Common Beliefs in Witchcraft [REPOST]
27/10/2020
Samhain is fast approaching and the Earth is beginning to fall asleep. This is the time of year I feel especially “witchy” and in touch with the land. My heart swells with a bitter-sweet romance when I see the leaves and their vast array of browns, golds, and reds. The cold winds fill my lungs and ignite my soul.
My personal practice revolves greatly around Autumn and Winter, as for my Norse and Celtic ancestors, Winter was both deadly and sacred. This was a time for slowing down, preparing for the cold. I really do feel like I was built for Winter. The latter two seasons have a special kind of magik; dark, deadly, and inviting.
This autumn is no different. I feel that magik coursing through me even now as I write this blog entry. We have already had three snow falls where I live (and it’s not even Samhain yet). I feel like this year is special for many reasons and I can’t wait to see how the next year will pan out.
Since I haven’t posted in, what, seven days? I wanted to take some time to share with you some core beliefs to witchcraft that I believe to be fairly common and generally agreed upon by most practitioners.
Now just because they are common does not mean everyone share them. Please do your own research before forming any opinions. Again I would like to point out that I am not a professional, just a solitary practitioner with 10 years (as of Halloween 2020) of experiences under my belt and a lot of free time.
That being said, I would like to start with some core beliefs that I personally hold. Beliefs taught to me by the Elder witches I have met. Beliefs that most witches seem to share.
• Everything is alive. Read that again. Yes. Everything is alive on some level. Whether it be a plant, a cat, a chair, a human… All things possess life energy. Now, not everything has the same kind of life energy. A chair and a baby are vastly different in terms of consciousness (obviously). However, most witches believe that objects are aware of what they are. Particularly if they are made with wood or other natural materials. A chair made of wood, on some level, knows it is a chair and it knows it is for sitting. If an item is left without being used, it accumulates negative energy and attracts what I like to call “energetic dust bunnies”. These things could be thought of like the soot sprites from Studio Ghibli films. Little creatures that don’t necessarily think for themselves or have free will. They are but congealed balls of discarded energy that infest spaces. The more negative energy there is in a space, the more of these dust bunnies will “appear”. Sometimes they can be overwhelming and create a dark cloud over your space. So pick up your laundry please.
Exercise: Open your heart and listen to your space. What kind of energy does it have? Is there anything that is trying to grab your attention?
Sit comfortably in a chair or with your back against a wall. If sitting in a chair, make sure your feet are flat on the ground. It is important to keep your back straight, but not tense. If you need to, do a little shake to rid yourself of all the restless energy and begin by closing your eyes and just relaxing. Put all of your perception into your feet; feel it like a warm tide lapping up your feet, into your legs, and so on. Bring this perception up your entire body and feel it fill you entirely, as if you are a vessel of golden light. Once you feel this warm awareness throughout your body, imagine a second skin all around you, a few inches off of your physical body. This second skin is your astral body/energetic body/aura. Feel it moving all around you. Try pushing it out and pulling it in like a tide and make note of how it feels. This might take some practice, that is okay! Once you’re comfortable with this sensation, fill your space with your aura. Every nook and cranny. Make an intention to listen to your space. You can say it out loud or think it in your head (I personally feel that saying it allowed yields better results) and then listen. Pay attention to how you begin to feel. Does your space feel content? Does it feel anxious? Your home/space will tell you what needs to be done, you only have to listen.
2. Witches are weavers of magik. That’s magik with a k by the way. It is not uncommon to see witches spell magik with a “k” in order to differentiate between parlor tricks/optical illusions and real bonafide witchcraft. Say, what is magik anyways? Well, if you ask 3 different witches, you are likely to get 7 1/2 different answers. The simplest way that I personally can put it is that magik is the web of life energy that encompasses everything. Think of it like computer code in the Matrix. Magik is all the 0s and 1s that make up our ‘hologram’ reality. Once you become familiar with ‘reading’ the code, you can input your own and change how the code flows. Like Lon Milo DuQuette said in is book “The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford”….
“It [Quabbalah] is all in your head— you just have no idea how big your head is.”
Exercise: Having doubts about the validity of magik? Here is an easy exercise to do to help prove it to you. A particularly potent form of magik is manifestation. You may feel funny doing this at first, but push through it. Being open to it is the first step to doing it. Fill a jug or jar with water to keep on your nightstand. It could be moon water if you so desire, it could be gemstone water (NOTE THAT NOT ALL GEMS ARE SAFE FOR GEMSTONE WATER). Make sure that you make this water special in your mind. It is sacred water for you. Meditate with it, charge it, even just whisper to it what you want it to do. Next, grab a glass and label it with something you want to manifest. I highly recommend using a sigil or symbol here, as complex phrases seem to get muddled for me personally. Every morning, first thing upon waking, drink deeply from the cup and think about your intention…. and then completely forget about it for the rest of the day. You can do it every night before bed as well, but it is particularly important to do it every morning as our first thoughts set the tone for the whole day.
3. There is no “good” or “bad”, just a thousand shades of grey. Meaning, there are no “cardinal sins”. There is no devil. There are no “virtues”. Sometimes there isn’t even a “god”. The moral code is entirely up to the practitioner. Which can be a slippery slope sometimes, however it is also quite beneficial. It forces the practitioner to form their own opinions and to think for themselves. Nature itself is not divided into “good” and “bad”, it simply is and that is what witchcraft teaches us. As Morticia Addams famously said, “What is order to the spider, is chaos to the fly”. Which brings me to my next point….
4. The Threefold Rule/Karma dictates our fate. Simply put, you reap what you sow. If you spend your life stealing and hurting other people, you will end up being hurt either in this life or the next. If you spend your life devoted to helping people, you will be helped in either this life or the next. Very simple! It does not say “here is a list of bad stuff you should not do, lest ye be damned”. It makes us take personal responsibility for our actions. While sometimes it may not seem like a person is getting their fair share of karmic retribution from the outward observers perspective, it is important to note that the debts are always paid. People who have wronged/harmed others always get what is coming to them.
5. Lastly, and most importantly, we are all reflections of the same source. That meaning, all humans are facets of the same gemstone, branches of the same tree. No one is better or worse than the other, we are all spiritual beings living an earthly experience. I feel like this particular point cannot be stressed enough especially in this day and age of gatekeeping, hatred, racism, and violence. Now, be mindful that witchcraft, by nature, requires a degree of gate keeping. Not everyone is meant to be a witch just like not everyone is meant to be a star football player or mathematician. However, witchcraft is actually quite subjective and no one path is the correct path. You are not better than your neighbors because you’ve read every PDF file on Hermeticism on the internet. You are not better than your neighbors because you were born into a particular practice. Race, religion, gender, sexuality, appearance have absolutely 0 influence on a person’s ability to be a magickal practitioner. We all have magick within ourselves. We all can walk the path of the witch, should we choose to.
…And in fact I would encourage as many people as possible to take up this path. It is so important, especially now, that we recognize the divine power in ourselves but also in everyone else.
So on that note, I am choosing to draw this post to a close. I do hope someone out there enjoys my blog posts. I am very passionate about accurate information and I do my very best to speak only my truth as I have lived it. Do no harm, take no shit, loves!
Anyways, Merry Samhain and feliz día de los Muertos to all my readers.
Blessed Be
