What is Witchcraft, Magic and Psychism?

What is Witchcraft?

That is a question that continues to be hotly debated on social media. There is a lot of “who gets to decide that and why?” type of questions that go along with it too. The answer also depends on culture, pantheon, and personal beliefs. So, you may be asking why bother to attempt to answer such a question?

Well, as a Leader, Elder, Author, Priestess, and practicing Witch for over 50 yrs, and because I am in about 40-50 “witch” groups on social media, I see many looking for direction and firm answers. This is my attempt to answer some of these questions in bulk.

I will begin with an analogy. If you fill a glass half full of water then pour in oil and keep pouring in oil, eventually the oil will push all the water out of the glass. All that will remain is oil.

Meaning a thing still has to have the basics that identify it as what it is, in order to still be that thing. The word Witchcraft brings some negative things to mind thanks to hundreds of years if not thousands of years of people saying it is working with the devil or evil. Witchcraft can be a big scary word but in fact, it is very simple.

Witchcraft also has basics that identify it as Witchcraft. Witchcraft is generally defined as a nature-based religion, that uses magic and psychic skills to be in tune with nature and the world.

A practitioner of the craft may invoke an element or God or Goddess or attend a ceremony or ritual that is magical or work them on their own. Witchcraft is the practice of what the practitioner believes to be supernatural skills and abilities, such as the casting of spells and the performance of Magic.

My family tradition defines Witchcraft as one that uses Magic and Psychism to work with all forces of nature, energy, spirit, and deity. In our tradition, a Witch is also an herbalist and healer that employs all wise craft.

Conversely, a Witch can be any denomination they please. They are only limited by the beliefs they choose to practice. This means a Christian witch only practices within the confines of those beliefs and a Pagan Witch, or Buddhist Witch only practice within the confines of their belief set.

Paganism

Paganism is a big umbrella that covers a wide variety of beliefs. Just like the umbrella of Christianity covers being Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, and more. Being a Pagan does not mean one is a Witch.

Pagans love nature and this planet. Many feel at one with it and are very in tune with the cycles of the seasons. They often find joy in the small things the planet has to offer such as a bird singing or a honeybee, and it brings them joy and knowledge.

Summarily, not all Pagans are Witches, not all Wiccans are Witches, not all Witches are pagan, and not all Witches are Wiccan, but all Witches practice Magic. Practicing Magic is one of those things that identify Witchcraft as Witchcraft.

WICCA (Greek derivative for wise one)

Wicca is often defined as contemporary witchcraft and is recognized as a religion. I do not think there is one finite definition for Wicca. The definition I give here is a conglomeration of definitions. However, it is frequently characterized by the worship of deities called gods and goddesses. It contains the belief in the superiority of the mother goddess, who represents nature, emphasizes harmony with nature, and tries to appeal to this harmony.

Wicca uses ceremonies, rituals, and amulets, and more for those who are also Magical practitioners. There is a belief in life after physical death known as the life, death, and rebirth cycle. The harm none and rule of three-fold are part of their precepts. They practice reverence for the earth, the wheel of the year, planetary consciousness within their system of Magical practices. Some, but not all, of what Wicca practices are also identifiers that make Witchcraft, Witchcraft.

NEO-PAGANISM

Neo-Paganism is an eclectic modern movement that began in the ’60s that is primarily concerned with revived and reconstructed pre-christian nature religions and mystery traditions. It draws its base from a wide spectrum of people, who may or may not be Wiccan. Many Neo-Pagans are interested in the occult revival, environmentalism, mythology, spiritual awareness, and comparative religions.

Magic

So, what is Magic? Magic is the application of the will or manipulation of natural but hidden forces like energy,  the spirit of something, deity, and other spirits, the elements and more, to affect change using means not understood by science.

Magic is the ability to effect change in accordance with one’s will by invoking things outside of the five physical senses. Such changes are accomplished through ritual, spells, energy work, and more, in which cosmic powers, deities, or other non-physical beings or the forces of nature are invoked.

Magic is using one’s higher state of consciousness and will. To do this we utilize psychic skills that use the energy emanating from our body and from things outside ourselves to manipulate and interact with other energy patterns according to our will. Most of us call this manifesting. Manifesting is an identifying part of magic but not the sum total of Magic.

One identifier of magic that makes Magic, Magic is the belief that Magic is both real and possible. This involves the idea that the physical world is only part of all reality. Another is the belief that humans have more than just five senses, there are psychic senses. It is by means of these psychic capacities the realms beyond the physical are often contacted. It is believed that these psychic senses are innate in us all and can be reawakened.

Another identifier of Magic is that thoughts are a tool to be used. Thoughts are real and have power. This is a fundamental of Magic because the mind is the power of Magic. To have great strength of will and focus is most important for a person doing magic.

Magic will be powerful or feeble in proportion to the energy, willpower, and focus used by you. Magic is what we do with what we sense. Spells are Magical and used in Witchcraft, but you could not do them without being able to tap energy and vibration. Magic happens for three reasons, what you think say and do.

Think, Say, Do

Thought becomes visualization, focus, an idea, or a goal. To say is incantations, mantras, chants, spells, songs, or poetry. To do is, burning a spell and sending it off, committing a spell to any element to carry it to the cosmos or gods. Dancing, singing, putting something on an altar, lighting a candle, incense anything you do to affirm the idea or goal supports this aim.

Spells are much the same, with them you decide on a goal, they are the art of aiming. You aim at the goal with your will then you send it by using the ways described above, but it needs to be sent to be effective, sending is the do part.

Metaphysical

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between mind and matter.

I add this topic because magical practitioner’s use metaphysical means as tools in their Magic and Witchcraft. As you can see from the definition the metaphysical by itself is not Witchcraft or Magic.

Metaphysics includes meditation, mindfulness, and any means that help clear and build one’s consciousness. It is a practice of the mind in an effort to make one more calm, focused, and spiritual. All of these practices are tools that help one build a strong mind that can be used in Magic, Witchcraft, and Psychism.

Psychism

Many psychic skills are used in Witchcraft and Magic. Some folks have the ability to sense energy or deity and other things happening around them. They feel it and know it is there. This is often referred to as intuition. I believe it is part of the clairvoyance and clairaudient skills. To sense clearly allows you to be aware of your surroundings.

We all vibrate, vibration is energy. People and the earth are vibrational energetic entities. To feel the vibrations around us and be able to use it, absorb it or send it, is Magic and a psychic skill combined.

Psychism itself is the ongoing study and practice of all things psychic. So, let’s look at what some of the psychic skills are.

Clairaudience

Clairaudience is the hearing of sounds, music, and voices not audible to normal hearing. It can manifest as an inner sound or inner voice that is clearly distinguishable from one’s own inner voice. The voice may be unknown but perceived as coming from a certain spiritual source, sometimes receiving important or useful information from the other side, or hearing vibrations of events past or future like an echo.

Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is the perception of objects, events, or people seen visually in your mind’s eye. It is clear seeing. This kind of seeing may manifest in the internal or external visions or the sensing, of images. It appears to be a general ability among humans. In its highest form clairvoyance is the viewing of non-physical planes, the astral, the etheric, and spiritual worlds of which there are many.

Clairsentience

Those with Clairsentience can feel psychic stimuli in their bodies. It might be a gut reaction like getting punched, or it may be felt in other parts of the body. This type of skill is often accompanied by anxiety or is mistaken for anxiety because there is a great compulsion to respond to what is being felt and what is being felt is not always easy to determine quickly.

Precognition

Precognition is described as the prior knowledge of events. A precognitive will know that the phone is going to ring and who is on it, or that a certain event is going to take place, minutes, hours, or days before it happens. Precognition shows up often in daily life and in dreams.

Divination

Tarot, crystal ball, tea leaves, runes, or any other form of divination can act as a pump to prime your already natural ability. The archetypal characters of the Tarot get into the subconscious mind and wake it up, which in turn enhances our psychic perception. The eventual course of study and practice of Tarot will lead us into our own psychic ability.

The skills I have mentioned have been considered Magic by many, to separate the two is a splitting of hairs. The difference is that psychic skills and metaphysical skills are tools we use in Magic and Witchcraft. We use them to build a strong mind as we develop our will and focus and practice our Magic.

For example, if you want to send a thought or energy to someone, that is magical, but you use telepathy, and meditational focus, as the tool to send it.

These are all skills that we can build up with practice, it will only make our Magic stronger and open up the ability to sense things around us. You need only to pay attention to the feelings you get when it is a psychic moment and note the difference when it is not. The more you pay attention to what is either magic, witchcraft, psychism, or metaphysical, the more you will know the differences and they will become stronger tools for your use.

Weather magic with clairvoyance in time and space

In last week’s entry, I mentioned I would publish an article on weather magic with an example on clairvoyance in time and space in the Autumn edition of the Green Egg Magazine. Due to space that article will now appear here this week. I hope you enjoy it!

With climate change and the massive fires raging it is no surprise Weather magic is the topic of conversation. The main concern being how to bring rain without lightning.

My grandmother began teaching me the elements for agricultural reasons. “Witches have been called on for weather for a long time,” she would say.

It is actually easy for many to “call rain, but to do so without lightning or flooding is not so easy. 

There are two things I see missing from most weather magic events, practitioners failing to give respect to the elements for responding and then forgetting to send them happily back to their realm. Not doing the latter is usually when we get flooding.

 To prevent flooding or lightning, it is important to have knowledge of, and a relationship with, the atmosphere. Yes, the atmosphere. It is the natural force that holds all our weather, it is the guardian and keeper of all weather here on Earth.

A practitioner of weather magic, if skilled, will have a relationship with the spirit of the atmosphere. They will be able to sense its subtle ways of responding in order to determine what is allowed and what is not. In weather magic, you can ask and direct weather patterns but there is no controlling how much weather you get when you do call it. No matter how many people are doing the work, Mother Nature alone makes that decision.

The biggest danger in weather magic is working it without a care for the long-range effects. Doing weather magic goes way beyond just asking for rain. Air temperature, the electricity in the air, air currents, barometric pressure, the weather front that is coming in behind the weather front we want to move and more, all play a part. You need a relationship and experience with all of those things to be successful.

A practitioner needs to know that there is no stopping some forms of weather like lightning, mudslides, fire, or flood. They are always eager to come out and play at a moment’s notice and will do as they please when loose. This is why it is very important that the practitioner is aware of what rain, wind, flood, fire, mudslide, and lightning are and have great respect for them like you would a wild animal.

To successfully hold lightning back when asking for rain in a one event ritual would require the practitioner to raise their consciousness into the atmosphere and manipulate the air and electricity. That is quite a feat of magic that very few can accomplish in one event.

However, if a practitioner has knowledge of how weather works and what weather conditions are needed to bring rain without lightning,  it is possible to get rain without lightning with a bit of time and effort.

For example, I recently coordinated a weather working with several groups in three states. Our group began a week before the others. We did a working to raise the dew point and humidity. Boy, did we get a response, it was like breathing through wet cotton all week. This helped to bring about more suitable weather conditions for rain without lightning and assisted in putting out some major fires in our area.

The following week each group was set to a particular task to be done all at the same time and day. Those in Northern Idaho called the cool weather fronts downward. Those in Western Washington were tasked with speaking to water and asked it to join the cool fronts moving in while they focused on a gentle spring rain. A group in middle Washington spoke to Pan, guardian of the forests, to lend his power to the working for the protection of his beloved Forests. Those in Eastern Washington spoke to fire and asked it to move over to let water come play for a while. We in Western Oregon raised a cone of power and sent it to the atmosphere to amplify the workings as we created a protective bubble of gentle rain over all the areas in the working.

We also put out a public notice for all weather workers who wished to participate. Their job was a chant to hold energy for our working as they focused on a gentle spring rain. And it worked! Cooler weather and rain came, in some areas it came in mid ritual. The rain did not stay for long but the cooler weather has. We asked for and focused on a gentle spring rain because that type of rain is cooler and usually comes without lightning.

So how does one build such a relationship with the elements? The following is an entry from my personal journal of how I built a relationship with an element using clairvoyance in time and space, or as I called it in my last blog entry, bilocation.

How I create a relationship with an element is by going to that element’s realm and learning from the entities there. For the water realm I drew from my Hermetic practices and began in meditation by focusing on the angel Gabriel. In that practice, he is the guardian of the West and more.

I have been hesitant to visit Gabriel’s realm because of my emotions. so it has been many months since I have sat before my altar with such an undertaking. Consequently, it took a while for me to clean my altar, set it for water and get back in touch with its vibrations before I began my meditation. part of this was sitting back, drinking coffee and contemplating the work at hand.

Once I got in tune with the altar and the working I light my candles and reflect more on Gabriel and water. My daily consciousness dropped faster than I suspected and I moved right into the meditative state and I suddenly see myself in the Star Card f the Rider Waite Deck of the Tarot. There is a blue sky of stars and sun behind me. I lay naked at the waters edge, legs open wide. Water is pouring out from between my legs and filling the pond.

Creatures of all kinds are coming to drink and I hear a voice say “Water is life for all. Water is a sacred feminine embryonic thing for all, animals, plants, people, rocks, and even air.”

With that, I travel deeper into trance as I am transported to a realm just above the horizon line of the sea. Once there I begin to look for Gabriel. A voice tells me Gabriel is feminine. I accept this, yet never get a glimpse of Gabriel. Instead, I see a dark-skinned arm and hand that reaches out and takes a pinch of a cloud. The hand then rubs it between its fingers until all that remains are water droplets. I am aware this is Gabriel who then says “All things are water even the sky” She goes on to say all things live in a bubble of water and air but it is so large that it seems infinite to you. As she speaks I clairvoyantly see many lands and realms. Gabriel says” The realm of water is the gateway to all liquid realms and worlds and they are vast.”

Gabriel’s tone is droll and slightly annoyed when she tells me”You do not get rain when you ask for it because most of you leave out the element of air, it is H20 after all. You cannot get water without air.”

Then with a flick of a finger, we move across the sky. Past the sunset, past the stars, and into the darkness. I have some trepidation being in this dark with Gabriel. She senses that and says “Water and air are combined in all things, wood, rock, fabric, space, and dark matter. Water is life everywhere, your atmosphere,, your bubble, of water and air, and spark,( a hint at the element of fire) the energy that makes it happen, the earth is the receiver.” Gabriel goes on as I wait in the darkness with her. ” Water is creator, and destroyer, the shaper, and transportation, not transformation! Water transports itself and things along.”

I begin to wonder what role emotions have here when she responds by saying “it is not the refective part of water nor the mirror image that that shows you yourself, it is the darkness. You find your truth in the depths of darkness that the realm of water holds.”

I was a bit nervous at her intensity when she lightly said, For rain invoke us together for the twins that we are. (meaning air and water) Then I was released from the working.

Because of such workings, I now have a greater understanding of the element of water. I know more about what it means, its depths, how it works, and its purpose. Such a connection with this element makes it easier to get a response to my weather magic requests and for me to listen to it when it speaks to me.

Such is the way of the elements and clairvoyance in time and space.

What is Bilocation?

What Is Bi-Location?

In my last blog entry, I mentioned using bilocation. Bilocation in the classical sense is described as your body being seen in two places at once. Both bodies will operate fully and be seen by others. There are some recorded cases of this yet they are often described as coincidence or mistaken identity by others. However, the phrase bilocation has been around since early Greek times.

Rosemary Ellen Guiley wrote an article on bilocation in her book  Harpers Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience. In which she documents many such occurrences among Christian saints, and many more. While bilocation is uncommon it is an ancient practice. Today most know it by another name OBE.

The phrase Out Of Body Experience, that most now equate with bilocation, was not used until 1943 by Robert Monroe, who made it very popular because of his book, Journeys Out of The Body. Both books are excellent sources. Their research is why I believe that a bilocation or OBE event is very different than an astral travel event.

Another phenomenon that gets tangled up in bilocation is remote viewing. Remote viewing is traveling clairvoyantly to a location and being able to describe exactly what you see. Which has also more recently been described as an Out of Body Experience. In remote viewing or an OBE, one only sees what is in front of them at that particular location and moment in time.

The bilocation that I experience is technically described as Clairvoyance in Time and space.  I call Clairvoyance in time in space, psychic bilocation. This type of bilocation looks and feels different than those described above.

When I have an event of bilocation it usually comes as I am speaking to someone. In that moment my clairvoyance will travel through time and space revealing to me the long-range outcome of what is being discussed. It shows me the outcome of a person’s actions and how others will respond to it.

During such an event my other skills apply themselves to what I am seeing. My Claircognizance will provide knowledge like it is fact. My empathy tells me how people will feel and why as the events occur.

It is much like precognition too. But in precognition usually, only one main event will be revealed. In psychic bilocation, I get to see the ripples of people’s actions, how others will respond, and how they play out in much more detail.

These events usually occur in the middle of a conversation. As my brain begins to process what I am clairvoyantly seeing, I will usually look upwards for a second. When I do that, I am seeing the events play out. That vision can span days, weeks, months, and sometimes years into the future, I receive the whole big picture of what is to come.

I class Clairvoyance in time and space as bilocation because my body is still there engaged in conversation as my mind/ consciousness travels. I often use the term bilocation because it is an easier term for people to comprehend than Clairvoyance through time and space or telling people I am looking into the future. Which usually freaks people out a bit, even those fairly comfortable with psychism. Possessing Clairvoyance of this magnitude is why I often tell people I walk in two worlds.

I will give some examples of this type of clairvoyance in an article on weather magic and the elements as I travel the cosmos in the Green egg Autumn issue on September 25th at https://greeneggmagazine.com.

Visions of The Future

Visions of the future

Being a psychic is not always fun and games as I have said many times. Spontaneous events are not always nice, and sometimes you wish you did not know what you know. Those of us with a skill for visions, The Knowing (claircognizance), or precognition understand this very well. We also understand many people do not like hearing what we have to say when things are not good. We call that the blessing and the curse of psychism. So, buckle up peeps, because today is the day to hear about such visions.

With my mix of clairvoyance, claircognizance, and precognition, I have the ability to Bi locate and see way beyond the room or immediate area and see a way bigger picture, of what is to come on occasion.

What I have been seeing is this:

We as a nation are in a transition of a great and historical time. This change will take about 10 to 15 yrs. before we see real positive results. Currently, things are not great for many, and for others, it is only livable.

Currently, we have issues with the supply and demand of goods, prices are scary high, income has not changed enough to deal with that. This includes everything from cat food to housing and gas and everything in-between. The job market is the most insane I have ever seen in my 60yrs.

What is coming for the job market? Get vaccinated or no job for many. This will create a high unemployment rate-(Temporarily) starting with the medical professions. Some businesses will close because of it, and no longer will the job seeker find a job on every corner like it is right now. Why? Because businesses are adapting to having fewer employees and still doing okay. Unemployment benefits will be, “Get vaccinated so you can find a job”

This current housing crisis that seems to be a rich hay day for the seller, will turn into a disaster for the banks when people cannot pay their loans because of the job issues. This is not a rich hay day for the seller btw. The person selling that house is already having to pay very high taxes and interest rates on loans. Most people selling, the everyday person that is, currently cannot buy a new home for that 300,000 they just sold the old one for. That money is often their savings as they move into retirement homes and face medical bills. They are selling to hedge their savings. Yes, there are many greedy ones out there thinking ooh now is the time to sell. You know the adage, sell high buy low. That will have problems too because of the currently outrageous construction costs. Why? Because if you sell a property you have to update it to get a new buyer. This is a cycle that will eat itself to death.

Covid and the politics of the last 6 yrs. have changed so much, and now we have countries other than our own, enacting certain mandates that will come to this nation within 6-8 months, end of the year at the most. The un-vaccinated will not be able to fly, or eat in restaurants. They will have to pay their own hospital bills if they get covid, be refused services, be denied jobs or insurance and I am afraid much more.

Now is the time to put your money in credit unions, not banks. Hold on to property or share it with others. Grow a garden, and be frugal with all things, because the next few years of this transition are gonna be hard for most of us.

The afflicted are not sitting quietly anymore, they are angrily rising. We have finally hit the time when the many are no longer afraid of the few. Oberon Zell and I did an article together right after covid it hit, that talks about the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” In that movie, there is a key phrase, “Humans only change on the brink of disaster” in other words when they are forced to, and we are living that now.

In the next 10 to 15 yrs. many Americans will be forced to face their commercialism, their taking things for granted, their gluttony, their pride and have to realize their privilege. Many are having to now and they do not like it. Oh, I do not expect we as a nation will address those things fully until they are abolished, but we will be taking a turn toward lessening them out of necessity. When we do, then we will be ready to address climate change, which also is a repeating cycle, but on a much grander scale of time.

Because of all of the ugly things I mention above, many laws will first change for the worse, then they will change for the better. We see this happening in the news every day currently. Jobs will change for the better, working at home will be a more acceptable option for many businesses, because they will be forced to offer that as an option when the crunch really hits. The housing market and laws will change for the better because of what we are enduring now. And believe it or not, things will also improve for the homeless. Why? because it is not just the usual “bum” that is homeless, hungry, and out of work anymore. The doom and gloom will not last forever tho.

Do not expect instant results either. All of these changes will be slow because we are in a time of transition. But you can trust in the knowledge that change for the better is coming. You can trust this because you now have the foresight of what is coming and can prepare wisely, calmly, and quietly for such changes. What else is the gift of sight for if not for that?

In next week’s blog entry I will write about Bi-Location.