I want to talk about what witchcraft is for<\/em>.<\/p>\n Why do you do<\/em> witchcraft \u2013 however you define it? What does it bring you? How does it help you? How does it change you, for better or worse?<\/p>\n Different people will have different answers and that\u2019s OK. I have my own thoughts, but they seem incomplete. Or rather, when I started this I expected to have a much longer list. I want to make sure I\u2019m not missing something that may be important.<\/p>\n What is witchcraft for?<\/p>\n Witchcraft isn\u2019t for connecting to Gods and Goddesses. I know some people whose relations with their deities are part of their witchcraft, but for me that\u2019s part of my Pagan and polytheist religion. Not just a part, but the most important part. Of course, there\u2019s not a hard line between witchcraft and Pagan religion \u2013 I end some of my magical workings by addressing the deities with whom I have a regular relationship and saying \u201cadd your magic to mine, I ask.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other hand, witchcraft is for contacting and working with spirits. That\u2019s something people have always done, and sometimes they wrote books about how to do it<\/a>. I don\u2019t agree with those who say witchcraft can only be done with the aid of spirits, but it is one way to do witchcraft, and one thing that witchcraft is for.<\/p>\n Witchcraft is not for spectacle: not to convince skeptics, not to impress the general public, and not for your own amusement. Some years ago a materialist skeptic was harassing me after I wrote about magic. He kept saying \u201cshow me just one little fireball.\u201d First of all, magic doesn\u2019t work that way. But also, if I had managed to throw a fireball at him that would have made the Wicked Witch of the West proud, he would have found some reason to rationalize it away.<\/p>\n But witchcraft is for seeing the world in a way ordinary people can\u2019t, or won\u2019t. It is for proving to yourself \u2013 even if no one else \u2013 that there\u2019s more to life than the ordinary world. I like to say that the best way to believe in magic is to do magic. Do it right and you\u2019ll get results, and sooner or later it becomes easier to accept that there\u2019s a reality to magic and witchcraft than to keep ignoring what you see with your own eyes.<\/p>\n Witchcraft isn\u2019t for doing what you can more easily and reliably do with ordinary effort. I occasionally see people with religious objections to witchcraft say that magic is taking the lazy way out. That they think there\u2019s something wrong with doing things the easy way instead of the hard way is a problem with their religion, but it also shows how little they know about witchcraft. It\u2019s a lot of work writing spells, gathering supplies, finding the most auspicious times to work magic, and then actually doing it. If you can do something with ordinary effort it\u2019s usually easier and almost always more reliable.<\/p>\n On the other hand, witchcraft is for things that are out of the reach of ordinary effort \u2013 for removing obstacles, for bringing you what you need. One of the traditional uses of witchcraft is to get justice for people who are oppressed and for whom the doors of the justice system are closed. If you don\u2019t have wealth, power, and connections you still have magic<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also for things where ordinary effort alone may not be enough. I have two long-term hypersigils I\u2019ve been working on for years. I\u2019m putting lots of ordinary effort into the projects, but the magic helps handle the things that are out of my control.<\/p>\n Speaking of things that are out of your control, witchcraft is for protecting you against random bad things and against those who would do you harm, whether from malice or from apathy. It\u2019s defensive magic<\/a>, and when necessary it\u2019s offensive magic<\/a>. It\u2019s cleansing, shielding, and warding. It\u2019s mirror spells, freezer spells, and binding spells. And sometimes it\u2019s even stronger spells.<\/p>\n In Excalibur<\/em> (1981) Merlin leads Morgana through the woods, quizzing her and teaching her on the medical and magical uses of various plants and herbs. Joan Clayton does the same for Vanessa Ives in Penny Dreadful<\/em><\/a> (2014 \u2013 2016). This is fiction, but these scenes are based in actual witch lore, both ancient and modern. And while plant magic is a part of witchcraft, what strikes me as most important here is learning obscure knowledge.<\/p>\n Witchcraft is usually considered \u201coccult\u201d \u2013 a word with Latin origins that means \u201chidden.\u201d Witchcraft is for learning hidden knowledge, especially knowledge that\u2019s hidden because it\u2019s dangerous to those who don\u2019t know how to use it properly.<\/p>\n I am eternally curious, about anything and everything. Is it any wonder I\u2019ve always been interested in witchcraft?<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s dangerous. I\u2019ve burned my fingers a time or three. Sometimes I didn\u2019t know as much about something as I thought I did. More often, I didn\u2019t think through what I was doing and what unintended consequences might be generated.<\/p>\n That too was something important to learn.<\/p>\n When we learn, we build skills. When we build skills, we build confidence. Witchcraft \u2013 actually practicing witchcraft, not just adopting the aesthetic of witchcraft<\/a> \u2013 gives you the confidence that you can deal with whatever comes your way, one way or another.<\/p>\n You know you can generate results, because you\u2019ve done it. You know you can protect you and yours, because you\u2019ve done it. You know that no matter how long the odds, you are never powerless.<\/p>\n If you do witchcraft for very long, you learn that magic often works in ways we wouldn\u2019t expect. That reminds us to look for success<\/a> in unexpected places, which in turn makes us open to trying new and different approaches to magic\u2026 and new and different approaches to our mundane work.<\/p>\n All this makes us more confident, more resilient, and especially more adaptable \u2013 and that\u2019s a trait that\u2019s critically important as we move forward through Tower Time<\/a> and into the Rising of The Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n Should divination be on this list? I didn\u2019t include it here, but I know some would. I don\u2019t consider connecting to Nature to be witchcraft (even though it\u2019s very important to my Pagan religion) but I know others do. In any case, I\u2019m not trying to create taxonomy of witchcraft.<\/p>\n What am I overlooking? What have I not encountered in my own practice that\u2019s important in yours? What do you use witchcraft to accomplish \u2013 in any sense of the term \u2013 that I haven\u2019t mentioned?<\/p>\n Please let me know in the comments, or on whatever social media you discovered this post.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t want to talk about what witchcraft is \u2013 I want to talk about what witchcraft is for. Why do you do witchcraft \u2013 however you define it? What does it bring you? How does it change you, for better or worse? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":31011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[42,4,5,565,67],"class_list":["post-31002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magic","tag-magic-2","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-tower-time","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"what](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2024\/10\/what-is-witchcraft-for-01-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWitchcraft is for dealing with spirits<\/h2>\n
Witchcraft is for seeing the world in a different way<\/h2>\n
Witchcraft is for things that aren\u2019t obtainable with ordinary effort<\/h2>\n
Witchcraft is for learning hidden knowledge<\/h2>\n
Witchcraft is for building confidence<\/h2>\n
What else is witchcraft for?<\/h2>\n