Disclaimer: Any medicinal benefits given here are a product of my own research and as such should not be taken over the advice of trained medical professionals. If you are ill, please go and see a doctor. Always make sure that anything you consume is 100% safe. If you are pregnant, consult your doctor or midwife before consuming something you haven’t tried before.  

I am very passionate about sharing what I’ve learned with others at no cost but the time it takes to read, learn and implement.  Research for yourself.  Use what you like.  Dispose of what you do not. It is up to you how you utilize this information.   I am not a doctor…I am a Witch!

Do you need to be a Wiccan to be a Witch…hmmmm… Nope!

If you are practicing magick, well, that in it itself is the meaning of being a Witch!  If you prefer the term Practitioner, then use that term.  With that being said, you do not need rituals, deities, magickal tools, goddess and god statues, or anything else!  You only need you and nature, and a will with a belief and you can still be a Practitioner of Magick, a Witch!

Witch definition according to www.thefreedictionary.com:  1) A person, especially a woman, claiming or popularly believed to possess magical powers and practice sorcery. 2)A believer or follower of Wicca; a Wiccan.  3. This one is added by me and that is that ~ Wiccan’s & Witch’s follow the cycles of the moon & nature and obeys the laws of humanity.

This is also the magickal quality of Wicca that is loved so much and that is that it can be a religion or just the practice of magic.  It is what you make it. You can use what serves you and discard what doesn’t, it does not have to be anything more than that!  That’s the answer to the question asked.

“An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will”.

Magickal Beginnings

The Hard Questions to ask Yourself

I want to add what I found so important in my search of spiritual enlightenment and all-around happiness in my life ~ It couldn’t go anywhere until I started with ME.

Being a Witch or a Wiccan means different things to different people, and we are able to welcome it into our life in different ways.  Any way you look at it, it is a way of life and in order for it to be, you will need to take a long hard look at your life and the people and practices in it.  These are all questions you need to ask yourself when you are setting out to accomplish anything that has the potential to change your life forever!

• Who am I and what do I need to change in order to be a Witch or Wiccan?
• What does that mean to me?
• What am I looking to accomplish with this change?  Am I looking to just do magick, or to have spiritual guidance?
• What in your life serves your well-being, in a positive and productive way and what doesn’t?
• Is this something I can change, or do I need to get rid of it?
• Can I live without it or do I need to make adjustments or find replacements?
• How will this affect the people in my life?  Can I share it with them?
• Are the practices I am seeking to assimilate make sense for me and my life?

You, Yourself & I

There are so many avenues to seek and traditions to learn within the Witchcraft and Wiccan world, but one of the best things you can do for yourself in this process is to trust yourself, trust your intuition, your witchy voice, listen to your spirit guides through mindful messages, and you will always do what feels right to you and will be able to achieve the results you are seeking.

Through your belief of your magickal abilities, you will be able to get through this or anything you put your mind too.

This is your journey.  This is about you and what you are seeking to gain to create a better way of life for yourself.

This is about you needing something bigger than yourself, and sometimes it is bigger then our understanding, but we know that will give you comfort and happiness in your life on a new level.

This is about another way to acheive a spiritual connection that is designed by you to your liking and desires, and is not what society often labels as normal and acceptable.

There is an inner peace that comes with loving yourself inside and out and taking the chance on your own desires and needs.  It is very rewarding!

I have never felt so good about myself until I began this journey.  That was my first workshop in fact, I needed to recreate myself to be someone I would love and respect.  A reconditioning of the mind of sorts.  At the beginning, that person seeking peace with herself as I was failing miserably and things in my life were not in my best interest and at times felt crazy and out of my control.  After years of failed marriages and relationships, and just being conditioned to think I was too fat, to skinny, to old, useless, ugly, and the list goes on and on, all of which society portrays of what and how we as women, as people should be.  After adjusting my life to accommodate others belief systems or ways of life for so long.  I had given myself no time to know myself.  No time to love myself as I should.  I didn’t know I needed this. I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of that!

I had to change the way I was thinking about myself, about the people in my life, and where I wanted to be.  I knew I needed positive people, positive things to do, and positive places to be.  I did not have that in my life before my Wicca journey.  Wicca is geared with feminine powers and with that comes the gift to love yourself.

I cannot express enough how important it is to really do some deep diving into your own life and the people surrounding it.  You won’t get positive out of negative!  That is what started me down this path and it is what has kept me.

The energy you put out into the universe, will be the energy you attract.

These are real energies that can affect your life in ways you probably hadn’t thought of before.   Living with positivity can change your life in ways you can spread to everyone you know but that can only happen if You love yourself and your life.  One of the questions people ask is “How can I love someone when I don’t love myself?” and “The energy you put out there is the energy you will receive in return.” are true realizations that you have to take seriously!  If you are always in the breakroom complaining about everything under the sun, you are going to attract that type of people to join in with their negative energy, creating a really bad environment.

It was easy to see that I was not happy where I was.  The only way I could get away from some of the negative energiesI literally stop talking to some toxic friends that were a bane of my misery in so many ways. Ways I cannot discuss for it may incriminate me. lol  I have not seen or talked to her in 19 years.  I often thank her in my head, because she was actually the person who gave me a book called How to Turn Your Ex-boyfriend into a Toad.  It had all kinds of witchy ways to pamper yourself and ways to get back at him.  It wasn’t so much that the book taught me anything about witchcraft or Wicca because all of my life I knew I did not belong to any religion because I could not connect with it but that I was important too and needed pampering in my soul and spirit.

I was thinking about me for once.  The positive energy I needed was not being friends with people like her but it was about being friends with myself.  My kids thought I was being selfish as I began to change and put myself before others sometimes.  Not always, I am a mother first.  But they hated that I wouldn’t let them treat me certain ways or make me behave certain ways.  I try every day to instill these qualities in my children because it is so important to think of yourself before others sometimes and live a life you can be comfortable in a, to be proud of and to be able to live a long and happy life with yourself.

It also is the one gift you can give someone that they need not think of as magick or wiccan, doesn’t cost a thing, and that is positive energy flowing from you to them.  Whether it be in word, mind or deed.  It is something that I love to pass on because I can and it feels good.

The Wiccan Rede

This is the Wiccan Rede sums it all up with many all very important messages.  A way for Wiccan’s to unite in one understanding under the Wicca and being a Witch umbrella and are in agreement with and is helpful if you follow it on your journey.  I have highlighted a few lines that are very important to me.  I feel they are very important to know and follow to do any type of magick as a Wiccan or a Witch.  Each part is a lesson in Wicca.  “Deosil go by the waxing moon, chanting out the joyful tune.  When the moon rides at her peak then your heart’s desire seek”, or “Heed the North winds mighty gale, lock the door and trim the sail.  When the Wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast.”

People today just don’t listen enough to the world around them. Consumed with social media and technology, it doesn’t give us much down time from this artificial interaction and you are not giving the quality you could be if you just took a moment and listen.  Alot of times we are to be consumed by other stuff to realize that if you just listened you would know something very important about a person, nature, or the ways of the natural world.  If you quiet your mind enough, declutter and get rid of the bull shit that does not serve you in any way, and listen to yourself, you can find it to be very healing and bring you much happiness.

Within the Rede you will find some powerful ways to use magick and gives you some “Don’t Do’s” as well.  After that, it is what you make of it, and what you need from it.  Feel free to copy & paste to your own Book of Shadows or wherever you need.

The Wiccan Rede (Full Version)

Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give.

For tread the Circle thrice about to keep unwelcome spirits out.
To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be said in rhyme.

Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much.
Honor the Old Ones in deed and name, let love and light be our guides again.

Deosil go by the waxing moon, chanting out the joyful tune.
Widdershins go when the moon doth wane, and the werewolf howls by the dread wolfsbane.

When the Lady’s moon is new, kiss the hand to Her times two.
When the moon rides at Her peak then your heart’s desire seek.

Heed the North winds mighty gale, lock the door and trim the sail.
When the Wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast.

When the wind comes from the South, love will kiss you on the mouth.
When the wind whispers from the West, all hearts will find peace and rest.

Nine woods in the Cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.
Birch in the fire goes to represent what the Lady knows.

Oak in the forest towers with might, in the fire it brings the God’s insight.
Rowan is a tree of power causing life and magick to flower.

Willows at the waterside stand ready to help us to the Summerland.
Hawthorn is burned to purify and to draw faerie to your eye.

Hazel-the tree of wisdom and learning adds its strength to the bright fire burning.
White are the flowers of Apple tree that brings us fruits of fertility.

Grapes grow upon the vine giving us both joy and wine.
Fir does mark the evergreen to represent immortality seen.

Elder is the Lady’s tree burn it not or cursed you’ll be.
Four times the Major Sabbats mark in the light and in the dark.

As the old year starts to wane the new begins, it’s now Samhain.
When the time for Imbolc shows, watch for flowers through the snows.

When the wheel begins to turn, soon the Beltane fires will burn.
As the wheel turns to Lamas, night power is brought to magick rite.

Four times the Minor Sabbats fall use the Sun to mark them all.
When the wheel has turned to Yule, light the log the Horned One rules.

In the spring, when night equals day time for Ostara to come our way.
When the Sun has reached it’s height, time for Oak and Holly to fight.

Harvesting comes to one and all when the Autumn Equinox does fall.
Heed the flower, bush, and tree by the Lady blessed you’ll be.

Where the rippling waters go cast a stone, the truth you’ll know.
When you have and hold a need, harken not to others greed.

With a fool no season spend or be counted as his friend.
Merry Meet and Merry Part bright the cheeks and warm the heart.

Mind the Three-fold Laws you should three times bad and three times good.
When misfortune is enow wear the star upon your brow.

Be true in love this you must do unless your love is false to you.

These Eight words the Rede fulfill:
“An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will”

 

History and Your Witchy Path

The things our ancestors went through to pave the way for us, certainly says a lot about humanity and how we humans are capable to overcome diversity and oppression of any nature throughout all cultures of the world!  There are things we do today that were a result of something that happened or was a need that came about long before we were even thought of.

Superstitions or Spiritual Practices?

Have you ever thought about things that we do today, that we just don’t know why?  Or an ancestor or someone close to you does?  Does it make you wonder if it was due to a “Superstition” or a “Spiritual” reason?  Who said all “Superstitions” are superstitions?  Why were religious ritual or ceremonies made to be superstitions?  I think to make people steer clear of them and follow the religion of the day.  I look back at the tea remedies my grandmother used or the foods she would cook because of their healing nature.  Or the foods cooked for holidays and home remedies and rituals.  Where did those traditions come from?  Really, if you really research it, I believe you will find so many were derived from pagan, some other religion, or some other belief system not commonly thought of today or then the one you thought it was.

Horseshoes for instance.  There are several superstitions as to why you would hang a horseshoe above your door and many as to the direction it hangs.  This differs throughout time and cultures.  One belief exists because the belief that the horseshoe, because of its crescent shape, has the ability to ward off the evil eye.  In ancient Europe and prior to the Chaldeans, this crescent shape represented the various moon goddesses, which were signs of protection, good luck, fertility and could protect against a curse from the evil eye.  From early times right up to today, people still wear horseshoe charms and amulets to bring good luck. Horseshoes were originally held in place on the horse using seven iron nails, as seven was considered a very lucky number.  That is why some horseshoes and/or charms are made with seven nail holes in them.? It was also believed that hanging a horseshoe over one’s bed could prevent nightmares. It became a common practice to hang a horseshoe outside of the home, barn or store to ward off evil and bring good luck. The horseshoe was also used by sailors who nailed them to the foremasts of their ships to ward off evil spirits and entities from harming their ships, crew or preventing them from arriving at their destination safely.

I am sure I could go on and on about the superstations of horseshoes in a blog all of its own like at Horseshoe Superstition | Good Luck | Hanging Over Doorway | (psychiclibrary.com) where I got that information.  The point I am trying to make is that there are some things that you do on a daily basis that derived from some culture, religion, or belief system.

I Need More

After beginning the journey of research into Wicca and witchcraft, I found myself needing more.  I found myself defending it.  I also discovered just how huge the community of witch’s is right here where I live.

I was able to come out of my shell and get with a local practitioner and shop owner.  I took one of her classes called Wicca 101.  Once a week I got with her and other witches and learned how to really put it into action, and this is when I began to comfortably call myself a witch.  Are there people out there that practice “Dark Magic’? Of course, but Wicca doesn’t teach that, and its motto is to HARM NO ONE.  It teaches you to be consciences of yourself and your own wellbeing, as well as those around you.  To respect yourself and have confidence in all that you do.  To respect nature and respect others.  To not judge others for their actions for you do not know what they know or what they have been through.

Obviously, my family and close friends knew, but I never told my mother or people who I know do not believe as I do.  When I finally told my mother, she was really upset until I explained that she raised me better then to worship something evil or demonic…what I practice is a Nature based religion and practice. I believe in right and wrong, what is moral and not what is considered wrong for any rational human living on this planet.  I don’t believe in hell, nor do I believe in the devil, so no worries that I will worship a fallen angel such as Satan.  But now in my 50’s, I guess, I just don’t give a F*&K! I am not hurting anyone, and I do not push my beliefs on anyone either.  If you are reading this blog, it because you want to, not because I am promising you something in return or will not be your friend if you do not.  If you have a problem with it, I will never force it on you.  If you have a problem with it, you do not have to read, share, or communicate in any way.  I will respect your beliefs and religion.

Once I really got into researching just what exactly is Wicca, and what is a Witch, I was so pleasantly pleased to find out that it was whatever you feel comfortable with, understand, what works for you, what works for your lifestyle, and it is totally up to you!  100% up to you and what you feel it brings to your spirituality and the creation of your witchcraft practice.  What works for you may not work for me.  What I have access to may not be accessible to you.  Your moon phases may be on the opposite side of the earth then mine, but it is still up to you what you practice and use.

Magickal Tools and Correspondences

Tools are just that…tools!  You do not need them to practice magick or to be Wiccan.  You don’t have to go out and buy all kinds of stuff that you probably will only use once in a while, if they are used at all.  They are what you make of them.

There are traditional ways to use or make them but again, it is up to you as to what you use them for or what energy it brings for you and your magick.

I made my wand by doing a ritual with a neighboring willow tree.  I had given an offering and thanked her for her generous gift she bestowed upon me.  I then created a beautiful wand and blessed it with an objects ritual in circle and it has the energy I gave it.  I purchased an athame online that is very Celtic and to my liking and style.  I blessed it and gave it the energy I wanted it to have.  This is the one of the first lessons you should learn right away about magick.  It is the energy you WILL it to have.  If everyone says a blue candle is required for a spell, that is just a recommendation.  If you want to use yellow because yellow has a certain energy to you, then by all means, use a yellow candle.

Summary:

You do not have to be Wiccan to be a Witch.  Wicca and Witchcraft, either one, is what you make of it and the energy you give it, therefore is what you will it to be.  What energy you put into your craft, is the energy you get out.  What you take from this blog, and use and keep for future use and practice is totally up to you!  Nothing less……but it can be so much more!

Some Resources used:

Witch – definition of witch by The Free Dictionary

Wiccan Rede | Full Version

My Book Recommendations to learn about Wicca and being a Witch:

The Ultimate Book of Shadows for The New Generation Solitary Witch by Silver Ravenwolf ~ I love this book.  I use this on the regular.  ~ This book has everything a beginner Witch could want and need between two covers: a magickal cookbook, encyclopedia, dictionary, and grimoire. It relates specifically to today’s young adults and their concerns yet is grounded in the magickal work of centuries past. It is organized so readers can skip over the parts they already know or read each section in alphabetical order.

Cunningham’s Book of Shadows (hc) by Scott Cunningham  ~ Cunningham’s Book of Shadows by Scott Cunningham: Containing the spells, rituals, and invocations used by Scott Cunningham in the early 1980’s, features his familiar, positive and encouraging voice, providing a down-to-earth approach to living the Craft.

Magical Household by Scott Cunningham & David Harrington –  ~ Create a magical household a haven of harmony, safety, spirituality, security, and romance. The benefits include a happier existence, protection against thieves, improved health, restful sleep, satisfying spiritual experiences, and a perfect environment for positive magic. This warm and wise guide by much loved author Scott Cunningham has been helping people create sacred space in their homes and gardens for nearly twenty years. A practical guide to household magic. Spells and rituals for safeguarding the house, its contents and residents are given in full.

Witch Life by Emma Kathryn ~ In today’s world, it can be hard to find time for magic-but this practical guide helps keep you inspired and connected to your spirituality. Designed so that you can easily choose a spell, meditation, or ritual to suit your needs, Witch Life is the perfect tool for making your practice thrive, even in the busiest times. Emma Kathryn presents spells and workings for nearly every purpose, from protection rituals and kitchen witchery to candle magic and spirit work. She encourages you to explore healing and hexing magic, moon and plant magic, and magical crafts. You’ll also enjoy exciting ways to celebrate the sabbats, harness the elements, and more.