The Modern Guide to Witchcraft (10 page)

Although we usually think of hedges as surrounding property, for witches the hedge is more than a physical barrier. It symbolizes spiritual protection from the stresses of the outside world. It can also be seen as a barrier between the world of humans and the spirit realm.

The words
Wicca
and
witch
come from the Anglo-Saxon term
wicce
meaning “to bend or shape.” Wicca’s tenets reach back to the “Old Religion” of pre-Christian Europe, especially that of the early Celts. Its roots also dig deeply into prehistoric times and the ancient fertility goddesses worshipped by Paleolithic peoples.

Writer Gerald Gardner is commonly given credit for coining the term
Wiccan
and jump-starting the modern movement in the 1950s. During the 1960s and ’70s as feminism emerged Wicca gained popularity because it offers greater balance and equality than patriarchal religions. It is one of the few faiths that honors a primary feminine deity; however, you needn’t be female or a feminist to pursue a Wiccan path. Today, Wicca is among the fastest-growing religious systems in the United States; it is even recognized by the U.S. military.

As mentioned earlier, people sometimes mistakenly think Wicca and witchcraft are interchangeable terms. Wiccans generally practice witchcraft, but witches may not necessarily share Wiccan beliefs and therefore would not consider themselves Wiccan. Simply put, Wicca is a religion, like Christianity or Judaism. It has defined practices, beliefs, and ethical codes. Within this religion, however, you’ll find plenty of room for personal expression.

Although Wiccans observe certain customs, rituals, and practices, the religion is flexible with no dogma, no sacred texts, and no laws save one: Do no harm. Wiccans follow what’s known as the threefold law. The law basically states that whatever you do, whatever energies you “put out,” will return to you threefold (three times over) in this lifetime or in the next. Therefore, Wiccans attempt to abide by what’s known as the Wiccan Rede.

Various branches of Wicca, each with somewhat different views, already exist. Dianic Wicca, for example, has a strong feminist component. Gardnerian Wicca is more formal and hierarchal than some other branches, and its practitioners perform rituals “skyclad” (nude). Visit
www.wicca.com
for more information about these and other types of Wicca. Like all belief systems, Wicca continues to evolve, and young enthusiasts coming to it today will surely expand its ideas, practices, and forms of expression in the future.

One of the earliest depictions of a shaman was found in France, in the cave of Les Trois Frères. Estimated to be at least 15,000 years old, the painting shows a man disguised as a bison and armed with a bow. Originally, the term
shaman
referred to a Siberian medicine man, but it can apply to anyone who engages in shamanistic practices, regardless of the era and society in which the person lives. In simple terms, a shaman is someone who understands both the spirit world and the natural world, and who uses that knowledge to provide healing, guidance, and protection to his people.

Among the indigenous people of North, Central, and South America, shamans have long served as medicine men, midwives, visionaries, wisdom keepers, and healers. These shamans worked with the forces of nature, the deities and ancestors in the spirit realms, and totem animals to ensure the well-being of their tribes.

From the shamanic perspective, the physical world is only one facet of reality. Many other realms exist, and it’s possible to travel to these other realities at will. Shamans have learned to erase the barriers that ordinarily separate the physical and nonphysical realms in order to “walk between the worlds.”

As seers and diviners, Native American shamans use drumming, dancing, herbs and botanical substances, fasting, and other practices to induce altered states of consciousness. While in these trance states, the shamans journey beyond the limitations of matter and space to gain knowledge, communicate with entities in the spirit world, effect healing, and observe the future. Dreams, too, provide access into other levels of reality. Although we tend to associate shamanism with Native Americans, you’ll find shamans in many other cultures too. Celtic magicians might not use the term shamanism, but they engage in shamanic practices. They explore what’s known as the Otherworld, a nonphysical place of wisdom, creativity, and imagination, as well as the fairie realm.

Often a shaman uses a technique called “astral projection” to visit other worlds beyond our earthly one. This allows the person’s spirit to journey freely while the physical body remains in a trancelike state. The spirit is also able to temporarily leave the body during sleep and explore the nonphysical realms. In these other levels of reality, the shaman might meet spirits that once occupied human bodies as well as gods, goddesses, and other beings that have never incarnated.

When journeying in this way, shamans sometimes seek the assistance of spirit animals or other guides to provide protection and direction. In ancient times, people in many parts of the world believed spirit animals lived in an invisible realm that intersects with our own physical one. These spirit beings helped our ancestors in countless ways, from providing protection to offering healing wisdom to predicting the future. Early humans considered these animal guides and guardians as types of deities—somewhat like angels—and paid homage to them.

Native American tribes traditionally established special affinities with certain animals, which became the tribe’s totems or sacred animals. They assisted the shamans’ personal spirit guides in magickal work. Tribes carved totem poles with the images of various spirit and animal guides as a way of showing gratitude and to request continued aid in the future.

Like shamans, sorcerers understand that our planet is not the only realm of existence, nor are we earthlings the only forms of intelligent life in the cosmos. Sorcerers believe the universe contains an infinite number of worlds just waiting to be explored. Furthermore, they’re adept at traveling to these other worlds and interacting with the beings who reside there—and they don’t need a passport to get in.

In her book
The Sorcerer’s Crossing
, Taisha Abelar describes sorcerers as people whose goal is “breaking the perceptual dispositions and biases that imprison us within the boundaries of the normal everyday world and prevent us from entering other perceivable worlds.” What she means is, we limit ourselves with narrow, conditioned thinking and miss out on a lot.

Through training and practice, sorcerers develop the ability to expand their sight beyond ordinary vision and see things the rest of us can’t. They can perceive the life in rocks and trees, as well as see the spirits who live all around us. With practice, the sorcerer attunes herself with her nonphysical, energetic body—known as the “double”—controlling and expanding it in order to accomplish feats far beyond what most of us consider normal. For example, a sorcerer might project her double someplace other than where her physical body happens to be at any given time, so that she can be in two places at once. While she’s sitting at her desk, performing her everyday job, she may simultaneously be chanting in a temple in India or visiting Machu Picchu in Peru.

The word
Druid
derives from the Indo-European root
drui
, meaning “oak,” as well as “solid and true.” Originally, Druids served as the bards, teachers, healers, judges, scribes, seers, astrologers, and spiritual leaders of the ancient Celts. They conducted rites and rituals, gazed into the future, healed the sick, kept the history of their people, and addressed legal matters within their communities. These wise men and women were highly revered and wielded authority second only to the king’s.

Much of what we know today about the early Druids has been handed down through oral tradition, folklore, legends, songs, and poetry. As the Romans and Christianity moved into Ireland and Britain, the conquerors destroyed the Druids and their tradition. Thus, most of Druidic history remains shrouded in mystery.

Modern-day Druids follow beliefs and practices associated with their early ancestors. With little actual information available about the old ways, however, neo-Druids interpret the spiritual tradition by blending ancient with contemporary wisdom. A reverence for nature, knowledge of astrology and divination, healing, and shamanic journeying continue to be part of today’s Druidic practice.

The Druids consider trees to be sacred. Oaks, in particular, have long been linked with Druid spirituality. Sacred rituals were—and still are—performed in oak groves. Druids believe trees embody wisdom that can be passed along to human beings. Each tree possesses certain characteristics and unique properties that Druids use in their magickal work. Rowan trees, for instance, offer protection. Oaks give strength and endurance. Willows are associated with intuition and divination—they’re a favorite wood for making magick wands.

Also called high or ritual magick, ceremonial magick evolved out of the teachings of early mystery schools in various parts of the world. Its practitioners are more likely to describe themselves as magicians than as witches. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization that formed in the latter part of the nineteenth century as a secret society (see
Chapter 3
), has greatly influenced this type of magick and its practice today. The group’s philosophy is founded on the Hebrew Qabalah and the doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus, and draws upon the belief systems of the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Gnostics, and others.

More formalized and intellectualized than Wicca and other Pagan spiritual paths, ceremonial magick involves study of the Qabalah, astrology, alchemy, tarot, and many other subjects. It emphasizes the use of ritual and ceremony, along with mental training, to facilitate spiritual enlightenment, healing, extrasensory powers, and understanding of the cosmic order. Carl Weschcke, president of the publishing company Llewellyn Worldwide, has called this field of magick “spiritual technology.” Indeed, if you have a fondness for highly developed systems, this path might be for you.

Why engage in complicated and sometimes lengthy rituals? Rituals focus the mind and transport you from the everyday world into a magickal one—that’s a key reason for enacting them. Rituals rely on symbolic associations that the magician’s senses and subconscious mind intuitively understand. Gestures, diagrams, postures, words, images, sounds, scents, and colors all play symbolic roles in magick rituals and ceremonies.

Ritual magick often involves elaborate and carefully orchestrated practices that are designed for various purposes. Purification rituals, for instance, cleanse the mind, body, and energy field. Protection rituals define sacred space and prevent unwanted influences from interfering. The rituals themselves are magickal acts.

Mystical rites, rituals, and ceremonies involving sex have been practiced in numerous cultures, East and West, for longer than anyone can document. The early Celts engaged in sexual activity, particularly during the spring planting season and on Beltane, as a form of sympathetic magick to encourage the land’s fertility. Temple priestesses in ancient Greece combined sex and mysticism. Tantric yoga channels sexual energy toward spiritual goals and also promotes health and longevity. In Wicca’s Great Rite, a couple invites the God and Goddess to enter their bodies during sex, and the act is considered sacred.