TXCHNOMANCXR

Real Witchcraft

-gets ready to lose the followers who are fake witches-

I’m going to talk about real witches here for a little bit.

Things like solitary Wicca and the preponderance of books on witchcraft that you can buy on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble have opened the concept up to more people than ever before. That part is good, sort of.

Everyone should know witchcraft exists, and everyone should know where to find it. The bans on witchcraft in the dark ages forced us underground so that we either learned a family tradition, or had to teach ourselves, alone and without resources beyond our own intuition.

The Occultists of the late 19th and early 20th century created initiatory religions (Wicca, Thelema, etcetera) which included witchcraft in their religious practices. This set the stage for a problem I’ll address in a moment. It also made witchcraft accessible to a few people, mostly people of some financial means with the right social connections. If you didn’t ‘know someone’ you were still on the outside.

People like Cunningham and Buckland made witchcraft available to anyone who could put down a few dollars for a book, or get to a library. The internet made witchcraft available even to people who couldn’t keep books on the subject.

The problem, I think, came from several places.

Witchcraft is not a religion. It is a practical tool, as well as an art form. It requires a certain spirituality, but it does not require religion. There are atheist witches. The institutionalization of witchcraft into Neo-Pagan religions meant that religious leaders controlled how it was taught and to whom, and gave them incentives to teach it in ways which conformed to the moral code of their religion, reinforcing both the values of their religion, and their own authority.

That’s where it started. They created rules of conduct for the use of an inherently flexible and ruleless art.

It got worse when they put it into books and everyone could have it. Everyone should have the freedom to seek the Old Ways. No one should have it handed to them on a silver platter. Today the requirement for entry into the world of witchcraft is the cost of a book. So everyone and their dog thinks they’re a real witch.

I’m sorry, but you’re not. Reading Cunningham doesn’t make you a witch. Neither does becoming a third degree whatever religious order. Reading some spells on Tumblr certainly doesn’t. Being a witch makes you a witch. You meet a witch, you prove yourself worthy, you learn. I learned from my grandmother, who learned from her grandmother. What she didn’t know, I had to figure out for myself. The books helped, but they wouldn’t have done anything for me if I hadn’t already been a witch.

I am a pagan priestess. I am also a Hellenic witch. These are two separate things. Being pagan doesn’t mean you’re a witch. Most pagans are not witches. They’ll claim to be, but it’s not true.

But the worst moment for witchcraft was when the books stopped being about accessibility and became about commercialization. We have a culture of pretenders to witchcraft who write books based on what will sell rather than what’s true. We have sell outs with fake exotic sounding names pandering to bored teenagers at Barnes & Noble.

This is not to say that you cannot learn magic from books, or the internet. You absolutely can. But not all magic is witchcraft. I don’t want medicine made by a chemist who learned off of the internet and claims to be “pharmacist”, I want someone who studied under a master. It’s the same with witchcraft. And learning witchcraft from an actual teacher online is totally valid, by the way, it’s like getting a degree from an online college. Some people might think yours is less valid, but I say they’re wrong.

And maybe the person who learned from the internet has a natural talent and is good at research. Maybe they’re just as good, but they’re not the same. If they told me they had a PhD but they can’t tell me from which university, they’d be lying. If you tell me you’re a witch but you can’t tell me who taught you, you’re lying. You’re a person who practices magic, and that’s totally valid, but call a spade a spade.

If you’re a self-taught chemist who can make some cool things, then results are results and your chemistry is real. Have fun and try not to blow yourself up. But please don’t pretend to be a pharmacist, and don’t make medicine for anyone but yourself.

And if you dabble in chemistry as a hobby on the weekends, you’re a dabbler, and that’s fine, but you’re not a chemist, much less a pharmacist. Own your own lack of commitment, do what you do, learn what you want, but leave the tough stuff to those of us who have put in thousands of hours of study and practice.

We now have sanitized, watered down, socially acceptable shadows of real witchcraft, and most people can’t tell the difference anymore. They have tamed us. They have given us rules and expectations. They have told us to ‘do no harm’ when this is impossible, and to do so is to deny the obligation which comes with real power. They have told us that “witch” can mean whatever we want it to mean. Whatever they want it to mean.

They have caged the wild. They have planted a garden and told us it was a forest. Real witches are a force of nature. We are not the gardeners in the garden which our society has approved for us to tend for them. We are the storm which drowns the cultivated rows, levels the house, and reclaims what they have taken.

We are that which cannot be contained, limited, or destroyed, unless we allow them to do so. You are in your cage by choice. Realize this, and take your freedom.

Anyways anyone can call them self a witch under any circumstances that they choose! <3 Have a nice day.

But you have to acknowledge that these are two different paths, Using the same term for both just doesn’t make sense. There’s a practical difference between learning it out of a book and learning it from someone else.

That’s irrelevant. They are simply two different methods of learning.

I don’t think I agree. Yes, ultimately just different methods of learning the same basic art, but I think that different method of learning makes more of a practical difference in application than you’re giving credit for.

Nope. What if you have a shitty teacher? What if you’re an amazing self learner? What if the end result is someone who was taught that has no real understanding about what they’re doing, where as the self taught person has a much more comprehensive and well rounded grasp of their craft?

And regardless of what you personally believe, it’s irresponsible and wrong to go telling everyone that what they call them selfs is invalid because of your beliefs.

So you propose that there should be no expectation of making a distinction between someone who was raised to know the Craft, and someone who read a book last month?

On account of you don’t know if the person who “read a book last month” has a more comprehensive understanding of the craft then someone who was raised in it, then nope!

Because you have no idea someone’s ability learn from another’s.

And fyi, most people who are new to witchcraft refer to them selfs as such.

I’ve seen some, recently, who said they were new and ready to teach in the same breath. I’ve also seen some dangerous misinformation recently from people claiming to be experts who weren’t.

wodneswynn-deactivated-deactiva

And you think, that because you’ve seen some people mess up, that you have the right to decide who can be what, and what people can call them selfs, and what they should be “required” to do?

I have some news for you. The world is a big place, and no matter what distinctions you use, there will be informed and misinformed people alike.

And a person who was, in your opinion, well trained, has just as much potential for spreading misinformation.

Now I think that there’s only so many times that I can make the same point before it’s a lost cause, so I’m done with this discussion.

I have to go study from my EMT book, because I’m learning a medical practice through (gasp) reading a book! (And to be honest, if I used the medical advice my grandma gave to me, I wouldn’t have a patient today who would thank me)

I really, really don’t understand this assumption that people who get their magic from teachers and traditions are in any way superior to the self-taught or the solitary. OP is acting as if someone’s skill as a witch can be collated and quantified in the real world, which is without a doubt the most ridiculous thing in the world. This is exactly the sort of attitude that’s been propping up toxic and abusive leaders/elders since the neopagan revival. Take it from me, everybody: Witchcraft is the most open of open traditions. If you want to be a witch, you’re a witch. Your Craft is valid and Granny Gretchen loves you.

mroftales

What gets me is that this argument has been going on at least since “Drawing Down The Moon” was published. It was nonsense then, and it’s nonsense now.

If you’re lucky enough to have a family member to teach you- well, congratulations. Mentorship is useful in any sort of study. But it’s not available to everyone- which is fine. It’s not necessary, and it’s not the only path toward knowledge.

Like- we all know the controversy around the “mentorship” founders like Gardener may or may not have received. Claiming that a teacher is the only way to learn witchcraft at this point seems purposefully revisionist, at best.

madmaudlingoes

There’s also the questionable nature of the assertion that witchcraft has been handed down in an unbroken tradition from pre-Christian times to the modern day. Nothing survives unchanged for that long: Christianity, with all its lumbering institutional inertia, would only be semi-recognizable to St. Augustine if he were teleported to the present. Pre-Christian knowledge and traditions were passed down in a two thousand year game of telephone played at hearths and kitchen tables, and whatever has survived, has survived by changing and morphing and being reconstituted as something else. Not to say that OP’s family traditions are invalid, just that they’re exactly as valid as anyone else’s practice. Yes, even the teenagers who decided they were witches because of a blog. It’s a big goddamn tent. Any time a spiritual leader with a claim on authority can build up a cult of personality, that enables toxic and abusive bullshit to occur, whether that leader is Wiccan or Buddhist or Catholic. The solution isn’t to police claims of authority, it’s to cultivate a good bullshit detector and confidence in your own beliefs and abilities. That’s what enables you to call out bad information and walk away from ignorant would-be teachers, and that’s what benefits the community as a whole, not better gatekeeping.

#long post #word #as far as im concerned witchcraft is like #about manipulating energy from sources we cant see. sources beyond our comprehension sometimes #and everyone is gonna channel that energy in different ways and for different purposes #imo the universe is fucking batshit and ultimately we're all just feeling our way #theres no inherently wrong or right way to try and engage in magic/witchcraft #its about what makes sense to you #and about what you personally feel lets you tap into that supernatural paranormal incomprehensible energy #this. turned into a long string of tags huh #im going to bed now lmfao

passionatepersephone

Let's get serious

I need to find some more witches out there that are OK with curses. Reblog or shoot me an ask and let my know who y'all are so I can follow you witchy beauties!

bricklebee

boosting for the curse positive witches~

theearthmoonandsun

Curse friendly blog here❤️

in-her-broomcloset

Witch Tip: nonverbal spell work

For those who don’t communicate spells out loud: ••you are valid. your magic is effective. •dedicate a section of your Grimoire to writing incantations instead of speaking them •completely skip over the incantations of a spell if you don’t find it useful •never writing your spells with incantations is just fine •declaring the phrase “so mote it be” can be modified and simplified down to a snap, clap, wand tap, bell ring, singing-bowl chime, focused inhale/exhale, hand gesture, etc. •communicating with entities absolutely does not have to be done verbally •divination does not have to be verbal •mental illness is hard. Do everything inside your head when necessary. This includes speaking as well as performing and planning spells, divination, astral travel, and scrolling through Pinterest and Tumblr for crafty witch ideas (this can pertain to physically handicapped witches as well)

#i really do not vibe with spoken incantations i am a Silent Witch #notebook

stormheartedvamp

Not sure why I feel such a strong need to say this NOW but:

Magic doesn’t come from herbs or symbols. It doesn’t come from semi-precious stones or funky colored candles.

Non-witches use those things all the time, sometimes on a daily basis, and never really do magic using them.

Someone who doesn’t BELIEVE in the healing properties of Rose Quartz won’t benefit from them. Someone who doesn’t believe that burning a green candle can bring luck and money won’t draw those things to themselves by burning a green candle.

The magic comes from YOU. Your belief in those things is what allows them to work. Herbs, fancy candles, stones – those are all conduits and boosts for your own, innate magical power.

Do certain herbs and stones have innate power? Yes, I believe that they do. Certain days have power, certain phases of the moon have power. Not necessarily because I believe those things (aside from the astronomical/cosmological stuff like eclipses, solstices etc.,) have innate power, but because many people, over a long period of time, have believed that those things have that specific power.

However, I also feel that YOUR personal associations with a plant, stone, color etc., can override those because YOU are the one doing the magic. It is YOUR ENERGY being channeled through that particular conduit, after all. How could it NOT have some effect on the way the magic works?

olddakinidarce

This is totally 100% YESSSSS

#notebook

darkbookworm13-deactivated20240

A witchy reminder

Doing frivolous magic keeps you in shape for doing important magic.

another-witchblog

*boredly makes energy balls nyoom around the room all the time*

*inhaling energy particles to feel your throat tickle like the bubbles in soda*

theopaquemindpalace

Would love some examples/ideas…

godswalkwithher

Well… There were 2 examples right there… But also: small glamours extra energy boosts in coffee whipping up tiny bursts of breeze on still days pretty much anything else that’s just for fun

@theopaquemindpalace

Randomly charging items around the house for specific purposes such as protection, luck, tranquility, strength.

Charging and un-charging things while you sit around.

It’s so important to have practice un-charging, de-charging, or blowing energy off/out of objects and spaces. I think people really don’t understand how sometimes what a situation needs is the absence of energy and not more energy … hmm. post …

Throwing in a little magic into your microwave snack, attempting to use the numbers for correspondence.

Attempting to discover new methods of divination while riding the bus.

Thinking up tiny incantations for random reasons … like getting stop lights to change or finding a good parking spot.

Dream magic-ing just because

Playing card games with friends and attempting to battle luck. <– My family does this a lot.

Attempting to see beyond the veil while chilling in a waiting room. (If you’re not easily creeped out/squeamish).

You can also make yourself a chore list. I keep a maintenance chore list for wards, upcoming social obligations, work and career issues, family maintenance.

I do a lot of aura work just for kicks.

Most people are not keen on doing magic on/for other people. I’m … not one of those folks. But, 80% of the energy around you is people when you’re in a congested place. Sometimes I will try to get people to remember something they forgot and get out of the grocery line. I pay for it by forgetting to get something myself. I try to get babies to stop crying or anxious folks to calm down (mostly out of self defense. They make me anxious). Use your own moral code on that one.

I hope that helps. There’s a whole world of magic that can be done and almost none of it has to actually serve a purpose. But when it comes time to do magic with a purpose it’ll be easier and pack more of a punch, because you’ll know your gauge.

reverie-and-thunder

This is super helpful. By “battle luck” do you mean pulling luck to be on your side when it wasn’t? I’m slightly confused and always curious

Battling luck is when you get a bunch of people together who know how much their personal luck weighs and you play a game of chance and probability to see if you can out-luck the other people. It’s an exercise to see if you can increase your luck on the fly, or de-stabilize someone else’s luck on the fly. Sometimes we would do pre-game rituals to increase our luck and then have at it.

It, like everything, is just an exercise. It allows you to know yourself and your abilities a little better.

solitary-woman

I call stuff like this ‘Magickal busywork’ as a kind of joke.

lokahjarta

I’m fascinated - I saw this a few minutes ago but I keep hearing these words, what does it mean to see beyond the veil?