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Lesson Ten: Magick

Basics of Witchcraft
by Jeffrey Pierce

Have you ever been in an on-line chatroom devoted to paganism and witchcraft? One of those virtual places where pagans from all walks of life gather to share a few moments of time, network, and swap theories? If you have, you'll know that every ten minutes or so, the conversation is interrupted by someone asking for spells. Love spells, curses, spells to make their hair prettier, to help them get better grades; the list goes on and on. Hollywood certainly doesn't help the matter any with movies and television programs about Witches who light candles without matches, clean rooms without moving a finger, and fight the minions of evil with supernatural talents that they were born with and never studied to hone. Of course, Hollywood isn't in the business of educating the public about what witchcraft is, nor are they generally looked to as a resource to train pagans in the Craft.

Well, if Hollywood has it wrong, then how do we work magick? What is the concept behind spellwork? How does this all work?

In its simplest form, magick is the conscious changing of energy from one state or vibration to another. What many of us don't realize is that we do this all day long. Remember that person at work that you weren't getting along with? You could really feel the tension building between the two of you. But then you chose to go up to them, to clear the air, to extend a hand of friendship which they accepted. Within you, around you, and in a subtle connection between the two of you, as you watched them smile, you felt that tension fade away, replaced by something else. That, my friends, is magick.

I can hear you already, "But, Jeffrey! That's not magick!" Okay, okay... let's do this another way. Imagine you're in a situation where there is a negative flow of energy between you and another individual which is strong enough that it is beginning to effect you personally, it's changing your moods, your thoughts, and interfering with your daily patterns. What I want you to do is find a way to change that energy, to alter it so that it flows freely once more and no longer impacts your world in a negative fashion.

Now we can tackle this from a number of directions. First of all, we could cast a spell. We could ritually move energy and focus it toward a specific goal. Done properly, this will cause a subtle change in the flow around us to create the correct environment for things to change. When you get to work the next morning, as you pull into the parking lot and open your door, you put a small dent in the car next to you. As you look up at the angry driver whose just jumped out of the vehicle, you see the person you were trying to change the energy with, furious that you've damaged his car.

Now is your chance. You've got your opening that you did spellwork to achieve. Just like you wanted, you have the opportunity to go up to him and change the energy between you. In fact, as angry as he is, if you don't, you may never get another chance.

What we have to realize is that spellwork isn't a solution. It doesn't solve a problem. It doesn't abruptly change reality. Spells cannot, I repeat, cannot, erase our problems, make our lives easier, or create a shortcut through the personal growth, hard work, and development that are necessary for our continual spiritual evolution. What they can do is change our subconscious processes, make us aware of our own outlooks and attitudes, key us into openings and possibilities, and work to aid us in breaking through mental and emotional barriers and blockages. In those rare instances where spells have a noticeable and immediate impact, they normally heighten the situation (an unpleasant situation gets worse so that we have no choice but to face the situation we were trying to avoid) or they create a new lesson for us to learn.

Imagine for a moment that the energy of our world - our attitudes, beliefs, the things that we experience in our world, the events that occur, the people around us - are like a great river, slowly flowing in one direction. As we move down this river, we encounter smooth portions where the water is still, rapids where the river rushes and swirls, and hidden obstacles beneath the surface that snare our boat and which we have to work to get past. Now imagine that the river isn't formed of water, but of energy. Working magick won't change the flow of the water; at best, it can only point you toward the easiest course.

Spellwork doesn't seek to change the world around us; it seeks to influence the energy that is a part of every moment, every breath, and everything. Another way to look at this concept is to imagine that you stand in a wind storm composed of infinite currents of air. While you can sense and sometimes see the larger storm, you can only feel the wind which personally touches you. As your perspective expands, you see that instead of being composed of air, each current is a series of images playing out like a movie. While you can see that the strands of images are predetermined (like long streamers of film you observe flowing toward you) you can individually react to each one. Each frame of film comes to life as the wind touches you and you "live" each frame, reacting to that bit of film with total independence and freewill, each action and intent moving you in the storm, bringing you into contact with new currents of reality.

Spellwork doesn't create new streamers of film. It's like erecting a series of poles a few paces from where you stand. As the wind interacts with the poles, the poles subtly change the wind's course, so that the poles have an influence over the currents that reach you. You can't choose which currents of air come towards you. You can't create a new reality. All you can do is influence the path that you're already on, that has been chosen by you through your actions, intents, and attitudes. Sometimes, even a minor change in the currents will give you the inspiration and insight you need to make major changes on your own. Sometimes, the shift in the wind is so subtle that you don't realize it until it has already passed you by.

One of the reasons we take care in magick and spellwork is that the poles don't go away. As we continue on our path, moving through the wind, we have to walk passed those poles, we have to negotiate the maze we've created, to live with the changes they make to our world until our journey has taken us passed them. Just like any other action, just like anything else we do, there are consequences to the magick we work and the spells we cast.

When you begin to approach spellwork, the first question you have to ask yourself is, "Why do I need to do a spell for this? Is there another way to achieve my goal?" You know that cute guy you've had a crush on for months, but just haven't been able to bring yourself to talk to? Is a spell really going to make it easier for you to go up and say, "Hello" to him? What you need to do is stop and consider the situation. What is the energy you are really trying to change? Would it be easier to do something to bolster your self-confidence so that you could talk to your dream guy? If that's the issue, then at some point you'll have to face that lack of self-confidence; you'll have to address that issue. You can't hide behind magick - most of the time it actually does the opposite and spurs us toward making the changes we try to avoid.

Okay, so we've analyzed the situation and we've decided that spellwork is necessary. Well, it's going to cost you. There's a price to pay. It's commonly believed within the Craft that everything we do, whether it's for good (weal) or for ill (woe) returns to us greater than we sent it out. We use a simple rule of thumb and often say that it returns to us three times greater than we sent it out.

Now imagine that you want to cause someone harm. You've got your revenge planned and you're ready to implement it. Stop for a moment and imagine yourself on the receiving end of that. Suddenly, that plan doesn't seem so friendly. Now imagine having that done to you, not once, not twice, but three times, each when you least expect it. Thankfully, it works the other way too. Give of yourself, bless others, and you too will be blessed.

There's a cost to spellwork. That's one reason to decide if it's truly necessary. But there's another reason to consider. Usually when we're using spellwork to fix a situation, we're avoiding our own issues of personal growth. The experiences we encounter are there because they are an opportunity for us to grow. To use magick to find our way around them doesn't mean that we've fixed the situation, it simply means we'll encounter it again and again until we learn the lessons the situation presents.

Wielding Magickal Energy

"We're witches... we're cool... and we work magick!"

The study group laughs at the good natured mantra, one member shakes his head with an amused dismay. Repeated again and again throughout the night, it reminds us of what we are, that it's a good thing to be what we are, and that the power of magick is at our fingertips.

So far in this course we've taken a simple approach to magick. To this point there has been no talk of casting Circles, of using Runes and personal Glyphs to empower our rites, in handcrafting tools that are connected to the energy of the magickal world. One day, as you look back upon this course, having grown and developed your own practice, you'll discover that all of those things are unnecessary, that they are simply tools which you have the choice to carry in your magickal tool box.

But the question remains, "How do you apply the techniques and principles you've learned?"

For just a moment, let's imagine that you've been asked to create and work a ritual for an aging friend who wants to embrace her transition from the realm of the Mother into arms of the Crone. Have you ever written a ritual like that before? Neither have I. So how do we begin?

If you've followed this course, lesson by lesson, you'll find that you have all of the tools that you need at your disposal. First, you may want to sit and consider what you're doing and why. For that, you can use the previous exercise to analyze the request and discover the important factors behind it. What is it that your friend wants to symbolize in the rite? What aspects of the ritual are important to her? What portions of her journey would she like to celebrate and include in the ceremony?

Once you've decided what aspects to include in the rite, we can look back to Lesson Four: Symbolism, to find physical representations of the things we want in the ritual, that would be important for us to place on the altar. From there, we can use the framework we learned in Lesson Three: The Elements of Ritual, to determine what to do at each stage of the ceremony.

It's amazing what you can do after working through just a handful of lessons.

But let's take this a step farther. You're going to want to create some sacred space, to bring in specific types of energy into the rite for use in your magick. Remember Lesson Six: The Symbolism of Energy? You already know how to connect specific concepts with Elements like Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. You've explored the deities in Lesson Nine and developed a connection to them as well. And if you're not sure how to actually move magickal energy, to pull it and direct it into your rite, look back to the exercise from Lesson Two called, "Attuning To Natural Cycles." If all life, if all of reality is interconnected, it would seem that you would pull in magickal energy and direct it in much the same way that you pulled the energy of the sun and moon within yourself.

You can do all of this. Every aspect of ritual and magick that you need is at your fingertips. It's simply a matter of developing the confidence to apply the tools that you already have.

So back to the ritual at hand that we've been asked to create for our elderly friend. Preparing yourself to craft the ceremony, you sit down with the framework from The Elements of Ritual and begin to imagine yourself in the rite, walking yourself through it step by step. You decide that for Cleansing (step one), you're going to ritually sweep the room before the guests arrive, helping you to begin the transition into a frame of mind you'll need for the ritual at hand. For Setup (step two) you gather the items that you've chosen for the altar: three photographs of your friend - one from childhood, one as an adult, and a snapshot from a recent gathering - each picture mirroring one of the phases of the Goddess; a stone from your garden, a cup of water, a single candle, and a feather you found in your yard - each symbolizing one of the Elements; and then you smile as you set a wand you found at a local bookstore on the altar, not exactly sure how you want to use it yet, just knowing that you want it there.

As the honored guests arrive, you speak the Intent (step three) for the rite, sharing with them the importance of your friend's journey through life; you share with them that they've been invited to gather to celebrate the milestone that she's reached, the place in life that her personal growth has taken her. And as you begin Raising Energy (step four), you decide that you'll use a technique that you developed in Lesson Ten of the Basics of Witchcraft course.

What you just did was a skill that many witches are never taught, that is so simple, that is so powerful, that it's a shame it's often overlooked. Being able to feel a type of energy is a type of visualization. Visualization is easiest to describe as focused imagination. As witches, if we can visualize a type of energy, if we can feel it, we can use it. It doesn't matter if we're thousands of miles away from the physical source of that energy; on a spiritual level, everything is connected as one. If you can imagine it, you can connect with it. If you can connect with it, you can use it.

To raise the energy needed in the ritual for your friend, when you call upon the energy you want, upon the thing that symbolizes it, imagine that energy filling you, just as you did in the exercise above. Direct it into the room around you, into the center of the space you're using - wherever it feels right to you. You've just raised energy my friend. You now have all the tools you need to continue on this path on your own.

The energy has been raised, now it's time to Apply it (step five). For this rite, applying the energy is as simple as using the sacred space you've created and the energy you've raised to honor your friend. What you may not have realized is that the people who have gathered to celebrate this milestone with you and your friend are part of the ritual as well. Try your best to include them. Thank them for their presence in witnessing this moment and allow your friend to do the same. Maybe you'll apply the energy by saying a simple blessing for your friend, something that incorporates the wisdom and knowledge she's discovered on her journey - something that is uniquely her. This is the heart of your rite, where you work your spell, say your blessings, honor your milestones, and carry out the most important portions of the ritual that you've planned. Simple words can be used to Seal the energy (step six). "I bless you with the love of friends and the joy of decades well lived. The joy of the past and the joy of the future are yours forever, to cherish the rest of your life." Sometimes you don't have to say, "So mote it be," "As I speak, so shall it be," or the like. Simply directing the energy to it's destination and giving it a home there is all that is required.

For step seven, Giving Thanks, you can thank the energy you raised, sending it back to where it came, and then thank those that gathered for the ceremony. And thank your friend for asking you to perform it. It's a great honor. And to ground (step eight) - eat! Serve your friend's favorite dessert, hold a potluck, something which will continue to connect you all and give you a chance to thank the participants simply by allowing them the chance to fellowship.

Ritual and magick are actually just that simple. This was not a pre-written ritual which I used for this lesson. I created it as I typed, applying the same principles and techniques that you've learned throughout this course. In later materials, you'll be offered additional tools with which to work, but we've just covered all the basics. All that is left to look at additional ways to grow and connect to the vibrant energy of life.

Copyright © 2007 Jeffrey Pierce