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At the end of my current year in our online class, we had an interesting short discussion about religious institutions, fundraising, and essentially, proselytizing. Most of us come from a religious background where there is the wholehearted belief that their way is the “right way” and for many, helping others come to the right way is a moral duty. I have heard from some true believers that proselytizing is the same as pulling your burning body out of a fire to save you, only the burning building is the fires of hell. And she believed it, but it’s not the same thing. You only think it is because of your beliefs.

The conversation came up after we announced our annual online conference, TempleHearth, and more detailed plans for our community center, including the architectural sketches, vision drawings, and site plans. Estimates are around $1.7 million, so we have a long road ahead, though I know we can do it, little by little, with the help of some magick. Community is a lifelong project, not a quick flash. One student appreciated that at the end of Witchcraft One, we start the conversation about if you should or shouldn’t perform the solitary initiation ritual at the end of the course. There is no assumption or expectation you will, and it is only required if you want to go onto level two in the program. We encourage people to really reflect on it, take time and be sure. There are no hard oaths, nor any requirements, and you can still be a general member of the community and not initiate. It’s not for everyone. We have a segment of people who take the class, learn about magick and psychic ability, meditation and energy, and then go on to other things. Some initiate, and some don’t.

This consent-based approach was praised, and then the hope that it wouldn’t change as we faced our challenges to build the community center, as other religious organizations, in an effort to meet financial goals, will often push membership drives to meet such goals.

Generally Witchcraft and Paganism are non-proselytizing by their nature. It’s one of the hard-wired things I took from my early studies, though some don’t place the emphasis on it today in the growing polytheistic world. We’ve had members and even leaders want to focus on growing families in the Craft or enticing new demographics to grow the community as a traditional church does (see Children Are Our Future). Yet Witchcraft is an initiatory tradition. One must seek to go through the door of mystery, but with a more public organization like ours, we try to make the door more visible and the requirements more clear. We don’t proselytize to any specific demographic or seek to improve our “numbers” with any segment of society. Those who are called to come are welcome to enter, but we don’t entice. We do have our challenges with modernity and being online, yet keeping to the essence of what is important will always be foremost in our minds. Ideally I’d love in-person access for anyone who wants it, but until then, we face the challenges, and blessings, of being online as well as in-person.

The tougher part, the antithesis of this financial concern, is we often discourage people from going on too quickly, and encourage people to take their time, integrate, and learn other complementary things, within the Temple or outside of it, to be properly prepared for deeper work. We discourage rushing through the process, though we live in an age where people wish to complete things quickly. We often turn down applicants at all levels (sometimes based on previous work, sometimes based on the application itself) if there are concerns that the student is not ready and the teachings might be damaging or simply not have a hope of taking root at this time. Waiting to proceed can feel like rejection, and it’s hard to parse out rejection from a specific course at a specific time and teacher from rejection of selfhood. We explore this more in The Subtle Process, Part 2: Facing Rejection and Who Guards the Gate. We work with all sincere seekers, but as each level progresses, the classes become purposely smaller.

We do accept donations as a nonprofit church, which is quite helpful, and have generous contributors, quite a few of whom are not even initiates of the tradition, just those who appreciate what we do and what we stand for in greater Paganism. Our goal is to create land-based resources that will be passed from one generation to the next and which will continue to grow to serve many different locations, eventually. I struggle with the nonprofit church part, as I question if what we do is really “a church.” The answer is yes and no. To answer that, we have to get into the divide between prophetic religions and mystical religions, and how there is more than one definition of a religious organization, even if it’s something unfamiliar to us because of upbringing and background. And sometimes there are more similarities than we would like. But if other religions are going to get societally recognized breaks for themselves and their members, why shouldn’t we partake in the same benefits? It’s quite helpful to a young organization such as ours as we work to establish long-time resources, allowing us to better focus on what is important, such as helping each other through magickal evolution and helping train ministers to serve our community and beyond in the world.

Sadly a lot of Pagan community is still much like the Protestant preacher model. Communities form around a charismatic leader, teacher, or healer. That is how I got here. I fully admit it, though I didn’t know enough about it at the time when the process began. I went from a word-of-mouth teacher working in people’s homes to working in bookstores, centers, festivals, and conventions. Then a group of past students wanted to build community and put the teachings into deeper practice. Some Witchcraft traditions, however, are based on a Catholic or Orthodox sense of apostolic succession. The sense of authority is passed down from founders to specific branches, such as High Priestess to coveners, usually closed to the public. To deny these things in relationship to other religions wouldn’t serve us, despite many of us naturally wishing to disassociate from anything to do with a church, but as we enter an Aquarian Age, these similarities can illustrate how we take those strands and look to new models. The Temple of Witchcraft is one such way, focusing upon a school and providing a wide variety of ministries for a Witchcraft priesthood to serve, learn, and experience outside of a coven context. The intention is to provide container, support, and continuity for the training of the magickal priesthood.

Unlike many other congregational religions, we in the Temple are more like the cunning folk of old, being service-based. There are specific costs for classes, events, or specific work beyond pastoral care. Some would critique that one cannot charge for mystical training, and I’ve struggled with that as well, though I was charged for my initial training and appreciate the clarity of the relationship and the clearly marked rights and requirements between both parties. There was a distinct sense of beginning, middle, and end to all agreements, and what options were next. In other models, what you “owe” is not always clearly spelled out. I was speaking to a friend in several initiatory groups who jokes that “you always pay, one way or another.” I think there is some truth to that. Sometimes we get mired in oaths of loyalty we feel obligated to follow, even when we believe our teacher to be wrong. And I think of all the amazing spiritual things that I have also paid for in terms of art, music, literature, and lessons to practice art, music, and writing myself. Were they any less meaningful than my magick? No. They are framed differently, but still deeply magickal and spiritual on my life path.

We offer pastoral care to students in the mystery school, and there is a supportive community body of members, students, initiates, and ministers to aid. You can volunteer and share in experiences, find some work study programs, apply for scholarships, or attend quite a few free events and partake in free resources. If you want specific expertise or private counsel, healing, or divination, you might book a session with a professional who can offer those services to you. Unlike a congregation where weekly tithing is often the order, you only pay for the professional services you receive.

There are no yearly dues, and one does not lose membership from lack of attendance of events or classes. We have members of the tradition who show up to things sporadically as time allows, going back to the 1990s as their time of initiation. We have many wonderful community members whose initiatory path is elsewhere for a personal focus, but we enjoy our time together for kinship, community events, and magickal projects. And I’m sure we will keep that ethos, even when facing the projects of community center funding, just one of our multi-generational dreams for our community.

While church implies congregation—and perhaps in the eye of the government giving us nonprofit status, we have a congregation—as a Witch, I see us as a mystical order with many different options of participation, where everyone can come together in community, but is also free to come and go as they please in the pursuit of their own mystical attainment. It’s not a coven. It’s not a congregation. It’s a secret society with an open secret and public listings. It’s a magickal order that clearly marks where the entrance and exit is. And I don’t think I would have it any other way.

We have had a backlash against some metaphysical self-help paradigms that have swung too far in one direction, calling out things under the terminology of toxic positivity or spiritual bypassing, but I think we haven’t yet found an equilibrium rooted in wisdom. As I scroll through this next generation of self-help memes and tweets, I feel we are moving in almost the opposite direction, that societally we are in an autoimmune response of inflammation, except in the collective mental-emotional bodies instead of the physical. Like an autoimmune disease, there is an attacking of the collective self by the collective self’s immune response. As someone who has worked with people in healing modalities for twenty years, I see a lot of terrible advice by people in the midst of their own healing crisis getting a long reach because of social media, perpetuating the inflammation, not bringing true healing. While letting things reach a healing crisis can be part of the healing formula, you can’t stay in crisis indefinitely.

I see advice that enshrines your opinion or intuition as infallible, urging you to leave or disconnect when someone disagrees with you or challenges you or is in any other way “low vibe.” This is nothing but shallow and immediate self-care wrapped in consumerism, a temporary bandage, as true care requires a longer education and commitment to health. Online advice is filled with pop culture and psychological jargon without definition, confidently offering diagnosis of complex life situations through a meme. There is a lot of preaching and directives in our “hot takes.”  

Everything you disagree with is problematic. Everyone in opposition to you is toxic. Anyone with a different perception is gaslighting you. In reality, one person can actually have a problem with another and resolve it, or even without resolving it, find other areas of support and agreement. Or believe it or not, we can simply leave each other alone. One can behave badly in one instance and not be harmful 24/7. One can have a different perspective on a situation and not be trying to manipulate you. Not every opposition or confrontation is violence, abuse, or trauma, and to overuse those words does a disservice when there is actual violence, abuse, and trauma. While there is a mental health crisis in the world, not everyone you have conflict with has narcissistic personality disorder or is a sociopath. Those are specific behaviors and conditions. And you can label something as a problem, abuse, or toxic behavior and be wrong. Judgment calls are not always clear, and you can be wrong yourself. You could also be correct, and they could be problematic, toxic, gaslighting, or have an untreated mental health problem, but rushing to label things starkly and completely in black and white terms so that we can enforce our sense of being “right” isn’t the way life works.

Not everything you recognize from another culture is culture appropriation, particularly if you are uneducated or misinformed in how a particular practice entered into another tradition or community. There is a lot of living community memory not set in writing and inaccessible to much of the online world, particularly for those who joined an overall movement in the last two, five, or even ten years and who primarily engage with others online. You can disagree with a particular cultural usage, but if you are not also making the distinctions between appropriation, misappropriation, cultural exchange, inspiration, diffusion, blending, syncretism, and the much more prevalent problems of misinformation, misrepresentation, discrimination, and denied access, you are being intellectually dishonest in an effort to create a binary right/wrong with you being right. Without this subtle understanding, most of our modern food, language, music, and art would be considered misappropriated, and under such wisdom, should therefore be abandoned. Likewise most traditions we know have experienced vast cultural transfusions from other sources, and often those times and exchanges were framed in periods of empire and invasion. 

There is no problem with seeking an accommodation for yourself for particular groups and rituals, but it’s unreasonable to ask the majority to cease doing something integral to their rituals to suit your needs and preferences. You can also decide that the practice, event, group, or community is not a fit for you at this time, but that is a far cry from the declaration that the practice, group, or community is unfit for all people. Not all things are for all people, in Witchcraft and beyond.

A lot of this discourse is framed in terms of justice, but has little restorative or harmonizing intent. I see social movements that are looking for everyone to agree, with some using that agreement as a weapon in “pile on” comment threads whether people find comfort in being in the majority espousing superiority. Not everything fits everyone, and a teacher coming from a wisdom teaching will recognize that. Different things are emphasized at different levels of teaching, and a meme, unlike a living teacher, cannot discern where you are spiritually with your understanding. Beware of mob mentality self-help and scapegoating of others who are different through disagreement. While social media can be quick and sharp and fun, when making critical decisions, seek help from those who can place things in context and speak with nuance. Simplicity is useful, but it can also confirm all your poor behaviors and neglect your greater potential. Real social change can require support beyond the immediate posts of the social media sphere.

I think in three, five, or ten years, we’ll be critiquing this current moment that many have embraced today as flawed, much as we are doing so now upon the past paradigms. My only hope is that in the future, we will not repeat a new phase of this cycle with another psychic inflammation response and will have reached a place of stability, perspective, and wisdom, and that not too many people will have internalized the bad advice of today as new wisdom. Not to say there are not helpful things out there today—there are—but they seem to get less traction than the quick catchy hot takes. With a need to hustle and commoditize everything to survive in this harsh society, many who haven’t yet found a way that works are suddenly “experts” in things. And while they might have some intellectual book knowledge, their lack of life experience results in advice that sounds good because it flatters the ego and justifies our feelings and behaviors, but which isn’t rooted in anything wise at all. The desire for a platform comes first, while the intent and message are secondary, and for some, inconsequential….as long as it “looks” good. It’s hard to get “likes” on a post when challenging people, unless people simply agree and assume you are challenging someone else. When we say something goes viral, there is also the aspect of a social or psychic virus, not just spreading popularity. I wonder how much of our viral terminology is at play on multiple levels in our collective psyche. There is a sickness occurring on many levels, and we forget the psychic is one of those levels. Thought viruses are real.

The constant stream of information—fun, serious, helpful, sad, toxic, inspiring, and healing—is overwhelming. We go from birthday photos to a magickal meme to an announcement someone is in the hospital dying. Even a newspaper article gives us more time to process the facts or focus on a clear narrative than the media stream we continually scroll through. This creates a lot of stress on our body, brain chemistry, hormones, and consciousness. We have been conditioned to consume and react quickly with no psychic digestion. We have FOMO, a “fear of missing out,” so we don’t take enough breaks. We want to belong and participate by sharing posts and mimicking posts that get the approval of others. We want to participate, to be liked, successful, and seen. None of these desires alone is bad, but collectively, they can create unconscious harmful behaviors. These behaviors are often in opposition to the time-honored practices of those who would seek magickal attainment, or at the very least, greater self-awareness.

Influence is now the goal rather than experience. Bite-size pieces packaged to be easily consumable can distort whatever root wisdom is there. Quotes fit well in memes, but what is the greater context? Much of the content is not grounded in any philosophy, but masquerades as wisdom and experience with key buzz words. People cheer or argue for the sake of cheering or arguing, with little thought. It becomes a tribal dynamic, like rooting for a sports team. Observation of an external process feels like actual participation in something greater. 

While I’m a magickal practitioner first and foremost, I find that if you are looking for simple foundational wisdoms, a copy of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and a Buddhism primer go a long way for some basic understanding of consciousness and behavior. They are certainly framed in their context and history, but their essence is timeless. In times past, teachers and practitioners in our communities could grow and make our mistakes on a tiny local scene. Now everyone’s reach is magnified, but not always in proportion to their experience and success in helping others.

Their advice is often given in absolutes, but outside of the context of sacred relationship. For example, the idea that you must “do witchcraft” for five years before you approach any gods might be true in a specific tradition, or in an individual’s experience, but it’s not good advice for most new Witches. For many, it’s the call of the deities that open the way, and theirs is a path of devotion.

Statements like, “You do not need to make an ancestor altar. You are the altar to your own ancestry” can be a problem in the magickal world, true on one level, but truly unhelpful on another. You don’t have to do anything at all, really; it all depends on the type of experience you desire. If you want direct communication, advice, aid, and magick from your ancestors, you can partake in the time-honored spiritual technology of the altar to facilitate clear and direct contact…or not. You can have successful contact outside of ritualized formats, but it’s often hard to untangle from your own ego, fears, and projections, and when strong, easy to confuse for psychosis. Much of my work over the years has been helping people through psychic experiences that appear to be mental health crises, and mental health crises that appear to be psychic experiences. The altar is an aid to connect and clear the connection; feeding the link with offerings strengthens it. The initial externalization helps create boundaries, and then you find the process internalizes more with the practice. If it didn’t work so well, it wouldn’t be found in numerous traditions and passed down so often. Good advice might come from the perspective and experience of knowing the benefits and drawbacks of both having and not having ancestor altars. Poetic declarations are beautiful, but if you are instructing someone metaphysically, you need to go through the whole process and its steps.

I knew one particular teacher who advised students not to read books, as books would be confusing, and encouraged students to get all their answers from said teacher. Now that bad advice has moved in the opposite direction, with today’s  recommendation being to buy and read all the books, but no encouragement to engage with and then digest the contents of the books before having an opinion or posting about them. One wants to be the first to share, to set the trends, but if you haven’t really integrated anything from the book through experience, how valuable is your opinion?  

Beware those who lead with their wounds so much so that you immediately identify with them when you are in crisis because you are so alike, as that might be a clue that they are stuck in the same place you are, but have found a way to glamorize and even monetize it. Leading with your wounds is a natural part of the progression of healing, but it can’t be the goal, and those in this stage probably should not be at the forefront teaching and leading others until they recover more. No one needs to be perfect to aid others, but those with open and reopened wounds should take care of that issue before running out to offer others aid. Those with the skills, teachings, and wisdom to help you through crisis should probably be modeling something that will make you reflect, question, and think and feel deeply, not validate exactly what you are already doing and thinking.

We struggle with the Aquarian paradox, a sign ruled by Uranus and Saturn, a continuous cycle of breaking and then restoring limits and boundaries. The occult becomes revealed and no longer hidden, producing an “occulture.” The techniques and information are more widely and freely available, rather than concealed by oath and secrecy. The more widely available, the more people who will benefit, right? Yes and no, because as more people have access to life-changing paradigms to create life-changing experiences, we have another operation in effect: widely available access often generates a lot of misunderstanding, misinformation, confusion, and distortion, particularly when dominated with consumerism as the key tenet rather than education and growth. The mysteries become occulted again, even in an occulture, but this time by a layer of bullshit covering them on the surface. One must pan the muck to find nuggets of gold, or leave in frustration. It’s the two waves of Aquarius, a surface wave and a deeper layer still hidden below. Twenty years ago I thought this availability was wholly great, that its benefits outweighed the drawbacks, but I’m not sure of that today as I see so much bad occult, social, psychological, and healing advice. I do love a growing occult culture alongside more dominant mainstream culture, but it also has some of the same drawbacks of any mainstream culture.

We are all works in progress, and I would like to believe that in all but the worst circumstances, those dedicating their work to helping others, sharing, and creating are all, in the words of Ram Dass, “just walking each other home.” We can do that, walk side by side in the journey. Our roads are all different. But the quiet contemplative moments as we walk together are just as important, if not more so, than the more dramatic ones. For it is in these tranquil moments that we experience each other’s pure presence.

“What is a Witch?” is a question that I often joke has more answers than there have ever been Witches, as we each might change our minds more than once, and more definitions arise as more Witches come into knowledge of themselves. It’s beautiful, but can make things confusing for both non-Witches and Witches alike. Yet the questioning of identity, motive, relationship, actions, and consequences are part and parcel of the process of Witch. Yes, I sometimes define Witch as a verb, as one of my own many definitions for Witch is a process that never ends. Witch is the essence of transformation.

When conflict arises around the definition of Witch—be it among academics, seekers, or Witches themselves—it stems from what root that particular person is drawing their own definition from and whether or not they can acknowledge the other roots under the umbrella of Witch.

People get proprietary and think other Witches are describing different things, as there are different types of occultists, magicians, and priests. But they are not Witches. What is Witch can be hard to put a finger on, however, which is part of the elusive nature of the Witch. If you think you have completely defined it, you have lost it.

One of my key concepts of the Witch is the Witch Soul, the unified enlightened consciousness of our sanctified ancestors. Existing outside of space and time, it includes, eventually, all of us. All Witches partake of this oversoul consciousness, the uniting force in an otherwise disparate tradition. While we might not all agree what a Witch is, we recognize our own.

In my understanding of the soul, I view the human soul as multifaceted, an idea found in many traditions, but particularly popular in Egyptian traditions of nine souls. The most basic form is three souls: the higher, middle, and lower. Three souls, like three worlds, are often described like a tree with roots, trunk, and branches. I find it helpful to look to the roots of our Witch Soul to see where we are and where we might be growing, individually and collectively.

The most common roots are those looking to the ancient Pagan past for their Witchcraft. These primal roots speak to our lower soul. Many look to the ancient priestesses and priests of the Temple traditions of the gods, those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and beyond, plus their German and Celtic equivalents. While these people were not known as Witches themselves, we see the holy archetype of magickal priesthood and see ourselves. We look to the mystery cults and their teachers. The cults of Demeter and Persephone, of Isis and Osiris, and of Artemis speak to us of Witchcraft. They were later vilified by the Christian traditions. Here we have the roots of the Witch in occultism and the Western Mystery Tradition.

Others are dismayed by this idea. To them, the Witches were those of the illicit religions, of the crossroads and farm, not of the Temples. Pagan Witches were often still mistrusted, with a focus on necromancy, plants, and poisons, and if priestesses, not in the Temples. Circe and Medea are the archetypes, and while possibly vilified by the patriarchy of their time, they are wild and free. These are the true Witches of antiquity still haunting around the edges of civilized society.

Others still see those who came before this divide, our Stone Age ancestors, in our common shamanic roots of hunter/gatherer civilization. While a debated word today, what has become known as shamanism depicts a similar cosmology and system of techniques for interfacing with spirits and nature found in many places across the world. Only with the coming of agriculture did these traditions and roles divide into urban temples and wild places. Before that, the village and the wilds were the places of magick. This was the true source of Witches.

Entwined in the soul complex is the shadow, that which is repressed in us. One might argue the most vocal new contingent of Witchcrafts aligned with the shadow are those focused on post-Christian Medieval Witches and Cunning folk. Most did not identify as Witches and probably were not. Some were self-identified as “white witches,” meaning doing good not evil in their time period. And buried in trial transcripts and confession is some intriguing Witchcraft more useful for us today. We also have the folkloric Halloween-style Witch rather than the beautiful priestess. A resurgence of Traditional Craft has come emphasizing these symbols and figures as true Witchcraft, often in response to Wicca’s popularity and growing neo-tribal practices. And this root is just as valid as all the others, but not necessarily more valid.

Those who claim today’s Witches must exclusively be of one of these roots would also have to embrace a range of things rather unpleasant and not conducive to modern life and relationships. Medieval-rooted Witches would have to live on the edge of society and be generally shunned and held with suspicion. While many of us can feel that way, few of us truly live that way. Illicit Pagan Witches would be fairly solitary in life as well and go around literally poisoning people as well as being considered fairly unkempt and dirty by today’s standards. Pagan priests would dedicate themselves full time to a temple often with no career prospects outside. While coven leaders may feel that way at times, that’s not quite true either. The modern Witch is, well, modern and does not conform to any one of these things because we draw from all, but have made our own way in our own age.

In our middle soul, the expression of the Craft in our life occurs in three major forms. For some it is the older traditions of occult orders, those seeking the secrets of the mystery traditions and the school of the soul. These are the covens, lodges, and formal groups. Others see the Craft as social, therapeutic, and expressive, as found in looser circles and tribal festivals where dancing, singing, and art are emphasized. We have those who are deeply devoted to the gods and the old ways, seeking reconstruction and tradition through service to gods and community. They are living a religious culture of Paganism and Witchcraft.

And in our higher soul, we see our Witchcraft triple flowering again in science, art, and religion. All are mystical at this level, but it’s the seeking of the philosopher learning cosmology and wisdom. There is the artist expressing the voice and form of the divine. And there is the minister, seeing the divine not only in the gods, but in the people serving them and the word. They experience the interconnection of all things through service.

All together, three souls with three expressions and a shadow give us the ways of looking at the Witch. In each level, we see some common thread. Ancient priesthoods of the lower soul give rise to the occultists of the Western Mysteries in the middle and the philosopher mystics of the higher soul. Illicit ancients of the lower soul give rise to the looser circles of expression who in turn rise to the artist of the divine in the higher soul. Shamanic ancestors of the lower soul and its shadow of the Medieval Witch and Cunning folk give rise to those deeply devoted to the old ways and spirit traditions of the middle soul, who in turn rise to ministers living in service to the greater good. Or at least that is one set of combinations for me. For you, perhaps there is a different understanding.

To prevent yourself from getting too comfortable in any one view, any one definition of Witch and its roots in the Witch Soul, I suggest a crafting contemplation. This is particularly helpful if you feel fundamentally in conflict with others or disconnected from the greater community, as we all do at one time or another.

Start with three threads of yarn for the lower, middle, and higher souls, in whatever colors feel appropriate, with black, red, and white being the most traditional. Anoint the lower soul thread with something deep, such as myrrh, patchouli, or cypress oil. Think of the roots of the Witch soul in the ancient world all the way through to the shadow of the Medieval sabbatic Witch.

Anoint the middle soul thread with something like cedar, pine, or benzoin, and contemplate Witchcraft community and Paganism today.

Anoint the higher soul thread with something heavenly, such as frankincense, sandalwood, or amber. As you do, think of the mystical side of our craft, where our magick eventually leads us in the contemplation of the bigger questions of life and the mysteries.

Then braid together the three scented strands. When ready, tie them around either your left wrist or left ankle. Whenever you become aware of the bracelet/anklet on your skin, think about all the different kinds of Witches out there, and how all are part of the greater Witch Soul. Despite any disagreements or conflict, we have a deep connection.

Continue this until the threads naturally break down and fall away. You’ll find over this extended period a greater appreciation and understanding of your fellows in the Craft, however you, or they, define it. 

The world of magick is completely natural, a part of our birthright and the essence of being human on Gaea, and yet we can feel completely separate from it until we open the door to it. We are conditioned to be separate from it, so the process of training is learning to open the door. And one door leads to another and then another.

Many realize over the years that those who do not open the door live in a world slightly askew, but parallel to ours. Those who primarily operate in what core shamanism teachers call ordinary consciousness—the state most valued by our mainstream society—seek and often find ordinary solutions to their problems. Those who operate more in non-ordinary consciousness, a magickal state of awareness, often have to partner the commonsense ordinary solutions with the extraordinary, for the process must involve a shift in consciousness as well as mechanics. Sorcerous problems require sorcerous solutions, be they health, conflict at work, family relationships, or vocational choices in life. We work with the forces behind the forms.

Those who don’t open the door remain a bit blissfully ignorant They might get deeper through self-help and psychology, or through reflection in their religious paradigm, but most are not opening to their responsibilities to the spirit worlds and multiple realms of consciousness operating simultaneously. Even if they have an intellectual understanding, if they don’t open the door, they won’t have a direct experience of the reality of it.

So why would we open the door at all? Sounds like a lot of work and not a whole lot of benefit, right? No. We open the door because we have to. Something deep within us needs to open the door—divine discontent, magickal curiosity, a call from our ancestors or allies, an unexplained psychic phenomenon, something triggers us to open the door. And sometimes we let something into our life, and sometimes we step through and discover door after door.

I’m writing both metaphorically of the sublime experience of the magickal worldview, and the acts that literally open magickal portals of consciousness to new experiences and spirit relationships. Doing particular rituals can open doors in our life to new paths, and the process can introduce you to the right people, places, and experiences both in the world of space and time and also in the non-ordinary worlds.

Rituals of Opening

Following rituals and meditation threads from books by those who have actually gone there before us and heeding messages in dreams and intuitions can invite new, beneficial, but sometimes demanding powers into our life. The rituals light you up in the spirit world, get attention, or magnetize a certain force to you. The work might open a door inside you, awakening an ancestral memory or family connection to knowledge and power.

Can’t find other teachers, Witches, or a coven? Do a spell for it. Want to eventually be a Witch? A High Prest/ess? A healer or reader? Do a ritual for it. Want to make a connection to Hecate? To Odin? To Anubis? Yemaja? Make an offering. Build a shrine. Sometimes when you are not even sure it will work, it causes a change and gets things moving.

The intentions you ritualize open a magick door. I have a friend who felt in her bones she was a Witch (and she was right) but had no one else like her, and this was in the days of much fewer resources and books. She called the Witch shop in the closest big city, hours away, and the curt owner said do a spell to find other Witches. She didn’t know how, but the owner simply said, “Light a candle. If you are a Witch, you’ll figure it out.” She did and soon found her first coven and teacher. Today, she owns a Witch shop herself, helping people figure it out.

I have another friend who was deeply connected to feminist goddess traditions but drawn to African traditions, despite being white, as he was living in a majority Black neighborhood. He followed a few of the simple offering rituals from a Luisa Teish book, Jambalaya, and soon found himself having dreams of the Orisha, leading to people who invited him to meet a group, and many years later, eventual initiation into an African Traditional Religion. Those simple rituals out of a popular book opened a door to him, though closed some others. You can’t walk through all doors at the same time. You can’t be all things all the time, so every door opened that you choose to walk through can both broaden and limit your experience, so choose wisely.

Stepping through the door can quicken your magickal pace. I felt like I “found” my path much earlier than I could have (or even should have), so a lot of intensity happened in my early magickal education that was difficult, but it prepared me. I probably would have handled it better emotionally if I had been older, but I walked fully through the door and said I wanted this Witchcraft. So I got it, fully. To walk through a door consciously rather unconsciously wandering on your path can quicken your karmic resolution, but that often means a quickening of your actual karma. Difficult things manifest with rapidity, giving you an opportunity to take responsibility in a new way that you might not have done in the past, and heal and resolve a pattern.

Sometimes we feel we see the path, or the door, and can’t get through it. The door is locked. The path is blocked. We have to ask if there is a higher purpose to why we are being obstructed. Is the answer “Not now”? Or is it “No, never”?

Spells of Unblocking

African Traditional Religions and American folk traditions have spellwork referred to as road opening, and these spells can be helpful to open the way. Traditionally to be a “true” road opening, the spell should involve the herb Abre Camino (Eupatorium villosum), but since that is not necessarily in my herbal repertoire, like most Witches, I’ve made do with other opening and clearing herbs quite successfully for myself and my clients.

A simple spell from my book The Lighting of Candles is an Open the Way candle. Take a yellow candle on the waning moon and carve your name into the candle, along with the words OPEN THE WAY three times upon it. Anoint with this oil:

Open the Way Oil No. 2

• 3 Drops of Lemongrass Oil
• 3 Drops of Cedar Oil
• 2 Drops of Palmarosa Oil
• 1 Drop of Citronella Oil
• 1 Drop of Camphor Oil
• 1/8 Oz of Base Oil
• Pinch of Rue
• Pinch of Cinquefoil
• Pinch of Sulfur

When you light the candle say, “I open the way to health, happiness, good fortune, and success on all levels. So mote it be!” If there is something specific you are blocked from, make that a part of your declaration. Let the candle burn and when it is done, the way shall be open and blocks removed!

In modern Witchcraft, these rites are adapted using messenger and traveling deities as allies, such as Hermes or Mercury, or guides that open and close doors, such as Hecate in her role as key bearer and guardian of the gate. Janus, the two-faced Roman god, is also the god of thresholds and doorways. In the Hindu tradition, Ganehsa, the elephant-headed god, is called to remove impediments and open the way, and I have found him quite amiable to anyone who approaches with respect. I credit Ganesha’s aid in purchasing my first home. You can call upon them in spellcraft or make offerings to petition their aid:

In the name of the Three in One and One in Three

In the name of the Two-Faced Lord of Past and Future

I ask for your aid.

Hecate. Janus. Gods of the Gates.

Use your keys. Open the way. Hold open the gate. Allow me safe passage along the path of life.

Make the road easy.

Bring me to safety, success, and comfort.

And then make an offering to Hecate at a three-way crossroads and to Janus at the threshold of gate to somewhere in your town or city, particularly to a public square or governmental building. A simple effective offering is roasted barley for these two deities.

Magick of the Threshold

We also have traditions of decorating our front door to bless the door, particularly in British Folk traditions where the doorstep is “chalked” as it is during Epiphany, after the Yuletide celebrations. Epiphany marks—on January 6th, in the month of Janus—use the initials of the Three Wise Men, the Magi: CMB for Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. The year digits are divided with the first two, then the three initials, then the last two, to invoke the blessing, riches, and wisdom of the three wise kings upon your doorstep. For example, 2022 would be 20*C*M*B*22. You can also use other door marks using symbols of protection and blessing in chalk. I’ve used Celtic knot designs and astrological symbols.

In our household, we often change the wreath on the front door to invite auspicious energies into our life, changing it for each sabbat season on the Wheel of the Year. Seasonal decorations in general are ways to protect, consecrate, and invite blessing into the home.

An effective magickal programing is to use literal doorways in your life for a specific intention. Say you wish for more prosperity. You can tell yourself, “Every time I enter through the doorway…” and touch it with your left hand “…I open the door to greater and greater financial prosperity, for my highest good.” Repeat this in your home many times, and then, as it becomes ingrained, when you pass through any door, just reach out with your left hand in the same general place That way you can change your intention with a different door and a different position of height on the door frame. The original practice of this comes from the work of Carlos Castaneda’s dream teachings. Every time you pass through a door in the waking world, remind yourself you will “awaken” in any dream. When you dream of passing through a doorway, you will then become lucid in the dream. The technique can program you for any intention.

One of the most powerful doorway guardians blocking the path is what has become known in Theosophy and the Western Mystery Traditions as the Dweller on the Threshold. It is akin to what many today call a shadow guardian in the context of shadow work. It can be the part of you, the part of a tradition, or the part of the collective that challenges you before going forward, challenging you with your fears, angers, and unconscious motives, requiring you to becomes more conscious before progressing further spiritually on the path of initiation. Those who pass become open to new realms of consciousness through the threshold door. Those who fail can be stuck until they figure out what is required to pass. The process can be ritualized, occur in dreams, or manifest as a part of life, in the natural trials and challenges that occur on the path of life, as seen through the sorcerous lens.

Gifts Given

Sometimes the very presence of another magical practitioner can catalyze a process and unlock a new level, or the practitioner gives you a gift that does the catalyzing. And as a magickal practitioner, you yourself might give a gift that likewise triggers changes in others.

A friend of a friend, an athlete open to the mystical side of things, talked about his love of the big cats, and I had recently been gifted some cougar bones that I had no idea what to do with, if anything, but Witches get given all sorts of odd things for our magick. I offered to make him a cougar talisman with them, and it opened a door to some shamanic journey work.

Sometimes it’s not even gifts but simply connection, being involved in a ritual, that “introduces” you to powers, even if you don’t know it. A friend who was not involved in Witchcraft, but who asked for a healing ritual when he was ill, ended up with an inadvertent connection to Hermes. In the simple ritual I silently called upon Hermes as a part of the work of healing connections. The recipient of the healing said he heard someone whispering to him who said his name was Hermes, even though I never said the name Hermes out loud. While some might have opened the door, he got freaked out by the experience, and after one semipublic ritual decided Witchcraft was not something he should pursue, and he ended contact with me soon after that, as my world grew too strange for him.

You Can’t Go Back

Sometimes we try to go back through a past door and return to where we were. Though that might work in the physical world, it doesn’t quite work in the metaphysical. The only way is forward. You cannot return to a former state of innocence once you know what you know; you can only “make haste slowly,” step by step.

Sometimes we seek to break connections with people, teachers, and groups, but again, even though the way is forward, by closing a portal door behind us, we can sever the connections in most cases. Sometimes we inadvertently close a door by unknowingly, or knowingly, breaking an oath or vow, and the consciousness of the collective ejects us from the space, not necessarily forward, but sometimes adjacent. We might even feel as if we are forced back, required to take responsibility for our transgression so that we can find another way, another door. Life can become catastrophic for some who break vows. Sometimes we break unjust vows that are really bindings, however, and get propelled forward when we release that stored tension.

Opening the Doors on the Path

If you find you want to open the door to what is next for you, or to find what gateway is possible for you, try this simple spell.

At a transition point in the astrological “weather” when tides are shifting, such as the full or new Moon, gather the following:

• Skeleton Key
• Bowl of Soil from your Local Area
• Three White Candles
• Water
• Offering of Grain or Cornmeal

In your sacred space, have your bowl centered, flat, and packed down with dirt perhaps 3/4ths full, not up to the rim of the bowl. Behind it have your three candles in a row. Light them from left to right for the past, present, and future with these words:

By the Ladies of Fate

Show me the way.

I know where I have been.

I know where I am.

I seek to know where I shall be.

Show me the way.

Take your key and quickly pass it through the flame of each candle, again left to right. Say:

Guardians of the Gate

Keepers of the Threshold

Unlock the door

And open the way.

I seek the next turn in the crooked path

On this sacred land.

So mote it be!

Place the key into the dirt, as if the dirt were a door lock. Turn the key and “open” the gate. Do so with intent and meaning, and then pull the key out and with your bare hands, “open” the dirt starting at the keyhole. Make an indention in the dirt.

Hold the water vessel. Blow upon the water three times to bless it. Pour the water into the bowl, and let the muddy water settle as you scry into it, like a dark mirror, letting the candlelight reflect in it for any messages or intuition for the next step on the path, the next portal to enter.

When done, thank the powers of the ladies and the guardians. Snuff the candles. You can return to light them again and let them burn out full. Take the bowl of water and mud back to where you gathered the dirt, along with your offering. Return the dirt and thank the land spirits and powers called with your offering.

Follow your scrying guidance and the path forward.