8 Consequences to Practicing Witchcraft

(that no one ever talks about, shhh....)

It’s pretty obvious that most people on the outside of the magickal and witchcraft communities don’t realize the extent of transformation and the true development of abilities and skills that a witch undergoes throughout their practice. And while this is really something to be expected, it seems that too often there are those within our midst who don’t fully realize that yeah, this stuff is really real and yeah, not everything is metaphor.

It may be tempting to blame some of this, at least in part, on the lack of breadth contained in much of the easily accessible information on witchcraft, but considering that most of this information is specifically aimed at those with little to no knowledge, the inclusion of such could be overwhelming and likely discourage more than a few people from continuing in their practice* -not to mention, it really isn’t relevant within that context.
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So, with that in mind, that basic info can only cover basic points (in order to retain relevancy, efficacy, and value) this is a quasi-tongue in cheek post on some of the surprising developments that you can expect thanks to the time, effort, and dedication you put into your witchcraft practice.

Of course, this list is neither exhaustive nor to be taken as some sort of guarantee. Rather, it’s just a fun look at some of the weird shit that I and my best witch friends have experienced as we’ve crossed that milestone of having practiced witchcraft for longer than we haven’t. Your experiences may very well differ and you may very well have additional experiences that aren’t mentioned here, in which case… feel free to give me and other readers a heads up on other things we could potentially look forward to!

• Sure, all the books and websites talk about the interconnection of mind, body, and spirit, how magick works holistically and involves all levels of one’s being in order to be truly effective**. But, after a point of consciously working to gain control over your mind, body, and spirit through various exercises, that interconnection becomes very clear, and in completely unexpected but entirely appropriate ways. For example, in doing heavy purificatory work, the kind that has you working on your home and strengthening boundaries and doing intense purificatory work on yourself to be clear of miasma and such, it is nothing to consequently find yourself extremely thirsty, like on the verge of dehydration level of thirsty. And not just for a little bit after doing some Work, but lasting for days afterwards as your body also tries to purify and cleanse itself. From there, the forced cleansing your body has chosen to undertake and you may very well find that one of the results of your spiritual cleansing is needing to spend more time in the bathroom as your body flushes out toxins and built-up food from your digestive tract.

• At some point, you’ll begin noticing synchronous events in your life. As the saying goes, the witch knows there’s no such thing as coincidence. But, unlike what the happy dappled sunshine and sparkly crystal New Age sphere would have you believe, synchronicity is not always a good thing, and it certainly isn’t the Universe patting you on the head saying, “Good job, here’s a surprise free latte because you did such a good job meditating today.” No. Frequently, synchronicity will appear simply to tell you that shit’s about to get really bad really soon. And, far too often than is in any way comfortable, you will encounter synchronistic events that drain the blood from your face and leave you in a combined state of confusion, awe, and fear. For example, having a prophetic yet still rather metaphorical and symbolic dream, only to encounter the very same not-quite-right-that-thing-shouldn’t-exist-outside-the-dream object in real life the very next day. This also manifests itself in situations and events being a little too appropriate sometimes. Like when you spend the evening making protective charms for family and friends -yet wake up to find the one you always wear lying next to you broken. This level of synchronicity and interconnection of events in one’s life becomes so prevalent that it nearly warrants its own blog post.

• You start working magick a lot, but many times you won’t even realize you’ve done so until the result of said magick is staring you in the face. None of the oh-so-typical trappings were involved, no candles, no smoldering herbs, no Circle, no chanting, no visualization, nothing that gives the impression of anything being done. You just thought something. And it came to be. Sometimes it comes to be in just a matter of minutes, sometimes a couple of hours. But it shouldn’t have. The thing you merely thought of and that you wanted to happen does, and while some would dismiss it as a coincidence, you know better. And the event sure as hell isn’t any form of synchronicity. Here’s an example: I was about 8 months pregnant and had reached the size where I literally didn’t have any pants that fit me any longer and I had no money with which to buy new pants. While I stayed home most of the time, the situation was still very stressful for me, as I was not basically functional. One night, my family and I were headed to the store to pick up some food items and such. As I sat there, frustrated and holding the one pair of pants that I could sort of make fit (with the button and zipper both undone) I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it would be if I happened to find a pair of pants that would fit me and last through the end of the pregnancy. At the store, we were getting ready to leave and found ourselves wandering down one last aisle. There were clothes racks placed in the middle of the aisle (though this wasn’t a clothes section of the store.) They were clearance racks that were nearly bare. I slowed down, flipped through a few things on one rack and found a single pair of pants. They were the exact size I needed. They were only $1. And they got me through the end of that pregnancy. Other less than pleasant examples include very real instances of the evil eye and curses being tossed with nothing more than a thought, a glance, or a few strong words at one who has wronged you or yours -resulting in physical injury and more to the wrongdoer.***

• You become very visual. This makes doing magick so much easier because you don’t need to calm yourself, take some deep breaths, ground and center, blah blah blah, you can just picture what you want and send the energy on its way. BUT, it also means that every time your best friend says, “Can you imagine…” and then proceeds to describe something extremely disgusting …well, yeah, you can imagine and you do. There it is, in full details, right in your brain space. And since, when it comes to magick, visualization involves more than just images, that means you get the joy of smelling it, of feeling the bile rise in the back of your throat, and your stomach turn. Neat, huh?

• Your tolerance for BS goes down to like… nothing. A huge part of witchcraft that doesn’t get enough discussion is that you will be put through the wringer, broken down, and reassembled -and not once, but many, many times. It’s always painful but hey, that’s how growth is. And none of us gets the luxury of being a witch and not being held accountable, not being forced to own our shit, and to not have our lives turned upside down by Gods and/or Spirits. So, when some random human thinks they need to make something our problem, it means that patience levels aren’t high and that that individual may very well be sent on their way to find someone else to accommodate their emotional immaturity, irresponsibility, or refusal to step up and do what needs to be done. Because we’re busy and we don’t get an easy pass on such things, so why should we provide such for anyone else? Forced growth for everyone!

• That whole “witches are traditionally outsiders” thing becomes blatant. It’s more than just occupying the liminal spaces, of being a walker between worlds, a communicator of spirits. Rather, it’s the simple fact that the changes that you endure as part of being a witch change you. The way you see the world, the fact that you see more of the world (i.e. spirits, literal currents of energy, etc.), all of that growth and the challenges you’ve faced, all of this forces a change in your priorities, in your fundamental worldview, and in how you interact with the world in general. This makes it increasingly more difficult to interact with people on divergent paths (not impossible, just more difficult.) This isn’t meant to sound pompous, rather, it’s to point out that the simple fact that people generally like to be around others with whom they see as being similar to them. It gives a sense of belonging and creates a sense of security in our worlds. But when your late night pursuits cause changes within your personality, there naturally are less people with whom you share commonality. And that can be lonely at times, and it can lead you to becoming jaded (especially taking into account the previous point of having less tolerance for other people’s crap.) Another reason why your outsider status gets rocket launched to the next level: you lose sight of what is considered “normal” for most people. While a good percentage of people will have some sort of “supernatural” or inexplicable experience in their lives, most people generally don’t wake up in the middle of the night because a shadow has appeared at the foot of the bed and wants to talk. They don’t walk outside only to hear a pair of trees in their front yard arguing with each other. Or suddenly find objects they don’t own in what was supposed to be an empty cupboard in their home. Or look up to see coffee cups moving across the counter. But, as a witch, you might.

• You realize you’re empathic -but so is everyone else that’s been practicing witchcraft for any length of time. Okay, so maybe I’m only including this point because that whole thing where like every brand new witch declares themselves to be empathic and then expects everyone to be impressed was old the moment it began. Yeah, some people naturally can pick up and feel other people’s emotions really well but… it differs greatly from just reading body language or finally expanding your sphere of awareness to include other people and you suddenly realize that other people have emotions, too. True empathic abilities in an inexperienced magick handler or witch are often messy, unreliable, come with other talents (such as picking up on the thoughts of others and being able to influence those thoughts,) and are a big pain in the ass. You know these people because they’re a little off, not quite socially awkward but definitely uncomfortable with large crowds. This is from not yet knowing how to cope with the ability nor being able to reliably turn it off. But, as mentioned earlier, anyone who practices witchcraft for any considerable length of time will be empathic. That’s what happens when you learn to truly pay attention to the world around you, to take into account the little details, when you’ve consciously and actively worked to strengthen psychic abilities. And it’s so not a big deal and doesn’t make you special. (So, if you’re new to the witchcraft world, feel like you’re empathic, don’t take it too personally when other witches are not impressed and dismiss your claim. It really has nothing to do with you and more so with the fact that a: we’ve heard it at least a dozen times this week, and b: it’s as impressive as if you had proclaimed “I cast a spell and it worked!” or “I performed divination and my reading was accurate!” because that’s how it’s supposed to work.)

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• You end up having conversations with people you’re close to that never actually took place, yet you both know what “was discussed.” Let me rephrase that: after a while, you’ll notice that your connection with the people you’re closest to becomes more. So much more that you notice that you have incredibly vivid dreams in which you and that person are having a perfectly normal conversation about something -only the next day you find that they are aware of everything discussed just as if the dream conversation had happened during the waking hours. Or, you may find that, while completely distracted and doing something else, you’ll be thinking about something that you want to tell that person -only to find that once you have the chance to tell them, they already know. And it goes both ways, where you’ll know what’s going on with that person even if they’re miles away from you. It doesn’t mean it’s time to set up your own psychic hotline, but what this does mean is that you’re making great progress as a witch, that you’re learning how to truly pay attention to the world within and without, and that you’re experiencing a broader way of being and normality than before.

 
*Never mind that witchcraft isn’t for everyone; discussion for another time.
**Or at least, they should.
***Reason why further details are withheld for these example is because I’m neither going into the whole ethics of cursing thing here or allowing space for it. The only morality or code of ethics that exists in witchcraft is the one you personally develop based upon your own experiences. Responsibility is placed in your hands, read that as you will and tread as you will.

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