Workbook by Robin Wood (Robin Wood Enterprises, 1997)

Chapter 8

When the Moon Is Full

Witchcraft and Magick

I cast the circle, raise the cone,

Touching magick, wielding power,

And pour the wine when magick’s flown,

I am a Witch at every hour.

Magick has many definitions, including causing changes to happen in conformity with will, the art of changing consciousness at will, and using psychic energies to transform oneself and one’s environment. In each case, knowing your true will and applying energy to that goal is the basis of magick.

Witches have adopted the shamanic practices of our ancestors and the forms of ceremonial magick and its correspondences because they work. Witchcraft is a very practical practice—if something works, we use it again to achieve the same result. If it doesn’t work, we try something else. Not everything works the same for everyone.

Magick is a huge and complex subject that could take lifetimes to explore, and what follows is only a brief overview. For those who want to know more than can be included here, we have explored the subject more deeply in our books True Magick and RitualCraft.

The Uses Of Magick

One of the oddest things about magick is that few people seem to know what it’s for. In the movies and fantasy novels, magick is either a way to accomplish totally trivial tasks like washing dishes and changing costumes, or it’s used to curse people and battle hordes of malicious wizards and monsters.

No. Real magick is not a way to avoid doing chores, and very few people are attacked by sorcerous enemies or mythical beasts.

In fact, there are two great branches of the Art Magickal: thaumaturgy and theurgy. The first is sometimes called low magick or practical magick, and includes workings for health and healing, prosperity, safe travel, finding jobs, protecting your home, and such. While magick can help in all these areas, they can all be handled by mundane means as well. Sick? Get some rest and drink plenty of fluids. Your house doesn’t feel safe? Install a new lockset and deadbolt. Magick is not a replacement for commonsense measures; it’s a powerful booster.

The other branch of magick, theurgy, is not nearly as simple. This is magick for spiritual growth and self-transformation, what the alchemists called the Great Work—perfecting oneself. Theurgy helps you expand your consciousness, balance the elements within, illuminate your shadow, create the sacred marriage of your masculine and feminine principles, aspect the gods, and develop the whole and splendid potential of your humanity and your divine self.

This is magick’s best and highest purpose, and the tools of magick are uniquely suited to the task.

The Power behind Magick

Where does magick’s power come from? Fictional magick always seems to have a Ring of Power forged by dwarves under a mountain, or some invincible sword—a thing. But where would such an artifact get all that energy, that juice?

The power is not just in the thing. The power is all around us. We live in a sea of energy and can tap into it at any time. Think of all the forms of radiation invisibly sleeting through you right now. Think of the light and heat of the sun, the great movements of winds and tides, the constant pull of gravity, the momentum of planets in their orbits. Think of matter, which, at its core, is energy.

It is power that we can concentrate by simple means, like breathing or singing or playing drums. And then it can be sent to a goal by thoughts, images, words, and actions. Focused intention is the key to effective magick.

Most people swim in power—or flounder—without even knowing it. They dribble their power away in thoughtless words, unfocused whims, and mindless behaviors. And they accomplish little.

Witches know that every word has power—and so does every thought, emotion, and movement. Witches know how to make choices, to desire, to focus, and to achieve. That is magick.

Styles of Magick

Not every magician works in the same way, any more than every musician is a classical pianist. There are some broadly different approaches to magick, and if you pursue the art, chances are you will lean toward one of them. Briefly:

The Kitchen Witch does practical magick concerned with daily life and often uses ordinary household tools to do simple spellwork. Her magick might be aimed at cooking healthful and tasty meals, protecting