In this episode of 6 Minutes of Witchcraft, I discuss how I view “charging” in terms of magick and Witchcraft. (Not to be confused with charging FOR magical practices or services – which is also a good topic I should cover in a future video.)
I think sitting at the heart of the matter is that charging is a term that tends to get overused in the magical community while also not being very well understood. So as much as one can do in a video, I talk about what I view is necessary and what makes sense when it comes to “charging” and Witchcraft. As usual, see more thoughts in the section below after the video…
After video notes:
If you’re doing something that you feel really work for you, that’s great. I think the problem sits more squarely when people see something in a book or online that doesn’t really explain the WHY and HOW something is done. I feel a big part of Witchcraft is considering these crucial elements. Asking: “Does this make sense? do I understand why I’m doing this and how it’s supposed to work?” Consider why would a full moon or an eclipse work better than a new moon or solar feast day with this particular item or process? If you can’t answer that confidently with understanding, might be a good idea to step back and ponder.
There is of course gut-instinct, when you just FEEL like you have to do something, and you can’t come up with a specific rhyme or reason for why you need to do a thing. You just know you need to do it. That’s a different thing than stressing out that you’re missing out because you’re not setting out every crystal you own under the full moon like 6 people you follow on some social media platform.
If you want something to be influenced or imbued by something else because it has properties or elements that you’d like to incorporate into it, is that “charging”? I think of it more like cooking and adding flavors/spices to what you’re brewing. Let’s take the example of cooking a roast. The meat has its own natural flavor and textures – which when we apply heat, salts and spices, liquids that may break down the texture, etc – to achieve a certain end goal. The additional things that are done to prepare and cook the roast can definitely can add more to the fish – but it can also detract if it’s not a good balance: too much salt, not the right temperature, incompatible ingredients can all cause things to go awry. Our goal is not to hide the flavor or change the meat completely, but to enhance what’s already there and please our palettes.
Just switch the cooking metaphor over to magick and that should help a fair bit. I think a lot of folks look at charging things as if they were at a state of depletion – and it’s good to think about what exactly has been depleted and why is however you’re doing the charging process helping to renew or revitalize the item. Also consider is the process you’re doing helpful or harmful to whatever you’re trying to charge. There are things extremely sensitive to moisture, temperature, sunlight, electricity, etc – and you may be accidentally changing the chemical stability of what you’re looking to “empower.”
Maybe it just comes down to semantics, but I think it’s essential to think about the reasons why we may do certain things – or NOT do them.
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