How to Become a Witch, page 11
Holey stones
Some stones have a hole naturally weathered through them by wind or water, or created by fossilized worm tunnels. These stones are called hag stones, Odin stones, or holey stones. Witches will sometimes tie a red ribbon through the hole of smaller ones and use them to protect a home or barn, or wear a very small one as a protective amulet. One legend says that if you peek through the hole, you will be able to see the land of Faery. These stones are most effective if you find one yourself or receive one as a gift.
A House Blessing
Every home needs ritual cleansing and blessing, especially when you first move in. The former residents may not have left ghosts hanging around, but they surely left their energy imprint. Clear it out, bless the house, and put up wards, or protective amulets. Clearing energy is simple if it is done before you move in. Don’t bring your stuff in until after the space has been cleansed and blessed. If you’ve already moved in, do a thorough housecleaning first, then work around your furniture.
To cleanse the house of unwanted energies, bless it, and put up wards, you will need the following:
A medium-sized bowl filled with pure water. Add three pinches of salt to it.
An incense stick or an incense holder and incense. Don’t light it yet.
A feather.
Pieces of rose quartz (to allow only love in) or hematite (to keep negativity out) or both, two per outside door. (These are the wards.)
Go through your home, opening every door, closet, and cupboard. Starting at the front door, pick up the bowl of water and walk clockwise through the house, keeping the wall close on your left side, in and out of every room. Sprinkle saltwater every two feet or so (and into the closets and cupboards and on the windows and doors), saying, “With earth and water, I cleanse this home so that it may become a place of comfort and love.” Say it over and over as you go through the house. When you return to the front door, end with, “So mote it be!”
Next, light the incense. Pick up the feather in your left hand and the incense in your right, and follow the same path throughout your house. This time, touch the feather to the wall by the front door at about shoulder level, and keep it touching the wall all the way through the home. Say, “With air and fire, I cleanse this space so that it may become a home of happy thoughts and vitality.” When you return to the front door, end with, “So mote it be!”
Finally, dunk the rose quartz and/or hematite in the saltwater and pass them through the incense smoke, saying, “I charge thee to guard and protect this home from this day forward; so mote it be!” Then go to each exterior door in turn, ending with the front door, and place the stones on the floor on either side of the door. Say, “May only good things, thoughts, and people pass this threshold; so mote it be!” and close the door. Visualize a warm pink and golden glow surrounding your home, protecting it and you from harm. Leave the incense to burn out in the living room, and wash your hands with the rest of the saltwater.
A simpler home blessing may become a part of your daily practice. Visualize the pink and golden glow remaining strong and bright, and strengthen it each day by saying, “May this home be protected and safe. So mote it be!”
Blue beads for protection
Ceramic beads in a vivid blue color provide luck and protection, especially for horses and other animals, according to the old stories. This custom seems to have spread from the Middle East—
perhaps a bit of folklore that the European crusaders
brought back from the Holy Land.
Health for Healers
How do Witches differ from cowans as far as taking care of their health? Well, Witches come from a long line of healers. Many Witches seek health and wellness rather than just the absence of pain or other symptoms. Exercise, nutrition, clean air and water, rest, and relaxation are priorities. Most Witches respond to illness and injury with a combination of modern medicine and traditional, noninvasive cures.
We are open to many different branches of healing: energy work, herbs, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic healing, aromatherapy, soul retrieval, and much more. Witches may use Feldenkrais, yoga, Pilates, the Alexander Technique, reiki, and a host of other modalities. Most Wiccans are not totally averse to allopathic medicine—drugs and surgery—but we see that as only one part of the healing realm.
The “Drawing Down the Moon” position The chakras: from top, crown (rules higher knowledge), third eye (rules higher intuition and psychic skills), throat (rules communication), heart (rules love), energy/navel (rules vital energy), spleen/sexual (rules sexual desire and passion), and root (rules survival)
Mental and emotional health therapies are just as diverse: we may try psychoanalysis, but we’re just as likely to go for music therapy, art therapy, equine therapy, Jungian, rational-emotive, humanistic, or mead-around-the-bonfire therapy.
And to get really witchy, we’ll use divination, ritual, and spellwork as part of our wellness program. Witches know that the body is more than a flesh machine: the mind, energy field, emotions, and spirit are all essential to wholeness and harmony. A large part of this is your energy field, so a chakra check, or “running the energy,” may be just what you need. Chakra? We’ll explain.
The fire part of you is your will, desire, and passion, but also your energy field.
The human body is permeated and animated by electromagnetic energy. The human aura is the glow from that field that can be seen visually or sensed in other ways. Everyone has an energy field, even the dead. But yours, assuming you are not dead, is very obvious and easy to work with. Your energy field is essential to life and health, so it deserves quality time and attention.
Within the human energy field, the places where the power concentrates are called chakras. There are seven major ones (see illustration, opposite page) and many minor ones.
The simplest way to sense your energy field, including both aura and chakras, is to be still for a few minutes, ground and center, and become consciously aware of your energy. It’s a little like a regular breast self-exam (or the guy equivalent) in that you have the chance to notice if something is wrong and treat it.
Many people can see the energy field, some in color, some in shades of gray. Look at any living thing; it’s easiest when the subject is in front of a neutral background and not too brightly lit. Or look at yourself in a mirror. You may first notice an overall glow extending out for a couple of feet, or perhaps a brighter, inner layer that surrounds the body close to the skin.
“But I’ve tried, and I can’t see auras!” No problem. Some people sense auras in other ways. You may feel the aura kinesthetically. Close your eyes and feel the outside of your skin, then extend your senses out about an inch. You may feel a warmth or sense a thickening of the air. When you hold your palm over a chakra, there may be a slight tingle or pressure.
If you’re very auditory, then imagine the note that your aura is humming; is it clear, strong, and even? Move your hand over different chakras, and listen to the hum change. Over time, you can learn what the changes in pitch, volume, and timbre tell you about the health of each chakra.
To be more thorough, focus on each of the seven major chakras and evaluate them in turn. Trust your intuition, your “inner bell.” If a chakra feels weak or painful, breathe healing light into it: take a deep breath and imagine it as light suffusing the area, then exhale any imbalance or negativity you find there. Meditate on how that chakra is reflecting events in your life and what you need to do to heal. You can also pick colors that will balance your energy field. Mentally check each of your major chakras and choose a color to support the weakest one:
If the root, or base, chakra is weak, wear red, brown, or black for survival, basic material needs, and grounding.
If the sexual, or sacral, chakra is weak, wear orange for creativity or procreation.
If the energy, or solar plexus, chakra is weak, wear yellow for power and the ability to manifest your goals.
If the heart chakra is weak, wear light green or rose for love and emotional health.
If the throat chakra is weak, wear blue, aqua, or turquoise for communication and clarity.
If the third eye chakra is weak, wear indigo or dark blue for intuition, psychic ability, and perceptivity.
If the crown chakra is weak, wear violet or white for spiritual enlightenment, wisdom, and connection with the Divine.
An elaborate, powerful exercise called the Middle Pillar involves visualizing the chakras, “running energy” through them, breathing, and intoning the names of Deity. This is explained in detail on pages 96–99 of the fifteenth anniversary edition of True Magick: A Beginner’s Guide, among other books.
Relationships
Sacred Connections
Every living thing is an aspect of Deity. When you interact with any other being, that relationship is Deity face to face with Deity. Some beings are highly intelligent; some are not. Some are consciously aware of their own divinity; most are ignorant. Some are in harmony with their own sacred nature and live as perfect expressions of the Divine; some are damaged, alienated, and filled with fear and hatred.
But all are sacred, whether they know it or not. Therefore, from the Witch’s perspective, all relationships must include respect, acceptance of differences, and recognition of immanent divinity.
Adults in relationships should be able to look at each other and realize “Thou art Goddess, thou art God.” When adults make a commitment, they may participate in a handfasting; this is sometimes called the Wiccan equivalent of marriage, though it is not identical to a mainstream marriage. A handfasting ceremony may include a woman and a man, or two people of the same sex, or three or more adults. The partners may commit for “a year and a day,” and then decide whether the commitment should dissolve or be renewed. However, they may also handfast for “as long as love shall last,” for a lifetime, or for eternity. Sometimes relationships end, and then a handparting ceremony is held, if possible; each party is released and sent forth with as much gratitude and good feeling as possible.
Another special relationship common to Witches is that of covenmate, or coven sister or brother. This will be explained in more depth in chapter 11. There is also a bond of loyalty and goodwill between all members of the Craft.
Sexuality
Love and Pleasure
Sexuality is a blessing from the Goddess and part of the celebration of life. Yet if one party is exploited or coerced, or a promise to a partner is betrayed, or a woman becomes pregnant but is not happily so, then the gift has been tainted by human cruelty or foolishness.
“All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals,” says the Goddess. Generally, any relationship is acceptable when it is between consenting adults and does not harm them or others. What about premarital sex? The same standard applies: will it harm anyone? If it results in guilt, anger, disease, or an unwanted pregnancy, it violates the Rede (see chapter 7).
What is not okay are power-over, exploitative relationships. Sexual activity between an adult and a child or young person is wrong—it cannot be a relationship of equals. Sexual activity with someone else’s partner is wrong unless all parties have consented to open relationships. Sexual activity is wrong if one partner knowingly conceals having a sexually transmitted disease and imperils his or her sexual partner. Sexual activity is wrong if you are not ready and willing to care for children and yet fail to use birth control.
The freedom to be and to choose is paramount within the boundary set by the Rede. Our community welcomes straight people, gay people, bisexual people, transgender people, and those who cannot or will not identify themselves in any category. Many of our most respected leaders and teachers have some alternative sexual orientation. Are we totally free of bias and bigotry? No. We still have work to do. But most often, we judge a person by their character and accomplishments, and not by their sexual orientation.
Some conservative covens do focus on the male-female pairings that are central to any fertility-oriented religion. Many others are not worried about promoting human fertility, since we seem to be rapidly overpopulating the planet.
The general attitude toward human sexuality in the Craft is very open and positive. In the past, Witches have been accused of everything from “carnal knowledge of the devil” to “mass orgies by moonlight,” and we want to be sure those ridiculous stereotypes are not spread any further. Joyous sexuality and responsible, ethical behavior can coexist; in the Craft, they come as a package.
Children
To Love and Protect
The care of children is a special and sacred responsibility. Parents, teachers, and anyone in a position of authority over children—pretty much all adults—must respect and protect children and young people.
Lots of Wiccans have children, and they are precious to us. One might expect a Witch-raised young person to be a little different from the average kid, and we think they are. They tend to take after their parents: independent-minded, individualistic, resourceful, and strong. Most Wiccan families encourage their kids to follow their own dreams and to think for themselves when it comes to religion.
Beyond this, it’s quite difficult to generalize about Pagan children and youth. Only a few decades ago, most people who came to Wicca had been raised in a mainstream faith. Now we are seeing a generation of young people who were raised in the Craft. They are teaching us, the elders, what that means and how they will tackle life’s challenges. Stay tuned as an extraordinary new generation brings Wicca to the next level of evolution.
Pyewacket And Fido
Animal Companions
Some Witches do have black cats around the house…and so do some Methodists. Many Witches have cats of other colors, and many Witches are really dog people. Some Witches put up bat houses, but more put up birdhouses. The occasional Witch will enjoy the companionship of a snake or six. There are even Witches who live with hamsters and gerbils and poodles.
Virtually every Pagan loves and respects animals, both wild and domesticated, and will share their homes with the tamer ones wherever possible. A shaman friend rehabilitates injured raptors and always has a few owls and hawks and crows around the house. Another friend supports a sanctuary for wolf hybrids, and many have made their back yards into mini wildlife sanctuaries.
Note: Our family dog, Kyoshi, has read and approved this message.
What familiars do
A Witch’s familiar can be any animal, but often they are cats, dogs, or toads. In some of the old Burning Times stories, they have names like Pyewacket and Greediguts.
Technically, a familiar is an animal that helps the Witch in her or his magickal work and is not “just” a pet. Because animals have keener senses than humans, they can act as sentries and let a Witch know when a spirit being is close by or whether the energy is positive
or negative. Some familiars can help with grounding energy,
and some can even assist with divination or love spells.
Gods and animals
Many or most of the Pagan deities have their favorite critters. For example, cat lovers will want to talk to Freya, the Norse goddess of love and war, or Bast, an Egyptian sun goddess in a cat’s body. Like dogs? Hang out with Hecate or Artemis. Horse people will have much in common with Epona (Celtic), Rhiannon (also Celtic), or Poseidon (a Greek sea god). You can read about Athena and her owl, or Odin and the Morrigan and their ravens. Brigit loves boars, foxes, and farm animals…and so on. Seems like most Pagans, divine or mortal, are animal lovers.
Witches in the workplace
What do Witches do for a living? Almost anything, but we do seem to be strongly represented in two areas. One is health care: doctors, nurses, doctors of oriental medicine, chiropractors, massage therapists, medical technicians, naturopathic doctors, herbalists, reiki masters…the list goes on. After all, we do have a very old tradition of healing, originally as the wise women and cunning men in rural villages.
The other field that has lots of Witches is technology: computer programmers, Web designers, online networkers, and so forth. Just because we are treehuggers doesn’t mean we are technologically backward—quite the contrary!
Wiccans can be found in almost any field. Whatever field you’re in, work consciously, with respect for the planet, knowing that all people and creatures you interact with are sacred.
Does your employer have a recycling program…promote energy conservation…use healthy cleaning materials…and do environmental impact studies? Do they treat all people well, regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and so on? If your employer is way out of line with your values, can you help them become greener or more respectful and compassionate?
If that’s not possible where you work, why are you in that job? And if your job is not the work you dream of doing, what is your dream job and why aren’t you doing it? As far as your vocation or livelihood, what is your true will?
Witches and Wealth
Most Witches believe in the abundance model of the universe: “The Goddess provides.” She will give you what you need, or a lot more. (However, it won’t be handed to you on a platter—work with the gods of abundance, then do the work to make it happen.) This contrasts with the common scarcity model, which proclaims that resources are finite, competition is natural to humanity, that it’s a dog-eat-dog world.
