No one person can teach all of the Craft.\u00a0 No one person can learn all of the Craft.\u00a0 The Craft is too big.\u00a0 Every witch specializes in something, and acquires proficiency with three or four other things.\u00a0 This is why the saying declares \u201cYou cannot be a witch alone.\u201d\u00a0 It is best to be in a coven, from six to twelve persons plus the high priestess.\u00a0 But people move around the world and it is not always possible for covens to keep together.\u00a0 The next best thing is to associate with one or two witches and keep in touch with others over the internet.\u00a0 Witchcraft and Neopaganism could not survive in the world today without the internet.<\/p>\n
No one can compile an exhaustive list of topics covered by the Craft, and everyone\u2019s personal list will be prioritized differently, according to that witch\u2019s practice.\u00a0 For me the Craft includes herblore, traditional handicrafts, farming and hunting lore, divination, dreamwork, trancework, meditation, spellwork, study of ancient religions, study of indigenous religions, local study of nature, ritualwork, and covencraft, but I am proficient in only a few of these areas.\u00a0 I am not proficient in herblore, and moreover I currently live in a country, Norway, where people do not enjoy herbal freedom.\u00a0 It is very difficult to obtain certain herbs here, and people are not supposed to import them.\u00a0 For my herbal knowledge I must rely on friends who live elsewhere in the world and who can advise me over the internet or by telephone or letter.\u00a0 Sometimes these can be obtained in the woods.\u00a0 Except in the cities, there are small stretches of forest throughout the lowlands.<\/p>\n
Local study of nature can only be carried out locally.\u00a0 If you have one or more partners in the Craft, you should acquire some guidebooks to local flora and fauna, geology and topography, and go out together in different seasons of the year for camping trips and hikes, to study the locale and familiarize yourself with the animals, plants and minerals of the area.\u00a0 For this topic one must combine book-learning with personal familiarity.\u00a0 I am aware of the animals and plants in my neighborhood, though I am not given to long hikes or to camping anymore.<\/p>\n
Every witch will practice some physical discipline and engage in some form of work developing manual skill, in addition to more mental pursuits.\u00a0 Every witch seeks balance, both within and with the environment, including inner and outer spirits.\u00a0 Witches seek freedom in all its forms, and for this reason will not use addictive substances, and will either abstain from habit-forming substances altogether, or at most will use them rarely.<\/p>\n
Witches follow the Sun-wheel in all their practices, seeking balance in their use of the powers of elemental Air, Fire, Water and Earth.\u00a0 They align these practices with the directions of East, South, West and North, respectively.<\/p>\n
Air contains the power to know.\u00a0 Thought is breath.\u00a0 Every process is begun by increasing knowledge.\u00a0 Witches always seek to know rather than hide from knowledge.\u00a0 A witch is nothing if not practical, and will always seek to make use\u00a0 of knowledge in some way.\u00a0 Knowledge that is purely negative will be buried by a witch, who can draw on its power without letting its negativity emerge.<\/p>\n
Fire contains the power to will.\u00a0 Will is inseparable from action.\u00a0 Witches cultivate strings of actions which require regular effort.\u00a0 They take oaths before the gods to fulfill these strings.\u00a0 Some strings, such as learning a language, are ongoing and have no foreseeable end.\u00a0 Strings are cultivated through two forms of action, practice and praxis.\u00a0 A practice is engaged in at particular times and for particular intervals of time.\u00a0 A praxis is engaged in at random moments, whenever one thinks of it.\u00a0 Practice and praxis support each other, and every string involves both forms of action.\u00a0 To establish a string requires some form of sacrifice, for space must be found in one\u2019s life for the new activity.\u00a0 The sacrificial fire was always built traditionally in the south, and it is the means of communication with gods, demigods and ancestors.\u00a0 Witches begin by sacrificing very small things, such as minor habits, which generally tie up large amounts of energy.\u00a0 The ancestors approve of such sacrifices and will send the witch a special form of vigor as a sign of their approval.<\/p>\n
Water contains the power to dare.\u00a0 Witches dare to go beyond their current limitations.\u00a0 They examine their assumptions and question them, seeking to think outside the box, as the saying goes.\u00a0 They explore other possibilities, of awareness, of living.\u00a0 They change habits to experience living in other ways.\u00a0 This can also take small forms, such as taking a different route to work on occasion.\u00a0 But they also seek initiation, psychic death and rebirth, and, when it is the wise choice, they will follow their passions.<\/p>\n
Earth contains the power to keep silence.\u00a0 Silence is inner as well as outer, and involves physical stillness as well as control of speech and thought.\u00a0 In order to be physically still one must exercise regularly and stay in shape.\u00a0 A witch will practice some form of meditation in order to be inwardly still. Avoiding unnecessary talk is important not just to preserve discretion (very important during the Burning Times and still important today), but as a way of conserving energy.\u00a0 A witch conserves energy and only uses it to accomplish a worthwhile purpose.\u00a0 For this reason, witches are enjoined to overcome and suppress nervous habits.\u00a0 Unnecessary talking, especially expressing negative emotions, qualifies as a nervous habit.<\/p>\n
A witch has several names.\u00a0 His or her innermost name is known only to the gods, and the witch uses it in silent prayer or when praying and offering to the gods alone.\u00a0 If a witch is in a coven with a tier of initiations, he or she will have an inner court name, used only among fellow initiates.\u00a0 Among non-initiates or non-coven fellow witches or pagans, he or she can use an outer court name.\u00a0 My outer court name, which can be read above in the byline to this paper, is Quicksilver.\u00a0 This means that one of my gods is Hermes or Mercury; it also means that I tend to spread myself thin in my interests and jump around a lot from one thing to another.\u00a0 I celebrate this weakness light-heartedly and by naming it I keep it within bounds, thus converting it into a strength, or at least into an element of personal style in my practice of the Craft.\u00a0 The inner court name, if one has one, and the innermost name should likewise be meaningful, with the innermost name in some way expressing where one is at in one\u2019s current incarnation, and where one is going.\u00a0 An innermost name can often be the name of an animal or bird.<\/p>\n
Witchcraft is both serious and joyful, in this way resembling the play of children.\u00a0 We witches believe in reincarnation, and also periods of rest and recuperation in the Summerland\u00a0 (a pleasant place in the Underworld) between lives.\u00a0 Thus, we are not in a hurry and can afford to enjoy ourselves.\u00a0 At the same time, our play and restful recreations generally involve some form of learning or practice.\u00a0 We are children of the gods practicing being grown up, with a view to eventually engaging in some form of work helpful to the demigods (daimones) and elementals, and through them to the greater gods and goddesses.\u00a0 Laughter and light-hearted glee or zest is an important part of play.\u00a0 Witches come together at Esbats (generally held at the full Moon) and Sabbats (eight per year).\u00a0 \u2018Esbat\u2019 is from a Middle French word, esbattier, meaning to frolic.\u00a0 \u2018Sabbat\u2019 means a rest.\u00a0 This implies that the real work of the Craft is done between these occasions.<\/p>\n
Witches regard all forms of life as equal and worthy of equal respect.\u00a0 Humans are not regarded as higher than animals, and even stones are thought to be conscious in some way.\u00a0 Personal evolution involves harmony within and without, and faculties shared with animals and other forms of life are considered just as important to cultivate as those that seem unique to human beings.<\/p>\n
Progress in the Craft is not uniform in pace; it slows down and speeds up at intervals.\u00a0 As with mountain-climbing or attending a university, there are certain levels to be attained, and reaching them requires a period of intensive preparation when one is getting close.\u00a0 In the Craft there are three levels or degrees of initiation. \u00a0Upon attaining to a new level, the nature of learning in the Craft changes its form.\u00a0 One emerges victorious with respect to old struggles but must now assume more mature responsibilities; this is described in the witch saying \u201cFirst the victory, then the battle.\u201d\u00a0 Initiations are like promotions in school.\u00a0 Eventually one graduates, and this graduation, lifetimes ahead, is sometimes referred to as the transmutation or transformation.\u00a0 Thereafter, a witch need not incarnate but can stay on the Other Side, performing work useful to the daimones.\u00a0 He or she acquires the ability to visit this surface Earth, at first as a sort of light; later on a material body can be projected temporarily for a particular purpose.\u00a0 This is what the ka<\/em> was believed able to do in ancient Egypt.\u00a0 Transmutation generally takes place on the Other Side, though accounts from stregheria (Italian witchcraft) suggest that it can occur while in a material body on this side, in which case the experience is said to be excruciating.<\/p>\n Witches are not much concerned with transmutation.\u00a0 It lies far ahead.\u00a0 One goes to the Sun and receives a body of light.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested you can read about it in the Prasna Upanishad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No one person can teach all of the Craft.\u00a0 No one person can learn all of the Craft.\u00a0 The Craft is too big.\u00a0 Every witch specializes in something, and acquires proficiency with three or four other things.\u00a0 This is why the saying declares \u201cYou cannot be a witch alone.\u201d\u00a0 It is best to be in a coven, from six to twelve persons plus the high priestess.\u00a0 But people move around the world and it is not always possible for covens to keep together.\u00a0 The next best thing is to associate with one or two witches and keep in touch with others over the internet.\u00a0 Witchcraft and Neopaganism could not survive in the world today without the internet. No one can compile an exhaustive list of topics covered by the Craft, and everyone\u2019s personal list will be prioritized differently, according to that witch\u2019s practice.\u00a0 For me the Craft includes herblore, traditional handicrafts, farming and hunting lore, divination, dreamwork, trancework, meditation, spellwork, study of ancient religions, study of indigenous religions, local study of nature, ritualwork, and covencraft, but I am proficient in only a few of these areas.\u00a0 I am not proficient in herblore, and moreover I currently live in a country, Norway, where people do not enjoy herbal freedom.\u00a0 It is very difficult to obtain certain herbs here, and people are not supposed to import them.\u00a0 For my herbal knowledge I must rely on friends who live elsewhere in the world and who can advise me over the internet or by telephone or letter.\u00a0 Sometimes these can be obtained in the woods.\u00a0 Except in the cities, there are small stretches of forest throughout the lowlands. Local study of nature can only be carried out locally.\u00a0 If you have one or more partners in the Craft, you should acquire some guidebooks to local flora and fauna, geology and topography, and go out together in different seasons of the year for camping trips and hikes, to study the locale and familiarize yourself with the animals, plants and minerals of the area.\u00a0 For this topic one must combine book-learning with personal familiarity.\u00a0 I am aware of the animals and plants in my neighborhood, though I am not given to long hikes or to camping anymore. Every witch will practice some physical discipline and engage in some form of work developing manual skill, in addition to more mental pursuits.\u00a0 Every witch seeks balance, both within and with the environment, including inner and outer spirits.\u00a0 Witches seek freedom in all its forms, and for this reason will not use addictive substances, and will either abstain from habit-forming substances altogether, or at most will use them rarely. Witches follow the Sun-wheel in all their practices, seeking balance in their use of the powers of elemental Air, Fire, Water and Earth.\u00a0 They align these practices with the directions of East, South, West and North, respectively. Air contains the power to know.\u00a0 Thought is breath.\u00a0 Every process is begun by increasing knowledge.\u00a0 Witches always seek to know rather than hide from knowledge.\u00a0 A witch is nothing if not practical, and will always seek to make use\u00a0 of knowledge in some way.\u00a0 Knowledge that is purely negative will be buried by a witch, who can draw on its power without letting its negativity emerge. Fire contains the power to will.\u00a0 Will is inseparable from action.\u00a0 Witches cultivate strings of actions which require regular effort.\u00a0 They take oaths before the gods to fulfill these strings.\u00a0 Some strings, such as learning a language, are ongoing and have no foreseeable end.\u00a0 Strings are cultivated through two forms of action, practice and praxis.\u00a0 A practice is engaged in at particular times and for particular intervals of time.\u00a0 A praxis is engaged in at random moments, whenever one thinks of it.\u00a0 Practice and praxis support each other, and every string involves both forms of action.\u00a0 To establish a string requires some form of sacrifice, for space must be found in one\u2019s life for the new activity.\u00a0 The sacrificial fire was always built traditionally in the south, and it is the means of communication with gods, demigods and ancestors.\u00a0 Witches begin by sacrificing very small things, such as minor habits, which generally tie up large amounts of energy.\u00a0 The ancestors approve of such sacrifices and will send the witch a special form of vigor as a sign of their approval. Water contains the power to dare.\u00a0 Witches dare to go beyond their current limitations.\u00a0 They examine their assumptions and question them, seeking to think outside the box, as the saying goes.\u00a0 They explore other possibilities, of awareness, of living.\u00a0 They change habits to experience living in other ways.\u00a0 This can also take small forms, such as taking a different route to work on occasion.\u00a0 But they also seek initiation, psychic death and rebirth, and, when it is the wise choice, they will follow their passions. Earth contains the power to keep silence.\u00a0 Silence is inner as well as outer, and involves physical stillness as well as control of speech and thought.\u00a0 In order to be physically still one must exercise regularly and stay in shape.\u00a0 A witch will practice some form of meditation in order to be inwardly still. Avoiding unnecessary talk is important not just to preserve discretion (very important during the Burning Times and still important today), but as a way of conserving energy.\u00a0 A witch conserves energy and only uses it to accomplish a worthwhile purpose.\u00a0 For this reason, witches are enjoined to overcome and suppress nervous habits.\u00a0 Unnecessary talking, especially expressing negative emotions, qualifies as a nervous habit. A witch has several names.\u00a0 His or her innermost name is known only to the gods, and the witch uses it in silent prayer or when praying and offering to the gods alone.\u00a0 If a witch is in a coven with a tier of initiations, he or she will have an inner court name, used only among fellow initiates.\u00a0 Among non-initiates or non-coven fellow witches or pagans, he or she can use an outer court name.\u00a0 My outer court name, which can be read above in the byline to this paper, is Quicksilver.\u00a0 This means that one of my gods is Hermes or Mercury; it also means that I tend to spread myself thin in my interests and jump around a lot from one thing to another.\u00a0 I celebrate this weakness light-heartedly and by naming it I keep it within bounds, thus converting it into a strength, or at least into an element of personal style in my practice of the Craft.\u00a0 The inner court name, if one has one, and the innermost name should likewise be meaningful, with the innermost name in some way expressing where one is at in one\u2019s current incarnation, and where one is going.\u00a0 An innermost name can often be the name of an animal or bird. Witchcraft is both serious and joyful, in this way resembling the play of children.\u00a0 We witches believe in reincarnation, and also periods of rest and recuperation in the Summerland\u00a0 (a pleasant place in the Underworld) between lives.\u00a0 Thus, we are not in a hurry and can afford to enjoy ourselves.\u00a0 At the same time, our play and restful recreations generally involve some form of learning or practice.\u00a0 We are children of the gods practicing being grown up, with a view to eventually engaging in some form of work helpful to the demigods (daimones) and elementals, and through them to the greater gods and goddesses.\u00a0 Laughter and light-hearted glee or zest is an important part of play.\u00a0 Witches come together at Esbats (generally held at the full Moon) and Sabbats (eight per year).\u00a0 \u2018Esbat\u2019 is from a Middle French word, esbattier, meaning to frolic.\u00a0 \u2018Sabbat\u2019 means a rest.\u00a0 This implies that the real work of the Craft is done between these occasions. Witches regard all forms of life as equal and worthy of equal respect.\u00a0 Humans are not regarded as higher than animals, and even stones are thought to be conscious in some way.\u00a0 Personal evolution involves harmony within and without, and faculties shared with animals and other forms of life are considered just as important to cultivate as those that seem unique to human beings. Progress in the Craft is not uniform in pace; it slows down and speeds up at intervals.\u00a0 As with mountain-climbing or attending a university, there are certain levels to be attained, and reaching them requires a period of intensive preparation when one is getting close.\u00a0 In the Craft there are three levels or degrees of initiation. \u00a0Upon attaining to a new level, the nature of learning in the Craft changes its form.\u00a0 One emerges victorious with respect to old struggles but must now assume more mature responsibilities; this is described in the witch saying \u201cFirst the victory, then the battle.\u201d\u00a0 Initiations are like promotions in school.\u00a0 Eventually one graduates, and this graduation, lifetimes ahead, is sometimes referred to as the transmutation or transformation.\u00a0 Thereafter, a witch need not incarnate but can stay on the Other Side, performing work useful to the daimones.\u00a0 He or she acquires the ability to visit this surface Earth, at first as a sort of light; later on a material body can be projected temporarily for a particular purpose.\u00a0 This is what the ka was believed able to do in ancient Egypt.\u00a0 Transmutation generally takes place on the Other Side, though accounts from stregheria (Italian witchcraft) suggest that it can occur while in a material body on this side, in which case the experience is said to be excruciating. Witches are not much concerned with transmutation.\u00a0 It lies far ahead.\u00a0 One goes to the Sun and receives a body of light.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested you can read about it in the Prasna Upanishad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5867,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6003\/revisions\/5867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}