What does it mean to have a crisis of faith as a magical practitioner?
With everything going on, I haven’t felt inspired to film a new video for a long while – not because I didn’t want to, but rather I had hit a dry spell of sorts. So I asked folks what they wanted to see next from me, which yielded a lot of good ideas. I was surprised to find quite a few people replying with how to deal with a crisis of faith. I find myself going, “sure ok” followed by, “wait, what exactly do you mean by that?” – because I knew what MY context was for that phrase, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant for others in terms of magic and Witchcraft. In order to help others work through their troubled times, I had to have a better idea of how they saw it. So I asked.
The answers sorted themselves out into about 5 big areas: losing faith in teachers or community leaders, out of touch with their magic, feeling lost about gods or spirits, tackling spiritual abuse/violation of trust, and self-doubt. So that’s what I sought to focus on in the video:
After Video Notes:
For myself, my Witchcraft is rooted in acknowledging myself (and my personal power) and my overall relationship with the world/universe. Somewhere along the way I learned to trust myself – and the Universe. That is probably the toughest part: believing in yourself. If you can believe in, honor, and respect yourself, then you can do the same for your magic. As you open your eyes to the liminal threads that interconnect everything, you find the divine presence of the Universe in every piece of it.
How did I arrive in this place? I feel like it was years of practice and experience, but I think one of the crucial things was learning not to identify myself using the opinions of others. Human beings are social creatures. We want to be acknowledged and seen by others. We can crave external affirmation and want to be seen as part of the collective. But for some people, they feel like they can only have power or respect by degrading others. But personal power isn’t given, it ignites from within. We must tend to our own flame.
Again, I don’t expect this video to solve anyone’s personal crisis of faith, but I hope it does provide some insight and inspiration. Maybe it’ll help you tend to your own flame or rekindle it – you’re worth it.
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