Dismantling Toxic “Respect” to Forge Deep Relationships with the Land & its SpiritsRegardless of the trappings and labels we may latch onto and tie into our crafts, one thing lays at the heart of witchcraft that binds us all. This is our connection with the land and its spirits (conjointly called the Land). Our connection with the Land and the effort we put into our relationships with these spirits, the genius loci, touches all aspects of our practices. We see this in the tools we use—herbs, stones, a lovely shell from the river, a pinch of dirt from a place of power—as well as in the simple focus of our magick. While other systems seek to transcend the everyday or to even attain godhead, witchcraft seeks to improve our everyday lives and to help us live more honestly: to see the world more fully for what it truly is and to embrace the wonder and beauty of being physically incarnate.
Though we may each approach the Gods through the lens of sometimes very different traditions, devotional practice remains constant among them as a means for us to forge strong relationships with the Gods. What devotional practice looks like for each of us will look different—as it should. Our relationships with the Gods must be personal, reflecting the time and effort spent to know Them intimately. Just as the way you know your best friend will be different than the way their parents know them, so, too, will your relationship with a particular deity be different than the relationship someone else will have with that very same god. However, across traditions and among the many, varied relationships that exist with Them, a foundational part of devotional practice is that of making offerings.
This article is part of an ongoing series on Building Competency in Witchcraft. This series aims to prepare you to do advanced witchcraft by filling the beginner-become-adept void of information. The first post was Crafting Your Spiritual Calendar, which focused on the importance of consistent practice and provided examples and guidance in creating a regular spiritual practice. The second post was Mastering the Basics of Witchcraft, which provided a working definition of witchcraft and identified the basic skills that are foundational to all witchcraft practices -regardless of whether you’ve been practicing for 2 years or 2 decades. The third post was Intention is NOT Enough and it took an in-depth look at why intention alone is useless and does not provide the transformational power that bullshit new age “spirituality” would have you believe, with science- and magickal-based evidence to support this denouncing. The focus of this, the fourth post, is to boost your functionality as a witch by teaching you how to determine the magickal use of any object. This will allow you to use any object, any item, and plant for your magick and free you from reliance on store-bought witchcraft supplies -making you a truly functional witch.
Within witchcraft, we are able to use virtually any object as a means of creating powerful change within our lives. While the shiny tools with their hefty price tags may carry with them the illusion of Authenticity™, the witches of old and practitioners of folk magic didn’t have the convenience of Amazon or a local metaphysical shop to spend money they didn’t have on supplies they didn’t need for their magick. Rather, they used items they already had access to, items from around their homes or that the land right outside their doors provided. They worked with local items that were easily obtained, placing emphasis on doing the magick and not on “doing things the right way.” If there was a need for magick to be done, then magick was done. No excuses. Although we live in very different times, we are able to recapture that perspective of practicality and pragmatism. In looking to our own ingenuity and to the land -from where witchcraft springs forth- we can become not just more competent witches but more powerful. We build competency in our magickal skills and the ability to work magick regardless of the circumstances. This is the true sign of a powerful witch. It’s not adhering to the absurd witchcraft aesthetic that is so painfully prevalent right now but being able to do the magick when the magick needs to be done, without any excuses.
This article is part of a sporadic series on Building Competency in Witchcraft that aims to bridge the gap between beginner and intermediate information to better prepare you to do advanced witchcraft. The aim of this series is to also encourage you to consider why you do the things you do, and why you do them the way you do them, in order to develop clarity of thought and action -all of this to help you be as effective with your witchcraft as possible. The first post in this series, Creating Your Spiritual Calendar, discussed the need for consistent practice and the benefit it provides in enabling one to be able to do advanced witchcraft in the first place. The second post, Mastering the Basics of Witchcraft, focused on foundational skills of witchcraft -regardless of whether you are a religious or secular witch- because you cannot effectively do the advanced work if you haven’t mastered the basics. This, the third post, focuses on some of the basic mechanics of magick -and the science that supports this results-focused approach- so you can more effectively create lasting change within your life.
The power of intention has become a rampant buzz topic within the magickal community. In setting an intention, the idea is to formulate a word or statement, much like an affirmation, that represents a change that you want to make in your life. Perhaps you want to view yourself more positively and be less self-critical, or perhaps you want to finally conquer that spending problem and foster greater financial prosperity and wealth in your life. This intention is then held firm in the mind, activated by filling it with “positive energy”* which then causes your intention to attract that which you desire toward you because like attracts like.** However, there is a lot about this entire process that is fundamentally at odds with the way that magick operates, as well as aspects of the world view that becomes common amongst witches regardless of religious prescription (or lack thereof.) Setting an intention, lighting a million glitter-crusted candles, and thinking happy thoughts throughout your waking hours is all well and good*** but when it comes to witchcraft and working magick, setting an intention alone just doesn’t work. It’s only part of the equation. Effective magick is a process. This post is part of a sporadic series on Building Competency in Witchcraft. The search for advanced witchcraft and advanced magick is common throughout the witchcraft community. Yet, much of what qualifies as advanced work is only possible after the cultivation and mastery of basic witchcraft skills -the advanced work comes about as a culmination of skills and the experience gained through cultivating and honing those foundational skills. The previous post in this series, Creating Your Spiritual Calendar, discussed the need for consistent practice and the benefit it provides in enabling one to be able to do advanced witchcraft in the first place. This post focuses on the foundational skills of witchcraft because it is not until you have the basics mastered that you can consider yourself an adept and learn the advanced skills -you cannot effectively do the advanced work if you haven’t mastered foundational skills.
The ability to achieve an altered state of consciousness is a fundamental skill in witchcraft. It facilitates the use of psychic abilities as well as the application of magick. It is also a critical component of awareness and paying attention -the most important skill one can develop as a witch. However, the term altered states is frequently discussed in a manner that makes it seem as if achieving an altered state of consciousness is difficult to accomplish or that it requires the use of hallucinogenic or toxic plant material. In reality, however, this simply isn’t the case.
As providing a recommended reading list is damn near obligatory for anyone who puts themselves out there in the online witchcraft world, I finally present my own list. Big important note here: this is a recommended reading list for witches, a recommended reading list for Pagans can succinctly be summed up in “consult the mythology and historical cultural spread of the Deity or pantheon of your interest” with little else of worth to add. In a similar spirit of practicality and functionality, in alphabetical order, I offer the following reading list. Candles flicker, casting strange shadows onto the walls. Ever so carefully, I place another small spoonful of incense onto the charcoal. Clouds of white smoke, fragrant and heady, billow upward, spilling across the bottom of the shelf holding spirit houses and other attachments of my family’s ancestors. The air is noticeably thicker, both physically and spiritually. I dip my fingers into the oil, anointing candles and letting a few drops fall onto the charcoal. I anoint myself and breathe deeply.
It’s the beginning of the third day of a twelve-day long festival that comes every November. There will be further rites necessary to work this evening, but for now I must attend to the morning rites. In total, there are seventeen holy days this month, with other necessary rites dependent upon the results of some of those feast days. It’s a busy, busy month, one that greatly taxes my patience and determination. But I do it because it must be done. I do it because I am a priestess. This post is the first in a series that will cover the use of zoological remains in witchcraft. Future posts will cover acquiring bones and animal remains, cleaning, consecration, and how to use zoological remains in your own practice.
The use of zoological remains has enjoyed a historical presence in witchcraft so much so that the two nearly go hand in hand. Of course, while it is not necessary to work with zoological remains in order to practice witchcraft, many a witch have found a deepening of practice in doing so. And engaging in something that reaches far back in our collective witch history has a way of bringing comfort, confidence, and direction that one may otherwise find missing from their practice. However, it is critical to note that the use of zoological remains does not make for a more “authentic” witchcraft practice, nor does it make you more of a “badass witch.” Rather, it’s just another avenue of using natural objects in your craft in order to create the changes that you wish to create. This post is part of a sporadic series on Working with Spirits. Previous installments include "Death Midwifery" and "Making Friends with the Genius Loci." NOTE: All pronouns and nouns in reference to Spirits will be capitalized throughout this article. Yes, it’s not grammatically correct, however, I have just recently moved into a new home and the Spirits therein and I are just getting to know each other: this capitalization is done out of respect for Them as They peer over my shoulder wondering just what it is I am doing. Hopefully it won’t be too distracting. Many homes and dwellings are naturally filled with Spirits, and the witch, spirit worker, animist, and psychically sensitive person will notice Their presence. These Spirits take up residence in a home or dwelling for as many different reasons as there are different types of spirits. The Dead may linger in a building where they spend considerable time in Their life or that They had strong emotional attachment to (such as the family farm, a house they built, or Their childhood home, for example.) Other Spirits may be attracted to the dwelling due to previous activities that took place there. The regular practice of magick and spirit communication can create tendencies in a location that naturally cause Spirits to frequent that place, as witnessed by anyone who has regularly used the same location for ritual or magickal work. Natural features in the environment may place the building in a location that is naturally conducive to Spirit activity, while the placement of mirrors, doorways, and stairs in a home may naturally create portals from which Spirits enter the dwelling. While some Spirits, such as those we come across in folklore (like the Domowoj, Bean Tighe, or Brownie) naturally dwell within homes and may have found Their way there hitching a ride with immigrant families in times past. These are just a few of the many reasons why a home may be host to a number of Spirits, but it doesn’t address a more important matter: what does one do about these Spirits? |
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