Elements of Magic – 10 Years Later

My foray into exploring Witchcraft and Paganism started when I was fifteen years old. Two years later a high school friend took me to my first public ritual. It was for Winter Solstice, put on by local Reclaiming Tradition Witches. I was totally blown away. From that point onward, I attended every public ritual I could. I would buy the Reclaiming Quarterly magazines they sold at the ritual and read all about their classes and Witchcamps, but for a few reasons I won’t go into in this post, I never explored the tradition more deeply.

That all changed ten years ago. In January, 2009, I took Elements of Magic for the first time.

Elements

In Elements of Magic each of the five elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit) are explored. Each Element is connected to using experiential processes, conversation, sharing of ‘traditional’ Witchcraft practices, trance, journaling, and more. The concepts in an Elements of Magic class are pretty foundational to most traditions of Witchcraft.

When I first took Elements I’d been practicing solo and in small groups for fifteen years. I had a breadth of experience. During the class I didn’t learn anything groundbreaking to my personal practice, but I gained confirmation that the way I was practicing matched the way others practiced. And I gained a community of like-minded Witches that I didn’t have before.

A year later I student taught my first Elements of Magic class. The year after that I taught my first Elements of Magic class as a full teacher in the tradition. And here, ten years later, the practices from Elements of Magic are still part of my core and how I work magick in my life. Exploring the depth and power of (and from) the Elements is work that will likely last my entire lifetime. The mysteries of the world just continue to keep unfolding. That in and of itself is the basis of magick and why Elements of Magic is so important.

Finding Elements of Magic

The best way to experience Elements of Magic is to take a class from Reclaiming Tradition teachers. There is a power of lineage that comes with taking this class from the people who are holding the tradition in their hearts. There are Reclaiming communities all over the world. If there isn’t a Reclaiming community near you, there is now a second best option. Two Reclaiming teachers (Jane Meredith and Gede Parma), have curated a book (Elements of Magic), weaving in voices from Reclaiming Witches all over the world. Many of the ideas, concepts, and practices from the curriculum of Elements of Magic are contained in this book.