This Witch

This is an edited and extended version of my I Am Witch post from December. After posting that original on a forum site - Dragonswood (see my list of favourite sites for link), I was asked several questions about the statements I had posted and it made me re-evaluate and analyse more thoroughly the beliefs I hold so dear.

1.          My belief in a higher power is not limited to a single deity. Nor, is it always dependant on any deity. Sometimes, it is stripped back to the core belief that I respect, trust and acknowledge Universal energy and power. This Universal energy, I consider to be all deity combined – source energy. As I do not conform to any one religion in this belief, I draw from many traditions, cultures and beliefs in my practice of worship, magick and ritual.

2.       Immanence vs. Transcendence: my belief has evolved over the years so both these concepts of deity can coexist within it. As I have already mentioned I believe in Universal ‘source’ energy, there is no denying that we, as individuals, as a race, as a planet, are a part of the Universe; each atom we are made of comes from and is made of the Universe. Therefore, it is logical that the energy of the Universe is not only within us but what we are as a whole – this to me is the definition of immanence – the feminine and masculine qualities of the Universe are manifest within me, expressed throughout the human race, the animal kingdom and all other life on the planet. When coming to these realisations about my belief, I thought for a time that I was perhaps atheist – unable to see beyond the science of earth’s creation, as I do believe in the scientific explanations as to how the planet formed. This atheist ‘phase’ lasted only a short time as my religious research and personal experiences led to growth in my magickal and spiritual practices. Believing in deity as transcendent was surprisingly not difficult to then seep into how I viewed my religion; I began to have faith, and I still have faith, that not all of the miracles of the Universe can be crammed into the human experience. Yes, I can speak to deity in meditation; yes, I can call on deity to assist me in my magickal practice; and yes, I can honour deity for being present in my life but what I cannot do, is convince everyone else that my faith in and view of deity is the truth of the Universe. If deity was 100% immanent and there was no level of transcendence then there would be no religious intolerance – the unreachable aspects of deity are what create individual belief systems as personal interpretation of the unseen and unexperienced cannot be measured, restrained or stopped.

3.        The cycle of the moon is very important to me; in fact I consider it the compass of my practice. When she is full, Lady Luna is a beacon of goodness (a light in the dark, if you will); as the milky orb wanes, her magick strengthens the art of diminishing negative energy; when she is Dark, it is time to put magickal work aside and rest; as her thin sliver returns and she is New the time has come to begin again with new projects and endeavours; from there she waxes and the time has come for magickal work to bring gain; until she is once again Full and ready to be the strongest force of positive energy in the sky.

4.      The cycle of the Sun is just as important to me as that of the Moon. The God is what drew me to the Craft originally and as a summer baby – born in June, I am very much devoted to the God’s strength during the Summer months.

5.        I live in alignment with the seasons; therefore, I celebrate the change from light to dark to light again, from warm to cold to warm again. I rejoice in the rain, I roll in the snow, I bathe in the sun and I howl at the moon. I do conform to the witches Sabbats as the most structured way of celebrating the cycles of nature but I find enjoyment in nature every day.

6.        I am a tree-hugger: a hug is an embracing way to express a love of trees and to give thanks to the spirit of that tree for not only providing beauty, shade from the sun, cover from the rain, but also the oxygen we need to breathe. It is not a silly thing to do but a genuine gift of love and respect for the oldest and grandest life force on the plant.

7.       I accept the elements: earth, air, fire and water, as the foundation and key components of magickal practice and trust that they are the cornerstones of my work. I discovered this early in my 18 years of study and I have never wavered from it.

8.        All living things have a life force; a spirit/essence/energy which is to be respected and treasured. This is not limited to people and animals; it also includes the elements, trees, plants, rocks, mountains, crystals, anything made by the natural world. I extend this belief in the life force of nature to the point of consciousness and even memory. To honour this life force is to believe it a blessing to the world. The term carbon-footprint is common nowadays, but the impression of the carbon footprint, of the human race is still in its infancy in comparison to what the trees, oceans and mountains have seen, felt and experienced since the beginning of this planet.

9.       I trust that life (or existence) is eternal, and when the physical body dies, the spiritual body does not. I believe in reincarnation and that when there are lessons that still must be learned, you are reborn to learn them. I also believe that when all lessons are learned, there is ascension of the soul to the ‘afterlife’ – this for me is Summerland. I struggled with the concept for a long time that all lessons can be learned, all knowledge and wisdom can ever be completely gained but what I mean by saying this, and what my belief is right now, is that when all the lessons your soul personally needs to learn are gained, then ascension is possible.

10.     Learning is something that as physical and spiritual beings, we all do constantly. We learn to walk in the first year of our lives, talk in the second, and we learn to feel and how to express feelings for the rest of our lives. It takes both the physical and spiritual existence to feel and it is the experience of feelings that generate the lessons of the soul: without feeling you have been wronged, how would you experience forgiveness? There is a well known phrase: “I didn’t know what I had until it was gone”; this is another lesson – without having felt loss, appreciating love is all the harder.

11.        The majority of magick I practice is channelled, created or generated for others. I do not mean by the word ‘channel’ that I am taking from other witches but that the magick used is from energies gained via invoking deity; I raise and ‘send out’ my own energy with this channelled energy otherwise I would not be practicing magick, only directing it. Creating magick is related more to personal crafting, for example if I make a wand, when I charge it, I am transferring my personal energy to it and therefore this and the energy of the wood create something new. Generating magick is a term I use to describe raising my own energy; this is when I am preparing for spiritual/magickal work.

12.      The only workings I regularly do for myself are to honour deities and ‘unseen’ energies and those for a life of balance. I deem ‘honouring’ as a magickal practice for two reasons: firstly, because I raise energy to do so – flex the same magickal muscles; and secondly, because I am honouring the energies I call upon and work with during my practice. It may seem like ‘honouring’ is not a practice of personal benefit but I believe it is as it makes me feel closer to the deity in question.

I believe in many things, some might be just in my imagination but as I believe in other realms, parallel universes, other dimensions, I don’t believe that they are just imagination. What I have outlined above is a summary of a set of beliefs that have taken my entire life to become something I am willing to defend. I am not a witch because of what I believe; I am a witch because I practice what I believe. If I was to say “I believe in faeries” but take no care when I am in nature, in their home then what is the point in saying it, or believing it. However, I DO believe in faeries (I DO, I DO) and so if I am walking in the park and I see litter, I will pick it up and put it in the bin; I will leave an offering for the faeries of cream or berries because I have researched what they like and taken them into consideration.

The path I am on is not something that I do, it’s who I am. You will hear the term ‘path’ a lot when studying religion, especially traditions of paganism; it’s just another way of saying how you live your life, how you experience it, what you learn from it, what you take from the journey. What I know right now from the life I have led so far is that there are no short cuts to happiness, fulfilment, enlightenment, there are only choices. Choose to be honest, choose to love, choose to give thanks, choose to keep learning… as for everything else, let nature take care of it; the Universe has got your back!