Photo by Jacob Morch via Pexels.com

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

“Now that I have your attention…I don’t want to give it up.”

These words were spoken to me by someone I’d just met at an event I was helping to organize. A friend introduced us, suggesting I might have helpful thoughts on a magickal problem, and I shared what I thought would help, but found that following statement interesting. I know it can be difficult to break the ice and talk to people who run events, classes, and rituals. Though I try to make myself as accessible as I can in community, I also realize that in running what’s grown into an international organization, you can’t have intimate, day-to-day conversations with everyone, all of the time.

I would have been happy to have a conversation, but it wasn’t a conversation at that point, an exchange about anything interesting, meaningful, or fun; it was wanting to hold my attention for what seemed like an experience of validation or recognition of their story. It’s not an abnormal thing to want, and it’s something that can happen pretty often to public figures, but the level of awareness and articulation surprised me.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought about how that is a default state in society in general these days, especially in social media, and in particular, how people who are in the public eye do it in an effort to remain relevant. Like all things in occult community, I am always thinking about how behaviors and shifts in culture and subculture help us or harm us on the magickal path. Seemingly innocuous behaviors of the overculture can actually be quite debilitating magickally.

On a business level, social media influencers, including spiritual teachers and authors, are encouraged to keep your attention due to the behaviors of the algorithms determining who sees what online.

Post something every day. Let people see your face, your book, and hear your voice frequently, even if you don’t have anything to say. Check in. Share what you are doing. Share a photo of your food, where you are, and who you are with. Share your random thoughts. Tell us what you are working on. Tell us who frustrates you. Tell us what makes you happy. Post a bad review. Post a good review. Post something to surprise us!

On one level, this is great because it shows how we all do things, go places, and have feelings and thoughts throughout the day. It can humanize people we think are not the same as us, both those we might idolize and those we might think of as enemies. Social media can also create a seemingly more level playing field for those who don’t have the same access, particularly musicians and authors not accepted by the mainstream. Sadly the process favors sex appeal, flash, quick pithy statements, stunts, and sales pitches over depth, nuance, and meaning. We invest our attention in the artistic and intellectual forms of fast food, hoping to find a meal. And sometimes we do. Some have made an art in concise yet meaningful media. And many times, we just want something fun, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as we are consciously choosing it.

The equalization and access can create a false sense of intimacy, giving us the idea that we know someone when we really don’t. Many then make assumptions upon these false images. It also generates a lot of psychic energy that adds up and is projected at you, and onto you. For the most intense versions of this, we can look to the rise and fall of many actors and musicians, buffeted by the psychic storms of those who listen to and watch them. In smaller social media ways, it builds up with us too, and while it might not result in a horrific fall, for psychically sensitive individuals, the psychic process can batter us around unconsciously. You don’t necessarily have to be semi-famous, but simply have an intense social group. While this has always happened in any community as long as people have had relationships, the continual attention sparks more regular psychic “pings” in our aura, often disturbing our own processes and directing us in unconscious ways.

Our motivation might be consciously good too…we want to share, we want to educate, we want to have fun. Everyone else is doing it. It’s become ubiquitous with the culture of our world today, not just something relegated to the metaphysical communities. Our parents are posting. Our children are posting, though they might be on very different formats from us or our parents. It’s a way to bridge the divides of groups, societies, ages, classes, and religions. Yet when we do it to unconsciously seek attention, when we need to keep relevant, when we have to say things to just say them, to keep it going, I question the psychic harm this causes to ourselves and to others.

I love looking at new books online, at new reviews of books, music, and movies, and at crafting and garden tutorials. But I wince a bit when I see repeated tropes mimicked over and over again to gain our attention, suggesting something familiar, but slightly new, to draw us in. What will it be this time? As a Witch is often looking to free themselves from the constraints of overculture, I try to avoid repeated tropes in my own postings, even if such posts would be more likely to be popular. Holding someone’s attention is a great responsibility when you practice magick as you know it’s the currency of life force and consciousness. Participating in unconscious cultural patterns can weave you, and others, more tightly into those patterns.

If you are not working a 9-to-5 job where someone pays you directly, these advertisements on social media are quite necessary, but as you become more aware, they can also leave you feeling complicit in a harmful system. It’s similar to how people partake of fossil fuel transport, electricity, and factory farming—all of which are (at least on some level) necessary to function in our current society, but all of which can and do cause great harm—by drawing the line where they feel it should be drawn, clearly identifying what they can and cannot participate in.

As we post anti-capitalist themes about economic, industrial, and environmental collapse, we are essentially creating commercials for major corporations who are really the ones who hold our energetic attention. We become the grease for these media companies to thrive, and our grassroots alternatives never seem to take off. We are barraged by advertisements in the media we consume, as it’s a way to supplement or even generate primary income for our artistic content creators. For those of us in Earth-based traditions of season and cycle, there is often no sense of going fallow, of rest and regeneration, as one has to be “on” all the time. It plays into the capitalist notion of continual growth, not the cyclical time of nature.

In the era of occultism I entered, some concepts of the controversial author Carlos Castaneda had made it into the mix, particularly the idea of awareness of reality being referred to as attention. Despite my belief that I would not like the man and my understanding that many of the claims against him are likely true, some of his ideas about consciousness, his poetically interpretations, have their uses. Divided into first, second, and third attention, they can be most simply summed up as more ordinary day-to-day awareness; a heightened magickal awareness of the non-ordinary; and finally a level of high sensitivity and focus revealing the greater total of reality. His cosmology also had a classification of sometimes malevolent spirits called “inorganic beings,” always hungry, always seeking energy, and sometimes interpreted as parasitical.

I think of the original definition of the term “meme”: a discrete unit of knowledge animating culture, often compared to genes in biological life. Culture as an entity evolves with, or at least mutates with, successful memes. While the word is now used to mean amusing items often in graphic or video format shared on social media, the original concept was often compared to a virus or bacteria (only based in information, not biology) with the potential to change its host. Are some memes parasitic? Are the agents of the overarching culture parasitic beasts? While it can be a challenge to think this way, if we are working in an animistic universe, do technologies have an animating spirit? Does intangible information have an animating spirit? In my worldview, everything is alive, though not everything is wise or aware.

When I see patterns that involve drawing our attention away unconsciously, I see a form of parasitical being. That is not a critique of many artistic, spiritual, and talented creators on social media making their living, but the parasitical being is the overarching being to the whole process, the deva of the corporation, not always the individuals involved. But like it or not, they are training us to accept this as a new baseline of society and operation.

While this might all sound very much like pessimistic Gnosticism, like a take from the Matrix movies and related media, occultists have always known there are beneficent beings and parasitical beings. It’s not a reason to become cosmically nihilistic any more than recognizing there are tape worms, lice, mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and mistletoe in the biological world. We know scavengers and vermin serve a role in the ecosystems, as do parasites, and their psychic equivalents have similar natural psychic roles, until the infection becomes too culturally widespread. People, groups, and institutions can become infected. The means by which we unconsciously feed these forces is through our attention. If we don’t know it’s happening, we can never hope to change it.

So now that I have your attention, I ask you to really think deep, and act with magickal will, every time you give your attention to someone or something, or when you seek to get the attention of others for your own work, play, or purpose. Through attention, you are exchanging life force.

Just as we might clear our energy through ritual and intent, we can use the same techniques in refocusing our attention.

First, determine if your behavior is conscious or unconscious. In either case, is it serving you? Are you enjoying yourself? Is it healthy? Are there boundaries? Are you engaging in compulsive or addictive behaviors? Is it a problem when you really think about it?

Second, look to cut the energetic, psychic cords to unhealthy things and behaviors. Do a cord-cutting meditation, releasing from the technosphere and perhaps specific social media sites. Do it to disconnect from your phone. Make a ritual of purposeful disconnection and keep to those boundaries. I often place my phone on a selenite plate, to cleanse and clear it of the emotions I’ve had when holding it. I also learned to not just put my phone, pad, and computer to sleep, but to shut them off completely for periods of time, so there is no electromagnetic signature active.

Reflect on what might be implanted in you from giving your attention away. What was exchanged? For many, it’s a sense of body dysmorphia. We compare ourselves to others. It could be that sense of being an imposter—that you don’t have the same talent that others seem to be demonstrating effortlessly, not always realizing that you don’t see the fifty bad takes or the amazing digital retouching done behind the scenes. We can think that others are having a great life while we are not, so we live vicariously through them rather than find our own adventure.

For others, it is a sense of superiority or belonging. We often give away that much of our attention and energy because it is serving in some way, even if we don’t realize it might be a false sense of accomplishment or intimacy, at least from a spiritual perspective (that doesn’t mean you can’t have deeply authentic relationships online; just make sure the ones you think are deeply authentic actually are deeply authentic). Just as you would clear harmful thoughtforms and energy from your body, do the same from these thoughtsforms from the technosphere. Use energetic techniques and rituals to remove the thoughtforms, the patterns of these implanted ideas, before they take root or become part of our unconscious programming in the aura.

When I make a post or when I consume a post, I often think, what was the motivation, the intention, and the energy behind this post. Does it merit my time and life force? Does it create something I want to encourage in the world, or diminish good things in the world? I think of the teaching asking the initiate to question if what they have to say sounds sweeter than silence, then I consider if this post is adding to the background noise, obscuring greater beauty. I think about the edict of asking yourself if something is true, kind, and necessary before it passes your lips. I try to apply these ideas to the keyboard and video screen. I try to question my motivation and my own thought process when I go back to check how many likes or comments I have.

I share this not to scare or sound paranoid because there is generation of Witches, magicians, healers, and occultists outside of traditional contexts who haven’t been exposed to these ideas of parasitical entities hiding in the patterns of society, including now online and through corporations. This is why I share my thoughts in this longer form because I fear a quicker, less nuanced approach would generate TikTok’s on social media about psychic parasites, most likely embodying the very phenomena I am talking about avoiding here.

Online space can be a wonderful, potent place to nurture community and share creativity, even magick. Virtual spaces can be quite magickal and foster amazing relationships, but one does need to look at all the things that come with them and decide how best to handle them, just like in any space. Being so culturally new to us, we have just started exploring and have yet to realize all the potential dangers.

By becoming more conscious, regularly cutting harmful energetic links, and removing the repeated harmful programs we absorb, we can free the energy of our attention to our spiritual progress and magickal evolution.

by Claire du Nord

Welcome back, Merry Meet, and Litha Blessings! Claire du Nord here, a High Priestess in the Temple of Witchcraft tradition, with the eighteenth article in our “For Broom Closet Witches” series.

In the previous article my little Hobby Farm from long ago took center stage. It “cropped up” again this Litha, as I contemplated the agrarian and pastoral cycles so important to our Wheel of the Year celebrations.

Although I now live in an apartment, with no garden space available, I still remember the fairy ring of culinary herbs I had planted shortly before I had to sell the property and leave it behind. There is something about a ring – a circle – a wheel. Now, as I stand in my kitchen, I often think about how to get more “in touch” with the agrarian and pastoral cycles when I am so far removed from them. Many, if not most, of us purchase our food from grocery stores. Easy in, easy out and back home we go. From store to table – No hands in the dirt, no flocks or herds to tend to. Thinking about how far removed one can be from the very essence of life on this planet left me with the resolve to do the best I can to interact with each type of food I prepare with gratitude, presence and awe.

One day at the beginning of this month, I was washing and chopping some fresh herbs – Flat-leaf Parsley, Rosemary, and Thyme – for a stew I was cooking. The different aromas from each of the herbs were amazing, and had they come from my own herb garden, I might have had a better understanding or a better grasp of the whole Wheel of the Year. And it struck me how each stage of the agrarian and pastoral cycles depends on the previous stages – the previous celebrations – the previous work to be done – not only the “toil in the soil”, but also the knowledge of the Sun’s place in the entire turning of the Wheel. All of this from a whiff of the aromatic oils in the fresh herbs I was interacting with.

As I washed and chopped the herbs, delighting in their aromas and the thought of fresh herbs growing in my garden from long ago, one of my favorite songs began to play in my head – “Scarborough Fair”, recorded in 1966 by Simon and Garfunkel:

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. . .”

And just then, just like “Oh, Tannenbaum” had become my “Yule song”, I had suddenly found my “Litha song”. My Wheel of the Year “playlist” has begun to take shape!

A search on Wikipedia, (retrieved on June 15, 2024), revealed much more about the history of this song than I previously had known, and other artists have sung and recorded versions of it. The lyrics can be traced to a tune called “The Elfin Knight”, a Scottish ballad collected by Francis James Child, (“The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Part 9”, 1894) and to as far back as the year 1670.

Interestingly, not only is “Scarborough Fair” appropriate for my Wheel of the Year playlist because of its mention of the herbs of Litha, but also because the title of the ancient Scottish ballad reveals the central role an elf plays in the song, (especially as Litha is an important time for elf/fairy activity among the woods, the summer flowers and herbs).

When I was a child, I spent many summer hours in the branches of a certain tree in a field of wildflowers – a place I called “Fairyland”. There was something different about the energy of that place that was palpable to me. In fact, there was a threshold that I would pass through – a sort of portal that separated the space inside the field from everything outside it. I knew nothing about Litha then, but I do recall that it was only summertime that I went there, for whatever reason, lost to time.

For my Litha table, I chose a bright yellow piece of fabric for a tablecloth with a sunflower accent piece. I decorated the table with sunflowers and orange taper candles. I served mini pizza wheels with dried chives sprinkled on top and added fresh Rosemary and Thyme to the serving plate as a garnish. I also served fresh Lemonade and a platter of carrots, tomatoes and celery with homemade creamy Italian dressing, provided by my Italian roommate – who happens to be an executive chef – with much appreciation from me.

Here is the recipe, “Creamy Italian Dressing” from his YouTube channel,

I hope this article has been helpful, and until next time –

Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again!

Litha Blessings,
Claire du Nord

Recently, in the midst of apologizing about myself, the person interrupted and quietly replied, “I see no imperfections, only that which makes you your own particular version of being a human, so in that individual sense: perfect.”

It stopped me mid self-diatribe and I was silent. For a very long moment, still as stone, letting those words sink in. What if I could actually, permanently think about myself like that? Instead of all the inner critic, self hatred, imposter syndrome nonsense? What if I could actually believe that I am perfectly me? Lovely, loved, and just right: me. What if I could truly believe that: without needing someone who mattered be required to say it out loud and affirm it for me?

Yes, yes, I know. I know. We are always growing, changing, evolving or devolving. But what if, in the here and now, in this beautiful space in time, what if I could believe that I inside, outside, upside down was perfectly as I ought to be right now. What if you could do that, too? Just for right now. Just for this minute we could both breathe and say, “I am the exact version of me that I am meant to be in this moment.”

What if we could then extend that grace out towards each other? Again, not excusing evil, oppression, or injustice… but for us common folk… what if we could look at each other without judgement and simply say, “There’s Ben/Sally. They are just great.” And focus on that. Perhaps, during our next ritual, we see the circle as truly luminous and smile across at our fellow witches, friends, and guests with the firm inner knowing that this is exactly how this particular circle, in this present moment, is supposed to be? Could we do that as a collective?

When we do that, perhaps we can widen the sphere to include all the wheels within wheels within the great web. Embrace this particular place in space and time as its own version of perfection? Could we do that for one minute? Could we perhaps understand that there is a higher good at play? That we each are doing our part? Even if we don’t understand it. Even if some of the lessons contained within it are sharp, painful, and filled with an utter lack of understanding why. Why won’t that person love me? Why can’t my job be better? Why did this awful thing have to happen? Why can’t things get better here, now? Why am I still overwhelmed by seemingly every single thing? Why does this beautiful moment have to end? Why did it have to die?

Breathe, Beloved. Breathe.

We live in a world that rarely tells us we are perfect. Rather we are told over and over and over again that we are not good enough. Broken. Almost there. Not quite. Better luck next time. Foolish. Silly. A dreamer. Ridiculous. Too much.

We can stop saying those lies now. We can stop believing those half-truths. Those words aren’t helping any of us anymore. Those words, like baneful spells, fill us with shame, self-hatred, self-loathing, and many times, self-inflicted  isolation. Nothing good comes from those words. Do what you can to implement change where needed. Do that. Having done that: just be.

Breathe, Beloved. Breathe.

What if together, we put aside the harshness and picked up love and mercy for ourselves and each other? What if, even if we have to slam a boundary down and say, quite frankly, “Fuck off!” (and freaking mean it), we can also, by the same token, understand that we will never be able to plumb the depths of what that fellow human has gone through or is currently going through to make them their version of human? Doesn’t mean you have to invite the rascal to dinner or bring them to bed. However; perhaps within the great wheel and web of the cosmos, they too are perfectly imperfect. Perhaps, all is actually as it ought to be in this moment in time.

Perhaps, we can start by beginning to believe, for one minute, that as I am (and as you are) right now, is just right.

Ready, set, go….

Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is a local, active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Temple Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.

Photo by Nathan J Hilton via Pexels

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

Is everything Witchcraft? Most would say no, because if everything is Witchcraft, then really nothing is Witchcraft. Yet contemporary Witchcraft appears to be one of the most inclusive spiritual paradigms of people, of philosophies, and of practices. Many consider Witchcraft to be an orientation to the world, or a way of life. We talk about it in terms of mysticism, practice, art, science, and even religion, but much like the “religions” of indigenous people, nothing is truly secular, so the entire way of life is religious. There is no separation between secular and sacred. All things are spiritual.

I do, however, think there is a distinct spirit to Witchcraft, a consciousness or Witch Soul if you will, a term that has grown more and more popular in my own Temple of Witchcraft community. Just as mystical Christians talk about Christ Consciousness, and the mindfulness of Buddha is known as Buddha Nature, and we all have the potential to manifest these things, they are not quite the same. The quality, character, and focus of the Witch Soul is quite different from Christ Consciousness, though a Witch might see the historic figure of Christ or Buddha as a type of magician in their own right.

I think one of the modern community errors is that in our identity as Witch, we believe the assumption that anything that interests us is Witchcraft. I am a Witch; therefore whatever I’m talking about as a spiritual practice is Witchcraft. I am not sure if that is true, and the embracing of the idea has given rise to the loss of some classic Witch lore and teachings, from traditional Wicca and even the early stages of solitary eclectic Wicca to the realms of Trad Craft and classic occultism. It calls to mind the classic line from Potter Stewart (1915–1985), an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981, attempting to define obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” While Witches do argue over what is or isn’t Witchcraft, I know that I know it when I experience it. Like calls to like, and at this stage of my experience, I can encounter what is or isn’t Witch to me, even if the expression is radically different from my own expression of the Witch Soul. This brings me peace and has allowed me friendships across many lines that would be hard for others to cross.

Yet my own definition of Witch and Witchcraft is pretty broad. Witch has become a vessel to help me contain all my magickal experiences. What? Didn’t I just say that it was a modern error to assume anything we are interested in is automatically Witchcraft because we are Witches? I did. The secret is digestion.

When we digest an experience, live a philosophy, or create with an artistic influence, we integrate it into our own selves, and therefore the Witch Soul. When we don’t digest it, we are simply adding things on top without any understanding. Worst yet is when we try to completely redefine it for others. My Witchcraft is an expression of the perennial tradition, but not “the” expression of it for all. Many of my expressions of Craft are drawn from other traditions of wisdom, as we all do. Modern Witchcraft is, as Maxine Sanders so eloquently told me once, a “scavenger religion.” From my perspective anything non-dogmatic has a potential place through the experience of digestion. But this digestion takes time to assimilate and then to be shared to create strands of new traditions. I try to distinguish my experience—and our community—from the greater body of Witchcraft and avoid declaring anything we do specifically is Witchcraft for all.

I had a teacher in the Temple who studies a lot of Vedanta (a Hindu or Vedic philosophy) recently ask me if there was any place for non-dualism in the Temple of Witchcraft. Does it fit with what we are doing, or not? If so, where does it fit?

I suggested not thinking of us as having a particularly rigid theology, but instead an occult philosophy where everything non-dogmatic has a potential place through experience. If he has an interest in the paradigm of non-dualism and has experienced it, then it becomes his task, if desired, to digest and integrate it into his Witchcraft, and if helpful, share it with others. It becomes non-dualism not from a strict Vedanta, or Hindu, perspective, but from the Witch’s perspective.

Things that are non-dogmatic can be digested, but are usually fundamentally changed in the process. For an expression of the perennial tradition, someone looking at Sufi dance, mantra, and medicine could have a place in what we do. Someone looking at the dogmatic edict that there is no god but Allah and all other gods are false would not, as it doesn’t fit the perennial mindset of the timeless universal tradition. Someone exploring how Allah is a form of YHVH, which is a form of many other creative source entities, and looking into Middle Eastern myths of Djinn, magick, and healing commanded in Allah’s name might fit. It can take time, experimentation, and mistakes to see what will integrate and what won’t integrate. A Sufi, or Muslim, can identify with the perennial tradition as a Muslim, as long as their dedication and belief in the form of the divine under the name Allah doesn’t prevent them from seeing that others will find the same divine in others forms and names.

Likewise, someone asked, “What is your policy on Mary Magdalene?” I replied that I don’t have a policy on Mary Magdalene. To which they countered, “No, what is your official stance? Or the Temple of Witchcraft’s official stance?”

We don’t have one on Mary Magdalene, or for that matter, an official policy on most things, leaving the act of having an opinion on things to our individual members, who can then take action as they see fit.

While we are a community, we are primarily a school for the soul and not a social action committee. This potential student was invested in Mary Magdalene’s story and image, and our answer would determine if she could or couldn’t study with us. Likewise, my unofficial answer is if she studies, integrates as a Witch, and has experiences with Mary Magdalene and can digest and integrate them into her Witchcraft, then that becomes her task. As a community we don’t particularly venerate or malign Mary Magdalene, or any other Mary, but her practice as a Witch is up to her. If a new tradition grows over time, then it grows over time, but I would also urge the awareness that who you are attracted to and attached to before training in magick might not be who you are drawn to during the process. Magick changes you, even in ways you think are fundamental and unchangeable. Are you open to the presence of the divine feminine showing up in a form other than Mary Magdalene? If not, we are probably not a good match for you as a school, as the teaching often comes from sources unfamiliar and even uncomfortable to us, but when we pursue them, the result can be deeply magickal.

Though I have created a lot of the community foundation in the Temple of Witchcraft, I am not the arbiter of theology, philosophy, or culture. If an initiate finds a place of non-dualism in their practice, then it’s a part of the Temple. If an initiate finds a place for Mary Magdalene in their practice, then it’s a part of the Temple. How that fits in the perennial tradition and is expressed is up to them. Whether or not that gets shared with others and becomes something beyond them depends on what and how they share and how others receive it. My work has been sharing things important to me, synthesizing it in the framework of my practice as a Witch, and making art and classes that transmit those ideas to others. What they then do with it is up to them. Rather than wonder if something has a place here, consider if something has a place in your work, and if it does, can you express it to yourself, others, and the world? How does it fit for you, and when you share it, how does it fit for others?

Things that don’t fit, that can’t be digested, will fall away eventually. When elders and experienced Witches get upset with the changes new generations make without an understanding of the old—something I often feel myself—we have to embrace this. What gets integrated will stay after the current wave of popularity ebbs. What doesn’t fit falls away. Keep true to what is important to you. Keep growing and experiencing, and the Witch Soul will take care of itself and you, as you take care of the Witch Soul.

by Erica Sittler

My newest grandchild arrived today. Just a few days early, but a smooth and safe passage for both him and his mama.

Until the nurses noticed he wasn’t quite breathing right. No lusty cries. Not quite getting the hang of transitioning from an aquatic creature to one who inhales air to survive.

I was on a series of planes making my way from Florida to Colorado, catching connections and doing my best to travel over two thousand miles in as short a timespan as possible. It was between flights that I learned simultaneously that he had been born and there was a problem that required him to not be held in his parents arms or at his mother’s breast. I reached out to my priestess as a numbing feeling of bereftness crept over me like a damp chill. Surely this day of joy was not going to turn into a day of abandoned sorrow? I was about to go on a flight and potentially lose contact with everyone for over three hours. So, I reached out to my spiritual advisor and my classmates and another member of my larger circle and acknowledged the need for help outside my own strength.

Earthside. Suddenly, I understood in this flux of natal breathing that the soul of my grandchild was making a choice. A choice of whether to be fully born and join us as incarnate creatures here on Earth or whether to withdraw. And there at the cusp between worlds was that soul’s absolute right to choose. And after that choice was made, the veil would close, the memories fade, and if he chose to stay here, it would be a long, long time before such a choice was offered to him again.

In the din of a plane boarding: the chaos of takeoff and the unknown, I held space for that little one to honor his right to choose. Those who I had reached out to were sending gifts to him as well. Gifts in the form of love, light, energy, and healing. They too acknowledged space for him to literally breathe… or not. I could not do more than put myself in a sphere with him and in silence respect the wavering I could sense coming from him and assure him that I honored whatever choice he decided was his path.

How many times do we offer that grace to others? To ourselves? To push out all the noise and simply honor one’s right to make a decision and not condemn one choice and celebrate another. To truly free someone from expectations? To uphold sovereignty as sacred?

The religious worldview I grew up in was very violent on nearly all levels. A kind of “shake the heavens” to get your way, because our way is always best, right? To force one’s will on others or situations. To blast. Sunder. Yes, I understand lightning strikes, volcanoes erupt, and tsunamis engulf. How often though is the default to approach most matters with a hammer and tongs versus the willingness to sit in a sphere that truly honors sovereignty? And I know, this conversation can go sideways really quickly. Please understand that is not my point. I am not stating that evil goes unchecked. That using our magick to influence outcomes is wrong and shouldn’t be done. Or that sometimes, perhaps, a person really should spend some time in a freezer spell jar.

We live in a modern world that is too trigger-happy. Too eager to throw blame, bullets, and force as a way to dominate and control. All lasting change starts within. I didn’t want my newborn grandson to die, yet.

Yet. Yet somehow, unseen, I was able to connect with this soul and understand that for whatever reason there was a hesitation. A pause. And instead of trying to force him to stay, I wanted to rather give him space. To allow death if that was the choice. Death and Life were both there in that space as well. There was a holy quiet in that place and I understood more fully the words we say in ritual. Both the “Hail and Welcome” as well as the phrase, “Stay if you will, go if you must: Hail and Farewell.”

My grandson decided to stay. He is not even a day old and has already shared deep wisdom. May we too remember to bid each other, “Hail.”

Hold space.
Bear witness.
Acknowledge.

Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is a local, active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Temple Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.

Photo by Valentin Petkov via Unsplash

by Christopher Penczak, Edited by Tina Whittle

A classic inner world function of the occult tradition is the period of probation. This process of scrutiny and examination happens again and again in deeper octaves, but the first time is often the most misunderstood. I know I misinterpreted it when I experienced it, and it was only with the perspective of years later that I could appreciate it.

Helena P. Blavatsky, a founder of the Theosophical Society (T.S.) wrote this about it: “There is a strange law in Occultism which has been ascertained and proven by thousands of years of experience; nor has it failed to demonstrate itself, almost in every case, during the fifteen years that the T. S. has been in existence. As soon as anyone pledges himself as a “Probationer,” certain occult effects ensue. Of these the first is the throwing outward of everything latent in the nature of the man: his faults, habits, qualities, or subdued desires, whether good, bad, or indifferent.”

When one decides to seriously study with a teacher, something rises up to challenge and that something is usually within us, but the teachers, fellow students, and cauldron of community become a type of mirror to examine it.

In later training, it manifests as ordeals and initiations of both formal ritual and education and the trials of life. The first time often lacks that context but is just as important. Today it might be equated with shadow work or fencing the dweller on the threshold as it was described in Blavatsky’s time, but I truly think in today’s work, those happen both later and repeatedly in the process. They deal more with the Underworld initiation or dark night of the soul. The probation is earlier and deceptively simple.

When you decide for whatever reason to say, “I am ready for serious study. I am ready for serious growth. I want to know. I want to serve.” or any variation of these statements, the powers of the cosmos and the powers within yourself rise up and say, “Are you sure? Is this really want you want? Are you prepared for what that could mean?”

The challenge manifests in many ways. You could have car problems that make attending the events difficult. Changes happen in your work schedule conflicting with your studies. Supportive family is suddenly no longer supportive. You experience friction with your fellow students or the teachers. They might say something that challenges you, makes you uncomfortable, or hurts your feelings, even though that was not their intent. You question if you should really be doing this? Is this all a sign not to do it? If you were “meant” to do it, wouldn’t it be easy? Shouldn’t it always be fun? Not necessarily.

The first challenge is to successfully discern if this a true message from wisdom to guide you away from something that isn’t right for you, or a manifestation of your own subconscious trying to sabotage you because it fears change. The third option is what sometimes get referred to as the Lords of Karma or Masters of Opposition, strengthening you with the tests, to make sure you are ready. Even if you can’t discern which is occurring for you, the act of will, deciding you want it despite the difficulties, is a supreme act of magick and a necessary ingredient for a successful magician, as this is not the last time you’ll be challenged.

A circle of initiates is both a place to gather and a boundary, and to pass the boundary, you have to show that you are ready. This is easier said, and believed, than done.

Even if our initial training doesn’t come with a formal examination or interview of motives before one begins, a period of examination begins. What we tell a prospective teacher might be what we sincerely believe, but we can be deluded. A teacher might recognize that immediately, but still see potential or you might fool the teacher who seeks to see the best potential in others or give the benefit of the doubt.

The period of probation is best described as a trial in all senses of that word. Occult learning can feel like a trial before a judge, sometimes having to explain your actions and motives in the quest of self discovery. Those who don’t know how to examine themselves easily and deeply are prodded to do so. How you respond to critique early on and with little things is a measure of how you will respond to the bigger awareness that is necessary to take personal responsibility of your spiritual evolution. Those who have difficulty will say they feel judged when they are really being evaluated. There is a difference between discernment and being judgmental.

The trial can be seen as a test, something to pass or fail, yet the truth of occult teaching is not so black and white. The majority who do “fail” this stage decide not to pursue it, that it’s not for them. Those who study informally first, with a friend, will remark how easy and fun that is compared to more formal training of a contacted tradition, and yet the depths of the teachings match the level of commitment. My first mentor was, and still is, a lot of fun. So I was shocked that the start of my serious occult education was not, and the mark of every great teacher I’ve had after that, from herbalism to Hinduism, challenged me in some way, pressing my buttons intentionally or more likely unintentionally. Often it happens as a natural process. As Raven Grimassi would say to me, “the ways have ways.”

A trial is also a trial period, a time to test things out like a rehearsal. Magickal and mediative practices are just that, a practice. As an art they take a lot of practice, and we live in a day and age where new students expect to get things right the first try. It’s a trial period for the group and for the applicant. What is often called the “outer court” proceedings are a time for both sides to mutually agree to go forward. The student always has the agency to stop at any time, but sometimes they believe that their acceptance by the group should be automatic and unconditional, simply because they want to learn. However, the group or teachers might not feel you are a match. The agreement to proceed must be mutual.

When entering into the trial of the probationary period, whether for the first time ever or simply with a new teacher, school, or group, keep these points in mind as you’ll be going through another round of examination no matter how skillful you think you are already.

Manifest Unconscious Patterns: The process will bring up unconscious patterns of behavior that can be detrimental in the path, so better to examine them now before going too far. If you don’t want to face them, now is the time to figure that out. You might have a different opportunity later on, often with a different group.

Resistance is Futile: The more you resist bringing things into consciousness—the more you react, deny, blame, or project—the harder it becomes. Embrace the process. When hit with something uncomfortable, reflect. Journal. Really examine reactions and deep motives. Ask yourself why. Reflect on past patterns when the same issues might have come up. Look at what is unhealed, and while the probation period might not resolve it, knowing where your buttons are before entering deeper training is huge to succeed and heal.

Do You Really Want to Do This? Do you really? Really? Why? If you don’t know, figure it out before you commit. You don’t have to do it. Most people don’t. This will be the first of many challenges, and while the rewards are great, you don’t have to do this, but once you really open the door, it’s incredibly hard to go back to your “old” life. There has to be a sincere desire. If you don’t want to be somewhere, you don’t have to be. I almost joined a cult in my youth. Were they? I still think so, but I might be wrong. In the end I didn’t want to be there, so I left.

It’s Me! While other people are catalysts, the probationary challenges are ultimately from ourselves. What am I seeing of myself in these challenges? People are certainly imperfect and troublesome, but if you think the problem is always with another person and their actions and you are blameless, you will have great difficulty embodying the “as within, so without” correspondence principle necessary for an occultist to evolve.

It’s Intense: While most people have their challenges distributed through the course of their life and still be quite unconscious about them as they move through them, this can be the first time of many when you are going to gather up and concentrate your shadows, karma, and faults to examine them consciously. It sets a pattern of discovery for what is to come throughout your life, intensely. A magician or Witch’s life is not necessarily meek, quiet, and easygoing. Magickal people are most often intense people. The study of Magick will be life changing. If it isn’t, something went wrong.

Beware the Ego: this period is also the time when it is most easy to walk away thinking you are superior, more knowledgeable, more compassionate, or more real than the group/school/teacher. Resistance to the probation period often manifests as ego, pride (because our pride can be wounded in the process) or a recapitulation of childhood patterns. I wonder if when I left the “cult,” was I in place of ego? They certainly thought so, and I can see why looking back on it. But in the course of my spiritual training, that was one school I left out of perhaps six serious teachers and periods of training in my life so far. If I left all before serious study, that would be on me. So perhaps it was a cult or perhaps it was just a bad match, but I know I can face a probationary period, which was spiritually different in each of those six times. The first is always the hardest. My first encounters with Laurie Cabot were humbling, but before the humility, there were some challenges, angers, and tears. And the beautiful part is she has little memory of that because it was simply her offering the teachings and not personal to her. Ultimately it was life changing to me.

With an understanding of the mechanics and these six basic points to guide you, you will be able to face magickal education is a clearer way and pass through the gate of probation.

For those studying in the Temple of Witchcraft, the probation period can be the time before formal study in the Mystery through training in the first and second degrees. They are the preliminary training, foundational basics where you learn to report your experiences and trust is developed. Particularly in distance learning, there is a challenge of rapport.

Once I had an online student say, “I feel you don’t believe me. You think I’m bullshitting you.” She was surprised to find out that I did, but it wasn’t personal to her. I’m looking for the signs of the authentic experience which can be wildly different in different people, but much like pornography, the definition is hard to pin down, but I know it when I see it. I think many students are bullshitting themselves so when they do it to me, it’s with whole-hearted sincerity. That’s why when they are called on it, they are shocked and offended, even with minor things. Those who take classes mainly for validation—which there still can be a lot of—can be upset and have to either adapt their paradigm, struggle, or leave.

Failure to go through this step can leave one unbalanced in the higher teachings. Occultism is not safe, in the sense that the forces we work with have the potential to alter worldviews, energies, and essences. Without context and stability, the changes can be ungrounded, destabilizing the student. We all go through periods of destabilization that lead to change, but we need the map, the formula, the pattern that brings it all back together.

With the foundational training, we can move through this early stage and be prepared for the deeper initiatory work—the shadow work or dweller on the threshold and the peaks of connection and union. If we have established an exchange that won’t be only validation, one with authentic evaluation and then true insight, healing and change can occur. We will have entered a new circle of education and partake in those mysteries.

by Claire du Nord

Blessed Be, and Beltane Blessings! Welcome back to the seventeenth article in our “For Broom Closet Witches” series. Claire du Nord here, a High Priestess in the Temple of Witchcraft tradition.

I had high hopes that I could keep my Yule Tannenbaum until Beltane so that it could be the Maypole for my Beltane celebration, but alas – it had to be disposed of. It had started to grow some mysterious, but nevertheless cool-looking (in my opinion, anyway) lichen-like mossy stuff on it. And because the annual apartment inspection, which usually happens sometime in May, was conducted a month early this year, I had to say “Goodbye” to the Tannenbaum, as I was sure when I got the 48-hour notice to enter the apartment, that the apartment manager would not appreciate the Tannenbaum the way I did. So, instead, my staff became the “Maypole” of sorts, and even without any Beltane drinking, dancing and “frolicking”, one thing sort of led to another as I wrote this article…

Once upon a time, there was a 3-bedroom brick home on a 3.5-acre plot of land which became a little Hobby Farm. There were chickens, guinea hens, turkeys, rabbits, goats and sheep! It was all part of a Homeschooling adventure, meant to provide my son with a rich life experience in self-sufficiency and living close to Nature. We hatched out chicks in an incubator, as well as let the hens go “broody”. We always provided fresh hay and special types of feed for everyone who lived there. In the picture below are “Baby” (in the foreground) and “Valentine” (in the background). They were extremely mischievous and loved to break through the fence just to get to the acorns under the oak tree on the other side.

We loved them, nonetheless. And they did provide us with some nice wool. At the beginning of each summer, they would get shorn (get a haircut). I would send the fleece to be washed and “combed” at a wool processing company, and they would send it back to me in the form of “roving”. I then spun the wool into yarn, using what is called a “Drop Spindle”, (or a mini-Maypole???), as well as a Spinning Wheel. Here is a bag of roving, with the drop spindle, ready to begin to spin:

And here is the drop spindle, after a bit of spinning. It is used to spin and store the yarn until enough has been spun to form a “Skein”.

And here are two “skeins” of yarn, after spinning, which can then be wound into balls, if preferred. The next stage in the process is to use the yarn to knit wool clothing. (This is a little bit of a simplification of the process, as one might also like to have an “Umbrella Swift”, a “Niddy-Noddy”, a “Nostepinne” and a “Ball Winder”, all of which can be used to help in the “Sheep to Yarn” process.)

Here is my Spinning Wheel, a stool to sit on while spinning, and a big bag of roving to the right:

For my Beltane table, I chose a white tablecloth with a rose pattern to match the roses in the vase. I also added two burgundy-colored candles and a jar with some dried rose petals inside. I decided to make it a “Tea Party”, with my rose tea pot, rose cup and rose tea bag holder. I served a goat cheese log sprinkled with dried mint flakes and olive oil drizzled on top with crackers. There was also a green pepper and radish platter.

And here is my Beltane table:

I hope this article has been helpful, and until next time –

Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again!

Beltane Blessings,
Claire du Nord

by Erica Sittler

Our little group of nine has finished Witchcraft I here in Mississippi. Initiation was both beautiful and meaningful. Now, we are launched into the world to practice what we’ve been taught and continue the disciplines we established together in class over the past thirteen months.

For me, it’s been months of both physical and emotional pain. A long season of things breaking open and shattering in ways I could not have foreseen. There is a weighted feeling of being bereft and alone. My heart is pierced through. Suddenly, my daily practice feels overwhelming. Like, “something’s got to give, so it has to be my spiritual practice for a moment. For a few days.” Life sometimes is simply not fun. At times, life feels so magnified in the yuckiness of it. Perhaps magnified when you descend from something as profound as initiation.

Slowly as the days passed, it was not just my spiritual discipline, but also my regular housekeeping skills seemed to have taken a long overdue vacation. Clutter everywhere. A pile of mending that has sat forlornly on a chair since Yuletide. Dust everywhere. Sticky floors and, well, most of you have been in a similar place before. I needed a bath.

“But I’m supposed to be happy! After all, look what happened: I passed W1. Spring is finally here.”  On and on I could go, but the truth is, I wasn’t happy, haven’t been for a while and the joy of initiation overshadowed the months-long malaise of deep sadness and grief that has seemingly crept into everything. My youngest child keeps asking, “Mom, are you ok? You look sad again.”  At one point, I snapped at him and said, “Yes. I am sad. It is not your job to fix me. Go away please.” Not my finest mothering moment, but there it is.

There I sat, numbly, in the dark and sifted thoughts like beads. Not meditation. Rather a form of soothing I adopted long ago to give myself the needed space to process the overwhelm that I can’t easily shake off. A solution gradually presented itself: just light a candle. Nothing more required. No words need to be said. Just light the little candle on an altar.

So I went to my main altar and lit a candle. And left. No special words. No incense. Just a little tea light. The next day the same. And the next and the next. By Sunday, while the rest of the family was out, I lit all the little candles at all their respective places. Next day, just the one on the main altar. And freshened the little water jug at another.

And so it went. Stumbling. Imperfect. But there. Reminding me, without judging me, that I am not alone. That I am a part of a wider community, both corporeal and spirit. The following Sunday, the candles were all lit, along with the little offerings brought. During the week, just the main altar candle and the little water jug. A little prayer of thanks came. All of six words. Last night a spontaneous song and a bath.

Today, I moved my bay tree with the help of my youngest son. He fetched the shovel. I instructed him on how we don’t just attack the tree, we speak to it and ask its permission to move it to a safer place. We dig slowly. I bless the bay and then stir my shovel in my large outdoor cauldron and words come out as I stir. I move dirt and more words come and we plant the bay in its new home. Blessed cauldron water. Roots moved into position. The bay tree is heavy and its root ball large and saturated with days of rainfall. My son helps yet is silent as we clean up. More words come out as I stir and clean the shovel. My son thanks me for letting him help.

I light more candles and do the littlest of blessings over each. The candles and offerings are all lined up on a favorite tray that once belonged to my grandmother. The candles twinkle in their little holders. The little assorted goblets all share the same drink: a stinging nettle gin cocktail. There are pieces of donuts and homemade bread. I nibble a little bite, sharing the meal and talk to the ones they are intended for. Then set them out in their various places around the house. They twinkle back at me. Reassuring me, that despite this long wave of grief, it will not last forever. I am far from healed and my spiritual practice is humble and quite unimpressive. But with each candle lit, I am telling all those layers of “me” that I want to heal. I want to know joy again. I want to sing and sleep with ease.

If you find yourself here in this desolate place, I sit here with you. Even if it is years and decades from now, a part of me remains here with you and acknowledges this immense grief and open wound you feel here in the darkness. Until you are ready to do it for yourself, I shall light a candle for you. Every day. Just one candle. Right here on my altar. May its glow comfort you.

Blessed be.
—/—

Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is a local, active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Temple Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.

by Christopher Penczak, Edited by Tina Whittle

Someone recently asked me, “When a student is done taking all the levels of the Temple of Witchcraft training, what do you expect? What does their daily practice or commitment have to be?”

I answered, “Whatever they want it to be.”

This may seem surprising, but we have no expectations other than if you commit to something specific, you follow up on those commitments. If you take on a specific project or job, follow through. If you take on a ministerial role, even when not actively performing a service, you abide by honorable action and ethical codes with the greater community.

Other than that, we have no expectations. A Witch is free to come and go as they please. And they do. Some people I never see again. They are members of the order. They are initiates. They owe no sense of personal or communal loyalty beyond doing their own True Will as they see fit, and I know I won’t always understand their path. This is normal.

If you take a class, I have the expectation that you will do the assignments of the class. Many classes are open ended with no homework due. They have no expectation. For those that are clearly described as having homework and requirements, I expect one to go through a process. I don’t expect the process to be easy for anyone, myself included. I don’t expect perfection in the process. Struggle, critique, and repetition are a part of learning any art. If your expectation is only continuous praise or validation, expect to be disappointed. As Raven Grimassi taught, “It is a poor teaching that leaves you unchanged.” The point of magickal training is to challenge you, be it philosophically or personally. The friction, the grit, is what often polishes the diamond. It’s not personal, but process, and as Raven also said, “The Ways have ways.” Trust in the Ways. Trust the process and observe what happens. Once you reach a plateau in the process, I have no expectations regarding what you do with the material, or if you go forward or not.

I realize an academic model and its expectations are not the ideal situation of learning for many Witches. Witchcraft isn’t only in book and classroom learning, as it’s a lifestyle, a way of orientation. I’ve been blessed by many formal and informal mentors and tutors woven between my more formal magickal education, but I couldn’t expect someone I don’t know to take me on personally for mentorship without some introduction or connection. You might be surprised at how many people will demand personal mentorship with no prior relationship, feeling they are beyond any class experience. Mentorships often lack the boundaries of the teaching circle and provide their own challenges to both student and mentor. My own experiences as student and tutor have often become messy. My own work has shown me far more people seek an education than I could personally mentor, so the academic model allows me to provide education and more opportunity for the possibility of personal mentorship without being overwhelmed. Even still, a school cannot accommodate all people, all learning styles, and all needs. We each do the best that we can in opening the way to the Mysteries.

Your practice is whatever you want it to be. There are guidelines, tips, and suggestions from the teachings, but the greater challenge after formal education is the freedom to do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. Admittedly, this short-circuits some graduates accustomed to having structure provided for them. Now you must craft your own structure, or not, and your own practice.

Magick should become a fundamental part of your way of life, but what that looks like will be different for each of us. Some try to do all the rituals and meditations in a really structured way. That can become unfeasible, and then we have to reinvent the practice. Others just “need a rest,” and while they fully intend to return to a practice, they never do, as the responsibilities of life carry them away from a magickal perspective.

Many feel their magick is so integrated into their life that they now need no formal practice or rituals. It’s just automatic. Maybe, but I’ve found many people try to convince themselves of this without it being a reality. Sometimes this self-assessment is based in ego. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard something like, “I don’t need to do spells/rituals/meditations anymore. I am living it.” But it’s said with almost a disdain to those who are doing spells, rituals, and meditations, as if the practice makes you less advanced, not more. Most high-level practitioners I know, though approaching some level of attainment of whatever the hell enlightenment might be, seem to keep some form of practice, even if it’s radically different from their early training.

We shouldn’t be doing these things because we “have” to do them to become “spiritual” but because we enjoy them, because they are an expression of our Craft, a way to give voice and action to the magick deep within us. Witchcraft is not a religion of guilt. Don’t do something if you don’t want to do it. But if you find yourself not doing Witchcraft ever because you don’t want to, yet doing other things regularly, ask yourself why you are a Witch. I knew a “coven” that rarely did magick or ritual together, but frequently drank together and watched football together. Only later did they question the purpose of their gatherings.

For myself, I think of the invisible cloister. As a magickal priest, I don’t live in a formal cloister, yet I have much of the same sense of purpose as those who are in a monastic establishment. A cloister is both a monastic institution and a covered passageway. The covered passageway is open, but also gives shelter, and the blessing of any type of monastic organization is the support, space, and structure designed to aid practitioners in their serious pursuit of spiritual progress.

I have my vows and have made a serious commitment to my spiritual pursuits in the context of community. It is my way of life, but the very theological nature of Witchcraft means I haven’t renounced the world. The difference between having a cloister mindset versus having a cloister is that there is very little institutional support for the magickal priesthood. Even when we gather together, we are still primarily solitary. We might have the support of a coven, order, or school, but not like a monastic institution. Perhaps we will in the future, and perhaps we won’t. Who knows? But for today, I am a Witch, a magickal priest, serving myself, my gods and spirits, and my community. My practice is living “as if” I am paradoxically both in the world and in the monastic order, keeping regular practice and partaking in the traditions that “hold up the day” not just for myself, but for a greater good. My practice can seem pretty robust to those not of this mindset, but it is simply my life.

As I travel and teach, I find there are many Witches who do the same, but perhaps would describe it differently, and there are many who do not. There is room for all of these practices. That is why I have no expectation that a graduate of my training will take this upon themselves as I have. No one asked me to do this. It’s simply the worldview and actions that spoke strongly to my soul.

While I don’t expect it, I encourage people who are called to keep strict traditions, at least until you don’t. Do so until that no longer works for you, and then try something different. I do, however, keep the mindset of conscious awareness that should come with a monastic life. Living in a spiritual order, even when you are not cloistered from the world, means that consciousness should permeate everything you do. Eat, drink, and sleep consciously. Do your household work and your day job consciously. Look at the divine in the interactions with people. That doesn’t mean you can’t do whatever you want, but you do whatever you want with awareness of the experience, and you take responsibility for the consequences. While I advocate eating consciously, I often have junk food as comfort. I enjoy a good drink. I’ll stay up late at night reading, watching movies, or otherwise goofing off because I don’t want to go to bed. I choose to do those things rather than do them unconsciously. Like some of the unorthodox practices of many rebellious religious sects, such the Hindu Aghori, there is value in confronting seemingly “bad” practices by indulging in them, and thereby freeing yourself from the hold of the harmful emotions rooted in the practices. There is nothing wrong with eating what you want, but when your unconscious motivation is directing you, that becomes the greater problem. Exposure, examination, and direct experience can bring it into consciousness and rob it of its harmful power.

While I don’t expect it, I encourage people who are explorers to explore, research, and synthesize new traditions. Push the frontiers of consciousness, and when you find something that works, bring it back and share your ideas with the rest of us. Don’t get too attached to the idea of people doing exactly what you do, but be open to simply inspiring them to do what they do. That has often been my experience when I craft a seemingly new teaching or technique. When pushing further doesn’t work, go back to the tried-and-true methods as foundation for a time and see what happens.

While I don’t expect, I encourage people to make their Craft a part of their life. I guess I was lucky, first learning many years ago from my mentor Lynne, and then studying with Laurie Cabot, and then with my mother and spiritual sister, all of it together cementing the Witch’s worldview as a way of life, a lens through which to see and do. My partner and fellow Temple of Witchcraft co-founder Adam Sartwell often encourages us, “Are you thinking like a Witch?” I’m often surprised at how many people can take classes for a long time in magick, but not integrate a magickal perspective, a Pagan or Animist sensibility, or a Witch’s worldview into their day-to-day life. For a while I did expect, and when I didn’t see it, got disappointed, so I’ve learned not to expect it, or anything, as we each learn, integrate, accept, and reject wisdom teaching in our own way, for our own good.

In the end, be it practice, spiritual responsibility, community roles, or anything else, I don’t expect anything beyond what you tell me I should expect from you. I encourage what I think could be helpful and enjoy watching the path unfold in all its many ways.