Creating My Majickal Life With the Power of Witchcraft
When my daughter started school I decided to train in Small Business Management. I met a woman there who was loads of fun to sit with in class. I found out she had just completed a term of classes in Witchcraft. Curiosity gripped me, and as an already established reader of Tarot, it seemed a logical choice. I decided to add a few tools to my majickal toolkit and enrol.
Both courses lasted a full year. With hindsight I can see a turning point in my life. A time where I began to exercise some authority over my own life while beginning to remove influences that undermined me. I came to realise that the practices known as Witchcraft, are really just ritualised tools for personal energy management, as well as a set of ethics to ensure they're used wisely.
As Witches we practised for a year as a proper coven. We cast spells to celebrate, initiate, encourage, reveal and manifest. We learned the ethics around non-interference with others as we experimented with banishing and binding. This meant that we only cast majick that we would have cast upon ourselves. It's a valuable principle, whether practiced in majickal circle, or whether practiced in everyday life. It means that we treat others as we would have them treat us - and do no harm.
I had always struggled with focus. More than that I had struggled with balancing the needs of my inner self with my responsibilities in the outer world. I was all messed up with 'I wishes,' 'I should's' and 'If only's.' Too often I was doing what others thought I should do while ignoring what I really wanted.
The mirror had belonged to my mother. I was carrying not only her mirror, but her values around caring for a large country home and garden, and keeping everything looking perfect. Then one day around the time I decided to downsize my home, I slammed the back door a little too vigorously - and crash! Down came the mirror, shattering into pieces. Ten years had passed since I had originally cast that spell. And all I had ever seen in that mirror was myself! Although I still value a pretty home, I'm no longer willing to let it get in the way of my life purpose. And now to boast - only because it's relevant to the story - I've written two books since then.
Majick teaches us that we are not passive participants in our lives. Human beings have the conscious will-power required to manipulate energy. Not necessarily the big energies of weather and collective energies - although that is possible - but the energies of the self. Majick teaches us how to focus our personal energy to a point of power.
Once the space is clear it needs to stay clear. Majick teaches us to set boundaries with people who distract energy away from our goals. The circle we cast within our rituals doesn't end there. When we cast circle, a personal internal boundary is also being practiced. This means an imaginary or real line drawn around your majickal or workspace.
Once you have practiced with the idea of casting circle, it's helpful to take that image with you into the world. Seal yourself off into your bubble when you are concentrating on something and it will help you retain more of your energy and actually discourage others from diluting your force.
Basically, the most important tool I picked up from learning Witchcraft was energy management. Once we set our goals, we learned how to raise and focus the energy required to manifest them. We learned how to stimulate our own energy with sound, movement, words and thought. This means we learned how to psych ourselves up with things like drumming, shouting, dancing and dressing up. We learned how to recognise when that energy was at its peak, knowing that is the time to speak up and say what we want.
Then, energy discharged, we fell into the rest stage. The dark side of the moon. Where we nourished our most majickal vessels with a ceremony known by Witches as Cakes and Ale. That just means food and drink. We acknowledged that for every output of energy, we must replenish ourselves. We also celebrated the abundance of the planet that allowed us to share food and drink. We celebrated the rest stage that follows great work.
Most of all I learned about being in charge of my own ceremony. I learned it was ok to make it up as I go along, adapting to each small thing, in order to achieve some great things. I became fluent in setting my intent; I was a majickal woman, creating the life I was envisioning when I first asked: 'Reveal what blocks my path.'
One of my goals is to move house again. The downsize, although practical and transformative, was a little too drastic. But I don't sit in circle chanting for the universe to deliver me a home. I do collect boxes and am looking at ways to make my home a reality, as well as prepare my current home for sale. I also play out scenes in my head where I am walking around, living a normal day in my perfect home. It's extremely practical majick.
There is no right or wrong way, because I am in charge of my own majick, which is probably the most empowering thing that Witchcraft had to teach me. As we take charge of our majick, we take charge of ourselves. We become the Deity of our own lives, creator-beings who know how to manipulate their own energy to work with nature and the world around them, without harm.
Wishing you love, light and a majickal life. X
Both courses lasted a full year. With hindsight I can see a turning point in my life. A time where I began to exercise some authority over my own life while beginning to remove influences that undermined me. I came to realise that the practices known as Witchcraft, are really just ritualised tools for personal energy management, as well as a set of ethics to ensure they're used wisely.As Witches we practised for a year as a proper coven. We cast spells to celebrate, initiate, encourage, reveal and manifest. We learned the ethics around non-interference with others as we experimented with banishing and binding. This meant that we only cast majick that we would have cast upon ourselves. It's a valuable principle, whether practiced in majickal circle, or whether practiced in everyday life. It means that we treat others as we would have them treat us - and do no harm.
Casting Circles
Although when we cast a circle around ourselves it is said that we have moved 'between the worlds,' what we are actually doing is creating a miniature version of the world we wish to create. It requires us to make decisions about what we want that world to look like. Once we have set our intent clearly, we can begin writing our ritual around it.I had always struggled with focus. More than that I had struggled with balancing the needs of my inner self with my responsibilities in the outer world. I was all messed up with 'I wishes,' 'I should's' and 'If only's.' Too often I was doing what others thought I should do while ignoring what I really wanted.
Mirror, Mirror!
Also, I had so many interests that it was difficult to focus my energy on a single thing long enough to bring it to full potential. Learning how to create a ritual required decisions about intent. Usually a single intent for an entire ritual. An example I can recall is: 'Reveal what blocks my path.' We were learning Mirror Magick. I wanted to know why I wasn't working toward my writing ambitions. I remember I wrote a sigil - which is a majickal phrase reduced to a symbol - and stuck it to the back of the mirror.The mirror had belonged to my mother. I was carrying not only her mirror, but her values around caring for a large country home and garden, and keeping everything looking perfect. Then one day around the time I decided to downsize my home, I slammed the back door a little too vigorously - and crash! Down came the mirror, shattering into pieces. Ten years had passed since I had originally cast that spell. And all I had ever seen in that mirror was myself! Although I still value a pretty home, I'm no longer willing to let it get in the way of my life purpose. And now to boast - only because it's relevant to the story - I've written two books since then.
Majick teaches us that we are not passive participants in our lives. Human beings have the conscious will-power required to manipulate energy. Not necessarily the big energies of weather and collective energies - although that is possible - but the energies of the self. Majick teaches us how to focus our personal energy to a point of power.
As Within, So Without.
Majick is about common sense. We clear the space in which our ritual will take place because we know that our attention will be dispersed if we have to step over kid's shoes and tune out the TV in the other room. In majick and in life we have to clear space, whether in our lounge rooms, offices, or in our minds. Manifesting our goals requires focus. Focus comes when we learn how to clear the space within, by clearing the space without.Once the space is clear it needs to stay clear. Majick teaches us to set boundaries with people who distract energy away from our goals. The circle we cast within our rituals doesn't end there. When we cast circle, a personal internal boundary is also being practiced. This means an imaginary or real line drawn around your majickal or workspace.
Once you have practiced with the idea of casting circle, it's helpful to take that image with you into the world. Seal yourself off into your bubble when you are concentrating on something and it will help you retain more of your energy and actually discourage others from diluting your force.
The Elements of Nature, Are Human Nature
Growing up on a small farm, I've always had an instinctive appreciation of nature. But with Witchcraft I learned that not only am I surrounded by the elements, I am made of them. I mirror them.- My relationship with the element of Earth is mirrored in my relationship to my body, my money, my home and the planet.
- My relationship with the element of Air is mirrored in my relationship to my mind, and how thought impresses itself upon us like the wind shapes the sands.
- My relationship with the element of Fire is mirrored in my relationship to my creative energy and driving force. Its most prominent symbol is the Sun, which we learn to draw upon to raise majickal, motivational energy.
- My relationship with the element of Water is mirrored in my relationship to my emotions. Like emotion, water can nourish us or drown us. It's cycles are reflected in the cycles of the moon. Understanding our watery selves helps us to flow with the tides or surf the waves; Whatever is appropriate to our intent.
Gods, Goddesses and Others
Although invoking Deity can be a powerful aspect of majick, invite these characters into your majick as you would invite them to dinner in your home. I say this because as you invoke the power of a Deity, you are invoking their archetypal energy within yourself. That's the point. We do it because a particular archetype has a trait that we would find helpful in manifesting our goals. For example, we might invoke the Goddess Kali to help us transform our lives. But do not do this kind of thing lightly, because Kali represents transformation as the double force of creativity and destruction. Her energy is fiery, and fire transforms by burning. Invoke her and be ready to manage her firestorms in your life. I can attest to Kali's powerful transformative powers, as well as her rage - remember the door!Basically, the most important tool I picked up from learning Witchcraft was energy management. Once we set our goals, we learned how to raise and focus the energy required to manifest them. We learned how to stimulate our own energy with sound, movement, words and thought. This means we learned how to psych ourselves up with things like drumming, shouting, dancing and dressing up. We learned how to recognise when that energy was at its peak, knowing that is the time to speak up and say what we want.
Then, energy discharged, we fell into the rest stage. The dark side of the moon. Where we nourished our most majickal vessels with a ceremony known by Witches as Cakes and Ale. That just means food and drink. We acknowledged that for every output of energy, we must replenish ourselves. We also celebrated the abundance of the planet that allowed us to share food and drink. We celebrated the rest stage that follows great work.
Most of all I learned about being in charge of my own ceremony. I learned it was ok to make it up as I go along, adapting to each small thing, in order to achieve some great things. I became fluent in setting my intent; I was a majickal woman, creating the life I was envisioning when I first asked: 'Reveal what blocks my path.'
Practical Majick
I cast few spells these days. My focus is so specialised now that I have three or four goals, which I review each year, usually around Easter time. It's a simple ritual with maybe a candle at most. I don't cast circle every time I do a ritual, because I cast circle daily around my home anyway. My home is my majickal space. From there I manifest my life.One of my goals is to move house again. The downsize, although practical and transformative, was a little too drastic. But I don't sit in circle chanting for the universe to deliver me a home. I do collect boxes and am looking at ways to make my home a reality, as well as prepare my current home for sale. I also play out scenes in my head where I am walking around, living a normal day in my perfect home. It's extremely practical majick.
There is no right or wrong way, because I am in charge of my own majick, which is probably the most empowering thing that Witchcraft had to teach me. As we take charge of our majick, we take charge of ourselves. We become the Deity of our own lives, creator-beings who know how to manipulate their own energy to work with nature and the world around them, without harm.
Wishing you love, light and a majickal life. X
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