With the Imbolg, Candlemas, and Lupercalia festivities ahead, I begin to anticipate the arrival of spring, and the preparations of the Virgin Goddess. The past few years it seems the community of the Craft has become calm and quite, although this seems to be a positive change, we as Witches and Magickal practitioner alike should focus our minds and Magick on utilizing this wonderful time of year, and begin to plan for a positive future.
Candles, exotic herbs, incense, stones, and crystals fill every crevice of my home, cabinetry, and life. These simple and yet ordinary objects, to those who follow the path of the Old Ones, are a constant reminder of the path I so dearly cherish. When I look back to the time I was first introduced to the Craft, a time when everything was new and mysterious. I ask myself:
Do you remember when Witchcraft was filled with magick and mystery? That sensation of reading a new book, the scent and excitement of visiting a new magickal shop, learning something new and spiritually beneficial, or the first time your circle was cast and you invoked the Old Ones and felt a sense of strength and love that filled every essence of your soul?
Halfway now between the chilly winter months and the revitalizing spring season ahead, many of us our prepping our magickal gardens, cleaning the dust in our herb cabinets, and planting spells for love, hope, and prosperity. We invoke Goddesses and Gods, such as the Celtic Fire Goddess Bridget and the Roman Wolf God, Lupercus, to fill or homes and lives with warmth and strength towards the future. Why not do the same for the Craft?
If we correlate the community of the Craft to this magickal time of year, and by associating it to the growing sun, and the awakening of the Great Mother, many thought of change and renewal will spark even the novice mind. We must open our hearts to the ever-growing cultures around us, to better educate ourselves as well as to improve and expand each individual’s personal practice.
Even today, in Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism, there still seems to be more political and judgmental actions, and the “drama” that always surrounds such actions, than magickal. Has this caused us to forget why we are all here, and we tread this path?
When my family came to this beautiful country, we brought with us our ancestral Gods and magickal charms, which have always given me the strength and community, no one else could ask for. But it wasn’t long ago when any person who stepped into the Old Religion felt a sense of belonging and community, no matter what age, race, or sex. Therefore the question in my mind remains my focus, “Where are the Old Ways heading in the future?” “What should we prevent ourselves from manifesting in that future?
A young man once stepped into my delightful magickal shop and made a comment to a friend, stating that, “silence was golden”. Recalling this conversation, I grabbed a pen and paper and began writing this article. As Witches, Pagans, Wiccans, and all followers of the Craft we need to ensure that we bring proper awareness and love to our local communities, families, and friends.
Silence, though golden in some respects, seems to have gotten us one step back towards a successful and positive future. We must take action in our own lives, as well as our Craft, to ensure a growing and prosperous future, which our Elders, stood front line for and fought against prejudice, vice, discord, and silence of our beliefs and practices. We, human that we are, seem to have forgotten, by our own ignorance and innocents that the fight against silence and ignorance is not over, and now that ignorance is within our own community.
By our faults of innocence we are letting go of the magick and wonder that brought us all on this path, which then prevents those in need of the Craft from entering it’s glimmering palace. We are taking away the mystery and power that the Old Gods emanate within us. Many of us, whether young or old, want to be heard, but mainly we all want to be acknowledged and respected for our Craft. If the Old Religion was meant to be simple, it would not have survived the dusts of time, and we must come again and seek out appreciation and love for what our ancestors so deeply treasured.
We must learn to take lead, hand in hand, with like-minded others and move forward into the future, and bring the Craft that inspired us in the beginning, to those whom are open-minded and openhearted. We must learn to hold on to the magick and forget the stresses or ritual procedures, lectures, teaching, daily works, activities, and again embrace and experience the magick we seem to be letting go of.
We live in a world where much chaos and destruction seems to be key to our existence, and many of us stray to what negative things the world has to offer seeking solution, many of us live ordinary, happy lives, but many also live lives of sadness, despair, and depression. These feeling of sadness and depression are like the seasons we all experience, for we are human and to appreciate joy we must appreciate pain. Like the Great Prometheus, we must break through those chains that keep us prisoners in our own created chaos. I can’t count how many people I have met through the years that resort to negative magick to solve a problem. That is not the way of the wise. That is not the teachings of our ancestors who burned and suffered. That is not the way of the Witch.
We must open our hearts and mind and attempt to move forward, for we are universally bonded to the magick we perform, that bond is tied to our hearts, as well as our everyday lives. That bond creates us and gives us the “gift” to create and manifest. We control all we do, and ignorance is the very lack of knowledge, which weakens the bond each individual has to the Universe.
We are all entitled to our beliefs, our personal way of doing things and solving problems, but in hope, which in reality is all we have, the only way to solve a problem is to bring about a proper and beneficial solution.
Self-responsibility should be the first page of any magickal book, it teaches self-control, which leads us in bettering our connection with Nature, the Universe and the Divine within ourselves. For we are of the Gods, whom created us and within us lay their very essence and light. Embracing that part of ourselves, without arrogance, ignorance, ego, and objective is the only way one will be led to the true magick of the Great Mother Goddess.
To focus our magick and thought on positive change, strengthens our magickal bond with the Universe and the Old Ones. People and followers of the Old Ways who resort to negative magick are weak and lack the sense of self, the sense of self-responsibility, and have guided themselves away from their rightfully owed knowledge of the inner Divine presence. That it is not a Witch. That is not a follower of the Old Ones. That is purely ego and self-delusion.
A Witch is a person whom creates a loving bond with all around them, they cherish that bond, they appreciate it, for a Witch knows that bond can be cut like a hair from the head. A Witch understands that magick lies within their hearts, not tools, degrees, initiations or spells, it lies within our very essence.
Today, we must make a stand to remove any and all misconceptions, we must “practice what we preach” and teach others of what we truly are and what we truly project into this world, and most importantly the bond we create and it’s importance to our ways. The Ancient Gods do exist, they are here even through the dusts of time they have survived and they are a legacy in all their own. Their survival is what we guard, as the lessons of man have shown us, fighting with a sword of hatred and negativity leads to destruction.
Raise your arms up to the heavens and envision in your mind those chains of sadness, depression and turmoil. Envision them breaking and releasing into the Universal abyss, and begin anew. With proper ethics, morals and decision making one will strengthen that bond with Nature and the Old Ones and truly be that which we call ourselves… a Witch!
Although some may disagree, depending on tradition and teachings, it cannot be argued that true magick lies within a healthy heart and a healthy mind, and the magick we manifest will be seen by the world in ourselves and all misconceptions and ignorance will one day be diminished as those chains will be as well, we just need to break them.
Take a moment and examine the history of the Celtic Goddess Bridget, the Goddess of Fire, the Hearth, Home, and “Eternal Light.” Her survival amongst pagan customs and religion is a clear representation of the Craft’s survival today, in a sense of transformation. In the guise of a Saint she survived even the darkest of times. Her light radiated through history and her eternal flame is ever burning. If Bridget’s light can emanate through the dust of time, so to can it emanate within each of us. It is up to us though to take a stand and begin to plant seeds of positive change.