What is simple witchery? Perhaps an explanation of witchery, or practicing witchcraft, is first called for.
Truly, there are so many schools and styles of witchcraft, and so many more personal takes on each, that trying to touch on all would be a herculean task and not at all in the spirit of keeping it simple. You have Google for that.
Know this, the first rule of witchcraft is to seek knowledge, always.
Knowledge of self, and knowledge of the physical and esoteric realms for the purpose of manifesting change. That is the work of the witch.
It may be easier to start with some of the things witchcraft is not. Witchcraft is not devil worship. In witchcraft there is no devil of the widespread Christian understanding. Witchcraft holds that all that is good and all that is evil coexist within each of us, much as in the Cherokee story of the two wolves. Witches acknowledge and work with their shadow side to recognize, understand, and in most cases, temper its influence, or at least reserve it for specific use.
Witchcraft in and of itself is not a religion or spiritual practice, but can be practice with any faith belief one chooses. Wicca is a spiritual tradition and recognized religion or faith belief. Not all witches are Wiccans. It's been said that all Wiccan's are witches, but I personally disagree. You can practice all of the faith beliefs of Wicca, and never use witchcraft in practice.
Finally, some witches are simply on a path of personal and esoteric betterment with little, if any, focus on magical workings.
Spells are not conjuring or working with the devil. See above; there is no devil. Spells are focused intention, usually a petition or an expression of gratitude. In that way they are not unlike a prayer. However, unlike prayer they are not always directed to a deity or spiritual entity. This makes them also like a mantra or positive affirmation. To whatever extent science confirms the success of positive thinking, self fulfilling prophecy, and fake it ’til you make it, it also confirms the success of spell casting.
Spells are also science. Whatever science has proven about quantum physics, it proves the same about sympathetic and correspondence magic.
Ethical witches do not attempt to manipulate the free will of others. This is probably the number one rule among true witches and translates to the shorthand, “You do you.” It applies to how you practice your craft, and the personal choices you make both in magical and every day life. A coven or other gathering of witches may have guidelines and rules, but those are upon your voluntary membership—if you are accepted and join (initiate) you agree to this and that.
Most witches worth their salt will not cast a love spell to inspire or change the feelings of a specific person. A love spell is worked either on yourself to prepare you for the right relationship when it comes along, or to appeal to the powers that be (energies) that the right love be sent your way.
Witches do not always belong to a coven. Many witches practice their craft as solitaries. Take appropriate cautions if you join a coven, as you would joining any group of people you don't otherwise know. Remembering that a coven is considered a family bound by oath—you will likely share vulnerability and deeply personal aspects of your life.
If a witch ever, in any situation, asks you to participate in something that goes against your values and ethics, get thee away from said witch(es) post haste and never, ever return.
So, while we're on the subject of covens and groups . . .
Sky clad (naked) ritual is not necessary. It is practiced by solitary witches and in covens, but you don’t fail at being a witch if you don’t dance naked under the moon, or in the hot tub or whatever else may be the setting for stripping down. The reason for sky clad ritual is to show to the deity, Goddess/God that you come in perfect love and trust with nothing to hide. It also demonstrates the same to your coven.
Again, if you join a group or a coven that does make sky clad ritual a required part of their group practice, it should be stated up front and understood. You can and should decline joining if it makes you uncomfortable. You should also leave any coven in which you feel there is an abusive element to naked ritual. I do not practice sky clad; for one thing, it’s too dang cold six months of the year in my realm to even consider it. I doubt that I would ever join a coven that requires it—but never say never!
There is no rule against personal gain. Other than those which apply to dishonor and greed in every day life. So go ahead and cast that spell for a raise, or promotion, or the winning lottery numbers. It never hurts to try. Keep in mind when crafting your spells, to include intentions that your gain (or any outcome) brings no harm to others nor yourself.
There is no threefold rule. Other than the every day concept that you get what you give, you reap what you sow, the golden rule, etc. The idea that whatever you send will come back to you times 3 is part of the folklore, crafted by some of the early, modern day witches, and embraced by Wiccans. However, do not take this concept lightly; every witch has a story to tell of the spell that backfired, manifesting with consequences not anticipated, even though they thought they had considered every possible outcome.
There isn’t even a rule of do no harm. That too, was written in by the early modern day practitioners. Ethical witches are also just ethical people; we practice under the same real world laws of nature, physics, human emotion, and civil laws as everybody else. The important thing to remember here is our belief that all life is connected and what we do to any one, we do to all, including ourselves. For witches who practice with deity, there is also the belief that every living thing harbors the Divine within, and so to harm any is to harm the Divine.
"As above so below, as within so without, as the universe so the soul." — Hermes Trismegistu
Before we leave this concept, all witches believe in complete acceptance of the consequence of our actions. We do not deflect, we do not whine, we do not say, “Woe is me.” To know this down to our bones, greatly governs our actions. This is where accountability comes in—if you cast the spell, bear the consequences, come what will.
Witches self identify as folk, garden, hedge, herbal, kitchen, or green witches (not referring to skin color, but working with nature elements), and more. Others identify by the deity they primarily worship, such as Hekataen witches, Dianic witches, etc. There are traditions pertaining to pantheons and ethnic heritage, such as Celtic, Norse, Italian, Slavic, etc. This is a comprehensive list.
Witchcraft is not all about the magick. First, magick with a K differentiates the craft of the witch from the art of illusion practiced by magicians. Magick is active and real. Think of it this way. Fire was magick to the ancients - sent by the gods in lighting bolts. It remained magick until they discovered the science behind fire, until some astute being observed that friction could also create fire and that s/he could create friction. And so it went until we were cooking with gas, not to mention short wave radiation! Magick happens all around us, understanding how it happens allows us to discover ways of harnessing it.
And while we’re on cooking . . .
Cooking is magic by definition. Taking any number of ingredients, applying either heat, cooling or some physical action, to arrive at an end result that is different than just the sum of its parts, is alchemical magick. Take the simple act of whipping egg whites into meringue, or churning milk into butter. Or combing milk, butter and sugar, and applying heat to make caramel. In a time before these things were common skill, they were first magick. Once upon a time, only nature could make a diamond, but not any longer.
Your near ancestors were witches. Women mostly, but men also, were kitchen, hedge and hearth witches. They were water diviners, weather predictors, and tillers of soil. Whether they called themselves such or not, their ways were the ways of the witch, they worked with the seasons, natural elements and physics. They practiced folk remedies and cures with plants and herbs. They tossed salt over their shoulders, hung symbols in their homes, planted their gardens and harvested their crops by the moons. Some of their traditions were part of a religious faith, but not all of them were. They lived with an understanding and working knowledge of the physical world around them.
Witch, as we know it, is a word and concept that was created by the early patriarchal religions of the world to wrest the power of a relationship to the natural world, faith, and cultural belief, from the hands of the masses. Power was shifted to the governing body of the church. Pagans were simply the unlearned, unbaptized country folk in the beginning—the simple folk. Most often, when they were persecuted, tortured and murdered, it was done with ulterior agendas (such as confiscation of property and land), or out of ignorance and fear.
My practice of witchcraft is a reflection of my reverence for the Divine signature in all living things. It is an ongoing effort to rise above ego and seek the greater good. My practice is rooted in the simple faith that there is something bigger than myself, bigger than humanity, bigger than this life as we know it. It doesn’t matter what I call it or how I aspire to connect with it, because when I do, when any witch does, we are woke to the knowledge that God and Love are one and the same.
Blessed be and journey well.
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