Astral Travel

Astral travel or astral projection is a conscious (usually) process of separating from the physical body, otherwise known as an Out of Body Experience (sometimes abbreviated “OBE”).  This covers a large variety of experiences, and is done for various reasons. Some are “naturals”, in that they can have am OBE spontaneously and accidentally, which can be quite frightening until some control over it is gained.  The solution to this is basically take the same learning route as the average person, as it will establish methods of control and focus..  

The principle behind astral travel is that there is an astral or etheric body in addition to the physical body, and that this body can separate from the physical body and “travel” to different places, some that have no physical counterpart, but are states that transcend the physical.  More recently astral travel as a term also covers traveling to other physical places as well; the traditional view is that the astral body travels to transcendent states and places.

The idea of a “silver cord” is quite popular now, but is actually not part of most of the traditions around the world that promote some sort of astral travel, but actually appears to have roots in biblical texts.  In any case it was originally used as a visualization to connect with the physical body; if this visualization works well for you, then by all means utilize it, but it isn’t actually a necessary (or even beneficial).  One caveat; some texts make the claim that if the silver cord is severed, the person will die or go insane. This actually appears to be more from a comic book than any esoteric tradition, and in my experience has no basis in fact (I don’t use the “silver cord” visualization personally.

There are generally recognized to be different “layers” to the astral plane.  The first and most immediate is the one closest to our physical world. Traveling to another physical location or first separating from the physical body (for example, staying in the room where you start) is considered the “lowest” form of astral.  The next layer doesn’t match up to our physical surroundings, but is the world of dreams and meditation; things take on familiar shapes, and you may be in a recognizable place, but there is not a direct tie to the physical, and is more fluid, and can be changed by a force of will.  Lucid dreaming falls into this area. Beyond that are the more esoteric realms that may or may not have a physical appearance. In these it is believed that you can commune with the divine and experience enlightenment.

A common form of astral projection is where you stay close to your body; a person may sit up while their body remains still, or move around the room; another characteristic of this is that often you can look back (or down) at your physical body.  Most accidental astral projection is this type, including near death experiences. Sometimes when a person sees their body from an outside vantage point the surprise will make one “snap back” into their body, ending the experience. Other than it being a stepping stone to further astral work, there isn’t a lot that can be done with this.  Some make a distinction between “Astral projection” (experiencing higher planes of existence) and “Etheric projection” (traveling to different physical places). 

Meditation and visualization is usually used to enable astral projection, in various cultures around the world.  A good initial practice involves a guided visualization, usually of something familiar and recognizable. Simply practicing going into a visualization helps train the mind and spirit so that further exploration is available and controlled.

Usually the worst that happens during astral travel is that you simply can’t go into the visualization, or are distracted mentally and can’t focus.  This is common and, though frustrating, isn’t a cause for alarm. Make sure that you don’t try to “push through” being distracted or unable to focus as this will actually make the problem worse; simply set it aside and come back to it later.

Occasionally some people experience what is known as “sleep paralysis” after astral travel, especially if it was accidental.  This is generally caused by “snapping back” into your physical body; for some (especially those who aren’t doing it on purpose), either something jarring happened, or they looked back at their physical body and the shock snapped them back.  In any case, it isn’t a dangerous thing, though it can be uncomfortable and even frightening. The most important thing is to simply be still, and focus on your breathing, control of your body will return very soon.

Some caution is called for, as with any magical practices.  There are entities in the astral, not all of them positive. However, most of the negative entities that you might encounter are fairly minor.  One of the things that they do, though, is try to appear frightening or threatening, and often appear as something that you are truly afraid of;  this actually gives them some energy to work with (which is what they are really after). Bear in mind that most of these are simply pests that are trying to make themselves look more formidable, they can’t really do much of anything lasting to you; usually the worst is that you return feeling exhausted. Casting protection on yourself before astral traveling is always recommended.

On the practical side, be sure that you are hydrated before you attempt astral travel.  It sounds somewhat ridiculous, but it can seriously affect your ability to astral travel.  Make sure you are comfortable, whether you are lying down or not, make sure you don’t assume a position in which you will cramp up.  Finally, afterward make sure you eat and drink something substantial. Otherwise you may feel drained afterward as well as a bit “spacey”.  This is a good time to ground oneself magically. .  

One of the major exercises in my Tradition is “building the astral temple”.  Fundamentally, returning to the same place on the astral plane (mine is in a grove close to a river), and setting up a small altar.  You can bring items here, change it to however you want it whenever you want to. This temple will be a sanctuary for you. Before ritual you can visit, center yourself, get emotionally, intellectually and spiritually ready.  You really can come here whenever you want for whatever reason. It is your space. The more detailed you can visualize it and the objects you bring, the better, make it as real as you can, get comfortable with it.

You can also use your astral temple as a stepping off point to other astral experiences, and return to it when done before returning to your physical body.

Astral travel is a skill and tool in many different aspects of magic.  Though classically many think that astral work means having the textbook Out of Body Experience. It is woven into many different parts of a magical life.  Some can do it naturally (and sometimes accidentally) while some don’t but most importantly it is a learned skill, and even those that are “naturals” benefit by the control that is developed.  You can access higher states and experiences through the practice, from simply moving a couple steps away and looking down at your sleeping body, to visiting memory and dream states, to truly enlightening experiences.  Having a foothold in the astral, such as the Astral Temple, helps in centering and focus, either by itself or as a preparation for further magical work. Good travels!

This is part of a chapter from Janet and Stewart Farrar’s book “The Witches’ Goddess”, that discusses Lilith and Eve.

Blessed Be

Lilith and Eve 

The disturbing Lilith … being the most dangerous and subversive 

threat to the established male order, was buried in the furthest 

depths of the Hebrew unconscious. 

Jean Markale

(Painting by Yuri Klapoukh)

Nowhere is the vigorous determination of patriarchy to suppress memories of the Primordial Mother more evident than in the Garden of Eden.  

The Genesis story is a patriarchal revision of earlier Middle Eastern Creation myths, and also of Hebrew tradition itself. 

According to that tradition, as recorded in the Talmud, Adam’s first wife was Lilith.  Yahweh (or was it Elohim, that curious God-name which is feminine with a masculine plural ending?) created them both at the same time. But Lilith refused to subordinate herself to Adam, or to the male God – even physically: when Adam insisted that she must always lie beneath him during intercourse, she quarrelled with him, flew up into the air and vanished. Adam appealed to Yahweh to bring her back, and Yahweh sent the three angels Senoy, Sansenoi and Samangloph to find her. 

The angels caught her on the shores of the Red Sea (at the place where the Egyptians pursuing the Children of Israel were later engulfed), coupling with lascivious demons and giving birth to demonic children called lilim or liliot at the rate of over a hundred a day. She 

refused to return to Adam and was told that, if she did not, she would lose a hundred of her own children every day. She still refused, and the angels tried unsuccessfully to drown her. She was finally allowed to live on condition that she would never harm a newborn child on which she 

could see the angels’ names written. Yahweh gave her to Samael (Satan) as the first of his four wives, and she became a persecutor of the newborn (presumably the unmarked ones). 

Significantly, she was seen as most dangerous to male babies, who were vulnerable to her till they were eight years old (Note: alternately the account is that boys are vulnerable until their circumcision, which is traditionally 8 days), while baby girls were out of danger after twenty days. 

According to the Zohar, Lilith later took part in the Fall, seducing Adam while Satan, as the Tempter, seduced Eve. 

Lilith was not her original name, which appears to have been lost.  She acquired it by identification with the Sumerian ‘night hag’ Lilitu. As such, she is the ‘screech-owl’ (Authorized Version) or ‘night monster’ (Revised Version) of Isaiah xxiv: 14. Incidentally, the word 

‘lullaby’ is said to be a corruption of ‘Lilla, abi!‘ – a Jewish banishing spell meaning ‘Lilith, avaunt!’ 

So much for the blackening process. Lilith (whatever her own name 

was) is clearly a concept much older than Eve. Whether she was the First Woman, co-equal with the First Man – or farther back than that, the uncreated Primordial Mother who gave birth to the First Man (or first Male God) and then mated with him – she was totally 

unacceptable to emerging Hebrew patriarchalism. So Eve was invented – created by a male God out of Adam’s male body, as complete a reversal of the natural order as Zeus’s giving birth to Athene by swallowing her pregnant mother Metis. The kind of First Woman that patriarchy required is grimly summed up in another passage from the Talmud: 

The Lord considered from what part of the man he should form woman; not from the head, lest she should be proud; not from the eyes, lest she should wish to see everything; not from the mouth, lest she might be talkative, not from the ear, lest she should wish to hear everything; not from the heart, lest she should be jealous; nor from the hand, lest she should wish to find out everything; nor from the feet, in order that she might not be a wanderer; only from the most hidden place, that is covered even when man is naked – namely, the rib. 

As Markale puts it (Women of the Celts, p. 145): ‘Eve, the mother of mankind, is merely the castrated version of Adam.’ 

Even her name reflects her status: ‘She shall be called Woman’ (Hebrew, Isha), ‘because she was taken out of Man’ (Ish)’, Genesis ii:23. 

Graves (The White Goddess, p.257) has an interesting theory about the rib story – that it ‘seems an anecdote based on a picture of the naked goddess Anatha of Ugarit watching while Aleyn, alias Baal, drives a curved knife under the fifth rib of his twin Mot: this murder has been iconotropically misread as Jehovah’s removal of a sixth rib, which turns into Eve. The twins, who fought for her favours, were gods of the Waxing and the Waning Year.’ (‘Iconotropically misread’ here means that the intended meaning of the symbols has been misinterpreted.) He maintains that, ‘Jehovah did not figure in the original myth. It is the Mother of All Living, conversing in triad, who casts Adam out of her fertile riverine dominions because he has usurped some prerogative of hers.’ 

Eve, like Blodeuwedd in Welsh legend (see Chapter XXI), is a man-created image of woman as patriarchy would like her to be: subordinate, obedient, excluded from all positions of real power, and her sexuality confined to procreation. 

But even this image, this shadow-woman, cannot be completely tamed. Eve and Blodeuwedd rebel against dictatorship; Blodeuwedd refuses to be told whom she may love, and Eve refuses to be told what fruits of knowledge she may not eat. 

Both are damned for it, of course, by the male masters, to whom they had been allotted, and by patriarchal dogma (whether pagan, Hebrew or Christian). In Eve’s case, the rebel is in fact Lilith herself, the real female principle, man’s true but banished partner, bursting through the artificial stereotype. So she is branded the cause of all humanity’s troubles – i.e., as the saboteur of the patriarchal structure. 

It is significant that both Blodeuwedd and Lilith are condemned to become night-owls – a perfect symbol for the dark-side magic or the feminine principle, of which patriarchy is terrified. 

Lilith’s demotion to demoness betrays that terror, for even as demoness, haunting men’s dreams – the succubus who mounts them astride – she retains her dangerous appeal. The Talmud describes her as a charming woman with long, wavy hair. Doreen Valiente ( An ABC of Witchcraft, pp.225-6) sums up the accepted picture of her as ‘the archetypal seductress, the personification of the dangerous feminine glamour of the moon. Like Hecate, she is a patroness or witches; but where Hecate is visualized as an old crone, Lilith is instead the enticing sorceress, the beautiful vampire, the femme fatale. Her loveliness is more than human; but her beauty has one strange blemish.  Her feet are great claws, like those of a giant bird of prey,’ (In this image, she has a medieval French equivalent in La Reine Pedauque.) 

Truths banished to the unconscious do acquire talons – representing both our fear of them and their ability to tear a way through the veils of hypocrisy and distortion with which we have tried to surround them.  Only when we come to terms with them and integrate them with 

consciousness is their loveliness restored, so that their talons become feet again. Only when the night-owl is admitted to the sunlight can we appreciate the beauty of her plumage. 

Lilith, the true Mother of All Living, must be reacknowledged – so that she and Eve can become one again. For without that one, Adam is only half a man. 

Janet and Stewart Farrar, The Witches Goddess: The Feminine Principle of Divinity.

The Athame comes to Wicca mainly from Ceremonial Magic, though certainly in folk traditions there was often the use of a blade during ritual or magic.  Originally it is one of the four elemental tools, in ceremonial magic the tool of Air. In Traditional Wicca, (depending on the tradition) this is switched with the wand and is instead a tool of Fire, and corresponding colors may be used, with it traditionally having a black handle.  It is one of the four Hermetic symbols of the elements and also appears in the Tarot, corresponding to Swords, and the modern playing card suit spades; with Staves (wands) with clubs, and the modern playing card suit spades, cups (Cauldrons or chalices) with hearts, and Pentacles (the Pentacle, or coins) with diamonds.

The “black” suits correspond to the masculine elements (Fire and Air), with the “red” suits associated with the feminine.

The athame is used to direct energy, in some traditions to cast the circle or call the Elements (or Watchtowers in ceremonial parlance).  In modern wicca it is generally not used to actually physically cut, and is often double-edged (partially to remind us of the two-edged nature of Power, as in my Tradition), and originally was often single-edged, sometimes used to ring the ceremonial bell when for example calling the Elements.   Often a separate knife, called a “boline”, is used to cut herbs, cords, etc. though in some Traditions, going back to more folk practice (when your ritual knife was often a simple kitchen knife) the boline may not actually be a tool. Usually in Wicca and Craft Traditions the athame is a highly personal tool; it is considered inappropriate to use or even in most cases to touch someone else’s athame, and usually there is a consecration ritual or process that the user goes through to bind themselves with their athame.  In my Tradition only the Priest and Priestess conducting the ritual are allowed the use of their athame; any adepts that may visit surrender their athames at the beginning of the ritual, and they are laid and remain respectfully placed upon the altar.

One of the iconic uses of the athame that is specific to Wicca and related practices is the use of it during the Symbolic Great Rite, when it is used to represent the masculine side of divinity as it is joined with the chalice representing the feminine side of divinity, dipping into and blessing the ritual wine with the joining of the Goddess and the God in a species of Hieros Gamos,.  This was original usually gender specific (assuming a Priest and Priestess were both available), but has since been expanded to transcend binary gender lines.

The athame originally was usually iron/steel, but variations on this are now popular, with copper, bronze, obsidian and similar materials being used, even wood (though care should be taken to make sure that it isn’t a substance that is harmed by water or moisture nor toxic when used; some finished wood doesn’t react well and isn’t safe to dip into a beverage, certain crystals have issues with this, etc)..

There are now a wide selection of athames available, some will have crystals or sigils already carved into them, though you can and should personalize your own.  The athame shouldn’t be too large as to be unwieldy; originally (and you may do this as well) when working with the Elements, or the Guardians of the Watchtowers in ceremonial magic, you would use this to scribe various pentagrams in the air for summoning and banishing; it should be something that you can easily (and safely) manipulate.  It isn’t always necessary to have it razor sharp either (which is impossible with some materials), to prevent accidents; generally it is not used to actually physically cut anything with it.

Consecration usually involves a personal bond along with a recognition that the athame blade originates from the Earth (iron), is forged in Fire (Fire), stoked by Air and shaped by the intellect and skill of the maker (Air), and finally quenched in water (Water).  Different Traditions and different people have many different variations on this.

An older tradition is that it is ideally given to the person, but this is also from a time when gifts like Craft tools were not widely available, so this doesn’t have to prevent anyone from finding one that speaks to them.  If you *do* receive one, it is also an old custom to always “pay” the giver two pennies, as the gift of a knife can otherwise bring bad luck, though this is most often seen in wedding gifts, and is probably falling out of favor.  In “olden days”, the blacksmith’s art was considered a very special form of magic, and there are many similar superstitions regarding their craft.

Traditions differ on whether the circle is cast with the athame, or, if there is one, the coven sword (which the athame is in some ways a smaller, personal version of), otherwise it is cast with the wand.  The difference is usually in how the energy work being done is perceived; if you are “cutting the circle” away from the mundane world then the sword or athame is usually used, if the “circle is being raised” then the casting is often with the wand.

The actual term and its derivation is a bit controversial and inconclusive, but the term has spread beyond specifically Wicca and Ceremonial Magic and into mainly Western Witchcraft as a whole and is widely used and known.  The most common pronunciation is uh-THAHM-eh or Ah-tha-meh.

My thanks to my fellow Wiccan Priest and Ceremonial Magician Jude Magaro-Padilla for some background on the ceremonial origin.  I was unable to find a lot of source material on the background of the athame, and instead included much of what I have been taught as a Wiccan Priest and family tradition witch.

The following was published in Janet and Stewart Farrar’s “The Witches Way” for consecrating a sword or athame; I wouldn’t use this as written but it does provide some background from very early Alexandrian Tradition.

Consecrating a Sword or Athame

Lay sword (or athame) on pentacle, preferably by, and touching, another, consecrated, weapon. The man asperges them with consecrated salt and water, whereupon the woman picks up the weapon to be consecrated and passes it through the incense smoke and replaces it on the pentacle. Both lay their right hands upon the weapon and press down, saying:

Both:

I conjure thee, O Sword (Athame), by these Names, Abrahach,

Abrach, Abracadabra, that thou servest me for a strength and

defence in all magical operations against all mine enemies, visible

and invisible. I conjure thee anew by the Holy Name Aradia and

by the Holy Name Cernunnos; I conjure thee, O Sword (Athame),

that thou servest me for a protection in all adversities; so aid me

now!

Again the man asperges, and the woman censes, and the weapon is returned to the pentacle, saying:

Both:

“I conjure thee, O Sword (Athame) of Steel, by the Great Gods

and Gentle Goddesses, by the virtue of the heavens, of the stars

and of the spirits who preside over them, that thou mayest receive

such virtue that I may obtain the end I desire in all things wherein

I shall use thee, by the power of Aradia and Cernunnos.

The Partner gives the Fivefold kiss unto the owner of the weapon. If the owner is not present, or if the weapon is jointly owned by them both, the man will give the Fivefold kiss to the woman. For the final kiss upon the mouth, the weapon is suspended between their breasts, held there by the pressure of their embrace. As they separate, the owner of the weapon immediately uses it to recast the Circle, but without words.

Notes: If possible, lay sword with an already consecrated sword or athame. It should, if possible, be consecrated by both a man and a woman, both of whom are initiated, and both naked as drawn swords. During consecration, press down on sword hard with consecrated sword or athame. If possible partake of Cakes and Wine first, then the male should sprinkle with water, the woman should cense in First Conjuration, then sprinkle and cense and conjure again with Second Conjuration. If true sword and athame are available, a sword and athame can be consecrated at the same time in which case the male should press with sword on sword, and female with athame on athame, and new sword and athame should touch. In any case, when finished the weapon should be handed to new owner with Fivefold Salute, and should be pressed against the body for a time to get the aura; and it should be in as close connection as possible to the naked body for at least a month, i.e. kept under pillow, etc. Do not allow anyone to touch or handle any of your tools until thoroughly impregnated with your aura; say six months or as near as possible. But a pair working together may own the same tools, which will be impregnated with the aura of both.

Solitary ritual

A solitary, private and simple ritual.
This is a very short and simple “ritual” though many, if not most parts of a full Wiccan ritual are omitted.

This is also available on Audio in our files section as “Solitary ritual.mp4” and as “solitary ritual PDF”

There seems to be a lack of ritual material for the solitary, private practitioner who may not have access to a coven, Priestess/Priest, or a collection of ritual tools.
This is meant to provide a “framework” either by itself, for example for a private Full Moon or a Sabbat, or around a spell or other magical work. It is intended to be a simple process that can be done in the privacy of a small room. Being “skyclad” is an option, otherwise wear loose, comfortable clothes such as pajamas, nightshirt, etc. The ritual itself is intended to require only a brief amount of “alone” time.
The altar for this can be a small table, basically a place to put the items used, preferably round. If there isn’t one available the floor will do, though this means that you’ll probably have to sit or kneel down for the majority of the time.
Set aside some food and drink for after the ritual.
The implements used are;
3 white candles (1 larger or higher than the others if available), a single red candle, and a smaller
one to light them with; incense if available, or a scented candle, 
a cup with water, 
and a small dish of salt.
The final tool is yourself, in place of a wand or ritual dagger; for the purposes of this ritual you can simply use two fingers of your dominant hand.
Be mindful throughout the process, including the altar setup and the offerings made afterwards.
Determine which direction is East (roughly; it doesn’t have to line up exactly, depending on the room).
The largest white candle goes in the center of the altar as the “Source” or “Prime” aspect, the two other
main candles on either side, one on the West side for the Goddess, the other on the East for the God.
The red candle for Fire, is placed just to the South of the center.
The remaining items are placed on the altar within easy reach.
The incense, for Air, is to your right toward the East, 
the cup and the salt dish are placed next to each other just in front of you, the cup on the left for Water and the salt on the right for Earth.
Light the small candle and use it to light the Source candle first, then the Goddess candle, and
then the God candle.
Finally light the Fire candle, and extinguish the small candle and put it aside. 
Stand to the South of the altar, facing to the North.
For the parts of the ritual that you are standing still, fold your arms across your chest, fingers touching your shoulders.
Open by quietly or silently chanting,
“Here is the Goddess, Maid, Mother and Crone,
Here is the God who calls to His own
We, your children, year after year
Will love with our hearts
And live without fear”.
Dip your fingers into the water and shake a drop off away from the altar to your left, casting out all negative influences, three times, saying; 
“Spirits of the Water, Creatures of the West, I cast out from you all (anger, fear and doubt)”.
Draw a pentagram on the water’s surface, starting with the first point toward the center of the altar, then lower right, upper left, across to the right and down to the lower left point, then to the middle and hold there, saying
“I bless and consecrate you with (love, laughter and trust). 
Moving to the salt, draw the pentagram again and hold in the center, 
“I bless and consecrate you with (peace, joy and kindness).”
Put three pinches of salt into the water, one at a time as you say, 
“Earth joins to Water, 
as we all join together, 
as we all join with the Gods.”
Take up the cup.
Facing the altar, to consecrate the space, dip your fingers in the cup and sprinkle a little to the East, then touch it to the center forehead, and then to the West, and finally the North.
Then raise the cup in front of you in salute.
Replace the cup in front of you next to the salt again.
Take up the incense and light it from the red candle, 
“Air and Fire, Air and Fire, come together as thought and desire.”
Waft the smoke from the incense to the East, then towards yourself, then to the South, then towards the North, and then raise it up towards the center in salute.
Replace the incense on the altar.
Stand with your arms crossed across your chest, fingers touching your shoulders. Hold there for a moment.
Then, 
“As the Triple Goddess, all Three entwined,
Maid, Mother and Crone,
Ancient as Time
By Word and Will, 
I invoke and call upon Thee, Loving Mother of us all,
Bringer of all fruitfulness, 
By seed and root, by stem and bud, by leaf and flower, and fruit, by life and love do I invoke Thee to join in this Rite, and bid Thee hail.
(At this point if there is a particular magical goal or “spell” to be done at this time it should be performed now). 
Traditionally the main purpose is simply to show reverence and commune with the Gods, pausing to meditate on this.
Once finished, make a small bow to acknowledge the God and the Goddess toward the center of the altar, thanking them for their presence.
Acknowledge the four elements, thanking them for their presence;
“As you depart for your sacred realms I bid thee Hail and Farewell”, 
Then,
“I am Air,
I am Fire,
I am Water,
I am Earth,
I am all things,
All things are me,
I am the Goddess’ perfect child,
I am free.”
Stamp your foot to acknowledge the closing of the ritual.

After the ritual extinguish the candles either with a snuffer or by hand (careful!) starting with the Fire candle, then the God, Goddess and finally the Source. 
Do not blow the candles out with your breath unless you have to.
Afterward, eat and drink, keeping a share aside to offer to the Gods (you can put it aside until you get a chance to leave the share outside).
So Mote It Be.

Ritual.

Ritual is something that is a primal part of being human.

We, as living beings on the Earth, are creatures of ritual. We use ritual constantly; anything and everything that we do, to move along a path toward a specific goal or state, is a ritual act. Unless it is something we have not done or tried before, we fall into certain patterns of behavior, which take us through a familiar process to accomplish a specific goal. We have certain rituals we go through to start our morning, continue to use rituals throughout our day, and have rituals that we perform at night.

One of the compelling reasons for this is simple practicality… the process is familiar, often automatic, and consistently gets us results.

So, these same principles govern rituals in the more “formal” sense in our practice of the Craft. 
Why ritual in Witchcraft?

First, let’s take a minute to look at the term in general.

We are ritualistic animals. A ritual is, fundamentally, a set of a actions that take us through a process, to a desired goal, often in a series of steps.

This describes everything from driving to work to connecting with deity.

In Wiccan ritual particularly, there are traditionally quite a few steps that are involved. Are all of these necessary?

The short answer is no. To accomplish magic, to work with energies, to connect with deity; all of these can be (and often are) done without elaborate steps, sometimes spontaneously.

But ritual serves a couple of other purposes. Going through each step, mind focused on the words, deeds, and actions focuses and clarifies our will, which is fundamentally the basis for magic. Doing this the same way over and over brings you to the desired state unconsciously and automatically.

Finally there is what is referred to (thank you Rhiannon Ryall) as “traveling the well trodden road”. A part of a ceremony that has been done before, by many others, accumulates its own energy, which makes that particular act more effective. Rituals that have been passed down or along also have the benefit of having been tested already.

A good ritual will “work” the first time…
Rituals can be extremely simple (adding a little cinnamon to the coffee for luck), or quite long (a “full” Wiccan circle). Over time ritual becomes a clear, familiar path to a state of mind and spirit that is focused and effective.

So Mote It Be

I started in Traditional Wicca and family tradition Craft quite a long time ago, traveling around America, playing music, doing circles with all kinds of different people, along with my teacher. Somewhat confusingly, I was introduced to both simultaneously by her, and was eventually initiated into both approximately 30 or so years ago. I spent a very long time separated from my Tradition, as I was in California, whereas the Tradition is most prevalent on the East Coast and Minneapolis areas. Recently however I have been urged to teach, pass on some of what has held great value for me in my life, and that is the Craft. Still being somewhat separate, I saw that there are quite a few people that are interested and drawn to the Craft, but for a variety of reasons, and involuntarily, are not able to get together with someone local to mentor or teach them. This is a fairly major barrier in both family tradition and Traditional Wicca; both are generally only taught face-to-face. I haven’t completely worked that out, but I am working with this issue, in addition to the more traditional process of teaching face to face which I have also been doing. There are, however many areas of the Craft that can be written about, discussed online, and otherwise communicated remotely, and I will gladly share those here.

So, this site and the Facebook Group and Messenger groups that are connected to it are meant to be resources that can help guide people, especially newer ones, along their own path. Merry Meet and welcome.

What I do and teach

I teach Traditional Wicca along with some folk magic. This is Traditional Eclectic Wicca, specifically the Blue Star Tradition which you can read some more about here. That said, even within a Tradition you can find a wide variety of teaching styles, backgrounds, philosophies and practices. However, I do not ask for any commitment to myself or Blue Star to share aspects of the Craft. I actually expect very few people to specifically want to train in Traditional Wicca per se, but to get techniques, practice, and guidance in various aspects of the Craft. I don’t, however, place muchemphasis on “spells”, but more on magic itself. The difference is somewhat akin to learning one particular program’s code by rote and actually learning how to program (former software engineer metaphor there). Casting a “spell” without having done groundwork in magic in general almost always leads to bad results, by far the most common being that it will simply “fizzle” and go nowhere.

The folk magic element helps with other issues that people run into, when they are faced with a list of tools they must acquire, research they must accomplish, and chants or positions they have to memorize, especially the aforementioned solitary who may simply not have access to these or be able to have them at home. Simplicity and good sense are foundational to folk magic, and I stress these as well. I will address how this applies to Traditional Wicca as well in a future post.

I hope you find this site useful and the resources applicable. Please contact me with any questions or feedback.

Blessed Be,

Sean